Mrs. Lee would probably like this room, Collin thought, as he looked at the laboratory equipment scattered on top rectangular wooden tables. It all looked pretty old -- but. . . Mrs. Lee was pretty old. She'd probably used stuff like this when she was in school.

          Collin prowled the room, checking out all the stuff lying around. It looked like Dr. Frankenstein might have used this lab, Collin thought, then he decided that Mrs. Lee might not have gone to school in this place -- she might have been created here. He chuckled to himself, then stopped short when he brushed against a hand hanging over the edge of a table.

          He gulped.

          The hand was attached to a man lying on the tabletop. Were they in a mortuary? Collin wondered. A morgue? The man would have looked like any old cadaver but he was lying on his side and, even in the light of the oddly shaped electric light bulb burning on a table behind the man, Collin could see that he was dressed in a wrinkled suit.

          Collin moved in close and stared at the man. He wasn't moving. He wasn't even breathing.

          "Is he alive?" Morgan whispered as she gripped Collin's hand.

          "I don't know," Collin said, but he squeezed Morgan's hand to let her know he wasn't afraid and that she could rely on him.

          Courtney leaned over the man and whispered, "Are you awake?" No answer.

          "Excuse me, sir?" Still no answer.

          "Hello!" she asked even louder.

          The man didn't move a muscle.

          "He must be dead," Morgan said. "Touch him and see if he's cold."

          Collin took a deep breath. He didn't like the idea of touching a dead man, but Morgan had asked and he'd do just about anything for Morgan.

          Hesitantly he reached out and touched the man's shoulder lightly. Still no movement; but the man didn't feel dead. This time Collin poked a finger into the man's arm.

          The body jerked and one arm flew into the air.

          Courtney screamed.

          Morgan screamed.

          Collin screamed. He stumbled backward in his rush to get away from the moving "dead" man, upsetting the table behind him. The burning light bulb toppled over and shattered on the wooden table top, leaving the room in near darkness.
           
           
           
           

Return to Table of Contents

Devoured By The Dark is Copyrighted © 1996 - 2004
by the California Energy Commission.
All rights are reserved.
This publication may not be printed, retransmitted or reproduced in any form.

Return to Energy Quest