Torment

by R. S. Broadhead

  “What simple things might that be?” She sat up and eased herself off the bed to rest her back against the side of it, so she was facing me. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to think about how I wanted to put my words.

  “Well, you know, like your favorite food, something that was funny when you were younger, your favorite song, boyfriend … things like that.” She bit at her lip and looked down at the ground.

  “What’s your favorite song? Maybe it can be mine too.” After all I said and that was the one thing she picked up on.

  “Ummm I don’t know. I’ve got a couple,” I replied.

  “Sing me one.” She jumped up and walked to the corner of the room where my guitar rested. “I went and grabbed it from by your hammock. I didn’t want it to stay outside without you being down there.” I swallowed hard; it was difficult since my mouth had suddenly gone completely dry.

  “I’m not the best singer, so I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” She walked back over to me with a small smile on her lips.

  “That’s complete bullshit. I’ve heard you sing out by the fire at night. Your voice is amazing. Now sing me somethin’. It may help trigger somethin’, who knows? That’s what you want, right?” she asked, as she held the guitar out for me to take. I didn’t answer. I just took the guitar and watched her walk back over the bed and sit down in the same spot.

  “I don’t know what I should play for you.”

  “Just pick one. I don’t know any songs so whatever you pick is gonna be new to me,” she said. “Don’t be nervous. It’s just me in here.” She reached out and put her hand on my leg, giving it a small pat. Heat rushed through me, and my heart rate increased. It was pounding in my ears. That was it though. It was only her.

  “I’ll sing the first part of one I wrote. That’s all you get.” She nodded, straightening up, while putting her elbows on her knees. I ran a hand over some strings warming up. Once I was ready, I cleared my throat.

  “Darker days filled a beaten soul

  Dreams of you set that apart

  I had hope … hope that one minute in time things would be

  This crazy world would bring you … bring you to me

  Years have come and gone

  Here you are … right where you belong

  Ohhhhhhh Ohhhhhhh

  Ohhhhhhh Ohhhhhhh

  Ohhhhhhh Ohhhhhhh

  Rest assure you can hide

  Be the little girl everyone tells you to deny

  I’ll be here waiting … waiting on you to grow

  There’s only one thing I need you to know

  This melody will bring you back to me

  Back to where you belong

  She briskly wiped away a tear that had fallen from her eye. “That was beautiful. Is it about anyone in particular?” I stood and put the guitar back in the corner before answering.

  “There is one girl that’s it about. She’s the only one I’ve ever cared for.” Her eyebrows drew in and her mouth puckered. “What’s that face about?” She looked up at me and licked her lips. I couldn’t help but to wonder what those lips would taste like.

  “I don’t know. That makes me feel weird. Like when you said it was about one person,” she said.

  “What? Like you’re jealous?” Suddenly my interest was sparked. I kneeled down next to her, resting my arm on the bed. Maybe there was hope for us yet. To be more than friends with her would be a dream come true, but if I had to settle with just friends, well, that would be fine with me too.

  “Maybe so.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Shayla

  “How should we do this?” Eight Ball asked as we stood in the woods, staring at the back of Devil’s Den. We were completely balls to the wall on the way over here, ready to go to war, but now that we were here and knew what horrors may be laying on the inside of this building, we were doing a total back pedal. I didn’t have the slightest clue what we needed to do. Our mission coming in the first time was a bust, which proved none of us were meant to be leaders.

  “Ummm … well, they’re downstairs. Wonder if there’s a way to get in other than that ladder we went down. I mean, because that way is basically coming in through the front door, asking if we can borrow a cup of fuckin’ sugar,” I said.

  “Maybe we should just stay out here and watch for a while,” Masey suggested. She sunk deeper into Lyric’s side. Shadows covered most of his face, but the moon caught the gleam of his teeth as he cheesily grinned. At least he was on cloud nine out here.

  “That’s the stupidest idea that could’ve come from your mouth. Honestly, if you would’ve farted it would’ve been the equivalent to what you just suggested.” She gave me the bird, which I graciously returned the favor.

  “If you two are done, I found a sewage drain over here. It leads into the bottom level,” Sammie said. I plodded in her direction without hesitation. She stepped back for me to take a look.

  “How do you know where this leads?” I eyed her suspiciously. Maybe she was working with them. She did talk to a lot of monsters and seemed to know a lot about them. When did I become so distrusting? Probably when everyone I did trust butt fucked me.

  “Don’t judge my teenage years, but me and some friends would come down here to get drunk.” That sounded legit. Jackson wasn’t that big, so we all went crazy places to keep from getting caught drinking. “I’ll lead the way since I’m most familiar.” I didn’t argue. If she wanted to go first and get her head chopped or stabbed with a screwdriver that was cool.

  “Come on. Sammie is taking us through the drain.” I motioned everyone to join us.

  Eight Ball stopped a few feet back. “Well, this should be fun … squeezing my fat ass through that tunnel. Y’all know I’m going to be a lump of goo just taking up space on the other side, right? All out of breathe and shit.”

  “Just bring up the rear so you can take your time,” I said. I dipped into the tunnel, following close to Sammie. The odor of crap made me wish I lacked the ability to smell. It was so strong it burned my nose. My shoes sunk into it. With each step I took it made a sloshing sound. “This has got to be the worst rescue mission in the world.” I regretted opening my mouth as it quickly filled with the smell. My lips curled down in disgust. We stopped as a yellow light illuminated the dark ahead. Sammie walked forward a few steps, stepping into the glow. She soundlessly pushed a round grate to the side and stuck her head up just enough to peer inside. She moved it all the way and climbed up, disappearing.

  “Clear,” she whispered a second later. We followed her up. The tunnel had led us to the room I was held in. Slowly, we ventured out into the hall, listening for any noises. It was silent. Each room was empty, only bloodstains left in the wake of my friends being held prisoner.

  I dropped to my knees back in the torture room. I failed. “I’ve lost them.”

  “Them not being here is a good thing. Means they’re probably still alive,” Lyric said from behind me.

  “What were you doing down here to begin with?” Eight Ball asked.

  “Trying to find out what they were looking for. Dax said they were measuring energy levels and they spiked here. Before everyone was caught Lance said the measurements skyrocketed on the top level.”

  “Were you measuring with this?” Sammie asked. I turned to find her holding Lance’s duct tape monitor. Seeing it made guilt eat me alive. Lance should be here holding it. Without saying a word, I nodded.

  “Energy levels, huh? Let’s go check it out.” Eight Ball tugged on my arm until I stood to my feet. “I have a feeling I know what they found. Something they’ve been searching for …” Quietly we climbed to the top level. Eight Ball took the monitor, in the middle of the room the needle spiked then bounced back and forth rapidly. He outstretched his hand and quickly withdrew it to his body. “Oh my. It’s been so long since I’ve felt that.”

  I walked over close to him, the hum of electricity lifting strands of my hair. “What is that?”

  “That’s
home. The portal that was hidden between our realms. If they’ve found it, it means they’re getting prepared to bring over their army. And now that they’ve found this portal, they can rebuild all the others that were destroyed.”

  The blood drained from my face, as I felt light-headed. I staggered back, almost falling until he caught me under the elbow. “We can’t let that happen. We’re already outnumbered. If they bring an army over, we’ll have no hope.”

  “Look around. We have no hope now. We don’t even know where to look for your friends,” Sammie said. She picked up a beer bottle and chunked it into the wall shattering glass across the floor.

  “I don’t know how much help this will be, but I finished analyzing the dirt sample you gave me. With everything that I found in it, I traced it back to one location that matched. It’s worth a shot of checking,” Masey offered.

  I jumped to my feet, ran to her, and grabbed her in a hug. “Where? Maybe it will lead us to something.”

  “Rad Cliff.”

  “Rad Cliff? That place is huge,” Sammie said. My face fell. She was right. Rad Cliff was huge. The one and only time I had been there was when I was around six. My parents were still in their drink hard, party harder stage. They dragged me down there with a group of their friends, all set to plow through the massive sand dunes on their all terrain vehicles. While speeding up the biggest, I flew off the back of the four-wheeler, broke my arm, and was left there for hours. It wasn’t until after dark my mom found me.

  I shook the awful memory, dissolving the unsettling feeling it left in its wake. “We have to try.” My defiant glower was met by sympathetic expressions. One thing after another, this was it. My group, or what was left of it, had lost any chance of hoping for something good coming our way. Without a word, we walked single file out the front door and back through the woods.

  Rad Cliff wasn’t far away, only about a twenty-minute drive. Miles of sand dunes, one could say it was our little piece of the desert here in Jackson. Even though Sammie’s Hummer could easily maneuver through the area, we thought it best to come in on foot. Using the silent approach would give us a bigger advantage.

  “Everyone keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary,” I said, adjusting the gun Eight Ball had given me across my back. Slowly the Hummer left our sight as we trudged through the sand. It kicked against the back of my legs, making its way into my shoes. My legs ached pushing through the resistant ground. A gust of wind blew some in my eyes, causing my vision to blur while grains embedded in my mouth.

  “This isn’t getting us anywhere. We’re going to get lost out here,” Masey breathed out heavily.

  Someone grabbed my arm as I spat, trying to clean my gritty mouth. I tensed and jerked away on instinct my eyes landing on Eight Ball who was now uncomfortably close. I had no intentions of becoming his vanilla Barbie doll. He needed to get that straight. I was about to open my mouth to let a slew of curses fly his way when he pointed behind me. Off in the distance were two faint yellow lights. “Valk and a Snake Demon,” he whispered.

  I squinted, trying to penetrate the darkness like I suddenly developed a super power. “How can you tell?” All I could see was the light bouncing, nothing else.

  “I’m not human like you. I have a pretty good eye.” He gently touched the blue rag covering his other eye. “Let’s go get into some shit.”

  I nodded, feeling the anger practically seep off him. “Stick to the shadows of the dunes. We follow them with a shit ton of distance between us. We need to see what we’re up against before we go in there guns blazing.” We set out, with Eight Ball leading the way. Once we closed the gap on them, our pace slowed. We were close enough for me to make out tall silhouettes but nothing more. I pictured what they looked like. Were they some of the same ones that destroyed our camp? Or what if they were friends of Zane? I touched the gun strapped to my back, barely suppressing the animal instinct to rip it off and fire. But that would be stupid. Did I want to get caught? Now wasn’t the time to be reckless. The light disappeared through a door that rolled up within one of the tallest dunes we had run across. We neared it; close enough to get a good vantage point.

  “Where’s Dax when we need him?” Masey asked heartedly. “Anyone else think they can get into that door?”

  “I can,” Lyric mumbled. We turned to him expecting him to be laughing, but he wasn’t.

  “How?” I asked.

  “By taking all of you prisoner.”

  At the same time Sammie and I had guns pointed at him. “You mean to tell me I can’t trust you Snake Demon? Stupid! Can’t believe I was so stupid,” I whispered as loud as I could to get my point across.

  Hesitantly, he reached toward the barrel of the gun. “You are being stupid now. I’m talking about fake prisoners. It looks like you’re tied up, but really not. We can see what’s going on in there and maybe they will take you to where your friends are.”

  “If they’re in there,” Masey said.

  I looked at Masey with gritted teeth. I fought not to knock her teeth down her throat. I wasn’t hearing anyone’s doubt. Not now. Not until I saw their bodies with my own two eyes. “They will be in there.” I took off my shirt, leaving on my undershirt, and handed it to Lyric. “Here. Rip this up and use it to tie our hands behind our back. Make it loose enough for us to pull through, but tight enough to make it believable.” We dropped our weapons and stood still as he secured our wrists. He picked up all the guns, tossing them across his back, and pushed us toward the door in a straight line.

  “How do you know they’re going to see you out here?” Sammie asked.

  “That Magal will have cameras out here. No doubt,” Lyric said. We stopped in front of the door. I held my breath, expecting to face an army of angry monsters at any moment. But there was silence. Nothing but the constant breeze carrying the sand across my skin. “I have prisoners. The rest of the group Fuzzaran trained.” My heart thudded, making me feel dizzy and full of adrenaline all at the same time. The sound of metal grinding made my breath hitch. Light spilled out as the door slowly rolled up. Two Zealots stood on each side of the door with tiny bows pulled back, a small dart resting against the string, ready to be fired. I hadn’t seen one since the night I was beginning to loath Fulton. That dart was almost the end of Reese’s life. They were every bit of ugly as I remembered. Boney and green, and should be dead like the one I saw that night. They made several sounds, like clucks and pops of the tongue. Lyric clearly understood their method of language as he mimicked it back. They stepped aside, but never lowered their weapons. “Move your asses,” Lyric screamed at us from behind. A tone that I had never heard him use before.

  We clamored through a hallway that looked well beyond its time. It was too modern, too futuristic. Shiny metal lined the walls, making a grid like pattern. The ceiling was clear, showing the upper level, and creatures hard at work above us. This made our training camp look like a dump. No wonder they were always ahead of us, because they were. A Zealot brushed past me, as it ran to the front to talk with Lyric. Lyric nodded and turned down a hall to the right, stopping at the door of a large room.

  Varcies came out, sending a hateful yet amused look over the group. “Well, Eight Ball, didn’t think you were in this fight. Now it seems you were just on the wrong side.” I bit my lip, still seeing him stand over Fuzz like it just happened.

  Eight Ball’s arms tensed, making the hair stand up. “The wrong side is with anyone associated with you or Dermetheus.”

  Varcies chuckled. “We shall see. Nice job, Lyric. Didn’t think you had it in you. If I had known how valuable you could be, I never would have left you in that rubble. Tell me, how did you capture them?” His eyes narrowed, waiting for Lyric to give away a sign of betrayal.

  Lyric’s back went rod-straight. “The darkness and solitude from that place is what made things clear for me. What side I truly belong to. When they came down there looking for anything they could salvage, I convinced them I was of great help to them. O
nce I gained their trust, I overpowered them.” Yeah, right. Lyric overpowering anyone was a joke.

  “Excellent. Take them to the chambers. We have no other threat now that the last of them have been secured. The Zealot will show you the way.” He motioned us to continue. As we passed by, Varcies gave each of us a stare that would send shivers down the bravest fighter. We took an elevator down two levels, coming out to a damp room, the smell of mold wafting through the air. The Zealot pointed in the direction of a large metal room. Lyric shoved us in that direction. We stopped at the opening as he put his hand on a sensor and the door slide to the side. There were bodies slumped over and none moved to the sound. It was hard to tell who they were, but it made my heart swell. Maybe it was my friends.

  As I passed by Lyric he leaned in. “I’ll check out the rest of the area. Find out what they’re up to and come back for you in an hour. Be ready.” I continued inside acting as if he never said anything. The room was only lit by a blood red light, with benches lining the walls, and a toilet in the back. Once the door closed behind me, I slid out from the restraints holding my hands, and darted over to the first body.

  I pushed back a tangled pile of matted hair. “Savannah!” Her eyes opened as she winced from pain. They were swollen along with the rest of her face. A dark discoloration ran down the right side. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” I blinked back scolding tears.

  “We’re all here. All except Abby. I don’t know what they did with her.” Her voice broke. “With the beating they gave all of us, she probably didn’t make it.” I shook my head. “What?”

  “She wasn’t in the cells. She got taken before they captured us. By a Banshee.”

  “Oh. Well I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.”

  “Me either. How bad are you hurt? We’re getting out of here within the hour. Lyric is coming back for us.”

  She sat up, testing her arms and legs. “Everything hurts, but if it means we’re getting out I can push through the pain. Everyone is movable except Lance.” She looked toward the back of the room as Masey was hunched over him. “They drilled into his legs. They wanted to known everything we did. They were especially curious about Reese.”