“We have to kill ourselves to get back?” Jeff asked. Bryan shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t want to die but the guy was right, how else would you get back to the factory? “Are we sure the factory is where we want to go?” Amy asked. Again Bryan shrugged. He really had no clue but if Hitler or someone like him wasn’t on Earth then there was nothing for them here to pursue.
Cisco listened to their conversation and finally decided to chime back in. “Here’s the deal. The factory has scouts everywhere. Almost every suicide you read about is just a scout reporting on the location of a target of interest to the people upstairs. Right now you guys are off the grid. If you died you would just appear up there and could have anywhere from an hour to a week before they found you” Cisco explained.
“I bet if you look up the obituaries you will find a trail of bodies that led your assassin buddy right to you.” Unfortunately the train didn’t have an internet connection so they couldn’t really test that theory but it did explain how the man had found them so easily. They did hear that the guy who ran one of the cabin services near the general store they shopped at had taken his life the day before the killer had shown up. Things were starting to add up and the factory was starting to sound like a very cold and evil place.
Cisco leaned in and looked Bryan in the eyes “I have some poison, you three could take it and be out in under a minute. The train won’t reach Canada for at least 3 days. I will lock this car up tight and nobody will find your bodies until then at the minimum. I will try to take care of you guys after that but it will be hard to not be seen once the train stops.”
Bryan told Cisco they would have to discuss it so he went back to his corner of the car while the three argued it out. Jeff was opposed completely and wanted to opt out. Bryan reminded him that he was wanted for kidnapping two teenagers and probably shouldn’t ever be seen in public again. Amy hated the idea too, she was afraid that she would never see Bryan again if they failed. Bryan got more than a little annoyed about the resistance to the plan and snapped. “Well, just what the hell do you suppose we do?” he practically screamed. “Just go hide and Canada and watch the world self-destruct?”
The two finally relented. He was right; it was the only way to get back to the factory and nobody wanted to see the outcome if their hunch was right about the factory’s plans. Amy had two conditions, she wanted to get drunk and she wanted to be with Bryan one last time. Bryan couldn’t say no to that, he would never deprive Amy of her wishes. Never mind how awkward it was going to be for Jeff and Cisco to witness.
Chapter 21- Back to you Dave
Dave was preparing to check out of his cabin. He was thankful that the area was so secluded and that the owners were not nosy. His cabin wasn’t in such bad shape but the poor neighbors across the lake had left an awful mess. He had checked their paperwork and they had the cabin for a few more days so he should be long gone before the scene was discovered.
He did still have two girls tied up in the back room. He kept the girl from the car and also took the teen daughter of his neighbors. He planned on dispatching them as well and had decided to go back to the other cabin to do it. He figured that killing everyone over there would buy him a few days.
After loading all his equipment into the car he went back inside for a once over and to retrieve the girls. They had been very good to him and he honestly considered letting them live but it really wasn’t in his character. Why pass up on the chance to get a thrill?
Dave kicked the door to the bedroom open and the two girls shrieked. Dave laughed and said “You two are wound to tight. You really outta get some clothes on too, you’ll catch your death out there!” He threw a couple t-shirts at them which landed on their heads. “Oh, I suppose I should untie you right?” he asked. He had them hogtied back to back and to the bedpost. He was quite the excellent knots-man and they hadn’t been able to budge them one bit with their concentrated squirming.
Dave produced his knife and cut their restraints off. He could’ve untied the knots but this method was much more frightening and dramatic. “I’m gonna let you ride like big girls in the back seat. You better not try anything funny, you know what a good shot I am” he warned. They had not slept, ate, or had any water in over a day so they weren’t in peak escape shape anyways.
Dave leaned in to speak to the younger one “We are going back to your daddy’s cabin so you can meet up with him.” He snarled. Tears started to flow from her eyes. The other girl started sobbing uncontrollably as well. The older girl asked “Why can’t you just leave us here? We did everything you asked of us, it’s the least you could do” she pleaded. Dave smacked her hard enough to send her reeling. “Actually, it’s the MOST I could do and your little attitude isn’t helping anything. You better keep that face of yours from bleeding on the carpet or I will just finish you both right now”
She spit blood from her lip onto his face and screamed “Then do it!” and gave him a shove. Dave fell back against the wall, caught off guard by her sudden strength and determination. He laughed, switched his knife to his dominate hand and faked a lunge at her. She screamed and cowered back into the corner. Dave laughed again.
“I thought you were gonna fight?” he asked which caused the younger one to leap into action. She dove into him at stomach level and tackled him against the dresser which sent the country knick-knacks flying. The older girl picked up a strand of rope and wrapped it around Dave’s neck. “Now we’re talking” he said as she tried to choke him. Her weak arms couldn’t pull tight enough but his breathing was restricted enough to slow him a bit.
The younger girl rolled off him and grabbed a wooden jewelry box off the dresser. She was about to smash it across his forehead when his left leg came up and kicked her so hard between the legs that she lifted off the ground. She was out of the fight and was writhing on the carpet bleeding. Dave looked over at the older one who was trying to choke him out and smiled. She looked gorgeous with rage twisting her face. He started to fantasize about torturing her when he realized he was starting to pass out.
Dave grabbed at the rope and yanked it out of the girl’s hands. It really was too easy and he was amazed that she had almost knocked him out with her feeble strength. “My turn” he said as he straddled her and put his hands around her throat. He choked her until she passed out and then let her go.
Dave got up, kicked the young one again and told her to stay put. He went out to the car, grabbed a bag and his pistol. When he came back in the two were lying right where he had left them. He nudged the young one with his foot and told her to prop her friend up against the bed. “Get together you two” he said and smacked the older one trying to wake her back up. She didn’t budge so he went and got a glass of water from the refrigerator.
The water did the trick and she screamed when she was so rudely awakened. She realized she was still in hell and you could see the defeat in her eyes. Neither of them would be fighting anymore, they were beaten. Dave yelled “Listen up” to them and they faked attention to him to keep any further pain from coming their way.
“You two did well. You almost had me for a second there” he said. “I’ve brought you a present, well, two presents actually. I am giving you your life and I am giving you this bag. It has $100,000 in it and I don’t have a need for it” he told them. He unzipped the bag and showed them the stacks of bills inside. They looked at each other and some hope reappeared in their eyes. It wasn’t a great payout for what he had put them through, but it was better than dying by far.
“I’m even gonna give you my car, but we are gonna have some fun with this” he said with a snicker. “You see, YOUR hands ain’t gonna work” he said pointing at the young one “and your feet ain’t gonna work” he said to the other. The fear quickly returned to their eyes, just what was he going to do to them?
They found out soon enough when he slit both Achilles’ tendons on one girl and put a bullet through the center of the younger girl’s hands. He bandaged them up so they wouldn’t ble
ed to death and dragged them to within 10 feet of the car. “Have at it” he said and threw the keys 20 feet back in the other direction. He placed the bag of money in the car for them and started to walk down the road. It was only 3 miles to the trail-head the others had run off on. Besides, it was worth it and this was so much more fun than killing them.
Dave arrived at the trail-head about 35 minutes later and proceeded down the trail. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for but maybe the three were still camping out there somewhere. They didn’t seem the strongest of characters. Maybe his arrival broke them down and they were out cowering under a rock somewhere. Dave was pretty convinced that nobody was as strong as him. He longed for the days that he could serve under a ruthless dictator again and perform acts like he had just committed all day long without repercussions. “Maybe in my next life if I am a good boy” he laughed to himself.
Dave searched until the sun went down. He couldn’t find any evidence that the three had been there at all. They either blazed down the trail at a high rate of speed or they weren’t here at all. They could have gone the other way but he had covered that ground earlier since the trail went by the cabin he was staying in. He was about ready to set up his camp for the night when he heard rustling in the woods near him. Dave ducked behind a tree and watched.
A few minutes later a lone man pushed his way out of the brush and onto the trail. He stopped and looked in either direction and decided to head right towards Dave. The man had been using a UV light and Dave noticed markings in the brush where he had emerged from. Something was going on here. He decided he would ask the man a couple questions.
Dave lunged out from cover and tackled the man as he came walking by. Within a second Dave had his knife pressed to the man’s throat hard enough to slightly choke him. “Woah buddy” the man choked out. Dave responded “I wouldn’t talk too much, you might cut yourself. I’m gonna ask you some questions and you’re gonna tell me what I want to know or you will bleed a lot” Dave warned. The man nodded ever so slightly.
“Where are you coming from?” Dave asked and let pressure off the knife so the man could answer. “Uhh…’m just camping” the guy replied. Dave pushed the blade in enough to break the skin. “Strike one” he said. “I suggest we try this again with a little honesty” he suggested. The man knew he was a goner if he didn’t cooperate and he didn’t just spend $5,000 to die in the GA woods so he told his story.
“This is an entrance/exit for the underground” he began. “People who have enough money can disappear and reappear in any number of places with all new identities. It’s like witness protection but without cops” he explained. Dave laughed, how ironic considering he was supposed to be a Marshal.
“Have you seen any of these three people?” Dave asked him and showed him the photos. The man shook his head and said “no, they really don’t like people having contact with each other down there. Only if you come as a group do you see anyone else after the waiting room. Your friends could be anywhere from Alaska to Costa Rica” he told Dave.
Dave thanked the guy and told him he might want to go the other direction because all hell was going to break loose the way he was going. The guy took off in the opposite direction and didn’t look back. Dave was about to go back out to the cabins and go out in a blaze of glory. Suicide wasn’t his thing but he needed to get back to the factory. He figured the cops would be all over the place down there by morning so he could have some fun. He had 30 .357 bullets and 4 clips of FN2000 ammo. He set himself a personal goal of 15 cops but he was hoping he could throw in a few civilians and make the count closer to 20.
Chapter 22- Three the hard way
The boxcar was the scene of the strangest party any of the four had been a part of. Cisco had a couple bottles of whiskey and they had been drinking for a couple hours and were well and truly smashed. It was a strange drunk knowing you were going to kill yourself but it was also celebratory knowing they were going to reach the next step in their mission.
Jeff was the most nervous because he didn’t have the experience that Amy and Bryan had. He believed everything they had told him and knew that he would be continuing on but he had some religion and still felt that suicide was a sin. Maybe the stories of being stuck in purgatory had something to do with the factory not being able to find you?
Amy and Bryan had retreated to the far corner of the boxcar for the second time leaving Jeff alone with Cisco. “Hey man,” Jeff inquired “what is this stuff you are going to give us?” Cisco pulled out a small vial and showed him. It had some extremely long scientific name in Latin on it and Jeff wrinkled his nose at it. “It’s a neurotoxin” Cisco said. “It will finish you off by the time you take your first breath of panic. It was developed by the government for use on the battlefield before people got morals and decided that was wrong. It was stored to be used as a way to finish off victims of a nuclear blast, either foreign or domestic.” Jeff shook his head, there was so much wrong with this world that taking his life didn’t seem like such a bad option. He was pretty much stuck anyways; if he let Amy and Bryan go he would be all alone in the world and a refugee in Canada.
“She’s something else” Cisco said and motioned over at Amy. “Well, they have been together over 1,000 years and almost every one of their relationships have ended in tragedy” Jeff told him, “I guess this one is too, it’s almost Shakespearean isn’t it?” he asked. Cisco laughed “I don’t think Shakespeare ever mused about drunken, dirty railroad sex but I suppose on a base level you could say that.” Amy noticed them staring at her and laughing and flipped them both off.
After Amy and Bryan had finished for the third time the group gathered in the middle of the rail-car. They small talked and reminisced about things on earth that had made them happy. It was a silly procedure but people tend to get philosophical when they are faced with their own demise. They drank one more shot of whiskey together and Cisco mixed up three drinks with the neurotoxin in it.
Bryan picked up his first and held it up, “See you on the other side comrades” he said somberly and threw the drink back in one big gulp. His eyes widened, he made a quick gasp and collapsed onto Amy’s lap almost instantly. She quickly grabbed hers and slumped over on top of Bryan. Jeff looked horrified and on the verge of panic. Cisco handed him his glass and he stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. “Your friends are waiting” Cisco reminded him and Jeff stared at their limp bodies for another eternity before finally finding the strength to take the shot. It was an incredible leap of faith for him but he would rather be with Amy and Bryan than Cisco so he took the chance.
He woke up almost immediately in a dreary brown field. Amy and Bryan came rushing over to him and said “It’s about time” almost in unison. Jeff smiled and said “I am so glad to see you, so glad this is real…so…glad” he mumbled as his words trailed off. They were all a little groggy, crossing over is a huge energy expenditure and they felt like they had just run a marathon.
The field stretched out around them for what seemed like forever in every direction. It was broken up on one horizon by what looked like a mountain chain and by a huge wall on the other side. “That’s the factory wall” Bryan said. “We have to be careful, there are scouts picking up bodies everywhere” he pointed out figures in the distance collecting the scheduled dead. “I don’t think they look any different than the rest of us” he offered “Why don’t two of us escort the third one in?” Amy and Jeff agreed. The souls were basically expressionless shells of people. You could consider them placeholders for a real human, the outline you see on a “photo not available” slot on a yearbook.
“Confidence will get us in guys” Jeff said as he and Bryan escorted Amy towards the huge outer wall of the factory. They all took a look around. It was so bleak. No wonder the world was in such bad shape when the closest thing that could be called heaven was so dreary and bland. It was so monochrome in nature that any drastic color would stand out for miles.
The three walked past
several factory workers escorting souls to the factory. It wasn’t hard to look like one of them because they didn’t act as guards per se, more like guides. They were just there to make sure nobody got lost in the vast expanses of the outer perimeter. Jeff and Bryan both wondered out loud if anyone had ever hidden in the hills but agreed that they were so far away that it was unlikely anyone had even made it there.
They passed a scene that must have been a newcore experiencing his first bout of death. He was freaking out and yelling out the names of his loved ones. The factory workers had to restrain him and force him to the ground he was acting so violently. One by one his family appeared. His five year old son was the most experienced and went to his side. “It’s ok daddy, we’re all here and we will all be back soon” he said, stroking his father’s head.
Jeff chuckled to himself. “If you would have told me 2 weeks ago that a 5 year old could have more wisdom than a 40 year old man I would have laughed in your face” he mused. Bryan nodded “I learned that lesson several thousand years ago but yeah, it’s a system shock for sure. Speaking of which, Jeff, how much do you remember now?”
Jeff wrinkled his brow and thought. “You know, I still feel like I am a blank slate. Maybe this was my first time out?” Bryan shrugged, he really felt like Jeff had more wisdom than any newcore he had met. “I dunno man, if so you will be a heck of a recycle one day with all the stuff you have been through in one tiny life.” Jeff had to laugh in agreement with that.
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