Chapter 6

The Matriarch's Mistake

Plane, 2004

Keran sat waiting for what seemed to be forever or at least that's what it felt like to him. He glanced over to his partner, Naomi. She was curled up in the airplane seat, fast asleep. She looked so beautiful in her sleep he thought. They had been partners for a while now and they became quick best friends. But, to tell the truth Keran had a little bit of a crush.

They're mission was to track the mysterious super criminal Ada Wong, and hopefully imprison her. They were so close to her, he could feel her presence. They believed that she on this flight in first class. They needed to catch her after she got off the plane because, Ada could easily take any of the normal people flying hostage.

"Arriving in Hong Kong in 1 hour." Keran exhaled and relaxed in his seat. He couldn't wait for the plane to land. He closed his eyes slowly and tried to fall asleep. But, he was awakened by a loud crashing noise. He looked up to see a flash of red swipe to the back of the aircraft. Ada Wong stood smiling devilishly and Keran stood and said "Ada Wong you are under arrest for trading and producing bio-weapons." This earned a sadistic chuckle out of Ms Wong.

"I'm sorry Agent Chall but, I'm afraid you won't be able to bring me back to the states with no plane to take me there." Ada said almost on cue when the entire back of the airplane broke over leaving the plane unstable and about to crash. It was chaos, all the passengers had begun to panic and Ada grinned widely and looked at Keran "I'm sorry I can't stay for the show but, I have other arrangements." She said as she turned and dived out of the plane. Keran looked to his partner, who had just awakened at the commotion.

"We need to find the parachutes" Keran said to flight attendant.

"We stored them in the back of the plane." She told him. He turned to Naomi and she looked terrified.

"We are not going to die today." He reassured her. "I think we need to jump."

"What?" Naomi said.

"The plane is going down."

"If we jump we can die just as easily in the plane."Naomi reasoned.

"What other options do we have." Naomi looks at him and then the plane shakes violently, throwing some of the passengers out of the plane and to their doom.

"Don't worry. We'll make Ada pay." Keran said looking at the distraught look on her face.

"You still think jumping is a good idea." Naomi said.

"No but, I can't see an alternative."

"What if we die." Naomi says. He notices a object in the front of the plane. Its a parachute.

"There is a parachute back there." He says pointing to the object in the front of the plane. He and Naomi walk to the front and look at the singular parachute that was for the pilot. Keran notices that the pilot had a small bullet hole in his skull. He assumed Ada had killed him before she left. There was only one parachute.

"We'll have to share it." Keran said as he started down to the back of the plane.

"How do we share it." Keran put the backpack on his back and held his arms out in a way associated with a hug. She raised her eyebrow and said "We are going to hug our way out of this plane." He smiled. "You better not enjoy this." She says as she hugs him and they run off the plane.

As they are flying through the air, Keran pulls the string and they land in a tropical forest. They watch the plane fly above them and crash into a nearby mountain.

"Oh my god!" Naomi said as she watched the huge plane catch on fire and she heard horrible screams in the distances. They rushed down to the site of the crash and looked upon the display of airplane. The entire side of the mountain had giant skid marks tracing from the point of impact to the plane. The bottom of the plane scraped along mountain side and the back had been completely ripped off.

The group rushed to the the plane to survey the crash site for survivors. The front of the plane was on fire. Keran peered into the giant plane and saw a corpse lying in the aisle. He slowly approached the corpse and looked down it was the young flight attendant that Naomi and him had spoke to. A piece of the window from the plane pieced her skull. Keran stepped over the corpse and headed to the cockpit of the plane, covering his mouth and being careful to not step too close to the flames. He looked to the pilot of the ship and saw his body burnt and realized the radio could not possibly work.

At the moment he went to go search the outside of the plane Naomi ran into the plane and yelled at him "Come out here now, I have a survivors." She quickly rushed out of the plane with Keran following. She stopped at the feet of a young girl, about 8 years old. The girls body was drenched in blood and a large piece of the plane was almost cutting her stomach apart. She wasn't conscious. Naomi knelt beside her and said to Keran.

"Find something to help her." Keran looked at her sadly, knowing that they could not save the child. Naomi teared then, looked at him. "Now."

The girl died in Naomi's arms and the pair has never quite been the same.

The Museum Entrance

The boy shook frightfully as he looked down to the gun in his hands. He stared at the young woman he had saved. She looked more frightened by him than by the monster. They're stared at each other in complete silence until a loud groan is heard from the other side of the room. Sheva turned to see Chris lying on the floor holding his chest. She rushed to him and knelt down.

"Chris, how bad is it?" Sheva asked.

"Not bad, I just need to stand up." Chris said as he tried to push himself off the floor but, he ended falling back down with a grunt.

"Chris let me see it." Chris eyebrow perked up then, nodded his head slightly. She carefully removed his shirt. The entire left side of his ribcage was covered in giant purple bruises. "Not bad, my ass." Sheva muttered, she then spoke to Chris loudly." I need to check if any are broken." She pressed her finger along his ribs to see if she could feel any big dents. She found none.

"Enjoying the view." Chris said as she finished checking his ribs. She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Good news is nothing's broken but, you won't be able to walk around until I get you fixed up." Sheva told Chris as he sat up against the wall. She turned her head to the purple haired woman standing a few feet behind her. "I need to ice it, can you find something like a frozen bag of vegetables?" Sheva asked as Naomi nodded her head.

"What do we do about the boy?" Naomi asks.

"Sheva looks to Chris then, stands and speaks to Naomi.

"I'll go get the things I need, stay here with the boy and Chris." Naomi eyes went wide, she feared protecting others. It always seems like she never was great at keeping people alive on her own.

"I can go get them."

"No, I know were to find them."

"Okay but, be quick." Sheva rushed to find the items she needed to fix Chris.

The Modern Art Exhibit

Sheva stepped through exhibit, holding her gun. The room had white walls, lined with dark wood cases holding sculptures. And in the center of the room there was a marble statue of a young woman with outstretched arms and she had holes the size of tennis balls in the palms of her hands and statue's hands sort-of dripped down to the base. Her lips are curled down in a sorrowful frown and her eyes stared sadly down at her hands.

Sheva passed the statue looking across the room to a door where a small blue sign hung. Sheva approached the door and read the write writing on the sign. It roughly translated to 'employes only'. She pushed on the door but, it wouldn't budge. She rammed into door but, she was not strong enough to break the lock. She sighs and mumbled to herself. "I need to find a key." She glanced around the room and noticed a behind a cabinet, she could clearly see a doorway. She walked to the cabinet and pulled on the edge of it. It revealed a brown door. She easily opens the door and enters.

Inside the room, the walls and floors were not polished like the rest of the museum. They were old, ratty and specked with mold. They're was only one object in the room, other than the cobwebs. It was an old dusty desk. She slowly approached the desk and swept her hand across the surface. Revealing a carving of a child holding a baby. But, the child is crying. Underneath the picture words are craved into the desk.

'A pair of eyes hold on the matriarch,

One stares through walls but, not in the light,

The other around corners but, never in the night,

While she is pinned at the doorway,

To where the great wick awaits,

For which her children fates,

Are decided by the break of day,'

Sheva reads and realizes that the poem is describing a scene in which a mother is being watched then, killed and sent to hell. And her children are left in the world without a mother. She gazes to the drawers of the desk and pulls it open, seeing a small sheet of paper, she grabs and reads it.

'I know I'm going to hell. I deserve it. I gave them my children and my life. I feel like they are watching, the voice will not stop telling me to find them. But, that voice has caused too much misery already. I want a chance at purgatory, so I will lock myself in the employees office and wait. I'll hide, so they can't control me like they did to my sons. I will not ruin any more lives.

Goodbye Oumar, Goodbye Modibo. I'm sorry

-Fatim'

"Hello." Sheva turned around quickly and pointed her gun at the person now standing in the doorway.

"Who are you?" She yells at him. He steps into the light and he is an old man, his face showed a long scar underneath his right eyebrow. His hair was short and grey, and seemed to match his bright green eyes.

"I am Drake Gillette, please lower your gun, miss." The gun stayed in the air as Sheva contemplated putting it down when he spoke once again. "You have an bandana tied to your arm. Are you a the contact?"

"Are you a member of the team?" Sheva asked and he nodded. "Prove it, Gillette." Gillette pulled a badge out of his pocket and slowly approached Sheva and laid it down near her feet. She picked it up and studied it. It was a badge of the American BSAA, and as far as she could tell it was genuine. She remembered when Chris had shown her, his badge and that he told her that each one had sort-of a metallic strip at bottom for telling if it was real. He compared it to money.

She lowered her gun and spoke to him. "I need help, a woman named Fatim boarded herself in the employees office and that is were the museum keeps they're meds and ice. I think its a puzzle, there is a poem on this desk". Sheva turned to the desk after signalling Gillette to come over. He studied it for awhile then looked at Sheva.

"The first line says that 2 eyes are looking at a matriarch. So, we need to find a matriarch." He told her as they turned from the desk and begun to search the exhibit for a matriarch. Sheva looked to the statue she had noticed before then read the statue's name and it was The Mother of the followers.

"I think, I found the matriarch." Sheva declared as Gillette approached the statue. "So, what's next."

"The eyes." Sheva searched the cases around the room and found a brick box and she pulled it out of the case. She shook it and heard a clanking sound. She tore one of the walls of the box off and looked inside. A yellowish eyeball looked at her, she picked it up disgusted, then stared at the other side of the room where Gillette held an eyeball as well.

"I think we should put them in her hands." Sheva said as she walked to the statue and placed the eyeball in the one of the holes, Gillette did so too. Sheva rushed back into the room to retrieve something she saw before. She came back holding a flashlight. "Turn off the lights." She ordered and Gillette went to the back of the room and flipped the switch. She put the flashlight on the floor. "Help me push this in front of of door." Sheva points to the door that lead to desk. They push the statue to were it is standing directly in front of the door.

She picks her flashlight back on a shines it in the yellow eye. Cracks in the perfect marble glow orange then connect to the floor and then it shines into the center of the room. The tile that had been directly underneath the statue's edges shimmered bright amber. And with a small shuffle the tile pulled its self open and slides off to the side revealing a square sized hole in the cement. Inside the hole there was a antique box. Sheva picked the box up and gently opened it and saw a key. Sheva took the key and rushed to the locked door. She unlocked it and entered the medium sized room, with Gillette following behind.

She gazed across the room and spotted the staff refrigerator and then quickly rummaged through it looking for ice. But, her search was stopped by a chilling scream off in the distance, she started to walk out of the room to help but, she stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the slow walking and grunting stumbling towards her. She turned around around and looked at the strange creature.

It was terrifying, the only thing that brought Sheva's attention was the sudden sound of someone shutting the door behind her and Gillette. And the cruel sound of someone moving the statue to be holding the door closed.

Sheva looked at the old man wondering what to do. "I hope you have ammunition. Gillette." Sheva whispered to him. He grinned widely then pulled a magnum out of his backpack.

"Don't worry about."