Page 53 of Fighting Gravity
I reached a bend in the vent and was able to get on my hands and knees, but instead, I slumped on my side and went quiet, breath heaving. I didn’t hear anything for a while and wondered if I was just going mad. Maybe I was paranoid and my judgment was off.
But then a hauntingly deep chuckle echoed through the passage and hit me like a cold bucket of water, making me bristle.
“Flee, little human,” he spoke, that strange vibration carrying on his voice. “It doesn’t matter to me because I will catch you.”
I bit my lip, resisting the urge to shout insults at him. “So, you’re awake, huh?” I said instead.
“Awake,” he said. “And a bit angry that you defied me.”
“Oh, I’m defying you? I thought what you said about escaping was more like friendly advice rather than a warning.”
“Oh, it was a warning. Now that you’re on the run, I’m not sure if I can control myself. I said there would be consequences.”
“Right. Oops. Where’s the rest of your crew?”
“On a much-deserved vacation. It’s just you and me.”
“Joy.”
“Come out before you give me too much time to think of what I’m going to do with you. I can get very creative.”
“I think I’ll pass. I have plans.”
“You know you can’t hide from me.”
“I’ve been succeeding so far. Why don’t you come in here and get me?”
“No, I think I’ll wait until you come out here.”
“Ok, well, have fun.”
Not my best comeback, but my pulse was out of control and distracting the hell out of me. I rolled over and continued crawling, looking to get as deep as I could inside the ventilation. For a while, I started to worry about how I’d get my food. How I’d continue working on my transport. If Norm was onto me, then he was planning to catch me and I was more than certain he could wait me out longer than I could him.
After an hour or so of trying to plot my next move in the bowls of that giant cruiser-turned-warship, I started to sweat. Nervous sweats, no doubt. Stress sweats.
Only it just kept getting worse.
And worse.
And a whole lot worse.
When the metal walls of the shaft started to feel warm to the touch, I realized what Norm was doing. That fucking bastard was turning up the heat. Literally. The idea of baking in a tiny, claustrophobic space wasn’t very appealing, but I endured as long as I could until the heat made it hard to breathe.
“Fuck!” I exclaimed, heading for an exit.
The closest one was back in the storage room where I’d made my escape in the first place, but as soon as I kicked off the vent cover, there he was, marching into the room. I slid back into the small space as he crouched, peering into my little tunnel. The way he was backlit made only his silhouette visible. He was like a freaking demon from hell, his eerie laugh only amplifying that analogy.
“Beginning to sweat?” he said, his voice trailing after me as I scurried in the opposite direction.
“Fuck you!” I barked.
The next exit was along a wall in what I thought was just a random hallway, but I heard his footsteps as soon as I approached the vent cover and spun to go in the opposite direction. That time, something slammed into the side of the vent wall. Hard.
“Come out, Quinn!” Norm shouted, shoving something into the wall again.
Ok… so that got my heart racing a little.
I started thinking about what he’d do to me if he got a hold of me and that made me want to keep avoiding him. But then again, the longer I avoided him, the more furious he became.
