TR: 3

Chapter Three: Lucky Break

It was a strange thing to watch oneself be killed and live to tell about it. It was stranger still to not know why you were both dead and alive in the same place as if it were an entirely new form of being. But that was exactly what Kade was experiencing, watching himself being choked to death by that blue-haired rogue who had frequently haunted his dreams the last year.
While he could see himself plain as day, squirming in the air as the man held him by the throat, he couldn’t tell where the other—the viewer—was exactly. It appeared that they were outside somewhere, perhaps…on a cliff? None of it mattered really, for even though ‘he’ could see it from the outside-in, he experienced everything that the boy being strangled experienced.

And it was terrifying.

Perhaps the only thing that allowed Kade to keep his wits about him was the fact that the dream had already happened to him. Many times in fact. Though it was little consolation to someone struggling for their last breath to know they would end up being alright, it was all he had, and so he clung to the idea that it was just a recurring nightmare and that it would soon be over. But then something happened.

Something different.

Usually, the man spoke to Kade, telling him it was ‘better this way’ and then crushed his trachea with an iron grip. Soon after, everything went to black for a time until Kade woke up with a start. More, the man never noticed Kade watching them—watching himself—from wherever that actually was. But this time he turned to Kade-the-observer, his aquamarine eyes settling on him. Though Kade had seen the man’s face many times before, this was different; it was like he was seeing another side of his murderer, an actual person behind the macabre mask that Kade only ever knew as pure evil. And if that wasn’t odd enough, the man actually seemed saddened, as if he didn’t want to be there at that moment, killing a child. Kade was both shocked and conflicted by this, conflicted because he didn’t know whether to feel sorry for the intruder or for himself. Of course, he should be upset at the person killing him, but it wasn’t that simple. Why that was the case Kade had no idea; it was simply how he felt in that moment. How he was supposed to feel.

“This is only one of many. It is watching, Kade. It knows.” He said to him.

Before Kade could ask any questions, the man released his grip around his throat and Kade found himself falling away through empty space, the secondary perspective dissolving away into the firsthand experience of him falling. As he fell, the blackness slowly gave way to disjointed colours, then images. He thought he saw…people, standing over him as they worked. Kade couldn’t be sure but he appeared to be lying down on something hard and cold. But the feeling of falling remained with him, in the back of his mind, so he knew it had to have been a vision of some sort. Kade couldn’t tell who they were nor what they were doing as any defining characteristics were obfuscated by the overexposed light surrounding them, rendering them as mere silhouettes. It appeared that they were touching him–helping him in some way. He attempted to raise an arm toward them but the burden was so great it felt as if he were attempting to move concrete as opposed to flesh and bone. Nonetheless, his futile gesture was acknowledged by one of the figures and they placed a gentle hand over his eyes. Whether to comfort him or obscure his view from the goings-on, Kade’s disquiet gave way to a sense of ease and he entered a state of pure ataraxia. The person’s touch seemed to lift a weight off of him and he knew, whatever was about to happen to him, he would survive it. Is that what the blue-haired man had been talking about? The light and shapes shifted and he found himself slipping away from them, back into the vortex of shifting colours. He felt himself slowly turning around through space and as he did the images around him grew clearer and clearer. Kade could make out a sky in the backdrop and a large swathe of green below which revealed itself to be a forest. It appeared that the forest below was growing larger in his view and he tried to make sense of how that could be. A quick reflection told Kade that the ground never fell up, so that must have meant…

“Oh crap!” Kade shouted.

Kade came to in mid-air as he tumbled down to the forest below, rocky debris tumbling down alongside him. He recalled the face of the mountain collapsing around him but, before he could question reality anymore, he was passing through the treetops. He broke through the canopy, twigs and leaves snapping around him, stray branches battering his torso and smacking him in the face. He tumbled past a series of large broad-leafs, each one slowing him down as he brushed past them. He emerged out of the denser portions of the canopy and the ground below became visible. Kade saw a flash of blue–running water. A stream or river maybe? The tributaries of smaller branches gave way to larger bows, one of which was right in Kade’s line of descent. Luckily, he managed to land at the end of it, slamming into the elastic ends of the bow tips which dissipated some of the force of his fall. He spun away from the tree from the rebounding force and tumbled in a spiral for the rest of the distance to the forest floor. In the last several blades off the ground, Kade clipped his left arm on the edge of a low-lying branch. There was a sickly cracking sound from his shoulder and Kade screamed in pain as the ground came up to meet him.

He plummeted face first into a large body of water, the surface tension of the water greeting him with a smarting smack. The shock from hitting the icy-cold water, combined with the adrenaline from the fall and the throbbing of his arm rendered Kade paralyzed. Kade slowly sank in the gentle current, the anamorphic images of the sky and Karayus playing out across the refracting surface. All around him chunks of rock careened into the water, their violent entries rendered muted explosions by the water, and leaving bubbly streamers behind as they sank past him into a blanket of darkness. He watched in stunned silence as the star’s rays were overwhelmed by the murky depths and he faded out of the light and into another dark, unfamiliar world.

***

When he awoke sometime later, Kade’s recollection of his fall from the heavens had somehow been wiped from his memory, replaced with a pastiche of fragmented nonsense. Though he had the vague impression of falling and injuring himself, beyond that there was nothing but distortions. He lay on his side on a single cot, staring at a dimly-lit wall that appeared to be made of unfinished amalgam. As he sat up, he groaned at the dull pain in his arm, rubbing his temple as a headache became overly apparent. The room he was in was little bigger than a cellar and looked about as unadorned. Other than the cot there was nought but a single bedstand with a candle burning half-heartedly, the wax mostly melted which told Kade he had been there for some time. How he had gotten there he couldn’t recall but he was sure that it wasn’t without help. His suspicions of this very fact were confirmed when he realized that he was unclothed; someone had removed his attire, though there didn’t appear to be any malintent in mind. Rather, he glanced down and saw that, other than his underwear, the only other thing he wore was a thick bandage which had been wrapped around his midsection and upper arm. This was all the more confusing to Kade since he clearly was not in a hospital, nor were there any signs that there were any medical facilities nearby.  He tested his arm, attempting to move it gingerly. A dull pain returned to him, his body letting him know that it wasn’t quite ready for the range of motion that he had subjected it to.

Kade got up from the cot, his bare feet touching a cold amalgam floor. From what Kade could see, there was one doorway in and out of the room with nothing but two sheets of poly hanging from the frame.

Was he in…a construction site?

“Where in Rynn am I?” He wondered aloud.

He searched the room for any sign of his belongings but it was bare other than the two pieces of furniture. Whoever lived there clearly had no intention of staying long. He turned back to the doorway, dim blue light shining from beyond the plastic sheeting. It looked like there was a hallway beyond. He considered the implications of venturing from the room; if he was a prisoner then perhaps he could be in danger if he left, although the poly sheets weren’t exactly the most convincing of cell bars. Was it a test then? If so, would he be passing or failing if he left the room? He began to feel like a hamster with the cage door open. After a time, he decided that it was pointless to do nothing and slowly approached the door. He pushed aside the poly and poked his head out of the doorway. Sure enough, it was a hall which appeared to be part of a series of anfractuous corridors which doglegged out of sight. There were flush-mounted Glo lights lining the ceiling at regular intervals which told him he wasn’t in a dungeon but rather a modern building and a commercial one by the size of it. Along the walls he could make out various objects; there were sawhorses, buckets piled one on another, as well as what appeared to be some kind of wireless compressor or maybe a generator.

Definitely, a construction site. 

Or at least something that appeared to be one.  Kade could make out several other doorways which appeared to be either boarded up or covered with poly strips just like his own, which just added to the melange of confusion, considering someone had to have brought him down there and clearly no one was currently using the space. None of it made any sense. Who would want to help him? More, how he had gotten there? And where was there?  What did the images in his head all mean? Had they happened to him, or where they residue of some kind of nightmare? Was it even night? The questions flew through his mind unabated, his anxiety racking up on itself layer on layer with each new mental inquisition.

As he surmised on what to do about his situation, the tintinnabulation of voices could be heard from somewhere not far off from his current location, causing an added spike to his already anxious state. Kade slowly made his way out of the room and crept down the hall, walking on dust and other particulates that had gathered from the construction. As he neared a corner, he stepped on something sharp–a nail or screw perhaps–and he cursed out loud. He threw a hand over his mouth and listened in the tense silence that followed, his heart beating furiously as the voices took pause, suggesting that Kade might have given himself away. Much to his relief, the murmuring picked up again and Kade let out a sigh. He reached down and pulled out a small tack which had embedded itself in his heel. Luckily it was barely a quarter-pinch long, so his foot remained mostly intact. He made his way through the corridors, towards the source of the voices which appeared to be coming from the floor above. Thinking about upper levels made Kade realize that he had no idea which level he was on. In fact, the idea that he was in a storied building hadn’t even crossed his mind. So if there were floors above him, just how far down was he anyway?

Suddenly, Kade was overcome with an uncanny sense of claustrophobia at the notion of being hemmed in by potentially many, many levels of building and walls of earth. Kade was surprised at his newfound phobia since he hadn’t previously known he was afraid of being in a confined space. While it may have been some other facet of his predicament that spooked him, it was incredibly difficult to psychoanalyze one’s fears when they were in the thrall of it. The anxiety was no less real and made it difficult to think clearly enough to care about anything other than the simple fact that he was anxious, phobia or not.  Despite his growing sense of urgency, Kade calmly made his way through the halls, the voices growing ever louder. As he passed by an amalgam pallet which had been leaned upright against a wall, he stopped as he realized that he was staring at something familiar draped atop it. Well, draped was putting it mildly; rather, the object had been thrown onto the pallet, as if it were carelessly discarded. And it appeared to be…his shirt.

Kade frowned as he picked up the article of clothing, surmising on why someone would go through the effort of helping him just to rifle through his belongings and scatter them about. As Kade pulled the shirt over his head he caught a glimpse of another discarded garment which lay in the middle of the floor of the hall up ahead. He made his way to it and found his jeans in a bundle on the floor. Surveying ahead, he could make out one shoe laying on the floor, illuminated by the faint blue light overhead, and he suspected his other belongings would be found nearby in a similar state of disregard. Sure enough, after wandering the halls for a short time, he had collected all of his clothing and was properly clad once more. All of his clothing except his scarf, that was. And as it happened, that article was the most important of them all. So important, in fact, that he always wore the thing, rain or shine. This had earned him the nickname Scarf among his classmates. For better or worse, Kade wore the name as he did the vestment which bore the namesake.

After all, there were many worse things kids could call each other.

He scoured the floor, checking all of the strange rooms and under every bit of equipment he could find but nothing turned up. Frustrated, he came to the end of the hall with no sign of his scarf. The hall terminated in an unmarked staircase and he could hear voices drifting down from above, barely more than murmurs. Kade made his way cautiously into the stairwell, glancing upward through the partition that divided the stairs. It appeared that there were more floors than he could count, the highest level unobservable from where he stood. Kade figured he had to have been in some kind of basement, given how far down he was. His best guess was that he was at least twenty or so floors down, but even that was pure speculation. He couldn’t recall hearing about any buildings that large outside of the main city centres, so did that mean that he was in a city somewhere? He scratched his head as he tried to recall going into town. The last he could recall he was on his way to school on foot, but beyond meeting those religious weirdos from…what was the name? Noon church? Day Temple? No, that wasn’t it. Well, everything was hazy after that, anyhow. Kade racked his brain as he tried his damnedest to recall where he was. Kade took off his backpack and pulled out his Holomate to consult its GPS. He attempted to turn it on but there was no response. He grimaced and plopped it back into his bag.

“Of course. Tech only works when you don’t need it to.”

He sighed and glanced back up the stair gap. Even though he couldn’t make out the uppermost levels, there didn’t appear to be any movement at all, which was a good sign if he was trespassing. He made his way slowly and silently up the stairwell, eventually coming to an upper landing. There was a fire door, locked tight and Kade couldn’t make out much on the other side as he peered through the reinforced glass panel. It appeared to be another hall, under construction like the one below, nothing inconspicuous about it. He carried on, coming to several more levels exactly as the ones before, the voices growing louder as he ascended. Finally, around the fifth level up, Kade came to a door that looked to have been forced off if its hinges, as if someone had rammed or struck it with extreme force. Kade slowly poked his head into the hall. The corridor was well-lit and the first thing he had seen that was not under construction. It appeared to be some kind of commercial or office space, judging by the utilitarian decor and panelled ceiling, though there was still no discerning feature to place where he was. Kade tiptoed into the hall, keeping low as he passed under the windows of the offices lining the corridor, though all of them turned out to be empty. He came to a corner and leaned against it as the voices drifted past him, coming from somewhere close by. Though they were still barely audible, Kade could make out most of what they were saying. There are appeared to be two of them and they seemed to be arguing.

“….always. It’s like that, ya know. Thinks ‘e can just keep pushin’ us around like we some pile o’ leaves. Well…”

[slurping as if drinking]

“…I’ll tell ya this much, Lod, I sure as shit ain’t gonna put up with it if he don’t start usin’ the ‘R’ word in ‘is vocab-a-lary, soon like.”

There was a snort from the other. “‘e uses the ‘R’ word jus’ fine. Calls us ‘retarded’ like they’s the names our mama gave us. Hell, calls us ‘rejects’ and ‘re-pro-bate’ too, whatever that’s s’posed ta mean. Sounds to me like ‘es got plenty-a ‘r’ words.”

[another slurp]

“Ya know what’s I mean, ya oaf. Don’ go playin’ word wizard on me. You know I meant a ‘raise’, ya dumb shit.”

“Hey, don’ go turnin’ on me. I ain’t the one makin’ the orderin’s to scoop up that critter’s shit. ‘sides, tha’s not even the worst of it. I tell ya Brogg, if I gotta break ‘nother neck ta feed that bloody thing, I might just break his ‘stead. Ain’t there somethin’ in the good book ’bout that?”

“‘Bout what? Murderin‘? Hell, which book we talkin’? Pretty sure they all got they’s own rules.”

“Murder?” Kade gasped under his breath.

Suddenly things had become much more interesting. And dangerous. Regardless, Kade couldn’t help but continue his eavesdropping.

“Don’ matter. Ya know he’d never have it, anyhow.”

“Watcha mean?”

[long slurp, followed by a belch]

“Mm. Meanin’ he’d never let us get away with it. With stoppin’.”

“Stoppin’ what, Lod?”

“All of it. The whole faelin‘ mess. You seen what he can do. You seen those eyes.”

There was a grunt of disgust.

“Don’ get me started on that. Right gives me the creeps jus’ thinkin’ ’bout it.”

“Well, it’s true. He’s…he’s not like us. Somethin’…off about ‘im. An’ there’s all sortsa fae feckers out there–met some of ‘im m’self, I did–but I tells ya: ain’t never heard’a somethin’ like ‘im. Never.”

A snort. “Ya don’ need to be one of them Oracles to know that. The man’s a demon. A thing straight outta Endabarron. I mean, man can’t even stand bein’ in the light. You seen those strange lights in ‘is office. Ain’t Glo, I’ll tell you that much. N’er a more obvious sign of a shadowlin’, if ye ask me.”

“Nah, ya give ’em too much credit, Brogg. I don’ know what ‘e is, but I know ‘es not imperverted.”

“It’s impervious, you dumbass.”

“Whatever, youse know what’s I mean. Point is, ‘es gotta weak spot, even if ‘es dunna show it.”

“How’s that?”

[slurp, cough]

“I heard him talkin’ to himself, ya know, like, all urgent-like.”

The voices dropped down a notch as the two began to talk in hushed tones. Kade turned his head and pressed his ear against the wall, the murmurs amplified by the acoustics of the building.

“….en ‘e gets all ‘zasperated like ‘es ’bout to be fed’n tha’ monster ‘e keeps down ‘n tha’ crypt. ‘e does it when no one’s ’round, but I caught ‘im couple-a times, when I’s went to give ‘im my reports and ‘e wasn’t ‘specting me.”

“What’s so weird ’bout that? I listen ta ya talkin’ in yer bloody sleep ‘most every night. Right ‘nnoying that, I should add.”

“‘S’not what I means and ya know it. I ‘ear em…it’s like ‘es actually havin’ a conversation. Usually don’ sound too good. For ‘im, I mean. It’s like there’s ‘nother givin’ him the poke. Big boss like.”

“Watcha ramblin’ bout, Lod? Who could give him orders? You’ve seen how he talks to the others. Hell, have you ever even seen any of his superiors? Gets ya wonderin’ if there’s even a food chain above ‘im.”

“Of course there is moron! Chester don’ own the buildin’. I hears it’s got its ties to the Gambonis, ya know. Wonder if they know’s what’s goin’ on here.”

“Where’d ya hear that? Why on Rynn would the mob wanna own this shit-hole? There’s no money in fightin’ anymore. It’s all tied up in that inter-link mind-feckery them trilennials are all wired into. If you ask me, it’s a form of mind control. The government, they usin’ it for that sole purpose. Them Link Force Patrols–they ain’t no regulators as they say they are; it’s all a ruse, I tell ya. A secret society, hellbent on…”

“What are you two doing up here?” A third voice interjected.

Kade startled from his hiding place against the wall at the voice of the newcomer. From the sound of it, he wasn’t the only one; there was a choking sound followed by a glass breaking.

“Ah, Chester! Didn’ see ya there. We, ah…we were jus’…”

“Just not doing what you were assigned to do.” snapped the one they called Chester.

“It’s not like that, boss, swears it.” Said Lod. “We’s finished gatherin’ the materials like ya asked. Left us downright thirsty. Thought we’d jus’ take a quick break s’all.”

“And you took it upon yourself to delegate your break without consulting me. Is that it?”

There was a silent pause. Kade’s curiosity got the best of him and he slowly poked his head around the corner, glancing down the hall. He couldn’t see the three of them as they looked to be in an office off of the main corridor but he could make out their shadows on the adjacent wall across from them.

“Chester, we meant no disrespect. Jus’ a simple break s’all. If ya need us to put in some extra hours in lieu, s’no problem. Just say’n tha’…”

“There are no extra hours. You work when I say you work, which means you take breaks when I say you take breaks. No sooner, no later.”

“I…I’d be dandy an’ all, ‘s just s’hard ta work when ya never get a chance to sit and gets yer strength back, ya know? The boys, they be tired too. Wasn’t the other day saw old George hit the floor ’cause ‘e hadn’t slept for four days straight. Georgie’s been with us since longer ‘n I can ‘member. The boys didn’ like tha’ one bit, nope. Jus’ sayin’ might be better for production’s sake if we, well, you know–gave the boys back some mor-ale.”

“Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?” Chester asked, a dangerous tone in his voice.

“T’aint like tha’. Chester, I…”

“It sounds like it’s exactly like that. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, it sounds to me like outright insubordination. Is that what this is?”

“Nah, nah, Chester ya gots it all’s wrong! We ain’t bored. Fact, we’s kept almost constant on our toes, what with all the runnin’ ’round youse got us doin’.” said Lod.

“Jandros Crusp, Lod! That’s not what the word means! Learn yer damned language ‘fore ye go hollerin’ yer horn like tha’!” Brogg added.

“Will you two shut the fa’el up!” Chester screamed at them.

Kade watched inquisitively as Chester’s shadow–an almost impossibly tall, thin and bald figure from the look of it–gestured at the two in the room.

“Do you have any idea what he would do to me if he knew that I was letting my grunts run around pel-mel, drinking and carousing on the job?”

“See, I told ya, Brogg! There’s a big boss man after’s all. Knew it wasn’ jus’ me ears playin’ tricks.”

“What are you rambling about?” Chester asked. “You know what, don’t even answer that.”

Kade heard Chester take a deep breath as if to calm himself, his shadow rubbing the temples of the bulbous head. There was a pause and Kade could hear something tapping, a shoe perhaps.

“Hmm… Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should be giving more breaks. I mean, it only makes sense. For productivity’s sake, as you noted.”

“Erm…s’all I was gettin’ at. Nothin’ personal. We’s know youse job ain’t easy, Chester. We’s appreciates watcha doin’ here, you should know.” Said Brogg.

“Of course, of course. But nevertheless, down to business. How about we implement a break structure, effective immediately?”

“Imple-what now?” Lod asked.

“Lod, shut it.” Brogg interjected. “What’re we talkin’ here? Best I know details as I’n relayin’ it to the boys right proper.”

“Well, I think it best that we start from the top, don’t you? I mean, upper management can’t direct anything without first knowing how it works. And that would mean you two, naturally.”

“An’ what kinda break are we talkin’, boss.”

“Oh, let’s see… From the top down, so…how about we start with…an arm.”

Kade watched in horror as Chester’s shadow raised its hand and a horrible cracking sound echoed down the hall. He saw the shadow of one of the men writhe in agony, a horrendous scream rippling all around. Kade couldn’t be sure if he was seeing right but it looked as if the man’s arm had bent completely back so it was at a right angle to the rest of it.

“…followed by both legs, I think…”

Two more disturbing cracks, more screams. One of the shadows dropped out of sight–the one writhing about. Kade pursed his lips together tightly as he did his best to both suppress a scream and hold back his rising gorge.

“Dear creator!” Brogg shouted. “Chester, you gotta stop this! Lod didn’ mean nothin’ by it!”

“Yes, I think you are right. It is time to stop this nonsense. What was I thinking? We were supposed to start from the top. The head. How silly of me.”

“Now, Chester, tha’s not…”

The shadow of Chester’s hands made an erratic gesture and there was a final snap, followed by a gurgling sound as the noise of the body kicking about ceased. Kade gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth as he realized the potentially fatal error. Luckily, Chester didn’t seem to notice.

“Noooooooo!” Brogg cried out. “Why? Dear lord, why’d…why’d you do it, Chester? Lod didn’t deserve this. Oh lord, why…”

“Enough.” Chester cut him off.

The shadow raised its hands and Kade watched as the other shadow hovered in the air, as if suspended. Brogg’s shadow grasped at his throat, his legs kicking wildly as he gasped for air. Kade’s eyes went wide and every sensible bone in Kade’s body told him to get out of there immediately. Yet, he couldn’t help but find himself riveted to the scene unfolding before him and he remained crouched against the wall, watching the shadow theatre play out.

“Ch….Chester. Don’….do it…Agh…” he wheezed.

Chester whipped his arm out to the side and Kade saw a body fly out of the office, smashing through the glass window and sailing straight into an open elevator shaft across the hall from where they were. Brogg’s garbled screams faded out of earshot as he fell down the elevator shaft, which sounded to be many floors below them, further even than the floor Kade had awoken on. The figure raised its hand once more and the shadow of a limp body levitated into sight, hanging in the air for a few moments before Chester flung it too out of the room and into the shaft, the corpse following the same fate that its friend had.

There was a sigh. “It is so ever hard to find good help these days.”

And then Kade watched in astonishment as the shadow of the man called Chester faded away, leaving behind a blank wall with no trace that anything out of sorts had ever transpired. Kade jerked himself back around the corner, pressing himself against the wall as his heart thrummed violently in his chest.

“What have I gotten myself into?” Kade admonished himself under his breath, lest Chester’s supernatural presence somehow remained.

“Damnit, Kade, you always get yourself into trouble! All you had to do was get to school and now you’re in the middle of a bloody ghost story!”

He groaned and wiped sweat out of his eyes with the back of his sleeve. After taking a moment to collect himself, he glimpsed around the corner once more and checked for any signs of malingering. It appeared that Chester had left the building. Or at least that floor. Reluctantly, Kade made his way down the hall toward the room where Chester and the two others had been. There was a crunching sound from below–shards of glass from the broken window. Kade stopped dead in his tracks, suspended in time as he waited for the axe to drop. Luckily, the sound didn’t draw any unwanted attention and Kade sighed inwardly, scolding himself mentally for being so reckless. He walked over to the doorway, taking care to step around any debris that would make more noise underfoot. Peering into the office, there was nothing untoward about it, aside from the fact that a struggle had clearly taken place. There wasn’t any blood but Kade didn’t need to do any sleuthing to corroborate the fact that extreme violence had occurred there; it was embedded into his mind, after all. He glanced back over his shoulder at the elevator shaft–the one that Chester had thrown the two bodies into.

For whatever reason, it appeared to be out of service, though there were no maintenance signs or indicators as to why that was. The doors were retracted, exposing the open shaft, and a faint breeze wafted up from below. Kade walked up to it and, ever so carefully, peered down into the darkness. A series of hoist cables hung lifeless, swaying back and forth ever so slightly, which told Kade that there wasn’t likely anything attached to the other end. If there had been a cab at some point, it had certainly seen better days. He thought he could hear murmurs from below but he couldn’t be sure. Kade shivered from the cool drafts coming up from below, wrapping his arms around him. He glanced up as something caught his eye: around the ceiling, above the elevator, some kind of discoloration had begun to spread across the ceiling tiles. It had a strange pattern to it, almost like tendrils creeping out from the wall. Kade couldn’t be sure but he thought it looked almost alive, like some kind of plant or something. Whatever it was, it made the elevator–and the whole place for that matter–seem that much creepier. Just more unknowns in a world already full of them. He glanced back down the dark shaft and stood there for a long time, poised at the entrance to a veritable pit, his mind racing as he stared down into the mechanical abyss.

Who was this Chester person? Better yet, what was he? Kade was no stranger to the idea of the flows, though he’d never met one of the gifted himself. That didn’t mean that they weren’t around. Clearly. And what in the hell was down in that hole? Kade had heard one of them call it ‘critter’ but that could be anything. It seemed it was just questions, questions and more questions.

Then, just as Kade began to turn away, a sound emanated up the shaft from below. It sounded impossibly far down as if it were the grating of the tectonic plates themselves, but the sound was too unnatural to be simple movement. Too…animalistic. The bellow continued several times, the vibrations echoing off the metal of the elevator shaft, dissipating upwards into memory.

And then there was just silence.

It hung there heavily, Kade’s pounding heart and the rush of blood in his ears the only thing audible. It was strange, Kade thought, how even silence had a sound.  But the silence, as cumbersome as it had been, was short-lived, and what came next made Kade wish it had lasted just a bit longer. There were screams, followed by a monstrous wail like Kade had never heard. The sound nearly caused Kade’s blood to curdle and he backed slowly away from the open shaft. There was another scream and then a horrible crunching sound like a cow passing through a meat grinder, or a million insects being squashed. Kade was fairly sure that it was neither.

And then came the smells.

The only way he could describe it was rotten. Kade tried to recall the most horrendous thing he had ever smelled, and he came up with the memory of a dead sea lion which had washed up on the docks back in his home town one summer. As it happened, there was a strike on at that time and there was no one available at the City who could clean up the mess. And, being summer, the creature sat, and sat and sat. And baked. For weeks on end. But this…this smell now, it made the dead animal on the docks smell like a bouquet of roses in comparison.  It was like the rotting sea lion, but instead of one it was a whole island full of them, farting and dying and rotting, and then taking that smell and mixing it with manure, bile and every other horrible substance. Kade couldn’t even put words to it. And even if he had tried, his mouth was so full of vomit that the only thing he could possibly say was….

Huuuuuurghh. 

Kade threw up his last meal all over the tile of the building floor and fell to his knees, grabbing hold of his midsection as the muscles continued to spasm. After several moments of panting, he wiped off his face with his sleeve and looked over at the open shaft, horrified. As fast as his shaky legs would allow him, he got to his feet and fled back the way he had come, running from what he was sure was the doorway to Endoborran itself.