Frailty
Chapter nineteen, "An endless nightmare"
"I think we got somethin' in common, Raven." Horace's words came through clear, and were registered, but not given much attention as Raven stepped warily into the electrocution chamber.
For the time being, everything was dormant. The fettered apparition, quite possibly Carnate's most tragic victim, was given a moment's peace to speak.
This, however, did not mean he was out of the woods, as the four control panels creating his torment were encased in a bright, volatile glow.
An electrical force field, Raven concluded after studying it closer.
"We know what love is. We know what it's like to be so attached to someone that we'd give up our own mortality for them…The people you had back home…you'd do 'anything' for them, am I right?"
A labored groan trailed out from Horace's thought-provoking speech, causing Raven to gaze over her shoulder.
His condition was nothing to be entirely alarmed over, but a diameter of electricity that had come to spawn at the base of the chair caught her focus.
Raven turned just as it began to spread outward across the floor, closing the distance to her feet.
Unsure of its lethality and not willing to find out, she waited till it was just shy of a foot away, and cautiously stepped over.
"There's somethin' else we got in common 'cause of this island…" Horace spoke once more when she was in the clear.
"We both know what it's like to lose it all. To' not' be in control!"
All at once, the electrocution returned, causing him to thrash violently in his restraints.
His voice wavered with the voltage that coursed through him as he screamed, "AAAaaAAAhhh! It's so fuckin' HOT!"
Raven retreated to a vague degree and turned her head away, but was forced to look back when a sharp, loud crackling tore out from above.
A glance toward the expanse of ceiling that looked over the chair confirmed her fears.
The mass of electricity that destroyed over fifty square feet of thick glass was back, and well on its way to being set loose anew.
Preparing herself for evasion came as the first priority over finding a way past the force fields, not to mention Horace's pain, when the mass stopped growing.
With no warning, it shot out on a direct coarse for her and, not even achieving half the distance, caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.
That, as much as anything else, was her cue to flee.
Instinct told Raven to exit the scene altogether, but her gratitude for the occasions on which Horace had rendered aid combined with a strangely swollen sense of humanity, and guided her to the other corner of the chamber.
Fortunately enough, the ball was as slow as its size suggested, and came to land in the region she had occupied before escaping.
The entire room was made aware of its collision in a violent quake, which threw her to the ground almost immediately.
For a short time afterwards, however, dormancy ensued, and Horace was allowed to continue.
In an exhausted voice, he huffed, "…I can't even remember what I was put in here for…beatin' up some guy, whatever, it ain't important. I got screwed by the system. Fuck 'em, they fucked my LIFE. They're as responsible for my old lady's dyin' as I am."
Rubbing her head, which had struck the wall while falling down, Raven slowly recovered, and was greeted by the field of electricity making its return.
"Nobody ever wants to hear the whole story. Just lock 'em up, throw away the key, see 'em next lifetime."
A relatively simple thought struck her as she prepared to evade once more.
The forces that wove in and out of Carnate island's fabric were a mystery to her, but Abbot was built by mortals.
Flesh, and blood, and bone.
And at the present moment, it was using the electric chair, a device of likewise creation, to not only torture Horace, but to kill her.
This train of thought brought her to realize that in order to do this, it had to be using the prison's power, and significantly rerouting it in order to collect the energy needed for its massive ball.
The fact that this was just theory, and Raven's impressive gathering on it in such a narrow timeframe were rendered irrelevant when the very attack once more entered its initial stages, as indicated by Horace's sudden scream.
"UaaaaAAAAHHHGG! It's endless! It's an endless fuckin' nightmare!"
Raven prepared to dodge, but cast a sidelong glance toward the nearest control panel.
Its protecting force field faltered several times in indication of letting up, but was slow to follow through.
The anticipation eventually caused her to fix an anxious gaze onto the electric shield, and just as her eyes begun to begun to grow weary of the muddled strobe effect it created, two drawn out flickers struck. All at once, it blinked out, leaving the object it defended vulnerable.
The mystic was not a second into assuming the offensive when something intervened.
Even though the shield was gone, for some reason she was still being given a great amount of light to place aim with…
She didn't need to look over her shoulder to know that the mass had released, she did, however throw a short glance in that very direction to register its distance.
From rough judgement, the slowly encroaching ball was a quarter of the way through its venture.
Doing her best to shove this aside, Raven snapped her shotgun into both hands and forced off a lone round.
Small showers of sparks proceeded to burst and arch out from the point of impact, leaving only a shattered box that once served as number of the electric chair's control panels.
The small victory, given its lack of effect, didn't invite even an inward celebration.
In light, it actually posed a new obstacle.
Raven's hasty venture to the other side of the chamber was coupled with a crack, followed by a series of loud, sharp hisses; both of which came from behind.
Investigating further wasn't so much as a consideration till she arrived once more in relative safety.
As if it were learning, the mass of electricity now began to show vague signs of pursuing its quarry after being released.
But try as it might throughout the entire trip, it gradually lost altitude. Barely half of the distance to its target was achieved before the ball simply crashed into the floor, sending another powerful tremble out across the expanse of floor to indicate its failure.
On this occasion, Raven braced herself and with struggle and a great amount of focus, retained just enough balance to stay on her feet.
Almost immediately, her attention returned to the successfully destroyed panel across the room.
It was still in the exact same condition, but now bordered off by a thick cord that hung from the ceiling.
Once a line that navigated the room in order to feed electric current from the panel to the chair,
Raven's attack freed it from all restraint, and after adorning itself with the volatile energy it once transported, allowed it to whip wildly around.
"I…I…"Horace rasped breathlessly, causing Raven to redirect her attention onto him, "I just wanted to keep her safe. I couldn't protect her on the inside. It ate me up, I'd lie awake at night just thinkin' of what could happen to her. Any guy…any guy like me that really 'loved' his old lady woulda' done the same."
His voice strained with the last declaration, signaling attention to the floor, where the secondary, far less lethal attack was making its third appearance.
"I got to be where I couldn't take it any more…" He grunted as Raven stepped hastily over, and changed directions for another control panel. She didn't know when the electrocution would return, but it would happen.
That much she was positive of.
"So, on that day, she came over for a conjugal, and we fucked. I screwed her like I never had before, it was warm, and rough and 'sweet'…the best lay of our lives…"
A cherished recollection from the tortured wraith abruptly tracked into a sharp howl when Carnate returned its offense, forcing him to repeat his demise all over again.
"IT'S…COMING…AGAIN!"
He managed through the violent jolting.
Half to be completely ready and half to take her eyes away from the scene before her, Raven spun on her heel and waited for the shield that protected her target to drop.
Caught up in the activity of her own mind with the last occasion, she had not kept track of the time required for Carnate to sap all of the electrocution chamber's available energy. Thus, she had nothing to go on but raw hope and courage as she stood by, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to check the slowly converging mass' size.
The chamber's trade of bright blue for black had begun to grow more rapid as the electrocution intensified, and was in turn augmented by Horace's defeated groan.
"I…I BEEN THROUGH THIS FOR SO LONG, IT'S SUCKED ME DRY! THERE'S NOTHING LEFT!"
Raven cringed at hearing him speak, and did her best to focus on the panel's field. It was easy to keep her mind elsewhere for the other occasions he spoke.
She knew that the mass behind her was growing with each second, and one emotion out of check at the wrong time would be enough to do her in.
But Horace's words were stacking up, getting in her head and combining with an already
well-established mound of grief.
Correcting everything she could of it, the mystic shut her eyes and fought back the raw pain that was quickly colonizing her attention span, but an oblivious Horace pressed on.
"I THOUGHT THAT AFTER THE FIRST FEW TIMES, I'D BE USED TO IT, BUT IT'S LIKE EVERY TIME I WIND UP IN THIS CHAIR, EVERYTHING'S COMPLETELY FUCKIN' NEW TO ME! LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED, LIKE I NEVER DIED!"
Something strange, almost feral tore out from Raven's mouth as she spun around, firing the shotgun at no intended target.
Despite their wide range, none of the slugs met with Horace- -It was no consequence to his assailant, whom continued to pull the trigger till the panel's field dropped.
As if on an afterthought, Raven turned and ripped the appliance from the wall.
Thick mooring cables, steel bolts and a concrete recession didn't match strength with the animalistic, white-hot rage that came at the hands of anguish.
With little if no resistance, the panel was pulled away and, in turn, thrown into a newly released electric mass.
It couldn't be distinguished as to whether or not the following explosion or Raven's sudden outburst was the cause, but without so much as a sigh, the mystic's knees buckled, and she half-collapsed to the floor.
There was hardly time for silence as she did her very best to recover.
Horace, left in peace for whatever precious time he had, spoke, "That's what this island wants from you, kid. It wants to see the 'real' you, so it can keep you trapped like that. Trapped like 'me'. I don't know what brought you here, but when you showed up, this place came to 'life'."
Panting, Raven drug herself into a slouched stance, and looked directly toward Horace.
"My father…" The two words failed to overcome her heavy breaths, though at the right earshot, they could be heard.
And with a growing tone, she emphasized, "He did this. He woke up Carnate."
The pale apparition leaned forward in his restraints, and coughed. Hard.
So hard that Raven would have become concerned, had she not taken note of the electric barrier advancing outward.
There was only one fault that made avoiding as she had done several times before slightly more difficult.
Her exhaustion was hitting its absolute hardest now. After all of her injuries and trials, Raven's tire had gotten to be overwhelming, and in light, Horace's words coupled with her will to live was all that kept her form toppling over altogether.
That survivalist's resolve, however, was the only thing that motivated her carefully avoid the light attack.
Your dad, huh? Horace managed through his hacks, which had somewhat dissipated.
"Yes. I can't explain it, but he's always with me." Raven stepped back and snapped her eyes from one end of the chamber to the other. Two panels down, two to go, but matters were only getting worse as the peace drew on.
Her gun was getting harder and harder to keep steady, and she knew that when the mass came back and released, it was going to have somehow evolved once more.
We're so damned alike, you and me.
The barest impression of a smirk crossed the Horace's face. Inwardly, he knew the burning execution was about to strike once more.
But he was going to do his best to remain strong through it.
Lady luck threw shit in both of our faces.
Raven was his best chance at being set free, but the more he screamed, the worse it got for her.
And he knew it. He knew that her sense of humanity was a big risk on her life, which was ironic.
The first small bouts of static struck him. And soon, a snap, and a dull whir from the back ground, and it would all be over, for the upteenth time.
Wincing, Horace spoke once more before the convulsing, burning torment hit full force,
But I guess everybody got here through some pretty fucked up circumstances.
The more often it occurred, the more intense the electrocution seemed to become, and as the
bright light flashed out, a clear depiction of writhing bolts enveloped Horace's figure. The most he reacted with, however, was a low, labored groan.
Raven knew good and well what was coming, and like far too many times before, she waited till everything else in the room that was operated by the prison's electric current begun to flicker to assume any sort of offense.
A small huff of strain escaped her as she pulled the gun into both hands and advanced on the nearest switch.
Its shield was dying, sure as she was placing aim on it, and almost as soon as the ball released, everything became final.
A hot, powerful blast of led nailed the recessed box dead-on, caving in most of its center while at the same time sending a wave of sparks off into the opposite direction.
Raven observed just long enough to ascertain that her shot was accurate, then tore off for the other end of chamber.
Although the rattling crash very slightly jarred her from focus, the mystic didn't need to hear it to know that that horrid ball of brilliance was back to pursuing her.
She could feel the small fields of static electricity that radiated off of it.
She knew it was faster than she was, now, and because of that, Raven dove forward upon closing the distance to a bare corner.
Having assumed the worst, she balled up and waited for it to hit.
Moving the faster than it ever had, the great sphere was set on a direct collision coarse for the wall behind its quarry; it hadn't however dropped leverage as she had, and even at the apex of its operation, it couldn't accommodate her abrupt dodge.
Rather than hit Raven, it came down upon a choice space less than a foot above her head.
The girl's cringe did nothing to assuage the loud bellow of eruption that tore out, but for the attack's alarming proximity, it seemed nothing short of a divine favor that she came out unharmed.
But then, everything seemed to look up after such a long time of hurt.
There was only one switch left. Raven was slowly recovering, and Horace had crumpled in the wake of being reduced to nothing.
In a genuinely dead tone, he closed his history.
And then my old lady was layin' there, after…she looked so beautiful, with that sheen of sweat runnin' down her face…and I did it. I cut her. Every inch of her. All over…
Raven stopped dead at hearing it. Somehow, she knew it was building up to this; Horace was a deranged murderer. But to digest hearing it, and to come to terms that she was being used…
All she could do was stare blankly at the ghost.
And all he could do was keep digging. Keep exentuating the disheartening truth that he was no friend.
After I was finished, no one could see her. No one could see her beauty. She was mine forever. 'Cause there are some sick people out there, Raven. People with no sense of dignity, people that'll fuck a corpse and not think twice about it. I had to protect her from that. I had to protect her from everything.
There was no checkpoint to indicate that the execution was coming back. There was no avoidable foundation of voltage, no flickering, the bolts simply returned, and even Horace showed definable signs of surprise with his sharp scream as they lanced him from head to toe.
And momentarily, Raven only watched, feeling a disgustingly pleasant pang of satisfaction.
In less than five minutes, Horace was again suffering indescribably, and his intended savior couldn't think of a more glorious sight.
RAVEN!
He managed while convulsing.
THE SWITCH IS OPEN, IT'S FUCKIN' OPEN! SHOOT I-aaaAAAAHHHH!
Still frozen to her place, Raven sneaked one glance at the last operational switch. It was vulnerable, alright, and the ball was growing at a phenomenal rate. But in her savory of the moment, she did nothing.
DON'T DO THIS NOW, DON'T YOU GET IT? THE ISLAND KNOWS IT'S LOSING, IT'S PULLING A TRUMP CARD! IF YOU DON'T SHOOT THAT THING, THIS ENTIRE PRISON'S COMING TO THE GROUND AND YOU'RE GOING WITH IT!
For all of Horace's yelling, the simplest of solutions followed.
Without averting her gaze, Raven rose the shotgun in one hand, and fired.
There could be no judgement between which was more bizarre; the complete absence of recoil, or the sharp bull's-eye that hit the final panel.
The ball, which was just on the verge of releasing, seemed to implode as its last leg of life was destroyed.
The bolts that formed it fired out and draped over the electric chair, vanishing upon coming into contact with the ground.
And Horace, absolutely drained, slumped forward.
Thank…you…
He sighed with a resigned with a true last breath.
Still unmoving, Raven ignored how quickly the power in Abbot redistributed itself.
She ignored the eerie fact that Horace's fried corpse remained.
In an unsteady voice, she replied to an empty room, "Don't mention it."
-End Chapter 19-
Author's notes
Well, if I'm not dodging phony-ass hurricanes that threaten to rip through half of Texas, it looks as though I'm battling off impossibly strong bouts of college-culture shock.
Oh, I can explain every sordid detail about why it's taken me so long to get off my sorry ass and get this chapter posted, but do you guys that have remained (If any at all) really wanna hear it?
Somehow, I doubt that.
I'll do my absolute best to get back on track with things, here.
Next thing, however, is picking RTMW back up.
"That's life, and as funny as it may seem…some people get their kicks stompin' on a dream."
-Frank Sinatra