LEMMATA, page 3
Running at about another twenty yards far toward the northern door, the room took on a different personality.
Without warning, the room turned red. The alarms went off in all corners of the room and a hissing sound was heard. “What is that?” an officer muttered out. Halting, the four men visually searched about the whole room.
Sweeping the room with his keen eyes, Trent noticed something peculiar about the three loads of boxes inside the room. There seemed to be a certain kind of activity oozing out on top of them. Upon closer examination, his mind went blank, but immediately filled with terror and fright.
The three loads of boxes weren’t ordinary shipping materials. They were gas tanks. Contained within the tanks were combustible chemical reactants that would explode dramatically if came in contact with a flick of a fire. The one thing that did fly into Trent’s mind beside fear was the lit cigarette butts on the ground near the wall that were now thirty yards out from them. “Put your guns away. Whatever you do, do not fire!” he hastily ordered.
A familiar sound appeared, that ear shattering beep over the intercoms. “Start running!” Trent bellowed.
At about fifteen yards out now, the metallic block appeared over the top of the opening, just like the one that shut off their first way out. Unless a miracle happened, they were going to be trapped inside of this room once that block hit the ground.
Officer Horatio Flores, at age forty three, had been an officer for more than two decades. Never a family man, he stayed solitude throughout his serving years. Often regarded as a man of virtue, honor, he was once offered a sergeant promotion, but declined because he enjoyed “nurturing the up and coming young officers from the ground up.” Trent was one such that Horatio respected since the day Trent joined the force. He enjoyed his bravado and gung-ho personality. It had been three years since Horatio had been working along side Trent. He vowed to see to it that Trent succeeded in this risky career that they called “suicidal.” He decided that the time had come for him to live up to his vow for Trent.
As if given a boost of adrenaline, Officer Horatio Flores raced out in front of the pack toward the door. It wasn’t clear what he had in mind, but it was obvious that he did not intend to stop even if the block were to shut down on him. Trent noticed this and immediately called out, “Officer, plan?” There was no answer from Horatio. The other two officers looked on as they gradually slowed down their advance toward the door, which was now half way closed. “Officer, stop!” called out Trent.
Trent couldn’t decipher what Horatio had in mind. Looking around the charging person, there was no lingering wood or steel bars lying near by for him to pick up and prop the block. With that plan, the bar would have to be at least a foot or so thick enough to withstand the power of the descending metallic block. Even if such a bar did appear in sight, there was no time to lift it, prop it, and therefore hold off the closing of the entrance. No matter which way he looked at it, Trent couldn’t figure out Horatio’s intent. Unless… Trent thought.
“Officer! Cease!” with horror written over his face, the detective bellowed. “Horatio, no!”
Within five yards out, Horatio knew there was only one way that he could take to ensure Trent and the others got out alive: using himself and his weathered body to withstand the fast closing metallic block long enough for the rest of the men to get out. They need two extra seconds. Just two. The only thing in his mind now. Just two.
Realizing that there was no stopping Horatio, Trent shouted, “Close in!” The other two officers quickly followed behind.
The metallic door slid down at a lighting fast speed. At about five feet between it and the ground, Horatio glided on the floor and let out a primal scream as his hands met the weight of the two-inch thick block. Just two… He thought when his moment came. Just…
Displaying in front of their eyes was a scene far more brutal then anything any of the officers had encountered. Officer Horatio Flores’ open palms were like a pair of wooden chopsticks trying to hold up the weight of a naval carrier. The block did not bother to budge as it sliced Horatio in half off the right side of his kneeling body, missing just the center of his head. As the familiar sound of the thick block hitting the ground serenaded the whole room, the three remaining men stood there in shock, observing the blood bathed half of Horatio’s now laden body. His other half of the body now laid hidden on the other side of the door. He couldn’t even buy half a second.
When the poisonous gas hit Trent’s nose, he was finally awoken from his frozen state of mind. “We can’t linger. Find a way out!” he shouted.
It was too late.
The three gas tanks took just ten seconds to fill up the whole room, effectively transforming it into a gas chamber, except this one combusted the moment it touched a spark of fire. That source of spark at this moment was bright and alive, right next to a crusty wall where the cigarette butts laid.
What Trent discovered earlier was that they had indeed walked into a trap. The cigarettes were lit up but were never smoked by anyone. With the flash light in hand, he searched for cigarette ashes on the ground, but the only ashes to be found were those burned off connecting to the butts themselves. He didn’t envision the sudden appearance of the gas tanks. Had he known that the lit cigarette butts were also used as a mean to kill them, he would have stepped on them, even though he was merely following a common law enforcement protocol: never hinder any evidence, no matter how small. Nevertheless, it was all for naught. A terrible, life costing mistake. He thought. And he knew that they had but seconds to gather themselves and embrace for their end of time.
The gaseous smoke closed in toward the glow from the cigarette butts. Upon sensing its existence, the smoke swarmed in even faster and met its maker. Like a shooting comet across the vast sky, the infusion was glistening and bright. Instantaneously, it expanded like a new born universe, engulfing everything in its path: air, space, gas tanks, bones and flesh.
THE REDDING FILES
PART I
AWAKENING OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN
Coming to Amazon Kindle edition Spring 2012
SAM PENG was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. He migrated to the states when he was fourteen years old without knowing much English. After graduating from University of Florida with a degree in Theatre and Asian Studies, he moved to Atlanta to pursue his career in theatre. He has lived in Atlanta since 2004. LEMMATA is his first published novel.
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Preview of The Redding Files: Part I Awakening of The Holy Guardian
Sam Peng, LEMMATA
