Captain shook his
head and looked around. The vision he saw was from six months ago, back
on the Blood Road,
but it felt like it was yesterday, like a fresh memory. It left him feeling uneasy and dizzy, as if
suddenly forgetting where he was. He
looked around at his companions.
Tusk was dressed simply in a thin
t-shirt with ripped sleeves, with loose jeans and army boots. His olive
skin muscles were larger than a few months ago, but his hair was now cut
short. His hand hammer hanging loosely on his jeans and on his back was a
giant sledge hammer, the newly minted 'Finisher Fourteen', which seemed to be a
large piece of lead that had been covered with so many other melted metals that
it looked like a flattened candlestick.
He gave a grin with his large teeth
that Captain was used to, and nodded in recognition.
Next to Tusk was Brant, who had
layers of loose clothes on that it was hard to recognize him, with his blonde,
straw like hair barely covered his eyes. But behind him was a backpack
that was easily twice his size, covered with ammo strands, wraps, and cooking
utensils. He silently nodded to Captain.
Doc Jay still looked the same as he
did months ago, with his white hair and dirty white coat. He had a small
bag, which Captain knew contained a few bottles of herbs and glue, bandages,
and a kit with needle wire. Captain also knew of the two automatic
pistols that were underneath his coat and a flask of alcohol in his back pocket
that he used as a disinfectant more than occasionally taking a swig from.
Salric... still looked like Salric.
With black leather straps wrapped
completely around him, and an ammo belt wrapped around his chest, he looked no
different since after the first time Captain met him. He was leaning on his rifle though, which
reminded Captain of a ‘reversed’ blunderbuss with the bottom of the barrel big and
the point being thinned out, giving Captain a look of concern.
Or at least, as
much concern that could be seen through strips of black leather.
Salric asked
again. “Captain?”
“Did you see
that?” Captain replied.
“See what?”
Captain could
hear the worry in his voice. Tusk
stopped grinning to give a concerned look, Brant tilted his head quizzically,
and Doc Jay raised an eyebrow.
With the looks he
was getting, Captain shook his head to clear it again and said, “Never mind,
let’s gets this over with.”
He turned back to
look at the Red Bull Mask Soldier and the two black and white soldiers carrying
the box. Now that he was actually
looking, he noticed that the two soldiers looked exactly alike except for their
colors. They both had breathing masks,
but no tubes, and where armored like Abbadon and this Red Bull Mask Soldier,
but if Captain could imagine pure white snow dipped in ink or black asphalt
painted white, that is what they would have reminded him of their color
scheme.
The box was
exactly how Horace described it. It was
a dark wooden box, around two by two feet, chained down to a plank that was
being carried by the two clone soldiers.
Near the middle of one of the sides, was a jagged shaped hole.
Captain
deliberately turned away from the box, trying not to show any rush or purpose
and stared at the Red Mask Soldier.
“So, what’s up
with you?”
The Soldier
didn’t respond, but its look intensified a bit with more heat.
Captain was
about to respond with a nasty comment, until he saw Abbadon walk up to the
group with six more soldiers behind him.
All of the soldiers more clone copies of the two carrying the box.
Now without
wearing the cloak, Abbadon was appeared even more gigantic. His body armor of copper and brass showed no
openings of flesh, and looked almost mechanical in nature. There was still a ticking that could be heard
as he walked closer. In one hand, he
held the speaker that was used by Ms. Hekate and in the other…
It was closed,
but covered in drying blood. Captain
couldn’t tell what it was, as it had to be pretty small, but he was still
holding it.
From the speaker,
he heard Hekate’s voice. “Hello,
Captain. Glad to see you and your group
have made it.”
Captain replied,
“And I see you brought a group as well. Care
to explain the extra support?”
“They are for you
and your group, actually. I would have
thought you would like the additional protection on such a dangerous trip?”
Not if it’s from
you, thought Captain silently. He said
aloud, “How kind. What’s in the box?”
Even though she
couldn’t be seen, Captain could imagine he heard her smile. “It’s an additional request for you. My soldiers are taking this along the way and
I was wondering if you would be so kind and help Asmodias and his men transport
it.”
Captain looked
back at the Red Mask Soldier and still felt the heat coming from him. So, thought Captain, your name is Asmodias. Where do they come up with these names?
“That wasn’t part
of the deal…” Captain started.
Hekate
interrupted, “Your deal is still what we discussed, this is just… a coincidence
of traveling.”
Captain huffed,
“Coincidence.”
“You can still
back out, if you believe it is too much for you.”
Captain looked
back at his group, who all stood straight with attention and without a look of
defiance. “No, that’s fine.”
“Good. Safe travels then.” And the speaker went silent.
Abbadon put the
speaker somewhere behind him and gestured to Asmodias to follow him. Captain watched silently as the two metal
soldiers stared at each other without saying a word. Abbadon lifted his bloody closed hand and
Asmodias opened up his to receive whatever was inside. Captain couldn’t see exactly what it was from
his point of view, but it looked almost coin shaped. Asmodias looked down into it with no reaction,
looked back up into Abbadon’s face, and closed his hand around it. Abbadon nodded and walked away from the group
as Asmodias returned.
Tusk spoke
up. “Not coming with us?”
Abbadon didn’t
even register that anything was said to him, and disappeared into a dark alley.
Captain looked
around at the traveling company and counted.
With him, Salric, Tusk, Brant, and Doc Jay there was five. With Asmodias and his group of eight soldiers,
there were now fourteen. Should be
enough for now, thought Captain.
“Let’s head out
then.”
As they started
down Main Street,
the crowd got more crowded. Even with
the intimidating soldiers and Captain’s men, the crowd was too busy watching
entertainers and shop keepers. Some of
them did recognize that they were heading for them, and pushed others away so
they could have room, but the crowd was so packed it didn’t do much good.
As they started
to reach the Main Gate, the crowd got less packed and then thinned down to no
one around. The yells and hoots from the
crowds started to quiet down, but as soon as Captain crossed the Main Gate and
onto the Black Road, the roar of the crowd disappeared in an absolute silence.
It was still as
Captain remembered it, a black asphalt road with white lines down the
middle. On the sides were the cliffs of
the mountains that surrounded and separated the rest of the pathways around the
city. A few paces to Captains left side was
one of the lamp posts. It was wooden,
with wires that were cut and ripped out from its top sides, but the lamp still
glowed with a yellow light that seemed to cover a good distance, like a fire in
complete darkness. Down the way, another
lamp post shown brightly, and another past that one for as long as the eye
could see.
A different
feeling came unto the Captain and his group.
"Wh.." started Tusk, but stopped when Salric covered his
mouth. They moved forward in
silence.
After a while,
Captain raised his fist to stop the group.
"I think our ears have gotten use to it now. You can talk
now."
"What
happened?"
"We're in
the Shadowlands, it's not as noisy as the city.
Your hearing can be damaged badly from the sudden change of silence and
noise, and that’s all it will take for ‘them’ to come and attack while you are
weakened.”
“I thought the
creatures didn’t come this close to the city?” asked Doc Jay.
“Can’t be too
careful about that,” replied Salric.
Captain took
another look around the group and noticed a change. The light from the lamp and the darkness from
the road gave everyone a more sharp edge.
The shadows from all their clothes and weapons darkened like an
outline. However, on the road Captain,
Salric, and Tusk showed no shadow. Even
though in the city, you could sort of see a shadow from the clothes and other
items, the road itself showed none. But
Doc Jay and Brant could clearly see that they still had their shadow.
Captain wasn’t
too surprised about this. Doc Jay came
to the city months after the Burning Man came, and Brant never talked about his
past. But there were still some people
in the city that had their shadow.
Mostly newcomers unknown from one of the roads…
For a brief
moment, Captain also realized that none of the soldiers produced a shadow
either. But the box did, giving an
almost black look to it that would make it look like it was melting into the
road. In that moment, Captain looked at
the box hole again and…
He blinked and
saw nothing. He could have sworn he saw
something white…
“Is everyone
ready?” Salric asked, noticing that Captain was staring at the box again.
“Ready,” said
Brant, adjusting his pack and cracking his knuckles.
Captain focused
again, and then motioned everyone to move forward.
After silent
minutes of walking down the road, the cliff walls started to expand further out
until they went into the dark reaches of the land and disappeared to show a
dark desert like landscape, with rocks and pebbles randomly lying around the
plains. The light from the lamps made
shadows move in an eerie way…
Or at least,
Captain hoped they were just shadows.
And then he
motioned to stop the group as they came across a line.
There, on the
surface of the Black Road,
was a hand drawn line that went from one side of the road to the other. As much a people tried, no mark could ever
stay on the road itself, but with multiple marks and cuts, the traveler’s of
the road had made a line that was good enough.
It looked like it started off as chalk, but after so many times it
washed away and someone tried to scratch with some sort of sharp weapon. Someone had even tried marking it with blood…
but nothing lasts.
Captain went to
the side of the road next to a lamp post and grabbed a handful of graveled
sand. He followed along the line, like a
tradition for past surviving travelers, and started to pour the sand.
The group watched
this in silence, except for Tusk. He
asked, “What are you doing?”
“I’m marking the
line to the Petrified Forest.”
Tusk looked out
towards the empty road, which looked the same as they had been traveling for
the last half hour.
“What forest?”
Captain ignored Tusk’s
question and pulled out his revolver. He
did a quick load of five regular bullets for the gun, and then added one of the
four special Dragon Fire bullets into the sixth chamber. Captain turned to Salric, who was already
preparing his rifle. “You sneak on ahead
and support us. Doc, follow close to
me. Brant and Tusk, you…”
Tusk growled in
aggravation for being ignored. “I said
what forest? There is nothing here, so
why are you acting so upti…”
He took a step
forward and disappeared completely.
Captain pointed
his gun towards the empty road and cursed.
“Shit, if he doesn’t come back in the next two minutes, we’ll have to go
in for him. It’s always harder getting
out than in.” Salric aimed his rifle,
Doc gripped his automatic under his coat, and Brant pulled his Gatling gun from
his giant pack. Asmodias and the
soldiers… did nothing. But they all
waited.
In his mind,
Captain started counting. What felt like
an eternity, but was only about fifty seconds, Tusk reappeared, with a torn
shirt and breathing heavy. His hammer was
in his hand, covered in muck.
He yelled out,
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Doc went over and
checked Tusk out. “Nothing serious, just
a few scratches.”
Brant sighed, “Dumbass.”
Tusk yelled out
again, “WHAT THE FLYING FUCK WAS THAT?!”
And then, as panicked as he was, his eyes started to go dim and his head
suddenly dropped.
Doc replied, “He’s
falling asleep. It must be Nightcap.” He pulled his flask from his back pocket and
took a swig.
“Yeah, I
noticed,” replied Captain. He holstered
his revolver and grabbed Tusk by whatever was left of his collar. “What did you see?”
Tusk focused on
Captain and answered, “It… it was a forest.
This large tree suddenly appeared from out of the darkness, covered in
these glowing purple flowers… but it couldn’t have…” Tusk’s eyes started to look unfocused.
Captain double
slapped him not hard on his cheek to wake him up, “Focus! Being in denial won’t help. Keep talking, what did you see? What did you feel?”
As soon as
Captain said ‘feel’, Tusk’s face went pale.
“I heard a whisper and felt something like claws come across my
sides. I turned but didn’t see anything…
then I started to get drowsy. My eyes
grew heavy and I tried to step back, to find my way back to you guys, but ever
step I tried to take, I kept slipping down.
And the more I slipped, the more the claws came. So I got mad, and started swinging. Then I came back here.”
Tusk’s eyes
started to droop again, but Doc passed his ‘wake up’ juice from his flask and
made Tusk take a swig. After a shudder
and his eyes widening to the size of egg, Tusk got up with renewed energy and had
a look of sudden attention as he stood over by Brant, who elbowed him in the
ribs for being a dumbass. Captain knew
that this time, Tusk wasn’t going to question the Road anymore.
“It’s just like
Tusk and Doc say. The forest is full of
Nightcap. Try not to breathe in too much
unless you want the creatures to have an easy meal. Salric, you’re up.”
Salric nodded and
with a tap on his wrist, started to fade.
And then with a few steps, he disappeared completely.
“Will he be
alright?” asked Doc Jay.
Captain replied,
“Nightcap doesn’t work on Salric, not even to make him groggy or tired.” He could only wish it did, Captain thought
to himself. “When you hear the signal,
I’ll be going in first. Doc, you follow
close to me. Tusk, you next and Brant,
you follow up behind.” Captain turned to
Asmodias and his soldiers, “You’ll stay here till we clear it out, then we’ll
signal again and you follow.”
Asmodias made no
movement, nor recognition of anything being said.
Captain thought
of saying something else, but left it at that.
He pulled his revolver again, and watched as Tusk put away his hand
hammer and pulled his large sledgehammer.
With a look of
readiness, Captain ordered, “Get ready to run.”
They waited
again, this time without the counting.
And then they
heard it. A rifle shot.
Captain rushed
pass the line and into the sudden forest.
The darkness
crashed into Captain like a wave, but he moved forward without slowing. Using the light from the Nightcaps, Captain
rushed passed the army of trees and looked down to try and find any hint of a
road under the mounds of roots, dirt, and gravel.
Running while trying
holding your breath was hard enough, but then the creature came.
They didn’t
really have a standard shape. Some were
thin and spiky while others were wide and slimy, but what they all had in common
were teeth and claws. And hunger. How many where there? Eight?
Twelve?
Captain aimed his
revolver, but before he pulled the trigger, one of the creatures head exploded
and warm air passed close to Captain’s face.
“Damn it, Salric! Give me some warning before you do
that.” Captain yelled aloud as he
continued running. Captain inhaled the
sweet flowery smell of the Nightcap and started to relax, but anger and
adrenalin from running away kept him sharp and awake. He kept running forward, firing his revolver
with accuracy, until he finally started to run on road again. The trees started to not be so dense, and a
light from a lamp post started to show the end of the forest.
Captain flashed
forward and saw Salric kneeling down behind a rock, handling his rifle with
steady hands. Captain quickly turned
around and looked back for Doc and saw the old man firing his automatic into
the body of a creature that was about to stab his face.
Salric aimed his
rifle at the creature in the forest and fired again. Captain watched as the big end of the rifle
compressed and flattened for a second, and a thin jet of flame spit out of the
end and disappeared. A small pebble
sized ball shot out at a ridiculous speed and hit the creature in the head,
piercing all the way through and into three petrified trees.
“That was my
warning,” Salric commented as he pulled back the bolt and the rifle expanded
again.
Salric’s rifle,
Dragonlung, was just as you would expect from having a name like that.
Doc shook off the
creature’s body and rushed over to join Captain, his gun pointed to the forest
as well.
A thunderous
crash came from the forest, and Tusk appeared with a fierce grin and a now
slimy hammer. Behind him, a large
backpack came out of the forest, with Brant behind it firing his Gatling gun
while walking backwards.
And with that,
the gang grouped up again.
“Well that was
fun,” said Tusk.
The gang couldn’t
tell if he was joking or not.
“Everyone ok?”
Captain asked. Everyone nodded. “Well, we have to go back in and finish…”
There was another
crash in the forest.
And then inhuman
screams. It was to Captain’s horror that
it was from the creatures.
The gang aimed at
the forest, and watched as a red flame exploded within the forest. It didn’t set anything on fire for long and
soon turned dark again, but smoke started to come out from the trees.
Asmodias walked
out without any rush or look of struggle.
His hand was still clasping whatever he received from Abbadon and
motioned his soldiers. Behind him, his
eight clones and the box came out without a scratch.
Captain suddenly
shuddered, getting a horrible feeling as he watched Asmodias walked pass him
without looking.
“Shit.” Brant
said in a quiet voice.
Tusk nodded. “You said it.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Captain didn’t
say anything, but reloaded his revolver and followed the soldiers.
End of Part 6 ~
Now it starts on the journey. What paths will this follow?
We shall soon see.
...Hopefully.
On Vacation right now, and using the peaceful time to get stuff finished.
But I'm also trying to see Penn and Teller with Matt and Melinda.
So...
Later~
Previous Chapters -
Part 1 - Unease
Part 2 - Disbelief
Part 3 - Bargaining
Part 4 - Paralyze
Part 5 - Recognition
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