Chapter 21- reason and means
The hold was basically just a tunnel that moved vertically down far below the forest floor. There was nothing for miles other than the obvious darkness and one of two stones lodged into the side of the hole. The first think I noticed was the headache but it wasn't as strong as I've felt before. I could manage the minor irritation; I had a mission after all. I reached the bottom of the hole looking round for some kind of evil to pop out at me. But there wasn't anything. The floor was damp underfoot but it wasn't moist form snow or rain or anything water based from what I could tell. It was slicker and thicker. Could it be oil? I looked around me as my eyes adjusted. One straight tunnel leading into the unknown darkness was before me.
'Made it this far.' I muttered taking a hesitant step forward. I was here because of Brick; I needed this to get this anger out of my mind. I needed this to solve this war problem. I needed the answers these tunnels lead to. I started walking.
I started walking cautiously in cast some monster was going to leap out from the darkness but after a while I realised that it would be a problem. So I began running. Then running faster. Then flying. Then flying as fast as I could, leaving a pink stream of light after me as I got fed up of all the tunnels leading to only holes. Holes that rose up into patches in the forest like the one I had dove down. There was nothing out of the ordinary other than the damp fluid covering the ground. I gritted my teeth flying faster.
'Keep with it Blossom.' I told myself. 'Keep with it. They have to lead somewhere.' I told myself flying through the darkness. The further I got the narrower and more angular the tunnels became. I had to slow down just so I wouldn't fly into a sharp turn.
I had been flying for three hours. When I got on my feet again and started to walk. I wasn't mad anymore, I was just...I guess the word would be determined. I needed there to be light at the end of this tunnel, and yes, in more ways than just the literal terms. It was only when I was about to give up when I struck gold. There was a brick wall with an iron door. I had to hold back laughter as I stopped to take in my find. I cheered to myself before calming and softly resting my hand on the door. It wasn't rusted, the door opened far too smoothly to show a fork in my path. I stepped through the door looking up as light from a hanging bulb flashed into life I saw a major difference in the tunnels. The first was much like the one I had been walking down, it was carved and was literally a long hole. The other was tiled and clean with lights eliminating the passage. Both tunnels had signs. The dirt tunnel hand a sign on its wall saying: volcano. The nearest volcano was in Townsville, I wasn't looking for the volcano so I looked to the other sign. This one said: labs. I took the tiled route.
I walked down the passage and soon enough I noticed this passage wasn't like the others. First as I stepped onto the tiled path it was wider than the other tunnels, it had more of a defined shape and the floor was a foundation. My head pounded more as I walked further. I stopped to rest on the wall bowing my head between my legs. Ok, the headaches were back to their all powerful state.
'Not this time.' I told myself putting my hands to my head. I couldn't allow myself to give into the pain. I wouldn't let that happen. I was stronger than I was back when this all started. I wouldn't let myself turn back to that girl. I had worked for this. I turned my head up staring at the crisp white tiles covering the passage.
Something caught my eye. Something small, almost too small to really notice but I could see it clearly. A speck of blood. One single speck of blood in the centre of a tile which didn't belong. It sent a shiver down my spine. I gritted my teeth straightening up. Now I had to keep moving. I carried on walking. The more I walked the more I noticed the blood. More appeared till a singular red hand print caught my attention. By the look of the hand print it looked like the body had been dragged. I looked along the corridor and large metal doors were now lining either side of the passage. Blood streaked the walls. Parts of flesh hung from handles and far ahead limp fugues were slumped against the walls. I bit my lip swaying where I stood on looking the carnage before me.
'What happened here?' I muttered blinking a few times before walking to the first door.
I held my breath pushing the handle down and let it float open. I fell back against the opposite wall pushing my hand to my nose. Blood coated the walls and a mangled corpse lay in the centre face distorted with pain. I closed my eyes shaking. That was a body, a real body. My voice shook even though I wasn't speaking; my breath wasn't coming out right. Calm down. You're a hero, a super hero. You've seen the dead before. I told myself scrambling to my feet opening my eyes to look at the body. It was a woman, young adult, half decayed. Deep claw marks were set into her checks and head, her fingers were rubbed raw to the bone. Was it possible that she had done that to herself? I turned staring at the other door opening it. It was the same in that room except it was a young male. I stifled a little whimper as I moved down the corridor. I didn't need to look in the other doors.
Those bodies were only one part of this place's story. The more I walked the more I realised something truly terrible happened in here. It wasn't mind numbing pain in my own head that made it worse. I was sure if I could think straight all this would have been more unbearable. Soon I reached the bodies in the tunnel. They were different. The first one I encountered had part of his throat torn out. His expression was nothing more than sheer fear- no pain. In other rooms, whose doors were already ajar, bodies had been stacked up all dead and mingled in bloody ways but their deaths looked faster, severe chest or head injuries. They were nothing compared to the first two corpses I saw. It was clear this was a blood bath separate to the ones in the earlier rooms yet these happened after those. The bodies were fresher some still dripped blood.
I was reaching the end of the doors in the passageway. Only a few left and now I was standing in a pool of blood which covered the entire floor. I pushed open one more door, the last door. No blood. No, but something more disturbing met my eyes. One word carved into the wall. One word engraved into the concrete in long jagged block capitals.
'Blossom' I read aloud. I moved into the room, there was nothing. Nothing but clear concrete and a toilet. This was a cell. I left the room quickly and closed the door after me. All these rooms were cells. Did that make this a prison? I gritted my teeth again looking down the corridor again. I had to keep going.
Soon the passage opened out to a round room painted red with the blood of victims which were no doubt stacked in the rooms I walked past. File cabinets circled the room where there weren't desks with small electronic bottoms lining the counters or monitors to each of the rooms. In the centre of the room was a glass cage with a metal bed in the very middle. The bed was covered in blood. Chains hung from the sides and a tray of sharp instruments lay abandoned on the ground. More bodies lay face down in the pool of blood which filled the room. This was the lab. I closed my eyes to the bodies on the floor and turned to the files. I pulled a cabinet open. The hinges grinded against each other as I heaved it open. I was beginning to feel weak. I rested on the cabinet holding my head.
'Almost there.' I panted. 'Almost over.' I held my breath pulling myself upright and taking the first file.
"Homo-X number 23
Age: 19
Sex: male
Report: first contact with chemical-X through lab experiment. Injected himself voluntarily. Gained power of flight, gained incredible speed. Died twenty four hours later."
I read the next one.
"Homo-X number 24
Age:14
Sex: female
Report: first contact with Chemical-X through government experiment. Injected herself voluntarily. Gained power of flight, gained incredible speed. Died eighteen hours later."
I flicked through the file and picked up the nest one and the nest one. All were the same. Thousands of experiments with chemical-X and all resulted in death no matter what age, sex or what powers they gained. They all ended with death. I moved to the next file and the next to find the same. Tenth file I found something.
"Homo-X number 3082
Age: 7
Sex: male
Report: first contact with Chemical-X, unknown. Taken into custardy after he killed his family. The chemical doesn't relate with his body well. High fever, blind, heightened senses, abnormal strength, abnormal speed, flight, communication to animals (animals found to have contact with chemical-X). Keeping in quarantine. expected to be dead in three hours."
I flipped through his report from a few years later.
"Homo-X number 3082
Age: 12
Sex: male
Report: he has renamed himself Rick after the only other homo-X we allow him to communicate with. Strength has grown, speed has grown. He's gaining some form of sight through thermal imaging using his other senses. Physical traits are still the same. A professor has been brought in that specialises in chemical-X. A professor Utonium..."
I stopped reading. I did not just read that name. I put the files down stepping back from them. I didn't want to know. There was a rattle from behind me. I jumped turning to look at the chains on the metal bed swaying. There wasn't any wind. I backed away to the corridor again. Was something here with me? I rushed to the corridor walking swiftly down to the doors. It might just be my imagination.
'It's in my head.' I muttered.
There was an ear splitting screech from behind me. I jumped into the air flying down the corridor. Another screech. That wasn't in my head. There was a thud from behind me. It was following me. I didn't want to know what it was. I just flew harder, faster. I needed to be anywhere but here. I flew till I reached the dirt tunnels. I stepped through the door and pulled it shut holding it in place for minutes.
THUD. Something slammed against the door. I squeaked holding the handle tighter in my hands. THUD. There was another screech, it didn't sound like an animal. No it sounded frustrated but where as an animal would have snorted this was too clear, too audible. I used my lazar vision to solder the metal round the door together. I didn't want anything round that lab to get into the city. I panted falling against the door feeling my heart and head bound in unison. Maybe I was still a little bit of a coward after all. I groaned getting to my feet. I needed to get out of here.
I couldn't fly anymore. I felt too weak. My feet dragged as I walked yet I had to keep going, even if I had to climb out of the nearest hole I'll keep going.
'Come on blossom. Get back before it gets dark.' I muttered unsure of how long I had spent in the tunnels. I had no idea what time of day it was. I pushed myself to float above the ground and hover along the dirt passage. The images of what I had just seen were burnt into the back of my eyelids. The blood, the bodies and that one name on that last file. They disturbed me far more than whatever chased me from the lab.
Hours later I reached the first hole- this meant I was under the forest again. My headache was numbing. Soon I'd be safe again. I didn't move up the first hole I saw. I counted. Waiting for the sixty-fifth hole, the one I came down. I counted on the way down as I would have down in the old days. I found my hole and crawled up, half floating, half climbing. I ached and was mentally trained by the time I reached the top.
'You took your time.' I flinched looked up to see Butch standing there in the moon light. He was holding a very thick tree trunk. I crawled out of the hole collapsing by the side.
'Sorry, that walk took a little detour.' I muttered as he began pushing the log down hole and then moved to fetch the next one. 'What are you doing?' I asked sitting up.
'We put trees over the holes to stop the headaches.' he muttered. That didn't make sense. I watched him up root a tree and start snapping the branches from it.
'I beg your pardon?' he scowled up at me.
'The lab. Something's in there that affects homo-X's heads.' he muttered. 'Makes us weak and it hurts like hell. It's something like a sound only we can hear. It travels through the holes and tunnels though. We use the trees to muffle the sound.' he walked up to me grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. 'Come on. Help out.' I just nodded helping him start pulling branches from the tree.
'So you know about the lab.' I asked staring at him over the tree. He didn't reply. 'I was there, there was something-'
'I'm not talking about it.' he interrupted. 'I told you I'd talk about it some other time.' he grunted. 'just shut up.' I did.