As the gas did its job, Dandridge and some more guards cleared out the prisoners and prepared them for the long journey to Gommerstall Prison. Elias remained slumped on the floor, unaware of what his fate would be.
The unconscious prisoners chained to the wall swayed ever so gently in the calm before the inevitable storm.
CHAPTER NINE
The Brave and the Bold
Cassandra’s eyes flicked open and she gently rolled over on the creaky wooden floorboards. The awful smell hit her instantly and she rubbed her nose and grimaced in the dark. She stood up and made the floorboards creak even more.
Her heart was beating faster as she walked towards the only window in the room.
There were two wooden boards nailed against the window frame, she pulled hard to free them; usually she hated touching wood, when she was younger she fell off a slide at a playground and landed on some wood, it snapped and a piece splintered beneath her thumbnail, the doctor managed to get most of it out, but there was still a piece stuck in there for quite a while, since then she had always been skittish about touching wood. But she had to get out no matter the cost and she pulled with all her might but the boards remained firm.
“OH COME ON!” she screamed.
No light was coming into the room and Cassandra panicked more, pulling more on the boards, her head felt like it was going to explode, but she still couldn’t get out.
Cassandra fell to her knees shaking her head, there were only two exits in the room, the boarded up window and the trapdoor where she came in from, she closed her eyes and sighed. A noise from the far end of the room made Cassandra stir and sit up, she couldn’t see but there was definitely a sound coming from the end of the room.
She trembled as if her body had ice cubes poured down her back. It was a weak gurgling sound, like water going down the plug hole, she took a step closer to the back of the room gingerly, she took out her phone again, she knew the battery was low but she had no other choice for light, she flicked it open and the low battery kicked in, she paused whist taking another deep breath. Cassandra shone the phone along the ground, and it lit up, she flexed her hands outwards and stretched hard, she felt something, she reached out and shone the phone deeper.
It was a cot, Cassandra slowly panned the phone around and saw there was more than one cot, three more appeared, she aimed the screen inside the first one and lit-up the blanket.
With almost unnatural speed, the blanket was flung back and something leapt from the cot and fastened itself onto Cassandra, she tumbled and fell on to the floor. It latched itself onto her neck and pulled hard. Cassandra screamed in agony as the thing bit deep.
She held it tight in both hands and yanked it away from her and screamed again, but not in pain, but revulsion at the sickening monster she held in front of her.
Even in the dark it’s features stood out. It was a baby, it had an enormous misshapen head like a giant unripe orange, its eyes were yellow and large, and barely had room to fit on its face. A mouth lopsided and bulged as if it was full of marbles, razor sharp teeth already had a piece from Cassandra’s neck.
She groaned and flung the creature as far as she could across the room. It landed on its back, but with devastating speed it flipped itself over and crawled hurriedly back at Cassandra. She screamed at it in fear and kicked out wildly, striking it on its nose, the infant beast gurgled again but continued its attack, albeit slightly slower.
To her horror, Cassandra heard more gurgling and wheezing from within the room. The other cots were rocking furiously from side to side and she knew she had to go out the way she came. Before she had a chance to act the other three infant monstrosities leapt from their beds and crawled with speed to Cassandra, the stench was overwhelming and within an instant they were upon her. She felt sharp teeth biting into each leg while the third went for the open wound on her neck. The momentum carried Cassandra back against the wall, she pulled it from her neck and it thrashed wildly, lifting it above her head she threw it down onto the two still biting below her.
Cassandra yelled in pain as the two pulled away skin as they were knocked to the ground. The monster’s weight took her by surprise, it was heavier than the first one and had taken the wind out of her attack.
Holding her bleeding neck she now had a chance to run to the hatch and escape. Sobbing with fright she extended the ladder and was about to climb down. But it was too late, the infants were upon her again. All four infants emerged from the corner and were headed straight for her.
It must have been the smell and taste of her blood that attracted them to her, they were cannibals, more extreme creatures designed for entertainment by the Network.
Cassandra couldn’t see but the cameras had captured her struggle and were beaming back to a nation of millions. Before she could get down the narrow hatch in her bid to escape, the four turned on her, biting at her face, Cassandra fell back screaming in agony as the ladder collapsed.
The weight of the mutant toddlers and Cassandra was too much for the brittle ladder and the rung supporting her gave way, the cameras picked up on her screams as she tumbled down covered in infants.
With all four monster children attached to her, their combined weight sent her smashing through the old decaying floor boards.
The infants continued chewing on her as she fell straight through the second floor and crashed down to the first. She landed on one of the infants, which still gurgled even with her body crushing it. Her head started bleeding and she clutched her side as she rolled off of it, grimacing in pain as she did so. The others started to wail uncontrollably and the noise was deafening.
Cassandra gazed upwards at the hole she had just fallen through, bits of wood clung to her hair, and she had a big piece of wood sticking out from her side, her eyes began to flutter as she attempted to pull the shear of wood from her.
Breathless from the pain she eased out the wood and flopped back, one of the infants turned towards her and she swung her fist round and caught it right in the side of its head.
Never had she ever thought in her life of striking a baby…but these creatures were different, if she stayed still long enough then these infants would eat her alive.
She looked over her shoulder and saw the babies righting themselves on all fours to attack once more, she grabbed one and shoved it away, but her arms ached and she was tired and the creature was soon upon her. Biting hard on her already bloody arm, Cassandra felt the pain, but would not accept it, she struggled with the infant on her arm as the others leapt on her back.
She reached out for a weapon of some sort and grabbed some broken wood at her side, ignoring the splinters that now entered her hand, she swung hard and struck its side.
The infant yelped and fell off her, she twisted around and fought wildly, kicking and punching at her miniature attackers. They pulled at her clothes and shredded them with their tiny claws, Cassandra screamed and rolled around as their claws dug deeper on her flesh. “GET OFF ME, YOU BASTARDS!”
Her eyes roamed around her body at the ‘babies’ as she began to pass out from the frenzied attacks on her body until she heard a voice.
“GET OFF HER, BOYS, YOU CAN SHARE HER PARTS LATER…POTTY MOUTH IS MINE NOW, I’LL CUT OUT HER HEART FOR A SANDWICH.” The creature paused. “HMM, A BACON AND HEART SANDWICH. SOUNDS LOVELY RIGHT ABOUT NOW, MIGHT ADD SOME EGG OR CHEESE TO IT.”
The infants recognised the voice immediately and scattered, crawling away with each one having taken a bite from the fallen teenager.
Cassandra was still looking upward when the voice came into view.
“HELLO, POTTY MOUTH.”
The humongous monster who she saw earlier stood over her, his stench, staining the air. The creature grunted. “THE ONES WHO SURVIVE CALL ME ‘STREAKY’ BUT NOT MANY SURVIVE, POTTY MOUTH. IF YOU TRY TO ESCAPE, YOU’LL END UP LIKE ‘FIREHEAD’ HERE.” The beast roared with laughter as Cassandra retched when she saw what was around his neck, it was the head of the red-headed girl she saw in h
is hands earlier, on a gruesome chain.
“SHE WOULDN’T DO WHAT I SAY, SO I TAUGHT HER SOMETHING. WHEN YOU CRY…YOU DIE.”
Cassandra couldn’t hold it in anymore and vomited on to the last remaining infant too slow enough to move away from the orders of ‘Streaky’. “YOU LIKE, POTTY MOUTH? I COULD TWIST OFF YOUR HEAD IF YOU LIKE? WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A SET.”
She wiped her mouth and screamed at him, “YOU SICK FREAK!”
Streaky wheezed and bent down cracking his right hand knuckles against the forearm of his oversized left arm. “ROSES ARE RED VIOLETS ARE BLUE…I’M GONNA GUT YOU LIKE A FISH.”
Cassandra had no more screams inside her and just mouthed her horror at the monster lumbering its way towards her, the creature held a can of lighter fuel in his hand.
“ATE THAT OTHER GIRLY RAW…GONNA COOK YOU THOUGH, SWEETIE, MIGHT ADD MARSHMALLOWS AND PEANUT BUTTER.”
Cassandra scuttled backwards on all fours, ignoring the pain in her side. “WHAT ARE YOU?”
Streaky grinned and put the fuel can down. “TV PEOPLE MAKE ME, PUT ME IN HOUSE AND GAVE ME MY ‘BOYS’. PEOPLE COME TO MY HOUSE AND I GET RID OF THEM FOR TV PEOPLE, STREAKY GOING TO SCRAPE THE FLESH FROM YOUR BONES NOW, POTTY MOUTH, ME START NOW.”
In three quick steps Streaky was standing above the terrified girl, he wrapped his blood-stained hand around her tiny waist and flung her across the room; her body smashed against a glass cabinet.
Rolling around in the glass she looked up at him in contempt more then fear now. Before she could move, she was gracefully lifted her off her feet and hurled into some curtains, the railings broke and followed Cassandra to the ground.
“WATCH STREAKY, BOYS, WATCH HOW YOU CATCH DINNER.”
Streaky went over and picked her up again and squeezed her waist, making Cassandra gasp for breath, the monster laughed as her arms were pinned to her side.
“YOU LOOK NICE POTTY GIRL, ME KISS MY DINNER GOODNIGHT.”
Cassandra struggled but could only thrash around her head, she kept on moving it as Streaky’s head
moved towards hers, a thick black tongue slipped out of his mouth, it was wet and stank like the rest of him, it probed her face and then entered her mouth. Cassandra couldn’t scream even if she’d wanted to.
“YOU TASTE NICE, POTTY MOUTH.”
Cassandra retched and pulled away hard, his foul-tasting saliva tricked down her lips.
“PUT ME DOWN, YOU BASTARD.”
Her outburst angered Streaky and he held her above his head. “I TRY TO BE NICE TO YOU, POTTY MOUTH, BEFORE I EAT YOU.”
Streaky flung her again across the room and Cassandra hit hard against a wall clock, he was on her in a flash and before she knew it, she was flying through the air again, this time crashing into a nest of tables. Her lip had burst and there were more cuts to her head, Cassandra was fading into unconsciousness.
Streaky walked over and dug his nails deep into her thighs, the pain was unbearable and Cassandra screamed, a sound that echoed all around the derelict house.
Grabbing her by the leg he tossed her into a grand piano, Streaky couldn’t play it, it was just placed there by the Network, and Streaky found tapping the keys every now and then kept the ‘boys’ quiet. But now it was a mess of piano wire and teenager.
Cassandra didn’t move, her head was buried deep in the remains of the piano, only her bloody legs were visible, and they twitched ever so slightly. Streaky picked up the fuel can.
“YOU DEAD, POTTY MOUTH? DON’T DIE YET… I WANT TO HAVE SOME MORE FUN WITH YOU, GOING TO MAKE YOU SCREAM NOW, GIRLY.” Streaky shook the fuel can. “GOING TO COOK YOU NOW.” Cassandra still didn’t move. “GOING TO LICK YOUR BONES CLEAN, BECAUSE I’M MEAN.” Still nothing from the piano. “STREAKY LIKE RHYMY SPEAKY WORDS, ME TRY AGAIN. THERE WAS A GIRL WITH A MOUTH LIKE A TRUCKER AND STREAKY THOUGHT I’M JUST GOING TO–”
There was movement from the piano, Cassandra’s legs moved, Streaky cocked his head to the side.
And then for the first time tonight the grotesque giant was speechless, she pulled herself free from the piano and brushed herself down, Streaky couldn’t acknowledge what he saw.
Cassandra’s head was missing, well her head was there…but it wasn’t human, the heavy head breathed hard and shook with adrenaline, a feral grin appeared on her face…the face wasn’t human anymore.
Her eyes were green and illuminated the area around the piano, her fang-filled mouth was sharper than the mutant babies’, she started to chew down on her jaw, her steel gaze never leaving Streaky, he returned the look, unable to free his eyes away from her face.
Her skin had darkened to a reddish-brown and was rough, ragged and hard. It was now elongated by a broad snout with a small horn on the front, and little horns above her eyes. Her head had turned into a magnificent dragon, unlike at the Chicken Shop, her whole head had changed. She still didn’t know how this happened and why, but the facts were clear, she could turn into a dragon, somehow her little shoulders supported her heavy head and she stepped forward as Streaky surprisingly moved backwards.
She opened her mouth to speak and she did, her voice sounded more husky than her human voice but still had the coarse Cassandra feel to it.
“HEY ‘STREAKY’, GUESS WHAT?…I FUCKING HATE LIMERICKS.”
Cassandra pulled back her head and tried something, she felt something in her mouth and chewed briefly and spat it out…a jet of flame left her mouth and hit its target, not Streaky, but the fuel can by his side.
The explosion tore through the side of the house, sending the fiery body of ‘Streaky’ hurtling through the night sky, his burning trail lighting up the still warm night.
Shaking uncontrollably, she dropped to her knees as the gaping side of the house burned.
The babies screamed like banshees and headed for the front door, crawling with purpose, Cassandra snapped into action, leaping over the babies she headed towards the front door, shaking her head as went. It returned to its normal self. Scratching at the door, the mutants completely ignored Cassandra as they desperately tried to escape the oncoming flames, she wasn’t a monster, contrary to what her appearance had just been, and she opened the door to free herself and the babies. Thick black smoke swirled around her as the front door was flung open, they ignored Cassandra and crawled onto the front lawn and past the scrapped out cars. She watched them shoot away in the night, she wanted to scoop all of them up and get them to safety but they were fleeing too fast for her to catch and maybe the Network were standing by to the rescue them, but the main thing was that they were out of the fire and now it was Cassandra’s turn to flee the burning house, she ran across the unkempt lawn and back up the steep hill to get back to her car.
Cassandra yelled in defiance as the twigs returned to scratch her face once more, she tripped over a branch and fell heavily to the leafy ground, struggling to her feet she yet again attempted to reach the top of the steep hill, she crashed into more trees on the way and began to weaken again, she had lost a lot of blood and was wobbling on her feet. Cassandra struggled up the hill in darkness as the branches cut through her dress to reach her thighs, she reached the top in her knee high boots and hauled herself over, she did a complete body flip and fell heavily to the concrete road on the over side.
Her body was cut from the glass and being flung to all the far corners of the mutant house. But she was away from the horror house and back on the motorway by her car. She was safe but screamed out in terrified frustration.
“SOMEBODY HELP ME!”
The car careered onwards and left the ground, it rose in the air as it struck Cassandra. The impact sent her hurtling high and beyond the car her ribs were broken as she fell head down behind it.
The car pulled to a standstill and a uniformed man got out he brushed down his hair with his hands and walked over to the stricken body of Cassandra who did not move. Apollo, dressed in a breakdown service uniform, stooped over her body. “I told you to stay in the vehicle.”
The room where E
lias found himself was not the normal room he shared with the other prisoners, it wasn’t as cold and it was much smaller, space enough for only about three people, and the bed where he awoke from wasn’t bunches of straw on a floor but more like the bed he had at home.
As he rubbed his eyes and scoured the room his throat felt the driest it had ever been since his incarceration, his heart felt the briefest of flutters when he saw what lay on the table in front of him.
Fruit and fresh bread with a pitcher of water and fine wine lay with an assortment of biscuits and well-cooked meat. Elias threw the covers to the floor and made his way to the table, pouring the water down his throat but not too eager to at least pour the wine out in to its accompanying glass and savour the taste and then tearing off a leg of chicken and gnawing down like a starved dog with all the time in the world.
Grapes and shortbread passed through his lips and he greedily licked the salt from his mouth when he tried the cooked potato chips, he had just poured himself his third glass of wine when the only door to the room opened and his little feeding frenzy came to a halt, Dandridge stood at the door.
“I hope the food was to your liking?”
“The food is but I’m not too sure on the company,” was the reply.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, I was just following orders, to make sure you were comfortable and to get you ready for your TV appearance.”
“I don’t care about that, where are the others?” Elias defiantly asked.
“They won’t be returning to Olympia anytime soon, their new home is at Gommerstall Prison, I do hope that you won’t be joining them and are reunited with your family. I mean that really, you think I’m just in it for the money…I am most of the time but you have to draw a line somewhere.”
Elias was surprised by Dandridge’s sudden surge for a conscience.
“Then let me go, let me go so I can be with my family, I could just walk out that door right now and I wouldn’t say a thing, nobody needs to know.”
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