Hey Guys and welcome to a very special Sunday night upload.
The reason for this upload is that once again I have underestimated the length of the chapter and so therefore there are (including this one) now 3 chapters left until the finale. Keeping in line with my promise to reveal who the leader of Team Evil is on Monday 29th February this chapter leads you all the way up until that very moment. I kid you not. Chapter Thirty-Four actually opens with the reveal in the very first paragraph!
Thank you to everyone for your comments and reviews for the last two chapters. I read them out at the chat. Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for the chat I had so much fun answering them. It was amazing.
And so here we are! Jay has gone – driven away with B after those nastily awful comments and we pick things up right from that moment. Enjoy.
A/N: Profanity used.
Chapter Thirty-Four – Welcome to the Throne Room.
"You bastard come back! Come back!" Andy screamed at the top of his lungs.
Micah and Carmita were doing everything they could to pry him away from the gate, but his fingers were almost locked into the fence in desperation.
"How dare you B! You ASSHOLE! You FUCKING ASSHOLE!" he continued to scream now fiercely shaking the gate.
Finally he felt the weight of Carmita and Micah pulling him back and with no more energy he removed his fingers from the gate.
"Fucking asshole," his voice strained as though on the verge of tears.
And then suddenly, he just lost it. He gripped onto his papa and cried and cried and cried.
Carmita and Rein felt absolutely helpless. Carmita was so sad for her friend and Rein felt sick to the pit of her stomach. If B could even consider doing something that horrific how far had they gone with her own mother? Let alone Ben and Mel and then a worrying thought hit her as she recalled hearing about Rick's fate.
If everything seemed hopeless before, it was nothing compared to what they were facing now. Ben, Mel and Lauren captured. B doing god only knew what to Jay and now the remaining four were trapped, except for…
"Debbie?" Rein questioned softly but loud enough for the rest to hear.
Carmita rolled her eyes, Debbie, despite their situation was the last person she wanted to think about. The longer she spent apart from that woman the saner she had felt. And considering how out of it she felt now with these new developments bringing Debbie into the mix? The tormentors might as well just capture her now.
"What?" Andy asked, his now splotched face peeking out from his Papa's tear-soaked chest.
"Just…" Rein started. "Why is she not here? Jenny too. You'd think they would have come running by now wouldn't you?"
"Maybe they didn't hear anything?" Micah suggested.
"Please," Carmita responded. "Between the yelling and this one screaming like a banshee, no offence Andy."
Andy actually chuckled slightly at the thought.
"You know," he said wiping his sleeve on his face and smiling. "They say you turn into a banshee when you suffer great loss or pain."
"Oooh," Carmita replied continuing the light-hearted discussion. "Step back everyone, this one's about to grow long grey hair and scream us all to death."
Everyone laughed nervously.
"I'm glad all of you are in such great spirits," came a male voice from behind them.
The four turned around to see three hooded people wearing long black cloaks and masks, presumably to protect their identity.
"Oh…" said Carmita.
"My…" said Micah.
"God…" Andy finished.
"It's…it's you isn't it?" Rein asked. "The people that have been doing this to us all along?"
One of the 3, presumably the one that had spoken earlier stepped forward.
"Quite the perceptive little girl isn't she guys?" he asked.
The others nodded in agreement but said nothing else.
"Who are you?!" Carmita screamed.
"And what is B doing with Jay?!" Andy demanded.
"And where's my mom? And Ben and Mel?!" Rein jumped in.
The 3 men said nothing, though a slight sound of snickering could be heard. One of the men slowly and dramatically pulled out a gun.
"Oh my god, he's going to kill us!" Rein screamed out without thinking.
"No they're not," Micah replied. "They'll have to take me first."
"No me," Carmita replied stepping in front of him.
"No m-" Andy started but was interrupted.
"Enough!" The man who had stepped forward said. "No one is going to die tonight if all of you do exactly as you're told."
He pointed to the far right indicating they walk ahead of them. Feeling as though they had no other option, the four took each other's hands and walked slowly towards the right as though lambs being lead to the slaughter.
"I love you guys," Andy said. "No matter what thank you for helping me. I'm so sorry about all this."
"I love you too Andy," Rein said.
"Love you son," Micah added.
"Yeah, love you," Carmita replied quickly.
"*"
On they trudged for another 10 minutes, though to the 4 it seemed more like hours when finally the man behind them instructed them to stop.
Andy fearing that he was lying about killing them turned to Rein and mouthed 'I love you' and she reciprocated.
But the man was not planning on killing them. Instead he sent the two other people forward and they walked right up to the section of wall that now lay in front of the foursome. Together they rubbed on the wall and Micah, Andy, Rein and Carmita gasped in shock as they noticed chunks of snow coming off the wall to reveal a brown oak door.
"How did we not know about that?" Andy whispered harshly to Rein out of the corner of his mouth.
"We just assumed the walls were white," she replied though clearly wondering the same thing.
"Well I know one thing for sure," Carmita said loudly, throwing her hands up in the air. "I aint going in there, so-a shoot me now and-a be done with it si?"
But the two that dusted off the wall took no notice of the Latina and started removing some old fashioned bolts that were connected to the door.
"No one will die right now," The man holding the gun said. "But if you want answers, you'll go in there. That place…holds everything you've been dying to know."
And with that the men opened the doors to gasped looks on the all four faces.
"*"
"Wake up and smell the coffee Ben," Mel said as she continued to try and convince her friend. "It's B, it always has been. It was him all along!"
Ben scratched his head. It had been a while since Lauren had gone into the room next door and after only a few moments the pair had stopped wondering what was happening with her and shifted their focus to who would be behind this.
"I just…" Ben started. "I just don't think it would be. He's never acted like this before."
"Yeah, so he's gone off the deep end. What's your point?" Mel asked frustrated that he couldn't see her point of view.
"My point is that I just don't see it being him."
"Ben think about it logically," Mel reasoned. "Who has the finances to afford all of this? The brains to pull it off? A huge motivation and to put it one way, an evil nature?"
"There are many people tha-" Ben started, but stopped quickly as the door they entered through earlier opened and a man stepped forward.
Well they assumed it was a man, but this person was wearing such an incognito costume that it was very hard to be 100% certain.
"Who are you?" Ben asked, though rather cautiously.
Mel gave him an are you kidding me look, but it went completely unnoticed.
"That's not your concern," came a gruff and totally unfamiliar voice. "What is your concern is that you follow me. You both passed the test and now it's time to receive your reward."
"You're letting us out?" Mel questioned, grateful but quite skeptical. "That was quick!"
They both got out of their chairs and walked over to the man.
"This way," he said gruffly motioning for them to follow him.
The duo followed their disguised stranger through a completely different part of the maze. There was nothing on this path at all to suggest the horror that they had been through. As a matter of fact it would have been quite a peaceful walk if they weren't so worried. Rounding corridor after corridor they were surprised to hear some very pleasant naturist music above them.
Though it was probably intended to sooth, for Mel it was doing the exact opposite.
"Where is he taking us?" Mel whispered to Ben as she watched the disguised stranger in front of them.
"Guess we're about to find out," Ben replied.
No sooner had he said that and rounding another corner their captor held up a hand as if telling them to stop, then he tapped twice on the wall in front of him and it shifted slowly to the right to reveal…
"Oh my god," Mel whispered feeling quite anxious.
"*"
Lauren tapped her right foot repeatedly, impatiently waiting some sort of sign or signal. Once she had started screaming expletives at her captor the monitor had turned off and after a few moments of rage she had given herself up and sat on the floor feeling quite alone. However prolonged fear had turned into boredom which had lead to her snooping around the TV stand which had some shelves and some draws. One of the shelves had contained the fruit bowl that Lauren had now started to ration with, having no idea when she would get out, but the rest were bare. Then she searched the draws. The first of the two had nothing, yet surprisingly the 2nd one contained a small fold out chair. Appreciating its convenience Lauren had taken it out and after folding it out, sat on it.
But now that had felt like hours ago and once again boredom had set in. She was just about to grab a peach out of the bowl to quench her thirst when the entire wall to her left started to move.
Thank god! She thought to herself. Even the outside is better than this!
But no sooner had that thought occurred when she noticed Debbie and Jenny being shoved inside the room by none other than Edward.
"You monster!" Lauren screeched out, anger flaring.
"He has a gun Lauren," Jenny said in a bored tone. "Don't even try it's not worth it."
"Keep moving you two," Edward spat. "And you coffee woman!"
"Huh?" Lauren asked confused.
"Are you deaf or just plain stupid?" Edward asked rather condescendingly. "Follow them, now!"
"I don't take orders from y-" Lauren started, but stopped as Edward cocked his gun.
"Ok, ok, I'm going I'm going," she cried as she raced ahead to join the others.
It didn't take long to figure out where they were going as two minutes later they stood in front of an old oak set of double doors.
"Welcome Lauren, Debbie and Jenny," Edward said, smiling mischievously. "To the throne room."
"*"
"Oh…my…god!" Andy stated in awe.
The room that they had now walked into was a sea of purple and gold very regal, very royal. In the middle of the room sat 9 chairs each with golden painted wood and a purple cushion. At the back of the room, fit for royalty stood what could only be described as a royal throne. A gorgeous combination of dark and light purple diamond pattern surrounded the throne's cushioning while the outer edge colored a mix between a lighter purple and a darker blue was almost shaped like a tower you would see in a fairy-tale. Matching colored solid marble blue steps cascaded downwards leading to a rolled out red carpet whose path lead forward and then snaked it's way around the other chairs before making its way back to the throne. Heavy dark blue drapes backed the throne and a black cat sat right by its side giving off a very ominous feel.
"Have we just stepped into Maleficent's throne room?" Rein asked quite petrified.
"I don't know what this is," Andy replied with a mixture of shock and yet also awe.
"Chemist warehouse my ass!" Carmita said behind them. "I mean-a please! Who makes-a drugs in a room like this huh?"
"Andy?!" Came a cry from the far opposite end of the room.
There was no mistaking the voice at all.
"Lauren?" Andy replied.
"Mom!" Rein screamed.
The pair raced over to hug her and upon seeing Jenny and Debbie embraced them also.
"Micah!" Came another cry from across the room.
Micah looked up to see his husband and friend.
"Ben?!" Micah replied not daring to believe it.
He raced over to his husband but not before tears had escaped his eyes.
"Oh my god I was so worried!"
"I'm fine!" Ben replied. "Mel got worse than me."
"Please," Mel replied. "Micah look at his-"
She almost finished the sentence referring to Ben's injury but Ben nudged her in the ribs, wanting nothing less than to worry his husband any more than he had to at this moment.
While everyone was happily reuniting, their captors had secretly locked every gate in the room allowing for no way out. The distraction of seeing their friends and loved ones was definitely a handy one, but now that they had taken care of that task it was time for the all important moment and so Edward stepped forward clearing his throat loudly.
"Oh shut up Edward!" Carmita reacted pissed at him for so many reasons.
In retaliation all the others cocked their guns and pointed them at all 9 who were now conveniently huddled together.
"I don't think you're in any sort of position to argue with me madam," he said and then cleared his throat. "Now then, as you can see there are 9 chairs right here each has a name tag. Take a seat on yours now."
Looking more closely at the chairs now, Andy realized that they were strategically placed. In 4 separate clusters sat 3 groups of 2 chairs and one group of 3.
Everyone looked around nervously for their seat. It reminded Micah of playing musical chairs back in school, where the last person to sit would be without a chair and out of the game. Although if that had been their plan he feared that the last to sit could be shot…or worse.
It turned out that Ben was sat with Mel on the far right cluster, no real surprise there considering what they had been through in the maze. To their left sat a cluster of three chairs which though were placed to their left seemed to have been pushed back about 4 paces. These three sat Rein, who was closest to Mel, then Jenny next to her and Lauren at the end. To their left, yet level with Mel and Ben sat Andy, closest to Lauren with his Papa to his left. To their left level with Rein, Jenny and Lauren sat Carmita who was, for her, horror of all horrors within this horror seated next to; yep you guessed it, Debbie.
"Hey Mel," Ben whispered sitting next to her anxiously.
"What?" she asked looking around for any clue whatsoever to where this was headed.
"Where's Jay?"
Mel looked at the rest of their seated group and realized he was right. Jay was nowhere to be seen. In all the joy she had felt to find everyone, somehow it had just become unnoticed.
"Oh my god, where is he?" she whispered back now quite worried for his safety.
Mel looked over towards Andy and owing to the way the chairs had been arranged could easily talk to him.
"Hey Andy…Jay?" she asked.
"Yeah," Andy said staring at the floor. "Don't go there."
Mel respected his response but if anything it made her even more worried.
"So much for answers!" Carmita yelled out bored. "I mean so far the only answers I'm getting are one; still no Jay and two; ooh nice interior decorating."
Andy sniggered at the sarcasm, as precarious as the situation certainly was it was nice to see Carmita still have some sense of humor left.
"What answers?" Lauren asked. "Is this another test? Look for a monitor everyone!"
At once everyone started talking wondering about the same exact thing. What was it that they were waiting for? What was going to happen to Jay? And what answers indeed?
"SILENCE!" Edward screamed out cocking his gun and very nearly firing it into the air. "Next time this thing goes off!"
"Ok, we're sorry," Lauren replied.
"Seriously though Carmita," Mel asked softly as though kindly interviewing a client. "What answers?"
"They told us outside that we would find out everything we need to know in here. That we would get all the answers we need!" she replied.
"Like where Jay is?" Ben asked.
"Or who the hell is actually behind this!" Lauren replied.
"Oh please!" Mel said silencing anyone else who even thought of talking. "We all know who is in charge of this operation and I don't care what any of you think. It was B! Who else would it be?"
But just then a very low and yet sinister laugh sounded out in within the throne room walls.
Then a voice that everyone knew spoke, pricking the hairs on the back of everyone's neck's.
"Oh how I love naivety," it said calmly. "B wasn't the one pulling the strings. It was…me."
And with that the figure that matched the voice stepped out from behind the throne to a collective audible gasp from everyone seated in the room.
"Oh-my-god!" Andy reacted startled at the revelation. "It was you all along!"
"*"
And that's it, the end of chapter 34!
Tomorrow night: Every question you have had so far.
Beat, Beat, Beat…will be answered!
Who is the head of Team Evil?
(Andy) "It just makes so much sense."
Who else made it on the team?
(Carmita, shocked) "What?!"/ (Rein, crying) "I was just begging to trust you!"
What motivated them all to do it?
(Andy jumping up) "You (beeping) B-!"
And everything else in between, even the stuff you never thought would be answered.
(Micah, crying) "How could you even do that?"/ (Mel, shouting) "How could anyone trust you ever again?!"
It's the moment you have all been waiting for! Unlock the answers to the mystery.
Cold in the Rain – tomorrow night.