by Alex Steele
Lopez approached. She was still twitchy, her hands opening and closing compulsively. “We need to move. There’s another guard headed down above us.”
Talos wrapped his hand around the back of the prisoner’s neck. “Do you know how to get around the patrol?”
The prisoner nodded. “Just timing. They only come so far down, then they cross over and head back up.”
“Will he be expecting the other guard to meet him before he starts over?”
“No. I don’t think so.” He swallowed, eyes darting back to his cell. “I don’t know.”
“Great to hear he knows exactly what’s going on,” Lopez muttered, stalking back toward the others.
“We have to take our chances,” Talos said, pushing the prisoner ahead of him. “If we have to, we’ll kill every guard on the way up.”
Swift stiffened at his comment. “That’s not the best way to do this.”
Talos paused, looking back at her. “It may be the only way. Unless you want us to turn around and look for Prometheus first?”
“No. Let’s keep going.” I gave Swift’s shoulder a squeeze and leaned in to talk quietly just to her. “We’ll avoid killing anyone we can, but considering they’ll kill us on sight, we may not be able to avoid it all.”
Swift’s jaw clenched, but she nodded. “I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I.”
We followed Talos back to the corridor exit. The groups rearranged a little, putting our team plus Talos in front, with the Awakened following behind us.
As we joined Danner, he eyed the prisoner with clear suspicion. “Hope you know what you’re doing, Blackwell.”
“Me too.”
Talos nudged the prisoner forward. “Lead the way.”
He swallowed and took a nervous step out of the corridor, then stooped down and began jogging up the slope. We followed, doubt building in my chest with every step.
Forty
Despite our doubts, the prisoner did have a good method for avoiding the guards. We leap-frogged our way up the strange beehive of prison cells.
The higher we went, the more dense the population of prisoners became. Some of them hissed at us from their cells, but we pressed forward like we belonged. We couldn’t free them all. And a scream up here wouldn’t even be out of place.
Wails of pain and terror echoed off the walls, hiding even the sound of our footsteps. I wasn’t sure if people were being tortured, or if they simply had nothing to do other than scream.
The prisoner stopped and pointed at a corridor that split off from the main walkway. “That way to the Pit, but it’s risky. The guards walk in groups. I used to watch them come and go every few minutes.”
Lopez eyed the corridor. “We need a diversion.”
“What do you have in mind?” I asked.
“We need the guards out of the way, and we can’t kill them all if we want a good chance of getting out of here, so we need them kept busy. I think if we send a small team farther up to let a bunch of prisoners out, we could buy ourselves some time.”
Swift pursed her lips, thinking the idea through. “They could increase security after that.”
“Let enough prisoners free and maybe it won’t matter,” Lopez said with a shrug.
“Or we go bigger,” Yamashita said, pulling out one of her maps. “Do we have enough spare explosives?”
“Explosives?” I asked in alarm.
“Yes,” Talos said without hesitation. “More than enough to do what I think you’re suggesting.”
Yamashita pushed the map open and pointed at a section that corresponded to the area we were in. “Right here is a weak spot. The crosswalk would fall if we hit this.”
“That would avoid hurting the prisoners as well,” Lopez said as she leaned over the map. “We’d have to time it right. Let people out, get their attention, then...boom.”
Danner appeared at her shoulder and pulled his toothpick out from between his lips. “I’m good with explosives. I could lead a group to take care of that bridge.”
Talos nodded. “And I have some people that can move quickly to get prisoners out. We have enough to send…” he glanced at his people. “Three small teams to take care of that.”
“That won’t leave many for the pit,” I interjected. When we first arrived, I felt like we had brought too many, now they seemed like too few.
“It’s your call,” Yamashita said, looking up at me. “But I think Lopez has a sound idea unless you want to fight your way there.”
I took a deep breath, then nodded. “I don’t like it, but I think you’re both right. Swift?”
“Yeah, let’s do it,” she said with a deep sigh. “I think we’ll avoid the most deaths this way.”
Two people went with Danner while three other groups of two sprinted ahead of us to begin releasing prisoners. We’d need to move as soon as the guards went to investigate the disturbance.
My heart pounded in my chest as we waited. I wasn’t used to working with this many people at once. So many important things were out of my control, dependent on strangers. The mayhem magic stirred within me, sharing my disquiet.
Viktor edged closer to me and leaned down to speak quietly. “I believe Talos has withheld part of their plan.”
“Which part?” I whispered back.
“The explosives. I think they’re planning on bringing the entire place down on our way out.”
“Shit.” I glanced at the map in Yamashita’s hand. There were small red marks on it that I didn’t remember from our planning session. I had anticipated the Awakened would hold back part of their reasons for coming here, but I hadn’t expected them to be planning a massacre.
“I’ll see what I can do to prevent it,” Viktor whispered before stepping back and rejoining Lopez.
I took a deep breath to steady myself. Everything that had led to this point had been designed to throw me off-kilter. To press me into decisions I wouldn’t have made otherwise. To trust people that didn’t deserve it. Now I was stuck with the consequences. We all were.
“Unsecured cell!” The shout blared through the normal noises of the prison. Another guard shouted back in confirmation.
Then all hell broke loose. Prisoners began screaming, demanding to be set free. Begging for help. The chaos above us grew louder and louder as what sounded like a fight began. A body plummeted through the air, their scream of terror trailing behind them. Another fell right after.
“The guards are throwing them over the walkways,” Swift whispered in horror.
A squadron of guards poured out of the corridor that led toward the Pit, and headed up toward the conflict. There had to be at least thirty of them and they were all dressed for battle. Swords and batons hung at their waists. A few carried riot shields similar to what prosaic police used.
We held perfectly still until they were almost out of sight, then Talos gave the signal to move. As we ran through the corridor entrance, a loud boom shook the floor and walls. Behind us, a fireball shot up through the air. The screech of metal on metal drowned out the sounds of fighting as the crosswalk gave way and fell onto the one below it.
The prisoner scampered forward, stumbling over his own feet as he attempted to look over his shoulder while he ran.
“Keep moving!” Talos snapped.
The corridor was narrow, barely wide enough for two people to run side by side, much less three.
Two guards burst out of a door to our left and barreled straight into our group. The prisoner dropped to the floor and curled into a ball as Talos hit the closest in the throat, cutting off his shout of surprise. He grabbed the guard by the head and stepped back, yanking the man down. With a vicious twist, he used the guard’s momentum against him and snapped his head in the other direction. The man’s neck broke with a crack.
The other guard jumped forward with a shout and landed a hard blow on Talos’s shoulders. Viktor shoved past Talos and grabbed the attacker by the throat and slammed his head into the wall. The guard cr
umpled like a rag doll.
Viktor yanked the prisoner up by the arm. “Go.”
As we ran, the corridor widened a little, then split off in two directions. Our guide didn’t hesitate, taking the right fork. There was a shout behind us, but I wasn’t sure if the guards had seen us, or were still focused on the chaos in the prison.
The corridor ended abruptly. My momentum almost carried me too far. I slid to a halt next to Viktor, sending small rocks tumbling over the edge of the cliff.
Swift grabbed the back of my jacket and steadied me. ‘That was a bit close.”
I leaned closer and peered over the edge down into impenetrable darkness. If there was a bottom, I couldn’t see it. There was a narrow bridge a few feet away that stretched off into the distance. The end of it was illuminated by a deep, red glow, but just barely. It had no railing.
“We can’t linger here,” Yamashita said, taking a tentative step toward the bridge. “We need to get across before they figure out we’re here.”
“You four,” Talos said, pointing at a small group of his people. “Stay here. Make sure no one follows us across. Send up a flare if you fail.”
“Yes, sir,” a young woman answered as she drew two short swords.
That left only ten of us to get across the bridge, face whatever threat was likely waiting for us there, and find the Chief and Bootstrap. Our group was being whittled down more quickly than I’d expected.
“Let’s go.” Talos led the way, running onto the bridge without hesitation.
Swift sprinted after him as well, leaving me no choice but to follow. I kept my eyes glued to her back as we ran. There was no time to stop and I knew better than to look down.
The bridge sloped slightly upward, then back downward as we crossed the midpoint. From here I could see the other side better. The red glow throbbed like a heartbeat, casting a bloody glare over the stone.
We reached the end of the bridge and found ourselves at the top of a long, sloping hill. A dry wind carrying the scent of decay whipped around me. Gray sand stretched out below us, leading down into a barren wasteland. There were no trees, no prison cells. There was only one thing in the Pit and it dominated the entire space.
A massive cube, balanced on one corner, stretched from the sand to the top of the domed ceiling. It was impossibly huge, dwarfing the massive cavern we’d descended into. Red light pulsed from within it, racing over the surface in erratic bursts. With every pulse, I felt a strain on my magic. This thing was what was draining us.
Yamashita took a step forward, horror and interest warring in her expression. “It’s even worse than I imagined.”
“You knew about this?” I asked.
Her head jerked once in acknowledgement. She tapped a finger against the geas tattooed beneath her collarbone. “I couldn’t tell anyone about it. Not even Patterson.”
“Is there an off switch on that thing?” Swift asked with a frown.
“No. As long as their are magic users for it to feed on, it will never stop.”
“This place shouldn’t be this empty.” Talos grabbed our guide by the arm and yanked him around to face him. “How many prisoners are normally here?”
“I don’t know...I don’t…” His eyes rolled around frantically as he looked for an escape.
“Why is no one here?”
The man shook in his grip, tears rolling down his face as he shook his head back and forth in terror.
“Talos, let him be. I think he’s telling the truth.” Swift said quietly.
Hiroji walked forward a few paces, eyes scanning the cavern. “There’s someone, or something, near the base of the cube.”
He was right. When the cube pulsed, they were visible, but barely. Two shadows crouched near the base, not moving.
Talos shoved the man back toward his people. “This reeks of a trap and he led us right into it.”
“We walked into it, eyes open.” Swift drew her sword. “Now we bust through it.”
“The faster we find them, the faster we get to Prometheus,” I added, knowing what Talos’s real concern was.
Talos clenched his jaw in annoyance, but nodded. “Quickly then.”
We half-ran, half-slid our way down the hill. The sand was powdery fine and provided no traction to run on. My foot hit something hard and I fell into Swift’s back.
She whipped around and steadied me. “What the hell, Blackwell?”
“I tripped over…” I trailed off as I saw what my foot had hit. A skeleton protruded from the sand, unburied when my foot had gotten hung up on its arm.
The wind picked up, shifting the sand all around us. Bodies in varying states of decay littered the hill. The sand was swallowing and eroding them piece by piece.
“We have to keep moving,” Hiroji prompted.
I nodded and we began running again. The nearer we drew to the cube, the larger it seemed to be. I’d underestimated its size from the top of the hill, as well as how far away it was. By the time we were close enough to see there were indeed two people near its base, my legs and lungs were burning from the exertion of running through the sand.
Hiroji reached them first and immediately moved behind them to inspect the cube. Thick chains connected to a metal collar around both their necks. They were staked out here to tempt us into the center of the Pit.
Bootstrap’s left eye was bruised. One hand was purple and swollen. It looked like it had been broken. Blood matted his floppy hair. Someone had beaten the shit out of him. Rage welled up in me and in that moment, I wanted nothing more than to beat Atticus to death.
Bradley met my eyes and shook his head. He wasn’t nearly as bad off, but there was dried blood trailing from his nose. “You dumbass. I told you not to come after me.”
Bootstrap didn’t move. A little snore escaped from his mouth. That little asshole was sleeping.
“Nice to see you too, Chief.” I crouched down next to Bootstrap and shook the kid a little.
He snorted awake and jerked back, rolling into the sand. “Wha-what. Wait. Holy shit you guys are here. You really came. Aw hell, you gotta run—”
I clamped a hand over his mouth — gently as I could while still shutting him up. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
Chief Bradley’s shook his head. “None of us are getting out of here.”
“Cut the chains. We need to move,” Yamashita said urgently.
The prisoner elbowed the man holding him, then turned and ran, scrambling back up the sand. Talos’s man ran after him, but stopped dead in his tracks when three figures robed in black rose up from the sand. The prisoner collapsed at their feet and pressed his forehead to his hands in a subservient bow.
“I did it. I got them here. You promised I could go free. You promised,” he stumbled over his words in his desperation.
The figure in the middle stopped and pushed back his hood. Atticus stared down at the prisoner. “Of course you can be free.”
I never saw the sword appear in his hands, only watched helplessly as he plunged it through the prisoner’s head with a sickening crunch.
Atticus pulled it free with a flourish. Blood dripped from the tip of the sword onto the gray sand as he smiled at me. “Welcome to Purgatory, Blackwell. You can see I did as I promised and took special care of your friends.”
I stepped away from the group, putting myself between them and the threat. “Yeah, real hospitable place you have here.”
Atticus threw his head back and cackled. “So glad you agree. I’d hate for you to dislike your new home.”
Mayhem magic curled inside my chest, sensing the threat. “We won’t be staying.”
Atticus’s grin widened. “Oh, I think you will be.”
Forty-One
Mayhem magic slipped down from my fingertips, curling around my legs like a cat eager for treats. It was about to get what it wanted — a fight. Whatever had been holding it back earlier was gone.
“Get them out of those chains, Swift. I’ll take care of this.”
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A shadow passed across Atticus’s face. “That won’t be happening.”
He lifted his hands and magic poured out of him. My knees almost gave out as it washed over me. The weight of it was overwhelming. The only time I’d felt something like this was when Lord Chancellor Swift had pinned me to the wall like a bug.
The wind picked up, rushing around us like we were in the eye of a hurricane. Atticus’s black robe faded into smoke and fell away. The body beneath was shriveled and twisted as if he’d been mummified. As the weight of his magic grew, his body filled out. His wiry limbs bulged with muscle. He threw his head back and bright green light wrapped around him.
“How is he doing this?” Swift shouted over the wind.
“I don’t know. It shouldn’t be possible,” Yamashita shouted back.
Everything was pulled toward him, as if gravity had shifted to Atticus. My feet slid in the sand. There was no way to gain traction and halt the movement. All around us, the decaying bodies lifted from the sand and were caught up in the wind swirling around us.
Atticus spread his arms wide and the speed of the wind increased. The green light condensed around him, pounding faster and faster against his skin. A keening wail was pulled from his chest, then the pressure ceased with a crack.
Green wisps of magic rose up from the corpses and skeletons hovering in the air. One by one they jerked into motion and fell back to the sand. They didn’t crumple like they should. They shambled toward us, hollow eyes alight with the sickly green glow of Atticus’s magic.
Atticus rolled his head in a circle as he shook out his newly muscled arms. “As the warden of Purgatory, I have one very simple rule.” He looked up and spread his arms wide, as if welcoming us. “No one leaves.”
The mayhem magic chuckled in the back of my mind. He’s awfully dramatic. I like it.
“Shut up,” I muttered.
“What?” Swift asked, eyeing me warily.
“Can you hold off these ghouls?”
She lopped off a zombies head, then kicked another into three of his friends, knocking them over like bowling pins. “We can hold them off while you kill him. Just do it fast.”