Joe Gribble - Darkest Edge

Mark waited a moment.

Ellen looked at Mark, then grabbed the small camera and opened her door. “Let’s go, then.”

All three got out of the car and headed for the building. Scott led the way, with Mark and Ellen following as the mist fell around them.

“Dr. Drexel was acting really strange today,” Scott continued to fill them in. “The oldies were hanging around a lot, too.”

Mark pulled up the collar of his coat as the mist turned into a drizzle. The water began to run into his eyes, mud splashed onto his shoes. “‘Oldies’?”

“Retired docs,” Scott said. “They consult some, but usually you only see one at a time, but today they were all there, even Dr. Drexel’s father.”

“Hans Drexel?” Mark asked.

“Yeah,” Scott said. “They say he was kind of out there, but I’ve talked to him a few times. Seems okay.”

They got quiet as they approached the building. They tried to stay out of the light from the single lamp pole and the light spilling from one of the upstairs rooms as they got closer. They bent at the waist and dashed the few remaining yards to snuggle up to the side of the building, hiding behind a bush.

“Let me try the front,” Scott said. “You wait here.”

Scott snuck around the bush and kept low as he went to the front door. Mark and Ellen waited behind.

Mark saw Scott try each of the front doors. Locked. Scott retreated to join them.

He spoke quietly. “We’ll have to try the side door. Follow me,” he said. “But be careful.”

Ellen and Mark followed Scott as he weaved between the bushes, then glanced around the corner of the building. He waved them forward and stepped around to the side.

There were no bushes along the side, but the area was in almost total darkness, save for one illuminated window on the second floor that was covered by paint. They followed Scott as he moved forward, slowly, bent at the waist.

Mark was beginning to have a queasy feeling. This was where he passed out before. A bit of acid rose from his stomach and he swallowed it back down. This was no time to flake out again.

They stepped down several steps to reach the first-floor door. An exterior, metal fire escape staircase extended above them to the second floor. Ellen flipped on a small flashlight and tried to peer inside the painted-over windows in the upper half of the door.

“Can’t see,” she whispered.

Scott tried the knob. It turned. He pulled the door. It popped open about an inch. He looked up at Mark and Ellen standing on the steps above him.

Mark felt dizzy. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, holding onto the wall next to him.

Ellen looked back at him, shining her light on his face. His eyes were closed. “You okay, Mark,” she whispered?

Mark opened his eyes again. The dizziness was gone. He nodded. “Let’s go,” he whispered, the words coming out louder than he had intended.

Scott pulled on the door. His face contorted in pain as the door squealed on rusty hinges.

“Quiet…” Ellen said.

Scott shrugged his shoulders as he pulled the door open enough for them to slide inside, the hinges creaking in agony.

“This is where it gets illegal,” Ellen said. She pointed her light at Mark. His hands were shaking.

“Yeah, well,” Mark said. “I’ve got to get to the bottom of this.” He stepped inside.

Scott followed.

Ellen looked around, then took a deep breath, turned on her camera, and stepped through the door.

Mark found himself in a dark, dirty stairwell. Ellen flashed the light from behind him, pointing at a door to the main level hallway. Mark tried the knob, but it was locked. Mark turned toward the stairs. Ellen flashed her light up, and Mark could see the stairs went about halfway up, ending at a landing, then continued back over them to the second floor.

Mark stepped forward. The first step was easy enough, but each succeeding step seemed to make his legs heavier and heavier. When he finally got to the landing, he had to stop and collect himself. Mark leaned back against the wall, his breath coming in short, shallow bursts. He watched a large, black rat scurry by.

“Mark, what’s wrong?” Ellen asked. She leaned down beside him as he slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor of the landing, feet sticking out in front of him. She almost screamed when she saw the rat.

Mark grabbed her arm, holding on to keep from passing out. The feel of another human was enough to bring him back. His head began to clear.

“I’m okay. I’m okay,” Mark said. He grabbed Scott’s offered hand and Scott and Ellen pulled him back to his feet.

“Stay between us,” Ellen said. She started up the second half of the stairs to the landing on the upper floor. She used her light as judiciously as she could, mostly keeping it pointed at the steps behind her.

Mark followed, with Scott bringing up the rear.

At the top of the stairs, Ellen glanced through a small window in the door that led to the second-floor hallway. “There’s a light down the hall. Must be the room we saw from outside,” she whispered. “Come on.”

Ellen opened the door carefully, squeezing through. She doused her flashlight, but kept the camera rolling. Mark and Scott followed behind her.

Ellen froze when she saw a shadow pass through the light ahead. She melted back against the wall.

When the shadow disappeared, Scott followed Ellen toward the light. They stayed close to the wall, trying to stay hidden.

Mark followed for a few steps. When he saw the shadow, he stopped in the center of the hallway. His legs went weak, and though he tried as hard as he could to stand, he eventually dropped to one knee.

Scott looked back. He tapped Ellen on the arm, then turned back to help Mark.

Mark waved him off. He struggled back to his feet and continued to plod forward. He moved slowly, but deliberately.

Ellen was almost to the open door of the lit-up room when she motioned for both Mark and Scott to get against the wall.

Below, they heard a loud, metallic squeak, then a door slammed shut. Footsteps rapidly coming up the stairwell.

Ellen tried the knob of a door near where she stood. Locked. She glanced back at the room with the light spilling from it, then quickly crossed the hall, opening a door almost directly across from the lit-up room. She slipped inside, motioning for Scott and Mark to join her.

The footsteps from the stairwell got louder. Scott followed Ellen into the room. He looked back for Mark.

Mark still plodded slowly toward the light from the room ahead. Everything was out of focus, only the light drew him forward.

Scott grabbed Mark’s arm and drug him into the room where he and Ellen were hiding.

Ellen carefully closed the door, sealing them inside. There they hid. The only light came from the room across the hall through a small window in the door, about chest high.

The stairwell door slammed shut at the end of the hall.

Ellen and Scott took cover in the shadows.

Mark looked sideways through the glass pane toward the stairwell. He saw an orderly in medical scrubs walking from the stairwell door toward them. Mark retreated into the shadows of the room. From where he hid, Mark watched as the orderly passed by their door. Once the orderly had gone by, Mark returned to look through the window. He saw the orderly step through the open door across the hall.

“Someone’s in here,” he heard someone say from the room. “The door was open downstairs.”

Another voice responded. “Hurry then. Help me with the patient.”

“Are you certain we have to do this, father?” came a third voice.

Ellen tugged at Mark’s sleeve. “Drexel,” she whispered.

Mark nodded.

At the other end of the room, Scott discovered another door to the hall. It also had a window, covered by a small piece of black plastic. He pulled one corner of the plastic back. He looked through, then waved at Mark and Ellen. “Over here,” he whispered to get their attention.