Chapter 4 - THE TWELVEThe footsteps came slowly.
One.
Two.
Three.
Every officer raised his weapon.
Pavel whispered:
"Nobody moves."
The people in the room looked terrified.
Not of the police.
Of whatever was above them.
The little girl covered her ears.
Stefan grabbed Lidia.
"How many?"
Pavel asked.
Stefan answered:
"Enough."
"What is that?"
Stefan looked at him.
"You really don't know?"
"No."
Stefan's voice dropped.
"They're the reason those people disappeared."
Pavel aimed his flashlight at the ceiling.
Dust fell through a crack.
Another footstep.
Then another.
"How many people are in this facility?"
Stefan laughed bitterly.
"This facility?"
He looked at the walls.
"It's bigger than the ship."
"What?"
"The ship is only the entrance."
A woman stepped forward.
"My husband was taken here."
Pavel looked at her.
"Who?"
"Daniel Marin."
Pavel knew the name.
Daniel had disappeared fifteen years earlier.
Official cause of death:
Drowning.
No body.
No witnesses.
The woman continued:
"They told me he was dead."
Stefan shook his head.
"He wasn't."
"Where is he?"
Stefan pointed toward another passage.
"Some are still alive."
Pavel felt his stomach turn.
"Some?"
Stefan didn't answer.
A crash came from above.
The entire ceiling trembled.
Then the people began shouting.
"Close the door!"
"Close it!"
"Don't let them see us!"
Pavel looked toward the corridor.
"Who?"
Nobody answered.
Then the old man spoke.
"The collectors."
Pavel frowned.
"Collectors?"
"They don't kidnap people to ransom them."
"Then why?"
The old man stared directly into Pavel's eyes.
"They collect memories."
Silence.
Pavel almost laughed.
But nobody else did.
Stefan stepped forward.
"Not memories the way you think."
He pointed toward the wall.
"The people they take have seen something."
"What?"
"A system."
"What system?"
Stefan looked at Lidia.
She lowered her head.
Then Stefan said:
"For thirty years, people in this region have been disappearing."
Pavel nodded.
"That is not news."
"No. What's new is why."
Another sound came from above.
Scratching.
Stefan continued:
"They aren't killing people randomly."
"They are selecting them."
"Why?"
"Because they need witnesses."
Pavel stared.
"To what?"
Stefan's eyes hardened.
"To a massacre."
The lights suddenly returned.
Everyone looked toward the corridor.
A red light was blinking.
At the far end.
One of the rescued prisoners whispered:
"They've opened Door Seven."
Pavel raised his weapon.
"What's Door Seven?"
The prisoner began crying.
"It holds the ones who remember."
Then a distant scream echoed through the underground passage.
A woman's scream.
Followed by another.
Then dozens.
May you like
And Stefan whispered:
"They're coming."
