Chapter 6
The hiss of compressed air grew louder, sounding like an angry serpent coiled just behind the stainless steel grill of the overhead ventilation shaft. Julian dropped the syringe back onto the tray, the glass clinking sharply against the metal, and stepped in front of Clara to shield her.
"Hold your breath," Julian ordered, his voice dropping an octave as he scanned the ceiling.
A fine, powdery mist began to drift down from the slats of the vent, catching the amber light and glowing with an eerie, phosphorescent green hue. It drifted lazily toward the floor, settling directly over the puddle of yellow oil and causing the liquid to fizz and bubble violently. A sweet, cloying scent—reminiscent of bruised wintergreen and rotten almonds—filled the confined space instantly.
"It's an aerosolized suppressant," Clara coughed, her hand flying to her mouth as she tried to crawl backward away from the falling mist. "It binds with the coolant to neutralize the chemical reaction, but it destroys lung tissue on contact if the concentration is too high!"
Julian looked around frantically. There were no gas masks, no emergency respirators, and the doors at both ends of the hallway were firmly locked. He grabbed a spare lab coat hanging from a cleaning cart nearby, ripped the fabric down the seams, and tossed half of it to Clara.
"Press this against your face!" he shouted, wrapping the remaining cloth tightly around his own nose and mouth.
The green mist was thickening now, turning the lower half of the hallway into a hazy, glowing fog. Julian dropped to his knees beside Clara, sliding his arm around her waist to drag her closer to the corner where the downward draft from the grand staircase seemed to push the heaviest part of the cloud away.
As they huddled against the marble wall, the speaker system above the grand staircase crackled to life. Static hissed through the intercom, followed by the sound of heavy breathing.
"Julian," Walter’s voice boomed through the hallway, distorted by the PA system into a metallic, emotionless rasp. "Can you hear me down there?"
Julian pressed his mouth against the fabric of the lab coat, his voice muffled as he yelled upward. "Walter! You're going to kill us both! Shut off the gas!"
"The gas is doing its job, Julian. It's cleaning the slate," Walter replied calmly. "You should have stayed in your office in the city. You should have looked at the spreadsheets, signed off on the compliance report like every auditor before you, and taken your retention bonus."
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"I'm an auditor, not an executioner!" Julian shouted back, his eyes watering from the fumes creeping past the edges of the makeshift filter.
"You're a liability," Walter corrected coldly. "And liabilities get redacted. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Julian. The fire suppression system activates in three minutes."
