Working weekends wasn’t so bad. As far as Sandy was concerned, it gave her a break from staring at the wall. She didn’t make enough money to do anything fun on the weekends, so her time at home was mostly spent doing what she needed to survive in her studio apartment. If she had to work weekends, at least she had something to do. She thought most people would find that sad, but Sandy thought it was good for her. Who needs to be rich anyways, right?
She whistled to herself as she passed out of the muggy Sunday morning air and into the facility’s lobby. She trekked through the lobby to the fancy elevator that connected to the second floor lobby. It was only supposed to be for investors touring the facility, but she had access, so why not let herself feel a little special for once? She called the elevator. It opened smoothly to a miraculous open space with air that didn’t smell like a decaying corpse. Lucky investors.
She pressed the button for the second floor. She stepped out as quickly as she stepped in, silence reigned other than the gentle ding of the elevator. On the second floor was the showroom. This room had no value to the research wing, but all laboratories were required to put posters in the room for executives of the facility to show off to investors. Sandy laughed at the idea of a bunch of executives not understanding what they were reading, but trying to pass it off to investors who didn’t understand either.
I bet they think there’s a cure for cancer just waiting in a test tube.
She didn’t care for executive lies, but she understood it kept her lab funded. She passed through the showroom and swiped her keycard to get through the large double doors that led to the research wing. The doors clicked unlocked in confirmation and she slipped between them with practiced ease.
“What the…?” She had immediately stepped into a puddle. Looking down the hallway, she realized the entire floor was soaked in water - at least half an inch deep standing in the hallway. The water was dirty, and filled with mud. Her shoes immediately began to feel damp and uncomfortable. Sandy inspected the hallway for leaks. The nearby water fountain looked fine, the bathroom was actually less flooded than everywhere else. What was this?
Then, she saw something in the water that made her skin crawl and her stomach lurch. Little creatures were curled up dead in the water. Centipedes, worms, and - the biggest of them all - slugs. Sandy lifted one of her feet to look at the soles. Spattered across her flats were the guts of dead slugs.. Something in her stomach curdled as she began to feel her empty stomach lurching, trying to find anything at all to throw up onto the sopping wet floor. She heaved and warm bile coated the inside of her mouth.
With cold, slug-covered feet, Sandy ran out of the building without finishing her work for the weekend.
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“So, yeah. I have to start a new cell colony today since I lost too many yesterday.” Sandy announced at the lunch table the next day. Several people shook their heads.
“If it were me, I would’ve just done it. Soaked feet and all. It needs done, doesn’t it?” Andrew, a graduate student, announced.
“Yeah, but Dr. Fenek isn’t like that. He wouldn’t expect that from me. I’m just a tech, you can’t expect me to stand in slug-filled water and work like everything’s fine.”
“Besides, the water was contaminated.” Beth, a young doctor in another lab, added. “Luckily, the stopper on the door saved most of your lab from whatever caused that flood. You would’ve made things worse bringing in whatever caused the flooding.”
“You’re right.” Sandy sighed. “Just sucks, you know? I don’t want to have to culture all new cells. I’m already way behind on this project since the microscope’s been acting up.”
“Are you guys talking about that flood?” Lucas sat down at their table in the cafeteria with slop that looked like it could’ve been from the flooded floor on his tray. It made Sandy’s stomach lurch. She put a hand on her forehead as she averted her gaze. Her appetite was sufficiently lost.
“Was it bad on the first floor?” Beth asked.
“No, we were all good on the first floor. I think Henrietta would’ve left and never looked back if we weren’t.” Everyone shared an uncomfortable laugh at that.
“Is she here by the way?” Sandy asked.
Lucas shook his head, “Not that I’ve seen. These days - if you’re lucky to see her at all - she barely talks. Just stares off into the distance. Not sure what she’s looking at, but something is always nagging at her, I swear.”
“Things haven’t felt the same since Bridgette -” Andrew began, then stopped himself. “Sorry.” They all went silent for a while, then Casey - Sandy’s lab manager - sat down at the table.
“You guys talking about the flood?” She asked. Casey and Sandy had graduated from the same university with the same degree, but Casey went on to get a Master’s degree and Sandy stuck with a bachelor's. Seemed like a waste of money to go any further, and she didn’t have money to waste.
“We were.” Sandy said with a chipper smile, forcing the nausea that had plagued her to pass.
“I heard it’s coming from an eco lab on the third floor.”
“Oh, come on, Casey. You can’t just blame ecology for everything.” Beth said back. Beth technically was a mix of ecology and physiology - insect physiology specifically - so she split her time between the departments.
“I’m not blaming ecology, chill.” Casey replied. She took a bite of mashed potatoes then continued, “Seems like a pretty big coincidence that it flooded slugs right beneath the floor with a slug lab though, doesn't it?”
“Okay, so, not ecology, just Dr. Mere’s lab?” Beth asked.
“Doesn’t surprise me. They’re a bunch of weirdos anyway.” Andrew announced with a bite of his slop.
Sandy looked away, then said, “Well, maybe someone should talk to them about common courtesy.”
“And who is going to do that? You, Sandy?” Casey asked.
“Sorry,” Andrew announced as he stood, “gotta go. I’m supposed to skin hands today, and the fingers are the worst part.” The entire table recoiled. Sandy felt her nausea coming back in full force.
“We’re eating, Andy.” Sandy groaned.
“He’s right though. Not enough fat on the hands for error most of the time.” Lucas agreed. “I worked a rotation in that lab back in the day, I know how it is.”
“Literally don’t care.” Casey responded. “Come on, we’re eating.”
“My bad.” Andrew shrugged with a smile. “See you guys around.” He left without another word. The rest of the table looked around each other, then slowly recovered..
“Anyways…” Beth announced theatrically.
“Anyway, why not me, Casey?” Sandy asked. “I’m nice, I’m personable, and I can politely ask them to be mindful that there are other people beneath them in this facility.” Several of the others nodded along. “Besides, I’d rather do that than start feeding all new cells.” She laughed to herself. Now she just needed to head out of the cafeteria and back to their building. It was only a parking lot away, but she wanted to enjoy more time socializing first.
.
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.
Within a day, the second floor was water-free, but the damage was already done. Water lines stained the walls. Tiles shifted slightly and made a sickly squishing sound, spewing dirty water and who knows what else from them with each step Sandy took. She had decided she had enough of the fancy elevator. It was clearly a bad omen. It was either the stairs or… the other elevator. She made her way through the second floor research wing to the fabled elevator that everyone avoided like the plague these days. She pressed the call button and waited patiently. Before long, that old fire-stained elevator was struggling to open as metal grinded against paint, giving way to an ear-rattling squeal. Sandy winced as she put on her best smile.
Just smile through it. Smile through it.
The doors finally opened all the way after what felt to Sandy like an eternity. The stench of rotting flesh wafted to her face, leaving her feeling nauseous. The walls of the elevator were covered in scratches and tears, and there was a strange liquid plastered all over the floors. Not from the flood, this was something else entirely. All of that was enough to turn her away from the horrifying scene, but the thing that sent her over the edge was writing on the walls. Scratched into the wall in big letters against the back wall in red were the words I’m watching you.
“Okay, nevermind. Nevermind.” Sandy backed away and the elevator closed. “I’ll take the stairs. It’s just one floor.” She went around the corner to the stairwell and walked up to the third floor. As soon as she pushed open the door, she was met with the stench of mildew and a smell she associated with a green lake filled with children swimming on a hot summer’s day. The sort of place that you had to be under the age of twenty to think it was remotely sanitary enough for anyone to swim in. She fought the urge to hold her nose - she wasn’t a prude after all - and walked forward.
The third floor wasn’t that different from her own floor, but it was darker. Lights were out in places they should’ve been on and the floors had a spongy feeling to them that she wasn’t used to. As though they had flooded like the second floor but much longer ago. In the corners, she could swear she saw things with too many legs for her liking moving about, watching her. Waiting for her to come inspect them so they could take a chunk out of her. Sandy hated bugs - anything with more than four legs, really. She preferred cells. No legs, all cilia and flagella.
As she walked down the hall, she felt as though there was someone coming up behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see who it was, but there was no one there. The lights gave off a faint flicker, then brightened over top of a single door. Sandy approached the door and realized it was marked with a paper taped to the door with ‘Mere lab’ written in green marker across it. As soon as she read it, the bright light overhead flickered and died with a wet, steamy hiss, leaving her in the dark.
Sandy knocked on the door. No response.
Somewhere in the distance a door slammed shut and made her jump. They were followed by heavy footsteps in what sounded to her like heavy boots. Sandy knocked on the door again, “Hello? Anyone in there?” She saw a light turn on under the door and a shadow shift.
The footsteps were rounding a corner towards her. Maybe whoever it was was a member of the Mere lab. Sandy waited for them to round the corner, but just as the echo came around the corner, no one was there. At first, Sandy thought it was another weird collection of mysterious footsteps, but these were much louder.
She stared down the hallway, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for someone to round the corner, proving to her that someone was behind the sound. Then, the thundering steps began approaching her rapidly. Sandy’s heart dropped into her stomach. She turned to the door of the lab and began banging on it, “Hello? Anybody? Please, let me in!”
The footsteps were almost to her, her banging mixed with the footsteps to create a percussionist cacophony of uncertainty and fear.
Finally, the door opened. With the footsteps sprinting after her, Sandy pushed past whoever had opened the door and ran inside.
“Oh my god, oh my god…” Sandy leaned against a lab bench and sighed. “Thank you.” She said.
“Uh… yeah, sure. Are you good, or…?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” She turned around and saw the man she was speaking to. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him before. He had rubber rain boots and a tropical button-up shirt with jean shorts on. Sandy wouldn’t dare dress like that in a lab. He was also covered in almost as much dirt as the floor. “Oh my -” It was the dirtiest lab she’d ever seen.
“So, do you need something?” He asked.
“Yeah, I - I’m sorry, why is your lab so dirty?”
“We do mud research.” The man replied as he went over to a desk and sat down. The cleanest thing in the room was a computer he was working on. “Anyways, what’s up?”
“I thought this was a slug lab.”
“I mean, Lars does slug research and how they contribute to mud through plant decomposition.”
“So Lars caused the flood?”
“What flood? Hey, do you know what this is by the way?” He pulled a decomposing yellow leaf out of a garbage bag and held it up. Sandy stared at it. She leaned against a chair as she finally caught her breath.
“Why would I know - no. No, I have no idea. Looks like a leaf.”
“Yeah. A leaf.” The man shrugged, “Worth a try.” He opened a search engine and began describing the leaf in detail.
“So, you don’t know about the flood?” Sandy asked. She stepped forward and immediately stepped into an oozing pile of mud that her flats sunk into. She recoiled in horror, but the damage was done.
“Nope. No floods up here. Maybe ask Lars. He uses a lot of water in the side room for his project. Might’ve been that.”
“Okay. Okay, sure.” Sandy put on a big smile, “Thanks so much - uh - sorry, I didn’t get your name.”
“It’s whatever.”
“Oh. Okay. Yeah. I’m Sandy.” She said, trying to be polite.
“Cool. Bye, Sandy.”
“I’m sorry, but where’s Lars exactly?” She asked. Without looking away from the computer, the man pointed across the lab - through slews of mud - to a door.
“He works with slugs in the dark room.”
“Great. The dark room. Great.” Sandy danced around the muddy floor, trying as hard as she could to avoid the disgusting traps on the floor. When she was almost to the door to the ‘dark room’ she slipped on a slick wet spot, but caught herself on a lab bench. She took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.
“Hello? Lars, are you in there?”
“He can’t hear you.” The man replied from across the lab. “He keeps headphones in while in there. Just open the door, it’s all good.”
“That won't interfere with his data collection?”
“I mean… probably not.”
“Probably not?” She laughed in disbelief. “Cool. Cool. Probably not.” Sandy grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. At first she couldn’t see anything in the darkness. After a few moments, the shape of the room’s edges became clear. The walls were lined with desks. The room was a small square that smelled of iron and mud. In the darkness, Sandy heard a squelching sound. “Lars? Hello?” Sandy took another step in and felt water soak through her shoe. “Great. Just great.” She mumbled to herself. Under the squelching sound, she heard the sound of running water. The floors here almost felt rotten to an unsafe degree. This must’ve been where the flood started.
She hadn’t seen anyone, so she guessed nobody was inside. Her hand stumbled on the damp wall and grasped for a light switch. Finally, she found it and flipped it. The lights didn’t turn on right away. Instead, she heard a buzzing. The sound thrummed in her head and made her feel like she was vibrating. Then, a dim light appeared on the ceiling that slowly brightened until she could make out the room in its entirety.
“Oh my -” In the center of the room, was a pillar of mud writhing with slugs. They were crawling up and down leaving viscous muck all over the pillar. “What the hell?” Sandy gasped out. Then, from behind the mud pillar, she saw movement. She saw the pink of pale skin beneath mud. The smell of body odor crossed her nostrils. Brown eyes peeked out from behind the pillar at her. Greasy brown hair in knots draped down towards the ground. Slowly the figure revealed itself to be a skinny pasty man with only wet, shredded jeans clinging to his bony legs and earbuds caked to his ears. The rest of him was bare aside from mud. His hands shook and there appeared to be a strange fascination plastered across his face. He stared at Sandy with a euphoria that made her skin crawl. Slowly, a smile crossed his face
“I - goodness me, I’m so sorry for intruding. I - I just wanted to ask you to be more courteous -” It felt so pointless now. Somewhere behind him, she saw a pipe running fresh water into the room, keeping the floor constantly soaked. She wondered how it stayed in this room without flooding out, then she remembered it didn’t.
He stared at her without speaking. She wondered if he could even hear her. His eyes wouldn’t look away from hers, but he reached down, grabbed a fistful of mud and smacked it into the pillar, carefully rubbing it in. He opened his mouth like a fish gasping for air. She could hear his lips smacking together as they opened and closed over and over again. A single slug inched off the pillar and onto his arm, slowly climbing up the appendage and towards his heart.
“I - I -” Sandy tried to catch her breath. The man wrapped his arms around the pillar and inhaled so deeply that his stomach bowed outwards. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and connected with the pillar.
“It -” His voice squealed as if he hadn’t spoken in years. “It’s beautiful.” His eyes glistened. “Can’t you see it?” He began to cry as he rubbed his greasy skull against the pillar, whispering - babbling - about something Sandy didn’t even want to comprehend.
Without another word, Sandy turned and stumbled out of the room and out of the lab. She took a sharp turn right and ran for the stairwell. Somewhere behind her, she heard the heavy footfall of boots - those footsteps were still after her, even after all this?
She made it to the stairwell, slammed the door shut, and ran back down to the second floor. She didn’t stop running until she was behind the safety of her lab’s door.
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“I hear the department hired a local construction company to fix all the water damage. They’ll probably find the source of the flooding that way.” Beth announced to the lunch table that afternoon.
“Yeah, that should do it.” Andrew agreed. “You really think it was from the Mere lab?” He asked Casey.
Casey shrugged, “Don’t know. That’s just what I heard from other staff. To be fair, most researchers hate the Mere lab. No one even knows what they study. Most people think they just take up space.”
“They research mud.” Sandy announced as she dropped her tray down with a thud. She was still shaken.
“Did you go up there?” Andrew asked. Sandy nodded.
“Oooh, give us the details!”
Sandy shook her head, but Casey wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“Come on, Sandy, tell us.” Casey demanded.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Hey there, some of you may or may not find some of these characters familiar! Funny how that works, huh? I actually wrote this a year ago, absolutely hated it, and shelved it. Then, I was rereading it the other day and realized I actually kind of like this story. Also my laboratory recently flooded and it felt eerily similar to this, so I thought why not share it?
Few edits later and here we are!
Anyway, thanks for reading, and thank you for sticking with me as I go on my little mini hiatus. Regular posts may be over, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still have things to share. By the way, did you know I have an entire playlist of horror stories? Have a look here!
I’m working on a lot in the background, and I have beta readers currently working away on giving me feedback for a novel, so things are certainly busy on my end. I hope to share the fruits of those labors one day.
Catch you next time!
So creepy and squelchy! Great buildup of tension, especially with the phantom footsteps.
not the slug scientist! so creepy. and yes, i do believe i remember this lab and this elevator. take the stairs sandy!!!