A/N: Once again, we are almost at the end of Life vs. Death everyone; only three more chapters to go. I'm going to be sad when I end this story though relieved at the same time given how long I've been working on it. This is currently my longest story to date on .
"Come on Wendy. Let's get you on your feet," Clear said as Wendy's world returned to focus.
"So this is it?" Wendy asked taking in the bleak and hopeless view of Hell.
"Yep; my home away from home," Clear answered. "Looks like we've landed in the seventh circle," she revealed keeping a firm grip on the shot gun; a lot of good it would do them here. It barely has much ammo left in it.
"Where are the others?" Wendy asked realizing that their friends were all gone.
"You should be worrying more about yourself than them," a familiar voice told Wendy.
"That voice. It can't be," she said.
"Oh, but it is Wendy," Ian McKinley said. Wendy turned around and saw her old classmate still dressed in the same attire he wore from when he died months ago.
"We don't want a fight Ian," Wendy tried to reason.
"That makes one of us, Wendy. It's your fault I'm dead… that Erin's dead. If you had just done that right thing and killed yourself when I suggested it you could've saved us all a whole lot of trouble!" He shouted at her.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to save you Ian and I truly am sorry about Erin. But I'm so close to discovering how to beat Death once and for all and when I do you'll all be set free. You'll never have to spend another minute of your afterlife down here in Hell," Wendy said wishing he would just listen to her. Instead Ian laughed insanely.
"You honestly think you can beat Death without killing yourself? Newsflash Wendy! People have tried and look where they all ended up! It was obviously our time when the roller coaster was going to derail and crash. If you hadn't interfered we wouldn't have wound up here in the first place! This is all your fault!"
"You're right, Ian. You're right," Wendy calmly agreed with him. "I caused this mess and now I'm going to clean it all up."
"So why don't you just move your gothic ass out of our way?" Clear cursed at him.
"You really think that little thing is going to do you any good here?" Ian chuckled observing her shotgun, which she had pointed at him.
"Maybe not for the long run, but it'll certainly work on you."
"Why don't I introduce you to a few friends I've made in this place and we'll see just how useful that thing really is." Ian put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. At first there was nothing, but then suddenly two hands grabbed Wendy from behind and attempted to break her spine.
"Let her go!" Clear shouted at the soul attacking her.
She didn't give it the chance to comply and blasted it. Another soul attacked her from behind and knocked the weapon away. Wendy and Clear stood back to back as Ian's 'friends' started to surround them.
"We've gone from fighting Death to fighting souls in Hell. I know I should be frightened, but the whole thing feels weird," Wendy said as the souls started closing in on them.
"It's different from the usual formula to say the least, but we can worry about that later. Hold out your hands," Clear said.
"Like this?" Wendy asked outstretching her arms and putting one hand over the other.
"Perfect," Clear said backing up in front of Wendy. She then took a running start at her. Realizing what Clear was about to do, Wendy braced herself as Clear jumped at her hands; she used all her strength to propel Clear over her head and past the souls. Clear grabbed the shot gun behind the army and shot a way out for Wendy. Wendy ran through the gap in the souls, but one of them tripped her. The souls started to lash out at her; tearing into her living flesh. Wendy tried to fight back and then several of the souls vanished from sight allowing her to get out of the circle.
"You alright?" Clear asked with concern as she looked at some of the cuts on Wendy's face.
"I'll live. Thanks for the save."
"Anytime, but we only have a few shots left on this thing." The souls spotted Clear and Wendy and sprinted after them. "We can worry about that later though; run!" The two women dashed away from the charging souls.
"You ladies can run! But you can't hide! This is Death's domain!" He yelled at them as they continued to flee.
"I sure hope the others are doing better than we are," Wendy thought.
Kevin felt his head throbbing as he came to. "Guys," he called out, but received no answer. "Guys!" He called louder.
"Kevin?" He heard someone ask. That voice.
"Jason?" Kevin asked turning around. Tied up in some sort of web was his old friend. "It's is you!" Kevin shouted in happiness.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," Carrie said. Kevin looked to his left and saw her as well.
"Hold on. I'm going to try to get you guys down."
"Why aren't you stuck up here with us?" Carrie asked. "Aren't you dead?"
"No. It's a really long and very complicated story, which I don't have the time get into now," he said trying to pull Jason down.
"Is Wendy with you?" Jason asked.
"She was when we teleported ourselves here, but I haven't seen her since. We all got separated."
"Who else is with you?"
"Julie and a lot of people that you haven't met before."
"Kevin!" Nick's voiced echoed throughout the area.
"Nick. Man, am I glad to see you. Where's everyone else?" Kevin asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine. I woke up alone just a few minutes ago."
"I sure hope they're ok," Kevin said thinking of Wendy in particular.
"Lori. Janet. Julie. Get up," Kimberly said to the two girls. They staggered to their feet and gasped at the grisly sight before them. "Keep it together, girls. We've still got a mission to complete here," she said to them. Just as she did one of the many tortured souls appeared in front of them.
"Get behind me!" She ordered them both. They obeyed and ran behind Kimberly as she outstretched her hands to try and cover them. At least ten more souls faded into view and they all looked pissed off to see the living down in Hell.
Alex Browning was the last to regain consciousness, but unlike everyone else he was completely alone. "Is anyone out there! ?" He shouted.
"Is anyone out there! ? Is anyone out there! ?" His echo repeated.
"I'm here," someone said. Alex spun to his right and saw Death stepping into view. "I was hoping to start with Wendy, but you'll do," he said. Alex stared Death down and gave him his best 'bring it on' look.
"We're almost at the exit!" Clear informed Wendy as they started to elude their pursuers.
They halted their escape when they reached a tall rock formation. "After you," Clear said and Wendy started to climb. They moved faster than they ever thought possible as the souls climbed after them. They were almost out of the circle of Hell when Clear stepped on a bad rock and nearly fell, but Wendy grabbed her hand to keep her up. One of the souls managed to catch up and snatched Clear's foot.
"Hang on, Clear! I've got you!" Wendy shouted. Wendy tried to pull her up with all her strength, but the soul refused to let go. Clear looked back down at the rapidly climbing souls and then back up at Wendy. No words had to be exchanged between the two of them. Wendy could see Clear's decision in her eyes. "Clear; please don't do what I think you're going to do," she pleaded.
"I've lived a full life, kid. No point getting you trapped down here with this tarnished soul," she said.
"But I can't do this without you," Wendy said straining to keep her grip on Clear's hand.
"Yes you can. You have to reach the ninth circle of Hell. I'm sure that's where you find Bludworth," Clear told her. Wendy didn't want to let go; she had come to like Clear in the short time they were allies, but she knew in her mind that this had to be done.
"Give Ian Hell from me," Wendy requested.
"You've got it, Wendy," Clear said. She then gave Wendy a wide smile and let go of her hand. Wendy held back her tears as she watched her enemy turned friend fall back down into the horde of souls. Clear still had that grin on her face as she fell. The other souls spotted her falling and jumped down after her.
"This is from Wendy!" She heard Clear scream followed by a shot ringing out, which was followed by Ian's yells.
Wendy still had a shocked look on her face while she climbed out of the circle.
"I won't let your sacrifice be in vein," Wendy silently promised Clear. She pulled herself out of the seventh circle and ran across the terrain of Hell.
She couldn't explain how, but she felt like she somehow knew her way around the landscape. After a few minutes of running Wendy reached a red swirling vortex. She had no explanation for how, but she knew it was the circle of Hell she was looking for. Wendy took a deep breath and jumped into the ninth circle of Hell.
She expected the fall to take a while, but it was over in only a matter of seconds.
"Hello Wendy. I'm pleased and quite surprised that you made it this far," Bludworth said to her. Wendy looked up and was surprised to see that she had landed in front of him. Talk about lucky.
"Glad you're impressed. Now start talking," Wendy ordered.
"Hahahaha," Bludworth laughed in a deep, menacing manner.
"What's so funny?" Wendy asked; she was so not in the mood for games right now.
"What's funny is that out of all of you Alex was the only one to ever consider the fact that someone else may be sending the visions to you all; that you might not have spontaneously developed this power out of nowhere."
"So do you know who it is? Do you know who gave it to us?" She asked wishing he'd just cut to the chase.
"The one who gave the power of foresight to your friends is what we could consider to be Death's opposite."
"And who is that supposed to be?" Wendy asked getting impatient.
"Haven't you figured it out?" Bludworth laughed.
"Figured what out?"
"Your vision at age five. Being able to see the crash of flight 180, the route 23 pile up, and the McKinley Speedway disaster through everyone else's eyes; your telekinesis."
"What are you saying?" Wendy asked him unable to believe where he was going with this.
"You know what I'm saying. It's you Wendy. You're Death's Opposite."
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: Don't worry. There will be an explanation (or at least an attempt at one) next chapter. As for our survivors, Hell is going to break loose again in worse ways than before. Be here for the final three chapters of Life vs. Death coming soon. See ya!