"As Gryfton went to sleep, more than just darkness swept over the land. The hushes of the nightcrawlers and creatures of the night filled the city. As long as the city's secrets were kept hidden, all was well."
Professor David O'Daniel was about to call it a night. Having spent an entire day in the lab cooking up God knows what, he needed to get back home to his family.
As a well decorated biologist, he had accolades to his name and resided in The Heights, Gryfton's wealthiest district. Most of the employees in the building had already clocked out and he was left to finish running a test before he closes the labs.
Walking out of the lab and into the hall, he could see a man at the end of the hallway, staring down at him.
"Hello? Can I help you?" He called out, expecting it to be the night guard reporting for duty. It was a routine that by the time he left the building, the night guard always checks in.
However, something was off. Down the hall, the man standing there was clearly not the guard, well atleast that's what David could tell. He could see that the strange man had a hoodie on and a pair of jeans. Nothing close to the guard's uniform.
The man took a step forward, making David uncomfortable. His heart, pounding inside his chest and anxiety clamping at his lungs, he knew something wasn't right.
Looking around, there was very few places that he could run to, being that the man was standing in the way that led to the exits. Behind David, down the hall, was nothing but just rooms with different lab rooms.
He was cornered, but he had to do something.
"I'll call the police," David warned, as he took his phone from his lab coat. Checking the signal, he couldn't get any reception. That wasn't a good sign.
'How is this possible?' he asked himself, knowing full well that cell service was never a problem in the building.
Looking back at the man, he was still standing there, unmoved. At one point, David started to get an eerie feeling about the strange man standing across from him. And at sixty years old, he was in no condition to try to tackle or fight his way through the man.
From his deduction, he could tell that the intruder was roughly 6'1, heavily built and gave him a chilling feeling down his spine.
The man took another step forward, further terrifying David who was now starting to panic.
He didn't know how much time he had before the night guard actually comes to report for duty or what the stranger's intentions were. All he knew, was that this man wanted something from him and was not going to be intimidated with threats.
"We need you to come with us," the man finally said, his deep and raspy voice echoing through the hall to David.
"We? Who is we?" David asked without hesitating, wondering if there were more people.
However, the man didn't answer him, he just took another step forward slowly closing the gap between them. David didn't want to stay around to find out what the man wanted or why, he quickly turned around and bolted towards the opposite direction.
Reaching the far end of the hall, to his left, there was an experiment room that they used to text with radioactive materials. The room was restricted to most staff and was therefore locked using a key card.
Contemplating what to do, he could hear the footsteps following him from behind. The man wasn't even running. He was just walking slowly, on his trail and turning at every corner that David took.
Juggling his options, David knew that he was safe in the experiment room. Swiping his staff card at the door, he stepped into the room and pushed the door back all the way through. He heard the electronic lock beep, confirming that it was locked and no one else could walk through the door. Unless they had the same card as his.
Standing at the door, he he watched the hall from a small glass opening, hoping that the man wouldn't show up.
David's heart dropped to his feet when a shadow came to view and got even closer. He stepped back from the door, terrified of what was happening.
As far as he knew, he didn't have any enemies nor was he a man of value for anyone to come after in terms of killing him, kidnapping him or anything along those lines.
His heart froze when the shadow got the door and was now a man standing in front of him. The only thing that stood between the two men, was the door that was locked electronically. Trying to get a better look at his pursuer, he could see the man's face covered with a mask.
The strange man looked at the slot where the card is swiped to open the door and then looked at David. David felt a strong surge of relief when he could tell that the strange man didn't have such a key card.
'If necessary, I can stay here all night till morning when everyone else comes back,' David said to himself as he knew he would rather stay safely locked inside the room till the building becomes flooded by staff the following morning.
Despite the mask, David could make out a smirk on the man's face. In a moment like that, where David knew he had the upper hand, a smirk isn't what you hope to see on the face of someone who is defeated.
"David, I don't intend to sit here and have a chit chat with you, so I'll go straight to the point. Your wife is at home with your son who is visiting for Thanksgiving. In addition, your secretary is halfway home.
Your wife doesn't know the secret you're keeping from her and if you don't open this door before we let your secret come to light and all three are nailed to the wall the next time you go home."
Silence filled the hall and the man added,
"Open the door and follow me, or else by the time you get back home you won't have a family to go back to."