Chapter Twelve - Dead Silence

Co-written with Renegade Vic

Silence.

Ava's patience had run thin, and now she could hear nothing in the floor above them, only the faint smashes of a heavy body against something. Probably the man that had been formerly known as Xavier, but she couldn't be sure.

"I'm out," she said sharply to Obi. "I'm gonna go see if I can do anything."

"Are you fucking insane? Do you have a fucking death wish or something?" Laura demanded, her eyes wide with fear and disbelief.

Ava gritted her teeth.

"Fact of the matter is, I stand a better chance against that fucker than any of you do at this point, even with slashed wrists. I know how to fucking kill a guy."

"Yeah, we got that," Addison shot at her. "Go on. Leave. You're right, they need help and you're probably the best 'gal' for the job."

She couldn't tell if the hooker's tone was serious or condescending, but Ava nodded at her anyway.

"Get out of here. All of you. Do yourself a favour and wait in the foyer for the door to open. Should only take a little while and when it does, get out, find a payphone and call the cops."

Not bothering to wait for a response, she sprinted up the short staircase and pushed open the basement door, stepping out.

She could hear the faint sounds of someone yelling, masculine. If she'd wager a guess, she'd say Mike, but she couldn't be sure.

One thing she could be sure of was that she had no fucking idea where it was coming from, and there was no way she was going to yell out and give away her position. Xavier could still be wandering around here, pissed as hell and armed with the nail bat, which guaranteed a quick, albeit painful death.

Shit.

The pounding was getting less frequent, but more forceful, with each impact. Xavier might have been wearing down…or he might have been getting a running start. In any case, Mike wasn't going to be able to hold the door much longer.

After the next one…

BAM! Xavier threw himself against the door again- and as soon as the door had shut again, Mike made for the trapdoor, descending the steep staircase as quickly as his feet would carry him.

At the bottom of the staircase, barely illuminated by the light from the room above, was what looked like a maintenance tunnel. Where had they gone?

"Amanda? Daniel?" Mike called into the darkness, fear of the unknown that lay in the tunnel stopping him from leaving the patch of light at the bottom of the stairs.

"This way!" Amanda's voice rang out from within the darkness.

That was enough reassurance for him. With a hand along the slick stone wall to keep his bearings, Mike began to run headlong into the dark, the sound of his footsteps- and Xavier's enraged bellowing, far behind- setting a tempo that his heart outstripped with ease.

BAM!

Ava heard the heavy collision of body and wood from somewhere further away. Someone was trying to break down a door and from the faint sounds of splintering, it seemed as though they were quite successful.

God, was she too late?

Her legs felt paralyzed as she stumbled toward the origin of the noise, trying to school herself into the impenetrably, steely calm that she adopted as the Puppeteer, but it wouldn't come, no matter how hard she wished for it. She was going to have to accomplish this as Ava Sullivan and not as her deadly alter ego. It threw a spanner in the works, even if it WAS just a small one. In any case, it was enough to stuff up the gears a little.

"I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!" Xavier's voice, amplified by whatever unearthly force that had seized him. "I KNOW YOU'RE FUCKING THERE!"

Xavier's nostrils were flared as he took a few steps back and rammed into the heavy metal door.

Which promptly swung inward and fell off one of its hinges, hanging loosely by the remaining one. Doors couldn't stop him from succeeding. No fucking rocker bastard was going to stop him either. All Xavier wanted was the numbers…and then maybe he'd let them go free.

Or, better yet, he could strangle that long-haired fucker with his own intestinal tract. Yeah…

He decided that he liked the latter option better. Xavier lumbered into the room, his vision blurred to the point that making out the finer details had become impossible.

Fuckin'…

He stopped, staring at the large hole in the middle of the floor. Looked like some kind of trapdoor…

A grin spread across the drug lord's face as he stepped down into the dark abyss as the stairs disappeared.

"Gotcha now, motherfucker."

One moment, Mike was running, his lungs burning and the cracked rib he had incurred earlier screaming in protest; the next, he was sprawled face-first on the ground, a warm body pinned beneath him. If nothing else, he had found Amanda, even if the dark made it impossible to see.

"Fuck! Get off!" she cried out, pushing Mike off as she regained her footing.

"It's me," Mike reassured her. "Where's Daniel?"

"I'm here," the youth whispered. Apparently he was only a few feet away- Mike could almost make out a silhouette that looked like him.

"We've gotta stick together. Can't get lost down here…we're never comin' back up if we do," Mike warned, fumbling around in the dark until he found Amanda's wrist and taking hold of it. She hissed in pain, trying to pull away- he had forgotten. "Fuck…sorry," he mumbled, shifting his grip down to her hand.

"Daniel, come here," Amanda murmured, wrapping her free arm around his waist for support. "We have to keep moving…"

"Where the fuck are you?" Xavier's voice rang out, somewhere in the service tunnel. It was impossible to tell exactly where he was- which made him all the more dangerous.

"Go," Mike whispered, pulling Amanda along behind him with Daniel trailing not far behind. They had to keep moving, had to find a way out- or lose Xavier.

The odds weren't looking so good for that last one.

Ava didn't like the feel of the house. It seemed stupid, but it was though the moment Xavier walked into the room they'd all woken up in, the electricity in the air intensified by the power of ten.

She didn't like it, because she knew it meant that something was wrong. Or that something was about to go terribly wrong… Xavier, Mike, Amanda and Daniel had vanished and there was no way to actively find them before something else happened to them. Xavier was still armed and she wasn't sure whether or not Mike had the knife, or his shovel. And if he didn't, he'd led himself and the other two to their deaths. The Latino drug lord was coming for blood and would never, ever stop until he bled each of them out until there wasn't a single drop of blood left in their bodies.

At least some good had come of the rampage. Ava now knew exactly where the room was and if the psychotic dealer had gone in their, it meant that he was following the three, or at least one of them.

Following him would likely lead her to the rest.

The kid was still susceptible to the gas, and as far as she knew, so was Amanda, unless by some miraculous coincidence she'd managed to snag an antidote without having to suffer through one of Jigsaw's devices.

If not, she would be likely in the same state that Ava had been prior to her trap. Mike would need some form of back up and Amanda was definitely not going to be in any condition.

Now it had simply become a game of cat and mouse, a game she was quite familiar with. And there was only one way to win.

Don't be the mouse.

Down in the dark, with no ability to see the distance they had covered, time seemed an abstract notion of Mike, Amanda, and Daniel. It simply didn't matter how long they had been running from Xavier- all that mattered was that they keep doing so, no matter how many times they slipped, how badly their bodies protested.

It was better than dying at the hands of the inhuman berserker that was following them.

Then, suddenly, their progress was halted- by a door Mike had been unable to see. The three of them crashed full-tilt into it, knocking it open as they sprawled in a tangled heap on the floor.

"Wha…where are we?" Daniel asked, rising to his feet and groping blindly in the darkness for a wall. He didn't have long to search.

"Fuck if I know. He probably heard that, though…" Amanda whispered, pulling Mike to his feet as she stood, her grip on his arm as tight as a vice.

She was scared. This wasn't how the games were supposed to go- that much was obvious. Jigsaw had clearly not taken into account a violent lunatic like Xavier going on a murderous rampage…and it was more than Amanda seemed able to deal with.

Without warning, the fluorescent lights switched on, casting a harsh, blue-white glow on their surroundings.

What they had stumbled into had once been a bathroom- the sort the city would build for workers who were expected to stay in an area for extended periods of time. But it had been abandoned long ago.

And then rediscovered, if the pair of corpses were any indication. They had been here for quite a while, already decayed past the point of smelling like anything but the sickly-sweet odor of death.

Wait a minute. The body in the corner…his face…

It was Adam.

"Oh…oh, fuck…" Mike groaned, backing away in slow, halting steps from the body that had once been his friend.

His "easy job" had gotten him killed. And if the tunnel leading to the house was any indication, Jigsaw was responsible for it.

Xavier let out a roar as he heard, and smelt, his prey ahead of him. They'd run into something. A door? A dead end? An exit?

Despite how much he wanted to escape, he found himself hoping that they hadn't found an exit. The murderous rage inside him, barely contained now, was rearing to go. And if he didn't get to escape, it also meant that they didn't get to escape. And he got to kill them, which was the whole point of this little expedition anyway. He'd rip King's head off and then see what his number what, the rocker's head would be his prize. A souvenir of the time spent in this house under Jigsaw's watchful eye. It would serve as a reminder to Xavier…people only ever got in your way, prevented you from fulfilling your duties and had to be eliminated.

It was simple fact for someone like him, but he was certain that no one else would understand why. It was his law. He would live by it. Anyone who had a problem with it could join the black fucker upstairs and he'd be glad to help them there.

He stumbled over some loose brickwork, breathing heavily through his mouth.

They were here…they were here somewhere. He was gonna find them. There's only so far you can run when there's a locked door involved.

The moment Ava entered the room, she knew exactly what was going on and where she could find Mike, Amanda and Daniel…and Xavier, but she was hoping to avoid him. There was a trapdoor in the middle of the room but it had been concealed by the safe. Now, it yawning wide like a mouth in the centre of the tiny room, it was revealed. A way out? Or just another maze? She didn't know or care.

She wanted to get out of the house, but she also didn't want to leave anyone behind, least of all to that lumbering creature.

As the familiar coldness built in her stomach, Ava inhaled sharply. It was there. It was with her.

Already she could hear the soft, cooing voice echoing in her head.

Go. Go, now before they're all dead.

She had no choice but to obey, taking a step down the stairs and vanishing into the dark, her entire body flooded with purpose. If she found Xavier, or if Xavier found her, she would be ready.

"What the fuck…what is this place?" Mike asked, Daniel echoing his words half a syllable behind. Amanda was speechless, her eyes locked on the pair of bodies. It was impossible to tell what was going through her mind- but she looked terrified beyond words.

They should never have come down to this place. It was a death-trap…the more Mike stared at Adam's decaying body, the more revolted he became.

Is that…a chain, on his leg?

"We…we should go…get outta here…" Mike stammered, his stomach clenching like it had just after he had finished his test. Nausea was setting in. He turned toward the door-

-and found himself staring down Xavier once again.

"Do…not…move…" the drug dealer snarled, the expression on his face no longer even human. "I just want the number off the back of your necks." He took a step toward Mike, reaching out with the nail-bat toward the smaller man's chest. "You…you're gonna fuckin' die, though."

So this was it. They had come this far, fought this hard to survive…and Xavier was going to kill them all in this godforsaken bathroom and add to the body count that the room already held.

Somehow, it was funny. Outrageously funny. The sheer irony was overwhelming.

"You don't…know your own number!" Mike shouted, grinning for all the world like some possessed, twisted puppet. "How are you gonna get it without us? You think they'll help you if you kill me, you stupid fuck?"

Both Daniel and Amanda had backed into the corner by Adam's body. Mike wasn't sure, but it looked almost like Amanda had picked something up off of the floor…

Xavier shook his head, pulling the knife Mike had dropped earlier from the waistband of his pants.

"This…"

Ava could hear them. She could hear the low growl of Xavier and the sharp snap of Mike as he tried to deter the drug-dealer from his chosen goal…which seemed to be killing the street-racer.

She ran, blinded by darkness, but she didn't stop. She had to find them! She needed-

With a yelp, Ava tripped over a large, heavy…something…that lay in the corridor, sending her sprawling. She found out a few moments later that falling on slit wrists, even if they are bandaged, is an excruciatingly painful experience.

With a gasp of agony, she rolled onto her back, holding both arms to her chest. They were bleeding again, she could feel the hot blood seeping from the wounds and into the black material that bound them.

Dammit. The gas wasn't gonna kill her, the aftermath of Jigsaw's fucking trap would. FUCK!

Hauling herself to her feet, Ava glanced down at what she had tripped over, unclear in the dark…but then she froze, her upper lip curling in distaste.

She couldn't be sure, but it looked like a body. Though, it could have just been a dummy…she wasn't about to look closely at it.

No, wait. Definitely a body.

Of what she could see -and smell- the decomposition process was well into affect.

"God, fucking…guhhh…"

Ava stumbled past the corpse, her hands on the walls to guide her. Seems like they weren't the only ones to fall into Jigsaw's hands. Only difference between here and the maggot-meal back there was one simple thing. She had passed.

Xavier wasn't thinking. His mind had been consumed by red haze and the realization that King had, in fact, been right, only fueled this rage. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him, it had become less of a want and more of a need. He needed to kill him. But he also needed his number.

He held the knife over his shoulder, bracing himself for the Necessary Pain. To win, he would have to hurt himself. But only for a little while. Then he would have his number, kill the kid, the bitch and the street racer, collect the numbers from the others…and then he would have his antidote. And he would win, as he was always meant to.

Hesitating only for a moment, he stuck the knife blade into the flesh on the back of his neck with a cry of pain, sawing away at the skin with the knife on a side angle, as to avoid missing the number entirely. The number was important. The number was vital. He couldn't trust anyone to tell him what it was. This was the only way!

Xavier was…cutting the flesh off the back of his neck, just to get a number that would do him no good. Even if he did manage to kill them and take their numbers, he'd never find the others in time. And if he did find them, Obi would stop him. Would kill him.

It was still funny, in its own twisted way. At least, it would have been, had Mike not been staring down a man who was truly so insane as to carve his own skin away to pursue a lost cause.

"You're fuckin' sick, you know that? So you get us, you get your number. The fuck is it gonna help? You'll never find the others in time!"

Please, slip. Cut your spinal cord. Hit an artery. Do something stupid… Mike pleaded silently to whatever deities were listening. He knew better than to hope, really…but maybe, just maybe, he'd piss Xavier off so badly that his hand slipped.

No such luck. The drug dealer was so absorbed with the process of obtaining his number that he was deaf to the world around him. Could they run? Would it do them any good to start running again, to go back up to the house? If they got far enough ahead of him, could they push the safe on top of the trapdoor and leave him to die?

Daniel was in no state to move anymore. He had sunk to the floor, curled into a ball, and ceased to move.

Don't be dead, kid…c'mon, don't do this to me…

He should have given Daniel the antidote he had found. Should have held out a little longer, maybe he'd still have been all right…