He retrieved the book from his belongings and returned to his place by the fire. Oddly enough, even as a child, Edward had found the workings of different spells fascinating. He thumbed through the pages, finding solace in the words inscribed within by his father so long ago. Memories stirred in his mind as he leafed through the book. A tear formed in the corner of his eye as he recalled the events leading up to his mother's servant's death.
Edward closed his eyes and tried to shake the memory of his the woman who'd spent as much time taking care of him as the she did the needs of his mother, diving from the window of his mother's bed chamber. Her body splattered on the cobblestones below. The ghastly mixture of blood and innards that had sprayed in every conceivable direction as her body struck. The worst part of this memory was the fact that Edward had been walking home from the bakery that morning, a fresh loaf of bread tucked neatly into a basket. It was supposed to be for breakfast, but when the servant fell to her death before him the bread had become tainted with sprays of her blood. Since then, he'd never had the stomach to eat breakfast.
Edward opened his eyes and looked through the blur of tears toward the sky. He wiped at his face with the sleeve of his robe, unable to believe what he was seeing. When he looked up again, Edward realized that he must have been dwelling inside the memory longer than he had thought. According to the position of the sun, at least two hours had passed. He needed to get out of the funk his daydream had put him in and wake the others. They needed to get moving again. He glanced at his spellbook one last time before putting it away, with his father's words ringing in his ears. "It was all my fault! I was working on creating a new spell and something went terribly wrong. The next thing I knew, your mother cried out, as if in pain. By the time I got to the bed chamber it was too late."
Edward slipped the book into his pack and approached Katie. He reached down and gently shook her shoulder. She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. Then she noticed the redness of his eyes. "What's wrong?" Katie asked as she sat up.
"Nothing," Edward lied.
Katie frowned. "I can tell something is wrong, don't lie to me," she said with concern.
"Just a bad memory from my childhood that resurfaced a little while ago," Edward admitted grudgingly. "I don't really want to talk about it."
"I'm sorry." Katie stood to give him a hug.
Jack and Melissa began to stir at the sound of their voices. Melissa sat up and rubbed her face vigorously. "Time to go?" she asked, looking at Edward.
"Yes. Can I have my cloak back now?" Edward asked her, breaking Katie's hug to reach a hand out for it.
Melissa looked down in confusion, noticing for the first time that she had his cloak. "How'd I get your cloak?" she asked herself out loud.
Edward ignored the question and walked back to the smoldering coals of the fire. He stomped down on the embers with his boot, grinding them into the ground to put them out. As a finishing touch, he kicked some loose dirt over the coals. Satisfied that the fire was out enough to not be a hazard, Edward turned to say something to Jack. He scratched his head in confusion for a moment. Jack was no longer there.
"What are you looking for?" Katie asked him.
"Did you see where Jack went?"
Katie smiled and covered her mouth, trying to suppress a giggle. She pointed toward Edward's feet.
He looked down and blushed with embarrassment. Jack was sitting next to his feet like a faithful old dog, waiting for his master's orders.
"Can you take over for Amber and help us follow the tracks?" Edward asked Jack.
Immediately, Jack lowered his head and began searching for a starting point. Once he found what he was looking for, Jack turned and barked at the rest of the group.
Katie smiled. "Apparently so."
The group began to follow Jack, sometimes moving slowly, and other times they found themselves running just to keep up. It seemed that Jack, in his wolf form, was more adept at following the trail than Amber had been. Even so, Amber had been more useful at night.
During one of the slower periods, when Jack had to stop and locate the trail, Melissa began to raise some questions that the group had not considered.
"Hey, Edward," Melissa called out.
"Yes?" he replied, turning to look at her and silently wondering if Melissa was going to start berating everyone again.
"I just had a thought. I don't know why I'm just now thinking about it, but here goes nothing," she said.
Edward waited patiently for Melissa to continue.
After a moment's consideration on how to approach the subject, Melissa began. "I know you told me a while back that I was an integral part of the group you were forming."
Edward nodded his head in agreement and motioned for her to go on.
"Wasn't Mike supposed to be someone vital to the group?" Melissa asked.
"Yes. He was supposed to be the warrior of the group," Edward admitted.
"So. Do we have to find another person to take his place? Or is Jack taking over his duties now?" she asked.
"I'm not sure, Melissa," Edward said. "I suppose if we find another portal that leads us to another individual like Mike, then we will have our answer. Until such time, though, we must trudge on as if Mike had already served his purpose within the group."
Melissa considered his words thoughtfully for a moment, but was cut short when Jack found the trail once again. All of the sudden, the group was once again jogging to keep up with his pace.
For the next hour or so, the group struggled to keep up with Jack, when out of the blue he stopped at the edge of the forest. An enormous clearing unfolded before them, filled with more knee-high grass.
"You are going to have to slow down quite a bit now, Jack," Edward gasped, trying to catch his breath. "Otherwise, we will lose sight of you in the grass."
Katie looked out across the seemingly, never-ending field with dwindling hope. It was going to take forever and a day to cross. During which time, she supposed, the citizens of Loknar would likely meet their end. Not to mention it would take them that much longer to find Julie. Suddenly, Katie remembered the folded piece of paper that was tucked inside of her vest. She reached in, pulled it out, unfolded it ... only to see that the page was still blank.
She concentrated hard on the parchment in her hand, willing Julie to say something, anything, to let Katie know that she was still alive. Several futile minutes passed and the page remained unchanged. Feeling a lump rise in her throat, she folded the paper back up and replaced it in her vest. A tear slipped down her cheek as she began to think the worst. She would never see Julie again.
Edward had been silently watching Katie from the corner of his eye and as he saw her put the paper back in her vest he moved toward her. He reached up and softly brushed the tear from Katie's cheek, and then bent down to whisper in her ear. "We'll find her." Edward tried to reassure Katie, and gave her a brief hug before turning back to the others. "All right, Jack. Let's get moving again," Edward said, already dreading the long trek across the field.
Jack got up and nosed his way into the tall grass. As requested, he tried to keep the pace more moderate. Every couple of minutes he would stop and turn his head to make sure the rest of the group was still following him.
The sun was beginning to sag low in the sky. From what Edward could tell, they had another hour, two at the most, of daylight. He lowered his gaze to the landscape before him, and saw with dismay that there still appeared to be no end to the field before them.
"What is that?" Melissa said, pointing into the distance, as they were just about to start moving again.
Edward squinted his eyes in the direction Melissa was pointing. At first he didn't see what she was pointing at, but after a few moments he thought he did. There was a dark spot on the horizon almost directly in front of them. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell what it was. "I only see a dark spot," Edward told her.
"Well, whatever it is, we seem to be heading straight for it," Melissa said.
&
nbsp; As they continued on, the dark speck on the horizon began to grow, slowly becoming more visible. The closer they got, the more it began to look like a building. If it was, it was a funny place to put one; way out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around it for miles.
After traveling for another hour or so, there was no longer any doubt to what they were seeing. It was definitely a structure of some sort. They were close enough to it that they could see the place didn't look very well kept. Perhaps it was an abandoned farmhouse. Edward hated to think that someone might actually live in such a place. Another few minutes and they would find out for sure.
As they continued to get closer, Melissa suddenly stopped. "Um," she started. The others turned for a moment to see what the problem was. "Something isn't right."
"What's not right? The fact that there is a house out here, miles from civilization?" Edward asked sarcastically.
"No. I've never seen anything like this before," she said, ignoring the smart-ass question he had asked and pointing toward the roof of the building.
Edward followed her finger with his eyes, and his mouth suddenly clamped shut. There was indeed something strange on the roof. Tiny objects moving in slow circles, almost like miniature weather vanes. But there wasn't any wind to be moving them right now.
"Those look like tiny, oblong, satellite dishes," Katie said with a note of wonder in her voice. Then, a realization struck her. Technology like this was strange to see in a place like Desolace. It reminded her of the mechanical wolf that kept trying to kill them. Suddenly she was very nervous.
As the group rounded the side of the building, Jack growled viciously and took off running. Edward, Katie, and Melissa froze for a moment. A clanging sound rang out seconds later. They had been too absorbed by the strangeness of the house to notice anything else before now, but what they saw caused them to duck back around to the side of the building.
Jack was engaging the horse-looking creature they had seen back near Haven. That must mean the man Katie called Mr. M. was nearby as well. Edward motioned to Katie and Melissa to stay back, and then inched forward to peek around the corner. Jack was still attacking the metallic beast, but it didn't look like he was doing any harm to it. Thankfully, it wasn't fighting back. Edward held his breath, anticipating the killer to come bursting out the front door of the building. Surely all the commotion out here would get his attention. He waited for several tense minutes, but nothing happened. No one came out to see what was going on.
"Jack!" Edward yelled. Jack stopped for a moment and looked toward Edward as if saying, "What? I'm busy here!"
"Come back here, please," Edward called to him. Jack hesitated for a moment, giving the mechanical horse a distrustful look, and then came back to stand beside Edward.
Edward turned back to face Katie and Melissa. "I don't think the killer is here. His strange looking horse is, but I'm sure he would have showed himself by now if he was here too."
"Maybe he's keeping his prisoners inside. We should at least check that out," Katie said.
"True," Edward admitted. "All right. We are going to go around to the front of the building. Stay together!"
Everyone agreed with Edward. Carefully the group made their way to the front, making sure to stay a good distance away from the building in case someone came charging out of it. The group stopped when they came to within ten feet of the door. Katie turned her head and threw up.
There, on either side of the door, sat two rotting skulls. Small tufts of hair were still attached to the skulls, but most of the skin had turned to jelly and pooled onto the ground beneath them. The smell was atrocious! Katie didn't know how she hadn't smelled it from the other side of the house.
Melissa seemed distracted. Not by the rotting heads, since she was used to seeing things like that in the morgue back in Buffalo, but by the doorway itself. "I've never seen anything like that before," she stated in a curious tone.
"I thought you were a doctor," Katie said snidely as she wiped the vomit from her chin.
"Not the heads. The door! Look at the knob!" Melissa retorted.
Katie forced herself to turn and look at the door, making sure to keep her eyes above the decomposing skulls. Melissa was right. Katie had never seen anything quite like it either. The doorknob wasn't a knob at all. Where there should have been one, was instead a circular metal plate of some sort with the imprint of a hand within it.
"Are we just going to stand around and admire the craftsmanship or is someone going to try to open it?" Melissa asked, making it clear that she didn't want to volunteer for the task.
Edward looked at the strange hue that Katie's face had turned after getting sick. "I'll do it," he told them as he approached the door ...
Outpost 13
Part One
Chapter 1
Katie forced herself to turn and look at the door, making sure to keep her eyes above the decomposing skulls. Melissa was right. Katie had never seen anything quite like it either. The doorknob wasn't a knob at all. Where one should have been, there looked to be a circular metal plate of some sort with the imprint of a hand within it.
"Are we just going to stand around and admire the craftsmanship, or is someone going to try to open it?" Melissa asked, making it clear that she didn't want to volunteer for the task.
Edward looked at the strange hue that Katie's face had turned after getting sick. "I'll do it," he told them as he approached the door.
Melissa and Katie held their breath in anticipation; excited, and at the same time scared, of what might happen once the door was opened. Jack seemed preoccupied with something else. His gaze appeared to be fixed, not on Edward or the door, but rather on the rotting skulls on the ground.
Edward stood in front of the door, inspecting the strange mechanism that in theory would allow him entry if it were not locked. The indented handprint upon the door was either made for an abnormal hand or was crafted in such a way to allow the use of either hand. All of the finger grooves were of equal length, and the indentations for thumbs protruded off to both sides.
He made up his mind to try working the strange doorknob with his left hand. That way, if something unexpected were to happen, he wouldn't be compromising his dominant hand. Edward placed the palm of his left hand into the grooves and was immediately glad of his choice. The metal began to sear into his flesh. He fought the blinding pain, which was tempting him to pull his hand away, and turned the strange knob toward the middle of the door.
The door began to slide to the right. Edward quickly pulled his hand from it and stepped into the doorway, turning his body sideways to block the door should it try to close before everyone got inside.
Edward was about to start motioning the others to come inside when the stench in the building began to assault his senses. He choked and gagged, fighting the urge to get sick, as the overpowering aroma of piss and shit filled the air around him.
The scent had apparently rushed outside as well. Katie and Melissa were approaching with hands clamped over their mouths and fingers pinching their noses shut.
"Oh my God! That smells horrible, Edward!" Katie's muffled voice was barely audible behind her hand.
Melissa pushed past Katie and squeezed through the opening between Edward and the doorjamb. All she could think right now was that if there was a smell like that inside the building, someone might be in here who needed help.
As Edward continued to make sure the door wouldn't suddenly close on them, Melissa quickly glanced around the room. She saw the row of computer monitors lined up on the tables along the wall, but after a quick scan of their screens she dismissed them. Toward the back of the main room she saw a doorway and headed toward it.
Meanwhile, Katie entered the main room and stood just inside the doorway next to Edward. Both of them watched as Melissa entered the adjoining room, waiting anxiously to see what she would find.
As Melissa entered the back room, her hopes sank. It looked to be a large bedroom of sorts with many beds lining
the walls, but there was nobody in here, living or dead. Excrement covered the floor near one of the beds. Attached to the frame of this bed was a frayed and bloody piece of rope that had obviously held someone captive at some point.
Edward and Katie watched as Melissa came back into the main room wearing a disappointed look on her face and shaking her head. Apparently, they were too late to save whoever had been in the other room.
As Melissa moved toward the bank of computer monitors to study them for clues, Jack finally snapped out of the fugue he was in.
He walked inside past Edward and Katie and sat down by her feet. Katie looked down at him sadly. She wondered what was going through Jack's mind right now. Was he sad? Maybe angry? She was pretty sure that one of the heads outside was that of his wife, Natasha. She had seen a few strands of hair still attached to one of the skulls, which looked a lot like Natasha's had.
Melissa made her way from monitor to monitor, and even though she saw some things that she'd never seen before, she didn't see any signs of human life. As she walked back over to join the others by the door, Jack suddenly began to act strangely aggressive.
He began to growl and bark as if he had caught the scent of danger in his nostrils. Jack stood up and stalked across the room to another strange door. It seemed to be a heavy metal door, perhaps one that led to a dungeon, which had a large metal wheel attached to it. Melissa and Katie had seen doors like this before, but only aboard large ships.
Katie walked over to the door. She was about to reach out for the wheel when Edward stopped her.
"Be careful, Katie," he warned her. "It could be like the door that I opened," he said with concern, holding up his burned left hand.
Katie hesitated for a moment, looking down again at Jack. Obviously something was on the other side, causing him to growl fiercely. The hairs on his back were standing straight up, from the base of his neck all the way down his tail. Deciding that they could be losing a chance to catch up to Mr. M. and get some justice, or revenge if you prefer, Katie reached out and touched the wheel with a tentative finger. When nothing happened, she grabbed the wheel firmly with both hands and tried to turn it. The wheel screeched loudly, but only moved a few inches.
Desolace Omnibus Edition Page 33
