Obelisks, Book One by Ari Marmell

Obelisks, Book One by Ari Marmell

Author:Ari Marmell [Marmell, Ari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sci-fi horror, apocalpytic
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2022-06-24T00:00:00+00:00


Chapter Eleven

* * *

In a sane world, they could never have heard it. Only the hospital’s unnatural silence—absent a thousand conversations, absent its orchestra of countless machines, absent the susurrus of the traffic and the radios and the rest of the outside world—allowed the cry to reach them.

In a sane world, they could never have heard it, but in a sane world, it would never have happened.

Despite the spike of panic that threatened to set off another headache, despite the growing sense of futility, the conviction that she couldn’t handle any more horror, Cynthia felt an instant’s relief at leaving that chamber of death and decay behind. She and Ethan bolted back down the long hall, feet pounding and occasionally threatening to slip on the tile.

JD and Downing had propped open the doors to the stairwell with nearby trashcans, perhaps another reason the scream had reached all the way from the floor above. Cynthia wasn’t sure why—she’d ask later, if she thought of it—for now simply swinging the doors wider so she could pass through.

The floor above carried the same faint odor, the same early warning of far worse to come. Ethan and Cynthia exchanged sideways glances, said nothing, didn’t slow.

They found JD on his knees, shaking, his scream having devolved into broken sobs. Downing, who Cynthia had been convinced lacked anything resembling a human heart, crouched beside the lanky Texan, an arm around his shoulder. He glanced up at Cynthia and Ethan, glasses unable to hide his own brimming tears.

“I told you,” he accused over a quivering lip, though his tone was far more despairing than challenging. “I told you we were all fucked. I told you it was stupid to hope.”

“What happened?” Cynthia asked.

Downing didn’t seem to hear. “I told you.”

“We should take a look around,” Ethan began, “see what—”

“No!” That, the CEO clearly had heard. Then, more softly, “No, please. Just… Please. Don’t go in there.”

“I don’t understand.” Cynthia wanted to slap him, make him be sensible. “Don’t go in wh—”

Her gaze finally landed on the hallway from which JD and Downing had apparently come, the doorway they’d passed through. And on the sign above that door.

Maternity Ward.

Her own vision blurring, she dropped to one knee to put a hand on JD’s shoulder, and the other, yes, on Downing’s.

“They left ’em, Cyn,” JD rasped between gasping sobs, echoing her own words of moments ago—and thinking, she knew, of his own little girls. “They just left ’em to die. Those poor babies…”

“I know, JD. Shh. I know.”

“What happened to everyone? What happened to the world?”

She craned her head up toward Ethan, who stood with a hand clasped over his mouth in horror. “We have to get him out of here. Both of them.”

“What? We… Yes. Yes, of course.” He didn’t physically shake himself, but Cynthia sensed the effort anyway. “We’ll go back downstairs, wait for Grigory. The chapel,” he decided, with a meaningful glance at JD.

“Yeah. Good call.” Cynthia stood, helping Downing who in turn helped JD. At a plodding stagger, they moved back toward the stairwell.



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