Chapter 23: Two's Company, A Hundred's A Crowd
Buckled in as tightly as she could have been Julia's heart leapt into her throat as she watched the speedometer on the muscle car ramp up past 90. Hurdling towards a rapidly growing black wall she would have been cursing non-stop if she dared breath. They were really going to slam into a wall in this contraption with enough momentum to turn them all into accordions.
"On my mark." the driver said and he steered them directly ahead. Wind was rushing in through his window and making it somewhat hard for Julia to see what was going on. The passenger reached up to the ceiling of the car where a metal windshield cover had been built. Unlatching it was one hand he waited as the pilgrim briefly considered wetting herself. The wall was coming up far, far too quickly and they had long since passed the point of backing out.
"Now!" the driver screamed and the passenger pulled the thick metal plating down. For a moment they were blind with nothing but rocking cabin and rushing air to confirm that they were even moving. She tried to brace herself for impact but she was dealing with forces outside her control.
The car hit the wall and she felt the structure of the vehicle almost give as metal met stone. The seat belts cut into her body as her brain and internal organs were yanked forward to the horrid cacophony of rending metal, glass and rock. Inertia thew her around like a rag doll and the car flipped for a violent, horrible second. Suddenly it was over and they mercifully came to a stop.
Julia groaned as she unbuckled herself and tried to make her head stop spinning. Her whole body felt like it had been tossed out of a window and by the time she freed herself the driver had happily sprung out of the car to inspect the damage. Crawling out of the moving death trap she'd agreed to get into for some reason the pilgrim spilled out on the wet pavement and didn't mind rubble she was on top of as long as it wasn't moving.
"Bro, it works!" the passenger said and Julia truly hated the man's enthusiasm at that moment.
"Dur." the driver commented. Looking back at the car from the ground she saw that it was dirty, scraped and banged up but still very much in one piece. She never wanted to get in a vehicle again.
"Well, one test down. Let's go run this baby into a Polaris." the driver said.
"Fucks. Yes." the passenger fist pumped.
"You alright?" he asked Julia.
"I'm...I'm fuh- hyulkh!" she managed to get out before throwing up all over the stones in front of her.
"Freelancers." the driver shook his head.
"Oh man, grodie."
Crouching down by her the driver said, "We gotta roll, miss. You're welcome to join us anytime. We could use a heavy hitter like you."
Spitting up bile Julia pushed herself up and wiped her foul tasting mouth clean with her wet hand. "Thanks...I think. I gotta keep going."
"Us too. The Lightening's coming." he nodded. "Bro, let's do it."
"Hells yeah. Later, lady."
"Who...who are you? I'll tell the man up top you helped me. He'll reward you." Julia said.
"The Thundering Herd faction." the driver said as he climbed into the cabin and slammed the door. "You run into any of our boys and girls, tell them Flannery said you're all right."
"Kay..." she said as she made it to mostly steady feet and backed away from the car. Roaring to life again the mean looking hot rod spun its tail around and tore through the massive hole it had ripped open in the wall. Julia watched the tail lights disappear as she looked around her at the remnants of the impact. They tore a crater into the wall and bits of rock were strewn at least fifty feet from the hole. She wondered how they'd survived in the first place but at least it was over.
Stumbling towards the tower ahead she moved as fast as she could with her trauma shaken head still a tad woozy. The buildings leading up to it had no doors or windows that the dazed pilgrim saw but the lamp lights became brighter to help her see. The cold rain beat down on her in a torrent now but glad to still be alive Julia didn't care.
Finally reaching the wide base of the tower she looked up at it having reached her destination. The spire went up like a monument of a forgotten age with both ancient and modern accents. The top was so distant that the glowing ball she'd seen from miles away was a still speck on the vertical horizon line flipped on the wrong axis. Forcing herself onward she came not to a front door but a gaping wound in the bottom of the tower. Something had blown a billboard-sized hole in the smooth, black rock everything seemed to be made out of. Clicking on her pocket light which was miraculously still functional the interloper headed into the darkened chamber.
For being so terrifically tall it was not particularly wide on the inside like she imagined it would be. Circular with a two hundred odd foot diameter the main area was dimly lit by glowing floor runes burning a soft blue. Concentric circles of them extended from the outer wall to the very center where they were tightly grouped and thus brightest. They illuminated a thin, column like shaft that went up into the darkness above that the blue glow could not penetrate.
Though the setting was unusual to say the least it still bore Nothing's calling cards. She recognized the swirling, gently curving markings that he used exclusively and which so greatly varied from Victor's rigid, perfectly straight ones. Cluttering every step to the center was evidence of a mighty conflict not unlike the one she'd made it through to get here. Bodies, gore, blades, rubble, wicked machinery and animal carcasses littered the floor in silent repose. The pilgrim felt like she was intruding on a hushed graveyard which, now that she thought about it, she kind of was. Picking her way past the dead and guided by her powerful beam she headed to the column at the center.
She'd gone less than fifty feet when she head a metallic ssssht! from across the room. With the distant battles being waged too far away to hear the inside of the tower was remarkably quiet and she was sure the sound was nearby. Julia's pistol appeared in her hand and she swung her light around to look for the source of the noise. There were no signs of life from the dead and with a sneaking suspicion something was wrong she picked up her pace.
Treading carefully to avoid stepping on any of the numerous corpses she made it another twenty feet before hearing another sound. Much closer this time it could have been a muffled gasp or a wheeze. Whirling around she pointed a shaking gun every direction in hopes of spotting whatever was following her. By chance she saw a man in a metal knight's suit with no helmet on and a large bullet wound in his forehead. The body was, disturbingly, a dead ringer for Victor. The only difference was its dirty blond hair as opposed to her man's dark brown. Lingering on the oddity her mind told her to move but she was transfixed by the similarity.
The corpse's eyes slowly creaked open to reveal milky, pupil-less orbs underneath. Terror hit Julia in the gut and the body turned to her to reach out with an upturned palm. "Julia..." it croaked with a whispering harshness, "join us..."
As if waiting for this cue the entire room began to move en masse. Headless horsemen started to get up as their decapitated steeds scrambled to get hooves underneath them. Broken machinery hummed to life and each fallen combatant began to rouse themselves. Julia's mind screamed at her to run somewhere, anywhere. Something nearby feebly attempted to grip her pant leg and this physical contact spurred her to act. Bolting for the center column her scared witless mind did not have time to consider that perhaps it was not a good idea to head deeper in the room.
Grasping hands, claws and tentacles reached out for her with increasing coordination as the dead army began to waken. The comforting blue light now caressed a thousand moving shadows as Julia desperately raced by them. A giant with a great, scraggly beard five feet long dressed in animal leathers rose in front of her with a small tree for a club. It took a lazy but heavy swipe at her and the terrified pilgrim had to divert her path into a couple jelly fish looking creatures with long stalks for legs which went above her head.
Barreling through them she almost lost her footing on a patch of slime. The creatures around her were halfway up and the pilgrim knew that if they all attacked in unison she would be overwhelmed instantly. Kicking a crow the size of a great dane in the face on her way by as it pecked at her she pointed her gun forward and shot a precious round at a Big Daddy reaching for a rivet gun. The bullet blew a couple of its fingers off and it moaned with inhuman bass as Julia vaulted over a mechanical centipede. Using the back of a bull fighter to launch herself over the last remaining bodies in her way she tumbled her way to the column and the hope of safety.
With the blue runes providing much light she made out a shadowy protuberance as she tottered forward. Training her light on it she saw that it was a button and mashed it with her fist as she ran into the column. A tiny lens popped out from above her head and werewolves howled behind as a thin blue laser sprayed lines of rippling light over her body.
It was only a few seconds but seconds the pilgrim did not have. Turning around she shot a Brotherhood paladin in full power armor just a few feet away in his eye and unloaded on a caveman drawing a bone bow on her. Behind her a door hissed open and she twisted away from the undead legion coming for her. Inside the column was just as empty as the tower save for a single lever built into the floor. Rushing to it Julia put a hand on the cold metal shaft before turning back to see the horrors just a few feet away about to enter the column with her. A hundred guttural growls, wails and mechanical dissonances sounded and with her pulse close to maxing out Julia yanked down on the lever that had only seconds to save her.
Her stomach flipped into her throat and she was plunged not up but down into a deep, dark chasm where the only things she could hear were her own screams.
Gagged and tied to a chair wasn't particularly the best way he wanted to spend his day. Not that the killer could tell what time of day it was in the small, windowless room he was locked in. Fortunately he was never short of company and there were always at least two of the mercenary guards nearby. The big one was playing with a large bat that the Canadian had a feeling he was going to be introduced to in the near future. The mercenaries wanted information from him. They were not going to get it.
Of course, in the end it didn't matter much if he said everything he knew or not. Neither he nor Victor, where ever the knight was, had a chance to get out of here alive. Chuck could only hope that he had bought Julia enough time to escape and that Dark Man knew of their plight. If their friends were not coming to their rescue, well, at least he had done his part. The mental patient had long envisioned his death of old age in the asylum; this, at least, would not last as long.
"What's your name, friendo?" the second, smaller man asked. "Feel free to nod when you want to write something down. We were instructed to keep you gagged, sorry about that." The mercenary pushed the small pad of paper on a corner table towards him. Chuck did not respond but continued to stare straight ahead, dead to the world.
"Listen pal, I'd hate to point out the obvious but you're kinda in the shit here. See, us guys have been pent up in this place for way too long. No R&R, no place to go, no hope to get out any time soon. You and your posse, you kinda messed things up for us. We don't like that. Then you killed a couple of our friends and I'll be god-damned if we're going to let that pass."
The big man lifted the bat and prodded the killer in the chest with it. "You best start talkin' boy. In a way."
"We just want to know how you got in, where you came from, who you're working for. The guys in robes want to know how your little ash trick works. Work with us here and we'll forget about what you did. Continue to be stubborn..."
"Imma shove this bat up your ass." the first one promised.
"Speaking of that." the second man smiled like a snake. "It's been a long time since any of us has seen a woman. I don't need to remind you that we're not a bunch of pansies here at the CU...but everyone's got needs, you catch my drift? We're hard men, son. Some of us have done time. It ain't even a thing to some of our regulars. How about you Dom, you fancy the POW here?"
"I ain't no faggot." the big man said.
"Me either. It's your lucky day, today. But some of us, when they see a helpless young boy like yourself all tied up and waiting...well I ain't gonna make you any promises."
Chuck continued to stare at nothing in particular. Pain was the price of his continued existence, physical, mental, spiritual. This would be just another in the long list of atonements he would have to make for taking an innocent life. They wanted to threaten him with all the horrors they could think up? Every day he went to sleep without his medication was worse than this.
"Nothing? Jeez kid, I almost feel sorry for you. Dom, do your thing."
The big man laid the back so hard across Chuck's chest that it knocked him and chair backward. The mercenaries laughed as the Canadian coughed and sputtered from the eye-popping pain under the gag. It was going to be a long day.
Waking up on his own and still strapped down Victor was at least done fighting the effects of the drugs they'd pumped into his system. Testing his bonds for the hundredth time he said aloud, "Nothing, Fater, where are you?" He knew the Order had done a number on their deceased ally but how long until he recovered? If it wasn't soon there might not be anyone left to rescue.
Hours passed and the knight rested until someone entered the room from the door nearby. Victor opened his eyes to squint but with his head locked in place he couldn't see much beyond the bright light in front of him. Someone walked over to his table and leaned over into his vision. It was someone the knight had never seen before but was in the traditional robes of the Order. This man was overweight with a near triple chin and dark, beady eyes.
"Alone at last." he said with the eager joy of an accountant. "I've been looking forward to meeting you for some time."
"Who are you?"
"Saffros. Your education specialist. I'll be your best friend from here on out." the fat man said.
"Somehow I doubt that..."
"Don't be so melodramatic my boy. This doesn't have to be unpleasant for you." he said and tapped Victor on the forehead before walking away from the table.
"What are you going to do?"
"Ever have a nightmare that you just can't wake up from?" the disembodied voice asked. "One so strong, so real that you could swear that when you woke up, reality was the true dream?"
There was a moving of metallic tools and commotion from nearby and Victor resigned himself to the torture he had assumed was coming. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, I'm glad you asked because this is somewhat important to you. Your conscious self won't respond to us no matter what we do, that much Master Stone has made clear. If you won't willingly rejoin our ranks...well...perhaps your subconscious will prove more...malleable."
"Impossible..." Victor breathed.
"Oh no, not for us." Saffros said almost happily. "You should have kept your word, traitor. Done what you were told. Now it's going to get ugly for you. The Order Master specifically requested that the first thing you do when properly educated is lick his shoes clean. It sounds dreadful, they get so muddy sometimes."
The bright overhead light dimmed and for once Victor did not have to squint see. Looking around for Saffros he said, "Whatever you're about to do...I'm going to give you the chance to not do it and let me go. The Fater's coming for you all. Get me out of here and I'll make sure he doesn't touch you."
Returning to lean over him with a metal contraption in his hands Saffros looked genuinely surprised. "I've heard a lot of threats and requests from people in your position but that one takes the cake. I sure do love cake..." he trailed off, lost in thought.
"Huh." he snapped himself out of his own reverie. "Your pal isn't coming any time soon. We let your friend call for him already and he's yet to show up. Don't worry though, he's been silenced and soon you won't be in a position to speak either." the chubby man said and pushed the framework onto Victor's face. Braced on his cheeks and skull the machine inserted painful metal scoops under his eye lids and lifted them out of the way. A light was placed in front of his unblinking retinas and they had nowhere to go when it blazed on. Pupils stabbed by the unrlenting beam it randomly flicked off around ten long seconds later. Eyes burning in the after image of the light Victor heard Saffros begin to speak in a dull, monotone pitch by his ear.
"Your eyes are heavy and your body is tired. You're sinking down, down, down as your pulse begins to slow. You're falling into the ocean and sinking to the bottom. Your eyes are heavy and your body is tired..."
The light flared on again as Saffros continued to chant the same lines over and over. The knight tried to keep track of how many repetitions went by but kept losing count when the light seared his eyes. After a while, with no telling how long it really was, Saffros spoke again but quite illogically did not stop his chanting. While the first Saffros voice still repeated the same lines simultaneously a second one whispered, "Soon, you will belong to me. Sleep now and forget forever. Fight us no more...and give yourself to your blood lust..."