What Lies Beneath
By Shaun Burriss
It had been a long day at work.
The weather had been hot and humid, there had been a power outage recently which had killed several office machines, and we were approaching the busiest time of the year, with the fall semester drawing close. Hence why I had been at work until nearly 6PM wrapping things up and ensuring the carefully balanced house of cards that was my department didn’t fall apart tomorrow morning.
At least the office had air conditioning.
The outer hallway was oppressively muggy and I nearly choked on the stale air, feeling sweat break out on my brow nearly immediately. I didn’t know how the people who worked here could stand it, without any cooling. Presumably portable AC units, but it wasn’t really my problem. I called the elevator and leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes on the sunset. Soon I would be able to climb into my car and return home for a brief few hours’ respite before starting it all again the very next day.
Sometimes I wondered why I bothered.
The elevator clattered upwards, then slowed to a stop and opened its doors, revealing an empty car. Of course I would be the only passenger. Anyone else would have gone home by now. I selected the first floor and the doors trundled closed.
“Going down,” the elevator announced in a calm voice, shuddering into motion.
Beep. Fifth floor.
Beep. Fourth floor.
Beep. Third.
... Beep. Second.
...
... Beep. First.
The doors remained closed and the elevator refused to slow to a stop. Confused, I stepped away from the wall of the car and tried to remember how many beeps there had been. Perhaps I had miscounted.
Beep. Basement.
Beep. Sub-basement. This building didn’t have one.
Beep. S2? Why were the beeps getting faster?
Beep.
The elevator continued to rattle downwards at a slowly increasing rate as I paced the car in increasing anxiety. I pressed all the floor buttons again until they were all glowing, trying to get the elevator to stop, to reverse, to go back to the normal world. The door open and door close buttons did nothing, but I’m not convinced they ever had. Even the call 911 button had no effect. As a last attempt, I slid my fingers under the metal covering and pushed in the emergency stop.
The car jerked sideways briefly, and I heard a crashing noise from the shaft as I was thrown against the wall. Then the elevator started to slow.
Beep. What floor was this?
Beep. How deep was I?
... Beep. There’s no way the shaft went this far down.
...
... Beep. What would I find when the door opened?
...
...
... Beep. Would the door open? Were the lights dimming slightly?
...
...
...
... Ding.
The car shuddered to a stop and the voice came on the speaker. “████ level. Please exit the elevator.” The first word was garbled beyond recognition. The doors slid open.
The elevator’s lights were almost completely dark at this point, with the only illumination coming from the fruitlessly glowing floor buttons, taunting me with the idea that I could return to the normal world. I peered out into the total darkness outside the car, petrified as I listened to whatever lurked in just outside the timid light of the elevator buttons. I could hear it, slowly limping along outside the car. A wet slap and then a slimy dragging noise, repeated every few seconds with varying volume.
Ding. “Please exit the elevator.”
I stared into the darkness, trying to spot anything at all I could use to help navigate to something, anything that might help me escape. Nothing but a smooth concrete floor below and a smooth concrete ceiling above. I heard a slurping gulp from whatever was lurking nearby, followed by a resumption of its labored breathing.
Ding. “Please exit the elevator.”
The car lights blinked twice during the announcement and the speakers activated at a higher volume. Clearly the elevator was getting impatient. I still had one more trump card, however.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and stepped out of the car, finger hovering over the flashlight icon. The doors snapped closed, leaving me in the dark with the thing. I could hear it, excitedly slapping and sliding its way towards me. I held still in the dark for a moment longer than I would have thought possible, then I turned on the flashlight, pointed directly at the creature.
I caught a glimpse of a fleshy white mass, all dripping orifices and wetly feeling proto-limbs, before it let out a piercing shriek and my arms lost feeling. I saw my phone tumble from my hand and land face down on the floor, the light shining uselessly into the concrete.
I ran.
I ran for what felt like hours, until I came across a wall. After I picked myself off the floor, cradling my head and a bloody nose, I turned to the right and followed it, one hand along the smooth concrete and the other holding in as much blood as possible to avoid leaving a trail. I could still hear the thing in the distance, flapping around seemingly at random. At times it would sound closer and at others farther, but it never grew loud enough to be terrifyingly close.
The hours stretched on. The wall seemed never-ending. I walked unceasingly with a hand on the wall with no other plan and no other thoughts in my mind besides that of the white fleshy thing somewhere else in this room. I knew if it caught me, I would die. It was that simple. I had to keep following the wall. There was no other option, no other point of interest. Losing the wall meant death by curse of wandering in the darkened room forever.
Eventually I grew thirsty. I had no water. I grew hungry. I had no food. I found a second wall, connected to the first by a right angle. I followed the new wall.
Hours passed, possibly days. I grew stooped and weak, no longer confident in my connection with the wall. Sometimes my hand would drop away, not strong enough to support its own weight. I walked backwards for a while, using my other hand instead.
Finally, I reached the end of the wall. It just stopped, falling away into the air. I fumbled for the wall, tripping and falling to the floor. I crawled back. The wall was still there, but it still ended. There was empty darkness on the other side as well. I think I cried then. I cried until I had no more tears left to give, then exhaustedly fell into a half-sleep akin to death.
Later, I woke up again. I was achingly thirsty and maddeningly hungry. The wall still taunted me. I kicked it weakly and laughed, breaking the self-enforced silence. That great pale beast would almost be an improvement. I could hardly move, regardless.
Slap. Slide.
I could hear its heavy breathing approaching, some sort of mucus bubbling deep in its lungs. I wondered briefly what it would do when it arrived. I wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.
The footsteps grew closer and closer, until I could feel its breath hot on my face. It wrapped its fleshy tendrils around my broken body and lifted me gently off the ground. I think I screamed as it started its meal, beginning with the legs and working its way up. It had no teeth, but I think that made things worse.
Anomalous Object Report #627
Classification Code: D-OINN-HS
UUID: 0B72F8-94B-0627
Containment: Undercover agents posing as facilities personnel will access the elevator’s control systems every Thursday and disable the elevator at 17:57 local time, returning it to service at 18:03. No other containment procedures are deemed necessary at this time.
Description: Object #627 is an elevator located in the ███ ████████ building on the ████████ ████ ████ campus. The elevator will work normally most of the time, but on Thursday evenings between approximately 17:59 and 18:01 local time, calling the elevator with the “down” call button and entering the car alone will result in the passenger being transported to an anomalous location beneath the building. From the passenger’s perspective, the car will continue down past the first floor for another 24 floors before slowing to a stop. From an outside perspective, the car will descend to the basement (the building’s lowest floor in reality), where it will stop for approximately 117 seconds before resuming normal operation. The passenger’s GPS shows them descending as per normal until they reach the basement, where the signal stops along with the elevator car until 117 seconds have passed, after which the signal disappears.
From the passenger’s perspective, once the car has stopped, the lights will dim and the doors will open into a completely dark and featureless room with a smooth concrete floor and ceiling. The elevator will tell the passenger to exit the car in an increasingly loud tone of voice until the passenger complies, with no known upper limit on the volume of the speakers.
Once the passenger exits, the elevator will return upwards and a pale creature will begin to pursue the passenger. The pursuit may take upwards of several days as the creature is not fast, but it does not tire and eventually the passenger will be caught and killed. Lights appear moderately effective in frightening the creature away temporarily, but it will return eventually after all means of producing light are exhausted or the passenger succumbs to exhaustion.
Sufficiently powerful radio transmitters have proven effective in recovering audio from several tests involving the object. Similar tests involving powerful video transmitters are under consideration.
Two to four days after the passenger has expired, their bones appear in the bottom of the elevator shaft, scoured clean and hollow. No caverns or rooms below the building have been discovered.