Part XVI:
Caleb was more gliding than walking as he careened across the concrete floor. In no uncertain way, he was literally moving to the beat of his own drummer. Alistair and Frasier had separated and each tried their best to blend in to their immediate surroundings, so they would not be noticed. Caleb made this task quite easy as he probably wouldn’t have noticed them even if they were standing directly in front of him.
Entering the small caged in area, Caleb prepared to enter the room where his daughter had been. Without notice, a sharp pang circulated throughout his interior. It caused him to stop and breathe in and out several times. As a man in the fiftieth year of his life, he was no doubt concerned that the chances of his ticker stopping at a moments notice were increasing with every day that passed. He could feel his heart rate elevating rapidly, the more so as he focused on it. Although he started feeling a pain in his left arm, he convinced himself that his mind was playing tricks on him and he decided to step forward.
He twisted the handle to enter the room and pushed the door inward. Through the air vents in his protective mask, he inhaled some of the warm air from the small room. He instantly caught a whiff of something very unpleasant and, with his eyes, scanned the room quickly to see where his daughter was. All he saw at first was an empty chair and the white fuzz playing on the television across from it. Several seconds went by before he went into a full panic upon noticing his daughter laying there on the floor, motionless.
To be continued…
