Condemned

I was laying in bed in a hotel room flicking through channels; trying to find something other than the news that reminded me how f***** up the world is.
My cellphone rang. I looked at the screen expecting a call from S.C.U (Serial Crimes Unit), but it was a private number.
“Hello.”
“Ethan, meet me at the corner of Granger and Reid in ten minutes,” a familiar voice replied.
-Click- He hung up.
“Ten minutes? That’s halfway across town.”
I threw on my jacket and grabbed my gun and S.C.U badge on the table. I wasted no time bolting out the door, making sure to lock it behind me. I ran down the stairs and headed towards my car in the middle of the parking lot. It was a black `98 Honda Civic with paint peeling off the rearview mirrors and a dented bumper. In no time at all I was leaving the parking lot and making my way down Coston Blvd. I stopped at the red light. The longer I sat and waited the more time I had to think. “What does he want? It’s been a year; this better not be about his nephew.” I reached for a cigarette in the left pocket of my jacket. I grab a lighter off the dashboard and before I can light the cigarette a bitter gust of wind extinguished the flame. I edge my head to the left to find strong moon-like eyes consumed with terror staring at me hosted by a long rotting face which had a rusty brace of metal housing it’s crooked jaw. It growled at me, piercing my body with its murderous intent. Then…. BEEP! I was staring at a green traffic light, and seven cars were lined up behind me. I could just imagine the angry looks on each of the driver’s faces. I stepped on the accelerator. I’ve been having more and more of these psychotic visions lately. I can’t tell the difference between reality and what’s in my head.
I arrived at the site. All that lied on the corner was an abandoned gray office building covered with graffiti and having all but one window broken. It measured about four stories high and ten meters wide. There wasn’t a person in sight. No one in their right mind would wander this neighborhood this late at night. S.C.U reports totaled over a homicide a day for this neighborhood alone last time I checked. “Even Malcolm isn’t this dumb, what is he thinking?” I grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment and checked to see if it was working properly. “Okay.” I stepped out of the car and made my way towards the entrance. Locked. I climbed through the nearby window. There was no need to break the glass, someone had been here long before I had. “God knows how many psychos are inhabiting this place. The city’s in hell because of the addict bastards. Get to close to em’ and they wont hesitate to kill you.” I made my way through the first floor.
“MALCOLM!” I shouted.
Chaotic laughter replied from the floor above me, it wasn’t him, it wasn’t anyone sane anyway. I continue my search through the building and came across a stairwell. A gate with a padlock on it blocked off the stairs to the lower levels. So, I decided to go up to meet my laughing pal, gun ready at my side. With each step I seemed to ascend more and more into complete darkness, my flashlight becoming my new best friend. I proceeded through the door at the top of the stairs illuminating the room in front of me. I found the source of the laughter. He was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, shirtless and shaking angrily. He ripped off the blade of a paper cutter on the table next to him. He then leaped up, charging me with his frail body. I fired. Blood splattered the chair behind him as his body hit the floor with a THUD. I began to check the rooms; still no sign of Malcolm. There was one room left at the end of the hall. I was barely able to step a foot inside before a large blunt object struck the side of my skull and sent my body crashing into the floor. Standing over me was another lunatic, bigger than the last, wielding a 2x4 swinging it at me madly. My gun was missing so I did the next best thing, quickly got to my feet and pounded my fists into the brute’s skull. I was able to tackle him the ground and continued pounding. I was used to getting a little blood on my hands, and this was no different. Maybe I should’ve stopped after its heart stopped beating but I didn’t care, it was just my fists versus his face and I was winning. I got up to find my hands and arms covered in blood. I recovered my flashlight and pointed it at the corpse to check the damage. Seeing its mangled face made me question my own sanity. “It’s days like these I wonder if I’m really any different from them.” -Beep-. I check my phone for the text message, it reads: Basement. I check the nearby closet to find a sledgehammer behind some old magazines. “Good enough for me,” I thought, “Who needs a gun when you’ve got this.” I run back downstairs to the padlocked gate. One swing was all it took to break the lock and start my journey down the stairs. Upon reaching the basement I’m confronted by a glass wall resembling some sort of research lab. An old man appeared on the opposite side of the glass; it was Malcolm. He was different; he had sinister bloodshot eyes with a crooked grin and he was wearing torn dirty clothing.
“Malcolm, what happened to you!”
The lights went out.
“What the hell”
By the time I lifted my flashlight up he was gone. I searched the vicinity for a door and when I found one I had the pleasure of kicking it in since it was locked. After inspecting the room I moved on through a wooden door and used my flashlight to find a long complex hallway with more rooms than I could count. The room at the end of it seemed to stand out so I’d check there first. Each room was completely trashed with paper everywhere, broken copier machines on top of tables and it seemed computer modems were tossed carelessly around. Halfway down the hall a door slammed open in front of me. Another addict jumps out hoisting a gas pipe above its head twirling it psychotically. It rushes me and before the pipe can connect with my face I swing the sledgehammer down in front of me crushing it in its tracks, leaving its face looking even more devastated than the one upstairs. I reach the room at the end of the hall and enter. My flashlight begins to dim and a lamp in the corner begins to flicker. A dark presence encompasses the room pushing down against my body. I want to faint. I turn around to find it screaming at me; the same bastard in my car earlier. “Was I having another vision?” It swung something at me knocking me right off my feet onto the floor. It raised its arm, it was wielding a huge medieval-like sword. I jumped out of the way as the weapon plunged into the wood beneath where I was, sending pieces of plaster in every direction. I ran out the nearest door sprinting through random rooms and hallways aimlessly. I came to a clearing, the ground was completely torn up and electric wires hung from the ceiling that was half-missing. Across from me a figure shook violently; the same type of creature I had just ran away from. I looked around and realized they surrounded me, covering the entire room. ”Can this be real, or is it just another hallucination?”