Chapter 8
So Close
After running through a few rooms, Willow slowed, the memory of slamming into a metal cabinet and setting off alarms still fresh in her mind. Once she slowed down and started paying attention, she got a completely different feeling from this new floor. It was much more like a typical office, although there were no windows, and there was a distinctly oppressive feel to the place.
Perhaps that’s what he meant by the pressure. I didn’t notice it, but given that he’s not human, maybe he’s more sensitive to changes in pressure.
As she thought that Willow noticed that there was some built up pressure in her ears. She swallowed a few times to pop them, wondering if Nolan had been so fast moving up the stairs that it had the same effect as taking off in a plane. It added another layer to the man that made her want to run back to help him. Just as she could have left him to try to escape on her own, he could have left her behind and gotten out on his own. Instead, his reaction was to literally shift and carry her to a point where they were close to escaping.
Then he decided to stop. What was it that he wanted to do before getting out of here? Is it worth it? And how does he know that there isn’t anyone else here? He seems to know so much about this place, and I don’t really understand how or why they have so much information and haven’t stopped it. They’ve already killed people, so why did they let that happen?
Her thoughts were on Nolan, and she wasn’t sure exactly how to feel about him. With all of her attention torn between trying to figure him out and worrying about him, Willow wasn’t taking the necessary precautions or noticing the signs around her. Her misplaced comfort with simply walking through the place became a problem when she strolled through a wall and into a room where two people were sitting typing on their computers. They looked up at her as Willow stood frozen in place. This had happened before, back at her parents’ house, when she had first learned that she could walk through walls. She had replayed that moment in her mind after they started reprimanding her, wondering how she could have done things differently.
Instinctively, she tried to phase through the floor, hoping they would think that they were seeing things. Just like on the stairs though, it didn’t work.
When that solution didn’t work, she went with one of the things she had considered – and this time she had the benefit of being unknown to the people who saw her. Willow held out her arms, as she started to slowly walk backward.
Her voice was as raspy as she could make it as she moaned, “May you be doomed for what you do. Dooooomed.”
She watched the color drain from the people’s faces until she disappeared through the wall, back into the empty room next to it.
Unfortunately, the door opened just as she dropped her arms. Turning, she ran perpendicular to the room she had just left. This was not a problem she had anticipated because Willow had gotten so accustomed to just passing through rooms that it hadn’t even occurred to her that there were floors that were occupied. Now that she was aware of the problem, Willow was a lot more cautious about entering rooms. Fortunately, the next room was empty, and no one was moving around outside of it. She began phasing her face through and looking to make sure rooms were empty before she entered. When she bumped into a computer, nearly knocking it over, the young woman realized that she could be doing a lot more than just aimlessly wandering.
She entered the room and moved over to one of the unlocked computers. Her attention went to the door, and she frowned. The floor was made of material that blocked her abilities, something she wanted to consider when she felt safer.
Not wanting to be interrupted, Willow looked to see if she could lock or barricade the door. When she didn’t see a lock, and there wasn’t anything that could be easily moved, she decided to check out what she could on the computer. Pushing the chair out of the way, she began clicking through all of the open files and tabs. When she saw something that looked important, Willow looked around for a printer and then sent the documents to it. Unfortunately, the printer in the room was not the one where the information went. Looking around, she saw a thumb drive in the other computer in the room.
Not knowing how much time she had left, she saved everything that would fit to it, then ejected it. After that, she scoured the room for more thumb drives. She filled each of them, then shoved them into her pockets.
I wonder if my coat is around here.
This did give her something to do, but she didn’t want to go roaming the floor just for a coat. She had managed to go through several rooms and hadn’t been able to track her own progress because there were people in over half of the rooms. Her eyes drifted down to the clock, and that’s when it clicked.
Lunchtime. That means that my time moving through rooms is probably limited. I have to find somewhere to hide until I hear from Nolan. I don’t want him to have to come find me, and I definitely don’t want them sticking me on a different floor.
Those thoughts quickly turned to concern since she hadn’t heard from him in a while. Moving strategically through the rooms, Willow walked into what looked like a locker room. There were a lot of duffel bags in the lockers, and she got an idea. Pulling out a few of the bags, she found a new outfit and some shoes. Since she couldn’t connect to the flooring, she didn’t need to be barefoot. With a new outfit, including a pair of non-prescription glasses, she looked a lot different. Next, she pulled her hair back into a bun, showing off a small line of four moles on her jaw near her ear. Not sure if that would give her away – they may have noted it when she was unconscious – she tried to cover it with some foundation. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to mostly obscure the moles.
She was about to put the glasses back on when the door opened. Not wanting to be seen, Willow hid her face by leaning over and splashing water on her face. Once the person disappeared around a row of lockers without acknowledging her, the young woman felt free to leave. For the first time, she walked into the hallway without looking around suspiciously. In her head, she couldn’t help but feel like she was playing a part in a TV movie or something. If she weren’t so worried about Nolan, it would have been comical. Clutching what cash she had found in the bags, she looked for the cafeteria. The smell alone let her know that she was close to it.
She managed to blend in fairly well once she found it because the people in the room weren’t talking much. This suggested that they didn’t really bond with their coworkers, something that she hoped would benefit her. It seemed less likely that anyone would stop to talk to her, meaning that she wasn’t likely to get questioned or called out while getting food. She looked over the options and chose a sandwich that was wrapped up along with a small plate of fries. Chips would have been easier but too noisy if she wanted to find somewhere to hide.
Instead of sitting with a group, she headed out of the cafeteria and back into the hallway. There weren’t many people walking along the halls, helping her to feel a bit less vulnerable. It was a bit harder to find a room, though, since the doors were all closed. She looked for signs that rooms were occupied and was at least able to see nameplates near the doors. That didn’t mean that people were in the rooms, but she wasn’t going to wait in a room where someone might eventually enter.
By the time she found a hallway with no nameplates, Willow was no longer sure where she was. She walked through one of the walls into a room without a sign and was relieved to see that it was an empty office. There were no computers, just a couple of desks that seemed to be waiting for employees to be hired.
Taking a seat on one of the chairs, she quickly consumed the food she had bought. She didn’t much care if the trash wasn’t picked up, but Willow decided not to throw anything away in case they could use it to collect her DNA. Wading it up, she placed it on the desk in front of her, then considered her current situation.
She had kept her thoughts occupied for as long as possible – now that she had nothing else to do, Willow was really worried about Nolan. There hadn’t been a sound from him, and that was unsettling.
Perhaps my meandering has put me out of range for his ability.
It was the only thing she wanted to consider since the alternatives were much worse.
Hoping that he was just waiting for her to try to contact him, Willow spoke softly, “Nolan, can you hear me?”
There was no response.
“Nolan?”
The silence was entirely unsettling. As much as she wanted to find him, Willow was well aware that there was nothing she could do to help him. She stood up, thinking she might be able to get some information by striking up a conversation with someone. Then she remembered what she had in her pocket.
If I can get to a computer, I might be able to do something useful. Running around looking for Nolan would be foolish, but I might be able to find out where he is and plan another escape.
While she wasn’t an expert in tech, Willow never had a problem finding things, whether they were people or digital images.
She figured it was best to seem to be normal, so the young woman left the room, the trash held tightly in her hand. Every so often, she looked at a map to find her way back to the cafeteria to throw it away and maybe learn a bit more about the facility. Lunch was long over when she finally got back to the room, but there were still a few latecomers, and she decided to approach a couple of them.
“Excuse me.” Her voice was so low they almost didn’t hear her.
The initial confusion soon cleared up when they turned around and saw her.
“Oh, hello,” one of the men said. Wisps of hair were brushed across his balding head, and she thought he must be in his forties or fifties.
The other man looked like a tech bro.
Bingo , she thought.
“Hello there,” he said, a smarmy grin spreading across his face. “You must be new.”
She forced a smile and looked down. “Guilty.” This got a laugh before she said, “I’m afraid I’m a little turned around and can’t find my way back to my office.”
The tech bro hopped up. “I can help you get back. See you tomorrow, Chuck.” He didn’t look back, and Willow heard the man muttering behind them as they left. The guy walked in front of her and talked over his shoulder. “What’s your name?”
“Um, Sam. Well, Samantha.”
“Ah, you're one of those women who wants to be modern, huh? You're too pretty to use a man’s name. Stick with Samantha, babe. You’ll be much better off for it.”
There wasn’t much to say, so she replied, “Okay.”
Then he launched into a long spiel about something that she didn’t understand until they reached the IT section.
“Oops,” the man chuckled. “Looks like I brought you back to my place. Why don’t you come in and I’ll show you around.”
“You don’t have to share an office?”
“Not someone as important as me. Come on and I’ll show where the real power of Apex Inc. rests.”
For the next couple of hours, Willow was able to mostly sit back and let the man tell her a lot about the systems, including security. She asked about a row of laptops, and he told her how he had set them all up on his own, getting ready for a large group of new hires for some project. As he rambled on about other areas, Willow kept him talking about things near the laptops, and while he was busy pointing things out and enjoying his own voice, she slid one of the laptops into a company bag. She lifted it and kept the bag tucked behind her and out of sight as he continued to show her around the large IT area. Since he droned on and on for hours, there was no chance that she would be able to remember everything. She took mental notes on the things she knew would be important. It was clear when he was done because the guy got far too close to her and started trying to touch her.
Her eyes caught the time on one of the computer screens, and she let out a gasp. “I’m so sorry, but I have to get going! I have a meeting that started a few minutes ago!”
“Here, I’ll walk you back, and then maybe you can give me your number, and I can get your thoughts on this place.”
“Thanks, but I really need to get right to the meeting room, so I’ll probably have to run.” She opened the door, and when it looked like he was going to follow, she said, “I really appreciate the help and I would hate to take up any more of your time. I know where I am now, so I might be able to make it. See you tomorrow.” She held the bag in front of her so that he wouldn’t notice that she had managed to swipe it.
She hurried out the door. As soon as she was in the hall, Willow began running, then took the first corner she encountered as the man called after her. It was funny, but he hadn’t bothered to learn anything about her beyond her first name, not even the fake job. He had been perfect.
It was just after 4 o’clock, and she hoped that people had already left for the day so that she could hole up in an office for a bit. The IT guy had told her all about the security guards and systems on the floor, and it was a lot easier to get around than the floor below her.
When she found an empty office with the computers turned off, Willow ducked into it and started trying to reach Nolan.
“Nolan, what’s going on?”
There was a faint reply, and it sounded like he was mumbling.
“Are you okay?”
The words seemed largely incoherent, but eventually one word was clear.
“Leave.”
Then the link seemed to disappear.
“No, no, no. I’m not just going to leave you here. You didn’t leave me, so I’m not going to leave you.”
Knowing that she wasn’t going to be able to use her powers, Willow took a deep breath and steeled herself to return to the lower levels.
Willow’s outfit looked like normal office wear, but it wasn’t going to work once she got to the lower levels. Sitting down at one of the computers, she used a backdoor entrance to the computer. It was hardly a serious hack since she had learned to use it when she was still a child, and her parents denied her access to computers to finish her reports. The fact that it still worked was disconcerting on a larger scale, but for what she needed, it was perfect.
The problem was that she didn’t know the software at all, so finding anything was difficult. She also noted that what was available on this computer was different from the other two that she had used.
It’s got to be about departments and access. I have no idea how to wade through all of this, and there’s probably a good chance that this person doesn’t have access to what I need anyway. I almost wish I could go back to the IT guy.
She stopped typing and then shook her head.
I’m not desperate, and I’m sure I’ll think of something.
Unable to find anything of value, she decided to download whatever she could. Sure enough, there were thumb drives in this new office as well. As strange as it was, Willow didn’t dwell on it too long. She had no idea what would be useful, so she filled up as many as she could. When the drive was full, she ejected it and shoved it into the laptop bag. She also added the drives that were in her pockets, and by the time Willow finished filling all of the drives she could find, the pockets of the bag were bulging.
There was nothing left for her to do but to find Nolan and try to get out of the facility. She didn’t have much of a plan, but she knew that he was back on a floor that was not open to all staff. That meant her only option for her next task was to return to the lower levels.