Quantum Renaissance

The screams were getting closer. I knew it was only a matter of time. The monster stalking the halls could smell us, like an animal. It would find us eventually.

I sat against the wall in my cramped cell, surrounded by bricks and steel, hoping the locks wouldn’t fail. The dim light barely illuminated the cell around me. I looked up at my prison mates, some sleeping fitfully, others staring at me with wide eyes and trembling lips. We had no idea what they wanted with us; we hadn’t even seen their faces!

The screams were closer now. Couldn’t be more than a hallway or two away. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard, trying to soothe my dry throat with every drop of saliva in my mouth. My heart pounded in my chest, so loud I could hear it echoing off the walls of the cell. I’d been in these cells before—I knew what would happen when we were found.

BAM! The door to our cell was ripped from its hinges and thrown across the room, crashing into another prisoner’s chamber. In the doorway stood an enormous shadow, a hulking presence barely visible through the darkness. A cold wind rushed through the chamber as it entered, sweeping up dust and debris along with it. Then came footsteps—clacking on the floor of our prison as though not one single drop of moisture had ever touched their owner’s feet.

It was clad all in black: black boots, black pants, black shirt, and a black cloak that swept down to cover everything but its face and fingers. As it approached me and crouched down until its face was inches away from mine, I saw that its grey skin was punctured with deep holes; tiny mouths opened wide to reveal sharp fangs and saliva dripping from their edges like some kind of hellish grin. Its eyes were faint red embers burning in its skull-like head; silent flames that seemed to burn into my own soul as it stared at me. When it spoke, its voice was like a thousand nails scratching against a chalkboard—a grating shriek that made me shudder and curl up deeper against the wall behind me. But then it spoke again, this time louder than before: “MORALE IS LOW! WE NEED TO INCREASE MORALE!”

Why did it say that? What did it mean? Did my fear excite them? Did they want us to be afraid? Or did they want us to feel something else? Curiosity? Hope? That last one might just be too much for them to handle…

The monster turned around and walked towards the other prisoners in their cells—all three rows of them lining either side of this long rectangular corridor that led straight through to another set of doors on the opposite side of this room. There must have been hundreds here with me; I couldn’t see very well in this dim light but I assumed their cells looked exactly like mine did—squeezed together with barely any space between them for air circulation or movement. They all lay still now; some slept while others watched this dark figure walk past their doors with wide eyes and trembling lips like mine had been moments ago. One by one he stopped at each cell door and ripped them from their hinges just as he had done mine before turning towards his next victim until there were none left untouched by his rage.

Then he turned back towards me and gestured slightly with his hand; his bony fingers hovering over all three doors on either side of him at once like he meant for me to choose which one I wanted to pick for him (or maybe for myself). His red eyes bore into mine making sure my decision was made without hesitation or doubt as he waited patiently for me to make my choice between fear or curiosity or hope—whatever emotion would best suit his needs today…