Lazarus by Daniel Willcocks & Luke Kondor

Author:Daniel Willcocks & Luke Kondor [Willcocks, Daniel & Kondor, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hawk & Cleaver
Published: 2017-08-06T04:00:00+00:00

27

They heard footsteps on the tiled floor of the gas station. All around them was darkness, the lights in the in-between room probably not touched since the attendant had disappeared from their post and left the little note on the front door. The tiniest crack of light poured in from beneath the ‘Staff Only’ door, looking like a light-up piece of string stretched between the sides of the doorframe. Lucas felt Maddie beside him, her breathing shallow. A second later her hand locked into his.

The voices were gruff, but the door was thick. Occasionally they caught snippets of what they thought might be words, but nothing discernible. Lucas shut his eyes and tried to focus on the noises, doing his best to gauge an accurate headcount.

He stood and took a step closer to the door and felt Maddie tense. She tugged him gently back and he wished he could see her face. He turned and trod as carefully as he could manage to the back end of the little corridor. Something rustled near his feet. Maddie took a sharp breath.

He skimmed along the walls with his fingertips, his arms stretched as far as they could, aware of the soft mumblings of voices now behind him. He felt three areas along the wall where his fingers dipped forwards, the grooves of door frames like valleys as they fell and rose. Two to his right, one straight in front. He gave the nearest door a gentle nudge and it opened. He poked his head inside, instantly greeted by the smell of bleach and innocuous chemicals. More than likely a store cupboard lined with shelves, no escape.

“Lucas…” Maddie whispered as quietly as she could muster. He felt her palm growing moist.

The voices outside were growing louder now and were joined by the clinking of bottles. Lucas thought of the men they passed on the way to the gas station, mouths coated in beer froth, brows furrowed. It couldn’t be them, though. They had to have been over a mile back.

Suddenly there was a voice. Loud. As if the man was stood right next to them. “Careful, shitbag! I only got one set of clothes.”

Laughter.

Lucas tried the next door but it was also locked. The nudge of the handle against the lock clicked loudly. Sweat began to build beneath his arms.

Two down, one to go. Dear God, please be behind door number three—

“Now where are you going?”

Footsteps outside the door. Light poured in through the vertical slit where the door opened. A man on the other side, looking back at his crew. Lucas could see a long portion of his body, pretty boy hair combed to the side, mud-stained jeans, a dark blue shirt with a dark stain by his stomach. The man wiped at the stain and spoke through gritted teeth. “Looking for some towels or something. Can’t walk around with shit on my shirt, can I?”

Lucas tightened his grip and walked backwards towards the final door. His hip knocked into something which he saw now was a mop, oddly angled in its bucket.

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