The darkness clinging to each surface shimmered and quaked as the trio walked along the hallway. They steadily pushed away from the tear in the air. The two heavily outfitted women had flicked their flashlights on to assist seeing in the newly furnished and dust free library walls. Their third red haired member trailed feet behind scanning the book cases. She reached out and tried to retrieve a lone novel off the closest shelf. The red plastic cover crumbled to dust as she pulled it out. The writing on the dissolving cover was complete gibberish to Nicole for the flash of it she could see.
Amy: "So, what are we looking for here boss?" She keeps her submachine-gun raised and pans the hallway they are travelling down.
Nicole: "No clue to be honest, but she had to have left some kind of trail here." Nicole continues to read the illegible spines of the books. The group reaches a T intersection and Amy jogs ahead to post up watching down the hall braking off right. Diana rushes forward after Amy sets up in place and kneels, gun barrel pointed down the hall continuing forward.
Diana: "So, which way do we go?" She sits unblinking watching the hall.
Nicole: She sits there pacing while nibbling on her clenched fist's knuckles. "Hmmmm, what does your gut tell you Diana?"
Diana: Raising her hand up she pauses all other motion, "There is a draft down this hallway blowing down away from us. There must be a larger exit there." She stands, "my bet is this way."
Amy raises off her knee as well and slowly collapses in on the other two. She nods her head in silent agreement while keeping her focus down her hall. They all continue on their way following the draft. They pass down corridor after corridor. Nicole continues to check her watch and finds that the clock shows twenty minutes have passed.
Diana: "Halt!" She raises a fist and Amy raises her weapon down the seemingly empty hall. "I hear something ahead, sounds like fluid dripping and sloshing around."
The three peer down the dark channel with ears perked up and attentive. Sure enough the slippery and sickeningly liquid sound is running off ahead of them. And worse so is that it was getting louder. Out of the darkness slithered in a blob of black sludge not more than three feet (1 meter) in any direction.
Nicole: "That's a shadow! Don't let it touch you two." Both women shot off two rounds in controlled pairs, small pinholes popped into it and burst out the back. It rippled in place and stopped it's slithering. Diana shot three more rounds through it causing the ebony mass to lose its form and melt into the floor. Ultimately the sludge dissolved into a bright red haze.
Amy casually strolled over to the space it occupied, "Nice 17 bucks! Can't let free money go to waste." She pockets the cash with one hand and then regains her stance.
Diana: "Thought that they'd have been harder to kill. The training we got said they'd be pretty vicious and we'd need a lot more shots on target to take them down." She shrugs and changes out her magazine, "Still can't be too reckless now."
They continue on their journey, meeting and executing the weak black slimes as the appeared. The average number of shots so far it took to kill was about seven rifle shots or ten submachine-gun shots. Each time Amy collected the loose amount of dollars they'd leave behind. The seventh or eighth one was slightly bigger and took more shots but it went down all the same.
The breeze became stronger now and they could see a foreign light beyond those on their weapons. They rounded the next corner to see a big bright hole in the wall in what looked like a large main entrance area. The library's entryway was complete with desks and book drop off chutes. They began the lengthy walk down the lit hallway, only to stop at the sound of a music box's melody resounding in between the exit and where they stood.
Nicole: "Oh what now?" She walks forward to examine the two foot around red cube with a big black X running from corner to corner. The large black handle twists along with the music . . . "It's a jack-in-th" Before the last syllables could leave her mouth the music stopped.
And out popped a man's full-sized torso on a large wound spring flying out. Malice and bloodlust radiated out of its black and red eyes with large white gloved fists raining down on a collision course for Nicole's head. She reacted and dove onto her back barely avoiding the blow. Amy and Diana sprang into action emptying their weapons on full auto into the automaton.
The shadow machine raised its manikin arms up to guard the upper chest and face. The roar of gunfire subsided and the torso had only minor dents and scrapes across the arms and lower torso. Both women now backing up slowly. Diana was dragging Nicole from her collar while Amy was swapping out her magazine.
Nicole shook her head from the deafening rattle of bullets that flew over her supine form and drew her own pistol from the holster. Two more melodies started up the now sickening children's music.
Diana: "Fuck! Two more behind us!" She dropped Nicole's collar and changed out her own mag. Amy slapped the bolt forward and rained down 4.6mm on their first assailant. It raised one arm blocking most of the usually lethal shots, but one bullet rammed through knocking out its left eye. The shadow now had one blazing redeye and one gaping black hole. Nicole finally finished fumbling for the pistol and drew it pointed at the crippled Jack-in-the-Box.
She squeezed the trigger, golden white light shot out in a beam toward the offending mechanical murderer. A large perfect circle bore clean through the chest where her beam passed. The red eye looked down at the new belly button piercing he had gotten and lunged at the sitting woman jaw unhinged. Nicole shot once more sending a beam right down his gullet. The golden light sizzling and steaming through his whole body. It quickly disintegrated into the same red misty haze.
Amy: "Nice one boss!" She pivoted and assisted her partner in sending more lead and copper into the two still unpopped boxes behind them. They both sent a few rounds into the placed squares to no effect. The music stopped and they sprung forward, both new torsos pogo-sticking their way down towards the trio.
Nicole stood up and walked in front of them, raised her pistol up to the side of her temple and pulled the trigger screaming 'Olympia!'. The click of the internal hammer falling and both Amy and Diana's eyes shot wide. They both screamed, "No!" and jumped with hands outstretched to grab Nicole's shoulders. Her head whipped away from the muzzle and white splattered the book case. Her body began to fall.
Her legs caught herself in freefall, a golden glow rose off her in a heat shimmer. The visage of a large blade cleaved through the air, both torsos of the shadow manikins, and the bookshelf on either side of them. The shelves dissolved into black grey smoke as the two enemies returned to a red mist on a journey back to wherever they came from.
Nicole: Falling to her ass, "Whoo! We didn't die!" She lets out a slightly unhinged laugh and fist pumps the air.
Amy drops to her knees and gives the maniacally laughing girl's shoulders a squeeze. "You fucking mad woman, I though you just shot yourself!" She Doesn't let go when Diana tries to pry her from Nicole's side. "Don't be so reckless."
Nicole doesn't stop laughing but manages to stumble over her words to get out, "no risk, ah ha ha, empty gun." She holds up the magazine and a single loose bullet. "To be honest I was still terrified I'd done something wrong and was gonna shoot myself but it worked."
Diana forcefully pulled them both to their feet and pointed to the exit.
Amy looked at the smug look on Nicole's face; then to the magazine and bullet, then back at the grin on her face. Amy's look of worry and terror slowly melted into one of anger and frustration. She wound up and punched the shoulder of the ego toting redhead. "You idiot!" Once done declaring the mental capabilities of her assault victim, she huffed and strode off quickly to the exit.
Diana and Nicole walked next to each other watching the fuming form of Amy ahead of them.
Diana: "Don't take it personally. She'll come back and apologize eventually, once she can understand you were not in danger and did technically pull us out of a tight situation." She whistled and snapped, "But damn you did a number on them."
Nicole: "Thanks for the encouragement." Nicole blushed heavily from the praise coming from the raven haired goddess. "And yeah, I just unlocked my Persona and I'm kinda glad that using an 'evoker' like that worked." She reloaded the pistol and holstered it.
Diana: "Maybe keep that unloaded in case you need to do that again. While I'm confident in our marksman skills, these creatures tanking full mag dumps of 7.62 kinda concern me more than I wish to admit." She cups her hand in a half cone, "Hey Amy! Ammo check!"
Amy can be seen from afar dropping her mag and examining it, then manually feel along her tactical vest. She calls back, "Three partials, one full and one empty! I'd say 65%!"
Diana: "Damn, I'm down to three mags. . . ." She flips her selector switch to single with a sharp click. "Keep the shots to a minimum Aims!"
Amy flashes a thumbs up ahead of them as she is feet away from the blinding lights streaming into the building. Now that the group has closed the distance, they can see it is a jagged hole broken into the wall. Both doors lie in splinters inside the rough and puzzle like exit into the pristine parking lot. The grass on either side of the sidewalk leading up to the shattered front doors is either covered in frost or brown and dead.
Nicole: "Mom's calling card, lots of frozen patches in a wonton path of destruction." She scans the ground spotting a shining thin line in the grass patch. The slim blade of her mother's rapier lay centered in the frozen grass, the luminescent moon's radiance glinting off its intricate knuckle guard. "Welp, couldn't have asked for a better clue."
Amy and Diana flank her on either side. One stood watching the road mirroring the real world running past the library bordered by warped purple, blue, and black buildings. The other crouched down and scanning the dark uninviting forest surrounding the empty parking lot. Nicole quietly scans the winterized ground and enters the patch, gripping the hilt she hoists the light blade up and watches the ice evaporate instantly. A single spike of ice points off into town in a giant arrow.
Nicole: "Her sword just signaled into town!" She hops down the slight hill and into the parking lot in that direction. As her foot touches pavement, a rumbling shakes the loose stones littering the freshly paved lot. A roaring engine blares over the treetops accentuated with a pop of an exhaust backfire. Headlights shone over and into the low altitude clouds above the forest.
The engine screamed once more and the squealing of tires grew closer from the forest. The headlights grew in brightness and then poked over the hill of tree's crest. They shone down from the vehicles flight to spotlight Nicole standing on the asphalt's edge. The beams sailed down from the sky and landed violently shaking on its suspension. It skidded to a halt from the rough landing breaking feet from running over the now swaggering woman.
The engine was killed and the driver side door opened, a black combat boot peeped out onto the parking lot. The sweatpant clothed leg dragged the rest of the driver out to stand next to his flame painted hot rod. He was clothed in a green sweatshirt and black driving gloves, his messy and very long bright yellow hair falling well below his shoulders. A pair of brand new aviator sun glasses sat on his forehead. "I hope you're worth it, I skipped my white water rafting for this."
The Junkie: He brushed a loose lock of hair encroaching on his sight back into his bang. His above average face completed his natural human looks. His glowing bright yellow eyes told a different story. "So, we gonna do this or what?"
Nicole: "Do what?" She shrugged her shoulders, "But one thing you are gonna do is answer some questions."
The Junkie: "Oh really, who says?" He crosses his arms and shines a perfectly white smile.
Nicole: She flashes the rapier and waves a hand over it, "I'd say. Have you seen my mother? My build and height, same bright outstanding hair, kick your ass in a fight." She now levels the point threateningly in a line at his heart. Her voice full of ire, "Ring any remaining working bells up in there?!"
The Junkie: "No . . . actually now that you mention it. There was just that woman who slashed one of my tires and took off." He leaned on the hood of his car now, "Last I saw or heard of her was when she blasted open the door you just walked out of in a great hurry. Probably to escape."
Nicole: "Escape who, you?" Amy and Diana now starting to flank either side of the man their weapons leveled.
The Junkie: "Oh God no, she would have fed me my own fan belt!" He stands up, "I'm done with this and my blood is boiling to see what you can do. Ready to start?"
Nicole: She looks at Diana and nods, "Take him." Diana lets of a round, it streaks right in-between his aviators and snaps them in half but the bullet passes harmlessly through his head. Nicole's brows furrow, "Again!" Diana lets off a burst cutting through his chest, the bullets pass harmlessly through his body just leaving big holes in his sweater.
The Junkie: Holding his broken sunglasses, he is visibly fuming with real lines of steam venting from his newly made ports. He growls out animalisticly, "Sic em." The engine roars to life and jumps off into a donut around the raggedy blonde. The side trim along the bottom of the car rips of taking the front bumper with it. The car swings the sharpened sword bumper across the ground at Nicole's ankles. Nicole jumps back onto the grass hill and raises the rapier to block the next overhead swing already crashing down onto her.
Nicole parries that blow and pivots to stab into a golden light charged stab with the blade into the now stopped windshield. The other side's trim rips off and picks up the black and blue hood of the car like a shield to block the charged stab. With her other hand Nicole draws and places the pistol to her temple then pulls the trigger. The same gold blade swipes down in an arc to be blocked by the bumper sword.
The driver is flooring the accelerator into the stab as his foe struggles to break either guard. Amy and Diana are starting to circle the car popping off rounds into the windows. They hold under the barrage of gunfire, and Nicole smiles and opens her jaws. Placing the slide of the pistol in her teeth she bites down and racks a round in the previously empty chamber. She levels it at the engine block area.
The Junkie shakes his head no with eyes wide as Nicole sticks her tongue out and winks. She pulls the weapon's trigger and a beam shoots through the passenger side headlight and straight into the chassis. A billow of black and oily smoke sputters out of the uncovered engine. The Junkie whips his head around and reverses out of the clash of blades, the hood returning to its rightful place. His worried lit up face from behind his dashboard sent a feeling of déjà vu through her spine.
He peels out of the parking lot, but his still drawn bumper swipes down on an unsuspecting Amy. She stairs up at the metal hulk larger than her now rushing to split her in two. The golden point of Nicole's elongated rapier stabs into the blade deflecting it to fall into the paved road juuuust left of its mark. Leaving the bumper behind, the hotrod chugs and sputters away as fast it can manage.
Amy still staring up expecting to be cleaved in twain, lets her shaky knees give. The Junkie rolls his window down and flips the trio the bird in his retreat as Diana and Nicole rush to their quivering comrade.
Amy heard the muffled voices of the two of them, her eyes watching a small dandelion sway in the wind next to their feet. It looked so peaceful, like every day it just sat there without a worry in the world. Never contemplating when or how it would meet its end, Diana's massive foot crushing it in a sidestep snapped her mind to attention and to hear their consoling and concerned voices.
Amy: "I'm fine guys," she laughs out heartily waving away their helping hands. Her compatriots still had that look of worry blazing over their eyes. "God they're too transparent." She laughs again, "It was just a shock is all, how many people can say they were almost guillotined by a sentient car wielding its bumper like a broadsword?!" She stands and brushes off her dress pants then begins to walk toward the library entrance.
Nicole: She looks at Diana again meeting her eyes, "Okay. We just worried and wanted to ma-"
Amy: "I SAID I'M FINE!" She huffs loudly not even turning to look at them. "Let's just get out of here. We're low on ammo and you still haven't caught your breath Nicole." Nicole was breathing hard and both guards did have a dwindling supply of ammo left.
Diana: Twiddling her thumbs, "You-you're right. We don't have the supplies or even numbers to be honest. Nicole you did just essentially arm wrestle a car for Christ's sake!" She sighs and picks up Amy's dropped weapon, "But you are gonna need this Aims."
Amy's eyes widen in shock and fumbles around as if the MP7 would magically appear in one of her pockets and glumly grabs it from Diana. She sulks along through the door and lets Diana take the lead. They take a slow cautious journey back through the dark library.
They come across a few more of the black sludge blobs and Diana uses the last bit of her ammo cleaning them up alone. Amy still sulking along in the back next to Nicole who was lost in thought. Nicole was trying to divine the reason behind her déjà vu with their mounted attacker. She couldn't quite place the time or person it corresponded to, but it felt so desperately close.
They made it back to the crossing point back to their reality, all three held hands. Amy gripped down especially hard to the other two's hands as they crossed into the portal. Once across Diana and Amy found they could now see the purplish black tear now as well. They sat down for a minute to decompress in the safety of not being in an unknown world.
They carefully navigated through the falling down real library and exited to the car. Diana drove the silent vehicle back to the hotel, letting Amy stare out at the wide forest full of life and sound. Nicole pulled out her notepad and began jotting down all the traits she had remembered from her memory about the encounter to figure out why she remembered that adrenalin junky.
They pulled up to the lodge and all three piled out, Nicole heading in first while the other two packed up their equipment into bags. As she entered the foyer, she greeted the nice old lady behind the counter and saw the lights of her computer screen reflect on her large glasses. A bonfire of revelation lit up in her mind, Nicole ran outside to the SUV and grabbed the two women stood at the rear hatch.
Nicole: "I Know Who That Driver Is!"
-Afterword-
Noice, once again I get it down just in time.
Hope you all enjoy it this time as well and would love to hear your feedback. :)
Some songs:
Felix Cartal – Runaway (feat. REGN) - (Pop techno)
Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl – (Punk)
Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five – Beans and Cornbread – (Swing Jazz)
Less Than Jake – All My Friends are Metalheads – ( Ska Punk)