Chapter 16- Desolated

Julie woke up, much like Drake, never remembering falling unconscious. She was in a moderately lit room, facing a stone wall. The wall was streaked with blood.

Where am I? She thought. I don't remember this place. And why is there blood on the wall?

Why else? Something died in here, stupid! Said that annoying little voice that usually pestered her.

Shut up, she told the voice. "Hey, guys, where are we?" There was no answer. Julie sat up and looked around. She was alone.

Julie nearly panicked. Without the others, she was probably as good as a sitting duck. If it hadn't been for Matt, she never would have made it out of the Shadow Realm alive. And without the others to protect her, she was going to have to be careful. Despite the fact that they were inhuman beasts, Julie hated killing the fiends. She had always been sensitive to the sanctity of life, and killing anything made her a little sick.

You're as good as dead, said the little voice. Julie called it her inner unconfidence. It never was too positive about her skill at anything.

No I'm not! She asserted. Prior to meeting the others, she had been a weak girl with no confidence. The voice had developed as a result of this. Whenever she tried to do something with any degree of difficulty, the voice was there to tell her no.

Whatever you like, the voice said. Just don't come back crying after you fail without your friends.

"I won't!" Julie said aloud. She stood up and turned around. Then she turned back around and almost threw up. One of the school's security guards had been impaled on a bed of spikes behind her, and was lying dead in a pool of blood. The spikes had disfigured his face, and his body was twitching. Julie turned again, saw the dead guard again, and turned back.

Ugh… Julie thought. That's so disturbing… how do the fiends do this?How do Drake and them put up with this? How does Matt enjoy this? Despite really liking him, she could never understand why he would enjoy the blood and gore of death.

I told you that you were worthless without your friends. The inner unconfidence said. Just give up and wait until the find you.

No! I gotta do my part and get to them! Julie thought. She closed her eyes, turned around, and walked past the dead man. She reached a wooden door, opened it up, and exited the room.

She had been dropped into the middle of the torture cells that they had seen last year. The occupants had changed, but the sight was the same. Blood everywhere, bodies lying twitching on the ground, organs scattered across the ground. Julie tried to ignore it, but was unable. Every scene of pain brought tears to her eyes, and every dead body caused her some pain of her own.

She finally collapsed near the end of the hall, stricken with grief. That's it, I can't do this… she thought. I guess I'll just have to wait here until they find me…or die here, alone…

And at that moment, she thought of the others. And something Matt had said last year came back… he had said it while they were relaxing one day, practicing duel tactics. She couldn't remember the situation, but he had told her, "One thing I've found… if you have no confidence in your abilities, no matter how great they actually are, you will amount to nothing. No matter what you do… without self-confidence, you will be no one."

Julie couldn't remember anything else from that, but for some reason that comment had stuck. Maybe it was because the inner unconfidence disagreed with it and held her back on that account. But it also rang true… at least to her.

Julie stood up, empowered by the thought of seeing her friends. Now, where could they be? She thought. Perhaps we'll be able to meet at the central room… I remember that it was down this hall… She took a step down the hall, but halted when she heard footsteps. Fiends! She ducked into one of the side rooms, pointedly ignoring the remains of a former human.

A column of fiends walked down the hallway and stopped. "Okay, he said that she would be here. Now, remember… we're not to harm her. Take her alive at all costs. You know why… check the side rooms." The fiends dispersed to check the torture chambers, four fiends to each room.

What were they talking about? Why would they need me? Oh, wait, they're coming! I have to do something… Julie ran into the corner of the room, readied her rifle, and waited.

The fiends must have been searching very methodically, because it was nearly fifteen minutes before the door of Julie's room opened. The fiends came inside in a square-like formation, each fiend facing a different direction. It didn't take long for the fiend to spot Julie.

"There she-" He began, but never got the last few words out because Julie shot him. The other fiends turned and began to shout for assistance, and Julie kept shooting. She knew that there was little chance for them to get close if they didn't want to harm her for some reason. The first squad went down without much trouble, and Julie reloaded quickly.

More fiends burst through the door. Some of them were holding what looked like stun guns. Julie took these down first. The fiends kept spilling in through the door, and Julie kept shouting, stuck with her back in the corner. One of the fiends got close and took a swipe at her. She pulled back as far as she could. The fiend's hand passed through her arm.

Julie was almost dumbstruck when she saw it, but then pain exploded in her elbow and she nearly lost herself. She gritted her teeth against the pain and kept shooting, taking down the fiend who had taken a swipe at her. There was no blood flowing from her arm, even though there should have been; there were no marks, even though they should have been a foot long. Julie kept blasting and the fiends kept coming.

Reloading was the worst. She had to somehow keep the fiends at bay, pop out the old clip, and insert a new one. She managed it twice, and fortunately that was all she needed. The fiends finally stopped coming.

I need to find the others, and fast. She thought. Without them, I'm vulnerable.

I told you! The inner unconfidence said.

Just shut up. Julie reloaded for safety and left her little room, stepping over the fiend bodies that now littered the ground. Let's see… this way. She turned down the hall and started to run. She didn't know why, but she had this feeling of urgency. She felt that if she didn't move fast enough, she wouldn't be able to find them.

She rounded the corner and into a large empty room filled almost to the roof with dead bodies, mutilated dead bodies, some just shells without organs, most of them missing limbs, all still bleeding, some twitching, all of them bearing faces contorted in pain. Men, women, even children. All destroyed.

Julie broke down. The wall that had been holding back the sadness shattered, and she fell to the ground, sobbing.

This is too much… this is just… horrible… how could they kill all of these people? She thought.

Her thoughts didn't continue much farther. Something snuck up behind her, wacked her hard over the head, and she fell facedown on the ground, unconcious.