Story: Drowning Research Labs #2


Posted by BlueLips on June 18, 2009 at 16:27:39:

Brooke awakens in some kind of cell. She curls up in shock first, realizing she is naked, but after a few seconds of silence, it seems no one is about. Slowly, uncomfortably, she uncurls and starts to gage her surroundings.

It is a small room with solid walls of a translucent gray material. Light passes in from the outside, but Brooke can't see clearly enough through the walls to tell where she really is. She stands up cautiously, still feeling odd about her nakedness. She thinks of calling out, a simple "hello?", but then she remembers the parking garage, the needle prick on her arm.... she has to assume she is in danger.

Suddenly water dumps onto her head. Brooke gasps and coughs with shock, and it takes her a second to collect her wits and move to the side. Water is pouring in from the high ceiling, about twenty feet up. It is gathering at her ankles and rising fast.

Brooke is suddenly scared. She starts feeling along the walls, looking for a door, a latch, anything. The walls are perfectly smooth. By now, the water is up to her hips.

"Help!" she yells awkwardly, in no direction in particular. "I need to get out! Is anybody there?" The water passes her waist.

Brooke takes a deep breath and goes under. She tries examining the floor, looking for any kind of drain. It is as smooth as the walls. No luck. She surfaces, the water now up to her collarbone, her breasts bobbing freely with every motion.

She tries to stay calm. As the water approaches her chin, she starts to tread water and looks up. The water must be coming from somewhere. Maybe that could be the way out.

The water is eight feet deep, ten feet... still treading water, she looks up. The ceiling is solid and smooth except for the hole the water is coming in from. It's being pumped in with force. There is no way she could swim against that current. Brooke swallows hard. She will have to try.

But as the water nears the ceiling, a dark circle suddenly opens up. A hole in the top of the room. Brooke cries out in relief and waits for the water to get high enough. As she approaches the ceiling, she can see ladder rungs. She reaches up. The water keeps rising.

Finally, she grabs the thin metal rung. Grunting, she pulls herself upwards, wishing she had exercised more. She grabs the next rung as the water chases her upwards. Finally she is on the ladder, inside a tube about six feet in diameter. It's dark but not completely dark. Above, her she can see the tube take a right-angle turn, back to a horizontal angle.

She feels something at her feet. She looks down. It is too dark to see, but it is obviously the water, somehow coming into the tube. "oh, GOD!" Brooke shrieks. She climbs the ladder furiously.

At the top, where the tube turns horizontal, she pulls herself upwards and lays down, trembling, catching her breath. In the distance, she can see some light. She can't go back the way she came. She starts to crawl forward.

Slowly, it starts getting lighter, and she can see the tube is made of the same glassy gray material as her cell. The water doesn't seem to be rising into the tube. In fact, it's eerily quiet, which Brooke decides must mean the water has stopped. She starts breathing easier. Now I have time to figure out what's going on, she thinks.

The tube becomes a lot brighter at one point, as if she has passed into some kind of room. Far ahead of her, it appears to grow dark again, and she thinks she can make out the tube turning upwards, vertically, again.

A loud clang startles her. Brooke sees a metal grille has dropped, about three feet ahead. She crawls to it. A mesh of iron bars, blocking the way. She grips the bars and shakes, knowing it will be useless. Now what?

A deeper clang comes from behind her, and Brooke's heart begins to race. She crawls backwards slowly, dreading what she will find. And it is there. Her feet touch metal, a solid piece that blocks her way back. She is trapped.

"oh god," Brooke whimpers.

She hears a surge of water. It's coming from the tube ahead, where it turns upwards, and it splashes its way down the tube, hitting the stopper that is now at her feet. "No!" Brooke screams. "Get me out!!"

She thinks she can make out shapes outside the tube. People? Can they see her inside here? Brooke tries to keep her wits. "Help me! Whoever's out there, please! Please! Turn the water off!"

The tube is halfway full. Brooke has to roll onto her back to keep breathing. She pounds the tube with her fists, she kicks aimlessly at the stopper, she tries to reach back to the grille. Nothing works. She has to brace her arms behind her to try to stay above the water. She is beginning to panic but manages to hang onto her wits. "I've had enough!" she cries out. "Please! You can do whatever you want with me, just get me out! Please!!"

She takes one last breath, and she is covered. Brooke flips back over and attacks the grille with both hands, trying to find the leverage to pull or push or shake. The bars won't move. Brooke's lungs are starting to burn.

She realizes her hands are shaking uncontrollably. She can't bear the horrible feeling in her lungs any more. She pounds at the glass, eyes bulging, legs twitching. Her breasts sway in the water as she thrashes involuntarily. A stream of bubbles shoots from her mouth. Brooke covers her lips with both hands, don't breathe in! don't breathe in! More bubbles, as her lungs force the carbon dioxide out of her. Her lungs are empty. Brooke's hands move away in helpless panic. The pain in her lungs is too terrible. She no longer cares, she has to breathe, no matter what it is she breathes in. Her mouth opens wide, and she takes in a gulp of water. Her body instinctively swallows it, sending it to her stomach rather than her lungs. This happens again and again, Brooke taking deep swallows as her lungs try to inhale, her chest heaving, her mind burning in agony as the world fades into sparks. Her mouth opens even wider and she begins to convulse in death. Her spasms last for a full minute before she is finally still. As her corpse relaxes, it begins to float to the top of the tube.