XXXV
Inside the walls
The Island
Ellis' Lustworve's house
07:43, eight hours, seventeen minutes until the Day of Destruction
Ellis sits at the kitchen table, his elbows resting upon the surface as he stares blankly ahead. His house is quiet. Amelia sleeps upstairs in her room and Ellis can only hope that she stays asleep for the rest of the day. But as it is nearing on eight in the morning, he knows that any time soon she will wake up and come downstairs to join him.
However right now, his mind is preoccupied. Thoughts of what happened on the barn fills his mind as he tries to remember exactly what happened. They were in total darkness, yet the moment the lights came back, everyone was stood exactly where they were before. Everyone was unhurt. There was no sign of a struggle. The only trouble was that Will Sullivan was no longer there.
Orion was the first to react, immediately coming to the conclusion that it was a trick and he has run away to tell everyone of their plans. Yet it was Morgarn to calm him down and understand that that is not what happened. Soon enough the news came to them that Will was kidnapped and tortured.
Now Ellis sits and waits to hear of the news. He cannot go on with the revolution without the man who helped him to start it.
The clocks in the house seem to be ticking louder than usual. The world outside brightens as morning moves on. The autumnal chill in the air blows around his house. It is October thirty-first. The one day of the year Ellis dreads the most.
There is a scratching sound coming from Ellis' wooden front door behind him.
Ellis tenses up before slowly turning around in the chair, looking back at the door. He can just about see silhouettes of tall, dark figures through the frosted window to the door. He knows that someone, or something is trying to break into his house. He can only suspect Heat Miles or the shape shifters.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, while the intruders try to unlock his door, Ellis stands up, keeping his eyes locked on the door. He pulls out a hand gun from its safe pocket from under the table and very carefully, walks into the living room, standing in the centre. He steadies his breathing as he raises his gun and aims at the door.
He will shoot at whatever comes through the door. He will not be played by Heat Miles any more.
The door clicks and for a moment, the figures outside the door pauses. Then the handle turns but the door is still jammed shut. However, Ellis does not have much time to react before his is jumped by his front door being burst open.
And in come the three unlikely candidates: the Doctor, Jack Gruntler and Brigadier Aaron Brimikawood.
The three come running into the house, yelling at Ellis to drop his weapon. Ellis does what he is told without fail and drops his gun to the floor. He then falls to his knees and raises his hands up in surrender as Aaron comes threateningly close to him, pointing a large black gun to him.
The Doctor, however, is busy scanning the room, where Jack stands by Aaron's side, looking down at him. But then they are interrupted by the sound of soft and yet clumsy footsteps running down the stairs.
"Daddy!" Amelia cries as she sees the scene in front of her.
"Daddy is fine," Ellis says calmly, looking up at Aaron in the eye. "There's nothing to worry about."
"Daddy, they're going to kill you!"
"Everything is fine, Amelia." Ellis says this time harshly through gritted teeth.
"How long have you been keeping this secret from us?" Aaron asks, not blinking as he stares down at Ellis, his eyes wild. He then shouts when Ellis does not reply. "HOW LONG?!"
"I don't know what you are talking about." Ellis responds coolly.
"Your abilities," the Doctor says as he steps out from behind Aaron. "You ability to make yourself invisible. And to put yourself in two places at once. How is that humanly possible?"
"I don't know!" Ellis snaps.
"Of course he does. Just look at his left hand. The silver ring on his finger," Jack grabs hold of Ellis' left hand and shows the silver ring to Aaron and the Doctor. "You weren't born with these powers. You just gained them from this ring. Where did you get it from?" Jack's voice is loud and more menacing than it has ever been before.
"I was given it."
"Tell us the truth!" Aaron shouts as he holds his gun to Ellis' temple. "Tell us the truth or I will shoot!"
The Doctor warily glances at Aaron sideways, worried about him.
"Do you think that will solve all problems?" Ellis asks, raising an eyebrow. "You think that killing me is going to stop this battle? I'm not the criminal here, Brigadier. I took the ring from my father after his death. He died of a sudden disease and I took it from him because I knew what it can do. But now I have the ring, I can't take it off. It's stuck on me. You can chop my hand off for it if you want."
"That is not what we want." Aaron says, his voice returning to its low gruff.
"Then you want to kill the man who has been helping your son?"
There is a moment of silence as Aaron falters at the mention of Will.
Then Jack raises his hand. "He's cleared. Lower your weapon, Brigadier."
Aaron does what he is told and takes a couple of steps backwards. He allows the Doctor to remove the gun from his hands.
"Uhm, I guess we owe you an apology," the Doctor says, looking rather awkward, still occasionally glancing at Aaron. "Our mistake. We thought that your abilities would be a threat to us."
Ellis scoffs. "I've only ever used them for my own benefit. Like splitting myself in two to meet you and April at the exact same time but at different places. I guess it killed time." Ellis shrugs and then accepts the Doctor's offered hand to help him get off from the floor.
"We're sorry for that," Jack says darkly. "But we have to take precautions in times like this."
Ellis nods in acceptance. "I understand, and I forgive you. But remember that I am on your side. I may have not told the rest of the revolution this but I did promise Will that I would do everything I can to help April in those woods," he then looks at the Doctor. "I guess you have your plans."
The Doctor nods. "We'll meet you there."
Ellis pauses for a moment but then nods again, this time understanding his words.
"How's Will?"
"Alive," the Doctor responds before Aaron can. "But he's in good care. His physical recovery will be fine. But it's his mental recovery we are more concerned about."
There is another long silent pause.
"Well," Ellis says after a while. "Other than threatening me, what else brought you here?"
"While working with Heat Miles," the Doctor starts, looking at Ellis. "What do you know about Heat Miles' victims? Do you know what happened to them?"
Ellis shakes his head. "Unfortunately I know very little. All I know is that the furnace behind the base is used to burn the bodies. But where they store the bodies before they do that, I don't know."
"How often do they burn the bodies?" Aaron asks, a dark shadow flicking across his face.
"They try to burn a small amount once a week at least. They burn no more than five at a time so there won't be as much as a smell. I think they plan on burning the rest of the bodies when the race starts because the villagers will be distracted. But I am aware that more people on this Island have been killed by Heat Miles outside of that race. People who have tried to create revolutions before."
Jack, Aaron and the Doctor warily exchange glances. Neither of them knows what to say now.
"I hope what we think is not the truth." The Doctor says, looking at Jack. He takes in a deep breath and then holds on for several seconds.
Jack sighs. "So do I."
"What's this?" Ellis asks, looking from Jack, to the Doctor, to Aaron.
"I apologise in advance for having to break down your house, Mr Lustworve. But if what we fear is true, then you are going to be in a big shock." Jack says darkly.
Then without warning, the Doctor raises Aaron's gun and shoots at the wooden wall directly opposite them. The bullet from the gun pierces a rather large hole in the wall, blowing dust everywhere. But soon they are overcome with a horrible stench, making everyone gag every time they inhale. Then just through the hole in the wall, they can see a part of what looks like a clear plastic bag splattered with blood.
For a second Jack looks like he is going to be sick, but he pushes forward nevertheless. "Let's do this." He grumbles, trying his best not to inhale too much of the revolting fumes.
Jack then starts ripping away at the wall as if it is as thin as cardboard. The Doctor and Aaron do not hesitate to help as they strip down the walls, revealing the horrors that have been hidden beneath the walls. Ellis can do nothing but stand back in terror, watching the walls unfold in front of him.
The fumes become unbearable.
The wall has been stripped down to reveal dozens and dozens of human corpses. All of which are in vacuum-packed clear plastic body bags. Rope secures the bags together around the neck and the wrists of the corpses, and each bag is splattered with dried blood. However it is their faces that are more grotesque. The faces are rather undistinguishable, yet they press against the body bags, almost as if they are trying to escape.
The corpses hang like scarecrows against the wooded frames of inside the walls.
The Doctor, Aaron and Jack step away from the wall and study the horrific view in front of them. They choke on the fumes. Ellis remains standing away from them, staring at each individual corpse that has been hiding behind the walls.
"I suspect there are more." Jack says sullenly as he glances around at all the walls around them. He then looks at the Doctor pitifully who bends over and starts retching. "Get him out of here." Jack orders Aaron before covering his mouth to try and stop inhaling the fumes of the corpses. Aaron runs to the Doctor and holds him upright, but their attention is drawn to Amelia.
"Mummy?" Amelia calls timidly as she steps closer.
"Amelia, you shouldn't be seeing this!" Ellis panics as he pushes his daughter behind him. But then Amelia starts to scream uncontrollably.
"MUMMY!" She screams in utter terror. "WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU? MUMMY!"
Everyone looks from Amelia back to the corpses in the wall in utter bewilderment. But then the realisation hits Ellis like a blow to his stomach. His throat grows painfully dry as he stares at a female corpse hanging in the centre of the wall.
The Doctor watches Ellis carefully but speaks to Amelia. "You used to be able to hear your mother call for help."
Ellis stops right in front of the female corpse in the wall.
The body of his dead wife has been hidden in the walls of his house all this time.