Undead Knightmare - Chapter 8
“What was that?!” Lizzie asked. She paused, but Sadon pulled her to her feet and away from the fires.
“The scale oil. There were more barrels of it, remember? The wood is normally treated to not burn to prevent exactly what just happened, but I guess those were older than we thought.” Sadon began to walk faster, doing his best to ignore the pain that he was starting to think he was just going to have to get used to.
“Good,” Lizzie said. Sadon looked at her puzzled. “The Ill will have heard that. Hopefully they’re stupid enough to walk into the fire.” Her hopeful smile gave Sadon confidence, and they trekked on.
For an hour they walked down that road. Following every turn and weave it gave, taking no side paths. Searching, again, for what they hoped existed: other human beings.
Then they saw it in the distance. Over the entrance to the old sewage treatment plant a sign hung. It read Survivors Here, and they could not help but begin to run. The hope that was beginning to fade in them seemed to reignite a small bit.
The rusty gates were hanging sloppily on the hinges, broken and creaky in the wind. When they passed under the arch, the site brought them to a dead stop.
They saw below them the humbled beginnings of a new city. Snow covered tents spread everywhere throughout the multiple levels of the large opening. High white stoned walls surrounded the whole area with guard towers atop each building on the perimeter, one of the walls part of The Great Wall that surrounded the city. It was all so grand looking. It was nothing more than an illusion of hope.
Half eaten corpses riddled the ground and dead guards hanged from the buildings. No Ill were in sight, but they had been there. It was mystery when, but it did not matter. Sadon’s head was spinning and his vision began to blur. Neither could believe what they were seeing. Soon his legs could not support his weight and he fell to the ground, kneeling over on all fours.
“Are you okay?” Lizzie asked, her hand lying on the middle of his back. Her voice was shaky.
“My head. It hurts.” He looked at her and she reached out her hand to help him up. “I can’t worry about that right now though. It’s not safe here.” He took her hand and got to his feet, his head still spinning.
“I don’t think it’s safe anywhere,” she said, in a serious tone. “Let’s at least find some bandages or something. There has to be a doctor’s tent in here somewhere.”
So they split up and searched. Sadon taking the upper level and Lizzie covering the large hole in the middle that was now full of empty tents and snow rather than sewage. Pulling back all the cloth openings, sword in hand, they checked the dark tents. Many were empty, many were not. Sadon lost count of the number of bodies. What haunted him the most was the corpses of a child and mother curled up in a barrel. Their light skinned faces forever frozen with a look of pure terror.
At least it was the cold that got them, Sadon thought.
After checking the last tent on his level, he found nothing but a bloodstained blanket on the inside. Sighing with relief that he had found no Ill, he began to sheath his sword. A shudder of pain up his back caused him to drop the sword into the tent filled pool below, where Lizzie was still checking.
The place was once a sewage treatment plant, but had been left empty for many years. The empty pool below him had obviously been the centre of it all, because the smell was still revolting. He harbored no guilt for having Lizzie check the hole, but now she was getting even.
“Come get it yourself,” she laughed. There’s a ladder over there, I’m almost done.”
Making it down the ladder was painful, but bearable. Although he was surprised the grimy old wood still survived under his weight. He made his way to the sword and tore it out of the ground. The end was bent and badly needed work. As he was grieving his mistake, Lizzie called out to him.
He found her crouched over a small gap in the stone near the wall. Wood beams were squeezed perfectly into a small square opening, but one of the beams had been pried out and left a hole just big enough for a person to fit through. Blood covered the opening, and scratch marks were made deep into the wood.
“All I found were corpses, nothing of use to us. Except maybe this, whatever it is,” Lizzie said. She pushed her hair back out of her face and pointed at the gap. The darkness around her eyes was more evident than ever.
“I guess the sewage had to drain somewhere, this must’ve been it. It looks like it’s been sealed a long time before it was opened like this,” Sadon said. He got closer to get a better look, but quickly covered his face with his sleeve. “Smells like it too.”
“If it’s a drain, then it has to lead out of the city,” Lizzie said. As if doubting herself, her face relaxed and she frowned, but only slightly. Sadon was captivated by this look, because it was one of her many expressions that made her a mystery. He snapped himself back to reality in time, however.
“I would bet so, but I don’t think we would be the first people to get this idea,” he said, indicating the blood with his hands.
“What other choice do we have?” she asked.
Sadon thought it through, but eventually agreed that there was little choice in the matter. They could not go back into the city, and they could not wait around. They could only keep moving.
Deciding that he would go in first, Sadon stuck a freshly lit torch into the gap. The light could not pierce the black abyss more than a couple feet. Shiny brick walls glimmered all around him, and clusters of unknown fungi were everywhere. The smell of mildew and decay were nearly overwhelming his senses. He smelled no Ill though. With his free hand, he helped pull Lizzie through after him. There was only one way they could go, and it was down a small slope of slippery wet stone. Bracing themselves on the walls, they began to descend the dark passage. Sadon with his sword and torch in front, and Lizzie clutching her bow tightly behind him.
Time seemed to come to a complete stop in the darkness. There breathing was shallow and only the occasional drop of water was heard, neither were saying a word. They listened intently for any movement besides their own, jumping at every rock they scraped with their feet. Lizzie panicked and fired an arrow into the dark after she heard a small splash, causing the echoing click of an arrow head smashing stone to surround them. A rat rushed past their feet from the direction she fired, causing the same splashing noise.
“Sorry,” Lizzie whispered, grinning with embarrassment. She had always been afraid of the dark and the longer they were engulfed in it, the more her paranoia was turning to panic.
The slow, tension filled walk seemed to take hours. Constantly taking the downward slanted path. Every turn revealed no new light or side passage, but the smell of Ill was intensifying. Sadon began to suspect they were farther beneath the city than he thought possible. The white stone bricks that made the walls had ended, and they were now into smoothly carved stone. Suddenly, Lizzie stopped by placing her hand on Sadon’s shoulder.
“Do you feel that?” she asked. It was only then that Sadon noticed the still, damp air of the drainage pipe was gone and a cold breeze was rushing down the other end of the dark tunnel. With renewed excitement, he began to pick up speed down the slope, careful not to lose his footing. After hitting what was the final turn, he saw their exit. A metal door stood twenty feet below them, opposite a large pool of stagnant water. The drop off was menacing enough without the two Ill that were floating around, bloated and disgusting. Neither seemed to notice the torch light. Their eyes were completely covered by their fat, swollen faces. The pale grey skin seemed to glow in the darkness as it hung off their bodies in big chunks.
A stream of light shot out of the cracks around the door below, revealing the stone platform in front of the door. It was small, Sadon could only guess a maximum of five feet out, but still about fifteen feet down.
“Any ideas? I don’t see any easy way down from here.” Sadon asked, leaning against the wall.
“Swimming wouldn’t be smart, is my guess. Who knows what we’ll catch,” she said. Looking at the black, gross water she almost threw up.
“Can you take out the two Ill while I try to think of something?” he asked. The look in her eyes showed a struggle with this decision. “Unless you don’t want to. We can deal with them when we’re down there.”
“No. I just have to get over the fact these things aren’t human anymore.” Sadon looked at her with concern. “Really, I’ll be fine. Besides, you couldn’t make this shot if you wanted to.” With an awkward smile, she pulled the arrow back and aimed at the one on the left. It flew straight into its chest, creating a gut wrenching noise. But the thing did not die. It just kept wading through the water.
“Did you hit it?” Sadon asked.
“Of course I hit it! It just didn’t die. How is that possible?”
“Try aiming for the head this time, not the chest.”
She took a deep breath and raised her bow. After a moment, an arrow flew into its skull. The Ill plunged face first into the water, never to move again. She killed the second Ill in the same manner.
“I guess I can take comfort in that they’re really not human anymore. I mean, a shot to the chest was nothing. They’re almost invincible,” Lizzie stated.
“That’s excellent, because armies of dead weren’t fun enough.” Sadon said. Lizzie returned the comment with a sad nod. “Now, how are we going to get across? The distance isn’t that far of a jump, it’s just a really long fall.”
“Well, it’s survivable. Just don’t hit your head,” she said.
“Gee, thanks,” Sadon said, his voice drenched in sarcasm. “We won’t be needing this anymore.” He threw the torch into the water and they were plunged into almost complete darkness. He could hear Lizzies breaths quicken and her bow creak as her grip tightened. Only the stone platform could be seen. He backed himself up until he was against the wall. “Tell me why you can’t be the one who does this?” he asked, then took a running leap. For the few seconds he was in the air, he braced himself for a very hard landing. Unfortunately, it was delivered. With a loud bang, he rolled into the metal door and sent his head spinning. Again.
“Sadon! Are you dead?” Lizzie yelled from above. “Because if you are, I’m going to kill you.”
“No, but it feels like it!” he yelled. “Hold on a second. That did not feel good.” He looked up and noticed a chain outlined in the shadows hanging by the door. Unsure of its purpose, he took a firm grip of the metal links and tried to pull himself up. Years of rust burst free and the chain started to come down. He kept pulling because it seemed to open the water gates. Metal doors began to peak open on the side of the pool. Light rushed in, while water flooded out through the now revealed, barred drain. The light was blinding, but they could now see the room clearly. It was mold covered and where the water had been was slimy. The two bodies were stuck in the bars of the drain, but the water was completely gone. There was even a metal ladder below the hole where Lizzie stood leading into the pool. After she made it across and onto the dry platform, they looked at the door. It wasn’t locked, but it was heavy and the seal was rusted shut. Using the sword as a pry bar, they tried to pull the crank. It resisted, but after a minute it broke open and the door squealed. Sadon gave the crank a hard tug and pulled the heavy door open.
In front of them was another drop, but this time it led to a lake outside of a small farm. The sun was high in the sky and they were no longer looking at the inner walls of Valrock. Before them was the rest of Hysteria. They were free.
