Two chapters today as I missed posting one yesterday!
Chapter 6
-oOo-
Easily carrying his brother bridal style, War silently entered Death's bedroom and paused to set Famine down, offering his arm for Famine to steady himself with. Famine paused, allowing his eyes to adjust to the faint light cast by a couple of candles, the room's only light source. Eventually he made out the form of the eldest sibling hiding under a single bed sheet, the rest of the bedding strewn haphazardly on the floor, in a very un-deathlike way. The air in the bedroom smelled of slow decay and Death appeared not to have noticed the presence of his two siblings at his side. Famine's stomach growled loudly as, leaning on War, Famine moved closer to where Death was sleeping. A pained sounding voice came from under the bed sheet.
"Famine? I assume that was you? Otherwise there is a Hellhound in my room."
A head of mussed up dark hair surrounding a face that was almost grey in colour, pain lines showing clearly across the forehead and eyes half shuttered, emerged from under the bed sheet. Both War and Famine were shocked to see their big brother appearing so ill. Famine sat himself down on the edge of Death's bed.
"Hello Brother. Do you feel as dreadful as you look?"
Death thought seriously about the question before replying.
"It would seem my headache has spread and now encompasses the joints in my neck, shoulders and arms. Also, why have I never been told it is possible for one's hair to ache? I am, as always, delighted to see you Famine; but why are you here?"
Famine's gaze went from Death, to War and back.
"Greed...I came in response to the beacon of one individual's greed, and I am afraid it stemmed from the youngest of us. My brothers, what has been happening here?"
-o-
War strode back and forth, pacing Death's room, trying to contain the fury he had instantly felt towards Pestilence on hearing Famine's words.
"I should go down there and drag that little skunk up here and force him to confess in front of us all what game he is playing with us. Are we one of his childish experiments?"
Sat up in his bed, Death attempted to speak on behalf of Pestilence.
"Enough War. He would never do that to any of us, he is our brother. You cannot condemn him on the basis that there is allegedly something he desires. How could his want for something cause me to feel unwell? You are jumping to potentially dangerous conclusions my dear War."
War stopped his pacing and glared at Death.
"Then allow me to drag his boil infested ass up here and let him prove his innocence!"
Death shook his head, immediately regretting it when the movement caused a surge of dizziness.
"No...No...I will go and...
Death was interrupted by Famine.
"Brothers! If I may? I should be the one to talk to Pestilence. After all, I am here right now solely due to his hunger for something being so strong it called to me and drew me here. I, therefore, I have a perfectly valid reason to question him, given my nature. Are we agreed?"
Death looked relieved. He had much more faith in Famine's ability to remain calm and encourage Pest to talk to him.
"I am happy to allow that."
-o-
Famine looked to War for his decision. War's expression was grim, however, he gave one short nod of consent, followed by an impatient huff.
"Whatever. But, once you've failed Famine; it's my turn to drag it out of the pup."
Famine smiled in satisfaction.
"We are in accord then...Before I go see our Snotling; brother, Death? You carry something I want, and my want is so much greater than yours, therefore I will take it. I have the urge to fill my belly."
War spluttered out a bellowing laugh as he watched Famine move an index finger towards Death's forehead, forcing Death to cross both his eyes as he tried to follow where the finger was aiming. The moment Famine's finger touched his older brother's forehead, Famine, his eyes closed, began to take deep breaths, soaking up Death's pain and discomfort, leaving Death emptied of it all. War was surprised.
"How come I never knew you could do that!"
Wincing, Famine rubbed at his head.
"Just because I can do it, that doesn't mean I enjoy it and want to do it, so stop looking at me like that. I'm not here to absorb your rabid and frequent hangover's.
Death simply looked relieved as his aches and hurting lessened, having been reduced to a manageable level.
-o-
Pestilence reached for the glass of water he had so recently drawn from the tap but which, at the first touch of his lips, was already polluted. It didn't bother him however. It was the way it had always been for him. He had discovered long before that pure alcohol was the only drink he was able to drink without an instantly occurring pollution. He had always supposed that it was likely he would be able to drink the more powerful bleaches without the familiar taste of one pollutant or another; not that the idea of drinking bleach actually appealed to him. He knew that whilst in his physical form, drinking bleach would be as lethal to him as it could be to humans. Still suffering from occasional bouts of dizziness, an increasingly painful headache had also made an appearance and he was beginning to notice himself moving between feeling over hot and then quite chilled. He was prepared to ignore it for now, recognising that all his life, his version of feeing well would have any other being taking to their bed or even hospitalised, and he simply put his symptoms down to needing to eat. He promised himself he would do so, but first he had to decide where he wished to release the thing he had created and which, once it's work was done, would leave Earth a dead planet. He had already decided on which country he felt was the most suitable to be the home ground for his infection, and he was now gazing at a large map of the USA he had spread out over the stainless steel table in his lab. Despite feeling more unwell than usual, Pestilence was greatly enjoying the task of choosing the exact location he would like to use as Ground Zero. Virtually all the places named on the map held some kind of memory for Pestilence, be it the wiping out of tobacco crops in Carolina which, in turn, caused a year of extreme hardship for those who relied on the crop for their income, or whether it be his outing to Utah, specifically, close to Salt Lake City, where he was excited to discover that these new fangled PC things could "catch" and spread a "virus'" too! His best day so far in terms of computer viruses occurred at midnight on December 31, 1999; when he ensured nothing happened, at all! Then, out of the blue, inspiration struck, and Pestilence grinned widely, revealing all his badly rotted teeth.
-o-
He excitedly focused in on the relevant section of the map, his finger stubbing down on his favoured point of release; almost on the doorstep of the Winchester Brother's not so Secret Bunker. Laughing out loud, Pestilence couldn't stop himself from performing an excited jig. It was the perfect Ground Zero location. His jig ended when he stumbled and very nearly fell, as another strong wave of dizziness came over him. Managing to catch hold of the edge of the table, he stood with his head bowed, eyes closed and breathing heavily in through his nose and out through his mouth, working to overcome the nausea that had decided to accompany his dizzy spell. A firm knock at the door to his laboratory startled him.
"What d'you want? I'm busy."
-oOo-
Chick xxx