MELT: A Psychological Thriller (42 page)

The answer came instantly.

'Because nothing that happened that day should be celebrated. I don't want any reminders.'

'But you deserve it.'

Alex was tired of lying. He said, 'I didn't deserve it. I wish I knew you well enough to tell you the truth.'

Jessica studied him in a very peculiar way. She seemed to be assessing him. She said, 'I know exactly how that feels.'

Alex tried to ask what she meant, but at that exact moment a phone rang on the wall.

Jessica jumped. The phone had startled her.

Why is she so nervous?
thought Alex.

Jessica answered the phone but only listened. She didn't speak. She didn't even say goodbye.

'Everything all right?' asked Alex as she hung up.

Jessica stared at Alex, giving him that strange feeling again. She looked on the verge of saying something, but she suddenly shook her head and unclipped his heart rate monitor.

'Everything's fine, but your pulse is a bit high. Pop this mask on for a minute. It will make you more comfortable during the examination.'

'I feel fine,' said Alex, waving away the mask.

'Please, Alex.' She looked him straight in the eye. 'I
have
to do this.'

Alex saw fear in her eyes. He nodded and helped her fit the mask.
How can she check my teeth with a plastic mask over my mouth?

Something tumbled from his pocket and clattered to the floor beside the chair. He glanced down.

Oh, shit. My knife just fell out. This looks bad.

He looked to Jessica for her reaction. She quickly put her index finger to her lips in the 'be quiet' gesture.

Alex gave a small nod.

'So you don't have any allergies then?' she asked calmly, as though a concealed weapon hadn't just fallen from his pocket.

'Ah, no,' answered Alex, raising his eyebrow at her.
What the fuck is happening here?

Jessica scooped up the knife and pushed it
back
into his pocket.

Okay,
thought Alex.
I don't think she's safe. Maybe that's why she didn't want me to leave. Was she being robbed when I arrived? Are they still here listening? Was it them on the phone giving her instructions?

Alex knew these types of places were robbed for drugs all the time.

He looked for a way to write a message, but she'd taken the clipboard.

Jessica opened a first aid box. She rapidly chose items from the box while asking, 'So when did you last visit a dentist?'

She made a swirling hand gesture at him as though Alex should answer normally.

‘Ummmm....I don't know. I guess it's been a few years now. I don't have many problems with my teeth.'

He didn't know what else to say. Obviously she was stalling for time. He improvised. 'So...are you enjoying the internship? Do you think you'll become a full-time dentist?'

What a stupid question!

Alex had a better idea. He pulled out his mobile phone and raised an eyebrow at Jessica.

She shook her head and urgently signaled for him to put the phone back into his pocket. She pushed the medical supplies from the first aid box back into his pocket with the phone.

Why do I need this stuff? Is she hurt?

'Oh, I've learned not to plan too far ahead,' she answered, trying to sound casual. 'This is what I have to do at the moment, but it's not forever.'

Alex stared at her, trying to get some hint of what to do next. She obviously had a plan.

'Now lay back and make yourself comfortable,' she said.

She placed her palm on his shoulder and nodded for him to lie back.

Alex did, reluctantly. He felt vulnerable. He tensed, ready to spring from the chair at her signal. He gripped his knife in his pocket.

She's too terrified to do anything,
Alex thought.
Maybe I should grab her and make a run for the front door. We'll be safer out on the street.

Jessica opened a gas valve behind Alex.

Hisssssssss

Alex smelled the gas as Jessica leaned down over him.

His last memory was of her warm breath on his ear.

She put her lips close and whispered, 'I'm sorry, Alex. Good luck.'

 

 

#

 

 

A piercing noise wrenched Alex awake.

Shit — did I fall asleep? I only shut my eyes for a minute.

He was drenched in sweat.

The chamber was practically a sauna.

I should have slept closer to the ice.

The corpses smelled putrid, like week-old road kill.

Sitting up, he winced as sweat trickled down his back. His acid burns flared like a dozen fresh bee stings.

Megan stood a few feet away. Her lean body was slick with sweat.

'How long did I sleep?’

Megan checked her watch.

'Four hours.'

Crack!

‘What’s that noise?’

Megan frowned across the chamber. 'Chrissie is trying to open the chest.'

'My, God, it's
hot
in here.’

'Take off those long pants,' said Megan.

Alex changed the subject.

'What's she doing now?'

Megan moved slightly. 'She’s looking for something heavy, I think.'

The ice had melted enough for Alex to see the corpses.

He pointed at the bodies. ‘Did she do that?’

Megan nodded.

Chrissie had built a little pyramid of bodies over the Chernobyl lock.

Megan covered her nose. 'That smell makes me sick. Should we roll them back to the ice?'

Alex checked the ice. Their mountain of frozen water had shrunk to a small hill.

Their life support system looked nearly spent.

He shook his head. 'The sun will rise in a few hours.'

'And then this place will kill us,' Megan finished.

'How will it happen?' she asked. 'At the end, I mean. How does heat actually...kill someone?'

'We'll just pass out,' Alex answered. 'We won't feel anything after that. It won’t be horrible.’

Megan passed him the diet Sprite bottle. 'But what actually
kills
us?'

Alex gulped down the cold water. 'Heat stroke. Like a heart attack. Is Chrissie naked?'

Megan checked. 'No. She's down to her underwear. It’s stuck to her. I need to talk to her now she’s calmed down.'

‘Calmed down?’

Megan nodded. ‘She’s been yelling and throwing things at me. Anything that melted from the ice she threw at me.’

Alex was surprised he’d slept through it all.

He got to his feet. 'Okay.'

Their chain clattered as they approached Chrissie.

Chrissie stood before the chest holding the horseshoe. She turned as they approached. She still wore her big gold chain, but otherwise she might as well have been naked. Drenched in sweat, her underwear was transparent.

'I figured it out,' she declared. 'I understand everything now.'

Megan pointed to the horseshoe. 'You mean the artifacts?'

'Yes,' Chrissie nodded. 'The artifacts and everything else. We weren't kidnapped. We're not being punished. We've been wrong from the start. The answer was right in front of us. This place isn't a prison.'

'What is it then?'

Chrissie waved her arms. 'This is our life raft.'

Chapter Thirty

 

Alex turned to go, but he couldn't.

Damn, this stupid chain.

'A life raft?' asked Megan. 'I don't understand?'

Chrissie pointed at the wall and beyond. 'We're protected in here. Protected from the outside. So are these artifacts.'

'Protected from what?' asked Megan.

Chrissie ran shaking fingers through her knotty hair. 'Something terrible. Something airborne. It must have affected the entire country. Maybe a viral epidemic. Maybe gas. I don't know. Maybe even radiation.'

Megan took a step closer. 'Why do you think that?'

'The masks!' declared Chrissie. 'All your abductors wore masks! They weren't hiding their faces. The masks protected them from the air. Just like this chamber is protecting us now. It was obvious all along.'

'Jessica wasn't wearing a mask when she abducted me,' said Alex.

'Then she's dead,' said Chrissie.

Megan asked, ‘Was your abductor wearing a mask, Chrissie? You haven’t told us anything about it.’

Chrissie paused, looking confused for a moment.

Alex had heard enough. He said, 'So why are they murdering us then, Chrissie? Why fill this chamber with traps if they are saving us?'

'They only need the strongest,' said Chrissie, sounding resolute again.  'The survivors. The traps cull the weak. That's evolution. That's the way it's always been. Only the true survivors could reach this chest. Opening this chest is the end. When we open this, they’ll let us out.'

Alex forgot to mention to Megan that the heat would also torment them with mind games before they died.

Chrissie seemed to be there already.

Chrissie knelt before the chest and gripped the horseshoe. She lifted the horseshoe above her head in both hands, ready to strike down on the lock.

'They gave us food.'

SLAM!

'They gave us water.'

SLAM!

'They gave us shelter.'

SLAM!
—
chink

The lock sprung open.

Chrissie dropped the horseshoe.

She yanked off the lock and tossed it across the floor. 'They've given us everything we need to survive.'

'Wait!' cried Megan, pointing toward the bodies of Ericsson, Glen, Carl and Victoria. 'What if you're wrong?'

Chrissie flicked open the two latches.
Snap-Snap!

'I'm not wrong.'

Alex grabbed Megan's shoulder. 'Move back.'

Megan didn't resist.

'Please don't open it,' pleaded Megan.

Chrissie glanced over her shoulder at them. 'I'm saving us.'

Alex could barely keep watching.

He didn't have to wait long.

Chrissie hefted open the lid by its latches.

Nothing happened.

No acid sprayed in her face.

No poison darts punctured her flesh.

No hissing gas filled her system with brain-destroying toxins.

Chrissie just stared down into the chest, speechless.

Oh, my God
, thought Alex, hardly daring to believe.
Was she right?

'What is it?' called Megan. 'What's in there?'

Chrissie didn't answer. Whatever lay in the chest had her complete attention.

'Chrissie?' prompted Megan. 'Is it safe? What's in there? Answer us!'

Alex found it hard to tell, but Chrissie seemed to shake her head slightly.

'Something's not right,' warned Megan. 'She's shivering. She’s scared.'

'Stay behind me,' said Alex. 'Maybe she's too scared to move.'

Alex approached cautiously. With every step, Chrissie looked more peculiar.

She wasn't shivering.

Her entire body shook all over.

Is she shaking in shock?
wondered Alex.
What's in there?

Reaching her side, Alex smelled burning hair. 'Chrissie? You all right?'

He saw Chrissie's face.

She wasn't all right.

He barely recognized her. Her convulsing face twisted through a dozen agonizing expressions a second. Her body shook so fast her outline blurred.

Worse, Alex saw the awareness in her eyes of what was happening.

'It's electrocuting her!' Alex shouted.

'Don't touch her,' Megan yelled, yanking Alex back. 'The chain will kill us all!'

She was right. If Alex touched Chrissie, the metal slave chain would become an electrical death trap.

One trap would kill all three of them.

But I have to help her.

'The latches,' cried Megan, pointing at Chrissie's hands. 'They've crushed her fingers!’

Oh, God.

The designers of this trap had made sure that whoever opened the lid couldn't possibly let go. Like two powerful rattraps, the clasps Chrissie had used to lift the lid had clamped down with pulverizing force on her fingers.

Her mangled fingers made perfect electrical conductors.

I've got no choice.

Alex pulled Megan close to make some slack in the chain. Before Megan could object, Alex took one step and jumped in the air. He slammed both his shoes into Chrissie’s side.

His full body weight hit Chrissie.

His rubber shoe soles couldn't conduct the deadly electricity.

He glimpsed Chrissie collapsing sideways, torn from the chest by the impact.

Hitting the floor himself, he felt Megan hauling him away from the chest.

'Stop! Stop! I'm all right,' Alex yelled as Megan nearly wrenched his shoulder from its socket.

She helped him stand.

Together they approached Chrissie. She'd landed on her back, staring up at the fluorescent lights.

Megan covered her mouth, pointing at Chrissie's neck.

Chrissie's gold chain had liquefied around her neck. The molten metal had scalded an inch deep channel into her throat.

'What
did
that?' asked Megan.

'Her chain,' explained Alex. 'The gold. It melted on her.'

The hardening gold sealed the trauma. Not a single drop of blood escaped.

Alex peered inside the chest.

It's full of large batteries and voltage multipliers.

A voltage multiplier and a small nine volt battery could disable a grown man, so God only knew what extended agony Chrissie had suffered.

Whump!

The lid of the chest fell shut.

Chrissie's severed fingers scattered across the floor.

 

 

#

 

 

They sat close to the ice.

Alex picked up a strange little red thing.

He showed Megan.

‘What’s this?’

Megan made a disgusted face. ‘It’s Chrissie’s toenail.’

Jesus Christ.

Alex threw the horrible thing away. He wiped his fingers on the ice.

The ice repelled the heat, but not the smell. He tried breathing through his mouth to avoid the stench.

'What now?' asked Megan.

She rested her face sideways on her knees, probably not expecting an answer.

Alex hated hearing her like this. Megan's will to survive had been bullet-proof until now. Alex hadn't realized how much he’d depended on it.

They all had.

Without her, Alex doubted he'd still be alive. He couldn't let her give up now.

‘Tell me about your dad,’ he said.

‘I don’t want to, Alex.’

'I already know he must be strict.’

Megan looked up. ‘Why?’

‘Because you don’t swear.'

'What are you talking about?'

'You haven't sworn once,’ said Alex. ‘And I've seen you get an acid haircut.'

Megan touched her acid stubble. 'No, it's not because of Dad. Not the way you mean.'

'How then?' prompted Alex.

Megan shrugged. 'When I was nine, Dad burnt his hand and swore while fixing our lawnmower. He didn’t know I was standing behind him.'

'And?'

'And when I asked what ‘fuck’ meant, he brushed me off. Later I checked on the internet. Big mistake.'

Alex hissed between his lips. 'Yeah, no pictures of people fixing lawnmowers.'

'Not the way my dad was fixing ours.'

They both grimaced.

Alex wanted to steer the conversation toward getting home and seeing their families, but Megan surprised him.

'What happened to your leg?'

'Why?'

Megan rested her head back against the ice. ‘Because this is my last chance to ask.'

Good answer.

Alex hadn’t told anyone the truth yet. He’d even found his bottle and destroyed the note without anyone realizing. No one had noticed the extra bottle.

I’ll decide who I share my secret with.

Megan deserved to be the first.

'I have two cousins. George and Samuel, remember?'

'And your aunt's name is Beth.'

Alex nodded. 'George is three and Sam is five. I used to look after them all the time. Last year I watched them while Aunt Beth took Mom Christmas shopping. Anyway, they wanted to play hide and seek. I said okay and sent them off to hide in the house. While they hid, I took out our garbage. I remember washing my hands and then hearing Samuel screaming outside.’

'He followed you out?' asked Megan.