"Very well, then," Robert exhaled, seeming to be too tired to even stand. "The one you're looking for is right here." He whacked Iggy's leg just as they had practiced. The sign was clear and precise, but Iggy was frozen with fear.
The first stiff body was lifted and tossed onto the floor like garbage. The weight on his front was easing up. It was clear to him more now than ever, that these people were disrespectful all around; to their coworkers, their patients, and especially to the dead. If there was hope on the outside, then he swore that he would see to it that he would burn their laboratory down with their doctors and soldiers inside. Anyone who wore the uniform he would tear into pieces. He was ready to massacre them all.
As the next body was lifted up and tossed away to the side, silence descended. "Bobby boy…" Ed's voice went high with confusion. "This guy isn't decapitated."
Robert ran back to the elevator. He dove inside through the closing doors and disappeared to another floor. Iggy sat straight up and opened his eyes. They were in a long hallway lined with many closed doors. Before him was the heavy uniformed woman and her thin male partner stepping back in shock. Their jaws hung open and their eyes dilated large. The man's lips twitched, "Bob?!" but Robert was long gone, now.
Their fingers clutched their pistols tight, and even though Iggy wanted to run past them, he understood all too well the power of those pistols. One direct shot to the brain or heart would tear this whole opportunity apart. The first gun blasted a shot, and as he leapt off of the gurney, the bullet missed him by a hair. He dodged down as the next bullet came flying and then leapt at the gun.
Jen's wrist snapped effortlessly in his grasp. He still had strength! He twisted the gun back around on itself and pulled her finger. The shot shredded the back of her skull against the wall. Ed still fumbled with his pistol, probably never having used it before, and he wailed in fear.
Iggy snagged him by the collar, brought him to his knees, and jerked him back and forth. "Where's the exit!" he demanded. "Tell me!" Ed's quaking finger pointed down the hallway, opposite of the elevator. Iggy smacked him against the tile floor and ripped the gun out of his hands. The single hit had rendered him injured, and he couldn't chase after him even if he wanted to. That's why Iggy left him a chance and bolted into the direction that was suggested.
Behind his back, Ed cried into the speaker of his radio, "floor one! Floor one! Attack! Floor one! Outside of the crem-" Iggy ran back, and before Ed even realized that he had returned, Iggy stomped his face into the floor.
There was a rumble of stomping driving its way around the hallway corners from the direction that Ed had claimed to be the exit. Iggy would be bombarded if he tried to go that way. These people were somewhat clever and couldn't be trusted. It was him against them. Period.
Behind him, the elevator landed on the floor and dinged. The doors spread open and Iggy darted inside. He pressed the first button that he could reach. Through the slowly closing doors, he saw a platoon of soldiers rushing into the hallway. Bullets flew but clashed with the elevator doors.
The elevator was heading to floor three, but surely they would be waiting for him there. As it still moved, Iggy tore open the ceiling and snapped the lock that held the access panel in place. He climbed out and blindly leapt onto a ledge before the elevator met floor three. There was a closed door beneath him. He worked his way down, and while barely able to balance on such a thin edge, he pried his fingers into the tiny gap between the two doors, and pushed them apart. As he squeezed through the narrow gap and fell onto the clean white floor, he realized that he had made it back to where most of this began. The Labs.
But now, he had the advantage. He was on the other side where the doctors and scientists "safely" practiced their experiments without a care in the world. Even though the floor shook above and below, he still had the ability to take this floor by surprise. He ran with all of his power, yet aimlessly, because he had absolutely no idea how to get out. And even if he did know how to get out, knowing his luck, the sun was going to be in the sky, ready to obliterate him.
He barged through a doorway and found himself in a lab with long white tables, microscopes, and computers. Screams erupted from all directions. The scientists dropped to the floor and ducked behind the tables. At the opposite side of the room, tucked away in the corner, there was a narrow white door that practically blended in with the wall. On top of it, there was a word in small neon yellow letters that said, "EXIT." It was disguised for the most part, and he might have already passed many of them without knowing it.
He came to the door and pressed his hands against it, yet it wouldn't budge under pressure alone. He rammed his shoulder into it. The force shattered a rib and he couldn't breathe. He grunted, cradled his side, and threw his heel into it, instead. Still, it was locked solid.
Then, he noticed a small control panel on the wall with white numbered buttons.
A group of five soldiers armed head to toe in armor barged into the room the same way Iggy had gotten in. Their automatic rifles blasted through the room, shooting indiscriminately. That's when the true blood bath began. Everyone there who was on the opposing side of the squad was to be massacred. Even their own people were disposable.
Iggy twisted around, fell to the floor, and crawled to a nearby scientist who was huddled beneath a table, covering her head with her hands. He hollered over the gunfire, "tell me the code!"
Willing for it all to stop, she cried, "6749! 6749!"
The gunfire ceased and one person dared to come near. Iggy jumped up, handled the soldier like luggage, and threw him back into his own people. As they gathered themselves, he struck the numbers on the number pad. The panel had no reaction and the door remained locked. With only a split second to realize that he was given the wrong code, and to think of another way out, he looked up at the ceiling. There was a two by three vent right above his head.
He hopped up onto the nearest tabletop, punched in the screen, and pulled himself up into it. Right before him, a fan swung around over and over, and through it he could see the outside. He flipped around, destroying the shape of the air vent, and kicked his feet through the fan. It popped right out of the wall and he dropped out right after it, regardless of the time of morning it was. He would have rather died under the sun than to be stolen back.
And you know, sometimes Iggy can get lucky too? It was very early in the morning, and although the slight UV rays gave him an instant sunburn, there was a large storm cloud buffering out the sun rays that would have done him in.
The square building behind him was surrounded with tall metal fences topped with razor sharp barbed wire. It was the last obstacle in sight before the tree covered forest. He charged, leapt as high as possible onto the fence, and rattled his way over. The barbed wire shredded the front of his shirt, leaving a little fabric behind to hang in the wind like a flag.
He landed on the ground and bullets flew past him, piercing the heavy air, but he was too far away for their bullets to hit him. He concentrated all of his energy on running as fast as he could through the woods. If the sun decided to come out, maybe he would still have a chance in the shade.
Moments later, and much to his approval, rain trickled down from the sky. His clothes were completely saturated within minutes and the faster he ran the colder he became. The heart in his chest was beating hard, thumping on the inside like a sledgehammer. His breath was heavy, too, but he just kept running. He couldn't stop, now.