Chapter Text
No Entry.
That’s what the graffiti said that greeted Christine when she climbed through the open window. The red paint was fresh and slightly runny, like it was just painted on not too long ago. It glistened in the golden rays of sunset, and Christine wondered if maybe she should do this another day. She’d only recently started her life of crime after all, and venturing into abandoned corporate buildings already showing signs of life was maybe more risk than she was ready for.
But wasn’t this part of the thrill? She had really wanted to push herself out of her comfort zone when she started this and this strange message kinda proved there was something here of interest, right? She quickly ran through a mental checklist to make sure that she hadn’t forgotten anything.
- Backpack of med supplies? Check.
- Flashlight? Check.
- Pepper Spray? Check.
- Inconspicuous navy blue fit that would help her stay out of sight in case the cops came? Check.
She spied a large pane of glass nearby from where someone had smashed in this window and she squirmed at the thought of how easily those could pierce the worn tennis shoes she brought. Maybe she should add a pair of boots to her checklist next time. She decided to press forward and explore despite her misgivings. She didn’t want to stay out too late and she’d feel foolish if she chickened out just because of some fresh graffiti. She wandered down the drab hallway, looking at a line of offices. This place was bigger than most of her previous outings. She doubted she’d see it all in one night. She’d just get the lay of the area today, and if she saw anything interesting, she’d look closer later. It’s not like this stuff was going anywhere, right?
It actually ended up more interesting than expected. There was a small abandoned open office area with a dozen or so old monitors that looked like they had been left to rot since the eighties. She pressed a button on one of the few screens still attached to a tower, just out of curiosity, and the damn thing actually turned on. She guessed this old place still had power for some reason. Maybe she could try to access some old files? She decided that could wait until later, and quickly turned the machine back off for now. There were a few storage rooms, some for hardware and others for office supplies. The rooms for hardware just had a couple boxes filled with wires, adapters, and those old mice with rubber balls. The office supplies had been left fairly well stocked though. There was a shelf that seemed to have half rotted away, along with the paper it held, but the rest of the supplies were in surprisingly good condition. She wondered when this building was abandoned in the first place. When she found a hall with what looked to be individual office rooms though, the place took on a creepier tone. Every computer looked like it’d been ran over by a car. There wasn’t a monitor with an intact screen. And a few of the rooms had these strange headsets snapped in half. No, not snapped. These were cut. With like… a saw. And she kept seeing the same graffiti show up, usually in front of windows, but sometimes just randomly in the office rooms. “No Entry”. The paint was fresh. Someone had clearly been here today. It was a little nerve-wracking. But it wasn’t until she stumbled across the break room she realized the prior visitor was still there.
She’d already been here for a good thirty minutes and she hadn’t heard anything the whole time. Granted, she had been listening to some heavy metal from her phone in one ear, just to ease her nerves, but she still thought she’d have heard something if someone was on the property. It had been getting darker, though, and she grew bolder, flicking on a light to a break room without a second thought. Two things happened in quick succession. Firstly, she saw an out of place black canvas bag that had clearly been casually thrown onto a lunch table. In the same moment, she heard a thud through the wall coming from the hall on the opposite side of the room. She instinctively turned the light back off and ducked through a door just inside the break room on her right. The wooden door had slats, and it looked like it had been a little pantry. Christine immediately cursed herself when she looked around and there was no exit. Of course there wasn’t. Why hadn’t she just backed out into the hall she came from? She had panicked. Her self-cursing abruptly came to an end when the light in the break room turned back on.
Christine peered through the slatted door despite herself. She couldn’t see a lot, but she made out a figure on the far side of the room. A man dressed in black, wearing a mask. Oh fuck, she was going to die here tonight, wasn’t she? He stood there for a moment, before she heard a monotone “I know you’re still here.” She stumbled back from the door in shock and promptly knocked over a broom. Damn it. She heard the man speaking again, “Okay, come on out. I’m serious. Don’t make me hurt you.”
The thought of complying crossed her mind, but she felt frozen in place, as if she was watching this scene happening to someone else. The atmosphere was terrifying and unreal. She heard the sound of boots striding across the room, and a black silhouette blocked the light bleeding into the pantry. Wait, shit, she needed to act now. She dropped into a crouch to make herself a smaller target and whipped out her pepper spray, just as the door creaked open. She screamed, turned her face away, and sprayed.