Step into the Inferno
Chapter Two: The Drifting Song
She felt herself get pulled backwards, a hand gripping her nightgown and sending her toppling backwards and into Aeneas' arms. Still screaming she tries to focus on the spot where the woman in red had been flung into the burning ocean below and felt the rising panic that burned through her body. Scream after scream ripped through her throat, shredding her lungs as it seemed the whole world was starting to collapse in on itself, the woman in the red dress was dead!
Aeneas continued to pull her back through the door, dragging her across the molted red stone floor as fast as he could. Awkwardly planting a foot on the first step down he brought her through inch by inch as she continued to scream, screaming and trying to reach out into the air for something that wasn't there. Blindly trying to place a foot on the second step he missed and suddenly the both of them were plucked from halfway out the door to falling down the stairs where they landed in a jumbled heap.
Even as they feel and even when they landed in a heap at Jason's feet Penelope still felt a raw surge of panic bubble from deep in her chest and kept screaming. Everything- everything-everything-everything was wrong-wrong-wrong! The woman was dead! She was dead! The woman was dead! She had to keep screaming; screaming into the world that meant nothing to her, the only way to ease the panic boiling in her lungs was to scream. Even when Aeneas placed a rough hand over her mouth she let out muffled screams as she relived the woman diving down into the burning ocean far below.
Jason flew past them and headed straight for the door which still let in the flood of hazy red light and reached out for the door handle which was in the hostile environment outside. Giving the harsh landscape beyond him a quick look he slammed the door shut in a space of two seconds, cutting off the red light and washing Penelope and Aeneas in darkness. Twisting around to see the two of them Jason looked down to see with a great deal of relief that Penelope was silent in the darkness, the insane screaming had stopped with the slamming of the door.
"Are ya alright?" the voice of Paris questioned from the room beside what would now be Penelope's, she turned to see the blond haired youth trying to force himself through Jocasta. "Ya alright Penny?" he asked looking immediately at Penelope who had gone silent, he glanced briefly at the dead body of the creature that had been pulled in and then back at Penny, scanning her for some kind of wound.
"I'm alright," Penelope said as she staggered to her feet shaking her head of the strange fog which had started to settle there, whatever panic she had was gone. Paris finally forced himself into the room almost sending Jocasta to the floor who was still looking at the situation with the glaze of sleep over her eyes. "Don't worry Paris, I'm alright," Penelope started to repeat as she straightened the now dirty nightgown she had on, "I'm alright."
"You sure?" questioned a voice from the doorway, Ajax was looking into the room confused. "Did that thing bite you Penny?" he questioned running a hand through his hair. While it seemed he was confused he still seemed to be calm, the only time he ever grew concerned was when he was writing in the notebook he claimed he didn't have. "Or did you hurt yourself falling down the stairs? How about you Aeneas, anything broken?"
"No I'm fine," Aeneas muttered as he straightened himself, "I'm mostly worried about Penelope. What did you see out there?" he questioned.
Penelope felt her throat go dry as she looked at the five stares that were now focused on her, she realized with building embarrassment that she had been screaming and at the top of her lungs. Desperately in the few seconds of silence she had before words would pour out of her mouth, for better or for worse, she tried to remember what had caused her to feel the world crushing horror. Her mind remained foggy and all she could remember was gazing out onto the sea and having Aeneas pull her back in before she brought a whole legion of the strange boar creatures on their shelter.
"I'm not really sure to be honest," she said feeling sweat starting to bead on her forehead, she felt a flash of shame when she saw Paris' large blue eyes staring at her filled with concern. "I'm sorry," she said blindly trying to grip on what had happened when she had gone through the door and had looked up, she had seen something but now the memory seemed foggy like a dream within a dream.
"Well maybe you should take it easy," Jason suggested who had reclaimed the sawed of shotgun he had bestowed the Penny only a good hour, if it was an hour, ago. "I'm sure someone will be able to take your shift," he said and before Jason even had enough time to look at Paris the young man already burst forward.
"I'll do it," he said firmly and then glanced at Penelope who was now running a hand nervously through along curl of brown hair. "I mean it's not a big deal or anything and ya need your rest Penny," he concluded stepping across the small room to Jason.
"You sure?" Jason said with the touches of a smile on his lips, with gray eyes he looked at the youth with a small hint of knowing. Everyone else in the room already knew that the answer would be yes, if it involved Penny it seemed Paris would run to the ends of the earth and back for her.
"Of course," he said and a smile split his face when Jason dropped the shotgun in his hand. "Thank you," he said and then turning to beam a smile at Penny he walked up the steps and took his position by the door. His shift had been before Jason's giving him about an hour and so of sleep but as he leaned the gun against his shoulder and stood by the door it seemed as though he had enough energy to run a marathon.
Looking up at this and then at Ajax, Aeneas started to walk out and rolled his eyes. Passing Ajax he lowered his voice and said with a smile, "the kid's gonna drop dead any day now at this rate." Walking into his room he looked up at Ajax who was starting to walk down the connecting hallway and added, "of course he'll only pass out when Penny says he can."
Penny rolled her eyes and turned to face Jocasta who had remained mostly silent with a rather worrying look of sleep still plastered over her eyes. "I don't really know what it was," Penny told her bringing Jocasta from whatever void she had been peering into up to Penny's face, "all I remember is being really scared."
"Well maybe it's just this place," Jocasta offered smoothing out a few knots in her hair while continuing the march up out of sleep. "I know a lot of people are kind of unsettled about it," she turned to face the doorway where Ajax and Aeneas has slipped through, "I know Ajax wouldn't go outside unless he was paid too. I probably wouldn't unless I really had to."
"I guess," Penelope said but somewhere in the depths of her mind a voice told her that this was different, this was something else entirely. Shaking her head and gratefully feeling the voice slip away she turned to face Jason who was standing in the corner of the room next to the pump. A small crease of worry appeared on his forehead but immediately vanished when Penelope's gaze fell on him, "well what should we do now?"
"Well Paris is right about you needing rest," Jason said whilst dropped down to the pump and bringing out a water bottle he kept in one of the large jumpsuit pockets. "So I suggest you sit down right now and try and get some sleep; I know you've been having some problems getting some shuteye."
Trying the gather up the pride she had slightly dismantled she stood up straight and said in a rather strong voice, "I'm fine Jason, I can even help cooking this thing right now," she kicked one of the loose limbs of the pig creature they had dragged in, "I don't need rest." While she did look bold when Jason came up to her she saw with some slight dissatisfaction that she still only reached his shoulders and just barely at that.
"Sleep, okay?" he questioned handing her his water bottle, "you've done a good job keeping us all in line for the past week; you deserve a break."
Almost grimacing she took the water bottle and took a quick sip of the water inside filled with minerals and left a rather sour taste in her mouth. Sighing she looked at the concern shinning in the depths of Jason's eyes and reluctantly agreed, nearly muttering. "Okay, I guess sleeping for a bit won't hurt that much," she looked down at her feet covered in scraps of leather tied together by strips of rope, as she talked she found a sudden interest in them.
"I'll take it easy for the next couple of days too," she muttered and looked up at Jason who looked somewhat relieved that she had given her consent. "But when I get back everything will go back to normal, like nothing happened," she said almost commanding.
Nodding Jason looked up at Paris who was leaning against the wall next to the door, eyes fixed on the slate of iron in the darkness of the stairs. "Well why don't you go to your original room and go to sleep," Jason offered and glanced at the doorway leading outwards, pass Jocasta and to where he had brought his trinkets only an hour or so ago, "that's an order." He grinned.
"Fine," Penelope grunted and started to stagger forward and brushed pass Jocasta who raised an arm to stop her but stopped halfway, backing away from the door as Penelope passed through. Watching the brown haired woman move through the structure Jocasta forced what she was about to tell her in the back of her mind, no need to make things even more complicated for her.
"You think she'll be alright?" he questioned looking back at Jason who was now refilling the second water bottle he carried with him. Turning the pump off and watching the minerals swirl around inside the dented plastic bottle he glanced at the direction that Penelope had went and smiled.
"Of course she will," Jason said dropping the heavy water bottle into one of the large jumpsuit pockets, "she's Penny after all."
She walked down the hallway, following the flowing way the stones marched down the hall to where she would eventually find herself. With every step however the distant black blot that was the end of the hallway grew farther and farther aware becoming nothing but a speck. Penelope stopped herself and looked around herself knowing that continuing to walk down the hall was useless.
Now at a complete stop she looked on her left to see a tall black door standing from the wall, a sleek thin thing with an undulating doorframe around it. Turning to her right she could see that the door was the exact same down to every detail, even the scratch near the bottom of the black wood. The entire hallway was full of copies of the door, flowing to the edge of her vision and beyond; she knew she would have to open the door before she could finally get to the end of the hallway.
Sighing she reached for the door on her left and grabbed the crystal doorknob feeling the cold weight it carried as she grasped it. Slowly turning it she felt a jolt go through her body as the door opened, creaking on rustic hinges and almost humming with a strange kind of power that ebbed into her core. Falling ajar the door released a flood of what appeared to be sunlight that filled the hallway around her which was now empty, she and the door were the only things there.
The power carried by the black door continued to swell almost burning through her skin as it came further and further away from the glossy black frame spilling out more and more daylight. Wanting the rip the door open, to flood the hall entirely with whatever was glowing on the other side Penelope tried to fling if forward but found her wrist numb, no matter what she tried her hand still slowly pulled open the door.
Now the surge of energy coming through the door was filling her head, thundering and pulsing in the recesses of her mind, ready to burst through her skull. With the door halfway open but still blocking her vision of what was on the other side the ebbing energy seemed to fill her head with light. Bright whiteness filled her head, pounding with the throbbing of her head and almost seemed to spill out of her making every hair stand on end.
In one swift movement the door was flung open and she stumbled backwards as the throbbing tightened to a constant pulsing. The light that filled her head seemed to explode, sending out ripples that should've burned her but it stayed there insider her head and bouncing about like a living thing. She thought that pass the constant throbbing overtaking her she could hear voices, screaming voices of a low pitch all of them coming together into a swell of horrid chanting.
And then it was done.
Slumping against the blank wall opposite of the door Penelope looked up and could see through the doorframe and the strange scene on the other side. The other side of the door was a large filed surrounded b y the distant haze of mountains on all sides and seemed to stretch on forever. Somewhere in the distance there was a fire which seemed nothing but a spark from this far away but she could see the churning column of smoke that was being whipped and warped by the rising wind.
However she looked at what was closest to the door which was the blackened ruin of some kind of house still alive with bright fire. A burnt corpse lay sprawled in front of it nothing but blackened skin burned onto bone, the jaw of the thing was stretched open showing a row of surprisingly white teeth that seemed to gleam in the sun. Standing in front of all of that was a man who stood close enough that he could've stepped through the door and join her in the hallway in two steps.
The man had a burn on his left hand which was a blackened mess and had a large splash of blood, not his own but still fresh, which covered the right side of his face and his shirt. A long stretch of wild red hair ran from his scalp down to his knees and seemed to have been burned at several points, shining through the long strands of red hair were two glistening eyes. Two bright and almost dead eyes that seemed too large to fill the man's sockets stared through the door and directly at Penelope.
The man looked as emotionless as ever but he held up his left arm and gave her a thumbs up with the blackened mess of his left hand. The burned web between his thumb and pointer finger cracked and rained down as ash as a result but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes were locked on hers and seemed to glow as his mouth slowly opened and instead of his voice carrying through the doorframe it seemed like it was coming from the depths of her own head.
"Life for you," the man said and then he turned his thumbs up into a fist which he held against his chest which made even more burned skin crumble off. "But not for your others. Life for you, death for them," the man then turned away from her and walked towards the burning building as the door slammed shut on its own accord.
Breathless Penelope struggled to her feet when she realized that there was still a sound coming from the door, something was thumping on the door. While she felt like she should've been afraid she walked closer to the black panel and pressed her ear against it as something continued to hammer on it from the other side. Pressing hear ear against it she could hear something sounding out behind it, a song playing almost beyond hearing.
A drifting song that made the world float and made Penelope feel weightless, ready to float off with the song to wherever it was going. Suddenly the drifting song came to a stop when she heard another sound behind her, a shrill ringing sound like the sound of metal tapped on glass. She started to turn around, seeing that the hallway had changed to an entranceway, and heard the shrill ringing again.
Turning she
Inhaled, almost repressing a yell she jumped forward. With any hint of sleep immediately taken from her she looked around to see that she was still in the bunker, the hallway had just been a dream. Looking about she almost expected the red haired man to be standing in the room next to hers but she was alone, she wasn't sure if she felt overjoyed or worried because of that.
Settling back down she pressed her head against the old blankets she used as a mattress and tried to bring herself back to sleep. However Penelope knew the instant that she woke up that sleep would be long in coming, the dream had flung out any chance of actual rest. Pulling her eyes shut she pressed deeper into the blankets trying to find a comfortable position when she heard something that made her heart stop.
Mouth agape she almost felt like screaming when she heard a gentle beat coming from the floor, or rather from some dark recess far below her. Coming up from somewhere deep beneath the floor but coming in clear enough to make Penelope freeze was the drifting song like it had slipped from the sea of sleep with her when she woke up. Starting to scream the drifting song swelled and almost seemed to carry her along with it.
A/N: Hello everyone sorry for the not weekly update of this. I had a big essay to write for my English class and I haven't had time to write anything else. However I turned it in today so now there's plenty of time for me to write some new Inferno for you people. Sorry if this seemed a bit rushed but I was trying to keep up with what my mind was telling me to write XD
Thanks for reading and remember to leave a review, it's free so why not?
See ya next week! :D