Chapter IV

We ran for several minutes, our footfalls echoing off the dark walls that surrounded us. Torches lit every ten feet or so of space in the halls – the rest was nearly pitch-black.

I drew in deep breaths as we ran, my heart pounded in my chest – my adrenaline was still flowing. Our moment of courage was over. We weren't going to go storming back into Loki's throne room anytime soon. We just wanted out.

Finally, we came to a side passage off the main corridor, almost hidden from view. The other group entered, followed by us. Unfortunately, this side passage seemed to be a dead end. But the plan didn't seem to involve us moving away more just yet. I heard more footsteps, heavy ones, that of a sizeable group, pounding down the hallway after us. The leader of the other group, the one with the sword, made a signal to Eli for us to stay quiet, whom then nodded and passed on the order. I didn't need to be told twice. I hoped – prayed – that they wouldn't spot us in our hiding place.

That's when I noticed that one of us was missing. Not us, as in my friends, but one of the members of the other group. The girl. I looked out towards the main hall and saw her silhouetted form in the torchlight, just standing there. I panicked, but before anything could be done by anyone, the Vikings arrived.

I drew my pistol again, and looked to my companions. They were ready to run, or fight – whatever they needed to do to stay alive. Then, to my surprise, she actually began to yell to the Vikings!

"They've gone to murder Loki!" she screamed. "Stop them! Stop them! They've gone to murder Great Loki!" She even pointed in the direction we'd come from.

What the hell was she thinking? I thought about how quickly we could react, maybe get her out of harm's way. And yet it worked. The Norsemen actually turned, began yelling war cries, and went storming down the hall. All except for one – he seemed a bit more intelligent. He stood there, squinting, trying to get a good look at our distraction, unsure whether or not to follow his comrades. Expecting this one to be trouble, I clicked the safety off of my pistol and raised the weapon, lining up the sights and controlling my breathing. The shot wouldn't be necessary.

"What will happen if they reach Loki? His anger will be terrible! Do you want to be the last to defend him?"

That did it. He was out of there quicker than his buddies, yelling the entire way.

I let out a sigh of relief, put the safety back on, lowered my weapon, and jammed it into my holster. The girl had to have some kind of acting experience – I wouldn't have been able to pull that off in her position. She came walking back towards us.

To my side, I realized Eli had been aiming his weapon at the Viking as well. Everyone visibly relaxed and crowded around. It was time to talk.

"OK… what now?" the blonde guy asked.

The actress took initiative. She introduced herself and the others – her name was April, the leader of the other group was David, the skinny dark-skinned one was Jalil, and the surfer dude was Christopher. We returned with our names – even exchanged handshakes. That seemed a bit absurd to me – handshakes were just too casual for the present situation. Yet they were exchanged.

"So, how the hell did you guys get here? And where is here?" David asked.

"That wolf – Fenrir – popped up in my backyard with a portal. And uh--…" Brett started to explain.

David didn't need to hear the rest. He nodded and spoke, "Yeah, same wolf appeared at the lake and took Se--… one of our friends, and we followed 'em in."

Kelsey asked, "Who?"

"Huh?"

"Who did the wolf take?"

David seemed hesitant. "Senna. My girlfriend. April's sister."

"Half-sister," April interjected.

"Which leaves us with the question, where are we exactly?" Jalil asked.

"Loki called it 'Everworld'," April replied.

"Anyone else happen to notice the fact that these supposedly Norse guys are speaking English?"

Christopher butted in, "Jalil, did you happen to notice those scary-ass trolls or the huge wolf? Seems like we've got weirder things to worry about here."

I began to open my mouth about the fact that Loki had mentioned Senna, and indeed said she was a witch, but decided against it. It wasn't important at the moment.

"Well, now that social hour is over, we should probably evac. Like, right now," Eli asserted his leadership.

David gave him a glare, but then said, "You're right. Let's move."

With that, we moved out of the side passage and back into the main hall, heading in the opposite direction that the gullible Vikings had gone. We wanted to move quickly, but at the same time we tried to practice noise discipline. It wasn't enough – a group of Vikings spotted, or heard us, evident by the yells behind our group and gave chase. We began running again. We took a left around a corner and I slammed right into the back of Brett. Why weren't we moving?

That's when I looked around Brett to see a large, rectangular hole in the stone wall. Jalil, who was at the head of our group, must've had too much momentum and fallen through, and now he was hanging onto the wall. As I was taking this in, a booming voice called out, "FATHER! I HAVE FOUND THEM! THEY ARE HERE!"

That's when I took a closer look through the hole, and almost gasped at what I saw. A head. That's all it was. The head of a serpent. That's what filled the huge pit on the other side of the hole. Except for the fact that this head was huge. No – it was colossal. Its green, scaly head was at least as large as ten buses. And it had spoken... it was another of Loki's sons. It began to lift its head. It was going to eat Jalil!

I couldn't help. David, Christopher, and April were already hauling their friend out just as the snake's head slammed into the spot where he'd been. I turned my attention to the rapidly approaching Vikings who had been pursuing us, drawing my Makarov and clicking off the safety. The first that appeared from around the corner barely had a chance to let out a war cry before two of Eli's bullets struck him in the neck and upper torso – he went down hard. I expected for the next one to receive the same treatment, but those two magic words halted that possibility: "I'm jammed!"

I was up. Either I take the shot or one of my companions takes him on in hand-to-hand. I wasn't going to chance that. An untrained teenager versus an experienced, large, angry man who's probably been swinging an axe since he was four? Not a chance.

"I got it!" I called out, and gave the Viking a double-tap to the chest. The pistol bucked in my hands. He stumbled back against the wall behind him, with his own blood splattered on it, and put his hand to the two small holes in his chest, examining them. He had no idea what had just hit him. He reacted to this in anger. With a yell, he came charging again, despite his wounds, directly at me. I'd been the source of his pain, after all. I aimed my next shot carefully, even though my hands were shaking with adrenaline. Time seemed to slow down. For all I know, it really did in this odd place. I lined up the sights with ease and pulled the trigger. A hole appeared in the Viking's forehead and he went limp immediately, falling at my feet. I had just killed a man – but it didn't sink in. Not yet.

David was now at the front – he swung his sword at one of the aggressors, who easily parried with a laugh. Jalil helped out, brandishing a pocketknife, moving in from the side, and stabbing the Norseman in the hand, giving David the opportunity he needed to slash his opponent across the gut. That was the last one, as far as we knew, so we made an unspoken decision to move away from the giant snake in the pit behind us. We turned another corner… and ran right into two more Vikings.

Brett never stopped moving and caught one by surprise, executing something akin to a football tackle on him, followed by several vicious uppercuts. Kelsey began swinging her sword wildly at the next; keeping him at bay and driving him back. Then, Libby slipped in unnoticed by the defending Viking sent a punch flying right into the one spot no man, Viking or not, doesn't want to get hit. Consequently, the man was stunned, so Jayson moved in, elbowing him in the face to keep him from recovering.

"Move!" Kelsey yelled, and Jayson obliged, diving out of the way as she brought her blade in a horizontal motion, slicing the enemy across the throat. The entire encounter had occurred in seconds. And none of us gave it a second thought as we once again started to run, the sound of two Norsemen behind us.

We hit another dead end. And this time no acting tricks were going to save us. That's when April noticed a small shaft in the wall – a hole just large enough to crawl into. David quickly ordered us into the shaft. Jayson helped Libby in, and then crawled in himself. April, Jalil, and Christopher were next – I offered a helping hand. Brett wanted to stay and help out, but I convinced him to get moving. It was Kelsey's turn – I lifted her up and pushed her into the shaft, and then joined Eli and David, who had elected to cover the corridor while the others climbed in. The Vikings caught up, spotted us, and began approaching, so we yelled for the others to hurry. Eli and I assumed firing positions, and David readied his sword.

"Hey – you've got a sword, we've got guns. You're up."

"No, I got this – one of you go." Neither of us moved. "NOW! We don't have time for this!"

I glanced at Eli, nervous to take my eyes off the approaching Vikings.

"Delta, get your ass in there!"

"No, Jon – just go!"

"Damnit you two--!" David was cut off as one of the Vikings rushed us. Eli and I reacted, firing wildly at him and striking him several times. He fell in a bloody heap on the floor. I pulled out my stun gun and pushed the trigger, projecting the typical loud popping noise and blue sparks – the other was deterred by this display. I then went to climb into the hole, where Kelsey was waiting, yelling for me to hurry the hell up. I didn't need to be told twice. I holstered my weapons and climbed in – this time she offered a hand, and I took it, crawling inside.

"Thanks. Let's get moving."

She nodded slightly, and we started crawling, and I heard Eli and David crawl in behind us, as well as the sound of steel on steel. I couldn't turn around to see what was going on – I'm not the skinniest or most flexible person, and my gear didn't help matters any. Not to mention that I'm a tad claustrophobic. That's when I heard Libby's voice up ahead: "There's a gap! Just a big gap and a long fall!"

Great. Now we were trapped.

David yelled from behind me, "Just go! This guy's gonna kill me!"

As if on cue, another sound of steel weapons clanging together rang out and a sinister laugh of a Norseman. I drew my Makarov and tried to aim backwards, get a bead on the Viking. Not a chance. I couldn't even see past Eli, much less David behind him, to shoot the attacker.

Eli called up the line, "Just fall! It's our only choice!"

I was pushed from behind, and in turn I rammed into Kelsey in front of me, who pushed the person in front of her – like a chain reaction of Dominoes. We all slid forward, and I soon found the gap that they were talking about. I resisted the urge to scream as I fell out from the shaft and down… down… down…