Interversal

7

Alex was anything but weak. In college she'd been a rower, captain of her team, sitting stroke. She set the pace, and in boats that didn't have coxswains, called the cadence. Her legs were strong, or had been. 

With another guttural scream, this one lacking any hint of fear, she pushed the huge body up and to her right. Her right arm and leg were tensed straight to prevent her from falling any deeper into the pile.

Slowly, the corpse began to roll. Her left arm began to tremble, and she thought it might fall back on top of her. But gravity did its part and slowly pulled the body down. It slid past her and rolled another few feet before an arm got caught in the pile. It stopped with a sharp crunch as the limb snapped under its own weight.

Suddenly relieved, Alex used what remained of the burst of energy to pull herself out. She rolled from the trap and managed to get into a crouching position. Feeling around for solid footing, she found it and took a cautious step forward, her hands supporting on both sides. Trying to ignore the growing pain on the right side of her body, she took a few more steps forward, slowly in case the pile should shift around her.

Finally her foot touched tile and she pressed herself up into a standing position. For a few seconds everything around her seemed to be spinning and she felt light headed. Leaning against an upturned desk, she waited until the sensation dissipated, and with a renewed sense of balance, let her eyes focus on the room.

She could only see ten or fifteen feet in any direction, enough to get a sense of the morbid scene. There were bodies everywhere, upturned tables and chairs, destroyed computer equipment.

Dozens of broken champagne bottles had broken, their remains landing a few feet away. The last few bubbles were still fizzing away.

Seeing the liquid, she realized she needed water. And if she could find one, a well stocked first-aid kit.

Finding supplies and help would be her next task, and that meant getting the hell out of the control room. Getting out wouldn't be easy in the dark, there weren't even exit signs to light the way out. Instinctively, she reached for her phone and it's flashlight, pressed the power button, then swore when nothing happened.

It was fully dead.

With no light she'd have to feel her way out of the room, which was huge, riddled with debris, and included just two exits she knew of.

And hundreds of dead people.

She had no idea which door was closest, or where to go once she was out. Then, she wondered for the first time if anybody might be alive that could help her. Or who might need her help, what little she could give.

"Hello," she groaned, her voice still froggish from lack of use. When there was no response she tried again, this time mustering much more volume.

"HELLO!"

No one answered.

Then something much more terrifying occurred to her. The total lack of light, battery power in her phone, and rescue personnel were suddenly very evident. The latter most of all. Why weren't the paramedics here? How long had she been here? And, most importantly, why had everything been floating?

Everyone in the room was dead, and as she thought about that, more realizations came to mind. That meant Amy, Jake and Lori were gone.

Shock was beginning to set in as the facts of the situation settled in her mind. Something must have gone wrong with the experiment. Maybe it had been the fusion reactors, or the fact that they'd drawn more so much raw energy. 500,000 teraelectron volts was a ridiculous amount of power, enough to fuel Geneva for a year or more, all channeled into an experiment lasting a total of a few nanoseconds.

Her mind returned to the most bizarre fact of all; whatever had happened affected gravity.

What could do something like that was well beyond her.

She didn't have the first clue. Now, the first order of business was getting out of here and finding help. It was time to compartmentalize her thoughts, focus on those that could help her escape this awful reality, and save the big questions for later.

There would be a later.

There was a door, with a security guard. She remembered it from when she came in that morning.

The control room was located at the center of the building and flanked by windowless hallways, a labyrinth that she'd only been able to navigate with the help of the building's ample signage. They wouldn't be visible in the dark though, she'd have to get close enough to see, or find a flashlight. Trying to get around without one could take hours.

Her wounds were getting worse by the minute, particularly the gash on her head. The bleeding had slowed some, but she didn't know how much blood she'd lost. She needed to try and stop it and treat her other injuries. Acting fast was her only option.

Her bearings were still off but she knew that one set of double doors were located at the bottom of the tiered seating area where the computer technicians sat. She guessed she was situated roughly in the middle of the tiered section, though it was still too dark to know for sure.

She slowly looked around the room squinting her eyes in search of the huge white screens. She found them, barely visible, not ten yards from where she was now. Sliding off the desk she righted herself on unsteady feet.

Little by little she made her way down the line of desks to a stairway that ran along the side of the auditorium. There were bodies everywhere, many pooled in blood, bone and other bodily material. Cameras, laptops, pens and pencils, notepads and all manner of stuff was strewn everywhere. Alex nearly threw up when she realized a body had been impaled by one of the stanchions.

With that, she pressed on for what seemed like an eternity, slowly crawling over the deceased as she felt her way down each step.

Eventually she made it to the bottom. The ceiling was lower here so less debris had piled up. She let go of the banister and made her way blindly across the front of the auditorium, hands groping the air in front of her. She took each step slowly, half crouched, and leaning on anything she could find. She slid one foot in front of the other, feeling for obstructions, hoping the doorway she needed was just ahead, and the security guard too.