Wrong Way Wade

“Cutting it close, aren’t you?” asked Jim, the store manager.

“I’m on time,” said Wade.

“Yep, now you get to fetch merchandise from the locker. Go clock in and then get this list of supplies. And take a Bluetooth. Finished or not, come back, if I call you.” Wade worked his mouth as if to protest, but nothing came out. Jim handed him a list, then added, “Before you ask, the key is by the clock.”

Wade clocked in, grabbed the key, and jabbed a Bluetooth into his ear. The pit of his stomach hurt. The catacombs were a dark maze despite the white, painted walls. A semi-truck could drive through the wide passageways. Yet, he had never seen one down there. The drivers would lose their way in here.

He entered the ‘Employees Only’ door between ‘The Popcorn Shop’ and the ‘Everything Toys’ store fronts. He followed the hallway around to the left until he saw the first room of lockers. They resembled cages with wood frames covered in chicken wire and held shut by padlocks. He should have walked right first to get a flatbed cart. He retraced his steps and grabbed a cart. The map by the carts indicated he would have to walk over halfway around the mall, if he walked to the left. If he continued past the carts, he should arrive faster. Only it was the darker, older part of the catacombs.

The cart wheels shimmied and rattled. The noise ricocheted off the hallway. He thought someone was watching him; he never saw anybody. He shook it off as nerves. The first large room contained lockers of electronics and shoes. Jim didn’t give him a time to be back.

Curiosity got the better of him. He wandered to the very back of the room to see if any lockers had smart phones and watches. If found any, he’d make a note of the store name. Before he found the phones and watches, a public announcement startled him. “Code white, level one is in effect.”

He forgot the code’s meaning. So, he walked the cart back to the doorway and read the signs. The local news stations issued a weather watch. ‘Level one’ was the least severe and only a thunderstorm warning.

He took a couple more steps before he noticed another sign. ‘In case of fire, this door automatically shuts.’ He looked up at the ceiling and noticed a large rolling door. Wade swallowed hard and hurried out to the hallway. He slid to a stop. No wonder the new guy must get the supplies. Have doors ever trapped anyone in here?

He looked first to the right and then the left. Both directions were equally dark. He took a right and traveled past two more large rooms. At the second one, he got curious again. He left the cart outside the doorway and took a few steps in. He paused and looked at the signs around the entrance. One sign read ‘Storage Room C’ while another sign read ‘In case of fire, this door automatically shuts’. He shook his head and scurried back to his cart, then continued pushing it down the hallway.

As Wade continued walking, he looked at the different signs that lined the hallway. One read ‘Emergency Exit’ and had one of those warnings that an alarm would sound if used. Another read ‘Aquarium Annex’. He tried that door to satisfy his curiosity, but it didn’t open. He walked past ‘Storage Room D’ and the saw another door. In light blue letters were the words ‘Escape It’. Escape from what?

The sound of another cart rumbling towards him grew louder. He pushed the cart again and said ‘hi’ to the slow moving, gray-haired woman in and ‘Everything Toys’ polo. The stacks of boxes on the cart hid her from the chin down. She smiled and they both stopped pushing their carts. He pointed at the door and asked if she knew the business’s specialty.

“That’s a vacation planning business. I’d love to visit Jamaica for a week. I have yet to check them out,” she said, closing her eyes and smiling. When she reopened them she asked, “What’s your dream vacation?”

“A soccer game in Europe. I’d choose a tour group because even the mall confuses me. I can’t imagine finding my way around Europe by myself.”

The woman nodded. “Well, good luck to you. You better work extra hours if you plan on taking that kind of trip.” She forced her body weight into the handle to start her cart moving again. Wade continued to ‘Storage Room F’.

“Where are you at, Wade? Are you on your way back?” Jim’s voice said through the Bluetooth.

Wade tapped the answer button. “Just found the storage room. Hey, have you ever looked at the signs on the sides of the doorways down here?”

“Yes. Quit dawdling, get the supplies, and get back here. I’ll need a break soon,” Jim replied.

“Got it,” said Wade. He discovered the storage locker for ‘Games and More’ was in the back. Wade hurried to locker and unlocked it. The items organized on labeled shelves which made the task a breeze. It took him five minutes to load the cart with the items from Jim’s list.

The old woman’s words rang in his head. He needed to know how much a European trip would cost. He also knew he wouldn’t be able to find ‘Escape It’ from the store front side if he tried. Maybe they left the door unlocked. If they catch me, I’ll say I’m lost. He secured the locker and rolled the cart out into the hallway. Which way was that again?

He turned to the right and hoped it was correct. He rolled past a couple locker filled rooms before he spotted a door with ‘Escape in Time’ in black letters.

He turned the knob and the door opened. Leaving the cart in the hallway, he slipped inside. It was dark, but the back of ‘Games and More’ was too. He walked several feet then decided this wasn’t a smart idea after all. He turned back to the door, but it had locked behind him.

Turning back around, he felt the wall until one side moved away from him as if it was revolving door. He stepped through into a dimly light room and the wall closed up behind him. He pushed on it in different places, but it wouldn’t budge. Something shiny glittered to the left of him. On the wall was a large, medieval style ax. Next to it was blood stained cuffs attached to chains on wall. Below the chains, a pool of blood.

Wade backed up and knocked a metal tray with scalpels and knives to the floor. Wade reflexively put a finger up to his mouth as though to shush the racket. He gasped and looked for a place to hide. He pushed on the revolving wall again, but it wouldn’t open. He moved into the darkest corner he could find and stood still.

Muffled voices reacted to the noise. Wade knew they weren’t in the room with him. It sounded like a wall separated them. Did they torture or kill someone in this room? What if there’s a dead body in here? He sniffed the air to see if there were any weird smells, but couldn’t detect any.

He tapped the Bluetooth button. “Jim?” he whispered. “Jim?” This time his voice cracked.

“Wade, I could really use your help. Where are you?”

“I think I’m in a serial killer’s torture room. I can’t find my way out.”

“Cut the crap and get back here now.”

Wade’s lip quivered. “But, but . . . Jim I need help,” he said into the Bluetooth.

“If I have to pull the gate and lock the store to get a break, I’ll fire you.”

A door opened on the other side of the room. Wade pressed himself into the corner and held his breath. A young guy stepped in and flipped the light on. Wade grabbed the ax. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll cut you,” shouted Wade.

“What the . . . dude that ain’t real. None of this is real. This room isn’t ready to escape from yet.”

Wade swung the ax back and forth in front of him. “Don’t think I won’t use this. Where’s the person you killed over there?” He nodded towards the cuffs chained to the wall.

The guy called over his shoulder, “Hey, Gary, there’s a crazy man in the dungeon room. You want to call mall security.”

Another guy appeared in the doorway. “Easy. Put that down and we’ll let you out the front door. How’d you get in here?”

The first guy grabbed the weapon with both hands, one on the handle and the other on the blade. With little effort, he wrenched it away from Wade. Wade dropped his jaw when the man didn’t injury himself. His name tag read ‘Steve’ and above the name was ‘Escape in Time’. Gary type of tag on his shirt. Wade pointed a shaky finger at the revolving wall without saying a word.

“We have to fix the latch the back exit,” said Gary. “If you want to try this room, come back this weekend. This room needs some final touches.” Gary walked over to a jar of eyeballs and flipped it over. He looked at tag on its bottom. Then walked over to a cell phone sitting on a shelf of the revolving wall. He punched some buttons on the phone and its display lit up. “Right here.” He pulled a book on taxidermy off the shelf and put his hand in the opening.

The wall rotated. Gary pulled a key ring from his pocket, walked through the opening, and unlocked the door that led to the catacombs. “I won’t report you if you don’t ever try to enter through this door again. He held out a card. Here’s a ten percent off card so you can come back and do this the right way through the front door.”