Chapter Six - Waiting

Isaac Woodman

T2 2025 - Hours dragged on in an agonisingly slow manner, as if time itself was mocking our caged selves. I had tried to sleep, but it never came. Each time my eyes closed, I remembered the past, remembered the sounds that reverberated around the room. The horrible grinding sounds of flesh and screams of agony. One never really forgot the first trial and the trauma that arose from it, it was just simply buried under other near-death experiences. I twisted, trying to clear my mind from the horrors of the past that I had managed to stop repeating. It's possible, I can do it. I looked about the room, watching the others with a hint of pride. Sebastian was also the cause of this change, stepping up and taking charge, as he was supposed to. As he maneuvered around the room, quelling people's fears and uncertainty, I saw the man who he would grow to become, the figure who fought valiantly at the end of the world. I rubbed my weary eyes, the overlapping form disappearing as I looked back, he was far from the powerhouse that he needed to become, but his kind actions, unbeknownst to him, were currently being broadcast to the world. He needed to become a hero of the people, like he was in the first instance and this was a great act from him. Those watching will see us in a guiding light, which is what I had wanted to happen. He needed to become notorious and coming out of this with no deaths will achieve that feat. He caught my gaze and wandered over.

"You seem busy." I stated as he slinked down next to me, breathing out heavily with an obvious sense of exhaustion.

"I'm just doing what I can to keep people from panicking," he replied, yawning as he did so. Sleep wasn't coming easy to those in the room, the fear of the unknown keeping their bodies alert whilst their minds tired from the lack of sleep. "I think I've managed to alleviate their concerns somewhat, but some are getting quite anxious since we're not sure how much time has passed, and how much longer we have to wait. Do you know how much longer we will be stuck in here for ?" I shrugged before responding.

"The first time I was here, it was, in a word, horrific. That door, that you three stopped people from leaving through, would lead those going through it to their death. The sounds-" I paused, my brain conjuring up the screams and squelches of flesh, I gently shook my head, the auditory hallucination fading away. "They were, horrible. Unholy. I, I only survived because I was too scared to move, to follow them." The look in Sebastian's eyes was something that I hadn't seen before, it was pity. However, behind that all encompassing feeling, was another emotion, pride. As he listened to my story, a part of him was glad that things hadn't gone the same way, and I understood that, but in that moment, it felt weird, perverse even. I looked up at the ceiling, away from his gaze. "After this day, everything changes. Everyone is unsure of what had just happened and chaos reigns. We can fix that this time." I said the last thing more for myself than anything else. I looked down and across the wave of seated figures, towards Harold. He looked so different, too young. It ached seeing him, remembering how close of an ally he used to be.

"Are you ok?" Sebastian asked from my side and I nodded.

"I've been living this hell for twenty years, but it still feels so, surreal. Just over a month ago now in my time, and that child, Harold, was one of our strongest, now he is just a kid." I kept an eye on the trio of Jacob, Henry and Harold as I continued speaking. "Him and a few others helped me through the years, and after everything we went through, we became quite close, a family forged through the bond of survival. I ended up trusting them enough to tell them my ability and what it would allow me to do, and instead of asking for proof, which I wouldn't be able to give them, they believed me. We then started working, preparing for the worst case scenario, just so that we wouldn't fail next time. And that all flipped on its head, because of you."

"Me?"

"Yes, it didn't even come to our attention the full range of your ability, even after the scope of our information network, that was how committed you were. Even during events that killed thousands, you didn't come forwards, you stayed in the shadows waiting for a specific moment. And when that moment came, you, you did your best." I could see something indiscernible in his expression, it seemed to be a mix of confusion, pride, horror and sadness. He was not quite ready to fully believe me yet, and I didn't expect him to, but I wanted to be truthful when I could. "But things are different now, I'm here."

"Is that why you came to me, not to one of your past allies?"

"Yes, as much as it hurts that I've lost that relationship with them, I needed to meet with you as soon as I was able."

"I, I don't know what to think," Sebastian said as he stood, stretching. "But I need to see if the others are doing ok, you alright here?" I nodded.

"Yeah." I watched Sebastian walk off. Let's hope this was the right choice.

Jacob Malnew

I watched as Henry entertained the child, who was oddly giddy, a far cry from the weeping child who had accidentally released his powers. Henry was telling him about how the three of us had met, about the sort of things we had gotten up to. Boring really, but the kid seemed to enjoy himself. I stayed quiet, I hated admitting it, but Henry was a much better talker than I was and so I just watched over them with a half closed eye. Tiredness cloaking my body, wanting it to return to its sleep. Even though I wanted to, I couldn't quite manage it. Isaac had even stated that we were safe here, but no matter how many times I tried to sleep, the only thing that would happen would be me opening them a few moments later in boredom. I sighed aloud when I heard Henry start yet another story.

"Really, you are going to tell the kid that one?" I murmured, as I sat up.

"What's wrong with it?" Henry asked through a smirk.

"You know full well that I'm not proud with that."

"Please, please, you have to tell me now," the kid stated, a smile breaking out across his face.

"No, Henry tell him some other story, he ain't old enough for that anyway, I doubt he would even understand most of it anyway." I watched the kid's smiling face turn into that of a pout.

"Please, I'm old enough."

"Then how old are you then, hmmm?"

"I'm ten," he seemed proud of the fact.

"Wow, ten really, I was thinking you were younger," Henry stated whilst shooting me a look that I wasn't very fond of. I knew how Henry operated, and he was never one to be friendly with strangers, except if he wanted, no required something of them. He was a prick, but each group of friends had someone like him, someone who looked at others and assigned a value, and I was well aware of that. He might have Sebastian fooled, but he was a snake.

"Really?" Sarcasm dripped from my tongue at Henry's response, I laid back down, cushioning my head with my hands. I didn't need to see the look in his eyes, I've known him for long enough to know that I've irked him and I allowed myself a smile when I heard him talk about something else. But even his new tale was cut short with the interruption of a low rumble. I sat back up again, others did the same, I looked directly at Isaac. Concern shone on his face like a beacon, causing ice to run through my veins. I looked across at Henry who had noticed the change in his expression also, he grabbed the kid and I stood, lunging towards the both of them.

"Hello, hello." The voice boomed out from every corner of the still shaking room. Dust fluttered down from its place on the ceiling as cracks formed in the pearlescent walls. Flakes of dust soon turned into large slabs of plaster as the room deteriorated around us, the floor only holding its form where we were currently situated. Soon, the room around us was gone, the only thing remaining was a still burning door and disks of ground where people were either holding onto each other, or alone. No one dared to move, even Isaac and Sebastian stayed where they were. The initial screaming of confusion was all but gone, replaced by a tense silence that awaited the voice to continue. "No need for everyone to panic, we are simply moving onto the next scene." The circular patches of flooring turned to vapour beneath us as we began to fall into the dark abyss below. Harold had started crying again and I held onto the two of them with as much strength as I could muster. We seemingly fell for minutes, but the weird reality of the situation made me feel an odd sense of calm, even though I knew we were falling and gaining speed, there was no accompanying whooshing of wind or pull of gravity. The void around us started to become filled in, the once all encompassing black started to contain small pinpricks of white lights that glowed softly as we fell past. A few moments later and the black slowly faded into a dark blue which then in turn faded into a light blue. As I looked up, seeing clouds and the outdoors for the first time in hours, I regrettably looked down, seeing the ground approach all too fast. I braced myself for an impact that never came. It felt good to be outside again, but as I looked about, it was evident that we weren't on earth. The grass underfoot was a dull turquoise colour which matched the foliage that led into the dark recesses of a surrounding jungle. The grass plateau was perfectly circular, the edges leading into a thick forest. Harold collapsed to the floor, trying his best not to cry at the sudden environment shift. Henry, like me, was also keeping an eye on the surrounding forest, watching the slight swaying of tree branches as wind caressed them as it passed. The surrounding was oddly calm, but it was still unnerving to look at. Everything was just the wrong colour, the bark on the trees were a shade of purple, the dirt was a creamy white which made it look more like clumps of flour than dirt.

"Where the hell ?" Henry muttered, more to himself than to me, but I answered him anyway.

"Dunno, but definitely not home."

"Yeah, no shit." Henry turned to look at me, "whatever this is, wherever we are, this isn't good. You saw Isaac's face, he wasn't surprised, it, it was more-"

"It was panic." I finished. I can't believe that I was beginning to believe more of his insane story, but if this couldn't be proof, then I wasn't sure what else it could have been.

"Congratulations, you have all performed your parts well, round of applause for all of you, this was certainly unexpected," the voice stated, not even an ounce of feeling in their tone, even the rhythmic clapping seemed hollow, as if they were forced to do so. "To get you motivated to continue to do such a great job, you will be receiving a bonus after this performance. So play your part well and please keep the audience entertained." I looked to Henry who dug into his pockets, retrieving the slip of paper. His eyes widened as he read the contents and I followed suit, taking out my own. The riddle had gone, replaced by a single word, survive. It was written in a large italic font in the exact centre of the paper. I thrusted it back into my pocket, scanning the environment around me, more cautiously this time. We were out in the open and I had yet to determine whether that was a blessing or not. Henry dropped to his knees, comforting Harold who was shivering in the cool breeze that rippled the air. A roar forced me to spin on my feet, and what I saw was just plain wrong. My eyes even gave it another look, just in case my mind was hallucinating, but as it slowly stalked forwards, its body low to the ground, I knew that I had to do something. The beast's torso was a dull shade of turquoise, causing it to almost blend seamlessly into the grass beneath it. The head was unmistakingly that of a lion, mane and everything. Two thick tusks protruded downwards from its jaw, saliva making the grass wither. As it slowly crawled forwards, ever closer, I could hear the hissing of it's tails, in which it had three, the tip of each resulting in a different type of snake. The beast looked like a mad science experiment, a chimera from a fictional novel. But it was undeniably real as its eyes focused in on the two figures behind me, it seemed to lick its tusks with a forked tongue as it began to bound forwards. I jumped back in surprise at its sudden burst of movement, I felt the bubbling ferocity of the fire under my skin and I willed a ball of fire into existence. The glowing orb didn't faze the beast which picked up speed. As we had tested, I felt the swirling ball of fire and tugged, elongating the ball into a spear. I fed the spear more fire and soon the flames turned from orange to yellow to green and then blue. Satisfied with its power, I hurled it forward, its trail scorching the dirt and grass below. The beast dodged the spear and bounded forwards with a renewed ferocity, its gaze on me.

"Fuck!" I shouted as the spear missed its intended target. I forced heat to gather in both palms, the fire swirling within as I repeated the process again. The two spears sprang forwards as I lobbed them in tandem with each other, hopefully trapping the beast. One of the two spears penetrated the right shoulder of the beast, instantly searing the flesh around the wound, causing the beast to howl with fury, it staggered, but didn't slow. I could sense the malice in its eyes as it reared to pounce at me, I went to jump to the side but the soft whimpering from the child kept my feet rooted to the ground. The creature's paws slammed against my chest sending me to the floor as it landed on top of me. I cried out in pain as its claws raked at my chest, I felt the fire in me bubble to the surface as I coated myself in flame. The beast didn't seem to mind the fire, which was much less hot in comparison to the spear that I had struck it with earlier. I thrust my hands upwards, wrestling with its head as I tried to buy myself time. Its slobber hit my arms, and the pain was excruciating. I felt my energy draining as the beast's face snapped down at me time and time again, its long tusks getting closer and closer to my neck. I screamed as it opened its jaw wide, crunching down on my wrist. I felt cold and could sense the darkness creeping closer. No, I'm not going to die here. I screamed at the beast, forcing a torrent of flame into its mouth. I could hear its tongue sizzling, hotter, the snakes hissed and thrashed with pain, hotter, even hotter, the beast was not moving, hotter, hotter, hotter, through my darkening vision, I could see the fire erupt from the back of its skull, exploding the bone like shrapnel.

"JACOB STOP! IT'S DEAD!" the voice shouted and it took a lot of energy just to turn my head.

"Heeeyyy," I stated, my vision swimming as I looked at the beast in front of me. I felt sick, could taste my own blood and, and, I looked at the bone jutting out of my arm. I threw the corpse of the beast off of me, throwing up. I stood, swaying on uncertain feet. I felt weak, but Henry stepped in behind me, holding me upright. "Thanks."

"No problem," Henry's eyes were on my wrist, "I, I should've-"

"No, you, don't dwell on it, keep him, safe." I swallowed blood, it tasted vile. "What is that thing?"

"I don't know." I collapsed to the ground, trying to keep myself awake. I looked at the jagged piece of bone and the frayed muscle that flowed out of my wound, this was going to hurt, I thought to myself as I conjured a ball of fire in hand. I breathed in and out and then pushed the flame against the bleeding wound. Pain racked up my body, but I held the flame in place.

"Jacob, that's enough." Henry stated as he turned the child's head away from both me and the beast's charred corpse. Harold was properly crying now, he must have realised the situation at hand, it was cruel, having a child participate in these situations.

"What, what's that?" Harold muttered through his crying and I followed his finger. The pain that I was feeling seemed to amplify as I saw what he was pointing at. Small glinting spheres hung in the air, all focused on us. The eyes portrayed the same ravenous ferocity as the other beast and as they stepped out onto the clearing, I felt fear grasp my heart. We were surrounded.