CHAPTER 3

We ran over to some debris for cover, and Alice turned to face me. She had scratches covering her face and there was blood smeared all over her but yet she met my gaze with a wide smile. She opened her mouth to speak but she was cut off abruptly by a shower of bullets. I peered over the debris and saw five guards firing endless rounds at us. I pulled my pistol up and fired- damn I had no bullets left.

"I'm out," I called to Alice. I jumped behind the guards and snapped one of their necks with a quick twist of my hands. I bent down to grab his rifle just as one of the guards turned round and shot me in the leg. I cried out and he shot again and again in the same leg, the sounds of the gunshots mingling with my screams of pain.

Alice came running at the sound of my voice and, using a knife she had picked up from one of the dead guards, she quickly incapacitated the guard who had shot me. Alice punched another of the guards knocking him out, she then picked up his gun and shot him in the head.

My vision began to blur- the scene was swimming before my eyes. It was hard to focus on anything but the excruciating pain in my leg and the black fog which was beginning to settle over my brain. The adrenaline wore off and with the last of my energy gone - I passed out.

I woke later in a bed that was absurdly comfortable. It was pure white and the walls were decorated in bright colours. I tried to get up but the sudden pain brought back the memory of being shot repeatedly. With a grunt, I dragged myself out of bed and limped to the door. Where was I? I opened the door and limped forward. I had barely made my way out of the door before I tripped and fell. Cursing loudly to myself, I tripped and fell again, and realised it was a foot that I had tripped over, a metal foot. I looked up, noticing more parts of armour plus a long metal scythe. The suit of armour looked down on me, but didn't do anything, there was another one next to it. "Bloody hell, it's a cleaver" I muttered as my eyes widened. "What is this place?". I put my hand on the wall and got myself up, gripped the wall and limped to another doorway. I saw Alice chatting with some mages, and she looked over and smiled. She walked over to me and helped me to a chair, "morning sleepy head" she chuckled, then said "so how do you like our little sanctuary?".

I took a deep breath and answered "what the hell is this?".

"Like I said, it's the new sanctuary."

"What for?"

"Well Cilan, this is the part I needed to tell you. This is our last stand. We are coming, and were coming big. We are launching a full-on attack against America."

I was astonished at how calm she was sounding. "And the reason we were in America so long, is because that is where they were keeping Lord Vile, or should I say Skulduggery Pleasant."

"We need him to fight with us, and at the moment he's just staying low in America. We have scouts out there looking for him, but I don't think he wants to be found."

"Wow, and how long have you been keeping this from me?" my voice was cold but I didn't care.

Alice went blank, "I'm sorry, but not even people in the resistance know that they are in the resistance."

"What's with the people shooting everyone?"

"They have probably found out about what we are doing."

"Ok fine, can you please tell me where we are?"

Alice brightened again before answering "we are in a old underground sanctuary bunker."

It took a while to process all of this information, before responding "ok cool,"

"But I cant because of my leg" I stated.

She smiled and said "good thing we have a healer."

She helped me up, and took me to what looked like a medical room. It was big, and I saw lots of people that appeared to be unconscious or asleep on beds, as well as people bleeding. Some appeared dead. I noticed a woman wearing simple, but nice looking, clothes. She walked over to us and helped me on to a bed. She then pulled up my stained trouser leg and hovered her hands over my leg. The pain immediately lessened, but didn't go away. It looked like the skin healed well. I stood up and shook it off. "Thanks" I said to the woman, and I walked off with Alice.

I grabbed her hand, jumped above ground, then jumped to my house in order to grab a bag with enough stuff to last us for the mission. I got back to Alice and we went close enough to the wall so we could jump far enough away so no one would notice us. It took a half hour to get to the closest airport, and luckily the flight was over quickly. Once we landed, we made our way to the closest motel. We walked in the front door and were greeted by the manager. He wore a long suit and gloves, and a hat. He looked very well dressed for a motel manager.

"Hi, my name is Derek, and I'm the manager. If you have any queries then please come and find me."

Once we had paid for a room, he gave us a key for a single room. This is going to be fun, I thought. I smiled, and quickly got undressed and got into bed. Alice moaned and did the same.

"Reminds you of when we were younger doesn't it?"

I chuckled and closed my eyes. I woke the next morning to see Alice dressed and staring out of the window.

"Oh good, you're up. Looks like we can end this early then."

I heard a chuckle and looked round to the corner of the room. There stood the living skeleton!