Chapter Twenty-Six

The Void

When he woke up this morning, Vin Tanner never imagined part of his day would include slaying the Minotaur.

As he stood watching the widening puddle of blood around the fallen creature, he felt his head swim a little at the unreality of it all. The Minotaur lay still at their feet, the handle of the sword sticking through its chest, standing upright as if to mark the place where the beast had died. Once again, Vin reminded himself of what transpired when Tiamat descended from her home in oblivion to steal Alex's soul. What all of them saw that day was no illusion, no trickery capable of being explained away hours after the fact. He remembered how Alex had looked when Tiamat's essence was in her body and knew without any doubt if she had not been freed - there would be no world left behind.

Around them, the world seemed to be waiting in silent anticipation for what came next. Even the walls sliding and shuffling to and fro earlier, were now frozen in place as if they were just as stunned by the killing blow. For a few minutes after the creature was ended, time stood still to allow everyone present to catch their breaths as the crimson halo of blood slowly soaked into the earth.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Buck Wilmington finally spoke, unable to bear the silence or the sight of the monstrosity in front of them. When they were trying to escape the thing, there had been little time to think about anything else other than escape, but now that the danger had passed for the moment, Buck's sensibilities were beginning to fracture. They had just killed a creature whose very existence was obscene.

His words followed the loud crack of stone breaking. It jolted them out of their silence, drawing their eyes to the source. A wall had fissured and was soon crumbling. The thick dark line of the break ran across the stone like a vein surfacing on skin. Moving from one slab to another like a spreading malignancy, they could only gape as the walls began to crumble and the chunks of rocks striking the floor seem to shatter it.

"Aw hell!" Vin cursed realising in a split second this whole place was constructed and maintained for its lone occupant, and now that it was gone, there was no reason to exist. "MOVE!"

"Move?" Buck demanded as Vin started running in the opposite direction of where the floor was giving away. "Where?"

"Anywhere! This place is about to go!"

None of it made one bit of sense, but what about any of this did? Vin sprinted away from the Minotaur, glancing over his shoulder long enough to ensure Buck, Josiah and Riley were still with him. As he did so, he saw it was not just the walls behind them that were starting to crumble but the floor beneath them, and as the chunks broke away, he realised the entire construct around the Minotaur was being dismantled. With the destruction of their present reality, what lay beneath them was not the reassuring innards of a mountain, but black oblivion.

"Jesus Christ!" Riley exclaimed as he saw a section of floor at his left flank caving away and as it broke apart, what lay beneath was emptiness. The Irishman had no idea what would happen if they tumbled into that abyss with the disintegrating labyrinth, but it was not a question he needed answering.

"I'm pretty sure he's got nothing to do with this," Josiah panted as he raced forward, a few steps ahead of Riley. As they ran past the flanking walls of the maze, they saw more and more fractures appearing in the stone, the sound making them wince as the breaks became so numerous, the wall could no longer stand, and they were coming down like someone was lowering the curtains on this act of the play.

Dust rolled towards them with each shattered wall, and as everything began to disintegrate, only the blackness remained, reminding Josiah of the slick left behind by an oil spill. The ground beneath them began to quake, warning them the rock was going to give way. It prompted them into sprinting because they were now aware they were running for their lives and faltering might doom them to the bottom of an abyss that may have no end at all.

Vin led the way, uncertain of where they were headed, only that they had to keep moving. Sparing a second to look over his shoulder to ensure his company were still behind him, the sharpshooter wasn't about to leave anyone behind in this place. The walls crumbling had outpaced them now and what Vin saw in front of him was no longer the labyrinth that tried to trap them here to become a feast for the Minotaur, but the empty spaces between realities.

Navajo medicine men who were able to cross the three realms (the Lower, the Middle and Underworld) spoke of the dark things that lived in this in-between outside of time. Vin never put much stock in any of that, but he knew this was where they were the minute they entered the labyrinth, and if they did not escape it now, they would never leave it. The idea of never seeing Alex again, of never being with her, the way he had in the last four months, filled him with fear he never thought possible. As the world crumbled away, he saw something ahead as improbable as the rest of their present situation.

Steps.

Suspended in mid-air, the steps were little more than slabs of stone, but they were ascending in a wide corkscrew formation that would carry them above the destruction of the maze if they chose to use it. Considering their choices at present, Vin was not about to ignore the lifeline thrown in their direction. Heading towards it, he saw Buck directly behind him, with Josiah and Riley a few paces after that.

Beyond them, the labyrinth was all but gone and what remained, was dark emptiness so pervading it chilled Vin to the bone. If the medicine men were right, the soft spaces between the worlds were not empty. Terrible things were lurking here, and he and his friends had to leave before those very same things discovered there was fresh meat to be had. Creatures with teeth who wouldn't just tear flesh but rip apart one's soul like it was a succulent morsel to be savoured with each bite.

"FOLLOW ME!"

Vin reached the staircase first, and as he stepped on it, he ignored the fact it was being held up by nothing. Hurrying up the steps, he cast another look over his shoulder and saw Buck falter. The pilot was trying to process what he was seeing because this was too much after the Minotaur. Buck dealt in things he could see. He was used to calculations, wind speeds and lift, tangible things quantifiable in science, not this situation where nothing made sense.

"BUCK!" Vin snapped him out of his hesitation. "Come on!"

Buck blinked away his doubt at that sharp rebuke and started moving again, ignoring the steps were being held up by nothing and around them, the maze had almost completely disintegrated and all that was left in this place, was the staircase leading upward. Facing front, he kept his eye on Vin, putting his trust in the younger man who always seemed to know what he was doing, because the men of K-Troop, not to mention him and Josiah had helped Vin become strong.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

Riley's shocked utterance mirrored their own feelings at the impossibility of their situation as they climbed up the stairs, leading upwards through the black. Behind them, there was no longer any trace of the maze. It, along with the labyrinth, was completely gone now. All that remained was the void and the steps keeping them from becoming lost in it.

"Where are we going?" Buck hollered at Vin, though he suspected the sharpshooter had no idea himself.

"Anywhere, as long as it ain't here!"

Josiah had somehow ended up in the rear as they ascended the steps, keeping watch on Riley whose very Catholic sensibilities was being challenged by what they were experiencing. The former seminary student could understand the man's conflict when everything he knew about the world was being tested. However, Josiah had faith in things other than God, and that was in the friends he shared his life with and in particular, the sharpshooter leading them to safety.

Breathing hard, he paused a moment to catch his breath, having no wish to linger on these steps even if they did appear to be rather sturdy, for something that was hanging suspended in the air with no visible means of support. As he did so, he was able to hear for the first time, something coming from the emptiness he had not noticed before. After the destructive roar by the disintegrating maze had diminished, there was nothing but their own heated voices to be heard.

But now there was another sound.

It was a light buzz that was growing in intensity; the more he listened to it. Josiah stared into the darkness, trying to source out which direction it was coming from and frowned when he was unable to do so. Sweeping his gaze across the blackness, he decided to hone in on it and felt his heart turning to ice in his chest because he could feel dread creeping up his spine.

"Josiah, what is it?" Vin demanded, having seen Josiah had stopped climbing.

Josiah looked up at Vin. "Can you hear anything?"

Everyone fell silent at that question and Vin who had better senses than any of them after a youth spent hunting and tracking with the Navajo shifted his attention from their flight up the mysterious steps to their surroundings. There was nothing but the void now the maze was gone, with their torches providing the only illumination allowing them to see where they were going. Listening carefully, he soon reached the same conclusion, that whatever was making that insistent buzzing was getting louder and...he realised with a surge of terror, closer.

"MOVE!"

Vin paused long enough to say before he was barking at the others to get moving again. He had no idea what was making the sound, but it was coming for them, and Vin just knew that whatever it was, may just be worse than the Minotaur. Hastening his pace, Vin was running up the steps, two at a time, hoping the others followed his lead. Buck was right on his heels and glancing back, he saw Riley's gun was firmly in his grip. Josiah was also brandishing his weapon, expecting trouble.

"What do you think it is Vin?" Buck asked, sensing the younger man had an idea by how urgently he barked at them to move.

"Nothing good," Vin replied, scanning the path ahead to see where the stairs might lead and then to his relief, sighting a pinprick of light that could have been the sun for what it may represent. "I think I see the way out!"

"Thank Christ!" Buck remarked as the buzzing continued to get louder and louder, sending chills of ice running up his spine. Yeah, Vin was right, whatever it was, it was nothing good.

It was Josiah who saw them first.

When the labyrinth collapsed, taking with it the torches illuminating the place, they switched to their flashlights and Josiah had waved it into the darkness, in the hope it would also help him to see what was coming. In retrospect, he rather wished he had not done that. If asked to describe them, Josiah would not have been able to do so. All he could see was the slick reflection of their skin against the dim light of his torch, that and the teeth.

In fact, they were almost nothing but teeth. Long, serrated things that chomped up and down as they closed in, their mandibles moving rapidly in anticipation of the feeding to come, gnashing in a frenzy of ravenous need. Josiah could hear the buzzing so loudly, the sound filled his world, and suddenly he wondered if Purgatory was like this, an oblivion where creatures like this awaited to tear you apart.

"Get a move on, man!" He felt Riley gripping his arm, snapping Josiah out of his temporary daze, just as the creature, whatever it was reached him.

Without thinking twice, Josiah fired his gun. The bullet entered the space between those teeth, and the screech it uttered seemed to send the others into a frenzy. Until Josiah pulled the trigger, he had no idea he had been holding the weapon so tightly his knuckles were almost white. The thing retreated, but the others were moving in, spreading out like a swarm of bees about to overwhelm them with numbers.

Hurrying up the stairs as Riley fired over his shoulder, Josiah could see the creatures coming out of the darkness, attempting to halt their progress towards the light. The boom from the weapon was so loud, it seemed to scatter the swarm of snapping teeth, but like the tide on the beach, the retreat was only temporary, and they were closing in again. Breathing hard as he sprinted up the stairs, Josiah never felt his age more profoundly than at this moment, because his heart was pounding in his chest so hard it might burst.

When a set of teeth appeared at the corner of his eye, he had just enough time to turn around and fire. The bullet splintered the thing's teeth, causing it to screech in pain as it disappeared into the darkness but another closed in from an entirely different direction, their movement not unlike that of angry vultures swarming its prey. Josiah felt is fetid breath in his nostrils seconds before the mouth opened and a tongue, long and thick like a python, slithered at him.

Without warning, the air exploded with the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun. Looking up, Josiah saw Vin was holding position, ordering the others to keep going as he unleashed a barrage of gunfire at the swarm, delivered courtesy of his Tommy gun. Buck was adding his shotgun to the fight, and the combined firepower of both was enough to get Josiah moving.

"MOVE YOUR ASSES!"

Buck hollered at him and Riley, and Josiah needed no more encouragement than that, confident these two men would have his back as they had done so many times in the past. He scaled the stone steps, the torch still in his hand to light the way, with Riley only a few paces ahead. Gunfire and screeching pain rang in his ears but Josiah no longer paid any attention to it. The way out of this hell was just ahead, and once he reached it, Vin and Buck could leave too. He was not delaying their departure any more than he had to.

Vin slapped another magazine into the Thompson machine gun at the same time Josiah and Riley ran past them. The creatures, whatever they were, were being held at bay, possibly because the weapon used against them sounded almost as fearsome and loud as they were. If death had no meaning for them in this place, it would not take them long to discover that bullets were finite. Buck was blasting away while he reloaded, giving him the short respite he would have to reciprocate soon enough.

Glancing over his shoulder, Vin saw Riley and Josiah closing in on the fissure of light, praying it would take them out of this place back to the world they knew, and not someplace worse. He supposed at this moment, they didn't have much choice in the matter. All he cared about right now was staying alive long enough to get there.

"Reload!" Buck shouted at Vin in warning as the last of his shotgun shells flew into the darkness.

"I got ya," Vin shouted back. "Get going, I'll cover you!"

Buck hesitated, not liking the idea of leaving Vin behind until he realised he needed to get to the light so he could cover Vin's retreat to it. Swearing under his breath, he started up the steps, taking note of the things coming too close to him, and feeling their movement through the air against his skin. One of them came out of nowhere, and Buck ducked as it passed over his head, before it exploded in flight, the result of Vin's bullets ripping it apart.

Breathing hard, he stole a look over his shoulder and saw Vin backtracking slowly and then ahead to see Josiah and Riley had reached the top. The light was pouring out of what appeared to be a fissure against the black canvas. Impossibly, he thought he sniffed the scent of salt air and that only hastened his pace because it struck him what it was.

The ocean.

"Come on!" Buck heard Josiah calling after him, spurring him to move faster. He was doing it while attempting to reload the shotgun, wanting to give Vin his escape when the time came. Abandoning the torch because he needed both his hands, he watched the strobe light tumble into the darkness only to have their unseen assailants flying after it. A second later, the illumination vanished utterly, and inspiration struck the Millie's pilot.

These things were attracted to light.

It was how the damn creatures had found them in the first place. It was the light from their torches! In this all-consuming blackness, the flashlights would have been like beacons, attracting them in the same manner moths were drawn to the flame.

It gave Buck Wilmington a plan.

"Josiah, we need the flare gun!" He bellowed over the sound of the Thompson's gunfire.

The Coston flare gun had been in the canoe, and though it seemed unlikely they would require it during the search for the Aegis, every member of the team knew the prudence of being well prepared and using the resources on hand. It had been a habit ingrained in all of them from their time on the front. On this occasion, Buck had seen Josiah pack the wooden case in his backpack before leaving the boat at the shore.

"The flare gun?" Josiah exchanged a puzzled look with Riley. "Why?"

"These things are attracted to light!"

That little bit of knowledge was all Josiah needed to connect the dots of Buck's plan. The light of understanding flooded the would-be preacher's face, and he was reaching around for the pack even as he turned to Riley, who was similarly enlightened.

"Cover me!"

"Aye," the big Irishman nodded, ready to protect Josiah while he did what was needed.

With Josiah working quickly to provide them with a distraction, Buck turned his attention to Vin who was making slow progress up the steps because of his efforts to keep the creatures away from them. By now Buck had reloaded his shotgun and was in the position to give Vin the time the younger man needed to get away from those accursed creatures. When he pulled the trigger, the powerful blast scattered the swarm.

"Vin, get up here now!"

Vin didn't argue with Buck's order, ceasing fire immediately and sprinting up the steps, two at the time to close the distance to the pilot. Behind him, he could hear the creatures screeching, and their snapping teeth felt so close, Vin swore he could feel their rancid breath on the back of his neck. Without knowing how he could be so sure, Vin knew the click click chatter of their teeth would be following him into his dreams for some time.

Then without warning, the sky came alive with the bright glow of a flare. It streaked across the black like someone had sliced the velvet canvas with a knife. The flash moved through the darkness in a neat arc before erupting spectacularly into a burst of light that resembled like fireworks. For a brief moment, its brilliance brought some much-needed beauty to this desolate void.

The instant the flare appeared in the sky, the creatures immediately forgot about their prey and flew after the flash. It would not take the things long to discover they were chasing fool's gold, but the precious minute they were distracted, would be enough.

"VIN!"

"I know, I know!" Vin shouted back at Buck, running at top speed now, forgetting about the creatures and their ravenous desire for his flesh. "The rest of you get going!"

"Not a chance in hell!"

If anything happened to Vin on his watch, Chris would never forgive him and Buck wouldn't blame him. "Josiah, Riley! You two go on! We're right behind you!"

Josiah nodded, disliking the idea of leaving but knowing it was now or never. Gesturing at Riley, the two older men climbed up the last few steps and disappeared into the light, hoping where they ended up was nowhere like this place. Buck watched them vanish before he raised his eyes to the flare and saw that it was quickly being enveloped by the dark. The creatures had reached the flash and would know in a second they were duped.

No sooner than the thought crossed his mind, the buzzing grew louder again, and Buck knew they were coming back.

"COME ON!" Buck shouted as he heard the rising tempo of those gnashing teeth.

"Get going, old fella! I can keep up!"

"Real funny Junior!"

Both men raced up the last few steps just as the swarm closed in on them. Whether or not the creatures could follow them through was not a question they had time to consider before they jumped through the fissure. All they knew was the white glare was going to swallow them whole.