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The crowd of animals roared with excitement as the boxing match went on, their feverish screams made up the room's ambience. Loud enough to deafen the feeble cries of the humans who were in a nasty predicament. All of the children were up in the cage attached to the ceiling with a singular cable. The inside is cramped, and the smell of iron could not be ridden. There's some space for them to walk around if they wished. But none of them did, the fear inside their small bodies festered. Robbie's hands clasped around the bars. His eyes, shaded in dark green roamed down where he could see everything from a bird's view. "How did none of us notice the signs behind this horrible place?" He murmured in a timid voice. More to himself than anyone. His head tilted down slightly.
Even now at this moment, some part of the boy wished all of this was a nightmare he could wake up to back to his orphanage. A sick dream where his friends didn't need to perish at the hands of a monster in the clothing of a doctor. He recalled playing hide and seek whenever they got a chance inside of the orphanage. It felt nerve-wracking whenever he hidden himself from his friends when they tried to find him. Roth always found him first, and most of the time, he jumpscared him when his guard is down, he always yelped when he got startled. Nana would offer her a hug if it was too much to bear.
He would much rather do that than be forced to fight for his life. All of his passing thoughts get interrupted when he heard a thump followed by noises of sobbing. The little girl sat upright after being knocked down to the floor, her face smeared with a crimson liquid. Her gloved hands close together. She couldn't hold back the onslaught of wet tears pouring down her cheeks.
The child felt a pawed hand press against her wet cheek and move around in a soothing circle. Her cries quieted down to sniffling. The Doctor kept doing the motion until she slowed it to a halt. "I'm sorry. I was a little too rough on you. I won't punch you again. Please, get up." Lorna responded, giving the girl a crafted visage of remorse. It seemed real but it was enough to get the trembling child to comply. She slowly got up to her feet and stared at the mouse with hesitancy behind those blue eyes.
The doctor opened up her outstretched arms, and the kid took the bait. She wraps her short arms around Lorna's sides. Lorna took the opportunity to place her paw onto the girl's head. Moving damp strands of her dark hair away from her forehead, sticky with warm red. "My body hurts..." The girl whined. It was quiet, barely audible in contrast to the deafening cheers of the audience. Lorna's ears twitched, and her smile got bigger.
Robbie kept glancing at the scene below the cage with a pit in his stomach. After the last encounter with that Mouse, his gut tells him something bad is going to happen. It wouldn't matter how it would happen, but a matter of when. The kid turned his head to glance at the side to find himself startled with a gasp drawn and stifled quick as it came. Taking a cautious step away when he noticed another boy next to him with hands in their pockets looking at the view. He looked older, taller than Robbie by a few inches. The teen wore a tan hoodie with an image of a black cat smacked in the center alongside a blue cap with drooped earflaps, he looked around the area. Disdain present by the looks of it. He shook his head. "Damn rat..." He muttered.
The teen glanced to the side noticing Robbie staring at him with unease. His eyes narrowed. "What are you looking at?" He asked bluntly. Robbie turned his glance away swiftly, avoiding eye contact. Uttering a quick 'nothing' in response at the unfriendly tone. The teenager rolled his eyes and turned his head back down over at the ring. "Tch...cowards, the lot of them." He spoke to himself. Indignation rose within Robbie, his mouth opened to interject, but before he could mutter a word. The high-pitched screams from the ring pierced his and the ears of everyone in the cage.
The boy flinched and placed his shaky hands over his mouth, heartbeat racing with eyes widened. Forehead slick with dripping sweat, he couldn't bear to glance at the ring. The teenager's jaw tightened uncomfortably who froze on the spot briefly. The scream underlaid the sound of fabric and flesh torn. Followed afterwards is the return of roaring. In the stands full of animals, the audience cheered once more. Arms raised high into the air, craving for more. Their noises made it impossible to hear anything below the suspended cage. Robbie's hands lowered down, and a shaky breath escaped him. "What the hell is wrong with these animals?" The words slipped out of his mouth before he realized it. The teenager looked back at him. "You and me both, think the girl down there will die?" The teen asked with a flat tone.
Robbie shook his head violently with a horrified expression. "W-Why are you asking me this?! I'm not answering that!" He sputtered out defensively. His arms were crossed, practically hugging himself. The older boy's sneer molded back into a frown. Standing there as he looked down again onto the boxing ring. He lost track after the tenth time.
A sigh escapes his lips, before he kicked the bar handles once, rattling the cage for a split second. Startling Robbie once again while the rest of the kids were too frightened to notice it. "Let's face it, there's no chance none of us are getting out alive." He spoke with a certain grimness in his voice. "That monster wants us to fight in her sick games just to appease those twisted beasts, and even if anyone of us gets a shot in winning..." The teen's voice trailed off, eying to one of the animals in the stands in particular. Robbie followed his gaze slowly and saw what he was talking about. A cyan furred kitten with a bandaged left eye alongside having his left ear bandaged up with its tail.
What stuck out the most is the weapon wielded by the animal. A sniper rifle. Robbie shuddered at the thought of a gun laid out in the open. He didn't need to make a mental image in his head to imagine what would happen if he tried to run or cheat. "So, what can we do?" Robbie nervously questioned the teen. The elder boy thought about it seriously before looking at his shoes. The uncomfortable silence between them stretched on for what felt like minutes. Minus the cacophony of the audience.
"Dunno. Pray to God for a message or something." He responded simply. The teenager sat himself down, and pulled out his own weapon. A knife, not too long or short. He placed it down near his side. Gripping the hilt tightly. Concealing it for later use. Robbie's eyes darted back to him and the weapon the teen flashed for a moment, taken aback. He was about to bring up why the teen had a knife. But after seeing the look the teen gave him, he wisely kept his mouth shut. So, he sat down near the teen keeping to himself.
At this point Robbie tuned out the noises of the crowd. His right hand dug into his pant's pocket, fishing out something that caught the teen's eye. Looking at the boy with some form of disbelief written on.
Robbie had a chocolate bar. The plastic crinkled underneath the boy's fingers, and he ripped it down like it was a banana. His fingers were close to gripping the bar and breaking off a piece. Robbie's eyes momentarily glanced back at the teen who gave him a look. He eyed the bar of chocolate. Before he could offer a piece, the screaming returned and this time, it sounded desperate. The sound pierced his ears once again, and he looked back down with a daunting sight in front of him. His eyes widened once more.
That mouse held up the girl by her throat with both her paws, and opened her maw drawing her head back inches away from the small child's head. The girl squirmed with all of her frenzied energy brought up with sheer adrenaline. "MOMMY! DADDY! ANYONE PLEASE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" She pleaded desperately as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Every child in the cage froze save for a few. None of them could muster the will to do something. Just anything to get her away from death's grasp before she could croak. Robbie watched with his stifled breaths, and heart pounding against the confines of his chest. Lorna simply laughed, a cruel sound escaping her lips. "Cry all you want brat! No one is coming to save you, not even an angel!" She replied with a sickeningly sweet tone. Her jaw opened wider, leaning her head back a little more.
In that moment, Robbie eyed to his chocolate bar in his hands, and an imaginary bright lightbulb went off inside his mind. With all of the courage he could gather in his body he stood up abruptly, and hurled the chocolate bar with his strength. It passed in between the bars and made its way hurtling through air.
His heart skipped a beat when the mouse's head snapped forward. Lorna's jaw attempted to close on the girl's head, going in for the kill. Instead, she tasted plastic down her throat.
The mouse's eyes bulged out with surprise, and before the girl knew it, the pressure from her throat was released, and abruptly dropped onto the platform, the kid landed on her back heaving for air. Her legs kicked out reflexively at the floor with a rapid haste. Crawling away until her back touched the post, near the suspended TV displaying her versus the mouse. Lorna's hands clawed at her throat; her tail moved around in a frenzied motion. Vision blurring by fleeting seconds and her mouth opened wide and closing rapidly without getting any precious oxygen.
The crowd quieted down to murmurs. In a split second, they looked with horror and gasped amongst themselves. The mouse beside the cyan kitten turned its head around quickly, and looked at his friend. "The dean's choking! We need to help her!" He said loudly. Looking at the scene with concern behind his eyes, the mouse jolted off its seat ready to rush to her aid. Mimi raised a hand, and placed it on his friend's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Don't worry, she got surprised by that stupid human, the dean will be fine, just watch." Mimi said. His tone reassuring, both of them looked back.
Lorna's hands moved away from her throat. As shaky as they were, she plunged her arms straight into her maw in an arc. For a moment it seemed like nothing was happening. The dean was still choking, and all it seemed like was a desperate maneuver. A few seconds later, she wrenched her arms out of her maw, her hands holding the chocolate bar cloaked in saliva. Lorna finally was able to breathe properly, chest expanding and deflating with each rapid breath. Her paws gripped the bar so tightly, the chocolate broke apart into many pieces and fragments rained down onto the ring until she let it go all together. Letting it fall down with a wet slap against the floor.
It took a little while to regain her composure. Once she did, a snarl escaped her mouth, and she stood straight. Looking up to the cage full of humans with disdain behind her eyes. She pointed at it with her index finger. "Which one of you brats threw that?!" She shrieked angrily. A few of the children cried in terror, most didn't mutter a word and became quiet. The rest of the crowd didn't speak louder than a whisper. She swore she could have heard them talking about her with surprise, but it didn't matter to her. She had a bigger priority now.
Robbie's heartbeat quickened with dread etched into every fiber of his being. There's no coming back to what he did. All that courage within dried up fast, save for a piece holding onto dear life to keep his mouth shut. Lorna kept her glance at the cage for longer. She contemplated if she should bring the cage down herself to wrangle the wretch who threw it by its neck. Rolling her eyes and frowning, one of her hands reached to the back of her dress. Grabbing a device strapped to the cloth, and yanking it out, revealing it in the open. A remote with a small red antenna with a button.
Her finger hovered over the button. "None of you want to tell me. Fine! I see it how it is, let's play a little game." She spoke simply. A smile slowly formed across her lips. Robbie quickly eyed the teen who he learned is named Luke after an exchange of whispers, the children did not like the sound of her sweet tone. He knew by now every animal in this room spites humans. They hate them with a passion great enough to pass as an excuse to watch them die for their entertainment. Yet out of all of the twisted ones here, the Doctor surpassed them.
Lorna's grin grew bigger by the second until it couldn't. Her pupils expanded wide as if she's reliving something no one else can see. "I will pick a person randomly inside that cage to fight me until there's no human left. But, here's a little bonus to sweeten the deal! Anyone who confesses to me who did it can choose two different options. You can be free. Or...you can fight me, and if you win, I will let everyone go. Sweet deal right?" She said. Letting her words sink into every human's mind held up in that cage. Robbie's body went rigid with fear. He couldn't imagine himself winning, not while the doctor has everything she needs, and they have little to nothing. It isn't fair, it's never fair for him.
Luke fared no better. His grip on his knife tightened to the point of his knuckles turning white. His eyes narrowed at the mouse, his eyebrow raised up. A little thought came to his head. He could trick her into believing he did it, and she could in theory let him go. But it wouldn't be enough, his gut instincts were telling him there is more to it. All he can do now is hope. Hope he could come out of this alive and find Bluesnow in this hell. He hated leaving her behind in that cell, and it still pains him, but he would rather perish for her instead of it being his little sister.
Before the children could ponder any further, the cage began shaking. Robbie and Luke held onto the bars for dear life. Few of the kids screamed, freaking out as they ran in unfixed directions. The cage started to go down rapidly in its abrupt descent. Lorna's finger was on the button pressed down. Her cackling rang throughout the room. "Now...let's see who breaks first!" She howled out.
Robbie's eyes attempted to make out his surroundings which started to blur around his vision by the speed of the cage going down like an elevator out of control. He caught a fleeting glimpse of the girl who was backed up against the post. He could have sworn seeing the screen of the TV flickering briefly. Showing a distorted black and red shape in the background and then greenery in the background. Robbie's gaze snapped away, hearing the familiar cruel laugh coming from the doctor as the cage landed, and the games officially begun.
The bird was curious. The feeling isn't new to him, but it felt different this time. Previously, he spread his words far and wide to those who have borne witness to his message in Pennsylvania. Whenever they would see him on the screens of their television, he would observe them back while their eyes could move. And their temples of flesh still while they decayed away on their beds.
He recalled the little war veteran whom he visited in the mortal's own home after he received his message. He stayed for days looming over him, the man's body was already weathered by the passage of time. Yet, it seemed whatever he told him only seemed to make him more resilient. Reinforce his beliefs, and stay as strong as he became while his body slowly withered away on that cot. He couldn't figure out why the old man didn't give up, despite having hardship after hardship for all he lived for. He was going to give him one more message for him to heed. Those words never came to the man unfortunately.
Instead, the bird was wrenched away from him, and banished from the physical plane by an unforeseen force in one short instant. And sent reeling back into the depths of the abyss in another. It was a little unfortunate it ended in an uncontrollable way and not in his own, carefully molded and controlled. It peeved him to no end. He wondered how that happened. It's not like it could have been the result of a higher being deciding he couldn't stay in this reality by deliberately plucking him there and spiriting him away to somewhere.
Nevertheless, the curiosity never went away and like him could never go away. He found himself back inside of a TV screen, observing. Thinned, and newer compared to the larger bulkier version he once took in the veteran's home in his living room. Observing his surroundings, it became quickly obvious of what changed if not how bizarre everything seems to be now.
A circular fighting ring inside somewhere underground, alongside several stands surrounding it packed to the brim with an audience of mice cheering for a match gifted to them in lifeblood. It didn't surprise him that they could utter in the same language as humans. Some species of avian can speak a few words or phrases under their trainers, and if correct can be awarded treats for their obedience. Of course, they couldn't speak in the full capacity like their trainers. Clever, but not close on the same level.
It's almost captivating, animals who were once treated inferior to mortals have their roles reversed, and now humans are prey if not at their mercy. It didn't seem fair for the opponents. One boy got slammed to the ground before he stood back up. He was up against a female mouse with humanoid properties. She faced him down panting with breaths coming in quick and out. Her face was covered in bruises. While from above is a cage full of children watching, frightful, and staying quiet. An arm length's away from her opponent, and she fired back with fists flying out.
The boy wasn't any older than fourteen who was already tired by the looks of it, strands of his black hair wet with sweat and he seemed afraid. Adrenaline ran through his veins, he raised his arms up protectively around his face. Blocking her blows, she didn't stop. Fast, and powerful, the kid got pushed back. His forearms ached with every hit and shook. She eventually stopped attacking after a prolonged moment of jabs. Taking a few steps back in putting some distance between her and the opponent. The boy's eyes widened. He must have realized a short window of opportunity opened up with the doctor taking a breather.
He charged forward, breaking that distance between them. She flinched briefly and her tail shot up into the air in alarm. She attempted to duck down, but she didn't expect a punch straight to her gut, knocking the wind out of her. The boy already anticipated her move, and without warning, he swung out his arms in an arc. Mainly focused on her face, he returned back with his own share of hits. Leading with a right and with a left when the first one hit.
He seemed to push her back all over to the post, gaining an advantage over her. Wailing in every hit he could onto her. He cocked his right arm back intending to fire it out, fist clenched ready to connect. The mouse tilted her head and coughed at the audience.
His body recognized something hard hitting his shoulder abruptly, and it knocked him back a step. It took away his breath before he even registered the noise of a gunshot. Robbie felt numbness take its course in his shoulder for a quick moment and then pain hit.
Close, so close to achieving a victory, and yet ripped away at the last millisecond. It listened to the sounds of the boy screaming. Agony manifested in the form of a bullet fired directly at him, intense to the point he dropped to his knees. The boxing gloves wrapped around his hands fell off, leaving them exposed to the cool air. Blood trinkled down his right arm, suddenly weak after the bullet pierced into his flesh.
The boy's opponent smirked at him. She stood tall, and loomed over him, ignoring the feeling of dizziness looming over her after withstanding such a beating. The mouse got close enough to him to be in arm's reach, and she eyed him intently. Before the boy could cry out, her leg shot out. Heel connecting to his abdomen, the force behind it pushed him down onto the platform. She continued to walk towards him, her stride slow and purposeful.
His back landed roughly on the surface, earning a gasp of pain escaping his lips. He tried to move, but every movement felt sluggish, and the sharp burning pain on his shoulder forced his body to slow down. Panic filled his eyes; he had nowhere to run and he was vulnerable on the whims of the Doctor.
His opponent didn't stop, her leg shot out again, and again. Striking the boy's side of his body with her heel, when it drew out another pained cry, she did it again. And again. And again.
The mouse refrained from stopping. She kicked him relentlessly while he was down, dragging a short moment into a minute, normally it wouldn't have evoked a feeling in the Bird. It meant nothing to hear a fragile thing breaking.
Its ears listened in on the child's suffering, and deep in its core. Something shifted.
An unfamiliar pressure stirred around in its body. Its gaze lingered longer than it should have, and whatever reason it had, it couldn't look away from this. An idea sparked brightly in its mind, it came quick.
It knew what it had to do.
Robbie's vision swam around, each moment a struggle to stay awake and breathe properly. He found it near impossible to get up or move out of the way when the doctor kept hammering him with kicks. After a little bit of time passed even though it felt like he experienced an hour full of hell, she stopped striking him. The crowd groaned collectively when she stopped, but they continued to murmur.
Lorna tilted her head, and her smirk remained on her face. "Well? Aren't you going to get up?" She asked.
The boy's heart pounded with dread. The mouse knelt down and lifted his chin to make him meet her gaze. "I-I thought it was going to be fair, why did I get shot?" He croaked out, and Lorna's eyes flashed with annoyance, grin turning predatory. Robbie let a whimper out when her grip on his chin tightened.
"Fair? Human, you're in my home turf. I get to choose who wins and loses. I never intended to let you disgusting humans free." She admitted. Her eyes roamed over Robbie's body, lingering on his injured shoulder for a bit.
Then, she wrapped both her hands by his throat. Lifting him up by the neck till they were eye to eye. She snarled, her breath hit Robbie's face.
"You're going to regret throwing that chocolate bar at me." In an instant, her mouth opened wide revealing her serrated teeth, and she snapped her head forward. Intent fully clear.
The boy squeezed his eyes shut as tears gathered beneath the lids. His end was going to come swiftly. He only hoped Nana and Roth were waiting for him at the other side.
"CEASE."
A command rang out, the conversations in the stands died abruptly. It left a silence sharp enough to have it echo across the room.
The doctor felt her body become stiff, and the grin stretched across her face swept away. “Huh?” The word slipped out of her move before she could stop it, tiny and baffled. Her grip on the child slackened, and she let him go unceremoniously. He crawled further away, heart hammering in his chest.
“TURN YOUR BODY, AND FACE ME.”
It instructed, the tone of the voice sounded calm. The hairs on her body lifted and her ears drooped. It came up obviously that something was wrong, very wrong, it sounded human, but its voice held a quality she couldn’t find.
She halted, and she turned around slowly, dread crawling up to her spine.
She froze the moment she caught upon…it showing up.
Its head, if you could call it that, looked malformed as it was slammed with a sledgehammer, its face colored with crimson, and melted down. Its jaw agape, and its orbs bore a resemblance to the humans' own eyes.
Wire like strands projected out from its head, in straight lines. It covered its head sparsely. Below its head, more of those strands covered its torso scantily. The center of its torso has a massive crack, it pulsed outward, its rhythm consistent.
It looked at her, the way its eyes shifted slightly up and down to take in her appearance made a shiver crawl down her spine.
“W-Who are you, did you come from the Lab?” She questioned with a little tremor in her voice. It didn’t talk immediately, the only indicator she received was a slight twitch of its mouth opening up and down. Its eyes had not moved.
“WHO I AM IS NOT YOUR CONCERN. YOUR WOES ARE MANY RODENT AND YET YOUR DETESTATION TOWARDS HUMANITY IS…MISUSED.”
She let out a shaky gulp. “What are you talking about flesh tree?” She squeaked. No muscle on her body allowed her to move away. She became a statue, paralyzed and unable to do anything. It shuffled closer to her. Lorna could feel its gaze piercing through her eyes and into her soul.
“TELL ME, WHAT PURPOSE DO YOU ACHIEVE BY SLAUGHTERING THE YOUNG?”
Her eyes widened for a fraction, a growl escaped her lips. “Brats,old geezers, it doesn't make a difference, they’re all selfish and cruel! They took everything from me! They don’t deserve to live!”
Her response echoed in the silent room, but the being or wherever godforsaken place it came from tilted its head slightly, no sign of any facial movement, and yet she could feel its dissatisfaction.
“YET YOU WORK WITH THE SPECIES YOU DETEST TO MAKE IT PERISH.”
Lorna's mouth closed prematurely, and her anger deflated. Whatever she wanted to say died halfway in her throat. It interrupted her before she could gasp out a rebuttal. Her eyes caught its distorted face twitching for a second. Its tone is like steel, but it’s volume isn’t overbearing.
“YOUR ORGANIZATION IS MANAGED BY HUMANS, EVEN THE WAY YOU SHARE YOUR HATE TO HUMANKIND IS SHAPED OF WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT OTHERS OF THEIR KIND. YOU BECAME WHAT YOU WANTED TO CULL.”
Robbie’s eyes darted from the cage, and back onto the terrifying scene playing in front of him, back resting against the pole, near the younger girl he had saved who shared his look of terror. He thought he had seen the worst of the horrors the Doctor inflicted upon him. Never did he see anything like this.
Whoever it was that spoke to her, it made his skin crawl despite putting more pressure onto his wound to make it stop bleeding, his shirt stained in his own lifeblood. It spoke like a person, but some little part of it was missing.
It turned its head to look at him, and his heart skipped a beat, maybe twice. He tried to stand up, but the jolt of pain flared up, and it kept him grounded, a little hiss of pain escaped his lips. He could feel the sensation of being watched, eyes all around him.
“BE NOT AFRAID. YOU HAVE BEEN HARMED, BUT NO MORE OF IT WILL COME TO EITHER OF YOU.”
Its voice directed to the two kids. Sounding no louder than it did before and yet its tone shifted slightly, sounding oddly gentle for something that would come straight out of a grown man’s nightmare. It almost made him recoil when its orbs focused on his injury.
“IT WILL DO YOU NO GOOD IF YOU LEAVE YOUR WOUND UNTREATED. ALLOW ME TO OFFER YOU MY ASSISTANCE.”
Robbie blinked twice, his mouth formed into a frown, and his tone unsure. Breaths coming out as ragged. “H-How do I know you’re not going to trick us?”
“YOU DO NOT NEED TO TRUST ME, BUT OPEN YOUR EARS. YOUR LIFE IS FADING, IT WON’T TAKE LONG FOR YOU TO EXPIRE.”
The boy fixed his gaze back onto the injury. His body grew colder by the second from his blood oozing out of the wound, he eyed back at the creature. It was reasonable, that terrified him the most. He hesitantly nodded his head.
Seeing the boy giving permission, the creature’s eyes focused. In a blink, its body shook, and two arms burst from its sides with sickening wet cracks. They looked squished, joints zigzagged, and they shot out towards him.
“BE STILL.”
Robbie had to lock his jaw to pull the scream back down his throat as its limbs stretched closer like melted cheese. One of its hands hovered over the injured site by an inch away, the other one landed on the back of his shoulder.
He felt something vibrate in his shoulder intensely, not a painful feeling, but something so unnatural a doubt rose in his head whenever this thing came from above the aether or below the abyss.
The bullet made its way out of the hole, the pull too strong to resist. It dropped onto the floor, and rolled away. Then the boy’s eyes focused back onto the wound.
The ripped corners of his flesh slithered, for a split second he could see them stitching themselves back together. The next second, his wound vanished. Skin smooth, and unbroken. No scar remained or any lingering pain.
He looked back at the creature, he felt the pressure on his shoulder lifting, its hand moving away from him. It shifted its attention towards the younger child next to him. She trembled like a leaf too, and looked one millisecond away from tucking herself in a little ball.
Her breath hitched, its arms drew closer encircling her body. Its hands drifted over her back getting nearer. Her eyelids squeezed shut.
She didn’t feel it touching her but the cold ripple crawled through her body, her back still burned from the mouse’s claws. In the next moment, she felt it linger less. Then, nothing.
Her eyelids opened up slowly, and she blinked twice. Head rising up, she can see its mangled arms retracting from her, and she turned her head to the boy next to her. “T-The pain. It’s gone?”
Robbie nodded slowly, managing to get back off the floor. Moving his arm and offering his hand to her. “Yeah, it’s gone.” He confirmed.
She took his hand without a second doubt, helping her stand up. Their gaze shifted back towards the creature, and then to the mouse. Robbie saw the remote the doctor used, it was off to the side
No longer wanting to hesitate, he moved swiftly. His heart pounded in his chest, dreading the retaliation. The mouse looked red in the face, her frown deepened. He thought she would have moved, or thrown a fist yet she didn’t do anything.
Once he got into the vicinity of the remote, he clasped it in his hands and took a few steps back. He looked back up to the ceiling, and then back to the remote. His finger pressed down onto the red button.
The cage vibrated, its descent down didn’t last longer than a few seconds. The sound of it slamming onto the floor boomed across the room. It left an echo that persisted.
The cage of the door slid upwards, the rest of the kids inside hesitated to move. The creature’s eyes slithered and focused onto them. Its voice unnervingly serene shattered the silence.
“GO AND LEAVE THROUGH THE CORRIDOR. NO ONE WILL FOLLOW YOUR GROUP.”
The first to move was the teen. Luke exited the cage hiding his knife from view, eying at the creature for a second longer before turning his gaze back towards the corridor.
Soon, the rest of them followed out one by one till it became empty. Each of them had fear present in their heads, tempered down, but a constant reminder. Slowly, each one got off the platform.
Robbie turned his gaze at the creature. He was the last one on the ring aside from the doctor, and his mouth opened up. His question rolled off his mouth before he could think. “Why did you help us?”
Its gaze focused on the child. Its head tilted to the side a bit as if it took the time to think. Its response came out.
“I WOULD HAVE NONE TO SPREAD MY WORD ACROSS THIS WORLD. YOU SERVE A GREATER PURPOSE ALIVE THAN BEING A STATISTIC TO ZEALOUS MISANTHROPES. GO WITH THEM AND I WILL BE WITH YOU SHORTLY.”
The boy’s eyes widened slightly from the truth behind it. He sensed no ill intent from the being . He uttered a quick thank you underneath his breath before turning around, and jumping off the boxing ring. He could hear the kid’s footsteps get quieter, then a sharp click followed by a heavy thud as it closed.
After confirming they were all gone, it turned its gaze around to the mouse. Its voice unchanged, but it held a hint of hostility.
“YOUR PLIGHT IS NOTABLE RODENT, BUT I CAN’T HAVE YOU INFLICTING IT TOWARDS MY APOSTLES. YOU’VE DONE ENOUGH.”
Lorna’s eyes caught it staring directly at her, she tried to take a step back, but her body couldn’t move. Her tail can’t slither around in the air. Her eyes moved to the side, the audience of animals remained frozen, eyes widened to dinner plates. At the corner of her vision, she thought she had seen a green goopy visage move swiftly, before they turned back to look at it. “W-Why can’t they move, why can’t I move?!” She squeaked out frantically.
The lights on the ceiling dimmed, flickering twice and then spasming erratically, buzzing and sputtering. Her blood ran cold as she could see this thing-, no demon stretching upwards to the ceiling. It’s shadow gradually overtakes her. Its arms twitched in place, before more spewed forth from its sides.
“ALL OF YOU WILL SEE ME, AND WHEN YOU PASS AWAY, AS THE TRUMPETS PLAY THEIR MELANIC SOUNDS, YOU WILL DESCEND TO THE DEPTHS OF THE ABYSS.”
Then, she saw its crimson lips twitch. The TV blared a trumpet sound, it sounded stretched and warped. The corners of its mouth tore open wider, impossibly, it pulled its lips back to make a horrendous grin, it revealed a black gaping void threaded with teeth that looked too human.
“LET ME SHOW YOU.”
Inside the storehouse where the gaggle of children stayed to rest up behind the shelves, Robbie’s ears picked up a small noise, he thought he heard faint screaming echoing through the corridor. Not one voice, but dozens combined in a horrific chorus lasting for seconds for what seemed like hours.
Then the cacophony stopped abruptly. Silence rushed into the room.
The boy wiped the sweat off his forehead, before turning back to walk around the storehouse to find Luke. His curiosity has been neutered; he shouldn’t find out what happened there. Best to leave it buried then disclose it.