Slowly – as if they were in a dream state, my teammates started to fire bullets at me. One skimmed past my shoulder. Another would have been a direct hit to my chest, had I not twisted out of the way.
As I was still reeling from the attack, Bargheist charged me. He butted my stomach and sent me crashing into the grilled wall behind. It was boiling hot, and I howled as the heat seared my skin. Pulling away, I tried to compose myself, but the vines tugged at my feet, and I was sent sprawling to the floor.
Instantly the vines started to creep themselves around me. A bullet lodged itself into my left shoulder, and I gasped in pain. Gritting my teeth, I stabbed at the vines with the needle, and they hissed, slipping away from me. Bargheist was on me in an instant, arching onto his back legs and casting an immense shadow over the room. I rolled out of the way as he stamped down, popping several vines in a burst of black spray. Charging to the other side of the room, I stood next to Midnight, breathlessly gulping in smoky air as I clutched my wounded shoulder. My dead friend turned slowly and extended the gun until it was pressed against my temple. I jerked my head away just as he fired. The bullet hit the wall with a sharp clang.
“Shit!”
I have to do something. I’m going to get killed – and then what? Will I be lost?
I stopped for a split second to think. I need a weapon. A real weapon.
Bargheist started to stampede towards me. Noticing the weapons rack, I focused my thoughts, willing weapons to appear. But to my dismay, a horde of knitting needles materialised instead.
Okay, so that isn’t going to work.
You are not strong enough! The same voice that had laughed before boomed through the room. I managed to dive out of the way a split second before Bargheist hit me. He collided with the grilled wall and let out a horrible yelp.
It was then that I remembered that there were no rules in this version of my trial. So I can kill him.
I ran over to Delagio, who started to aim the gun towards my head. I pulled him towards me and pivoted so his back was to my front. I grabbed his hand and jerked the gun towards Bargheist, who was shaking his head as it to scatter the pain. The Kinesist made little effort to stop me as I pumped the trigger.
Silver bullets, silver bullets, I repeated over and over.
A dozen shots rang out, each hitting the creature with dull thuds. He howled in agony and staggered into the vines. They made no attempt to trap him. The casings that fell by my feet were silver.
Yes!
I kept firing until the chamber was empty and then ran to Sophia. The others tracked me with their weapons, and I had to lift the girl out of the way of a flurry of bullets. I knew it wasn’t actually happening, but I couldn’t bear to see any of them get hurt. I set her back down and wrenched the gun from her hand. I walked forward, hammering the trigger. The beast was cowering on the ground, and it shuddered from each impact. When it was empty, I cast it aside.
Bargheist was in a bad way, but still alive. So I kept moving around the dojo, using my teammates’ guns to fire at the beast. But when I reached Midnight, he put up more of a fight than I expected, unleashing a hammer-like fist into my jaw. I was thrown down into the vines. They reacted faster than I could, and soon they had wrapped themselves around me, binding my hands and feet – rendering me helpless. Midnight lifted the gun and aimed at my forehead.
This is your mind.
“Miss!” I shouted.
The room shook, causing the shot to go wild. It hit a few centimetres from my head, leaving a loud ringing noise in my ear. The wounded vines retracted, allowing me to break free. I seized my chance, springing up and charging at him. “Sorry,” I shouted as I jumped into a spinning kick, knocking him sideways. The gun flew from his hand.
I went to collect it but was tripped up when the room quaked again. I was stunned into immobility for a moment. Okay, that one wasn’t me.
The room shuddered again, more violently this time. I watched as several of the panels broke away from the wall, exposing roaring fires deep within their cavities. I sprang up and sprinted to collect the gun but was thrown against the wall as the dojo shook again. I expected to get burned, but the fires had winked out and the grills were suddenly ice cold.
I scooped up the gun and turned towards Bargheist, using my arm to steady the gun against the shuddering room. Without hesitation, I fired the clip into his skull. He made a few more squeals of anguish and then fell silent. As soon as he did, I felt something shift inside me like before. It was as if I had somehow become more powerful in this world – more in control. Moments later, Bargheist dissolved into shadows. Where he had fallen, the ground began to collapse, exposing a yawning hole. A deafening roar spilled out from within.
YOU WILL NOT STAND AGAINST US. WE HAVE INFINITE WAYS TO MAKE YOU SUFFER.
I watched as a shadowed hand rose from the abyss, slamming down onto the vines. The fingers grabbed onto one of the black twists, and the head of my doppelganger was exposed. Its gleaming red eyes shimmered with malice, and its face was pulled back onto a dark grimace. The room grew dark as shadows started to seep in, and the temperature plummeted until I could see my breath. Around me, the room continued fall apart. My teammates were on the ground, making half-hearted attempts to struggle away as the vines pulled them down and suffocated them.
I wanted to help them, but knew it was pointless. They weren’t real – just figments of my corrupted imagination – but the threat was. As hard as it was, I forced myself to look away.
I need a way out.
Down wasn’t an option, unless I wanted to fall into the lap of the Darkness that was following me. The walls weren’t an option and – unlike the real world version – there was no escape via elevator. I didn’t have time to stand around and conjure up a solution with my mind. So I looked in the only direction left.
And saw my escape route.
Above the beams that ran across the ceiling – now covered in hanging vines – was a small hatch. The hole was growing fast, and the Darkness was rising up in a sea of shadows. I ran to the wall and jumped up, kicking off an exposed vent and vaulting towards the beam. I missed the beam, but caught a dangling vine. It popped, sending black ooze over my arms. But its stringy innards held, and I managed to hoist myself up.
Squatting on the ledge, I heaved upwards against the hatch. It groaned open, and I heard a muffled slam as the door swung onto the ground above. I cast a final look down. The whole dojo was sinking into a black void, centred by my furious doppelganger, who was still rising up, hand outstretched towards me.
You will not defeat us.
I stared into the creature’s eyes. “I already did once. I can do it again.”
I pulled myself into the hatch as the rest of the dojo was consumed by darkness.
*
The hatch opened up into an alleyway. I heaved myself onto the ground and quickly slammed the door shut, locking it with a bolt on the other side. It shimmered and disappeared until I was staring at just another patch of the grimy pavement. I stood up and looked about. The walls were blackened with filth. Razor wire hung on the tops of the looming walls, stained with old blood the colour of rust. The stench was almost overwhelming – a mixture of spoiled meat and eggs. The sky was streaked with red, and grey rain splashed down in rods. Around me, the rain-slicked vines were creeping into the alleyway, but they were sparser than before – as if this were territory still in the early stages of corruption. Still, I remembered the place – or at least another version of it, it was where I had—
“EDEN!”
I turned to see TJ stalking into the opening of the alleyway, carrying a baseball bat. He was bloodstained and beaten – his nose jutted at an awkward angle and blood coated his face and t-shirt. He was dragging one of his legs, which was clearly broken. I felt a gnawing of shame. These are the wounds I gave him. This is the alleyway where I almost killed TJ.
He didn’t seem to notice his injuries and kept advancing on me. “I thought so,” he sneered. “I�
��ve been looking for you.”
A voice travelled through the air, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once.
Remember what he tried to do to you. What his friends did to you every day. Make him suffer. Punish him.
I shook my head. No. I won’t do it. But already I could feel the uncontrollable anger churning in my stomach, replacing the shame. Just as it had replaced the fear on that horrific night.
This is what you are. A walking dealer of death. Show him what happens to those who test us.
I clamped my eyes shut, trying to take control. Don’t, Alex. Don’t do it. I listened as TJ spoke the exact words he had on that night. “Andrew told me what you did to Terry. How you’ve been boasting about it. You must hav’ got lucky.” I heard the sound of him slapping the bat against his palm. Each connection made the anger grow. “You ain’t gonna get lucky twice.”
I opened my eyes and stared right at my would-be attacker. Part of me wanted to hurt him more, the way he and Terry and the rest of their pathetic crew had done to me so many times before. But another part of me knew that it was wrong. That the way I had acted that night had been too much. That it had only fed the dark, bitter part of me – the part I despised. It wants me to lose control again. I can’t. I can’t.
“Haha, look at you. You’re brickin’ it. It’s so pathetic. I can’t wait to break your ribs.”
Take control.
I had to use all of my strength to speak against the almost insurmountable rage that was threatening to consume me, just as it had done before. “Then go ahead,” I said opening my arms wide. “I’ll make it easy for you.” I felt something wrap around my wrists and feet, and knew without looking that it was adamantine chains. I shouted the next words at him, goading him. “If that’s what you want, TJ. Do it.”
His confidence seemed to falter. Almost half-heartedly he lifted the bat over his shoulder. “I will. I will beat the goddamn crap out of you.”
I grit my teeth. “Then stop talking, and do it!”
I felt a glancing pain and my head was thrown to the side. Blood filled my mouth and I spat it out onto the pavement. It swirled around in the grey rain, becoming a washed-out pink. As I turned back to face TJ, pity replaced my anger. “I feel sorry for you,” I said as blood dribbled down my chin. “If this is how you have to act to feel accepted.”
“Shut up!”
He shoved the head of the bat into my stomach. All the air burst from my lungs, and I fell to my knees, gasping. Another glancing blow hit me on the collarbone. It connected with the bullet wound, and I let out a howl of pain. But despite the agony, I forced myself to stand up again and stare at TJ.
“I think you are just as unhappy as I was. I think you all are. No one at school liked you or Terry any more than they did me. You hated the fact that I started to make friends. That I stopped Terry. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“I said shut up, Eden!” he screamed, bringing the baseball bat across my forehead. My head jerked backwards, and I saw stars. Barely able to see through dizziness, I willed myself to face TJ again.
“You, Terry…all of you,” I said through speech slurred by my injuries. “You have to hurt other people in order to feel better about yourselves. I’m not scared of you. I pity you.”
Tears were streaming down TJ’s face. “Shut up, Eden. Just shut the hell up.”
“I’m sorry I did what I did to you, TJ. I lost control. For a while I let myself become as bad as you. But the truth is, you are nothing to me. I don’t care about your petty anger any more than I care about mine. I refuse to give in to it.”
I lifted my head up and shouted as loud as I could. “Do you hear me, you sick abomination? I refuse.”
Lowering my head, I stared right into TJ’s eyes – eyes haemorrhaged from the beating I had given him. “I forgive you…I forgive all of you.”
TJ went to swing again but faltered. He dropped the bat and sank down onto the ground, pressing his head against his knees. Now that the anger had gone, I let my binds release me. They fell apart into piles of black chains. I limped over to TJ. “I know that this isn’t real, that you are just a part of my mind. But for what it’s worth…I’m sorry.”
As soon as I spoke the words, there was another shift in my mind. Finally I understood what was happening. The darkness feeds on my anger and fears. If I can deal with them – conquer them – then I gain ground. I gain control. This is it. This is what Lafelei meant. It has to be.
I walked towards the entrance to the alleyway. The grey streets beyond were showing the first signs of daylight. A few people stumbled past, some singing and hugging their friends, others with hands shoved deep in pockets, pacing forward with the grim determination of those sobering up and bracing the cold on their journey home. I turned back to see the Darkness standing over TJ in the alleyway, glaring at me.
And then it snapped TJ’s neck.
The Darkness walked towards me, consuming the alleyway in the shadows that surrounded it. TJ’s body was sucked into the abyss, and the creatures with the red eyes made hideous sounds as they consumed him.
You cannot run forever. The dark version said, glaring with its corrupted eyes. Where will you go? We are in here with you. You cannot escape us. And we have infinite ways to make you suffer.
It’s right. I can’t keep running all the time. I don’t have much time. I’ll get lost in here, just like Faru said. I need to face it. But not now, I’m not strong enough yet.
I continued to back away, and the Darkness pressed forward, turning the red sky as black and thick as the dead of the night. The rain turned to droves of blood, which sluiced down and stained everything it touched.
You think that you can survive anything we do to you. But you are wrong. The Darkness gave a dark smile. You forget that we know all of your fears. Even the deepest ones. And we are far, far more powerful than you could ever fathom. If you wish to play games with us, then let’s play.
The figure clapped its hands together and the world went dark.
33
Gabriella
Odin stood watch outside the holding cell. Fifteen Guardians in a row, sporting a stockpile of weapons. Janet – the Huntmaster – raised a hand as we stepped out of the elevator, and her team lowered their guns. Nearby the other elevators opened and the rest of us stepped out. Through the cell glass, I could see even more Guardians, standing with guns raised, tensely observing Sage Faru and Alex.
The ones tasked with killing my soulmate if the merge doesn’t work.
“Gabriella,” said Janet, “is what you said true?”
“Yes. I need you to take your team to the vehicle compound and get ready to leave. We’ll take over here.”
“Right away.” She turned to her team. “You heard her; let’s go.” Her Guardians slipped past and disappeared into the Nexus. I watched the new recruit Richard go with them, his face pale and expression tense. “Where’s Larik?” Janet asked, eyeing his team.
“Gone.”
She swore under her breath. “Who’s in charge of Artemis now?”
Good question.
A Chosen called Mikhail stepped forward. His dark skin was topped with a mound of darker hair, which he had styled into a wedge. “I am.”
Janet nodded. “Good luck to all of you. We’ll see you there.” She strode into the elevator, her auburn hair flowing behind her like a veil.
“Mikhail, Shyran, this is our priority. We have to do everything in our power to get them out. Okay?” I said.
They nodded and ordered their teams into two rows on either side of the corridors, gunsights fixed on every conceivable entrance to the holding cells. I turned to Scarlett. “Use your Biomote to send messages to the Rebirth Clinic, Armoury, and Moon’s Edge. Get everyone out and as far away as possible. The Nexus is compromised.”
She nodded and retrieved her unit. “On it.”
I pressed my hand against the scanner and entered the cell. Alex was standing bolt straight, his head between the g
rip of Sage Faru’s hands. The Sage’s skin had taken on a translucent quality, and the blue veins beneath his pale skin were easily visible. He looked up at me, eyes flickering with images that moved faster than a time lapsed video.
“We must leave.” His voice was weak – a whisper that could barely escape his lips.
“I’m afraid so, sir. There are too many of them, and they are stronger than any we’ve faced before. We have to get you both out of here.”
“I must stay in contact with Alexander at all times or the connection will be broken,” he said.
“I understand.”
“And these Guardians must come with us. I made a promise, and I must keep it.”
I took a breath. “Of course.”
“Then we should go.”
Scarlett entered the room. “It’s done, they are evacuating now. They’ll be safe.” She let out a deep breath, and I knew who her thoughts were with.
I called the rest of Orion in to help. Delagio and Grey stood on either side of the Sage and Alex, supporting them both. Scarlett and I walked ahead, guns held out. Sophia, Danny, Hollie and Aran walked behind, moving backwards. Together we made a protective circle – one that would kill anything that tried to get through.
The elevator doors slid open, and a stream of Yeth’s Army blazed through. The corridors descended into a hellfire of bullets. The elite’s front ranks fell, and the others used their bodies as shields, stalking forward and firing at us. Guardians around us fell like dominoes. A bullet grazed my arm, and I grit my teeth, hammering the trigger as we moved forward. The last elite collapsed to the ground, and with no other choice, we moved past the fallen and pressed forward.
There was only enough room for Orion and Faru in the elevator, so the remaining members of Artemis and Odin filtered into the surrounding entrances. The elevator slipped through the Nexus, and we reloaded our guns.
“I will not be able to fight,” whispered Faru.
The Veil: Corruption (HASEA CHRONICLES BOOK 2) Page 43