A Bad Day at Work

[SenKa]

On 4/19/2019 at 12:06 PM, Radium_Angel said:

Heh, would love to, but can't do it here. What I"m considering is perhaps set up some kind of group PM for those that are interested in hearing it.

I too am intrigued. Start a group message in DM's and tell us your story. Or discord, im sure all of us here have one.

[Radium_Angel]

4 hours ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

I too am intrigued. Start a group message in DM's and tell us your story. Or discord, im sure all of us here have one.

I don't use discord...and pardon the ignorance, what's a group DM? 

[SenKa]

5 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I don't use discord...and pardon the ignorance, what's a group DM? 

Starting a chat with more than 1 person using the DM function on LTT

[Radium_Angel]

Well since they knew I was here, no sense in being quiet about it. I grabbed everything that wasn’t nailed down and shoved it against the door. Tables, chairs, the fridge, the microwave and yes, even the trashcan. I figured that would hold them off for some time while I try to figure out what to do next.

 

Trouble was, what was I going to do? The room is a dead end, and although the fridge has some leftovers in it, it won’t last forever, and those things out there aren’t going to wait for me to starve to death either. I slid down to the floor my back against the cabinets, and tried to think. The noises from outside the room weren’t making it easy and the head monster’s insistence that I open the door right now wasn’t helping.

 

“Piss off you lot!” I shouted at them, “I’m not coming out of here.”

 

“Then we’ll have no choice but to come in, Mr. Cartier.”

 

His continued use of my surname was starting to piss me off. Fear was being replaced by anger. What did I do to deserve this? Why me? A thousand thoughts ran through my head, my mind running is so many directions I failed to notice it had gotten quiet outside.

 

All that paperwork I sorted and sifted through showed me that monsters existed, and had veiled themselves in the cloak of society. They manipulated stocks, bonds, became CEOs, and on occasion, ate people who got too close to the truth. I had been hired to find out how sloppy they’d been, how easy it was for someone to pick up on their actions. I’d put all my notes down on paper, cross referenced and indexed. Papers that were now scattered on the hallway floor somewhere out there.

 

Now I had a new problem on my hands. I needed to get my notes before I left here. I needed them to prove to the authorities what was going on, and to blow the lid off this. This would be a world-changing event and I….

 

….felt something gently bump the cabinet door I was sitting against. That’s when I noticed it had gone quiet outside, but something was moving under the sink area. I leapt up to my feet, grabbed a chair and nudged open the cabinet door. A single tentacle was had somehow squeezed itself past the plumbing and through the gap in the wall, and was slowing trying to find a larger way through.

 

Suddenly my kitchen didn’t seem so secure. I closed the door, grabbed the microwave from the pile, and shoved it in front of the cabinet door. It wasn’t going to hold for long and I was running out of options fast. I couldn’t go through the door; something would be waiting for me there. Bashing down the drywall would give them plenty of notice of my intentions, so that was out. The drawers only held plastic cutlery so that option was denied me as well.

 

I heard the microwave begin to slide away from the door; two pale tentacles reached out and explored the surrounding cabinet faces. I kicked at one and they retreated. I shoved the microwave back against the door and tried to jam in the chair I was holding. I couldn’t find a good purchase for the chair so that wasn’t a permanent solution.

 

Just then I heard a mighty crash and the fridge fell over. Tables and chairs went flying off the makeshift barricade and the door splintered. As soft and pustulous as I thought these creatures were, I’d clearly underestimated their strength. In moments the barricade would crumble and I’d be finished. There was only one choice.

[Radium_Angel]

Up.

 

I scrambled, as quietly as I could, to the top of the fridge. It was just the right height for me to push up a tile and grab the support beam above it. I hauled myself up, and slid the tile back in place just as the fridge fell over and the barricade was broken.

 

Above the ceiling it was darker than before, but without walls to obstruct my movement I could make better time. I still had to be quiet and I knew my escape would be detected shortly, but any head start was better than none. I picked a direction away from the kitchen and started crawling from support beam to support beam.

 

Behind me I could hear the crashing of furniture as the creatures tore the kitchen apart looking for me. It wouldn’t be long now before they realized where I had gone. Off to my left was the cement column that had to house the stairwell. While I couldn’t get into the stairwell I could put it between me and the creatures. That alone might buy me some more time. A scampered over there just in time. As I ducked out of sight of the kitchen area the tiles erupted in a flurry of dust and tentacles. I could hear shrieks of rage as once again I’d escaped their grasp.

 

They were mighty pissed tough, from the sounds of the violence going on in the kitchen area. Tiles were shredded, lighting fixtures were torn from their mountings, even the support beams were dented in rage. Not caring about the sounds I made now and more than likely all that anger would mask any sound I might make, I leaned down, moved a tile and took a peek at what was below.

 

An empty hallway, good enough for me. I positioned myself feet first, and let go of the beam. I landed a little harder than I expected, but with nothing broken and more importantly no thing around, I could make my escape a proper one. A quick look around showed me the door to the stairwell. I pushed my way into the stairwell and carefully closed the door with a minimum of noise.

 

After that my choice was easy, down a few flights of stairs to the lobby, and then out to freedom. The concrete stairs echoed quite a bit, so I took off my dress shoes and descended in my socks. I heard nothing above me, no crashing, or opening of doors, but I wasn’t about to squander my lead. At each level was a spray-painted number telling me which floor I was reaching. I ducked by the window at the fire doors and kept going down.

 

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, heading down many flights of stairs is just as exhausting as going up. By the time I reached the 8^th floor, my feet hurt and I was winded. By the time I’d hit the 4^th floor, I was walking, and when the numbers ran out and the “L” appeared, I’d been limping. But my energy returned when I realized how close I was to escaping.

 

A careful look through the door window revealed a deserted lobby. Indirect lighting illuminated the plants in an artistic fashion, and the tile floor gleamed from the stray light. The moon was up, a full moon I noticed and just outside of the lobby I could see people walking to and fro, absorbed in their own business.

 

Just then I heard a door slam open and a very enraged thing scream my name. I pushed hard on the door and it didn’t budge. It was then I realized it was locked electronically, and I had no key.

[Radium_Angel]

I pushed again on the door. Nothing. I slammed into it with all my strength. It didn’t budge.

 

“CARTIER!”

 

Yup, they were coming.  Well, no more need to subtleties.  I slipped on my shoes, and ran down the stairwell. From a brief glance down it looked like there were four or five more subfloors, parking garages was my guess, before I’d run out of luck. I had 16 floors between me and them, and I didn’t think they’d be able to move that fast down the stairs, so I’d have some time.

 

“YOUR SUFFERING WILL BE LEGENDARY!” the creature bellowed.

 

I wanted to shout back a witty retort and almost did, but better they not know how far down I was, so I bit my lip and kept moving. Naturally all the doors had electronic locks on them, but out of sheer desperation I tried each one anyway. None opened not even registering a slight budge. Built like a bank vault it seemed. I could only imagine the strength needed to push one of these doors open.  But I’m guessing a monster probably had strength to spare.

 

And how did monsters keep their strength up? Go to the gym? Jazzercise? I could see it now…

 

“Excuse me good sir, but are you done with those 10 barbell sets? I need to get a few reps in.”

 

But there I go again, my mind wandering while I go through the motions of running to save my life.

B1 was locked, as was B2, B3, and B4. On B4 was a sign that said “No further entry beyond this point.”

 

Yeah, like that was going to stop me. One last flight of stairs and then my goose was well and truly cooked.

 

On B5 the stairs ended in a concrete patio. A single door had a sign above it “Entry Prohibited.”

But thank god no electronic lock, just a simple handle which turned easily.

 

Inside was one enormous room, hot enough to cook my goose well and truly proper. Boiler room I realized immediately. Lots of great places to hide but probably very few escape routes, and of course the door couldn’t lock from the inside. To delay entry, I started another makeshift barricade with whatever I could find down here, more chairs, a table, power tools, spare parts, a toolbox.

 

Wait! A toolbox! That might have some useful things inside. Quickly I dumped out the contents. An enormous plumber’s wrench hit the dirty concrete with a thud. This was just the tool I needed. It was heavy as sin, off balance for swinging, and would require two hands to wield effectively but my mood brightened considerably just by picking it up. Thus armed, I shoved what I could against the door and set to exploring the room.

 

The further in I got the hotter it got and I started sweating rapidly. Apparently they didn’t turn off the boilers at night. As heavily insulated as they were, I could still feel the heat pouring off the pipes.  I noticed a sprinkler system positioned above the boilers, giving me some ideas to use against those creatures.

 

I started formulating a plan and finding the tools to implement it, when I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks.

[Radium_Angel]

A service elevator waited at the far end of the room, doors open. This was just the escape route I needed. The elevator would bypass all the locked doors, and get me to the lobby without delay. I dropped my plans for an ambush, and instead shoved every piece of furniture and parts that I could find, up against the front door.

 

Sure it wouldn’t hold them, but it wouldn’t have to. Just enough to slow them down and more importantly, keep them occupied while I slip out the back.  Satisfied the door was suitably barricaded, I grabbed the wrench and headed to the elevator. Just in case something was lurking in the shaft waiting to pounce, I tossed in a bucket first. Hey, my folks didn’t raise an idiot. Well, technically I am an idiot, but it’s not my folks’ doing, it’s not their fault I ignored much of their advice…

 

…mind, wandering. Right, focus Cartier, focus!

 

In went the bucket, clattered a bit on the floor, and rolled to a stop. No hideous being jumped out to swallow it, no tentacles oozed out of the corners to attack, nothing. So, safe in my assumption the creatures were still coming down the stairs, I strode into the elevator and punched the “L” button.

 

“L” for lobby of course.

 

In a too-loud voice, the elevator chimed “Please stand back, the doors are closing. Please stand back the doors are closing.”

 

“I know they’re closing damnit! Close already!” I said

 

Naturally, the doors didn’t close, the elevator just repeated its far too cheerful and loud mantra. In an attempt to get things going, I repeatedly stabbed the “close front door” button.  I was beginning to think the elevator didn’t run on the weekends, or I’d missed some secret button, when, seemingly reluctantly, the doors closed with a crash, and the elevator rose slowly.

 

I wondered if it would help if I got out and pushed.

 

An eternity later, the elevator smoothly stopped, and opened its doors to the lobby. Not the lobby I glimpsed from the stairwell, but it did have the same design look about it, so I was just in another area. A small trash room for that matter. Large drums were neatly placed and ready for use, workplace signs hung on the wall regarding safety and health, and a set of double doors at one end lead elsewhere.

 

Naturally, the doors were locked by an electronic key. No amount of shoving would get them to open. What is this place? Fort Knox? I got back on to the elevator, and pushed “1”.

While the elevator was singing its mantra about closing doors, I line popped into my head from an old video game I’d played as a kid.

 

"You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike" 

 

Indeed. It was a lot like those old games, where you had to go up to level 3 to get down to level 1 to escape. Well no matter, I was good at playing video games. As long as I could stay ahead of those foul creatures, I would play spelunker all day. Or night, as it so happened to be.

 

If only my luck wouldn’t keep running out.

[Radium_Angel]

The elevator stopped at the 1^st floor and chimed open. Immediately I could tell I wasn’t alone. There was a smell in the air of something recently dead. I was debating what to do, when the elevator made my choice for me.

 

“Please stand back, the doors are closing. Please stand back, the doors are closing.”

 

I heard sounds of ripping fabric and crashing furniture and knew my presence had been betrayed. Something was making a bee-line towards the elevator and if I didn’t think fast…

 

Quickly I punched the top floor button and held down the “door close” button. Thankfully that seemed to do the trick, and the door ceased its incessant chiming and started closing the doors. Barreling around the corner came one of those things, all teeth and claws, slavering and howling with anger.

 

It wasn’t fast enough to catch the doors as they slammed shut, but that didn’t stop it from plowing into the doors at full speed. The outer doors dented and metal shrieked as the creature frantically tore at the doors to get at me. The elevator held and began a shaky ascent to the top floor.

 

They knew where I was now and no doubt had alerted the others. This would be my last ride in this elevator. Sooner or later they’d set a trap for me and there’d be no escape. But one ride straight to the top would be all I needed. There were no lights on the outside of the elevator,  so no indication of which way it went, and if I was lucky and their hearing was off (I know, whole lot of ‘if’ there) then I’d just bought myself some time.

 

A nonstop ride to the top deposited me into an unfinished floor. The outer walls were glassed off, and the support structures were in place, but finished drywall was only in a few sections. Sawhorses and other tools of the trade were scattered about. Having watched a few movies in my time, I used a nearby hammer to jam the freight elevator doors open. This would keep them from using it and maybe, just maybe, provide me an escape route in a pinch.

 

I started my exploration of the top floor. Not much here other than worklights, exposed wiring and open junction boxes. Some leftover food was in the break room but otherwise, very little useful to me. While I explored, a few things did come to mind:

 

(1)    The area, being unfinished, wouldn’t have the electronic locks in place yet. This could work to my advantage

(2)    Judging from the view over the city, I was a long way up. If those things had to explore each floor, I could be safe here for some time while I figure things out.

(3)    Unless they started at the top, in which case I had very little time at all.

 

So, a few options open to me. Stairs up to the roof, though currently I couldn’t see that as a viable option. Play cat and mouse with the freight elevator until they slipped up and I could get passed them somehow. 

 

Or….

 

…go totally for broke, and use the normal elevator. A quick peek showed me it was on the top floor and ready to be used. A straight shot down would dump me to the lobby, with no locks in my way. All I’d need to do was to distract the creatures so they wouldn’t think I was where I was. Piece of cake right?

[Radium_Angel]

Right. Distractions. What I needed was a good distraction. I looked about the floor for something, anything I could use, but there didn’t seem to be anything useful. With a sigh, and a bit of fear, I entered the normal elevator and pushed “L.” The doors began to close…

 

…when I jumped out, holding the doors open. A thought struck me. Or more directly, a line from a movie:

 

“Welcome to the party, pal!”

 

What better way to distract them than shove something heavy out the top floor?

 

Quickly I grabbed a chair and shoved it in between the normal elevator doors. I was going to need it for later and I was going to need it here and ready. Recalling back to how the lobby was laid out, I figured the northwest side would be as far away from the elevator exits as I could get. Something heavy crashing at terminal velocity would provide a perfect distraction.

 

Gathering up tools and supplies, I piled them near the window I was going to smash out. My intention was to break the window and throw as much stuff out as possible. The creatures would have several options; check out the top floor, where I’d be long gone by the time they got here, or head outside to see what was going on, and possibly risk being seen. Either way, they’d be distracted long enough for me to finally get out of this rat maze.

 

I grabbed an uncut 2x4 and swung it like Babe Ruth against the window…

 

…and nearly broke my arm from the bounceback.

What the hell? The glass had not a scratch on it! I tried again with a chair and only succeeded in bruising my wrist further. What kind of building was this where the glass was armoured? Who in the world needs an armoured penthouse?

 

Well, apparently the CEO of LHP does. Makes me kind of wonder what they really do here, aside from eating quasi failed students that is. Well, no matter, there was still the roof access, I could toss things from up there, but I’d have to be a bit quicker about it.

 

Locating the stairs leading up, I hefted the dented chair over my shoulder and, after bracing the door open, made my way up the stairs. True to form there was another door at the top, but my luck held and the electronic lock wasn’t active.  Beyond the door was something I had not expected to see. It was the elevator control room. This sort of changed everything.

 

I did mention I was somewhat of a loser in college right? The main problem was that classes just didn’t interest me all that much. Having fun, and getting into trouble, which were usually one and the same, were more interesting to me. This control room provided me with all the trouble I could handle.

 

I set the chair down and started exploring. It was wonderful, everything was here to make my diversion that much more interesting.

 

And by interesting, I meant explosive. Oh yes, this is where Nathaniel Cartier finally turns the tables on these horrific beings.

[NeuesTestament]

What's happening? I can't see a thing

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, NeuesTestament said:

What's happening? I can't see a thing

My posts are not showing up?

[NeuesTestament]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

My posts are not showing up?

Nah, I was hoping someone gets this legendary quote from the greates game of all time.

[Radium_Angel]

24 minutes ago, NeuesTestament said:

Nah, I was hoping someone gets this legendary quote from the greates game of all time.

It's dark, you are likely to be eaten by a Grue

[Radium_Angel]

As I expected to find, the construction crews had hidden away their bottles of booze, smokes, gasoline for the worklight generator and a few other odds and ends they didn’t want their supervisors finding. Also up here were several small drums of roofing tar. In short, everything I needed to make some heck of a diversion. When I was finished piling all this in the freight elevator, London was going to get their own 4^th of July celebration, right in the middle of June.

 

I carried everything useful down to the freight elevator and piled it in. The generator went first, the metal conduits  next, every light bulb I could spare, all the sawdust I could sweep up, various tools, anything metal, and all the wood I could carry. I slathered the whole mess with the roofing tar, and spread around all boxes of nails and screws I found. Finally, I poured all the gasoline over everything.

 

My distraction was now set. I went back to the elevator control room to figure out the controls. I needed to override the braking system on the freight elevator and if possible, make the passenger one a one-way trip to the 1^st floor with no stops in between. The plan was to set the freight elevator on fire and release it, so it would go slamming into the basement and hopefully explode in the process. That should sow enough confusion so I could use the passenger elevator to make my escape.

 

Okay so it sounds like I know what I’m doing, all secret agent and stuff, but the reality was I’d only played around with elevator controls once in college. It had gotten me suspended. But the theory was sound right? Well the controls here were much more modern than what I was used to playing with, and it took me far longer than I was comfortable with to actually find the brake controls and disengage them. Once I unjammed the doors, nothing was going to stop it. I could hear the freight elevator groaning from the strain of having the brakes disengaged. I got up and grabbed the portable blowtorch I was going to use…

 

…and came face to face with one of them.

 

“You’ve been most resourceful Mr. Cartier, but your playtime is over, we have found you.”

 

I saw only one of the hideous things, “We?”

 

The creature looked uncertain, realizing it was alone. It opened its mouth to scream and I shoved the lit torch into its misshapen face, while trying to kick it down the stairs. The creature flailed and tried to recoil from the fire, but it was too late. The shreds of clothing it wore caught fire and my kick sent it spiraling down the stairs. I heard a vicious crack at the bottom of its fall and while it thrashed a bit, I knew it had a broken neck.

 

Gingerly I stepped over it and headed straight for the flammable pile. If one had found me, then others might make the same connection and head here before I was ready.

 

Already I could see the elevator shifting and grating, as the doors struggled to hold open the elevator. What I needed to do was start the generator and then light up the pile before sending it on its way. The trouble is I couldn’t reach the start button without stepping into the elevator, and even a gingerly step sent shudders through it.

 

Oh boy, that generator was the lynchpin to all this, if I couldn’t get it running then my distraction may turn into a dud. Slowly, as lightly as I could, I stepped another foot into the elevator. It groaned and shifted ominously. I leaned forward as much as I dared, and reached out for the button.

[Bouzoo]

This is more of an LTT blog material if we're honest. 

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, Bouzoo said:

This is more of an LTT blog material if we're honest. 

Fair enough.

I'll stop posting

[Tog Driver]

On April 26, 2019 at 7:40 AM, Radium_Angel said:

Fair enough.

I'll stop posting

Uh, I'm interested now. Where are you continuing this?

 

and I think DM stands for Direct Message?

[thedemoncowboy]

Keep trucking!

[Glinch]

Ok, Hunter S. Thompson. You might not like your job, but it won't kill you, and you'll appreciate your free time much more.