CHAPTER 26
As soon as Eddie opened the door, they were met with a gust of air that carried the stench of rotten flesh and dead crickets. The two winced as they guided themselves into the dark room; they shone their flashlights attached to their rifles.
The walls and floor were identical to that of the hallway, until they reached the black, velvety curtain. The smell was at it’s strongest at the curtain. Jimmy took a deep breath and quickly pulled back the curtain.
Behind the curtain, sitting on the stool, was a man; frozen without a breath. The man had an uncanny resemblance to the man on the ID card they had found earlier, the very card they used to get in that facility. Eddie held up the ID card next to the frozen man, comparing the two calculatingly. There was no longer any doubt about it, the man on the ID card and the one sitting on the stool before them were identical in every possible aspect, from their thin lips to their light blue eyes.
The man in front of them was sitting completely still on a metal stool and against a white backdrop. His hands were folded on his laps and he bore a stagnant smile that grew more abhorrent by the passing second, his blonde hair was, just as it was on the card, perfect and without a single stray hair. Two halo lights reflected in his eyes while accenting the crevices and highlights of his face.
Jimmy, stunned, looked over at Eddie. “That’s the guy on,” he stuttered while pointing at the man.
Eddie stood stationary, looking straight ahead like he was locking eyes with eh man who retained an undying stare. “Yeah, yeah it is.” Eddie said quietly, sounding just as dumbfounded as Jimmy was.
The two continued to stand as still as they could, trying to win an unwinnable staring contest. Jimmy replied standing as aloof as he could. “Huh.”
“Yeah.” Said Eddie, sounding bemused as he approached the static man, his shadow elongated in front of him as he did so. The man was extremely short and even more so while he sat on his stool. Eddie towered over him with his outstretched frame as he said, speaking directly to frozen man. “Hey buddy.”
The man remained frozen and sternly planted on his stool. Eddie poked the man’s temple and stepped back, only to be met with no visible response. Frustrated and confused, Eddie picked up his rifle and hit the emotionless man with the stock of his rifle. The man fell backwards off the stool and into the white backdrop with a heavy thud.
“Dude! What, what are you doing?” said Jimmy, looking over his shoulder with a suppressed shout of disbelief.
“Nothing” said Ethan, displaying annoyance towards Jimmy. “Just, hold on.” Eddie crouched behind the stool where Jimmy couldn’t see him, Jimmy decided to stay put and waited eagerly for
Eddie to resurface. After a while, Jimmy heard a quick pop that resonated through the room. A couple seconds later, Ethan resurfaced with the man’s decapitated head in his hand and a smirk on his cocky face. Red meat oozed out of the severed neck while lifeless cockroaches plopped out every now and then.
The man’s head was just plastic. Disturbingly, the head was filled to the brim with old, rotten flesh and cockroaches that you could’ve bought at a local PetSmart. It was all encased in a head of plastic, yet somehow, it seemed all too real to Jimmy as Eddie laughed it off. Jimmy sensed something more, could you say, sinister. Eddie, on the other hand, must’ve seen it as a big joke.
“It’s not a ‘he’, Jimmy.” Said Eddie calmly while choking down laughter, seeing Jimmy’s disturbed reaction even upon the reveal that it was just a manikin. A manikin filled with human remains long past rotten, and dead cockroaches.
“Yeah, it’s real screwed up.” Said Jimmy, disgusted.
The shadow of Eddie holding the manikin head by its hair was haunting. Eddie dropped the head with a thump and started back towards Jimmy. “I guess Rick Sanchez isn’t that guy, maybe we’ll run into him.”
Jimmy found this funny and laughed. He opened the door for Eddie and replied, “Only if we’re lucky.”
Eddie nodded in agreement, brandishing his assault rifle. The two raced down the hall and kicked open the double doors on the other side of the hallway. Besides the initial gust of wind, they were met by the high pitched scream of a woman.
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