“So what do we do now, guys? My vote’s for unhooking the IVs and destroying the lab. Any objections?”
Blaze huffs and then smirks. “I’m with Sailor on this one, but we do it as a team. We know of at least three spots with people. We do a sweep of the area, unhook them, and take out any stragglers in the meantime.”
“Right.” I nod. “Should be easy enough.”
“The other destination should be getting hit by now…and then one of the main targets farther north. It’ll leave them scrambled, but we can’t dilly-dally. There’s people involved now. A lot of them. We don’t want any more casualties.”
“More?” Abby asks, a look of dismay etched across her face. “What happened?”
“I had a standoff in one of the rooms that housed the victims. The demon started to fire wildly once I got him in a pinch. Some of the strays caught bodies. I couldn’t do anything about it. I was in the middle of—”
“It’s okay, Sailor. No one is blaming you for anything.” Abby cuts me off in a sharp, but assuring tone. “Just trying to get up to speed on everything.”
Right…of course.
I look to Blaze, slightly stunned—hoping he’d bail me from uncharted territory.
“…We should do Sailor’s first. Check on the wounded…that girl, too…the conscious one. We can let her know what’s going on and hopefully get some information out of her, assuming she’s cognizant. She’s cognizant, right Sailor? Sailor.” I refocus, only to find a piercing gaze stemming from Blaze’s eyes.
“Yeah…yeah, I think so.” Shit. Now isn’t the time to spiral. Save it for later, Sailor. Come on. “She’s a bit panicked, but she’ll get through it,” I answer, pushing back the thoughts pressing my mind for immediate attention.
“Great. Eyes open, guys. Re-up on your ammo and let’s get going.”
We move with precision through the halls, wary of any threat, making sure to pay close attention to the bleeding corpses scattered along the way. The ones I handled, I shot to kill…but one did get away. I’m sure Abby killed him. It looked like he was heading her way before I lost him. Asking now will only throw off everyone’s game. No point in spreading my anxiety to the rest of the team. We’ve already got our hands full with everything as it is.
“Told you I’d be back,” I say after passing through the sheer blinds that mark the entrance of the room. The woman doesn’t say anything—she’s just shaking, still strapped to her bed, although her body is slightly twisted in a defensive manner with her neck tilted upward. It takes me a second to realize her positioning is to avoid seeing sprinkles of a stranger’s blood splattered on her thigh and her upper chest—the aftermath of careless shots fired by the other side. I can’t even imagine how she feels right now. “Help’s on the way, okay?” Just as I begin to move towards her, Blaze and Abby enter into the room and she yelps. I turn my head back towards them and nod before returning my gaze to the conscious victim. “They’re with me. Don’t worry. We’re the good guys and more of us are coming. What’s your name?” I ask, almost as if I’m talking to a child. I slow my steps and keep my hands exposed, proving to her that I mean no harm.
“S-Samantha,” she forces out, her eyes filled with tears not yet ready to fall. I glance back at Blaze and Abby, and see that they’re unhooking the IVs from the other victims.
“Okay, Samantha. I’m going to get this needle out of your arm, all right? They’ve drugged you. Do you know how long you’ve been in here? If you’re not sure, take a guess.”
“A couple of days,” she responds weakly. “Two, maybe… It’s hard to tell.” I place one hand on top of her arm and another over the dirtied tape that provides the IV with a stable point of entry into her vein. I peel back the table and remove the drip from her arm. I gauge her reaction, but all I see is a momentary flash of discomfort. My gaze runs down to the trickle of blood now running down her arm, which I carefully position my fingers to avoid.
“Do you remember how you got here?”
“No…I…no, I don’t think so. They put me in a van and blindfolded me.”
“It’s fine. It’ll come back to you later, I’m sure… Now don’t freak out, but I’m actually going to give you something that will help speed it up and clear your head a little.” I reach into my jacket and pull out a syringe filled with Holy Water. Instantly, Samantha begins to thrash at her restraints, and rightfully so. “Samantha, Sam, I’m on your side, remember? This is going to counteract whatever they put inside of you, okay? You have to trust me.” I place a hand on her shoulder and look into her eyes. “I’m here to help, so let me.” Her tremors stabilize and she nods in total surrender. Not long after that, the tears that she’d been holding back begin to stream down her face in a silent cry. Poor girl.
I guide my hand from her shoulder and prep to inject her on the opposite side that she was forced to receive whatever they’d given her. I make the injection as quick and painless as I can, but her body tenses from the surrealness of the situation.
“Everything okay?” Blaze asks. I break eye contact with Samantha and look over my shoulder.
“Yeah.”
“Good. We’re all done here.”
“Same.” I turn my head back towards Samantha, internally bracing for what I’m about to say. “Samantha…we have to go now, but our backup will here soon. They’re going to take care of you and make sure you get back to your home.”
“What about Janelle? My friend. Curly, black hair. Yellow shirt. Black jeans,” she spits tersely.
“We’ll look for her. We still have a ways to go in here…more people to tend to. In the meantime, just be as quiet as you can. Don’t do anything to bring attention to yourself. Play dead. Got it? It’s for your own safety… You can’t come with us while we do another sweep. I know it sucks, but it’s better this way. Understand?”
“Yeah.” She nods. “Find her, okay? They separated us once we got here because she kept causing trouble.”
“…I’ll do my best.”
Abby lightly runs her hand across my shoulder as she passes me—her queue for me to leave. I walk away, trailing behind her, knowing full and well what I signed up for.
I told Samantha that I’d do my best, and that’s all I can do…even if my best isn’t enough.
Chapter 5: Safety in Numbers
“Guys, question. Did you guys see any altars around here?” I almost forgot to ask… When Vartal was a part of me, I was able to sense them, or at the very least, realize the effects it had on my body.
“No. Nothing from what I saw,” Blaze says.
“Same here,” Abby responds. “Did you?”
“No.” Our steps fill in the silence between us as we scan the area for any stragglers. “Another question,” I say, filling the void.
“Yeah?”
“I shot a demon but he got away before I could kill him. I got him in the shoulder. Clean. Any of you guys come across him? I wanted to say something earlier, but with Samantha… I didn’t want her to think the worst. To her, this place is already like Hell.”
“I got him,” Abby responds without breaking her focus. “He was coming my way and I shot him. I thought it was odd that he had a gunshot wound. I figured it was you who did it to him, judging from where he came from.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. It was either him or me.”
“Anything else you want to share, Sailor? Now’s the time,” Blaze says with a hint of agitation in his voice. I can’t blame him… I really should’ve said something sooner. We need to account for as many bodies as we can. The last thing we need is a couple of demons running amok with all these hostages around.
“No. We’re good. Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. We’re on the same team, remember that.”
“Yeah.” …Right.
Abby and I follow behind Blaze as he continues to lead us through the facility, each of us covering each other’s blind spots. Tensions are high, and rightfully so.
“Ove
r here.” Blaze points with his gun to a door that’s slightly opened. “Abs, what’s behind there? It was locked when I first came through.” From what I can see, it’s a narrow hallway with a handful of doors on either side, a single light bulb lighting the way.
The answer’s obvious enough, though we all hate it. Blaze asking does little to soften the blow.
“…If we’re where I think we are, according to the blueprint, it’s a c—”
“A corridor with a few auxiliary rooms,” I force out coldly, saving Abby the pain.
“Right. And it should lead to another segment in the building. A bend.”
“Perfect for a holding area.”
“Exactly.”
“Then we need to check it out for sure,” I say, my eyes still focused straight ahead, “for survivors.”
After a brief intermission, we enter the hall and I’m hit with the smell of rotting flesh and blood. My eyes water and my stomach twists, but I don’t let my distress break my focus. I look up towards the light and see the word ‘Hell’ smeared across the back wall in blood. For anyone under their care, I’m sure it was.
“Shit…let’s check these rooms. See what we can find. Keep your eyes peeled,” Blaze says as he goes for the nearest room, his gun leading the way. He steps into it, draws back, and turns his head to us. “One dead. Male. Looks like he was beaten to death.” Nothing but tragedy behind door number one.
Of course, we have to check the others.
Most of the doors in the hall are slightly cracked in varying degrees, like an eerie invitation, daring me to have a peek although it’s most likely something you can’t unsee. Another scar on the mind. You’d think by now that I’d be immune to it, but this life has a way of bringing new levels of distress the further in you go. I glance at Blaze before making my way to the door closest to me while Abby powers forward to another one deeper in the hall and move the door with my feet while still focusing my gun and my sights dead-center in front of me.
As the door slowly creaks open, parts of what’s on the other side become clear. Another body. Male, with bloodied jeans and a mangled matching shirt, slumped in the corner with his head leaning against the wall, exposing his cheek which has four deep incisions running down from his eye to his collar bone, puncturing his esophagus on the way. The blood is still somewhat fresh. It doesn’t look like he’s been dead for more than twenty-four hours. I stare at the body a bit longer before relaying the information back to the others. The wounds along his face remind me of a Sweeper…but it can’t be that. Right? No way. The incisions are too small and there’s no symmetry. It was a process.
“This one’s dead, too. Male. Tortured,” I say, my eyes still focused on the corpse.
“Got one, too,” Abby says. “Female. Carved into. It’s her wrist.”
I back out from my room and walk towards the doorframe of Abby’s. Damn it. It’s her.
Janelle, Samantha’s friend.
She’s in a similar position as the man I’d seen before in the other room. The only difference with her is that one of her wrists is cuffed to a pipe that runs from the ceiling to the floor.
Her cuffed wrist is bruised and darkened, and there seems to be some evidence of trauma to her head, but the main tragedy is on the other side. Across the length of her forearm, the word ‘example’ is etched into flesh, the latter part of it running across the critical part of her wrist. Her opposite hand is covered with blood…her own blood. She tried and failed to stop her own bleeding. Beside her, the switchblade rests near her feet; the weapon responsible for affliction. “Shit, Abby. They’re insane.” My emotions drop into the pit of my stomach as I contemplate the ways to break the news to Janelle’s friend. I can’t even say much, except that she fought till the very end and did what she could, while she could.
“Of course. Look at what we’re dealing with.”
“Hey. I need something to show Samantha, the girl on the cot. She asked about her. This is her friend.” I inch closer to Janelle’s body and squat, eyeing the necklace resting on her shirt.
“Careful.”
“Yeah,” I say, my eyes still focused in front of me. I grip my hand around her necklace, but before I can pull on it, her body springs into motion. “Don’t,” I say tersely. My opposite hand greets her with a loaded pistol in front of her face. “Glad you’re alive, but calm down. I’m not the one you should stab. Neither is she. I don’t have to look back to know that she has a gun trained on you. Maybe two if she’s feeling frisky. Your best bet is to ease away from that knife. At least until I fill you in.” I rise from my squatted position, releasing her necklace. “You’ve been kidnapped by demons and we’re here to save you. Whatever they put you through, I’m sorry, but it’s over now. We have a team of other people like us that’ll be on the way shortly. They’ll give you what you need and be sure to help you on your feet. Until then, we’re going to keep you cuffed. It’s for your safety. Someone will come back for you, we just need to make sure that the area is clear.”
“Samantha’s safe…right?” I hear commotion behind me, and twist my head only to see Blaze pop in next to Abby. I nod at him and he nods back before leaving, presumably to check the other rooms. I turn back to face Janelle, her eyes, dull from exhaustion.
“Yeah…she is…and I need you to do the same thing that I told her to. Play dead. Save your strength. Got it? They slit your wrist…carved into them. You’re lucky you clotted in time.” Janelle weakly smiles at me. As disheartening as it is, I smile back. “Just hold on a little bit longer.”
“Thank…you.”
Damn it… They slit her wrist and left her for dead. They even left the knife behind and the door open. They were taunting her...showing her that they were in control.
I know the feeling.
I exit the room and Abby follows after me, cracking the door once she leaves. Together, we meet up with Blaze, who’s farther down the hall.
“Anything new?” I ask Blaze as he finishes another room.
“No. Just these last two and we’re good. The cut out windows on these are more than enough for some of them. They didn’t stand a chance. What’s sad is that they decided to get creative. That girl for instance, the one you were just helping.”
“Janelle? Yeah?”
“Did you notice her cuts? Different depths and angles. I think they spaced them out…it wasn’t done at once. It was a long-term thing. A reminder for whenever they were done with her.”
“An example.”
Blaze shifts his body away from me and peeks into the window of another room while we continue to walk. He doesn’t skip a beat and follows through with his stride. Another dead one. He checks another room towards the end of the hall, the door, slightly open.
“Empty.”
I look into the room and what he says holds true. “Yeah. Looks like it.” There’s smeared blood on the walls and on the floor, but no body present. “Okay…yeah, I think we’re done here,” I say as I retract my body from the room. “Let’s finish our sweep and make it painless as possible for the evac. We’ve got a lot to account for.”
“Agreed,” Abby sounds off from behind me, right as we begin to move.
We exit through the other end of the corridor, where more bodies lay, devoid of life. Farther down the main shoot, a man emerges from a set of double doors, pauses, and lifts his hands into the air. “Oh, man, finally, someone.” Instantly, I notice the gun in his right hand, elevated towards the ceiling. “I thought I was done for,” he says as he slowly begins to pace towards us. “Those things were the worst.”
“Drop your gun and get on the ground,” Blaze yells.
“I got this off one of the dead ones, I swear. I’m on your side, man. I’m just trying to go home. No need to have your guns on me.”
“Get on the ground!”
“Please, man, you have to trust me on this one,” he says, still moving forward despite our guns pointing his way. This guy must have balls of steel or be completely out of hi
s mind.
“I’m only going to ask this one more time. Drop the gun and get on the ground.” Blaze slides his feet back creating space between him and the armed man. Abby and I do the same. “Drop it or else I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
About a week ago, I would have gladly pulled the trigger, but back then, my temper was a lot shorter. I don’t think he’s a demon, but that doesn’t mean that he’s completely innocent, either. He’s banged up, so his story could sail, but I’m not entirely sold. His actions don’t quite line up with his words…and he’s armed—a dangerous mix.
He could be delusional from Sphinx, or it could be something else. A ruse, to make us drop our guards.
And I’ll be damned if going soft is the reason one of us end up with a bullet in our back.
“He means it,” I say concisely. “If you’re looking for help, you’re doing it the wrong way. Don’t move any closer and drop your shit.” He begins to say something but, I fire a shot a few inches ahead of his projected step, impeding his movement. “I’m not as nice as my friend here. The next one won’t miss.”
“Okay, okay!” the man blurts in a craze. “Just don’t shoot me, okay?” He slowly lowers his body towards the ground, his gun leading the way. “I’m dropping it.”
Before it reaches the ground, he pivots his wrist and the barrel of the gun points our way.
Shit.
All of us fire his way, but he still manages to dive to the side and shoot on the way down, despite our barrage of bullets.
The double doors behind him burst open and another man with a white duffel bag emerges with a gun in his hand and a hostage restrained in the other.
“Take cover!” Blaze yells. A bullet whizzes past my face and another grazes the side of my bicep, cutting into my clothes. I reflexively cover my wound and take evasive measures, my eyes still set on the man with the loaded gun in front of us.
The shooter glances at his friend who lays lifeless on the floor beside him, riddled with bullets, while we engage in a standoff, unable to fire without harming the hostage.
“Let her go,” I demand. He doesn’t answer me, but instead begins to backpedal towards the double doors he originally came from.
Sailor Ray and the Beginning of the End Page 3