Dusk of Defiance (The Era of Ensemble Book 1) Read Free Page B

same sound again. It was reminiscent of an animal running on all fours. Luke hesitated, and then slowly made his way down to where the sound originated. At first there was nothing, only the usual hum of the ventilation system, and then he heard it again, a quick shuffle of feet, and then a sprint. It couldn’t be a human. It had to be something else.
    Luke heard the noise a gain and again. A scamper of feet. He approached a pair of double doors which led to a cafeteria. He then realised he hadn’t eaten. On cue a low rumble emerged from his stomach. He hadn’t noticed how hungry he was. He touched the pad on the side of the wall, and as soon as the doors slid open a disgusting smell caused him to gag.
    The cafeteria came into full view, Luke entered. Some tables were overturned. Others were stacked in a pile to make some sort of primitive barricade. It was almost like a child’s fort made out of boxes. Plates were scattered across the floor, most of which were broken, and there was a sticky looking liquid near the stack of tables. The room was just barely light enough, with the backup lights on, to make out the colour. It was black-red. Luke’s face began to get paler and paler. He moved over towards the fort, and glanced around the room. He couldn't hear any movement or see any people. Then he suddenly realised the terrible smell, which was overpowering. Luke gagged again. He braced himself, held his breath, climbed up onto the edge of the fort and looked in. There were three human bodies. Well, they vaguely resemble human bodies. They were half eaten, extremely rotting, and scattered around in between the tables that made up the barricade. And suddenly I'm no longer hungry. Luke retched, but he had nothing to throw up.
    The noise from before distracted Luke from concentrating on the smell, he climbed down the tables and quietly made his way to the edge of the childlike construction. He heard the running noise again, but this time a deafening squeal accompanied it. Luke saw a figure out of the corner of his eye. It was smaller than he had imagined. It squealed again. It ran closer to him, his heart began to race faster. It’s heading straight for me. The thing screeched, this time it almost sounded like a… It slowed right in front of Luke. The lights flashed on and off and a pink blur glowed in front of him. It's just a pig. It must have escaped from Animal Breeding . The pig saw Luke and ran away terrified. Out of the darkness of the room a loud snap echoed throughout the cafeteria. The pig made no noise, it had stopped squealing and stopped running. There was a loud crunch, and then a couple more footsteps emitted from different corners of the room. They ran to the crunching noise. It sounded like a group of lions fighting over a gazelle. The backup lights flashed on, and then off. It was enough for Luke to see the three people ripping off the skin of the dead pig. Luke stepped back, towards the door and the sound of crunching stopped. They're like wild savage humans, feral creatures feeding on raw flesh. A few footsteps approached his location. One of the predators had caught its next scent. The three people shrieked, and sprinted in Luke’s direction. “Oh God!” He screamed and ran back through the door.

Chapter 2
    Luke didn’t stop running. He couldn’t stop, not until he was as far away from those crazed people as he could get. He had run through multiple corridors, up and across different stairways. He eventually felt safe enough to stop for breath. He tried to pant as quietly as he could, but those savage creatures could be anywhere.
    ‘Residence block 43 section G’ read a sign across from Luke. His eyes widened as he remembered that was his residence block. He hastily made his way to the elevator which led to section G. He pressed the button to signal the elevator. Nothing happened.
    “Would the nearest engineer please make their way to the engines and power section 32-B and reroute power.” An