Fan Fiction ❯ Frailty ❯ Horace ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: OzZ Cometh 
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Occult / Supernatural / Angst | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 08.12.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 342 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Occult / Supernatural / Angst | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 08.12.2004 | Pages: 1 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 342 | Status: Completed
Frailty-
Chapter 2- Horace
Was he following her? Had he stayed in the shower rooms? Would he really try to kill her? Even as Raven approached the stairwell, these burning questions, not to mention Herme's words, were set on replay in her head, so capturing her mindset that she begun to repeat them aloud as she steadily approached the flight of stairs that would lead her only deeper into this psychotic labyrinth she had awoken in (A labyrinth that appeared to be in the middle of black-out, as she noticed the impending darkness throughout the halls).
"No one escapes what I bring about..." The titan whispered under her breath. No matter how creepy the gaseous apparition may have been, she had to admit, the line was pretty catchy.
"Well..." She murmured before starting down the stairs, "At least if he catches me, I'll be getting killed by someone who has a way with words ...".
Her venture into the floor below her didn't last long before she heard someone's voice echo from above. A harsh male voice, shouting, "You want somma' me, fucking freak? Die! Die! Die!" With each 'Die' shouted there came a piercing gunshot.
Once the noise subsided, she returned to the top of the staircase, promptly searching the area upon arrival. To the left was the hallway that lead into the administration office. Due to the haunting encounter with Hermes, she had not noticed it before. The door was closed tightly and the corridor itself looked undisturbed.
To the right was the hall she had come from. After queuing in, she whirled around to see a hallway that lay next to the stairwell. She had noticed it while walking down the stairs, but had no desire to explore, as it lead only to a duo of restrooms.
The door to the men's restroom gaped open, flooding the dark hallway with light and giving her a more than ample view into the blood-stained tile room behind it; not to mention a plethora of corpses belonging to the bizarre machete creature encountered in the cell block. After a solemn moment of observation, a man emerged; raising his magnum at her as though it were a gut reflex.
Just as quick as he made this gambit, Raven put both hands in the air and yelped , "Don't shoot, I'm not one of them!"
The man, clearly a corrections officer, as he wore the same aqua blue suit as the less fortunate Trevon, did not lower the gun till he located a flash-light and shined it on her. Raven winced slightly as the overly-bright light hit her directly in the face, though she managed to find a way to see past it and get a clear look at him when he noted in surprise, "Wait a second...I know you!"
"You do? How?" Raven inquired, letting her arms fall to her waist.
"We found you c onked out on the shore this morning...so damn pale, we thought you were dead, but..."
"But what?"
"Well, while we were carrying you in to figure out what to do, you had a spasm of some kind...."
"A spasm ?!?"
The man gave a light shrug of his shoulders and begun to approach her.
"Yeah, I guess that's what you'd call it...you started thrashin' around and screaming....something about spiders....you don't remember?"
Raven shook her head despairingly . "No, all I know is that I woke up in one of the cells and there are all of those things running around..." She pointed toward one of the dead beasts, then added, "Do you mind telling me what on Earth's going on?"
It was now his turn to shake his head in a way that made her heart sink.
"I got no damn clue. I took a nap in the break-room at around five, then woke up all of this
shit ..."
Again the C.O shook his head. "Eh...forgot to introduce myself." He extended a hand, which Raven hastily accepted. "Name's Harvey Alding....yours?"
"Raven."
Harvey's face faulted as he shook her hand, and he muttered, "Uh...that's okay, I didn't wanna' know your real name anyway...."
Raven glared, but before she could make a retort, he started back up, "Look, I'm usually not too fond of working with someone else, but it's pretty obvious that we're safer if together..."
The titan nodded in agreement. "My thoughts exactly...."
After a moment of bleak silence, Harvey eyed the firearm tucked in her hand and promptly made a remark, "I noticed you gotta' gun...know how to use it?"
Not really thinking of it till then, Raven gazed down at the magnum in her hand, then at him, "Well, I've killed one of them with it...had to kinda' teach myself how to reload...."
Harvey stared for a moment more, then ran a hand through his hair; a jet-black crew-cut that complimented the contours of his forehead.
"Well, that's good enough. We'd better get downstairs. There's a really quick exit from this Hell-hole there...." With the order given, he turned and dashed down the staircase, Raven however, stayed at the top, thinking him over. He seemed like a good enough guy, and she desperately wanted to keep survivors, but it was clear that in regards to leadership, he was just like her...it went his way, or it didn't happen at all. However, since he had worked here, it was best to follow his lead; just as she followed Robin back in Gotham...
Gotham ...Lord, how she missed it. It wasn't until now had Raven realized what she had. There she wasn't alone. There she didn't have to fight for her life on a constant basis. There she didn't run into some strange creature or ghost that left her quivering with fear...there... there her fucking emotions had some kind of effect on the things and people around her! What kind of evil could have possibly happened on this island that could do this to her of all people?!?
"Hey! You comin' or what?!?" Harvey's harsh voice called from the base of the stairwell. The severity in his tone making her start in surprise. After rubbing her eyes irritably , she replied, "Yeah...sorry...guess I zoned out for a minute...". As she proceeded down the stairs, she muttered to herself, "Great...getting the crap scared out of me and now I'm gunning for a mental break-down...what's next?"
The first occasion that she had gotten to the bottom of the stairwell, Raven hadn't gotten much time to take a look around before the gunshots sounded off from above her. The hallway of which it lead to didn't stretch out for very long; couldn't have exceeded fifteen feet. On the right was another radio office which, by the time she had arrived, Harvey had already rummaged through and reported to have found nothing. At the end were glass double doors that lead into a room of massive proportions, though not able to see much from where she was standing, Raven was able to catch sigh of a lavish glass roof that dominated most of the ceiling.
"This was the visitor check-in room..." Harvey informed while pushing through the doors.
"We gotta' another office and an old electrocution chamber as a tourist attraction...but I don't think there's much of a need to go in the--" His sermon was cut off when the glass roof shattered abruptly , through which there descended well over three of the decapitated beasts.
"Son of a bitch!" The officer exclaimed while placing aim on one of the intruding creatures.
Raven, determined not to let their sheer grostueqe capture her in a trance this time, raised the magnum, placed aim on one that just happened to be running toward her, and squeezed the trigger. Again, the recoil hit her like a freight-train, but in contrast to the last time, the shot didn't do so much to help. The bullet sailed into it's chest and exited between the shoulder blades, causing the beast to shrink back and shriek in response, but hardly even a second passed before it recovered and continued to approach her.
Before another shot could be fired, it assertively rushed toward her and performed a reverse somersault , bringing it's blades/feet to collide into her. Though it intended to get it's prey in the throat, Raven, foreboding the front, had begun to sidestep and was in exchange nailed in the shoulder. The impact sent her flying into a wall and left a huge gash across her shoulder, which openly bled down her arm, but she wasted no time recovering to her feet.
Harvey, whom had just finished blasting one of his hunters between the eyes, turned to see the trouble his only companion had fallen in. Ignoring the some three or four enemies behind him, the officer murmured , "Damn kid..." And fired into the back of Raven's assailant , killing it with the second shot. There was not time to celebrate his victory before a blade was jammed into his side.
Howling in pain, Harvey whirled around and blindly pulled the trigger. After getting hacked in one of his calves, he painstakingly turned toward Raven and hollered, "DO SOMETHING, DAMN IT!"
Knowing that, while a blast from the gun may distract the beasts, it wouldn't help to kill anything, the titan scanned the huge room for something, anything to manipulate. Blatantly, it stood only five feet away from her. A heavy converter -belt operated metal detector. Length-wise, it was perfect to use as a bat. Raven collected all of her strength, knowing that ripping it from the ground would not be an easy task, then yelled, "Azarath... Metrion... ZINTHOS!" The black haze made quick work of engulfing the metal detector, but it wasn't till she lifted her arms to un-earth the giant piece of equipment did the strain begin to shoot through her.
Taken back by the sheer girth, Raven recoiled, but after hearing Harvey holler in pain at yet another attack of some sort, she gave a mighty heave, channeling all of her concentration into it. The bolts and i ron that once held it to the ground groaned as the detector begun to give way.
After another mighty, determined heave, the cables that stemmed from the ground snapped, the bolts popped out, flying in different directions all across the room, and the detector became airborne. Knowing that no more time could be wasted, Raven shouted to Harvey (Whom she was no longer entirely sure was even alive), "Duck!" then spun around , swinging the metal detector in a full 360 degree arc that smashed into all that were in an upright position.
Having no strength left for a second swipe, Raven's arms fell limply to her side and shortly there-after she fell to her knees, leaving the detector, free of her black magic, to come crashing to the ground.
She took in several deep breaths before surveying the area. Every last beast that had fronted the assault lay on the ground, some of them severed completely in half by the devastating impact of the metal detector....but there was no Harvey...
Click
Raven felt something press against the back of her head. After a brief pause, of which she didn't dare move, she heard Harvey speak in a cold, scratchy, and among all, frightened voice, "Get up."
Not wanting to upset/disturb him any further, Raven climbed to her feet with no objection.
"Turn around....slowly..." Again, she complied and once fully turned to face the corrections officer, found herself staring down the barrel of his magnum.
"Harvey, what are you doing?!?"
Ignoring her, Harvey asked a question of his own, "What are you?"
Raven hesitated to answer, not so sure herself, but when the magnum was insistently shoved closer to her face, she replied, "I don't know what I am. But I know that I would never try to hurt you..."
"How the Hell can I be sure of that?"
"Because I just saved your life ...just as you saved mine."
Hearing this, he relented, his eyes falling to the ground, though the gun remained centimeters away from her face.
"Don't do this, Harvey. We've been getting along well till now...put the gun down..."
Finally, the firearm fell to his side. Shaking his head morbidly, he turned and approached a bench, taking a seat once arriving.
"I swear to Gawd..." He murmured , holding his head in his hands, "I take one little nap, then I wake up and my entire world's been stolen away from me...."
Raven sat down next to him and scooted in relatively close.
"How do you think it felt for me, waking up in the middle of all this? I don't even know how I got here...."
Harvey looked toward her, then sighed. "When you're right, you're right. I'm actin' a fool... we won't get anywhere being like this...we have to keep moving, or those things'll pick up our trail before long."
Raven flashed a shy smile and ventured, "So...where to...?"
After reloading his magnum, he nodded toward one of the many doorways in the room.
"That hall's the quickest way outta' this place. Let's get there and get out." Harvey pulled himself off the bench and started for the doorway, with the silent titan trailing him. Just as he stepped across the thresh hold, Raven came to a dead stop. Realizing that he was no longer being followed, Harvey peered over his shoulder.
"Hey, what's goin' on?"
"I'm not sure..." Raven replied, rubbing her temples, "Something doesn't feel right...."
"Something doesn't feel right? You mean, like--" The corrections officer was cut off when the entire prison begun to violently tremble. After roughly a minute, it subsided.
"What the fuck was that?!?"
Raven wasn't totally sure of how to answer that question, but she did know that it wasn't safe. Something was direly wrong...
"Harvey...Get out of the hall... now !" She heeded, panic consuming her voice. Just as the warning came, Harvey begun to dash back toward the doorway, however it wasn't fast enough. The violent quaking picked up where it left off, this time five times stronger; so immense and overwhelming that it sent both of them to the ground. Before either could recover, the hallway that lead to the exit's foundation begun to crumble, shortly followed by the walls collapsing and the ceiling's plummet to the floor.
Though she was not knocked unconscious by the bizarre squall, it took full minutes for Raven to recover to her feet, but when she did panic instantly set in. The doorway of which Harvey had failed to cross through had been reduced to a flaming pile of rubble, twisted metal and crushed concrete.
"Harvey...Harvey are you behind all this, can you hear me?" She called, but got no answer. Refusing to believe that he could really be dead, Raven screamed as loud as she could, "HARVEY!"
On this occasion, she received a reply; A long, drawn out groan.
"Harvey, are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay!" He shouted back after several minutes of silence. "My fuckin' arm's broken!"
Raven breathed a sigh of relief at simply getting to hear his voice. After collecting herself, she continued, "Can you still get out?"
After another bout of un-nerving silence, he answered, "Uh huh. The exit isn't blocked...but it ain't me you should be worrying about right now...it's you..."
"I know, I know !" She retorted in a stressed pitch. "Is there another way out of here?"
"Yeah, but it won't be pretty..."
" Nothing's been pretty this entire time, just tell me!"
"It's...uh..." He stumbled for a brief moment, sounding as though he didn't want to say it.
"It's through the lethal injection chamber...but you have to go through the basement to get there..."
Raven's face faulted.
Merely the word basement didn't sound lavishly appeasing, but despite this, she muttered, "...What's so bad about it?"
Harvey scoffed before answering, "There's way more than just those spider things crawlin' around down there...weirdest crap I've ever seen.."
Raven sighed plaintively . It was clear that she had no option, no matter how much she didn't want to do it. Though the rubble could most likely be manipulated and moved, it was at the same time quite massive in proportion, impossible to be done all at one time. And time was something that wasn't on her side. She had to keep moving.
Before picking herself up to leave, she called to Harvey one last time, "Are you sure your going to be okay alone?"
"I'll be fine. This hall lead's right out into the parking lot, so I could just drive to town...don't think it'll be too much different, but at least I can get in contact with the coast-guard there..."
"Good thinking...I'm going to get leaving now...." As she begun to walk away Harvey called after her, "Raven!".
Shocked that he had actually remembered her name, Raven whirled around to face the pile.
"Yeah?"
"Be careful , kid..."
"I will..."
It wasn't long before she found herself gaping at the door that lead into the basement; slightly shocked at how she could wind up going through an entire floor with no conflict at all. The door, like a mute, returned her gaze; taunting her to push it open. Whoever owned the robust voice that occasionally visited her head was right--this place was st r onger than her...but that didn't mean she couldn't beat it.
Reluctantly, her hand placed onto the rectangular metal strip that served as a handle; after taking a deep breath, she shoved it open and, paying no attention to the room it gave way to, bolted in.
To say the place she found herself in was old would have been a slight understatement. Old, in relevance to commercial buildings, was usually something along the lines of fifteen or twenty years. This place couldn't have been younger than forty .
Adjacent to the small room was a hallway. When she saw nothing of any particular interest in the room, she begun to venture toward the only option, but just as the narrow corridor was breached, a phone hung on the wall of the room began to ring. It had not gone un-noticed when she entered, but considering the power had been cut, there didn't appear to be much reason to fool around with it (That and it looked severely out-dated).
At first Raven relented. But in the end her curiosity won out, and she answered,
"..Hello?"
" Hello !" Came a reply, filtered through a very audible voice that carried with it a slightly muddled English accent, " I've been watching you, and my interest is sparked ! I wish to know everything about you !"
Raising an eyebrow, she responded in a bewildered tone, "Why?"
" Well, have you not heard the old doctor's saying? In order to cure, you must first understand ! And clearly there's something VERY wrong with you...consider paying a visit to my asylum in the near future...there would certainly be some great benefits in store for you... " With that, the click that signified the other line hanging up sounded.
More puzzled than she had been the entire time she was here, Raven placed the phone back on the receiver , then yanked it off and held it back to her ear. Nothing. Dead air. Not even a dial-tone. Clearly she had visited by yet another apparition of some sort...
As much as it disturbed her, she was determined not to let it slow her down. She turned and proceed through the hall. It was short-lived on it's own, extending about ten yards, then breaking off to the left. When she rounded the corner, her heart sunk. In front of her was a fairly stout-looking gate, blocking her from persisting.
"Terrific...what can I do now?" The girl muttered to herself hopelessly . Just as she was beginning to consider going back toward the pile and using her manipulation to clear it up, as dangerous as it would be, the air behind the gate begun to distort itself.
Before she could study it closely enough, a terrible tearing noise rung through the air, as though the fabric of time were being ripped open. It grew to such extremes that she was forced to cover her ears. As she continued to watch, what she could only assume to be a ball of electricity crackled and materialized into the air, appearing in such a bright luminescence that her eyes closed tightly as a sheer reflex. When it eventually subsided (Which took full minutes to achieve) what remained was a man, the most notable thing about him being the teeming volts of raw electricity that threateningly cracked and lashed around him.
As a human, he was tall; particularly husky, with frighteningly pale skin. He had a gut that revealed a personal distaste for exercise , but superlatively built arms that seemed to tell a different story. His light blue prisoner's uniform made it obvious that he had served time in this cursed place, and most likely died here as well. But all of these things quivered in comparison to when he spoke, leaving Raven gasping in recognition. This ghost was indeed the one who possessed the robust voice that she found the most friendly .
" Huh...you should be proud, kid....I really never figured you'd make it this far. God knows I didn't...I'm Horace. "
Raven, wide eyed and speechless, merely backed away.
" Yeah...you might wanna' do that. " With those words spoken, the wraith named Horace extended both of his arms, emitting a bolt of electricity that struck the gate with such power, it was reduced to only a few fragments of iron.
" Lemme' ask ya' somethin'... "He continued while approaching Raven, who only persisted to move in reverse--till she backed herself into a wall.
" When you killed those things, it made you feel good, didn't it? "
In exchange her jaw dropped open, as it seemed he was reading her emotions to her.
Still unable to find it in herself to speak, Horace pressed on, " Sure, you didn't wanna' do it....no one does....but when you were forced to, backed into a corner, then lashed out and decided their fate for them, without their consent...it turned you on...am I right?"
He eventually grew so close to her that the static begun to pull her hairs toward him.
" It's this island...Carnate brings out the worst in all of us... " He suddenly brought his face down to where it was level with her own, frightening her, but apparently not enough to make her move.
" I been down here a damn long time...never learned much about it...but I do know this... "
When those words escaped his lips, a clap of lightning came crashing down from the ceiling; subsequently causing him to vanish--but his last few words remained in her head--
Your bein' here ain't no coincidence ....
-End Chapter 2-
Okay, this chapter may have started to wane toward the end, but I wrote the entire thing today, so even as I type this, I feel very light-headed. I also am quite sure that I probably misspelled the words, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos", and I apologize if I did, but it seems to me that everyone and their grandmother has a way of spelling it.
Chapter 2- Horace
Was he following her? Had he stayed in the shower rooms? Would he really try to kill her? Even as Raven approached the stairwell, these burning questions, not to mention Herme's words, were set on replay in her head, so capturing her mindset that she begun to repeat them aloud as she steadily approached the flight of stairs that would lead her only deeper into this psychotic labyrinth she had awoken in (A labyrinth that appeared to be in the middle of black-out, as she noticed the impending darkness throughout the halls).
"No one escapes what I bring about..." The titan whispered under her breath. No matter how creepy the gaseous apparition may have been, she had to admit, the line was pretty catchy.
"Well..." She murmured before starting down the stairs, "At least if he catches me, I'll be getting killed by someone who has a way with words ...".
Her venture into the floor below her didn't last long before she heard someone's voice echo from above. A harsh male voice, shouting, "You want somma' me, fucking freak? Die! Die! Die!" With each 'Die' shouted there came a piercing gunshot.
Once the noise subsided, she returned to the top of the staircase, promptly searching the area upon arrival. To the left was the hallway that lead into the administration office. Due to the haunting encounter with Hermes, she had not noticed it before. The door was closed tightly and the corridor itself looked undisturbed.
To the right was the hall she had come from. After queuing in, she whirled around to see a hallway that lay next to the stairwell. She had noticed it while walking down the stairs, but had no desire to explore, as it lead only to a duo of restrooms.
The door to the men's restroom gaped open, flooding the dark hallway with light and giving her a more than ample view into the blood-stained tile room behind it; not to mention a plethora of corpses belonging to the bizarre machete creature encountered in the cell block. After a solemn moment of observation, a man emerged; raising his magnum at her as though it were a gut reflex.
Just as quick as he made this gambit, Raven put both hands in the air and yelped , "Don't shoot, I'm not one of them!"
The man, clearly a corrections officer, as he wore the same aqua blue suit as the less fortunate Trevon, did not lower the gun till he located a flash-light and shined it on her. Raven winced slightly as the overly-bright light hit her directly in the face, though she managed to find a way to see past it and get a clear look at him when he noted in surprise, "Wait a second...I know you!"
"You do? How?" Raven inquired, letting her arms fall to her waist.
"We found you c onked out on the shore this morning...so damn pale, we thought you were dead, but..."
"But what?"
"Well, while we were carrying you in to figure out what to do, you had a spasm of some kind...."
"A spasm ?!?"
The man gave a light shrug of his shoulders and begun to approach her.
"Yeah, I guess that's what you'd call it...you started thrashin' around and screaming....something about spiders....you don't remember?"
Raven shook her head despairingly . "No, all I know is that I woke up in one of the cells and there are all of those things running around..." She pointed toward one of the dead beasts, then added, "Do you mind telling me what on Earth's going on?"
It was now his turn to shake his head in a way that made her heart sink.
"I got no damn clue. I took a nap in the break-room at around five, then woke up all of this
shit ..."
Again the C.O shook his head. "Eh...forgot to introduce myself." He extended a hand, which Raven hastily accepted. "Name's Harvey Alding....yours?"
"Raven."
Harvey's face faulted as he shook her hand, and he muttered, "Uh...that's okay, I didn't wanna' know your real name anyway...."
Raven glared, but before she could make a retort, he started back up, "Look, I'm usually not too fond of working with someone else, but it's pretty obvious that we're safer if together..."
The titan nodded in agreement. "My thoughts exactly...."
After a moment of bleak silence, Harvey eyed the firearm tucked in her hand and promptly made a remark, "I noticed you gotta' gun...know how to use it?"
Not really thinking of it till then, Raven gazed down at the magnum in her hand, then at him, "Well, I've killed one of them with it...had to kinda' teach myself how to reload...."
Harvey stared for a moment more, then ran a hand through his hair; a jet-black crew-cut that complimented the contours of his forehead.
"Well, that's good enough. We'd better get downstairs. There's a really quick exit from this Hell-hole there...." With the order given, he turned and dashed down the staircase, Raven however, stayed at the top, thinking him over. He seemed like a good enough guy, and she desperately wanted to keep survivors, but it was clear that in regards to leadership, he was just like her...it went his way, or it didn't happen at all. However, since he had worked here, it was best to follow his lead; just as she followed Robin back in Gotham...
Gotham ...Lord, how she missed it. It wasn't until now had Raven realized what she had. There she wasn't alone. There she didn't have to fight for her life on a constant basis. There she didn't run into some strange creature or ghost that left her quivering with fear...there... there her fucking emotions had some kind of effect on the things and people around her! What kind of evil could have possibly happened on this island that could do this to her of all people?!?
"Hey! You comin' or what?!?" Harvey's harsh voice called from the base of the stairwell. The severity in his tone making her start in surprise. After rubbing her eyes irritably , she replied, "Yeah...sorry...guess I zoned out for a minute...". As she proceeded down the stairs, she muttered to herself, "Great...getting the crap scared out of me and now I'm gunning for a mental break-down...what's next?"
The first occasion that she had gotten to the bottom of the stairwell, Raven hadn't gotten much time to take a look around before the gunshots sounded off from above her. The hallway of which it lead to didn't stretch out for very long; couldn't have exceeded fifteen feet. On the right was another radio office which, by the time she had arrived, Harvey had already rummaged through and reported to have found nothing. At the end were glass double doors that lead into a room of massive proportions, though not able to see much from where she was standing, Raven was able to catch sigh of a lavish glass roof that dominated most of the ceiling.
"This was the visitor check-in room..." Harvey informed while pushing through the doors.
"We gotta' another office and an old electrocution chamber as a tourist attraction...but I don't think there's much of a need to go in the--" His sermon was cut off when the glass roof shattered abruptly , through which there descended well over three of the decapitated beasts.
"Son of a bitch!" The officer exclaimed while placing aim on one of the intruding creatures.
Raven, determined not to let their sheer grostueqe capture her in a trance this time, raised the magnum, placed aim on one that just happened to be running toward her, and squeezed the trigger. Again, the recoil hit her like a freight-train, but in contrast to the last time, the shot didn't do so much to help. The bullet sailed into it's chest and exited between the shoulder blades, causing the beast to shrink back and shriek in response, but hardly even a second passed before it recovered and continued to approach her.
Before another shot could be fired, it assertively rushed toward her and performed a reverse somersault , bringing it's blades/feet to collide into her. Though it intended to get it's prey in the throat, Raven, foreboding the front, had begun to sidestep and was in exchange nailed in the shoulder. The impact sent her flying into a wall and left a huge gash across her shoulder, which openly bled down her arm, but she wasted no time recovering to her feet.
Harvey, whom had just finished blasting one of his hunters between the eyes, turned to see the trouble his only companion had fallen in. Ignoring the some three or four enemies behind him, the officer murmured , "Damn kid..." And fired into the back of Raven's assailant , killing it with the second shot. There was not time to celebrate his victory before a blade was jammed into his side.
Howling in pain, Harvey whirled around and blindly pulled the trigger. After getting hacked in one of his calves, he painstakingly turned toward Raven and hollered, "DO SOMETHING, DAMN IT!"
Knowing that, while a blast from the gun may distract the beasts, it wouldn't help to kill anything, the titan scanned the huge room for something, anything to manipulate. Blatantly, it stood only five feet away from her. A heavy converter -belt operated metal detector. Length-wise, it was perfect to use as a bat. Raven collected all of her strength, knowing that ripping it from the ground would not be an easy task, then yelled, "Azarath... Metrion... ZINTHOS!" The black haze made quick work of engulfing the metal detector, but it wasn't till she lifted her arms to un-earth the giant piece of equipment did the strain begin to shoot through her.
Taken back by the sheer girth, Raven recoiled, but after hearing Harvey holler in pain at yet another attack of some sort, she gave a mighty heave, channeling all of her concentration into it. The bolts and i ron that once held it to the ground groaned as the detector begun to give way.
After another mighty, determined heave, the cables that stemmed from the ground snapped, the bolts popped out, flying in different directions all across the room, and the detector became airborne. Knowing that no more time could be wasted, Raven shouted to Harvey (Whom she was no longer entirely sure was even alive), "Duck!" then spun around , swinging the metal detector in a full 360 degree arc that smashed into all that were in an upright position.
Having no strength left for a second swipe, Raven's arms fell limply to her side and shortly there-after she fell to her knees, leaving the detector, free of her black magic, to come crashing to the ground.
She took in several deep breaths before surveying the area. Every last beast that had fronted the assault lay on the ground, some of them severed completely in half by the devastating impact of the metal detector....but there was no Harvey...
Click
Raven felt something press against the back of her head. After a brief pause, of which she didn't dare move, she heard Harvey speak in a cold, scratchy, and among all, frightened voice, "Get up."
Not wanting to upset/disturb him any further, Raven climbed to her feet with no objection.
"Turn around....slowly..." Again, she complied and once fully turned to face the corrections officer, found herself staring down the barrel of his magnum.
"Harvey, what are you doing?!?"
Ignoring her, Harvey asked a question of his own, "What are you?"
Raven hesitated to answer, not so sure herself, but when the magnum was insistently shoved closer to her face, she replied, "I don't know what I am. But I know that I would never try to hurt you..."
"How the Hell can I be sure of that?"
"Because I just saved your life ...just as you saved mine."
Hearing this, he relented, his eyes falling to the ground, though the gun remained centimeters away from her face.
"Don't do this, Harvey. We've been getting along well till now...put the gun down..."
Finally, the firearm fell to his side. Shaking his head morbidly, he turned and approached a bench, taking a seat once arriving.
"I swear to Gawd..." He murmured , holding his head in his hands, "I take one little nap, then I wake up and my entire world's been stolen away from me...."
Raven sat down next to him and scooted in relatively close.
"How do you think it felt for me, waking up in the middle of all this? I don't even know how I got here...."
Harvey looked toward her, then sighed. "When you're right, you're right. I'm actin' a fool... we won't get anywhere being like this...we have to keep moving, or those things'll pick up our trail before long."
Raven flashed a shy smile and ventured, "So...where to...?"
After reloading his magnum, he nodded toward one of the many doorways in the room.
"That hall's the quickest way outta' this place. Let's get there and get out." Harvey pulled himself off the bench and started for the doorway, with the silent titan trailing him. Just as he stepped across the thresh hold, Raven came to a dead stop. Realizing that he was no longer being followed, Harvey peered over his shoulder.
"Hey, what's goin' on?"
"I'm not sure..." Raven replied, rubbing her temples, "Something doesn't feel right...."
"Something doesn't feel right? You mean, like--" The corrections officer was cut off when the entire prison begun to violently tremble. After roughly a minute, it subsided.
"What the fuck was that?!?"
Raven wasn't totally sure of how to answer that question, but she did know that it wasn't safe. Something was direly wrong...
"Harvey...Get out of the hall... now !" She heeded, panic consuming her voice. Just as the warning came, Harvey begun to dash back toward the doorway, however it wasn't fast enough. The violent quaking picked up where it left off, this time five times stronger; so immense and overwhelming that it sent both of them to the ground. Before either could recover, the hallway that lead to the exit's foundation begun to crumble, shortly followed by the walls collapsing and the ceiling's plummet to the floor.
Though she was not knocked unconscious by the bizarre squall, it took full minutes for Raven to recover to her feet, but when she did panic instantly set in. The doorway of which Harvey had failed to cross through had been reduced to a flaming pile of rubble, twisted metal and crushed concrete.
"Harvey...Harvey are you behind all this, can you hear me?" She called, but got no answer. Refusing to believe that he could really be dead, Raven screamed as loud as she could, "HARVEY!"
On this occasion, she received a reply; A long, drawn out groan.
"Harvey, are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay!" He shouted back after several minutes of silence. "My fuckin' arm's broken!"
Raven breathed a sigh of relief at simply getting to hear his voice. After collecting herself, she continued, "Can you still get out?"
After another bout of un-nerving silence, he answered, "Uh huh. The exit isn't blocked...but it ain't me you should be worrying about right now...it's you..."
"I know, I know !" She retorted in a stressed pitch. "Is there another way out of here?"
"Yeah, but it won't be pretty..."
" Nothing's been pretty this entire time, just tell me!"
"It's...uh..." He stumbled for a brief moment, sounding as though he didn't want to say it.
"It's through the lethal injection chamber...but you have to go through the basement to get there..."
Raven's face faulted.
Merely the word basement didn't sound lavishly appeasing, but despite this, she muttered, "...What's so bad about it?"
Harvey scoffed before answering, "There's way more than just those spider things crawlin' around down there...weirdest crap I've ever seen.."
Raven sighed plaintively . It was clear that she had no option, no matter how much she didn't want to do it. Though the rubble could most likely be manipulated and moved, it was at the same time quite massive in proportion, impossible to be done all at one time. And time was something that wasn't on her side. She had to keep moving.
Before picking herself up to leave, she called to Harvey one last time, "Are you sure your going to be okay alone?"
"I'll be fine. This hall lead's right out into the parking lot, so I could just drive to town...don't think it'll be too much different, but at least I can get in contact with the coast-guard there..."
"Good thinking...I'm going to get leaving now...." As she begun to walk away Harvey called after her, "Raven!".
Shocked that he had actually remembered her name, Raven whirled around to face the pile.
"Yeah?"
"Be careful , kid..."
"I will..."
It wasn't long before she found herself gaping at the door that lead into the basement; slightly shocked at how she could wind up going through an entire floor with no conflict at all. The door, like a mute, returned her gaze; taunting her to push it open. Whoever owned the robust voice that occasionally visited her head was right--this place was st r onger than her...but that didn't mean she couldn't beat it.
Reluctantly, her hand placed onto the rectangular metal strip that served as a handle; after taking a deep breath, she shoved it open and, paying no attention to the room it gave way to, bolted in.
To say the place she found herself in was old would have been a slight understatement. Old, in relevance to commercial buildings, was usually something along the lines of fifteen or twenty years. This place couldn't have been younger than forty .
Adjacent to the small room was a hallway. When she saw nothing of any particular interest in the room, she begun to venture toward the only option, but just as the narrow corridor was breached, a phone hung on the wall of the room began to ring. It had not gone un-noticed when she entered, but considering the power had been cut, there didn't appear to be much reason to fool around with it (That and it looked severely out-dated).
At first Raven relented. But in the end her curiosity won out, and she answered,
"..Hello?"
" Hello !" Came a reply, filtered through a very audible voice that carried with it a slightly muddled English accent, " I've been watching you, and my interest is sparked ! I wish to know everything about you !"
Raising an eyebrow, she responded in a bewildered tone, "Why?"
" Well, have you not heard the old doctor's saying? In order to cure, you must first understand ! And clearly there's something VERY wrong with you...consider paying a visit to my asylum in the near future...there would certainly be some great benefits in store for you... " With that, the click that signified the other line hanging up sounded.
More puzzled than she had been the entire time she was here, Raven placed the phone back on the receiver , then yanked it off and held it back to her ear. Nothing. Dead air. Not even a dial-tone. Clearly she had visited by yet another apparition of some sort...
As much as it disturbed her, she was determined not to let it slow her down. She turned and proceed through the hall. It was short-lived on it's own, extending about ten yards, then breaking off to the left. When she rounded the corner, her heart sunk. In front of her was a fairly stout-looking gate, blocking her from persisting.
"Terrific...what can I do now?" The girl muttered to herself hopelessly . Just as she was beginning to consider going back toward the pile and using her manipulation to clear it up, as dangerous as it would be, the air behind the gate begun to distort itself.
Before she could study it closely enough, a terrible tearing noise rung through the air, as though the fabric of time were being ripped open. It grew to such extremes that she was forced to cover her ears. As she continued to watch, what she could only assume to be a ball of electricity crackled and materialized into the air, appearing in such a bright luminescence that her eyes closed tightly as a sheer reflex. When it eventually subsided (Which took full minutes to achieve) what remained was a man, the most notable thing about him being the teeming volts of raw electricity that threateningly cracked and lashed around him.
As a human, he was tall; particularly husky, with frighteningly pale skin. He had a gut that revealed a personal distaste for exercise , but superlatively built arms that seemed to tell a different story. His light blue prisoner's uniform made it obvious that he had served time in this cursed place, and most likely died here as well. But all of these things quivered in comparison to when he spoke, leaving Raven gasping in recognition. This ghost was indeed the one who possessed the robust voice that she found the most friendly .
" Huh...you should be proud, kid....I really never figured you'd make it this far. God knows I didn't...I'm Horace. "
Raven, wide eyed and speechless, merely backed away.
" Yeah...you might wanna' do that. " With those words spoken, the wraith named Horace extended both of his arms, emitting a bolt of electricity that struck the gate with such power, it was reduced to only a few fragments of iron.
" Lemme' ask ya' somethin'... "He continued while approaching Raven, who only persisted to move in reverse--till she backed herself into a wall.
" When you killed those things, it made you feel good, didn't it? "
In exchange her jaw dropped open, as it seemed he was reading her emotions to her.
Still unable to find it in herself to speak, Horace pressed on, " Sure, you didn't wanna' do it....no one does....but when you were forced to, backed into a corner, then lashed out and decided their fate for them, without their consent...it turned you on...am I right?"
He eventually grew so close to her that the static begun to pull her hairs toward him.
" It's this island...Carnate brings out the worst in all of us... " He suddenly brought his face down to where it was level with her own, frightening her, but apparently not enough to make her move.
" I been down here a damn long time...never learned much about it...but I do know this... "
When those words escaped his lips, a clap of lightning came crashing down from the ceiling; subsequently causing him to vanish--but his last few words remained in her head--
Your bein' here ain't no coincidence ....
-End Chapter 2-
Okay, this chapter may have started to wane toward the end, but I wrote the entire thing today, so even as I type this, I feel very light-headed. I also am quite sure that I probably misspelled the words, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos", and I apologize if I did, but it seems to me that everyone and their grandmother has a way of spelling it.