“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Alison complained. I stepped onto the walkway to find Alison had pinned Heather against the wall with the pipe across her neck. Veronica was standing behind them, mumbling to herself.
“Stop it,” I demanded in a low voice. Alison took her eyes off of her to look at me. I pushed her away from Heather.
“Do you know what she’s done?”
“What I’ve done?” Heather looked at her.
“Move.” I glared at both of them. Alison threw her hands up in surrender and started down the walkway. She dragged Veronica along with her. I stared down Heather. “Don’t make me regret this.” She took a step back. I gestured for her to follow Alison.
The narrow walkway was cloaked in shadow with only a spindly board railing to keep us from falling to the mill floor three stories below. Rain pounded on the roof high overhead as a dull waterfall. The planks of the walkway didn’t give me faith in its construction, with large gaps surrounding every board. I felt a sense of vertigo every time I crossed the larger gaps. Alison dropped to a knee and pulled Veronica down with her. Heather and I followed her example. A light swept across the office windows from inside. The soft glow drew my attention to where Heather was holding onto the railing. I focused on the tattoo on her wrist.
“What does it mean?”
“Huh?” She saw my gaze and shook the handcuff out of the way to show me her bruised wrist and the tattoo. A thick circle lined with small squares stacked inward toward the center circle. “This?”
“What is it?”
“It’s the Mark of Apotheosis.” She turned back as Alison started down the walkway again. More religious nonsense? I gave Heather a curious look. We followed Alison and Veronica through the shadows.
“What is it with nutcases and religion?” I asked in a low voice.
“Why do you assume it’s religious?”
“Because it always is.” I ducked down as Alison did, but we kept moving. We crossed to a section where the walkway opened into a deck-like area above the offices. We stopped behind a stack of decaying boxes and milk-crates. Thunder rumbled overhead.
“Hold up.” Alison pushed Veronica down. Once she was satisfied she was going to stay put, she stepped around the crates to scout ahead.
“How many are left?” I asked Heather.
“What do you mean?”
“I know there were five of you.” I watched her eyes. “Five of you that started it that night and then you brought in more. How many more are left?”
“Five?” She looked confused. The surveillance photo from Striga showed six regulars, not five.
“Six. You think we didn’t know?”
“You think it was us?” She let out a laugh and shook her head. I rolled my eyes at her. Why was I trusting her for answers again? A slight squeak drew my attention to the huddled form on the floor beyond her. I carefully stepped around her and over to Veronica.
“It’s just…they…” Veronica mumbled something in a repetitive cadence. She had been through so much in the past two weeks that I really hadn’t stopped to consider what it was doing to her mentally. Her step-sister was murdered, she was assaulted numerous times, and kidnapped. Witnessing three murders in one night had pushed her over the edge. I touched her face but she didn’t respond.
“She’ll be fine.” Alison appeared next to me. I pulled my eyes from Veronica to look at her.
“What’s the word?” I let out a heavy breath.
“About twenty meters more to the pedway.” She reached out to physically force Veronica to look at us. “…And hopefully an exit.” I smacked her hand away.
“Pedway?”
“Shall we?” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. I spared Veronica one last look before Alison grabbed her hand and dragged her into motion. I closed my eyes to steady myself.
It was fairly easy to move across the space, even if the path was a bit convoluted. We had to weave our way between stacks of crumpled boxes and the odd power tool, but we ended up on the walkway again within a few minutes. In the distance, I could see a series of crosshatched beams spanning the center of the building. The gaps between the boards seemed to be growing and the walkway was rapidly deteriorating. I wasn’t sure how much I was willing to trust the pedway with our safety.
We made our way to the end of the pedway without incident. Alison had stopped us next to a pile of old wooden boxes filled with rope. I shifted my position so that I was closer to Alison.
“What’s up?” I asked. Alison led me over to the edge. Far below we could see a pair of men standing guard near what looked to be weapons crates. Two other men were walking over picking up a crate and carrying it back out of sight.
“We’ll need to take turns crossing,” Alison whispered. I moved away from the edge to look at Veronica. She was silently mumbling.
“No,” I stated flatly.
“But…”
“We’ll leapfrog it. Two at a time.”
“That’s too dangerous.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
“Connor…”
“Take her first.” I pushed her at Veronica. Alison glared at me as she took her by the hands.
“You’d better not get us killed, Sunshine,” Alison muttered. I peeked over the edge. The two guards watched as the other men moved to pick up another crate. It was their best opening.
“Go,” I whispered. She pulled Veronica into motion. They stayed low as they crossed out onto the pedway. Neither of the guards responded. Nearly half-way across the span Veronica tripped and brought them both down. They stayed down awaiting any reaction. A flash lit the interior briefly, casting long shadows across the bay. The storm rumbled and the goons continued their work with the oblivious guards.
“There’s hope yet,” I sputtered to myself.
“That was luck,” Heather replied.
“Our turn.” I looked over the edge and waited on the goons to come for the next case. One of the men yanked the case up too quickly. The bottom of the crate and all of its contents dropped onto the concrete floor. The guards only laughed at the two men. Even with commotion, I waited on the next rumble of thunder before we set foot on the pedway.
When the floorboards gave way to a metal grating after a few meters, it became increasingly difficult to be quiet. The floor reverberated with a hollow metal tone under each step. The whole structure began to shake the further we were from the walkway. In an instant, the unsteady sway of the floor became solid. The sudden change dropped me on my face. I forced myself upright and saw Alison kneeling at the far end of the pedway, dimly lit by lights from below.
“Stupid,” I muttered to myself. I should have known that the center span would be the most stable with all of the support braces. I picked myself up with a glance at Heather just behind me. She was looking over the railing at the guards while holding her side. I snapped my fingers to grab her attention, and pointed toward Alison. She nodded. At the next rumble of thunder I took off at a dead run for the end of the pedway. I was gambling that between the amateur guards and the storm that any noise we made wouldn’t be noticed. I set foot on another pitiful walkway just as a flash of lightning lit the building.
Alison moved aside and I dropped down to one knee to catch my breath. She gave me a look that said she was terrified for me. I looked back at the pedway. It was easily more than a hundred meters across.
“Great, now where?” Alison asked. We had crossed back to the same side where I had originally entered the building. It was possible that we could find our way back down to the storage room and back outside.
“If we…” I hesitated. We could take the walkway in either direction or find some stairs near the office sections, but the doorway ahead of us held my attention. Weathered dark paint, cracked safety glass and a tarnished doorknob. “There.” I pointed at the door.
“Right.” Alison sounded less than certain but she headed for the door. I took Veronica by the hand and tugged her along. Alison tried the door but it was locked. She started scrounging around for something to open it with. I turned my attention back to Veronica.
“Veronica,” I tried. She had stopped mumbling, but now she was simply staring off into space. “Hey.” I touched her face.
“I think she’s in shock.” Heather sat down across from us.
“Yeah,” I sighed.
“Is there anything she’s hard-wired for?”
“What?” I looked up at her.
“Like in combat training.” She leaned her head back. “They condition troops with repetitive tasks so when they’re in shock they’ll still be able to function.”
“Troops?” I questioned. Heather simply gave a laugh.
“You have a lot to learn, boy.”
“Educate me then.” I turned to face her. “Why? Why did you and Jo and Brian and your…family try to kill us?” I dared her to answer. Alison darted between us holding up a nail and something else. She started fussing with the door lock.
“It’s not about that.”
“Then what?”
“It’s always been about the Bliss and the Revelation.” Heather sounded defeated. It was religious nonsense.
“No different than the Hammer.” I turned away from her.
“You still don’t get it.” She made me look at her. “It’s not about religion.” I focused on Veronica, ignoring Heather. “She can tell you I’m right.” She pointed at Alison. That made me pause. How did Heather know Alison?
“Ah-ha!” Alison sounded off triumphantly and opened the door. I pulled Veronica up to stand and pushed her toward Alison. I ignored Heather and stepped through the door behind them.
We entered a stairwell that led down a couple of flights to another door that fortunately wasn’t locked. Alison carefully peeked through the door and gave a thumbs-up. She hauled Veronica into the darkened corridor beyond.
“You know what?” I turned to face Heather. “I don’t care. Half of your family is out of commission.” I stared her down. “It’s only a matter of time before the rest of you pay for what you’ve done.”
“What we’ve done?”
“You murdered everyone around us, and when you failed to murder us, you kept trying.” I thought about the persistent accidents and misfortune that Veronica and Jessica had told me about last week. They came to me for help because they felt someone was trying to isolate them by killing their friends. I made the mistake of thinking it was just a stalker. I stepped through the door into the dark hallway. Heather grabbed my arm to make me face her.
“You think that was us?”
“I know it was.” I raised my voice at her.
“All of your friends, everyone connected to you died or disappeared, right?” Heather released me as I glared at her. “That’s him, his instrument.”
“Who?”
“You don’t know?” Disbelief filled her voice. “She hasn’t told you?”
“Told me what?”
“Oh, you poor boy.” She moved closer. “Tell me, everyone that’s disappeared or was killed recently, all of the…” She searched for the words. “…bad luck. When did it start?”
“Three years ago.”
“No, not that. Recently.”
“Two-three weeks ago.”
“It was him.”
“Who?” I demanded.
“It’s his instrument, The Abigor.” The name sounded very familiar.
“I saw Brian first-hand. He killed Jess and attacked us.”
“No.” She was crying. “That was the Bliss.”
“Wha…?”
“I can tell you right now, Connor,” She pushed me back against the wall. “I’m not telling you anything that she doesn’t already know. So, you need to ask yourself…”
“Why is she hiding it?”
“Right.”
“Why should I believe you?” I pushed her away from me and glared at her in the darkness. “It’s your family that started this.” I started down the hallway.
“Connor…” Heather tried. Something interrupted her right before a hand struck my back, knocking me to the floor. I rolled over to see a man incamouflage with a large flashlight.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The man stood over Heather with the light on my face. He lowered the light slightly as he pulled something from his hip. A weapon? The goon brought it to his mouth. Worse.
He had a radio.
“Can’t do anything without checking with General, can you?” I challenged him, but a shadow appeared behind him. He opened his mouth and a sudden crack sound stopped him. The guy crumpled to the floor on top of Heather.
“Are you alright?” Alison knelt down to search the goon. I managed to crawl over to them. She held up a pocket knife that I took without missing a beat. Together we pushed him off of Heather. “Uh…”
“What?” I looked at her. Alison rolled Heather over. Her eyes were closed and she had a trace of fresh blood around her mouth. “No.” I brushed her aside and put two fingers to her neck to check for a pulse. Nothing. Alison checked her over and hesitated at Heather’s ribs.
“I think it’s a punctured lung.” She checked her pulse again.
“Great.”
“She’s thready, but it’s there.” Alison slouched. “We can’t take her with us now.” I let out a snarl, and kicked the goon. If we couldn’t get her out, then we needed to put her someplace safe. I glanced around and spotted a narrow doorway. It had to be where the goon came from.
“I’ve got an idea.” I gripped Heather under the arms. “Give me a hand.” Alison grabbed her feet. Together we carried her back down the hall to the stairwell. We carefully set her down so that we could clear away the forgotten boxes and debris from under the stairs. Once we had enough space, we placed her in the shadows and stacked the junk to hide her. It was the best we could manage to keep her safe.
Veronica.
“Where’s…” I started. Alison saw my face.
“This way.” She led us back through the shadows and into an office. “She’s under a desk over on the left.” Alison stopped in the doorway. “See if you can get her moving and I’ll go hide the goon.”
“Right.” She disappeared back into the hallway. I tripped over a few odd objects as I made my way through the darkened office. As Alison said, I found Veronica huddled under a desk staring off into space. She didn’t even react when I knelt down next to her. As much as I didn’t trust Heather, she was right about dealing with a person in shock. I needed something that would get Veronica reacting on instinct. Something to get her functioning again. Jess had been using my memories all night to keep me functioning, maybe it would work for her.
I needed a memory that was safe. Something calming, that couldn’t be tied to anything bad. Something that could be called a sanctuary. I closed my eyes and retraced everything. The camping trip. It was more than the start of Jess and our dysfunctional relationship.
“You know,” I started. “I do still blame you for burning down my tent.” I leaned back against the desk. “The funny thing is, I don’t blame you for destroying it. I blame you for starting this…” I thought about the past six years. “…this mess.” I looked at her but she still wasn’t focusing on me. “You see, I never really talked to you before that. I’d known you since we were what? Ten? Jess’s little sister, but I never bothered getting to know you.” I let out a sigh. “Then there was that trip. Jess’s stupid idea. Take all of her friends out away from all of the drama and just relax.” I took a deep breath to steady my voice. “Unfortunately, Jess didn’t like to leave things alone. She did as she always does and the only…”
“….Only person you could talk to was me,” Veronica whispered. I looked back at her and saw her eyes on me.
“It’s your fault, you know.” I gave a little smile.
“My fault?” She scooted out from under the desk to sit next to me.
“Yes, your fault.” I rested my left hand on hers in her lap. “There really wasn’t anyone else like you.” She slipped her fingers between mine and held my hand.
“And you had a bad habit of listening.” She squeezed my hand. I leaned closer as she did. I took the remaining distance and kissed her. It was gentle. She broke the kiss but didn’t move more than a breath away.
“Troublemaker,” I said quietly.
“Me?” She sounded offended.
“She lives!” Alison stated as she stepped around the desk. I spared Veronica another look and forced myself to stand. “How are you doing, Sunshine?”
“Let’s get moving, shall we?” I asked.
“That’s the general idea.” Alison stepped back as I took Veronica’s hands and pulled her up. “I think we may have finally caught a break.” She headed out through the office.
“Don’t scare me like that again.” I hugged her. She used the moment to steal another kiss. “You are so much trouble.”
“Takes two.” Veronica smiled at me. I gestured for her to go first. She stepped out into the hallway ahead of me when I heard a cough from behind.
“He does learn.” Jess was lying on the desk with her head propped up in her hands. Her white blouse and fair skin were practically glowing in the darkness. “I’d have to take it back.” She crossed her ankles.
“You’re worse than her at causing trouble.” I started for the door. She just laughed as I walked out into the darkened hall. I could see the girls weaving between stacks of discarded boxes. They took a turn down an unseen hallway. When I rounded the corner, I found Veronica holding the flashlight while Alison was attempting to pick another locked door. I placed a hand on Veronica’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
“Lights out, Sunshine.” Alison smirked at us. Veronica switched off the flashlight as the door opened to pouring rain and rumble of thunder.