We wandered down a hallway that was rather empty of any type of disturbances. Our feet patted with light thuds from our footwear. This place was made of stone that had fancy windows, of golden designs, that separated us from the outside world. Within a few steps, we bolted up a staircase to our right.
A loud hiss echoed through the halls which made us all look back to see a large creature with spikes embedded along the back of its body. It was a murky green color and violently slithering up to us. Sherry jumped over the side of the stair's railing and landed loudly on the floor below.
"What the fuck is that thing?" Vivy yelled out as her feet skipped higher up the stairs.
Vivy passed me with no hesitation. I slowed down to distract the Strelat from progressing on. It stopped right in front of me and hissed loudly. Perching itself on its hind legs, its body shook aggressively then opened like a frilled-neck lizard with projecting spikes. Sherry shot the thing from the rear side which distracted the Strelat from shooting any of its spikes into me. I took out a large pistol and tried to shoot the disgusting monster when it turned to go after Sherry.
Randomly, my vision had gone blurry and a sharp pain shot throughout my head. My knees buckled, and I had fallen to the floor to gather my buzzing mind. Two masked men snuck up on me while the Strelat had my full attention. I jumped up and used the momentum to punch the nearest one in the mask, breaking the fragile thing into pieces. The freak stumbled back stunned for a moment which let me spin to his heels with his neck fastened in my arm. A simple crack, and he fell to his knees then directly onto his face. The second masked freak rushed in and jumped on my back sending me to the floor.
"Jake, this thing isn't going away!" Sherry screamed between her gasps.
"We are in a heap of trouble!" Vivy laughed as she darted right by me in the direction of Sherry.
I wrapped my arms around the head of the guy and pushed him up over my head where he landed hard on his back. Flipping to face the masked guy, I crossed his arms and pinned them before snapping his neck with my knees.
A loud, ear shattering, boom filled the large area we were in. I darted in the direction of where Vivy and Sherry were. At the bottom of the stairs, a pile of a leaking mass settled on the stone ground. Sherry had hidden behind the stairs while Vivy was around the line of fire. Vivy was covered in a green ooze that dripped in chunks from her black jacket.
"Is this what you mean by trouble?" I asked a little surprised at what had come of the Strelat.
"No," Vivy said a little traumatized from the small chunks of death all over her.
"What is the trouble?" I asked her then I looked up to the top of the stairs and an army of masked men had decided to rush us however they saw fit.
Four of the freaks jumped over the side of the railing to land at the bottom where they hurried over to Vivy and Sherry. The remaining three took their time to size me up as they walked down the stairs to me. I smirked and cracked my neck for a warm up. This wasn't our day.
My goal was to take these three down as fast as I could. I rushed right into the middle of them where I threw a punch, with my right fist, directly into the face of the guy in the center. Spinning on the right, I slammed my elbow, firmly, into his friend's mask. They both stumbled from the sudden attack. This last guy was tackled in his core up against the stone railing of the stairs where I threw punches till I heard a rib crack. Keeping low, I rotated on my toes to face the mindless twins. I began my kick off when the guy behind me kicked my head forward. He must've not been phased by the snapped rib. I rolled over my shoulder and weakly got to my senses on my feet.
The twins, one with a gun, were on my tail fast. The gun blasted a few rounds in my direction with only a bullet passing straight through my deltoid. I smacked the gun out of his arm as I closed the distance between us. In a matter of seconds, I had slammed three punches into his chest, neck and jaw by the time the gun hit stone. I wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled him over my side where the masked freak stumbled over. As I pulled myself back, I dislocated his neck and let him fall limp. His friend hurried over with a weak punch to my shoulder blade that didn't do much of anything but sting. My elbow met his face, once again, but this time much harder.
While I kept an eye on the masked guy near the stairs, he decided that it would be a good idea to run at me. I firmly planted a foot on the stone and lifted the other one forward with enough force to stop him in his tracks. He groaned as his lungs deflated. My foot landed, and I rotated my weight to it so that I could face the other masked guy. I took a moment to calm my nerves before stepping ahead. With every opening, I trapped his attacks and laid a firm hit against his chest. The hit that sent him to the ground was an uppercut to his jaw. The freak instantly fell back to the ground where I stomped on his head hard enough to cave in his skull.
I was getting tired now. Most of my energy had been used with my quick strikes, but there was one more still on my level. I turned to position myself in a ready stance for defense. This last guy was walking to me when he buckled to the ground. I dropped my arms and took a deep breath in then glanced over to see Vivy.
"I don't remember if there were any more after these guys," she said out of breath from running up the stairs.
Sherry was right behind her just as exhausted looking. I stood up straight and moved the shoulder with the hole in it. There was just enough blood to soak through the fabric, but it wasn't anywhere near the worth of worry. Vivy walked up, glanced over my well being and shrugged before we all moved on.
Our small group slowly finished ascending the stairs where we entered a long hallway with a bright red carpet and random cabinets to fill space. We all took a drawer to trudge through.
"I found a weird coin thing," Vivy yelled out as she held up a small disk.
"Who has the 9mil? I found ammo," Sherry asked around. She tossed a small box in her hand.
"That doesn't look like enough to save us," Vivy had laughed at the container. "But that will be me that has that weapon type."
Sherry tossed the box over to Vivy, who loaded the gun up and stashed the remaining bullets. We continued along the hall where we entered a library type room that had two levels full of bookshelves. Vivy had rushed over to scan some of the titles while I casually walked up the stairs to the next level. At the top, I passed one shelf and saw an out of place door at the end. There had to be something behind it that was serious business.
As I approached the door, I heard a thud come from the lower level. I quickly back tracked and peered over the the railing down to a mess that Vivy had made. There were about ten books piled on the ground, and Vivy kept tossing more.
"Is there a reason for that?" I grumbled as I placed the tips of my fingers against my eyes.
"A very good reason, sir," Vivy scoffed at my question. "You see this book." Vivy had thrown the book as hard as she could up to me. I wasn't prepared and got a face full of pages.
"Fuckin' Hell," I babbled on and on.
"It had another one of those coins in it," Vivy continued in her demeaning tone.
Thud after thud, the books hit the floor like rocks in a quarry. They didn't echo loudly in the large room we were in. I tossed the book down into the pile where Vivy just threw stories away.
"We don't have time to tear this place apart," Sherry said from the door. She exited and reentered.
I walked down the stairs and passed Vivy, who was still occuppied. She pulled a folder from the shelf which made her pause with her chaos. Her more carefree demeanor became timid as she read the file.
"What'd you find?" I inquired right before exiting the door. Sherry had left once again and was looking over the rest of the hall.
"Nothing," Vivy exhaled sharply. She took out a couple pieces of paper and folded them small enough to fit into her pocket.
I kept a careful eye on her as she passed me and walked down the hall to Sherry. I glanced back to the empty blue folder on the ground next to the books. There was positively something Vivy was hiding from me. Remaining where I was, at the doorframe, I observed Vivy enter a room with Sherry and exit with a rifle. Vivy had a balanced posture and was very alert to her surroundings. The thing that wasn't leaving my mind was the papers she had gathered from the folder. What were they all about? I jogged over to them and grabbed Vivy by the arm where we went back into the room where she just left.
"One moment Sherry," I said then turned my full attention to Vivy once inside the room.
"What is going on?" Vivy growled as I pulled her down a dark hall.
"Those papers, from the folder, what are they?" I asked persistently and blocked her from any possible exit.
Vivy stared me down with hard, anger filled, eyes that melted to a lifeless hole. There was a wall that wasn't going to be easy to break between us. I didn't know what her intentions were in our group other than to survive, but she didn't need us to do any of that. With what I've seen so far, she could battle her way through anything.
"Finders keepers," she grumbled aloud.
"What are you talking about?"
"Clearly, I was the one to find these, so I'm going to keep them."
Vivy tried to push herself past, but I grabbed her upper arms and pushed her against the nearest wall. This was a little surprising for the both of us.
"What the fuck?"
"What was in that folder?" I had raised my voice for intimidation.
Vivy slammed the bottom of her foot onto my thigh and brought her arms up through the space between us so that she could twist out of my hands. Then she knelt down and crawled out as I gathered my balance back. She was about to touch the door when I wrapped one arm around her neck and the other grasped her waist. I walked back down the hall with her firmly against my chest.
"Let me fucking go," Vivy struggled to say as she thrashed her feet against my legs.
"I'm going to find out what those papers say," I told her bluntly.
I put Vivy chest first on the ground where I sat on her thighs as mine hugged her hips. Both of her wrists fit into one hand while I searched her pockets with the other. The two coins were the first thing I grabbed and moved to my pocket. In her other pocket were the folded documents which I placed on the floor to unfold. Vivy kicked my lower back as hard as she could, but it didn't bug me.
"Get off of me, mother fucker," she yelled at me.
The documents were letters written to an unfamiliar person. They were typed and neatly formatted like an acceptance letter. The formal writing made me a bit confused about what the running topic was, but all the letters were signed by personnel who worked for Tricell.
"What is this shit?" I growled at her as I crumpled the paper into my fist. I flipped her onto her back and held her wrists above her head. "What is Tricell?"
"None of your business," she spat back into my face. Vivy tried her best to squirm free of me, but I wasn't going to let this go easily.
"Why were in the mountains?" I stared into her eyes as she darted them around. "Fucking answer me now!"
"Do you really think I'm going to answer you?" Vivy laughed in my face as a challenge. She continued to twist herself in hopes of getting free.
Vivy's body went lax under me, but her frustration didn't end. Her breathing was heavy from the constant movement and my weight. After a long inhale in, she hissed out a short breath. I hoped it was defeat.
"Jake?" Sherry had called out from the door. "Vivy? We need to move on now."
I took a deep, agitated, breath in and glared down at Vivy. I was going to find out what the Hell she was up to. I've never heard of Tricell, and this information seemed super important for Vivy to hide. These letters meant something, and I wanted Vivy to tell me even if I needed to force her. I wanted to break her.
Jumping up to my feet, I walked down the hallway and left Vivy on the ground. I stepped through the door while Vivy rushed at my heels. Sherry looked at us suspiciously when Vivy and I paused right outside of the door. I waved them off as I headed toward the next hall and took a sharp left. Two more masked men casually walked around the far corner and spotted me as I back tracked. They pulled their weapons quickly and shot holes into the corner I slipped behind.
"We have company," I told the two.
Vivy mounted the rifle to her shoulder, with the barrel pointed to the floor, and lined up ready to take a shot. When empty clicks echoed through the hall, Vivy stepped out and lifted the rifle for two quick shots that hit their target, right in between the eyes.
"Two down with one to go," Vivy said seriously to where I couldn't tell how sarcastic her statement was.
I slowly went back down the hall keeping my eye on Vivy as she walked about a foot ahead. Sherry went to the far side and glided her hand along the cabinets. Vivy hurried to one of the bodies to search for anything that seemed useful.
"You're holding onto them now," Vivy grumbled as she held up another one of the coins.
I snagged the coin and placed it with the rest of them. They jingled together as we walked to the railing that separated us from the large room with a gigantic golden smiling Buddha in the middle. At the opposite end, there were a couple masked men guarding a door. I glanced to Vivy, who was on the same page. She got down enough to where she could aim the rifle. A loud pop echoed through the room which made the others scatter around.
Sherry went to the right as I took the left off the balcony. There was a drop off that lead to the hard tiled floor below. Once I was stabilized, a Strelat popped out from the side of Buddha. It shook its body and prepared itself to shoot spikes everywhere. Another loud pop and the Strelat was stunned by the sudden off balance. I rushed in a threw a heavy punch, with my whole body force, into its core. It had offset the Sterlat a couple steps. I pushed in with the other arm and came back with some goo. Lastly, I had shoved my foot right through the creature with all the force I could muster. It had gone down with no more life left in it.
Vivy crawled out from her perch and joined Sherry at the opposite side of the room. They took down the last masked guy before they hurried to the big Buddha. Vivy slung the rifle onto her back then turned to the double zeros on the base Buddha sat upon.
"Isn't that great," Vivy laughed. "I think we know where those coins go."
"What does it say?" Sherry asked quite puzzled.
"Three medallions to the West," I read the etched words out loud. "And it says it takes ten medallions to gain passage to the East."
"Don't you have the three coins?" Vivy spat out as she pointed to the zeros.
I glanced at Vivy, then to the zeros and down to my pocket and retrieved the three coins we picked up. They fit perfectly into the slot right below the numbers. A rumble began from another statue in the room. It slowly pulled out from the wall and stopped to expose a hidden door. We all turned our heads to see the weird event.
"Who's going first?" Vivy sighed then took off towards the door.
"I'm going to stay out here to look for other possible coins," Sherry said as we all broke off.
I followed Vivy up the stairs to the new door. There was a long stretch hallway that turned to the right with double doors to the left. Vivy was paused at the doors with her eyes glued to me. There was a small stare down as I stalked up to her and pushed the nearest door open. I walked in and was met with two bullets in the side.
"Son of a bitch," I growled then hurried to the pool tables.
Vivy took one step in, rifle ready, and shot off two bullets with one hit. She calmly walked towards me as she reloaded for another shot. Up above, there was a random movement that dropped right on top of Vivy before she could get her shot. The legs scratched violently and backed off from the both of us. It jumped swiftly from one area to another like a small jumping spider.
"God damn that thing," Vivy yelled out to help her swing the rifle around to randomly shoot in the direction of the spider type thing. She had missed each time.
"You get the spider, and I'll get the fucktards," I said calmly and pointed to the quick creature.
"Are you afraid of spiders?" Vivy asked.
"No."
Vivy got up and headed over to the spider thing while I crawled, on my hands and feet, over to the bar for cover. As I kept below the top, I rushed to the other end and popped out behind the masked men. The first one was easy to take down with a choke hold where I also snapped his neck. I picked him up by his legs and tossed him over to his friends which surprised them enough to pause their attack. The next closest freak got a heel in the face which shattered the fragile mask. He had stumbled back against the other guy then recovered into three punches to the face and chest. I twisted around to have enough force when my elbow delivered the final blow to his nose. The bone cracked, and the skull caved in.
The last guy let out a throaty roar and aimed his gun at me. I followed his movements with my arm to where the barrel continued off to the side. My other elbow had come in with a firm blow to his chin. His head flew back as he toppled to the ground. I walked over to his head and stomped his skull in a couple time to make sure he was down for good.
When I turned to look at Vivy, she was pinned to the ground under the scratchy legs of the spider thing. She was trying her best to throw punches, but the spider's legs took turns pulling her arms and legs around. Her growls of frustration didn't help as much as she hoped they would. I ran to the back of the spider and smashed my foot into its back. The creature fumbled to the side and keeled over. Vivy had rolled in the opposite direction, onto her stomach, to regain her composure. I'd gone to the spider to finish it off with a blow to its body. It shriveled up just like the real dead spiders.
"I hope we don't run into any more of those things," Vivy sighed in relief. She got up and went over to the bar and grabbed some of the food that laid around.
I wandered along the pool tables in the direction of the piano. The body glowed with a radiant gold and sparkled under the spotlight where it sat for display. Vivy was right next to me staring at the keys.
"Do you know how to play?" Vivy had asked then took a bite of a crisp apple.
"Yeah. Sure."
I adjusted my arms and laid my fingers on the piano keys. I played a simple melody that echoed through the room like a theater. It only took a minute to play when a coin slid up from the body and plopped down onto the floor.
"Looky what we have here," Vivy said with a full mouth. She picked up the metal disk and passed it over to me for safekeeping.
We left the room without a word spoken between us. Across the way was another door that, most likely, lead to a fancy room. I jogged over to kick the panel in so that if there was anyone inside, they would be startled. The room was empty of anyone but had luxury loveseats with a fancy fireplace. Vivy and I explored the lounge for something useful. She rushed over to the fireplace and pulled another coin from a display. She flipped it over to me, with her thumb, and casually walked back to the door.
"You done?" She sighed as she paused at the door to glance back.
"I guess," I whispered to myself then headed over to her. This would be a good time to get some more information about Tricell.
We walked out and were met with six men that rushed around the corner. Vivy knelt down, took out the rifle, and aimed for the men. She could only get one shot out before the rifle went on a frits and jammed. All the men ran with an electric rod waving in the air.
"What a shit show," I laughed at the sudden circumstance.
As the men ambushed us, I attacked back with one punch. My body was piled on top of to keep me from any advancement. Vivy had gone back into the room with a couple men following her. I struggled against the mass of bodies when Vivy returned with a flying rifle. She swung it down onto the neck of a guy and repeated the chopping motion until I could move more. When my arm was free, I sent a hard punch right against the jaw of the next loser. This was a little bit of a surprise to him. Vivy brought the rifle butt down onto his neck. With the correct hit, it was a one shot kill.
I brought up my leg to wrap around the neck and twist, snapping the life out of him. With the second to last freak down, I rolled away from the last one. He held onto my shirt firmly, but Vivy swung the rifle like a golf club right into his jaw. I had finished rolling back to see that Vivy threw the rifle down the hall.
"That piece of shit hasn't been cleaned in years," she yelled out of anger.
I watched her sulk down the hall to go kick the rifle for the last time. She rounded the corner and disappeared from my sight. I got up and checked to see if all the coins were still in my pocket; they were there. Slowly walking down the hall, I returned to the big buddha and placed the two coins in the slot to equal seven. Where did the other coins come from? Sherry joined me with a few more coins to put in.
"You two are pretty loud," Sherry giggled while the metal clinked in the machine.
"What?" I backed up a step to let her fill up the Buddha.
"Yeah, I snuck around this place while you two lured the group towards you," Sherry laughed and let the last coin clank around. "I went back down that hallway we came from."
The Buddha's head rotated to face the door that lifted up on the right. I glanced around to see if Vivy was anywhere to be found since she stormed off. Sherry went ahead to the door while I walked much slower. Vivy stood by the stairs looking down at something.
"Vivy," I yelled over to her. Did she find any new information?
Vivy turned to face me while she stuffed something into her pocket. I stopped and crossed my arms as she glided her way over. She didn't even acknowledge me when she stepped beyond where I was. She was trying to hide more things. I grabbed her arm before she got too far and pulled her to me. Looking right into her eyes, I furrowed my brows and inhaled deeply.
"What did you find?" I demanded.
Vivy pulled a strawberry from her pocket and held it between our faces. I clenched my jaw from how stupid I felt that it was was a simple snack. She shoved it into my face and pulled her arms from my grasp. I wiped the sticky juice away the best I could. It was smeared along my chin, and I could taste the sweetness as it seeped through the crease of my lips.
"What the fuck?" I growled at her.
"Thought you might want it," Vivy mumbled as she licked her fingers.
"Jake! I need you," Sherry yelled from the distance.
I glared at Vivy then passed by her to head over to Sherry. The door needed two people to unlock it. I put my hand up against the glowing button and clicked it when Sherry did. The door slid open to a dark room with lockers, drawers and a computer system in it. Sherry jumped right through while Vivy stopped right before the door to eat another strawberry in front of me. I frowned and pressed my eyebrows together. Vivy walked through.
Sherry played with the computer while Vivy opened and closed a locker repeatedly. Vivy wasn't being useful at all in our situation.
"What is this?" I asked Sherry.
"Data from your experiments," Sherry replied as she continued to type on the computer.
Vivy paused and looked up to the screen a little intrigued. I scratched my nose and turned around to the drawers behind us. I flipped through a few of them and found a pile of random papers, with nothing important on them, and a cellphone.
"Hello."
"It's all right here," Sherry said as she scanned the screen.
"Why don't you call your boss?" I flipped the phone to face her then held it out. She instantly dialed a number.
I went back to the drawers and continued to flip through shit. Vivy had moved to another locker to play with. She tossed a few folders to the floor and then a stapler.
"It's me, Sherry Birkin."
There was a locker above me that I pulled open. It had nothing but a single piece of paper that had a Tricell logo on it. I lifted it closer so that I could read it.
"Yes, he's OK. We were detained in a facility in China."
Vivy's named popped up on the document twice. The information wasn't clear at all other than she was called for three years ago under Tricell.
"Really?"
I glanced back at Sherry when she flipped the phone to her other ear.
"Alright, I'll send you our exact coordinates."
Sherry finished the call, and I peered over to Vivy, who stared right at me. She had a piece of paper in her hands like she was trying to imitate me. I folded the paper behind the locker door and put it in my pocket. I closed the door and looked back at Vivy as she flung her paper to the floor.
"They're already here in China," Sherry said to me. "It's over. We're saved."
"Hallelujah." I stepped over to Sherry's side and looked over the computer screen. "So, you ready?"
Sherry typed for a second and then pulled a little card out of the machine. She slipped it into her pocket.
"Done. Now let's get the Hell out of here."