by Aline Riva
“Emma,” he said kindly, “That's not Hell. Don't be silly. There's no Heaven or Hell, okay? Just earth and us humans. I'm not afraid of Hell because I don't believe in it, I'm an atheist, so what ever is behind those gates, I'm sure it's not what you think it is and it certainly won't frighten me. I don't believe in angels or devils. So tell me, what's really behind those gates?”
She drew in a deep breath, closing her eyes as she steadied herself, then she snapped her eyes open wide again, meeting his gaze sharply as she gave her reply.
“Those gates,” she said in a low voice filled with dread, “Are the gates of Hell!”
Chapter 6: Dawn of War
As Mortiz entered the makeshift laboratory, the two captives had stiffened, sensing something dreadful as if the stink of death that he carried about him was about to form a dark, misty being that would wrap ghostly hands about their throats. Death was in the air.
“It has been long enough,” Mortiz said to Adrienne and Carrie as they stood beside the bench where their failed experiments still sat, and then the armed guards seized them and led the two women to the lift.
Now they were free of the old haunted house, having been marched out of the attraction and across the park, passing carousels and old hot dog stands and toffee apple stalls and a big coconut shy. Far in the distance, the rollercoaster loomed tall like the back bone of some towering deformed dinosaur. The thought of escape was tearing at the minds of the two women, but the guards were all around them and the task impossible.
“We have visitors,” Mortiz announced as he led the way, gesturing to the large, solid gates in the distance, “They have come far, but far enough. If they want the gates opened, perhaps I should allow them to find a way in then see how long they last in the Death Corridor. Those who make it beyond will discover the horrors of the Undersea Walk...I have monitors for several areas of the park that still work well... so far it has been amusing.”
He stopped sharply, turning back to face them as the breeze caught the hem of his cloak and he smiled.
“Do not hold hope of rescue. That hope is pointless and unrealistic.”
Then he led them on, to a place where a long, high wooden fence blocked the view of what lie beyond. The stink of death was over powering as the two women were marched through a gateway, then the bolts were secured once more as the guard stood close by, cutting off hope of escape. Mortiz stood with them in a narrow alleyway, now they were trapped by high fencing both sides, and as he opened a second doorway, a flight of steps were visible.
“Take them to the top,” he said to the guards, and then the women struggled, but were forced in through the doorway, then dragged up the steps, as Mortiz followed on, his eyes glittering darkly as their screams echoed about the climb to the top.
The whole of the stairway was boarded, the boards tightly closed together allowing no light to escape through and all that surrounded them on their forced journey to the top was the stink of death mixing in with what should have been the scent of fresh wood being warmed through by summer sun, here the light could not get in but the stench had, and the moans of the dead somewhere beyond this place grew louder and louder by the minute...
Further off across the former amusement park, David and Rick looked up at the tall, solid metal gates that barred their way. They had crossed the bridge with the others, Flossie had followed, then Sandra had pitied Emma who lingered behind, gone back over the bridge, took her by the hand and led her across to join them, promising her that Rick had been right – these were just gates and Hell did not exist...
“There has to be a way in,” David said.
“Well I can't see it,” Rick replied, looking up at the solid gates, “Nothing to climb over, nothing to get through...the path is solid concrete and if you look at the posts between those panels, they go deep... we couldn't dig through if we wanted to.”
“Mortiz could be behind this gate.”
As David spoke those words he saw the look in Rick's eyes change to one of determination.
“You shouldn't have said that to me,” he replied, “You could be wrong and we could walk into a starving horde. Or you could be right and we could all wind up dead. I'm starting to think I should have taken this on by myself – no point in all of us dying.”
Lois shot him a look of alarm.
“Dying? But I thought you said we were leaving -”
“Not now!” Rick told her sharply, but as the eyes of the others fixed on him, waiting for an explanation, he gave a sigh and shook his head as he turned back to David.
“You're leaving us?” David asked.
“Mortiz is my fight,” Rick replied, “My grudge, my battle. None of this is fair on any of you. And I told Lois when this is over, once I've settled the score – assuming I survive – I want us to find somewhere reasonably secure, so we can try and settle down and forget the rest of the world. This isn't one man's fight, David. It's not a job for our group, either – the armies of the world failed to stop them, the scientists couldn't come up with a cure for the virus either. What's left? I'll tell you what's left, us in an amusement park looking at a gate we can't open and me with murder on my mind because of what happened at the plaza! Yes, I want Mortiz wiped off the face of this earth but after that, I just want peace.”
The others remained silent, his words echoing sentiments they had all felt to some degree over the passing months, all of them wishing for a better tomorrow that reminded them of a yesterday that had been wiped out by the undead ravaging the world.
David slowly nodded.
“Of course you do, no one can blame you for wanting that,” he replied, “But we're with you through this – we all want Mortiz gone.”
“And he may or may not be behind that gate,” Jason added, stepping forward as the sunlight shone on the clear mask that covered the burnt side of his face, “If we can't get in, we should turn back. It's bad enough back there - the deeper we go, the worse it will get.”
David shook his head.
“A few undead wandering about...we're not out of ammo yet. We've got this far and all made it, why shouldn't we go on? Even the mutant animals pose us no threat.”
“That's a good point,” Tara agreed, “But for once I have to agree with Jason – we can't go on if we can't get past that gate. It's a solid steel structure. There's no way in.”
“But Mortiz could be in there,” Rick repeated, recalling David's words, “We have to find a way...I'm looking to the trees but they've been cut back so the branches don't touch between this side and the other. It's a proper deliberate divide...” he looked to Emma, “Were the trees cut back like this in the days of the amusement park?”
She shook her head.
“One day it was just here...the divide. The gates to Hell.”
“Here we go again!” Jason complained.
Rick stepped closer to Emma.
“Are you sure Mortiz is still here?” he asked her.
Confusion clouded her eyes.
“First came Mortiz, then the undead...I remained safe in the hall of mirrors.”
“So you don't know for sure?”
“I know he is the Devil!” she yelled as panic flickered in her eyes.
“And that makes sense, thank you, Emma, “ Rick said, looking back to David, “I've worked it out. According to Emma, he's the Devil and these are his gates. You're right, we have to find a way in. The bastard's hiding in there, and I''m going to find him!”
Mortiz had followed on behind as the guards had taken the women to the top of the wooden tower. As the doorway at the top was flung open with a thud, their screams became sharper as they realised exactly what lie in store.
As Mortiz stepped out on to the wide platform, the stink of death had no effect on him as he looked down at the starving horde below, their dead faces looking up as they reached towards him, hands outstretched as they moaned and groaned and hunger burned in their eyes.
“This,” he said, “Is the price of failure.”
/> His statement had been directed to the younger woman. Carrie's face had paled and her legs had weakened as fear had taken over and banished all urge to fight. They were looking down into a pit of the undead, starving and reaching for them...
“And you shall meet the same fate as the professor,” he continued, “If you work as slowly as she did! Take note, young lady! Watch and learn!”
Then he nodded to the guards.
Adrienne shot a glance of horror to Carrie, a look the young woman could never forget, it was cast in the moment before the guards pitched her over the edge of the platform and down into the clutches of the undead. She screamed, reaching up for help that would not come, her hand grasping at nothing, then as her throat was torn out, Adrienne sank as a drowning woman lost in a sea of undead, as the horde covered her.
Mortiz looked to Carrie.
“You were her student. Continue with her work and give me the result I need, or you shall also be fed to the undead.”
The scientist was on the brink of collapse as he told the guard to return her to the laboratory, then he led the way, back down the stairway and through the wooden door, across the alley then out the second door, where a waiting guard had a message for him.
“They are still on the other side of the barrier, sir,” he said.
“Is the trap about to be set?” asked Mortiz.
“Done, sir.”
In the distance there was a crash as a tree was felled, then a groan of metal sounded as two strong, high panels came apart.
He smiled.
“Good work! I am off to watch the monitor. This should be very entertaining...”
Then he made his way back across the fairground towards the haunted house, rubbing his hands together as darkness glittered in his eyes and he thought of the trap he had laid for the intruders...It would get worse, progressively worse. They would regret ever stopping foot into the park, and not one of them would live to tell the tale...
As the boom had sounded and the tree hand crashed down a short distance from the gates, the group had turned and stared at the sight of the two panels forced apart by the fallen tree.
“That was good timing!” Rick exclaimed.
“Maybe to good,” David said, and clutching his weapon, he led the way towards the place where the fallen tree hand slammed into a weak point in the fencing, where two panels had been joined without the added strength of a post, here the tall trunk was uprooted, the roots twisting skyward and the trunk making a pathway through to the other side of the park.
“It's really that easy?” Tara said in surprise.
By now the others had caught up, and as David stood on the trunk of the tree and looked through to a shady clearing that led to a wide path that was signposted, pointing the way to another area of theme park rides, Rick cautiously inspected the twisted remains of the metal fencing.
“This was bolted together,” he said, “The rest of the panels have posts...what's the odds on something felling that tree to fall on this point of the fence, the only part that can come down?”
David nodded in agreement then looked to the others.
“Weapons ready,” he ordered, “Use the ammo if you have to but don't waste it...I see nothing out of the ordinary yet, this is either a huge coincidence or it's a trap...”
“How can it be a coincidence?” Rick asked as David climbed through to the other side and jumped down from the fallen tree and he followed, then stepped aside, pausing as the others passed through, then Flossie took a running jump, clearing the tree well and landing on her feet a short distance ahead.
“I'm thinking about those mutant lions,” David replied.
Rick considered his theory and shrugged.
“I guess one of those things could easily uproot a tree. That noise we heard, it could have been a creature tearing up the roots...possibly.”
“Or an explosion, but I see no evidence of it,” David replied, looking about the gaping hole in the ground where the tree had been violently uprooted, leaving a deep pit of earth and more earth scattered about the clearing from the force of the event.
Now they were all through to the other side, Flossie had gone on ahead, her gaze focussed on her brains on a stick as she walked up the path, and the others followed, but the gateway to this area of fairground was closed, and here they came to a stop as they looked about.
“I thought this was open when we first came through,” David said, looking to the others, “I was sure this gate was wide open...”
“I think the rest of us were too concerned with the tree falling the way it did,” Tara replied, “I didn't notice the gates, I just looked in and saw no ambush waiting.”
Emma looked about fearfully.
“Evil is about this place!” she exclaimed.
Sandra put her hand on her shoulder.
“Yes there is, but not the kind you imagine. He's just a man, in charge of some bad people. We can handle him, okay?”
Emma just looked back at her fearfully, saying nothing in reply.
Then Lois turned her head sharply, noticing Flossie had darted off down a narrow pathway that branched off from the one that led to the gates.
“No!” she called out, “Flossie, get back here!”
Rick's gaze registered a brief moment of alarm, then he shook his head.
“I can't decide if she's more zombie, kid or dog sometimes!” he exclaimed, “She'll be okay...”
“Yeah, she'll be fine,” Tara added, casting a look of uncertainty about the rest of the group.
“She probably knows her way around, she'll get back to us,” Lois concluded, “Won't she, Rick?”
He gave a weary sigh, turning in the direction of the narrow pathway as concern reflected in his eyes again as he made his decision.
“Flossie!” he yelled, “Get back here right now!”
Then he dashed up the pathway and the others followed, partly worried for the mutant child and partly curious to know what had distracted her so sharply and taken her off on an unknown path.
The group had followed the pathway around to the back of the tall, spiked railings that barred the way to the second amusement park area. Suddenly the railings ended, replaced by tall wooden fencing that stretched on for a distance, it ran all the way to the other end of the park where the railings started up again, around the back of the rollercoaster ride.
“There she is!” Rick said, and the relief he felt was audible in his voice as he went over to Flossie, who was stood in front of a wooden doorway, sniffing curiously at the tiny gap between the solid door and the fence.
As the others wandered over, Lois giggled as she glanced at Tara.
“Just now, when Rick said that, he sounded just like my ex when we went on holiday a few years back.. his dog got out and we had to go round the streets calling for it. He was so relieved when he found him again, Rick had that same tone of voice when he found Flossie!”
Then as she turned to Flossie and watched as Rick spoke kindly to her and patted her head and smoothed down her chestnut hair with a gentle touch of his metallic hand. As the girl looked up at him, Lois was surprised by the fondness she felt for the mutant child.
“It sounds crazy,” she said, “But we're both growing fond of her.”
“That's not so crazy,” Tara replied as she watched Rick as he spoke to Flossie and she stood there looking up at him, “She's not undead. She's not even whole mutant. She was infected by an animal bite, she's different.”
Then David caught up with Rick and looked to the doorway. It was secured on the outside by two heavy bolts top and bottom, but it was set into fencing that was too high to see over – knowing what was on the other side was impossible without going through...
As the others gathered closer, David listened at the door, but heard nothing beyond it.
“It opens from this side,” he pointed out.
“But Flossie could smell something,” Rick added, “And I don't know what it is because she's got no way of telling us.�
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“What is it, Flossie?” Lois asked.
The child looked at her, then looked to the door, then down at the brains on a stick and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully as she met her gaze again, the look in her eyes conveying nothing Lois understood.
“I saw a map on the way over here," Jason said, “I think this part leads to the water attractions...I'm sure it's past the second fairground.”
“We are right on top of the sea,” Tara added, “And we haven't found the part that backs on to the sea yet, so we must be on the right track.”
“But where's Mortiz?” Rick wondered.
“Fairground or water park,” David concluded, “If he's still here, he can't be anywhere else.”
“Then we go in,” Rick said, reaching up and sliding back the upper bolt as David released the lower.
It was David who pushed the door open and stepped inside first. He looked left and right, seeing a corridor that was narrow, here both sides were made of sturdy wooden fencing, the area above it was also wooden, serving as a roof, but the gaps in the woodwork allowed sunlight to filter through here and there, lending light to an otherwise pitch black tunnel where the stink of death blended with the smell of sun warming through wood. The whole area was clear. There was a closed door at one end, but up the other, the narrow space where no more than two people at a time could walk along, suddenly opened up wider, where there stood two more doorways, and they were closed, too.
“Must be some kind of staff passage from one area of the theme park to another,” David concluded, “We're certainly not in danger – there's nothing here!”
He walked down the narrow corridor, turned back as Toby was the last one in, closing the door behind them to ensure no wandering dead followed. As the group stood there in the narrow corridor, David addressed them.
“We'll take the corridor to the end and get the doors open and see where they both lead. I suggest we search one route at a time together – no splitting up!”