Chapter 15

Steve finally caught sight of Meagan in front of Sobeys. Breathless and keeled over, he reached out his arms. “Meagan...” he coughed out, “wait for...me...”

Meagan turned on her heel and saw the poor guy slumped over, and frowned a little. “I told you smoking was bad for you!” she shouted as she crossed her arms. She squinted in the sun and yelled, “Elise, did you at least keep up?”

“Hey keep your voice down,” Steve instructed as he approached her, hobbling with all his might. “And what are you talking about? Elise and Holden got separated from us back there.”

“Seperated?!” she screamed. “Sorry...separated?”

“You just screamed again!”

“Sorry! Where are they?! They can’t be far away, look behind you!”

Steve turned around expecting to see his graphic artist intern and Meagan’s very angry friend. But instead it was just the stupid cat. “It’s the stupid cat.”

“He’s not stupid! And he wouldn’t have just left Elise. They must not be far behind.”

“Look I appreciate your loyalty but cats aren’t stupid. If he’s away from Elise then that must mean that anywhere NEAR Elise is a bad place t—“ Steve stopped as he noticed Meagan’s face crumpling. “Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, you know, maybe e didn’t see where she went, or his path got blocked.” He took her hands and squeezed them, adding, “I’m sure she’s fine. They’re both fine.”

Meagan jerked her hands away and picked up the cat. “I KNOW she’s fine. And we’ll see her soon. But right now we have to focus on getting in the Tower. We’re four blocks away, one north and three west. But Bremner, the street outside the Tower, is a death trap.”

“Why’s that?”

Meagan pulled out a little piece of chalk from the front of her bag and began scribbling on the sideway. “Here’s the street, and that’s the Tower, and this is you and me.”

“Why did you give yourself a dress...?”

“Because I’m the girl. Now, we have to head up through the construction zones through there,” she pointed across the street, “and end up on the east side of the Air Canada Center. If we make it that far we can head through the Telus building lobby, and through the Go Train passages.”

“Whoa, I see a tiny flaw in your plan. Why would we go underground?”

“Because the only way to get to the underground walkway is through seven sets of double doors, and giraffes don’t have thumbs. It’s our one advantage over them.”

“That’s what they thought about the raptors in the first Jurassic Park.”

Meagan looked at Steve very sternly. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

He opened his mouth to protest but she was already moving away. And just to be sure, she kicked away her diagram. They headed towards the massive construction fence and began to scale it. To her amazement, Steve was much faster than she was. When he reached the top he perched on the bar to wait for her and to scout out the rest of their route. “Street looks pretty clear. Also, I quit smoking a few weeks ago, haven’t touched the things once.”

“Yes...well...Good.” She looked down at Milo who had no trouble finding his own way through a hole in the fence and was waiting for them. “Just hold your little horses...” Meagan muttered at it.

They dropped down together and made a b-line for the street. Meagan could hear rustling in the construction zone and figured it was either giraffes or survivors, and she wanted neither tagging along. But when they entered the Telus plaza on the other side her hopes were dashed.

“Clearly you weren’t the only one with this door idea...” Steve said. They looked out onto the long hallway between the first set of doors at a grisly scene. Littering nearly every inch of floor were soggy, bloody bones.

“Okay, so one got in. Or maybe a bitten person got in, and turned while inside. Let’s try the second set.”

Carefully they tiptoed over the dead bodies, the bones rattling against their shoes and echoing off the vast marble walls. The reached the second set and peered in. “Same fucking thing...” Steve whispered. “I don’t think this is a good idea. We’d better find another way.”

“Wait, let me go look. I think...” she trailed off as she opened the doors. She walked in and knelt down, staring at the bodies. “Look at the bones. Notice anything weird?”

“Other than the distinct lack of flesh?”

“They’re all facing the same direction. All the feet are pointed towards the floor, like they were running east.” She stood up and looked at him, fear gripping her. “They were all running AWAY from the Tower.”