Chapter 3

The bus station stood only a few yards away from where Gabriel had reentered the real world. The sudden changes between worlds were disorienting, and it took Gabriel more than a few moments to regain his hold over reality. The demon woman from the world of rusted steel was gone, and no evidence remained that she had ever even been there at all, which meant that Gabriel was once again unarmed. Gabriel remembered the alley apparition, and ran to the huge double-door that dominated the front of the station. He froze in sickened silence when he reached the doors however, for on the door, in big letters written in blood, were the words 'DO NOT ENTER'. Gabriel tried the doors, and cursed under his breath as they rattled, but didn't open.

Determined to continue on, Gabriel searched the entire perimeter, until he found an emergency exit in the back of the building. He stood in front of it for a moment, taking it and its surroundings. The doorframe stood empty, the door had been ripped away, and lay crumpled on the ground a few feet away. Gabriel wondered silently to himself about who, or what, could accomplish such a feat. He hesitated for only a moment, and then decided that a creepy building was better that the cold rain that he had endured for such a long time since waking in front of the massive cathedral.

He entered the long hallway that connected the emergency exit to the main lobby. Gabriel cursed his wet clothes as he walked along the hallway, and shivered, realizing that the rainy night outside was warmer than the air inside the station. A pair of bathrooms stood a few yards down the hall; beyond them was the main lobby. Gabriel came around one last and entered the lobby.

He recoiled in horror at what he saw.

Bodies lay in piles across the floor of the lobby; all of them had been skinned. Bloody flesh assaulted Gabriel from all corners of the room, as the masses of skinless bodies seemed to flow together, making it impossible to determine how many had been slaughtered. Gabriel stood in a horrified stupor, and was suddenly immersed in a resurfacing memory. Grass filled his vision, tall and green. Among the blades of grass were bodies, dressed in green uniforms. The similarity of the scenes was unmistakable. He was holding a rifle in his hands, and the pulsing whup-whup-whup of a helicopter could be heard overhead. When he came out of the flashback, he was standing over a sink in the bathroom, vomiting.

When he felt better, he glanced into the mirror above the sink, and saw his own face. Gabriel was a tall man with a medium build; he was dressed in black, and had a long overcoat on. His hair was brown-black, and was shoulder length. He had dark eyes, and a thin face and lips. After he finished admiring himself in the mirror, he stood and tried to walk. His legs were wobbly, and he put a hand on the door of the bathroom stall next to him, and nearly fell as the door squeaked open, and again he stood in shocked silence, choking back bile as his senses took in the scene that lay beyond the stall door.

A body was inside the stall, impaled on a long pike, and it was skinned and splayed, entrails hung from it all the way to the floor, where they piled together like bloody garbage. On the wall behind the tortured body, another blood message was scrawled. Gabriel read the message aloud to himself. "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." Suddenly, the lights went out, and the bathroom was plunged into darkness. Gabriel groped his way to the light switch, and when he flipped it on, a much weaker light than before illuminated the room, and Gabriel stood in terrified silence. The walls, which only moments before had been made of brick, were now made of rusted steel, the tile floor had become stained concrete, and the sinks had become bloodstained metal basins. The only thing that remained the same in this hellish transmutation was the splayed body, still impaled on the steel pike. Gabriel took a deep breath and exited the room, returning to hell for the second time since his awakening.

The hall to the main lobby was filled with the now familiar sound of screeching metal but the sound was so loud that Gabriel had to cover his ears until he grew used to it. He was relieved to see that although the appearance of the world had changed, the layout had not. The main lobby still stood only a few yards to the right, and the emergency exit was a few yards in the opposite direction. Knowing what awaited in the lobby, Gabriel decided to check back at the exit.

The hall seemed to stretch away from him as he walked, and it seemed as though it took longer for the exit door to become visible to him. The dim light made it hard for him to see, and when he reached the door he stepped through, and nearly fell into the abyss. When he was back on solid 'ground' he stared out into the blackness. It seemed as though the world had been ripped away from the building, leaving him stranded. Gabriel cursed again, and turned and began walking down the hall, working his way back to the death filled lobby.

The closer he got to the lobby the louder the screeching sound became, and the air grew thicker, and the smell grew worse. Gabriel pulled the gun from his coat pocket and checked it, still empty. He felt foolish, checking the weapon, as if it would refill itself magically. He searched for another weapon as he continued down the hall to the lobby, but found nothing that would be suitable. He stopped at the bathroom, and an idea sprung to mind that caused him to enter and move to the impaled corpse in the stall. It remained nearly the same as in the normal world, but the flesh appeared more decayed in the industrial nightmare world he was in now. The pike stood, still, and when he inspected it closely, he found that it was merely set in a small hole in the floor, and moved rather easily. Now he set about to do the less agreeable job, removing the corpse from the pike.

He placed his hands under the arms of the splayed corpse, and lifted. It slid up, and off, easier than Gabriel had thought it would. Once he had finished, he held the long pike in his hands, testing its balance, weight, and strength. When he was satisfied with his newly acquired weapon, he turned and walked to the bathroom door. A rustling noise caused him to turn on his heels as his hand reached for the door handle, and he gaped at what stood before him. The corpse that had been impaled on the pike stood before him, as if it was waiting for some word of appreciation for the new weapon. Its mouth moved slowly, and a raspy voice fought its way from between the mutilated lips. "Beware the one who takes our skins, you are close to the Prophet, and the Beast will do what he can to impede your progress further." The corpse, finished speaking, and then crumpled to the floor. Gabriel exited the exited the bathroom with a confused look in his eyes, and continued on to the lobby. When he reached it, he became witness to an atrocity unlike anything he could have imagined.

The lobby appeared nothing like the lobby of the normal world. The room Gabriel stood in now would have dwarfed even the cathedral that he had stumbled into upon his awakening. The ceiling wasn't visible from the floor, and the far wasn't either, even though he could easily see a football field's distance or more. Chains hung from wherever the ceiling was, and at the end of each chain hung a corpse skewered by a giant hook. Gabriel tried to count the corpses, but lost count at a hundred and fifty. Each corpse had been skinned and eviscerated; empty husks remained as brutal monuments to the atrocity that had occurred here. Gabriel stood for a long time, unable to move in sight of the slaughter that stood before him.

His first steps into the gigantic room of death were wobbly, and he kept his eyes on the floor to keep from vomiting. He jumped as an arm bumped against his shoulder. The screeching stopped, but was replaced by an eerie drip-drip-drip. He wiped at his shoulder as a drop of liquid landed on it. In the dim light, he could just barely make out the red smear on the palm of his hand, and shuddered involuntarily. The screeching metallic sound began again, lasted for a few minutes, died, and started again before Gabriel saw any change in the room.

As he walked though, he found that some of the hanging corpses were still fresh. Blood still flowed freely from the empty abdomens, and coated the rest of their bodies in a red sheen. The screech died once more, dead silence returned to the massive room. The dripping sound grew together into a single sound, like the rainfall in the real world he had been so rudely pulled from, and Gabriel fought to keep from turning and running as far as his legs could carry him. Ahead, during the short bursts of silence, Gabriel heard voices.

He tried to make out the conversation, but only understood small bits. There were two voices, one low and throaty and the other high and raspy. They seemed to be arguing, the deep one told the high one to "speed up, The Master said it would be anytime now." The high voice asked what they were to do, the deep replied that they were to capture it, not kill. The high voice sounded displeased. Gabriel couldn't see the speakers, but they sounded very unpleasant to him.

The screeching erupted again, and when it stopped, Gabriel heard the voices, again, except this time they were right in front of him. He ducked behind one of the hanging corpses as the deep voice boomed out over the vast room. "How many does this make Ich?"  Gabriel saw the deep voiced one standing over one of the corpses. The gigantic being was terrifying. The disproportionate body was covered in pale, twisted skin, the tiny head sat far too low on the chest, almost as if it were melting into its body. The lags were longer than Gabriel's, but still far too short for the rest of the giant. The arms were longer than the body, and dragged the ground as it moved. Gabriel didn't see the other speaker until it crawled over the giant's shoulder, and perched atop the mountain of flesh. The smaller creature was more reptilian in appearance than its gigantic companion; large eyes dominated its face. It had a large mouth full of needle teeth that were silvery, almost metallic in appearance. The smaller creature, Ich, reached into a pouch around its waist and produced a piece of parchment.

"Two hundred and thirty-eight. The Master is treating us well today Gar." The giant, Gar, handed Ich a newly acquired skin, and Ich disappeared over his shoulders for a long moment. When he returned, the skin was gone. "Which one do we harvest next?" Gar stood at full height, and reached for a corpse that hung overhead. Gabriel noticed quickly than the not only did the body still posses its skin, but it was alive. Gabriel watched in horror as Gar slammed the helpless person to the ground and held him, as Ich produced a long cutting tool, and began to skin him alive. The screeching sound began again, and Gabriel understood for the first time what it was…it was the screaming of people being skinned alive.

When the screams ended, Ich finished his sadistic act and added another skin to the growing collection, cataloged it and turned to scurry back over Gar's shoulders. "Wait Ich, put that one up front, I'm starting to get a little thin around my chest." Gabriel watched as Ich moved to Gar's upper chest, produced a sickle-shaped needle from the pouch around his waist, and proceeded to sew the skin to Gar's body. Gabriel shivered uncontrollably as he watched this demonic tailor fashion a piece of once living flesh into skin for the giant. The light changed, and Gar's body was suddenly illuminated, and Gabriel saw the mesh of human skin that covered him.  Amidst the stitches, human faces melted into and out of a patchwork of death, silent mouths that testified to the atrocities of this hell.

An invisible force pushed Gabriel.

By the time he regained his footing and was prepared to run, it was too late. Gar had him by his throat, and he squeezed gently, asserting his superior strength. Ich scuttled down the arm, and was staring into Gabriel's eyes before he could blink. "Is this the one The Master spoke of Gar, or is it another sheep thrown to the wolves? Can we have his fair skin too?" Ich's tongue shot from between his lips, flicked in the air, and disappeared back into his mouth. Gabriel shuddered at the disgusting creature that was leering at him.

"I believe this is the one, Ich. Either way, we can't chance it yet, at least not until The Master has seen him. We'll hold him until Th—" Gar screamed as Gabriel drove the pike into the soft flesh of his underarm and dropped to the floor. Gabriel jumped back, putting as much room between him and the giant as possible. Ich moved to the wound and began stitching it up, stopping the torrent of gore that had spilled from the gaping wound. Gabriel attacked, slashing with the pike, and tore a long wound along Gar's stomach. Gore spilled to the floor, and Gar writhed in pain as Ich stitched the wound up.

A plan was forming in Gabriel's mind as he watched the pair.

Gabriel moved swiftly, ducking under Gar's massive arm, and slashing out at his chest in one smooth motion. When Ich moved to repair the tear in the skin, Gabriel knocked him clear of his giant companion, he landed a few feet away, and Gabriel continued to slash at Gar, turning his torso into a checker board of bloody gashes. Something strange happened as Gar bled, his overall size decreased, as if he were shrinking with each ounce of gore that leaked from his horrific body. Gabriel turned in time to swipe Ich from the air as he leapt to attack with the skinning tool, and held him as Gar drained, and turned into a mass of dead flesh, bones were the only things supporting the mesh of human skin that was left over from the gargantuan demon. Ich began sobbing as he took in the sight of the giant's lifeless husk.

As Ich sobbed, Gabriel began to feel sorry for the pitiful creature. "What did you do to my friend? Why? Why?" he beat his fists into the ground as he cried, and Gabriel contemplated trying to comfort him, but his sympathy melted away as the little demon spun around and attacked him viciously. "I'll gut you for what you've done! I don't care if The Master splays my carcass and puts it on display for all to see!" Gabriel dodged several wild swipes from Ich's blade and swiped at him several times unsuccessfully. They fought for several minutes, neither gaining an inch on the other. Ich became frustrated at Gabriel's silence, and screamed, "why do you not say something murderer? Speak!"

"What do you want me to say, that I'm sorry I killed your friend in self defense? What should I have done, let your Master have me, or let you have my skin." Gabriel attacked, blinded by rage. Ich fought hard, but was no match for the new found strength of Gabriel. When the berserker's rage ended, Ich lay skewered to the ground, and Gabriel stood, horrified by what he had just done, but strangely proud of himself, which served to horrify him even more. Am I no better than these monsters, He thought. From that point on, Gabriel was changed.

For better or worse…he didn't know.

After a few long moments of self-analysis, Gabriel lifted the pike and turned to find an exit out of the hellish lobby, and was immediately knocked from his feet by the same invisible force that had exposed him to Ich and Gar. He scrambled to his feet and stood; ready to fight the unseen threat, but he found only darkness. Suddenly he felt incredibly exposed, as if he were under a magnifying glass, being examined by some unholy scientist. It seemed as if the darkness itself was watching him, waiting for the appropriate moment to strike him down. "Show yourself!" Gabriel yelled in frustration.

He was swatted down again, this time from behind. When he turned to defend himself, the darkness moved, changed shape, and folded in on him. As he was lifted from his feet, a shape began to appear, a face, one that should inspire love, now twisted into hate, a mouth of razor sharp spears, the flowing mane of thorns, the Crucifix Demon. It held him by the throat, its bony fingers pinching the soft flesh. The demon moved forward, eyes locked on Gabriel, slowing spanning the entire width of the room. Then the demon stopped, and Gabriel thought for sure that he would kill him.

The demon hurled him into the far wall.

He hit the wall with a loud crack, and lost the feeling in his arms and legs. He didn't even notice that he was suspended in the air until his head rolled to the left and he saw the barbed wire restraint that held his wrist in place. Blood flowed freely from the wounds that had been opened there, and he was beginning to feel cold. But his attention was ripped away from his bleeding wrists as the pike he had wielded against Ich and Gar was driven into his abdomen, and he watched as the Crucifix Demon twisted in gleefully into his gut. He could taste blood in his mouth, and he felt his heartbeat, as it grew slower, and slower. The world seemed to twist away from him and Gabriel could see his own body, crucified on a rusty steel cross. Everything moved slowly, the Crucifix Demon stood straight, and his mouth began to move, and a voice filled Gabriel's mind.

"Bend to my will Gabriel, and I can deliver you from this pain. If you refuse, hen you shall die." The voice boomed, and seemed to echo in his skull. He tried to answer, but he couldn't make his body function correctly.

The world suddenly went dark, and Gabriel heard his heart beat one last time, then silence.