Seb’s bravery abandoned him when he walked forwards with the next pack to enter the large wooden structure. The building looming over him, he said, Please don’t let me slip away.
SA came back to him. I’ll do everything in my power to protect you.
CHAPTER 46
Once Seb entered the barn, his surroundings were still mostly lost to the darkness, but when he looked ahead along the line of slaves, he could just about make out the crimson-robed guards ahead. He watched as they passed a cup to the next creature at the front of the line. They didn’t speak, but if one of the beings refused to drink, the guards raised their blasters at them until they complied.
As Seb moved closer because of the shortening queue, he heard those in front of him heaving and retching from what they were being forced to take. He could also smell the brew and saw a bubbling cauldron behind the guards. It reeked of stewed mud, dung, and mushrooms. Nausea swelled through him at the thought of drinking it.
Seb arrived at the front of the queue to see the crimson soldiers wore the same robes he’d seen them in before. A darkness within their hood that his eyes couldn’t penetrate. It seemed like the same magic existed within each of the buildings.
After taking the cup they handed to him, Seb watched the creature on his right drink first. It looked like it might spit it out until one of the guards clamped a large hand over its mouth and hissed at it.
Seb knocked his drink back without the need for help. It tasted like curdled vinegar.
After taking the cup back from him, one of the guards pointed to show Seb where he needed to go.
They were led into another room. As dark as the first one, the air stank of vomit. The slaves were made to sit on benches that lined either side. The sounds around him were of creatures heaving and then the splash of their sick hitting the concrete ground.
As Seb sat down, the creature next to him threw up. A chunky splash-back splattered against his right trouser leg. Before he had time to process it, his own stomach locked tight and sweat virtually jumped from his brow. Moist palms and an accelerated heart rate, his stomach sucked in as he forcefully ejected everything he had within it.
Seb added to the chorus of vomiting as he went several more times, purging his body of everything he had.
It felt like only seconds had passed by the time he’d finished. Then he heard Sparks’ voice in his mind. Are you okay? What’s going on? You’ve been in there for ages.
What? Seb said, exhausted from the process. His body coated in sweat, his clothes clung to him. While wiping his mouth, he continued, They made us drink something and I’ve thrown up everywhere.
Light-headed from whatever he’d swallowed, Seb didn’t hear what Sparks said to him next. However, he did hear the steam whistle in all its nerve-jangling glory. Shaky on his legs, he wobbled as he got to his feet with those around him and said, Got to move now.
CHAPTER 47
Aware of the carpet of vomit squishing beneath his feet, but too focused on trying to remain upright on his weak legs, Seb followed the other slaves out of the room they’d all thrown up in and exited the barn.
Because he’d been in the darkness for so long, even the glow of the fire and candles around them stung his eyes. Repeated blinking did little to relieve the painful itch. As he scanned the shadows—the space even darker than before on account of the glare from the flames—he quickly gave up hope of seeing SA and Sparks. Are you both there?
SA spoke. We’re right with you. I couldn’t get through to you for a time in there. How are you?
Sore, he said. Aches streaked up both of Seb’s sides from having been so violently sick. Tar ran through his veins; an influenza ache in his body. They gave me a strange drink that made me throw my guts up. We all threw up.
One of the flickering candles close to Seb then caught his attention. It seemed to swell to ten times its size. Mesmerised by the effect, he watched it for a few seconds before he looked along to the next one. Trails of light dragged as he moved his head. When he looked back at the first swollen flame, it burst, orange butterflies taking flight from it. Lethargy gripped his muscles, his jaw falling limp as he watched them flutter up to the cave’s ceiling.
Seb!
The forcefulness of it startled him and he said, Huh?
I was talking to you.
Sorry. I think there was something in that drink. The world looks funny. What were you saying?
But before he could hear her, Seb drifted off again. More of the candles animated around him, shattering as light rushed away from them like exploding fireworks.
And then they were gone.
It took for Seb to look around to see he’d walked into the next barn. So distracted by the flames, he’d barely been aware of even putting one foot in front of the other as he’d headed to the next stage of the twisted production line. While watching the torches, a warmth had climbed over him. It felt like it had entered the base of his skull and spread through his central nervous system.
Maybe a guard had told them where to go. Maybe Seb simply moved on instinct. Either way, when he got into a large room and lay down, he did it because he knew it was the right thing to do. He stared up into the darkness of the barn’s ceiling. The vast inside of the building had enough floor space for him to lie down without touching another being.
Then the glowing firelight returned, although this time it swung from side to side and kicked off grey smoke. When it got close to him, Seb heard chanting and smelled an almost headache-inducing incense. The reek entered his nostrils, an unwelcome invader as it challenged the warm grip inside him with its acerbic bite.
The smoke and the warmth battled within him, the smoke gaining power over his system, stretching its invasive fingers through his being. The chants around him grew louder. Maybe they said words, he couldn’t tell. It sounded like more than one creature. They spoke in stereo as they muttered the same things over and over.
Then Seb took off. Like a rocket, he shot straight up at the barn’s ceiling. For a moment, he hovered in the space, looking down on his body and all the bodies around him. But before he could take it in, what felt like a hand grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and yanked him out of there.
As he flew backwards, Seb looked to where he’d come from. A swirling, twisting wormhole of light and colour. Panic rattled him, but not the sweaty, fast-pulsed panic he knew so well. More of a jangly, shaking panic that messed with the vibration of his corporeal form. He felt like a bubble that could burst at any moment.
Then he landed back on the ground. Although not in the barn. He’d landed in his house in Danu in the hallway by the front door. He heard sounds in the kitchen and ran towards them.
To see his mum, dad, and Davey at the table lifted his heart. But before he could express his joy, they all turned to him, their faces twisted with disgust as if his interruption had just soured their day. The bitter contortion of his mum’s features stung the most as she glared pure contempt at him.
“What have you been doing, you stupid boy?” she said.
“Mum?” Seb said. Then he looked down. He had a white gown on like the kind choirboys would wear. But his gown hadn’t remained white. Instead, it was red and heavy with damp. He was soaked in blood. It dripped and pooled on the wooden floor.
Davey spoke this time. “Look at the mess you’re making, you imbecile.” His best friend in the whole world, he talked like he hated him. “Look at you, boy.”
When his mum stood up, Seb turned his attention back to her. He’d always remembered her to be pretty, yet she looked hideous. A witch, twisted with the bitterness of years’ worth of poison in her soul. “I wish I’d never given birth to you.”
Accustomed to his dad being disappointed, Seb looked at him to see him laughing. Something the man rarely did.
Although Seb opened his mouth to reply, the same invisible hand that had dragged him there gripped the back of his collar and yanked him away again.
Seconds later, Seb crashed down i
n one of the stark white training rooms at the Shadow Order’s base. His fists clung to the ground, dragged down by a magnetic force. The door suddenly opened, and a line of mandulus charged in. At least thirty of them, they all glowered at him.
As hard as Seb pulled, he couldn’t get himself free from the floor. When he looked up at the observation window, he saw his dad where he’d expected to see Moses. He was still laughing.
As the mandulus ran forwards, Seb shouted at them, “Come and take me then, you cowards.”
But the first one charged straight past him. Then the others followed it.
It defied logic that Seb couldn’t turn around to face them, but for some reason, it simply didn’t work for him. Not that he needed to wait long to see what they ran at. He heard her scream before he saw her.
“SA,” Seb said as he watched one of the mandulus drag her in front of him. They clearly knew he couldn’t turn around and obviously wanted to make sure he didn’t miss it. She had ropes tied to her wrists and ankles. Five or six mandulus on each limb, they picked the ropes up and pulled, stretching her out in a star shape.
SA’s scream rang through the room and pierced Seb’s mind. So loud, he couldn’t put a single thought together. Instead, he watched her stretched to her limit. And then beyond …
A ripping sound, all four of her limbs were torn free at the same time. Blood sprayed everywhere, soaking Seb and standing in stark contrast to the white surroundings of the room they were in.
Then everything went black.
SEB COULDN’T TELL how long he’d been out for, but when he came to, his crying joined that of those around him and he found himself back in the barn on the hard concrete ground. He looked at the face of the slave next to him. It hissed and spat in his direction, lashing out at him as if making sure he kept his distance.
The voices of the incense carriers continued to speak in unison. They now made sense. “Everything is a threat. Everything is a threat. Everything is a threat. We will rise. We will rise. We will rise. Chaos is essential for change. Chaos is essential for change. Chaos is essential for change.”
Seb felt the warmth of his own urine against his thighs as he lost control of his bladder. He then sobbed for the deaths of those he loved in both the past and the future.
CHAPTER 48
Bright lights burst into existence along the dark ceiling above them. They pinned Seb to the ground, highlighting his urine-soaked shame and stinging his tired eyes. The place around him stank of sweat and flatulence. The others in the barn had clearly been through a similar experience.
While rubbing his eyes in an attempt to bring his sight back, SA came through to him. What just happened?
Although he knew what he’d experienced to be a twisted hallucination on account of whatever they’d made him drink, he’d still lived it. It was horrible. I had nightmarish visions. I saw you killed in them. Ripped apart by a gang of mandulus.
Are you okay?
Seb’s bottom lip buckled while he shook his head. Exhaustion ran all the way to his bone marrow, his muscles buzzing with fatigue. I’m not sure. I really don’t know.
Before he could say anything else, the guards roared through the barn. Again, they spoke as one, the collective swell of their voices amplified by the cavernous space. “Get up now!”
Not sure he could, Seb pushed off against the hard ground and forced himself up on shaking legs. A glance at the beast next to him, he noticed the brute avoid eye contact. Broken, like Seb, it looked like it wanted to be left alone. Not really an option in the crowded barn.
It didn’t matter that Seb had heard it before, because when the steam whistle went off this time, the shrill screech felt like it shook his skeleton. He trembled as he joined the shuffle towards the exit, staring at the floor like all of those around him.
WHEN SEB STEPPED OUTSIDE into the hot and humid cave, he could see better than when he’d exited the last barn. The lights in the ceiling had helped prepare him for the change. Like he’d done when he left the previous one, he looked into the darkness to see if he could locate his friends.
We can see you, Sparks said.
No matter how hard Seb squinted, he couldn’t see them.
SA spoke to him next. Do you need us to break you out now? You don’t look too good.
Despite his urge to say yes, and despite the fact he would be entering the third barn shortly, Seb shook his head. No. If I come out now, I won’t have learned enough to take anything back to Moses. Just … He paused, his words catching because he felt too shy to say them; he hated feeling so vulnerable. Just look after me, please?
Silence for a few seconds. SA finally said, I’m doing my best.
It hardly filled Seb with confidence, and before he had much time to dwell on it, he’d been led into the next large barn.
The space had lights overhead. Similar to the last one but dimmer. They allowed Seb to see the rows and rows of cages. Each one a prison for an individual, he shook to look at them. The screams of the tortured slaves came flooding back to him. Why hadn’t he asked SA and Sparks to bust him out? They couldn’t do anything for him now. The same smell of sweat hung in the muggy air. A musty tang of fear, it lifted gooseflesh all over his body.
While he walked, Seb heard the slamming of cell door after cell door. When he peered up ahead, he saw those at the front being locked away. The line then stopped, all of the prisoners in front of him arriving at their allocated cages. He peered into his small cell.
Although the guards walked up the line to make sure the prisoners entered their pens, Seb couldn’t see any that needed reminding. He stepped into his like the others had.
What’s going on? SA said.
After a moment to compose himself, Seb looked around. I’m in a cage. We’re all in cages.
What?
I don’t know what they’re planning to do—Seb jumped at the loud crash of his slamming cell door—but they have us all in our own personal cages. The bars look too strong to break and the locks too resilient to pick. I don’t know what they’re going to do to me, SA. I’ve changed my mind. You need to get me out of here.
Sparks came through this time. We can’t, Seb. Not now you’re in there. Especially if you’re locked in a cell.
It took all Seb had to hold onto his panic. He focused on his breaths and tried to bring his rising and frantic energy down a little. The crashing of the slamming doors had run away from him all the way up the barn to where he’d entered. And then they stopped.
Not sure he would feel any calmer than he did at that moment, Seb gave SA and Sparks the response they needed to hear, even if he didn’t believe his own words. You’re right. I’ve come this far, I need to see it through. I’m okay now. Just be ready for me at the end, yeah?
If SA or Sparks replied to him at that moment, he didn’t hear it, his attention turning to the suffering around him. The screams started at the far end of the space where those at the front of the group had been caged. Fury, rage, fear, and cuss words filled the air. The banging of creatures crashing against the bars of their cells. The cage doors rattled as if they were trying to shake them off their hinges. As if they could bust their way out. It had something to do with the guards. They were triggering the prisoners in some way as they made their way up the barn.
The sound of suffering grew louder as it closed in on Seb. Every cage the guards passed sent its occupant insane with fury. The closer they got, the more clearly Seb saw what the prisoners were going through. Every one of them went off after an interaction with a guard. Bad enough to look at, but what if he didn’t react like that? What would they do to him then?
The prisoner in the neighbouring cell was the same one Seb had lain next to in the previous barn. In its huddled form and how it wrung its hands while watching what came their way, Seb saw his own growing anxiety. It crawled up the inside of him, his throat tightening as if he might stop breathing.
Then the guard stopped by Seb’s neighbour, leaned close to the cell, and whis
pered something Seb couldn’t hear.
What had been a meek and scared creature suddenly changed. It turned into a hissing, fitting mess. Wild eyes, gnashing teeth, it ran at Seb, accelerating into the bars separating them. A loud tonk from where it cracked its head, the creature stumbled backwards before charging at him again. It had a will to get to him that might even overpower the thick steel keeping it caged.
Seb!
From the tone of her voice, it sounded like she’d been trying to talk to him again and he hadn’t heard her. SA, I don’t know what’s happening here.
Just hang on, yeah?
Tears dampened his cheeks as he watched the guard move on to him. Please save me.
The guard stood both taller and wider than Seb. It wore the crimson robe of its brethren, its face hidden in shadow. It whispered just loud enough for Seb to hear it. “It’s time to wake, my army. It’s time to rise up.”
The rush of rage started somewhere years behind Seb, hurtling towards him at the speed of light. When it crashed into him a millisecond later, it thrust him towards the guard. He smashed—head first—into the bars in front of him.
Aware of falling backwards, his furious world twisted out of control.
Seb blacked out before he hit the ground.
CHAPTER 49
Seb came to with a deep gasp, his desperate bark drowned out by another loud splash as more frigid water soaked him. Before he’d had time to get his thoughts straight, what he lay on shifted and he fell. Only a few metres to the ground, he still hit the hard surface with an oomph. When he looked up, he saw he’d been at the top of a stack of unconscious beings. They were all piled on a wheeled trolley.
The crimson guards continued to throw buckets of water over the remaining creatures while Seb crawled away, shivering from the icy assault.
Enigma: A Space Opera: Book Six of The Shadow Order Page 16