by Randy Henson
Colonel Lundy looked through the bars at the four unconscious prisoners and said, “I think we should leave them here for the time being. They seem okay, and we don’t even know why they’re locked up.”
“Does it matter why?” Peterson said.
“Of course it matters,” Lundy said.
“No, what matters is that freeing them will piss off the guys that locked us up,” Hale said.
Lundy thought about it for a moment and said, “That’s a valid point.”
Hale nodded and said, “Yes, it is, sir.”
“If I might make a suggestion?” Dr. Nichols said.
“Of course, Doctor,” Lundy said.
“Why don’t we just split the difference?”
“What do you mean?” Lundy asked.
“How about we just leave them laying there, we don’t wake them up, but we unlock their cages? Leave it in Fate’s hands, so to speak,” Dr. Nichols suggested.
Lundy nodded slowly for a second and then said, “Fair enough.” He then nodded at Hale.
Lieutenant Hale proceeded to unlock the four cages as Lundy led the others over to Rogers who was still standing guard in front of the elevator with the shotgun.
“Might I make another suggestion, sir?” Dr. Nichols said.
Lundy turned to Dr. Nichols and said, “What?”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to take the elevator.”
“He’s right,” Peterson said. “They may have guards posted.”
Hale walked up and said, “Then we can’t take the stairs either for the same reason.”
Lundy nodded as he looked around. Then he pointed.
“That must lead somewhere,” Lundy said.
Everyone followed Lundy’s finger until they were all staring at the catwalk high above them on the other side of the boiler room.
“Got to be safer than the elevator or the stairs,” Dr. Nichols said.
Lundy slapped Dr. Nichols on the shoulder and said, “We might make a soldier out of you yet, Doc.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Dr. Nichols mumbled.
“Come on,” Lundy said as he headed toward the other side of the room.
The others followed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Molly led us all down the escalator and across the thoroughfare to the center of the mall. She stopped in front of the large carousal.
“Now we ride the ponies to where the bad witches are,” Jack said.
What the hell was he talking about?
“You said that before,” Molly said.
“Actually, Orin did,” Jack said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked Jack.
Jack just grinned at me and said, “Come on.” He then hopped onto the carousal and weaved through the horses and toward the center.
Molly squealed as Orin grabbed her under the arms and lifted her up onto the carousal. He hopped up after her, and I followed.
We circled the center and stopped at a door that was almost hidden due to an elaborate carving of a dragon breathing fire.
Jack ran his palm across the carving as he hunted for a handle, but Molly beat him to it and slid it open and scurried inside.
Jack followed her, then Orin, and then me.
I slid the door closed behind us.
The center was a mass of machinery, but there was just enough room for us to navigate between the machinery and the curved wall.
I followed Orin for a few feet and then he stopped. Then he shuffled forward and stopped again. Then he crouched and I could see a hatchway in the carousal’s floor. I saw the top of Jack’s blonde head disappear as Orin bent down and grabbed the top rung of a ladder.
He lowered himself down and I followed.
“Ouch! That was my fingers!” Jack said.
“Sorry,” Orin said.
“Would you slow pokes hurry up?” I heard Molly say from somewhere down below us.
“You guys have done this before? You’re sure it’s safe?” I asked.
“Yes,” Orin said.
“And no,” I heard my brother say.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Colonel Lundy and his men found a metal ladder that led up to the catwalk. Peterson, being the tallest, had to jump up and grab the lowest rung in order to slide the ladder down and extend it, like a fire escape. Then Lundy led them all up to the catwalk.
“You were right, sir. It looks like it does lead somewhere,” Hale said as they approached a meshed gate.
Lundy nodded as he lifted the metal clasp and pushed. The gate swung open and Lundy led his men into a concrete tunnel that was softly lit by dull lights spaced out along the tunnel’s ceiling.
“What’s that smell?” Dr. Nichols whispered.
“I think you’re still smelling Morgan,” Rogers said.
“Oh, right,” Dr. Nichols said.
“Go to hell,” Morgan hissed.
“You first, Corporal,” Rogers whispered.
Lundy held his right hand up in a fist as he stopped and cocked his head.
His men stopped short behind him.
Lundy turned and motioned to Rogers.
Rogers lifted the shotgun higher and pressed forward until he was shoulder to shoulder with Lundy.
Lundy leaned over and whispered into Roger’s left ear, “I think I heard something.”
They had stopped at a corner in the tunnel. They could either turn left or continue straight ahead.
Lundy figured that would depend on what was around the corner.
Rogers cocked his head and listened.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Did you hear that?” Orin asked as I let go of the ladder and splashed into a small puddle on the tunnel’s floor.
“What?” Jack said.
“I thought I heard voices,” Orin said.
“Maybe it’s ghosts,” I suggested.
Both Jack and Orin flashed me a dirty look.
Molly put a finger to her lips and patted the air softly with her other hand. Then she turned on tiptoes and stole down the tunnel.
I had always found that I can be much quieter walking on my heels than I can on my toes. So that’s what I did.
Jack and Orin were obviously too macho for tippy toes, so they just splish-splashed noisily behind Molly until she stopped and turned and gave them both a dirty look much dirtier than the ones they had both given me just moments before.
Molly put her right index finger to her lips again as she made a bunny’s head out of her tiny left fist. She stood the bunny’s head on it’s ears and then walked the ears slowly. In other words, ‘Shut up, you noisy boys, and be quiet!’
“Bernie was just kidding about ghosts, Molly. There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Jack bellowed.
Actually, Jack didn’t bellow, he was talking in his normal voice, but the acoustics of the tunnel made it seem like he had bellowed, his voice bouncing off the wall and echoing down both ends of the tunnel.
Molly began smacking her lips with her finger as she began smacking the air angrily with her left palm like a pissed off traffic cop.
Molly’s intensity sent a tingle up and down my spine.
I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I slowly slipped my pistols out of their holsters.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Ghosts?” Rogers mouthed to Lundy.
Lundy frowned and nodded.
Rogers tucked the shotgun’s stock further into the crook of his shoulder as he lifted the muzzle an inch higher.
Lundy counted off one, two, three, with his fingers; first his thumb, then his index finger, then his middle finger, and then a nod to Rogers.
Rogers swung the shotgun’s barrel around the corner as he stepped to his right.
He almost pulled the trigger from shock.
Then he swung the shotgun’s barrel up toward the ceiling as he took a step back and stared into the large, frightened brown eyes of a small blonde girl in pigtails.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Molly slowed and
then stopped as the tunnel dead ended.
Then she hopped backwards as a large figure appeared from around the corner.
I raised and pointed my pistols at the figure.
The figure was pointing a shotgun at Molly but he quickly jerked the muzzle up toward the ceiling as I drew a bead on him.
“Drop it!” I said as I brushed between Jack and Orin.
I kept my pistols on the man as I stepped forward and positioned myself between Molly and the man holding the shotgun.
“You’re her,” the man said.
“Excuse me?” I said as I took a step toward him.
“The Deville girl, you’re her,” the man said.
“And who are you?” I asked.
“I’m with him,” the man said as he nodded toward his left.
I glanced to my right in time to see a giant hand coming around the corner at me.
Then everything went black.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Was that absolutely necessary?” Dr. Nichols asked.
“She was pointing pistols at one of my men,” Lundy said. “Besides, I used an open hand. She’ll be okay. Probably won’t even have a headache.”
“I don’t know. She dropped to the ground pretty hard,” Rogers said.
“Would you have preferred I let her shoot you?” Lundy asked.
“She wouldn’t have shot you,” Jack said.
“She might shoot all of you when she wakes up, though,” Orin said.
Jack, Orin, and Molly were sitting on the cement floor of the tunnel, their backs against a brick wall and their fingers laced on top of their heads.
Dr. Nichols was crouched and examining Bernice’s head.
Lundy and the rest of his men were standing side by side and staring down at Orin, Jack, and Molly.
“What are you kids doing creeping around down here armed to the teeth?” Lundy asked.
Lundy’s men had confiscated Bernice’s pistols and knife as well as Orin’s two pistols.
“My name’s not ‘Kid’!” Molly said.
“I didn’t say it was, kid,” Lundy said.
“I’m ruining my dress and my butt is getting all wet,” Molly said.
“It’s a hard life, kid,” Lundy said. Then he turned his gaze toward Orin and said, “I’m asking you again. What were you doing down here?”
“Riding the ponies to where the bad witches are,” Orin.
Molly giggled.
Lundy frowned and said, “What?”
“My sister wanted to see who was in the cages,” Jack said.
“We were in the cages,” Lundy said.
“Are you bad witches?” Molly asked.
“I don’t get it. What’s all this talk about witches, kid?” Lundy asked.
“My name’s not ‘Kid’. It’s Molly.”
“Okay, Molly, what’s all this talk about witches?”
Dr. Nichols looked up from Bernice to Lundy and said, “I believe she’s referring to Category Six’s, sir.”
Lundy looked over at Dr. Nichols and said, “Rheostats?”
Dr. Nichols nodded.
Lundy looked back at Molly said, “Is that right, Molly? The people in the cages, do their eyes glow?”
Molly nodded.
“You don’t know? I thought you said you were down there with them,” Orin said.
“They’re asleep,” Lundy said.
“Uh oh,” Dr. Nichols said. “Look at this, sir.”
Lundy turned and stepped over to where Dr. Nichols was crouched. Dr. Nichols was using two fingers to hold open Bernice’s left eyelid. Her eye was so bright it was practically florescent.
Lundy bent at the waist and stared down at Bernice’s eye.
“She’s turned,” Lundy said.
“Yes, sir, it appears so,” Dr. Nichols said.
Then Bernice’s left eyeball began to quiver as her right eyelid began to flutter.
Dr. Nichols withdrew his fingers from her left eyelid and said, “I think she’s coming around.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Dr. Nichols?” I said.
At first I thought I was dreaming.
I was laying on something cold and wet and staring into the eyes of Dr. Nichols.
“You’re going to be okay, B. It’s just a little bump,” Dr. Nichols said.
I propped myself up onto my right forearm as I reached back with my left hand and rubbed my head where it throbbed just behind my left ear.
I then turned my head and stared up at a group of men, I counted six, all dressed in battle fatigues.
“Who hit me?” I asked as I glared up at the men.
The one who looked the oldest frowned down at me and said, “I did. You were threatening one of my men.”
“Who are you?” I asked as I pushed up off my right arm and tried to stand.
Dr. Nichols placed a hand on my right shoulder and said, “Whoa, B, take it easy. You hit your head when you fell.”
I shrugged his hand away but I sat down, feeling dizzy.
I then looked back up at the oldest soldier again and said, “I asked you who you are.”
The soldier stared down at me with steel gray eyes that I noticed nearly matched the color of the short cropped hair on his head.
“I heard you,” was all he said.
I took a guess and said, “You’re the men that were chasing us after we left Atlanta.”
“Oh, terrific,” I heard Orin say.
I then looked over and saw Orin, Jack, and Molly sitting on the ground with their backs against the tunnel’s wall and their hands on top of their heads.
I looked back up at the gray haired soldier and said, “What is this? What’s going on?”
The soldier continued to stare down at me, studying me, and then he finally nodded as if he had reached some sort of decision.
“I’m Colonel Lundy of the U.S. Army.”
“And why have you been following us?” I asked.
“We just want to talk with you,” the colonel said.
“So talk.”
The colonel looked up and down the tunnel and then said, “Not here, not now.”
“Why not? We’re here right now,” I said.
The colonel looked down at me again and said, “First, we need to get out of here, then we’ll talk.”
I tried to stand again and Dr. Nichols helped me by gently grabbing the upper part of my right arm.
I stood on wobbly legs and said, “I’ll take you to Moira.”
“Moira?” the colonel said.
“She runs this place. She’s in charge here,” I explained.
“Damn that,” one of the other soldiers said.
The colonel shook his head and said, “No, we need to leave here, leave this mall.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Orin said.
“I have more men on the outside, across the street,” the colonel said.
“I can’t leave,” I said.
“Like you have much of a choice,” one of the soldiers said.
“I need to find out what’s happening to me,” I said.
“We can explain that. That’s why we want to talk to you, but not here. It isn’t safe,” the colonel said.
I looked over at Dr. Nichols and he nodded.
“They just want to help, B,” Dr. Nichols said.
I thought about it for a moment and then turned back to the colonel, shook my head, and said, “There are others like me here. I’m thinking they can do a better job of explaining what’s happening to me than you can.”
The colonel stared at me for a long moment. The expression on his face was pensive and full of concentration. He was trying to make his mind up about something. That was obvious.
Then he said, “Lieutenant.”
The colonel moved to his left as one of his men stepped over and took his place in front of me. He was a very handsome man, average height, late twenties probably, with short brown hair and bright blue eyes. He tucked his chin to his chest and brought h
is right palm up to his face, his middle finger touching the corner of his left eye. It was a quick fluid movement and when he raised his chin I saw what looked like a drop of bright blue liquid resting in the middle of his palm. Then I looked back up at his face. His left eye was no longer blue. It was a bright brilliant gold.
“Trust us,” was all he said.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Bradley McMillan walked around the carousal. He wasn’t looking at the carousal, though. He was looking at the fronts of the stores and establishments that surrounded it.
Where had she gone?
It was as if she and the others had just disappeared into thin air.
His eyes came to rest on the front of a candle shop.
Chicks dug candles, right? He walked over to the candle shop, entered, and was suddenly hit with the rich, sweet aroma of scented candles. Yeah, this was a chick shop, he thought. It smells like a bubble bath. He didn’t know any guys who would shop in a place like this, unless they were shopping for some chick they wanted to nail.
It was a small shop and it only took Bradley half a minute to search the entire place.
No Devil Girl.
Damn.
He walked back out into the mall’s thoroughfare.
She’d left the food court and had headed this way. She wasn’t in the coffee shop. She wasn’t in the candy shop. She hadn’t gone back to her cubicle at Macy’s. No one was in the perfume shop. The lights in the bookstore were off and it was deserted.
Then it hit him.
The only place he hadn’t checked.
He turned and headed back to the escalators.
She has to be with the old woman, he thought.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Joe sat behind the receptionist’s old desk with his feet propped up and crossed on a corner. He was leaning back in the comfortable swivel chair with his eyes closed, and looked as if he was sleeping. Actually, he was suspended in deep thought.
Was Moira going to be able to control her grandson?