The Cell of Hell
Chapter Four
Okay, now the fun begins. I've made a few changes to the over-all plot that I had originally hoped for to make room for some friends and new characters. You will now see the real side of Tiffany and Zoe...
A sudden warmness came over me, a warmness that I'd never felt before. There was always an icy aura...until now...
I buried my nose further into the heat, thankful for a peaceful morning at last. The object stirred slightly and pulled me closer. My eyes jerked open to find Jak lying next to me. Seeing him in his relaxed pose kept me snuggled under his arm that was wrapped around my shoulders. Feeling a sense of security, I lay my head back in its original position on his chest.
Last night began with complete turmoil and ended with accordance as we fell asleep after my wave of tears had finally subsided. I already felt like I was free...
"Awwww, look at them!"
Just go away...
It wasn't me...
"They look so cute together! Don't you think, Lisa?"
"Shut up and let them sleep, Caitlin. As much as she wailed last night I think we ALL need to go back to bed..."
I lazily opened my eyes again. The cell next to us, which was separated from us only by a few metal rods, was now filled with new arrivals. Each inmate was female and looked no older than I, so I didn't worry. Instead of 'greeting' them and 'welcoming' them to their new 'home', I dozed off into a light sleep...
That is, until one of them spoke again...
"Don't you think it would be great to fall in love like that? I mean, they both look happy there. Tiffany, have you ever fallen in love before?"
"The only thing that I've ever loved is my knife, and it's about to fall in love with your neck..."
"I'm serious! Have you?"
"No."
"Leave 'er be, Caitlin! Go back to sleep."
The talkative one, now known as Caitlin to me, sighed lightly. "I don't know why I'm here..."
"I think I do," said someone on the opposite end of the cell over. "You must have been charged with attempted murder by your excesive talking."
Suddenly Jak rolled over and called with his eyes still closed, "I think you all were! SHUT UP!"
Thank you, Jak...
Yes, I have to agree on that...
"And who are YOU to tell ME to shut up?" I could hear footsteps coming closer, causing me to enter a panic attack.
They're coming! Oh, God. Don't let anything happen to Jak! He doesn't deserve this! Just take me, I've done this before, spare Jak! He's the only hope I have left!
Easy, child! It's just-
"Whoah, what's the matter with her?"
I tried my hardest to open my eyes, but they were clamped tight. Muscular arms were wrapped around me as I heard Jak whisper in my ear, "Jordan, it's just them. Calm down..." Feeling slightly embarrassed that I had made a fool of myself, my eyes opened at the slightest, revealing Jak and four girls in the other cell.
"You've been here a while?" said a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, leaning up against the wall of rods to look at Jak. He shook his head solemnly. "No, but she has..."
My vision was blurred by tears and sleep. "Just leave us alone..." I couldn't go back to sleep, even if I tried. I was too afraid...
"Don't worry!" said a soothing voice. A young girl with long brown hair crawled next to Jak and I. In her hands was a food dish, which she slipped skillfully in between the bars. "You can have my breakfast," she said sweetly. "I'm not hungry. Oh, and pardon my rude manner, I'm Caitlin..."
The name sounded familiar. "Caitlin?" I croaked. "Doesn't that mean 'Voice of the Precursors'?" My father had been an archeaologist as far back as I could remember, so as anyone would expect, I knew a lot about the Precursors...
If he is still alive...
"Shut up!"
"Why, yes it does," she said, totally ignoring the fact that I had just screamed at my second ego. "I'm glad somebody noticed...People think that's why I talk so much..."
"That explains EVERYTHING..." A dark shadow in the corner moved just a bit, and I could see a small red lock of the prisoner's hair that had escaped into the light. "I'm Zoe, that blonde chick over there is Tiffany. Lisa? Get your ass over here! Show some decency..."
Zoe fully revealed herself by stepping completely out of the shadows to stand next to Tiffany, who was accompanied by another inmate with short brown hair, all of which were standing over Caitlin.
Each inmate wore the same atire as I: A dirty green tank top and brown pants. Tiffany left one side of the shirt hanging while the other side remained tucked in unevenly. Lisa had ripped the hem of her shirt completely off and had used it as a headband. On the headband was the Precursor symbol that stood for 'Killer of Disbelievers', so I assumed that she was severely dedicated to some sort of descending religion of the Precursors. The dark figure that had just addressed herself as Zoe had, much like Lisa, ripped the hem of her shirt off to tie back her hair in a somewhat neat ponytail. Caitlin seemed to be the only one who had not altered her uniform.
"You still haven't told us your name, kid," sneered Tiffany as she drew a bronze knife with a leather hilt from her pocket. "Get on with it."
"Who are you to ask for my name?" was my reply. Jak stood. "I agree, just leave us alone. We've been through a lot lately..." Caitlin nodded slowly, "Yes, Tiffany, let's just leave them alone. I can't stand it when you fight with someone..."
A positively evil shine came forth in Tiffany's eye. "So...you don't like the way I handle situations?"
"That's not what I said at all! It's just-"
"You can't accept the way I act?"
"No! Tiffany, ple-"
"You think I'm a stupid fool that can't run her own life?"
"Never! Just stop!"
This is going to end badly...
With great skill and steadily increasing speed, Tiffany began to twirl the knife in between her fingers, almost clipping Jak's ear. He stood back and grabbed me, heading for the back of our own cell. Caitlin cowered against the bars, hot, salty tears running down her cheeks asshe stared into the merciless eyes of her attacker."Somebody, ANYBODY!"
Her pleas reminded me much of my own...when I first arrived. She's scared for her own life. If she lives in this hell hole for a few more years...then she'll wish that Tiffany had killed her a long time ago.
The knife was pointed at her neck now, so close that I was surprised that she hadn't already drawn blood. Suddenly, Tiffany drew back. "This is no fun," she mumbled, winking at Zoe as she said so. Her voice, for some strage reason, seemed deeper and more dangerous, like she still felt like killing Caitlin. It seemed like...
You are not alone in your torture...
What do you mean?
"GRAAAAAHHH!" A jolt surged through my body as Dark Eco sprang from my back, being attracted to Tiffany and Zoe. Both wore devilish grins as they absorbed the Eco, never flinching once. They took it like a drug, intoxicating themselves with the vile substance, and becoming inhibriated with power. In the far corner of the opposite cell, Lisa looked as if she had seen this a million times before, and lazily stepped aside to watch. But Caitlin, on the other hand...
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? TIFFANY, I'M SORRY!"
"You've had your chance," said Zoe in the most demonic voice I had ever heard. "But you wouldn't shut up. We're leaders, not followers, and you just don't seem to be comprehending well with our ways, so it's best that we just get you out of the way..."
"Jordan?"
Why do I feel so dizzy?
"Jordan! Are you okay?" I could hear Jak, but he was becoming distant, as if I were falling in a black hole.
My head began to roll about my shoulders and hit the wall behind me, causing it to tear a small wound. The boy was scared, I could tell. For me or of Tiffany and Zoe, I didn't know...
Conciousness was escaping quickly, and blood had started to drip from the cut on the back of my head. "Jordan! Stay awake! Please!" Breath coursed in and out of my lungs in short, quick gasps as I once again let my head roll. Just before I fell into what would seem like a dreamless sleep, the last image I saw was two Eco Demons towering above a frightened girl...who looked just like me...
Wake up, you silly girl!
What?
You've missed everything!
Blurry objects came to view as I struggled to open my eyes.
"Do you think she'll be okay?"
"She'll be fine...this happened to Tiffany and Zoe hundreds of times. Besides, HER powers have healed that cut already. This kid is special, she resisted better than I've ever seen..."
Resisted to what? Am I free?
The atmosphere seemed thick as usual, so I guessed I wasn't breathing fresh air like I had always wished to. My head was smarting terribly, but I sensed that the wound had, like Lisa had mentioned, completely healed. Being free seemed so impossible now, so far away. None of us would get out of here in less than a year if this went on, and the inmates in the next cell didn't seem particularly interested in seeing the light of day again. What did I have to do to convince them? 'We'll die if no one cooperates. Our only chances are faith and teamwork now.'? Jak would save us eventually. I knew he would...
"They looked like my friend. Those girls, Tiffany and Zoe. They looked like Daxter when they transformed. How?" The hero's voice cracked at the mention of his dear friend whom I'd heard so much of already. An orange Ottsel, fifteen years old, out alone in this God foresaken city...
"Those 'girls', that are thirteen, I might add, were...in an accident years ago..." Lisa spoke with an intimidatingly strong voice. Even though my eyes had just begun to pry themselves open, I could already sense her tension in the memory in which she spoke of. "...a Dark Eco accident. They...were running from the Krimzon Guards for attempted murder of a civilian, not that it really mattered to them if the man was killed or not. Tiffany and Zoe were partners in crime as assassins for the Underground."
"The Underground?" It seemed familiar. There was a man that my father knew who was named Torn, who must have been associated with this illegal resistance. I was now fully awake and part of the conversation. Lisa was sitting in front of Jak and I behind the bars. For a moment or two I had forgotten that I was in his lap. We separated quickly but scooted together again to listen. From the back of the other cell there was a strange noise, as if someone were chewing on something. I decided not to ponder it.
"It's a militia. A steadily growing army. I, too, was a soldier before I was caught and arrested."
"What's that noise?" It was growing louder and louder still, now to a point where I couldn't ignore it. Lisa sighed deeply and rose slowly. "Zoe, Tiffany! Shut up back there!"
"We'll shut up when we're good and ready!" Both Jak and I drew a collective gasp as two demonic animals, an indian-red squirrel and a dusty-blonde squirrel, scurried forth with what seemed to be an elvin ear between their elongated fangs. Jak frowned slightly. "That's Caitlin's ear," he explained to me. "When you passed out...they killed her and kept her left ear. Her body was taken away a short while ago..."
"And we're damn proud of it," Zoe chirped, ripping her teeth away and beginning again at the lobe. The hero's eyes began to water. "Good God," he whispered. "Daxter, he's out there all alone. If it's this bad in prison, there's no telling..." I grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug completely out of my own free will, which sort of scared me. Jak sobbed into my shirt uncontrolably for the rest of the night. Even though his tears left a warm, wet spot, I was determined to make sure to comfort him before this breakdown became a mental illness, in which I've seen before and never wish to witness again.
You're learning well. He is your hero, but he IS human...just like you...
Only part of me is human. The other half...a monster...
Fear not this demon! For you can overcome it as well as Jak...
He HAS no monster within him, and I am determined to make sure that it remains that way.
The time will come when those wicked men will realize that he is a Channeler, and they will use him as they have used you. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do but wait now and keep each other company until the day comes that you two will be free. Be aware that this beast will unleash itself with terrible fury, likewise with the boy. They WILL make attempts to destroy one another because they are power hungry and will do anything to prove their strength. Do your best to contain it...you will kill him, and he will kill you...