Genesis by Keith R. A. DeCandido Page A

of the men pointed to the floor.
    Only then did Mark notice the small shaft of light poking through.
    From the looks of it, the elevator had finally come to a halt just as it was about to pass the third floor. The bottom of the elevator was currently about two feet down from the top of the third-floor elevator doors.
    Ella let the doors close on the blade of the knife, then got down on her knees, moving the knife blade with her toward the floor. Mark winced as the blade scraped against the door, giving him shivers up and down his spine.
    All things considered, though, he didn’t really mind it.
    Especially given the alternatives.
    Again, Ella squeezed her fingers between the doors, trying to get them to part. Being able to stick her fingers farther out through the gap between the top of the outer doors and the bottom of the elevator’s inner doors, she was able to get them open at least a little bit.
    Enough, at least, to see the third floor, get someone’s attention, and ask for help.
    Maybe ask what in God’s name was going on, while they were at it.
    â€œMy God.”
    Mark looked up. Ella’s voice sounded, if it were possible, even more hollow and lifeless.
    His breaths started going shallow again. He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.
    A fervent desire to go hide in a corner warred in Mark’s mind with a desperate need to see what Ella saw. Against his better judgment, the latter prevailed.
    Blinking a fresh influx of sweat out of his eye, he practically pushed Ella to the side. “Let me see.”
    Bodies.
    Mark saw at least seven or eight people lying on the floor. They seemed to have just fallen down in a random pattern. Some wore suits, others the all-white lab outfits. Not surprisingly, given that it was his first day, Mark didn’t recognize any of them. Some, he couldn’t even see their faces.
    He was no doctor. The view he had was obstructed.
    But he knew the instant he looked at them that all those people were dead.
    They weren’t moving. They weren’t breathing. And they weren’t going to.
    â€œWe have to get out of here.” Mark tore his gaze from the bodies and stood up. “We have to get out of this building!”
    One of the other men gave him a you’re damn right look, and the two of them knelt down and tried to pry the doors farther apart.
    â€œHere, give me a hand.”
    Mark curled his fingers around one door while the other guy did likewise for the opposite door. With all his might, fueled by fear and desperation, he pulled.
    The doors didn’t move any farther apart.
    â€œThat’s as far as they’ll go.”
    The other man nodded. “They’re caught on something.”
    A voice from behind Mark said, “That’s wide enough.”
    Mark turned to see Ella shrugging her jacket off.
    â€œI think I can squeeze through,” she said. “I’ll get help.”
    Looking over the slim woman, Mark had to agree that, if nothing else, she was the only person in the elevator who even had a chance of getting through the tiny gap.
    He also promised himself that, if they did somehow get out of this, he was definitely asking this woman out.
    Ella got down on her stomach, snaked her right arm through the gap, then started to worm her head in.
    After a moment, her forward motion stopped.
    â€œI’m stuck. You’re going to have to push.”
    Mark immediately grabbed her back and started guiding it forward.
    â€œThat’s it. A bit more.”
    Just as her head got all the way through, Mark heard a sharp metallic sound.
    â€œWhat is that?” he asked, even though, in his gut, he knew what it was.
    â€œOh Christ,” said the other guy, “it’s the brakes!”
    Another crack. This time the elevator lurched slightly.
    â€œGet out! We’ve got to get out!” He started to push Ella forward.
    Ella screamed, “I can’t move!”
    Mark noticed that her neck