Weekly Drabble #237: Alarm Will Sound (Patreon)

This week's drabble prompts are 'escape hatch' from Sam C and 'at the door' from Pethrai D'arkos, giving us a short little ditty about two children playing hide and seek, Enjoy!

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Alarm will Sound:

The thing that wasn’t Daddy trudged up the corridor, the head of the fire axe it held in one clenched fist scraping across the metal floor. Milky eyes turned this way and that as the thing that wasn’t Daddy murmured wordlessly, occasionally scratching at its matted brown beard, sticky with bits of Mr. Larson.

Daniel was hiding under Mr. Larson’s desk, his little sister held tight in his arms, his left palm over Steph’s mouth, but she’d stopped crying. He didn’t take his hand away, though. She was shaking in terror and they were both sitting in a pool of urine from when she’d wet herself. She’d been so embarrassed that she’d almost started crying again, but he’d held onto her and told it was all right. If he’d had to go, he probably would have done the same.

He could hear the thing that wasn’t Daddy pass by the room, the axe scraping and feet shuffling. Daniel didn’t cry. He was too scared to do anything but hold onto Steph and hope the thing that wasn’t Daddy ignored them.

Step. Step. Step. The thing that wasn’t Daddy kept going. Daniel almost let out a sigh of relief until he heard it stop. It shuffled around. Step, scrape. Scrape, step. It was coming back. Steph made a terrified little moan that Daniel’s hand silenced as the thing that wasn’t Daddy paused in the doorway. It huffed and drooled and then it stepped inside.

Daniel had to hold very tight to Steph to stop her from squirming or running away, the children peering out from under the bottom of the desk, watching the thing that wasn’t Daddy’s feet traipse into the office. This was where Mommy and Mr. Larson had worked and both children had frequently visited while their father was away, working on ‘the project’. Right now, it was the only hiding spot they knew, huddled beneath Mr. Larson’s desk and trying very hard not to be noticed.

The thing that wasn’t Daddy snorted and huffed as it lurched through the room, circumnavigating desks and chairs, heavy footfalls squelching on the deck. It continued to mumble to itself, words and phrases that didn’t make any sense, like they’d been pulled from other conversations and stitched back together. It was coming closer, searching each nook and cranny as it did so.

If they didn’t move, it would find them. Daniel looked at his sister and pantomimed them crawling around the desk. She understood what he was asking, and why. She could hear the thing that wasn’t Daddy getting closer, too. Her eyes wide, she nodded into his hand and he slowly took it away. She was pale with terror, but she didn’t make a sound as she rolled onto her hands and knees, looking over her shoulder and waiting for his signal.

The stench of blood and something much, much worse than blood thickened in the air, overwhelming the acrid smell of urine. Daniel felt his stomach writhe, but he refused to throw up, not least of which because it would doom Steph and him. The thing that wasn’t Daddy’s footsteps was very close now. There was a clatter as it swept everything off one of the other tables. Steph bit her lip to keep from crying out. She looked over her shoulder, trembling. Daniel put a hand on her back to try and calm her down. If they moved too soon, it would see them.

The footsteps got closer... closer... it was standing right next to the desk now. Daniel clapped his sister on the back and the children scooted around the desk as the thing that wasn’t Daddy circled the other side of it with its heavy, uneven pace. It stopped at the back of the desk. Daniel heard its teeth click rapidly as it knelt down, snuffing the space that they’d just been hiding within. It grunted then, thumping the head of the axe against the floor.

Daniel caught up to Steph, putting an arm over her shoulders as the thing that wasn’t Daddy stood back up. It let out a hideous groan as it stood over the desk, knowing that the children had been here. After several moments, it stalked towards the back of the room. More crashes followed as it threw everything off Mommy’s desk, hurling her chair away as if it expected to find them hiding there. When it didn’t, the thing that wasn’t Daddy let out another long, wet sigh before shifting back into nonsense verse and soft-spoken sentence fragments. It tromped back out of the room, pausing only briefly at Mr. Larson’s desk to sweep papers and data discs off in frustration.

Steph stayed quiet, though she’d gone completely pale and even Daniel had to struggle not to give in to his own absolute terror. If he’d been alone, he probably would have, but he had to look out for Steph. That was the last thing Mommy had told him. Look out for your little sister.As the thing that wasn’t Daddy trudged around the desk, the children kept it between them and the thing, scooting back underneath the furniture, ignoring the cold wetness on the floor.

Step, scrape. Scrape, step. The thing that wasn’t Daddy headed back out of the room and Daniel felt his heart beat slow from frenetic to merely rapid. They weren’t safe here. It would come back and if it didn’t, one of the others would. He thought he could hear them even now, more voices out in the hallway. But where could they go? There was only one way in or out of these offices and with the thing that wasn’t Daddy just outside, they couldn’t get out.

In desperation, he looked around, then froze as he saw their mother’s desk. He remembered that she’d asked for the desk furthest back from the doors, because one of the heating vents was there. He patted Steph on the arm as he crawled out far enough that he could see around Mom’s desk. The station was a big place and it needed large air vents; they ran between the walls, up and down every level. You could get almost anywhere with them. This vent was floor level, its grated covering too small for an adult to squeeze into... but not one of the cleaner zooms... or a child.

He had a plan. Carefully, he rose up to his knees, keeping one eye on the doorway as he slowly opened the second drawer on Mr. Larson’s desk. The first was where he kept the candy, but neither of the children needed that right now. In among the various writing implements was a small set toolkit and Daniel pulled it out. Inside was what he’d been hoping to find; a screwdriver. “We’re going to get out of here,” he told Steph, pitching his voice low. “But you’re going to have to do a big girl thing. Can you do that?”

She bit her lip, then nodded.

“Good,” he told her, handing her the screwdriver. “You know how to use this – remember when Ms. Canci showed us?”

She nodded again.

“Good. I need you to go over to that vent and take the screws out. We’re going to get out that way.”

Her mouth opened, but she stifled her frightened whimper when Daniel put a finger to her lips. “You can do it. You have to do it because I’ll be going up to the front of the room to lock the door.”

He didn’t know how it was possible for Steph’s eyes to keep better bigger, but they did. She shook her head and grabbed his wrist. “No no no no...” she said in her frightened little voice.

Daniel gently pulled out of her grip. “I’ll be careful,” he promised. “But I have to do it. The screwdriver is going to make noise and that will alert Da- the things out there. I have to lock the doors, but once I do, that will alert them too. We have to do both at the same time. You understand?” He had to be the one to lock the doors. There wasn’t any cover towards the front of the room and if he was spotted, he was dead. At least this way, Steph had a chance of escaping.

Steph’s eyes were tearing up and she wiped them with the back of one hand. “Yes,” she finally told him.

“You can do this, right?”

She nodded, holding the screwdriver like it was a cherished stuffed animal. “Yes.”

“Good. Go on over there. Signal when you’ve got the right piece in the screwdriver and then I’ll go up to the front of the room. Once I do that, I’ll give you a signal and you start taking those screws out, okay?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” he repeated, tussling her hair. “If anything happens, you just start without me and get into the vents, okay?” If the thing that was Daddy comes after me, you have to get away.He couldn’t say that part. It would only scare her even more. “Don’t wait for me. You get in there and you hide until help comes, okay?”

She nodded, trying to look serious and determined. “Okay,” Daniel told her, after checking to make sure the thing that wasn’t Daddy hadn’t come back in. He could hear it, though, still just outside in the hallway. “Go on.”

Steph scurried out from under Mr. Larson’s desk, ducking back behind Mom’s. A moment passed, then another and another. Daniel was just about to check on her when she poked her head out and gave him a thumb’s up. He returned the gesture and then, steeling his courage, scuttled out in turn. His heart was pounding in his ears like a drum, so loud it seemed impossible that the thing that wasn’t Daddy couldn’t possibly fail to hear it, but he made his way closer and closer with every step, alert for the sounds of heavy feet and metal being dragged over metal. It was still so very close to the offices, and the voices in the hallway, the shuffling and scraping of other feet, was getting louder. Daniel knew he wouldn’t make it back into hiding without being spotted. This either worked, or he was dead.

Finally, he made it to the door without one of the things looking into the room and seeing him. He was struggling not to pant in fear, and looked back. Steph’s head was peeking over Mom’s desk, his sister waiting for his signal. He reached into his pockets for Mr. Larson’s keycard. He’d given it to Daniel before throwing himself at the thing that wasn’t Daddy. He held it up and signalled Steph. On three.

She nodded.

He held up one finger.

The thing that wasn’t Daddy’s mumbled and murmured from the hallway.

Daniel added a second finger.

The trudge of many other feet was so close now. Less than a moment before they spotted him.

Daniel raised all three digits, then swiped Mr. Larson’s card and hit ‘LOCK’. A few seconds later there was the whine of the screwdriver, almost immediately drowned out by the hoarse, wet bellow from the thing that wasn’t Daddy and the impact of something heavy against the door. It rattled in its frame as the thing outside yanked on the handle and then beat against it when it didn’t open. The boy was already running back to his sister, adrenaline fuelling his flight.

Then, there was the monstrously loud crash of the axe slamming into the door. The sound was so loud and so shocking that Daniel slipped, pulling himself back up to his feet as he darted to the far side of the room. Another crash and the thin metal door started to buckle. It was never intended to hold back any kind of assault and the thing that wasn’t Daddy was breaking it down with frenzied, furious strength, screaming in a way Daniel had never heard before.

Daniel skidded to a halt next to Steph. She’d gotten one of vent’s screws out already and just as her brother arrived, the second clunked to the floor. She moved on to the third as the thing that wasn’t Daddy smashed and battered at the door, shrieking incoherently as he hacked his way through it.

The third screw fell out. The door was almost down. More of them pushed on it, getting in each other’s way before the thing that wasn’t Daddy shoved and slapped them back. The axed smashed the hole in the door wider with every blow. They were almost through.

Then, the fourth was out. Little hands and fingers pulled at the vent, prying it from the wall. “Go!” Daniel shouted, pushing his sister in first. “Just go, just go!”

The door came down with a crash and roar of triumph as the thing that wasn’t Daddy and the others surged into the room, barrelling past – and over – the desks towards the children in crazed fury. Daniel scampered into the vent after Steph, hearing a reverberating thud as the axe slammed into the floor, only just missing his legs. Something grabbed his right foot and started to pull him out of the vent. Daniel screamed in fear as he looked into the wild, mad eyes of the thing that wasn’t Daddy. He was grinning in a violent rictus, blood in his beard and smeared over his mouth.

With his left leg, Daniel kicked the thing that wasn’t Daddy in the face as hard as he could, over and over until he felt his foot strike its nose, felt skin and cartilage shift and the thing that wasn’t Daddy let go in surprised pain. The reprieve would only last for seconds, and with a speed Daniel never knew he possessed he pulled himself back into the air vent, grasping fingers just barely missing him, the roar of the thing that used to be his father echoing through the ventilation shafts as the young boy and his sister fled from him as far and as fast as they could.

It was a long time before they stopped to finally catch their breath, holding onto each other in the darkened ventilation shafts, panting, terrified and safe...

...at least for now.