Authors: Angella Graff
“So you want to show them a mirror?” Ben asked, absolutely confused.
Mark rolled his eyes. “No, but we play on their arrogance. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that the medication you shot into that thing’s arm isn’t as useless as she wanted us to believe. They may have powers from the beyond, but they’re bound to human form, and the human brain can be manipulated with chemicals, which is what you just shot her full of.”
Ben’s eyes widened. “So what do we do?”
“We move,” Mark said, walking to the door. He grabbed his syringe and uncapped it. He turned the knob on the door ever so slightly and pushed. It opened just a crack and he shrugged. “Arrogance. They won’t believe for a second that we could best them. We don’t have a lot of this stuff, so get your gun and let’s move.”
“Why wouldn’t she have taken it?” Ben asked as he holstered it.
“Likely because she believes your human morality will prevent you from taking her life,” Mark suggested. “And possibly because she thinks her other god friends would be able to stop you before you could fire it.”
“She obviously underestimates my ability to shoot,” Ben said, feeling a little less confident at the idea that Mark might expect him to shoot Abby. “Where do we go?”
“Out,” Mark said. He stepped into the hall, and his face conveyed the surprise Ben felt when they saw absolutely no one was watching the room. “Arrogance.”
“Do you have any idea where they could be?” Ben asked as they crept into the main waiting room once more.
“No, but you might want to use your phone and see if Asclepius is available for a chat,” Mark replied. He led the way out the front doors and into a rather bushy area near a cluster of trees. There were people all around, but no one was paying them any mind.
Ben pulled out his phone and dialed Greg’s cell. It rang several times before a voice picked up. “Greg’s phone,” it said.
“Where the hell are you?” Ben hissed.
“Oh, got myself captured it seems,” Asclepius said.
There was a swooshing noise on the other end, and Ben glowered. “Are you smoking?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “They’ve captured me, but they’re being quite nice about it. Going on and on about how when the big thing happens I’ll be punished blah blah blah. Oh, I found Mark’s friend, by the way, and saw your sister being carried off somewhere.”
“What do you mean carried off?” Ben all-but shouted.
“She looked unconscious or something,” Asclepius said in a bored tone.
“Where the hell are you?” Ben snapped.
“Some big building to the east of that main building we went into. It’s metal and pretty massive. There’s something underground here, too, but that’s not where Big Bad Judas is being kept. He’s on an IV drip in this main room covered with a mosquito net. That Shawn guy you’ve been looking for is puttering around here, too. He’s a bit more off than I remember.”
Ben ended the call and shoved his phone into his pocket. “He’s that way,” he said, pointing to the looming, metal building to their left. “He’s with your friend, and he said my sister was taken somewhere unconscious.”
“I knew it,” Mark said. “Let’s go.”
Before Ben could argue tactics, or even a basic game plan, Mark was moving with a speed Ben couldn’t match. The distance between the grove and the building was short, but before Ben was even half-way, Mark was inside the door.
Feeling alone and somewhat terrified for his life, Ben raced to the front door and walked in to see Mark jabbing someone in the arm with the syringe while another tall, dark-haired man was falling slowly to the ground.
“I’m not going to ask how the hell you were able to do that,” Ben gasped, trying to catch his breath, “but just let me know if there are any others around.”
“Hello boys,” came Asclepius’s voice.
Ben turned to see Asclepius sitting in a chair next to a bed surrounded by mosquito netting. Beyond the netting, Ben could make out a prone body on a bed, an ancient looking IV stand, and a small monitor that was omitting the faintest beep.
Mark stood up from the fallen body, his hands trembling, and he dropped the syringe. “Oh God, okay, we found him.”
“Now the trick is getting him out before they shoot your ass,” Asclepius said, puffing on his cigar. “They wanted you here, you know.”
“So our friend said,” Mark replied as he crossed the room to the bed. “Did you figure out who she is?”
“Nike,” Asclepius said with a shrug. “I should have figured, she was always such a bitch.”
“She’s powerful,” Mark said, running his hands down the netting.
“She thinks she’s powerful,” Asclepius said with a shrug. “Sure, she could kick your ass,” he added, nodding to Ben, “but she’s not as great as she used to be.”
“Where is she now?” Ben asked, stepping around the fallen gods. “Where did they take my sister?”
“Downstairs, I think,” Asclepius said. “They took my god-booting juice, so if we’re going to get out of here before they come back, you’d better have a plan.”
“I do,” Ben said, and with that, he took out his gun. Footsteps were starting to echo down a hall, sounding louder than usual from the metal roof. “How many are there?”
“Three,” Asclepius said. “They’re going to kill you.”
“No, I’m going to kill them,” Ben said as he tiptoed over to a spot with a clear shot of the door. “Can they read minds?”
“I don’t think so, but really, what do I know,” Asclepius said with a chuckle. “Just don’t get this body killed, please?”
Ben ignored him, crouched with one knee touching the floor, and he aimed. With one shot, the first man who walked in the room was down, bullet hitting him directly in the forehead. The second person went down with two shots, one in the neck and one in the chest. When Ben looked down, he saw the first man he’d taken out was the man from the hospital that he’d seen get up out of his bed. He felt a pang of regret as he watched the blood pool out from the bullet wound.
“How long until they can find another body?” Ben asked in a hurry as he stood up, holstering his gun.
“Oh days,” Asclepius said with a wave of his hand. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I’d worry about the other ones with big fucking rifles coming to shoot you. There’s at least ten more around here somewhere.”
Ben looked at Mark who was leaning over the comatose man, whispering quietly to him. “We need to get my sister and get the hell out of here,” he all-but shouted, trying to get Mark’s attention.
“I don’t think you’re going anywhere,” came a voice from the door. Ben whirled around and saw the person he knew as Shawn Thompson, clothed in white toga-like robes, step into the room. Ben had his gun out, pointed at Shawn’s head, but he remembered the repeated claims that Shawn was not one of them.
“I need you to tell me where my sister is,” Ben said through gritted teeth. “I don’t want to shoot you, but believe me, I will.”
Shawn held up a steady hand, his eyes fluttering closed. “If your sister is here, it’s because she chose to be here. She wants to become one with the light.”
Ben gripped his gun tighter and took a step towards Shawn. “Enough,” he snapped.
Shawn opened his eyes and looked over at Mark, who was fiddling with a machine next to the bed and he began to look alarmed. “Get away from him,” he said, his voice tight and far less serene than it had been. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“We’re taking him and leaving. You’ve kidnapped a man, started a cult, taken my sister against her will. Those are felonies, my friend, and they’re going to earn you a very large stretch of prison time.”
Shawn’s face pinked at the cheeks and his eyes narrowed, growing hard and cold. “You’re not taking this away from me. I was chosen!” he shouted.
Ben shook his head. “You weren’t chosen. You’re just a foolish kid who is in way over your head. I don’t want to hurt you, so do us all a favor and-”
But before Ben could finish, Shawn reached behind his robes. Ben knew the gesture all too well, and before Shawn had a chance to aim the previously concealed gun, Ben fired, and Shawn dropped to the ground. The bullet struck him in the chest, and with eyes open, Shawn’s body hit the floor with a loud thud. He shuddered a little, as blood stained the white robes, and after a second, all motion stopped.
“Shit,” Ben muttered, rubbing his face. “Shit. Shit! We need to get my sister and get the hell out of here. This is a complete disaster!”
Before anyone could respond, every light in the room went dark. Suddenly, a loud, wailing alarm went off. Bright, white lights began to flash in the corners of the large room, and the piercing sound encompassed every thought in the room.
“Don’t think we have time for that,” Asclepius said and got up off his seat. “I’m bailing. You two had better figure your shit out.”
“I’m not going without Abby,” Ben shouted over the noise.
Mark stood up from his crouched position beside the bed, and hoisted the unconscious man over his shoulders, carrying him as though he weighed nothing. “We need to get in the car. Now.”
“Not without Abby,” Ben yelled. “That was the absolute and only reason I am here right now.” He would have continued, but the phone in his pocket began to buzz. Against rational thought, Ben pulled out the phone and answered call from the number he didn’t recognize. “Yes,” he yelled, pressing his other ear closed to attempt to hear the person over the alarms.
“It’s me,” came the groggy voice of his sister. “Ben… are you there?”
“Abby?” he said, not quite believing it was her.
“Look, I’m sick, I can’t move, and you have to go,” Abby breathed. “I’m… I can’t get out, okay. Whatever you gave me… it’s not… I think I’m dying.”
“Where are you!? I need to get you to a hospital,” Ben cried, rushing to the door where the dead men lay. “Abby!”
“I don’t really know where I am. I woke up in a room somewhere. There are men here, they can’t get out. They’re them, Ben, the gods. You have to get Judas and Mark out of there now.”
“Abby, listen to me, I can take them. I’ve already killed two, and I’ll take out as many as I need to, to get to you.”
Abby was silent for a long time. “I started the bomb evacuation,” she said, her words more slurred than before. “It’s going to blow up, this place. Go Ben, okay. I’m dead anyway. She told me, when she took me, that I’m dead anyway. Better to take her out, too. Just run, okay.”
“Abby, this isn’t funny anymore!” Ben shouted. Asclepius suddenly had Ben’s arm and Ben turned to him. “I think there’s a bomb,” Ben gasped. “We’ve got to get her out.”
“You’ve gotta run. Looks like four minutes. Not sure the range. I’m fading pretty fast, Benny. I’m sorry,” her voice wavered on the line, and then there was silence.
It suddenly felt like Ben was outside of his body. Asclepius was carrying him out of the room, and he could see himself, screaming, fighting the impossibly strong man as he was dragged from the building, screaming his sister’s name.
There were people outside, running, shouting, cars pulling out at break-neck speeds, and the alarms were sounding, but Ben didn’t register any of it. He was floating, confused. He didn’t feel his head smack the side of the car as Asclepius shoved him in the seat and jumped behind the wheel. He didn’t really notice being jostled around as Asclepius slammed on the gas, steering around people as they ran, desperate to get away from the threat.