The 11th Floor: Awakening by Charles Culver Read Free Book Online Page A

muffled scream and kicked, but was unable to accomplish anything.
    “Think of it, Luke,” said Nate. “Unlimited power. Immortality. You can have virtually anything you want. All you have to do is kill this one complete stranger. Ms. Higgins here is on the list, so she’s going to die either way.”
    “I can’t,” replied Luke.
    “It’s a lot simpler than you’re making it,” said Nate. “Either you kill her and save your own life, or we will kill you both. Lou here is hoping you choose the latter. He’s wanted to kill you for quite some time now.”
    “I’ll only give you one minute to decide,” Nate continued, “then you both die.”
    From his jacket pocket, Nate pulled a small hourglass. He tipped it over and slammed it down on the table.
    Luke stared Nate in the eyes, then looked back at Amanda. She was now crying. It was obvious to her that no matter what Luke’s decision, she was going to die. The tears flowed down her cheeks in a fairly steady stream. Lou pulled her closer, leaned in, and licked the tears off one of her cheeks with his disgusting black tongue.
    “Tick, tock,” said Nate, with no response from Luke. “Okay, Lou, I think we have our decision. Mr. Williams’ silence here has sealed their fate. Do it.”
    “Wait!” Luke shouted. “Wait. Okay. I’ll do it.”

Chapter 16
     
    Nate pulled a large blade from his jacket pocket, just like the last time.
    “You need to use this,” Nate said, holding the blade out for Luke.
    “First, I have some questions I need answered,” demanded Luke.
    “I will allow two questions. Then you finish the job.”
    Luke paused for a moment. He wanted to make sure he asked the right questions.
    “Why do I wake up next to dead bodies?” he asked.
    “As I told you when we first met months ago in that office building, we like to mess with people—torture them a bit as part of our game. The dead bodies? They don’t exist. We make you see them. They aren’t actually there. The same goes for the birds that fell from the sky. Remember how they just disappeared?”
    “Okay. What about the list? How do people get on the list?”
    “You’re wasting your questions. I also told you this when we first met. I don’t know the answer to this. The list comes from the big man downstairs. He gives me the list and we take care of the dirty work. We don’t question his motives for putting people on the list. All I can do is speculate .”
    “So speculate for me,” insisted Luke.
    Nate sighed, “The best I can figure, the people on the list must have grabbed his attention in some way or another. Could be crimes they committed in their lives, indifference to their fellow man, or good spirits that he wishes to break. Sometimes I believe that by taking some of these people, it causes misery and suffering to others, which is really his forte.”
    “So that’s it?” Luke complained. “That doesn’t answer my question. I want another one!  You said you hadn’t seen a talent like mine in about 300 years. Who was the other person? Is it a name I would recognize?”
    “I’m not going to answer that. Go consult your priest. Now enough of this, time to fulfill your destiny.”
    Nate held out the blade for Luke to take.
    “For it to work properly, you must use this blade. Don’t ask me why, it’s another question I won’t answer, I will just say that it is special. ”
    Luke took the blade from Nate and held it close to his face. There were odd markings all over it, which he had never seen before. It resembled ancient Egyptian with a bit of an alien, other-worldly vibe.
    With his arm still around her chest and his hand over her mouth, Lou pushed Amanda across the room toward Luke. Nate opened the desk drawer and retrieved a roll of duct tape. He approached Amanda, ripping off a large piece of tape, and placed it over her mouth.
    She tried to scream between Lou removing his hand and the tape being placed, but all she could get out was “Luke!”
    Once her