Chapter 42- The Door to Nowhere
For a moment Drake sat there and let the terrible reality wash over him. There was no possible way for Matt to come back from this one. No one could survive that much stone falling on top of them, on top of all the other injuries Matt had sustained. Julie didn't seem to mind, she was still crying into her hands. Several minutes passed and still the only sound was Julie's sobbing. Then she managed to stop long enough to speak.
"Why?" she said. "Why did he have to save me?"
"What are you talking about?" Drake said, but he thought he knew.
"Back there, when we were attacked, he pushed you away and grabbed me to get me out of the way, but when he did, he got shot in the leg. So, it's my fault that he died… if only I hadn't been so slow!" she said.
"Julie, it's not your fault…"
"Yes it is! I could have moved… then he wouldn't have died…"
"Why is it that you've cracked every time that Matt got hurt or when you saw him near death?" Drake asked. He had been wondering about this for a long time now, and he had finally gotten an opportunity to find out. Julie looked into his eyes.
"I…I think that I loved him…"
This shocked Drake. He had known that Julie had felt some attachment to Matt, and he suspected that Matt had felt something towards Julie (if he could feel at all), but he would never have suspected that her attachment had run this deep. He slid over next to her and put one arm around her shoulders, hoping to comfort her. "Julie. Calm yourself." She sniffed once more and stopped crying. "Matt wouldn't have wanted you to feel bad about this. He knew what he was getting into. Actually, I think he's the only one of our group that knew. He would have wanted you to keep your head up and fight on. He would have wanted you to finish this off and help to save the world from these fiends."
"How do you know?" she sniffed.
"I can feel it. I can just feel it." Drake stood up. "Come on, let's go find Flynn and Brooklyn." He offered her his hand. She gladly took it and stood. "But, hell, where are they?"
"Probably on the other side of this room. Over… that way." She said. They began to walk across the rubble-filled room. They found several fiends, crushed dead under the heavy stones. "Wait…" Julie moved off to the side.
"Hang on a minute, Julie!" Drake said. He could guess where she was headed and didn't think that it would do her any good. She ignored him and continued to pick her way across the room. Drake groaned and followed her. He caught up to her standing over another body covered in rubble. "You just had to come here, didn't you?"
"Yes…I had to give him my last respects." She said. As Drake had guessed she had come to the spot where they had last seen Matt. His body was laying under about three particularly large stones that had fallen across his body. His face was still exposed; it bore a strangely peaceful look. He seemed to be lying in a pool of his own blood. Julie sniffled once and turned away. "Okay, let's go." She turned to walk away and almost ran into Flynn. "Oh, hello."
"Yes, I thought I'd find you here." He said, and readjusted Keith's body on his shoulder. "So, he's finally had it?"
"It would seem that way." Drake said. Flynn bowed his head. Brooklyn stepped out from behind him.
"Oh, no." He said quietly, and joined Flynn in his head-bowing. They stood there for a while before Drake interrupted them.
"I don't mean to interrupt this moment of silent reverence, but we should get going before we get ambushed again." He said.
"Yes, I agree." Brooklyn said. "But the thing is, we can't get much farther. None of us can get the riddle on the door."
"Let's go take another look at it." Flynn suggested. "You know, just for the heck of it." No one objected, and a minute later they stood before the sealed door again. Flynn set his hand against the door and pushed, to no avail. He traced the writing with his finger. "Well, it's official, I have no clue what this says."
Julie got closer to the door and laid her hand on it. The door glowed white and slid open. Julie jumped away. "What the…?"
"I have no clue what just happened…" Drake said. "…but at least we opened the door!" It was all black beyond it. "Hey, can anyone see beyond the doorway?"
"Nope." Brooklyn said. "I can't see a thing!"
"Nor can I." Flynn said.
"It seems completely dark through there." Julie said.
"Who wants to go first?" Drake asked. No one spoke.
"Well don't all jump up at once." Flynn said. "Drake, as you asked first, I elect that you go first."
"What?!? Oh, boo." Drake said, and faced the blackness. "Anyone got any ideas where this goes?"
"Well, apparently, there are some doors in the Shadow Realm that simply don't go anywhere." Brooklyn said.
"And if you step through one of those?"
"You can't. There's nowhere in one. It's actually physically impossible to step through one. So, if you try to, it'll feel like you ran into a wall. So, no worries, unless you drop into a room filled with fiends."
Drake swallowed. The prospect of falling into a room loaded with fiends was frightening. He took one look back at the others, turned back through the door, and stepped through. There was nothing under his foot as he tried to set it down, and he pitched forward into the darkness.
He fell for what felt for nearly forever. He could feel the wind rushing past his face. He didn't see or hear any of the others, so he assumed that they had not followed. After what felt like ten minutes, the darkness began to clear up and some light began to filter into view. He could see the floor, about a hundred yards farther down. He would die on contact with the floor. He braced himself for impact as he neared the ground, but the hit never came. He opened his eyes to see that he was hovering an inch above the ground. Drake set his feet down and whatever had been holding him up let go.
Drake looked around and saw no fiends waiting for him. He began to walk down the hall when Julie fell behind him. She experienced the same floating phenomenon that Drake had but was unable to stand up before the force released her and fell flat on her face.
"Ow…" she said, and stood up. "Oh, so you haven't gone anywhere."
"Of course not. I just landed a few seconds ago."
"Hmm. Strange. I jumped about five minutes after you did, and yet I get here just a little after you do? Hang on, I think Flynn and Brooklyn jumped after me." Seconds later, Flynn and Brooklyn floated down.
"Hello. Everyone alright?" Flynn said.
"Yes, no thanks to you." Drake said. "But that's not the point. There's a passageway over there. Let's roll." They walked down the hall, picking off the fiends that they saw. Now that Matt was gone, it seemed, they paid special attention to Julie. Having killed the biggest threat amongst them, they now turned back to their favorite hobby- attacking the most important person to the group.
"Well, this sucks." Flynn said, shooting a fiend through the eye. "They're going after Julie again. Just stay down."
"Whatever." Julie said, and backed up a little. An intelligent fiend walked around the corner.
"You! With the 74! I challenge you to a duel for all your souls!" he said.
"Is he talking to me?" Drake asked.
"I would guess so." Brooklyn said. "As there are no other guns in this group with '74' in the name."
"Okay, blockhead, let's do this!"
The fiend smiled a very evil smile. "Yes, let's."
"Let's duel!"