HAUNTED SONA
CHAPTER 15
Slowly, the angel covered her head again. Her eyes seemed to cloud over with fresh tears.
"You're relieved that I'm not her," she said stiffly.
Michael shook his head. "Oh, Veronica, that's—that's not it, that's—"
"It's all right, Michael. You all have to hurry. And you, especially." Veronica looked at him with a face filled with terrible sadness. "You have to get out of here. You have to go to her."
His lower jaw dropped. He tried to speak, but the angel interrupted him.
"They got to her, Michael. Sara's in a very bad way. She's holding on by a thread—and only because of you. The love she has for you, Michael—that's a powerful love. So rare. But you don't have much time and neither does she." Veronica moved away from the passageway. He noticed then that her feet weren't even touching the ground. "Go to her. Hurry."
He tried to touch her, but she glided farther away from him. Michael looked from her face to the doorway. He checked the other guys behind him. Neither Bellick nor Mahone spoke, both regarding him expectantly.
There was so much he wanted to ask Veronica. Yet there was no denying it: She was distressed for them. For him, for Alex, for Bellick—but mostly, he understood intuitively, for him and Sara.
"Michael, would you do one more thing for me?"
He had let Mahone and Bellick step through the doorway first and was about to follow them when he heard Veronica's plaintive request.
"Anything, Veronica."
"Tell him I love him. Please tell him…I'll always love him."
He would have assured her, given Veronica his word he'd grant her wish. It didn't matter; the smile she gave him told him she took him at his word. Then it was as if she melted right into the darkness. Suddenly, he was startled by a hand on his forearm.
"We have to hurry, Mike," Alex told him.
"Yeah. Yeah, okay. We have to hurry," he repeated in a mutter.
Sara's in a very bad way. She's holding on by a thread and only because of you.
He forced himself to swallow a sob. Why couldn't they just leave Sara alone? Michael realized how simplistic that question sounded, but it fueled his anger and frustration all the same. Sara was an innocent who hadn't deserved any involvement.
They had already ruined his life and Linc's. Even if their plan was successful—which would take a miracle—and they both managed to secure their freedom finally, neither he nor his brother would ever be the same again. Too much blood had been shed; too many scars had been made upon too many lives.
And now he had to get to Sara before they both ran out of time.
The love she has for you, Michael—that's a powerful love. So rare.
Just like the love he had for her. He had to get to her; he would get out of there and get to her. Because if he never made it out of that place, if she died before he could reach her, he could never give his heart again to anyone else the way he'd given it to Sara. Physically, he would be free; his human spirit, however, would be imprisoned forever.
"Please hold on," he whispered.
Brad glanced back at him. "What was that?"
Michael looked away. He swiped at the tears that had strayed down his cheeks.
"Nothing. Keep going."
On another note…could Veronica have been mistaken? Had they maybe gone the wrong way?
As if reading his mind, Alex remarked up ahead, "I don't like this. Feels like we're walking aimlessly. Like we're going into an abyss."
An abyss. That sounded right on target. The passageway was one long, dark tunnel, though light was coming from somewhere. It was tight, too, almost claustrophobically so. They had to walk single file through the tunnel, sometimes tracking through ankle-deep puddles of water and mud and dodging rats as big as small cats. There was something else as well, something inexplicable. Michael would never have admitted it before—before now, when he'd come to accept that, yes, the supernatural did exist, that there were such things as ghosts and angels and entities that couldn't be comprehended by the natural mind.
He could feel eyes on them. Following them every step of the way. They were being watched.
"That's strange, huh?" Brad asked.
"What? You mean the heat?" Alex wanted to know.
"Yeah. It's cool down here. Now, all of a sudden, it's getting hot. I mean really hot."
"Oooohhhhhhhhh, Pret-tyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
Michael suppressed a groan. No. Not T-Bag, not now. How had he even found them? Even more puzzling, how had he gotten that far into Sona's underbelly, with that giant wave that had almost drowned the three of them?
He turned but didn't slow down his pace, seeing T-Bag several steps behind.
"I don't have time right now," he snapped.
"Scofield—Scofield, don't," Bellick was saying as he reached for Michael's arm. "Don't talk to him. And don't listen to him."
Anything else Bellick had said was drowned out by T-Bag's laughter. Michael would be the first to attest that the wiry little weasel had always given him the creeps. But there was something about that cackle, something both unearthly and sinister, that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
T-Bag clicked his tongue. "You boys should be ashamed of yourselves. Leavin' pooh ole me behind. I ask you: Is that any way to treat an old friend? Why, I might even call that cruel and unusual punishment."
"Don't show him fear, Michael," Bellick broke in. "Whatever you do, don't show that monster any fear."
"I'm not afraid of T-Bag."
"That's not just T-Bag, Scofield. He's—he's got something inside him. Something more dangerous than even he could ever be."
"Pretty, Pretty, Pretty! Veronica, that sow. She lied to you, boy. She's dead. Your precious Sara is deader than a doornail. They killed her." T-Bag giggled maniacally. Snarling, he jabbed a fist into his own chest. "They cut out the bitch's heart. They cut out her heart."
"That's a lie! SHUT UP!" Michael shouted.
The heat was growing more intense. Suffocating heat, like the heat from an intense fire, causing his eyes to water.
"Keep walking, keep walking!" Mahone urged.
"Oh, and as for yoooou, Mr. On-the-Wrong-Side-of-the-Law Man…" Snickering, T-Bag donned a fake innocent expression. What came out of his mouth next astonished and horrified them.
It was the voice of a small child.
"Daddyyyyy! Oh, Daddy, they're hurting me! Daddy, they said it's your fault they're doing this to me. They say you're a bad man—"
Michael looked from T-Bag to Alex. Mahone's eyes glinted with barely restrained rage.
"You…sick…bastard!" Mahone tried to push past Bellick and Michael to get to T-Bag. "That's my son! You talk like that again, I swear I'll tear your tongue out!"
"Stop, Mahone! Listen to me!" Bellick pleaded. "Don't do this, don't do this, man. This is what it wants."
"Ah, and the reformed, magical, mystical C.O.!" A puff of smoke escaped T-Bag's mouth, followed by an actual, quick burst of flames. "I saw what they did to you when you got here, Mr. Bellick. That must've hurt, huh? Rape isn't much fun. For the rapee, that is. It's as much fun as a barrel of monkeys if you happen to be the rapist. I'll just bet it was a little stroll down memory lane for you, too, wasn't it, big boy?"
Bellick turned away. Before he did, Michael clearly saw shame shadow his face. "C'mon, guys. Don't stop. Keep moving—"
"You were ten years old, weren't you, Brad? Ah, let me correct myself—you were only nine. You took that shortcut from school that day. Only that ended up being a very, very long way home…with that stranger who was waiting for you in the woods. What he did to you, Brad, that was so ugly. Bad, ugly things. My father did…similar things to me. Unspeakable things. No wonder we're damaged goods, you and I."
Michael felt a chill go through his entire being in spite of the growing heat that had all of them perspiring. Except for T-Bag. His surroundings didn't appear to be affecting him at all. Michael had to tear his gaze away, however difficult it was for him to do so. It was hard not to stare at T-Bag, who now barely resembled a human being, emitting the growl of a wild animal as he moved toward them.
Yet when Michael turned, he saw the impossible. Instead of being behind him, T-Bag was right in front of him now, so close that Michael had to come to an abrupt halt. T-Bag's breath, as foul as a decaying body, was stifling.
Michael's heart thundered inside him. T-Bag was silent, more terrifying than ever. His head was bowed and his breathing was coming loud and fast. No—he was panting just like a dog. A large dog, like a Rottweiler.
When he lifted his head, his eyes were entirely red. Glowing.
"She's dead!" T-Bag's voice had changed again, now older and deeper and completely evil. "Dr. Tancredi's dead. There is no hope, Michael Scofield."
"That's a lie!" Bellick cried out. "It's lying to you, Mike!"
"Leave him alone, Bagwell!" Mahone commanded, pushing past Bellick.
In a flash, T-Bag reached out and closed the fingers of his one remaining hand around Alex's throat. With that hand he lifted the man effortlessly off his feet and slammed him against the wall, so hard his teeth chattered, pinning him there. Those red eyes captured Mahone's, which were filled with fear now as he flailed helplessly, the color quickly draining from his face.
"Stop it!" Michael ordered. "Let him go! LET HIM GO!"
Alex shook his head and struggled for air, but T-Bag, the smaller of the two men, held him in that iron grip. T-Bag laughed again, shaking off both Michael and Bellick with supernatural strength.
"He's killing him!" Brad cried.
T-Bag was chattering on and on now, the words some strange foreign language. He kept his hand steady, applying even more pressure. Alex wrapped the fingers of both his hands around T-Bag's one, fighting desperately to free himself and making gurgling sounds in his throat. His eyes rolled back and in frustration he beat his fist against the wall behind him, hard enough that his knuckles began to bleed.
That was when they heard the rumble. A low but steady sound right before the earth beneath their feet started to shake. Slowly at first, then building in potency and volume, until the whole passageway came alive with violent movement, and rocks shook free from the walls. The earth cracked and opened beneath them…
Note to Readers: Sorry for my delay in updating! I'm shooting to get Chapter 16 up in a few days. Cheers! - Seabluemermaid