Out of Control - Chapter 3

After a few more beers, Jake said, “Okay pledges, time for your final task. Alpha Sig is known for our... out of the box thinking, and we want to make sure every brother lives up to those ideals. Each of you will be sent, either alone or in a pair, to retrieve something that’s going to be a little tricky to get. You need to show us if you guys have what it takes.”

Drunk as we were, I think we all realized all the phases before this were just for fun. This was the real test.

“Taylor and Austin, you’re breaking into Sigma Delta Theta. Bring back at least 3 sets of panties as proof.”

I think they wanted to be excited for their task, but I imagined actually getting into the sorority wasn’t easy. Although, if they were smart, maybe they’d just go get some from somewhere else and say it came from Sigma. It’s not like they had branded underwear.

“Ethan, you’re on your own. Steal the ‘Welcome to Briarfield’ sign from the south entrance.”

Ethan nodded, looking a little green. That was very public and was going to be hard for one guy to pull off. It couldn’t be tricked like the panty raid.

“Kyle, Brandon, I want you to break into the physics building. Dr. Finch has a small statue of some physicist on her desk. She loves that thing, and we want it.”

I had no idea who she was, but I saw Brandon make a face. As Jake went on to the next guys, I leaned over and said, “Finch?”

“Head of the physics department and a total bitch, apparently. She loves ruining people’s lives, but the physics department is the main selling point of the school, so she gets away with everything.”

“Ohh,” I said, getting the look from earlier.

Part of me wanted to just pull out. I was here basically on the goodwill of the school, and I didn’t want to put that in jeopardy. But I also wanted to join the frat. If I was sober, I probably would have bailed. But I wasn’t.

“Fuck it,” I said. “Let’s go steal a statue.”

Brandon and I stumbled our way across campus towards the physics building, which was almost completely dark. A few scattered lights remained on, probably grad students or professors working late. As we got close, we slowed our pace, I think realizing we were here and this was about to get serious.

Brandon grabbed the front door handle and tugged. Locked. He frowned, giving it another pull.

“Shit. Now what?”

“There’s gotta be another way in,” I said, glancing around the side of the building. “Come on.”

We skirted along the wall, testing windows as we went. Just when it seemed like they were all locked, and our test would be over before it started, Brandon tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a window slightly ajar on the second floor, I guess maybe left open for ventilation.

I looked at Brandon, raising an eyebrow. He shook his head and knelt down, cupping his hands and giving me a boost as I put my foot in it. Even with that, it was almost out of reach. I swiped a few times, missing, mostly as Brandon was swaying below, until I finally managed to get my fingertips on it. Digging in, I heaved myself, pushing the window up as I did, and sliding in through the opening, landing in an unceremonious heap on the floor.

I made my way down to a side door and opened it. Sticking my head out, I saw Brandon looking up at the open window still, I guess expecting me to lower a rope or something.

“Psst. Hey,” I whisper-yelled.

He looked around for a moment, crouching like someone was about to catch him, before he realized it was me. He hurried over and slipped through the door, both of us snickering drunkenly.

We made it about three steps into the hallway when we both froze in place as we heard a noise. Footsteps and a jangle of keys. Brandon got his wits about him and started checking doors, thankfully finding an unlocked one on his second try. We both dashed into what looked like a small classroom, holding our breath as he passed.

We waited probably ten minutes, just to be sure, before I stuck my head out of the door and looked in either direction. The corridor was empty.

I let out a sigh of relief. “That was close. Now we gotta find her office.”

“I took a tour here last week, since one of my friends is a physics major and wanted me to go with him. I think it’s down here.”

I followed Brandon down the hallway, looking at nameplates until we found the right one. The door was locked, but after searching the secretary’s area out front, I actually found a key to the door in one of the bottom drawers. It was there probably for the secretary to access the office when Dr. Finch wasn’t there, but it kind of made locking it pointless.

The office was meticulously organized, every paper in its place. We rifled through the drawers and shelves, searching for our prize. How hard could it be to find a statue?

“I don’t think it’s here. Do you remember seeing it?”

“No, but the tour doesn’t go through her office. Maybe … maybe it’s in the labs. They said Finch was always working in the labs and if it’s that important to her.”

For some reason, his drunken logic made sense to me. He led us down the hall to a set of stairs that seemed to go well more than a story down into some kind of basement that looked a lot more sterile than the building above. The lights were mostly off, except for an emergency light here or there. The long hall with a bunch of doors off of it extended down further than I thought the building went, out toward where the quad was. Maybe they built this through the whole area for psychic experiments. I wasn’t ever going into STEM, so who knew what it could be.

“I think this way,” Brandon said.

We passed room after room, peering through windows, looking for … I didn’t know what.

“Dude, check it out,” Brandon whispered, pointing to a room at the end of the hall.

Through the window, I could see pulsing lights coming from some kind of machine. There, sitting on a desk next to the hulking machine, was what we’d been sent for. A small statue of some old guy, this guy with glasses.

“Jackpot,” I grinned.

I was about to check the door when we heard the jingling of keys.

“Shit,” Brandon said.

We frantically looked around for somewhere to hide. Brandon yanked open a nearby closet door and we tumbled inside, pulling it shut just as whoever it was came around the corner. We held our breath, pressed uncomfortably close in the tiny space. The footsteps grew louder, then slowly faded away.

After a moment, I cracked the door open. “Coast is clear. One of us probably needs to keep watch.”

Before I could finish the thought, saying I’d watch while he went in, Brandon blurted out, “I’ll do it!”

I frowned, annoyed. I’d been hoping to stay outside and let him take the risk of breaking in. But whatever, I wasn’t about to argue now.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “Just... don’t fuck it up.”

Brandon positioned himself where he could see down both hallways while I tried to figure out how to get into the lab. I turned down the side hallway that ran the length of the larger lab with the machine.

I was checking the last of the doors when Brandon hissed, “Shit! Get down.”

He ducked back into the closet while I pressed myself up against the wall at the far end of the cross hallway. There really wasn’t anywhere to go, so all I could hope was the guy didn’t look my direction. I held my breath as he walked up to the main door and swiped his keycard. He was focused on something on his phone, thankfully, and didn’t notice me at all.

The door was closing slowly, and I had an idea. Crouching low, below the windows, I ran forward, grabbing the door just before it shut. The page I’d had on me with the scavenger hunt had a piece of tape on it. Pulling it off, I put it over the lock and pressed it hard, sticking it to the door before letting it shut.

It was a long shot, but maybe it would get stuck and not close all the way. I kind of peeked up and saw the student was facing the windows, which meant I wasn’t going to be able to get to the closet Brandon was hiding in.

I slid back to the far end, hoping he would look this way again. A few minutes later the student came back out, still staring at his phone, and walked away, letting the door shut. I waited, almost holding my breath until he was well around the corner before I crept back to the door, looking down the hall to make sure I was clear.

Grabbing the handle, I pulled... and it opened, the tape falling off as I did. It held on just long enough.

I stayed low, trying to stay below the window ledge, and kind of waddled to the desk where we’d seen the statue, next to the sci-fi looking contraption. Grabbing it, I grinned.

This was easier than I’d thought it would be.

I was just turning when Brandon knocked on the window before dashing off. I assumed that meant someone was coming, but I was inside the room without a lot of options. The professor’s desk was turned to face the machine, maybe so she could see her people working or students coming into the room.

I slipped under the desk, hoping whoever was coming didn’t come in and around, where I’d both be easily seen and in a place I definitely shouldn’t be.

Once under there, I second-guessed what this desk was. There were all kinds of cables and wires down here, so much so that I could barely get my footing, making it seem unlikely anyone actually sat at this desk.

The door opened and the person came in, walking past the desk. Just what I didn’t want them to do. It was the grad student again, still looking at his phone. He went to a bank of controls on the wall, muttering under his breath as he fiddled with some dials, scribbled something on a clipboard. A few minutes, during which I tried to not even breathe, he pulled his phone out and went back to typing as he left the room again.

I waited again for him to leave before crawling out. As I was half out, my foot snagged on something, making me fall forward, banging my knee painfully on the linoleum.

“Dammit.”

I twisted around to see what it was, and saw it was some kind of cord that had wrapped around my shoe, a clip of some kind getting stuck. I tried to lean back and unhook it, and stumbled, my motor control pretty screwed by the alcohol. I fell forward and felt resistance, and then it jerked free.

Stumbling to my feet, I froze. The lights inside the glass enclosure around the machine were pulsing faster, way faster than before.

“Uhh …” I said, my brain trying to catch up as I looked out the window toward Brandon.

I was just about to wave, asking what I should do, when the stropping intensified. It was mesmerizing. A part of me, muffled by booze, deep inside, was screaming to run. That this was bad.

I was moving slow, the thought finally getting through. I took a step toward the door, about to start running.

BOOM!

The explosion rocked the room. Shards of glass flew everywhere as the machine erupted. The force slammed me backwards. I crashed into the wall, my head cracking against it.

Pain. Everywhere. It felt like my whole body was on fire, burning from the inside out. The room spun, growing darker by the second.

The last thing I saw was Brandon’s terrified face appear in the doorway before everything went black.