Devil's Playground

by Sara Clancy

  “You normally use rifles, right?”

  “Crossbow,” Vera smiled. “Takes longer to bleed out.”

  “Also lets you keep your distance,” Evelyn replied, mimicking the woman’s vicious grin.

  Vera frowned. “I don’t think you understand the situation you’re in.”

  “Oh, no. I’ve got it. I’m in a heavily-trafficked location that’s constantly monitored by night vision cameras and an extensive security team. Simple enough.”

  If the swiveling lights hadn’t hit Vera at just the right moment, Evelyn would have missed the small jolt that ran through her body.

  “Wait, did you not know that this place would be swarming with cameras? Seriously? Yeah, sure, why not? Let’s just let children and drunken people run around in darkened rooms unattended. That's not a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

  The constant knowledge that the Furies were close made her muscles twitch. She wanted to run. Needed to move. Being forced to stay put a hint of manic laughter into her words.

  “You dumbass,” she continued. “When was the last time you came into a city? I mean, not just on the outskirts, preying off of desperate people? Class act, by the way. Not like those people don’t have enough problems.”

  “Are you actually insane?” Vera gaped at her.

  Shrugging one shoulder, Evelyn couldn't keep the crazed smile from her face. A demonic force was swirling around her and she was trapped making small talk with a serial killer sporting self-esteem issues.

  “There’s the looming possibility. Just this genetic thing, doesn’t matter right now.” Feeling Vera’s unease, Evelyn pushed her minimal advantage. “What does matter is that we need to leave. Preferably in separate directions. Oh, come on, Vera. It’s not like you’re going to do anything here. Too public, right? You're even running the risk of being overheard right now.”

  “Did Alek tell you that?” Confidence inched into her smirk. “The game is about quantity, not quality. I can slit your throat right here. Just like you did to our mother.”

  Evelyn couldn’t keep down the bark of laughter. “Yeah, about that … that wasn’t us.”

  “And who was it?”

  “You stick around here, you’re going to find out. Personally, I’m going to run.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.” The lights flashed against the dull slip Vera pulled from the sleeve of her jacket.

  Evelyn couldn’t tell if the knife was bone or plastic, but she could see it was sharp.

  “If it’s any comfort, your death will keep Radmiar from winning the game. Which is about as much as your life could offer.”

  “I’m leaving,” Evelyn said with all the authority she could muster. “Get out of the way, or I’m going through you.”

  Vera hesitated but didn't retreat. She remained in her position, blocking the only exit. Fear swirled like a live animal in the bottom of Evelyn's stomach. Coiled around her spine and squeezed until she wanted to sob. But in a moment of clarity, she realized that her terror had nothing to do with the woman in front of her. The Huntress was a threat. Not the apex predator.

  “Look, I’m getting the hell out of here. And if you had any shred of self-preservation, you’d start running too!”

  Vera paused. “Do you think I’ll fall for that?”

  “Did you stop to learn anything about the state they found your parents in? Or the ghost town for that matter?” she countered. “We didn’t move all those corpses about or destroy the shed. Something else was there. And, no offence, but you don’t seem all that scary in comparison.”

  “I can change that.” She twisted the knife in her hand.

  “It’s good to have goals.” Evelyn shrugged. She ended the dismissive gesture with a sudden, sharp front kick. Unprepared, Vera didn’t have time to block the attack. Evelyn’s heel snapped up against the hunter’s nose with a firm crack. Staggering back a few steps, Vera gripped her nose, a furious roar ripping from her throat. It wasn’t a large opening, but it was all Evelyn needed. She threw herself against the taller woman, knocking her further back, increasing the gap wide enough to slip through.

  Vera snarled, one hand snapping out to latch onto Evelyn’s hair. She missed the short strands, her nails digging deep into the bare skin of Evelyn’s neck instead. Blood oozed out of the gouged flesh, spilling down her skin and soaking into the back of her dress. Evelyn didn’t stop running. She pushed through the crowd, continually searching for a glimpse of the twins as she tried to disappear. A few of the people she bumped into yelled after her, halfhearted protests that did little more than mark her progress. She swore under her breath as she heard the second wave of annoyance. Vera was pursuing her, and thanks to the crowd, she knew precisely where to go.

  The air was stale with the manufactured fog. Strobe lights messed with her depth perception. Illusions and spring traps attacked from all sides. Luminescent paint and glow sticks blurred the lines between people and the walls. The only similarity each room had was that they all hosted a series of hidden passageways. There was no point of reference. Nothing that could help her orientate herself. Within a heartbeat, Evelyn was lost.

  “Eve.”

  A new spike of fear rocked Evelyn to the core. Her mother’s voice whispered in her ear again.

  “Come to mother.”

  She whipped around, searching the swirling, cackling masses as she moved. A glimpse of a swollen, perfectly arranged hairstyle had her running again. She squeezed through one of the smaller openings in the wall, trying to ignore the array of alien figures that lurched out at her when she ventured too near. A plastic tube was set into the wall of the next room. Tiny enough that anyone passing through would have to crawl on their stomachs. Smaller than her pursuer, Evelyn pressed her advantage, scurrying through the tight passage at a rapid pace.

  The plastic cylinder glowed as it snaked back and forth. The rainbow flowed endlessly, switching from one to the next as she moved. Long before she saw the change, she felt it. The plastic under her hands became brittle and fine, cracking against her skin, flaking off with every shift she made. Steadily, the colors darkened. A final turn and the end of the tube came into sight. A sole point of light set far off in the distance. With an electrical hiss, the walls of the container turned black. That’s when she felt it.

  Like fingers of ice sliding down her spine. The sensation played upon her most primal instincts, the ones that naturally knew when a predator was nearby. Something was in the tube with her. Behind her. Coming closer. The knowledge settled into her mind as if it had always been there. The creature she couldn't see was ancient. Ferocious. And hunting her down.

  Evelyn pushed herself faster, dragging her body through the oppressive darkness. The air steadily thickened. Becoming stale and humid. Coating her throat as she breathed. Broken patches of the tube tore into her dress like claws, searching for the vulnerable skin of her stomach as if it was rusted metal.

  “Eve,” her mother's voice whispered from just behind her ear.

  It’s not real, she clung to the words. Don’t give it your fear. Don’t feed it. The tunnel under her rippled and hardened, taking on the texture of a cheese grater. It sliced at her palms and knees. Digging deeper. Driving into her flesh with every push forward. Evelyn refused to slow as blood slicked her skin. The roof closed in. The walls narrowed. Every inch towards the pinpoint of light took a little more of her flesh. She kept moving.

  “Eve! Listen to mother!”

  Enduring the pain, she clenched her jaw, reaching for something within her that wasn’t polluted by terror. She found rage. How dare it bring my mother into this? She hurled the thought to the forefront of her mind. How dare it attack me! She conjured the frenzied fury she had felt only a few hours ago. The blind, pure, volatile hatred that Petya and Olga had introduced her to.

  The unseen creature was at her heels, calling to her over and over, voice alternating between monstrous impersonations of her mother and father. Calling her back. Promising not to hurt her. Evelyn squee
zed her eyes shut and focused on the white-hot lead that had filled her chest and scorched her bones. I didn’t do anything wrong! How dare they!

  One last lurch forward and the plastic gave way. She dropped, smacking hard against the padded floor as bright crimson light assaulted her eyes. Heaving short, heavy breaths, she rolled onto her back and grabbed at her stomach. The damage was gone but the agony lingered. The physical sensation of being flayed alive. A phantom pain that returned with every twist of muscle. Her hands trembled. She could still feel the hardened plastic scraping against her bones and her blood rushing free.

  Red room, she acknowledged an instant before a noise drew her attention. Something was clambering towards, rattling the tunnel with its rapid pace. Lurching to her feet, Evelyn pulled her phone from her bra. Before she could unlock it, a text alert met her blurring vision.

  Got out. Bellagio dancing fountain. Good Luck.

  Her rush of relief was short lived. The tube was rattling in place now. A quick glance didn't reveal the ladder the twins had spoken of. Just a square crimson room with padded walls. Every step was agonizing. Each twitch of muscle and skin revived the illusions of pain the Furies had forced her through. Still, she lapped the room, smacking her hand against the padded walls, searching for a hidden exit. The crimson material rippled at her touch as if they were liquid. A patch of the wall pushed in deeper than the others before it. Clawing at the material, she found a gap deep enough to sink her fingers into. With one hard tug, she peeled a section of the padding free.

  Handrails were bolted into the brick wall at regular intervals, the lowest starting a few inches beyond her reach. The twins would have stood on each other’s shoulders to reach it, she reasoned. But there wasn’t anything that could provide her with a boost. Evelyn was left to back up a few paces and rush the wall. She planted one foot against the bricks and used it to push up. The metal bar banged across her fingertips before slipping her grip. Muscle memory had her coiling herself up, rolling back over her shoulders and ending in a crouch.

  “Eve.” Her mother’s sing-song voice echoed from the tunnel.

  The ladder’s real, she told herself. Whatever else, the ladder’s real. Don’t mess up again. Her body longed to charge blindly at the wall. The instinct to flee pushing at her insides. She battled against it. Forced herself to hold still, take a deep breath. Focus. She ran for the wall again, stopped against the stone, pushed herself up. The rail was torture against her sensitive palms, but she locked her fingers around it. The extra pull-ups her coach forced her to do in preparation for the championship paid off now. Pulling herself up was easy, her muscles sore but reliable.

  For the first few bars, she had to rely on her arms alone. Her pace picked up once her feet reached the railings, pausing only to kick the padding back into place. The red fabric oozed around her boot. She ignored it. Focused instead on the next rail. Then the next. Simple tasks. Swift progression.

  She only looked down when she heard a thunderous clatter. Vera emerged from the tunnel. The floor swallowed her instantly, sloshing back and forth like a pool of liquid. Clinging to the ladder, Evelyn realized that the walls were melting, transforming into a dark sludge that flowed down to cover the floor. Vera broke back through the surface with a harrowing scream. She staggered to her feet, eyes full of rage and knife high.

  Evelyn saw the exact moment when the hunter realized that this wasn't another one of the maze's quirks. The fight left her, replaced by confusion as she cupped a hand into the pool that lapped at her waist. Even from her perch on the wall, Evelyn could smell the rot. Instantly recognizing it as the stench of decay.

  With a disgusted grunt, Vera wiped her hand over her face, trying to remove the unknown substance. It was at this moment that she spotted Evelyn. Their eyes met. It was strange to see fear starting to affect such a woman, and Evelyn found that she couldn't look away.

  The festering liquid swirled as the sharp tip of a shark fin broke through the sludge. It streaked from one side of the room to the other before sinking again. Vera screamed and leaped back. A fine tremble took hold of her body as the fin flashed again. Frozen in fear, Vera’s eyes rolled in her skull, trying to see everything at once.

  The aquarium, Evelyn recalled. The water was for Aleksandr. Was the shark a warning for the siblings, a taunt that Vera was on her way, or had it been for her? Aleksandr had been careful. They had checked the area together. Security cameras, maybe? That could have been how they found me in the elevators. Had they been there? Thoughts rushed through her head, each coming at once, passing in an instant. The picture they had sent her of a plane ticket hadn’t had a time. She had just believed that they had followed. They could have sat right behind me the entire flight. I wouldn’t have known.

  Again, the shark emerged. Closer to Vera. Lingering longer. The hunter's horrified scream rattled the walls and snapped Evelyn out of her daze. She clambered up the ladder, not daring to look back down. Not as the liquid thrashed and crashed. As Vera released blood-chilling shrieks, Evelyn hurled herself up onto the catwalk, and the noise abruptly stopped. Without hesitation, Evelyn ran to the fire exit, leaving the hunter behind.

  Chapter 10

  The evening crowd clogged up the staircase, slowing Aleksandr’s process to one step every few minutes. Gnashing his teeth, he gripped the railing and hurled himself over the ledge. It was a short drop, but the impact was like electricity sparking in his joints. His knees buckled, and he braced his hands on the concrete sidewalk. But he kept going, sprinting the last distance to the edge of the dancing fountains. The Bellagio casino rose up on his right. The curved, simplistic structure lit with golden and purple light, the reflection dancing across the large, shallow lake that sat at the bottom of the building.

  The water stretched out to the sidewalk, enclosed by a decorated viewing area. Already, pedestrians were slowing and clogging the walkways, each one waiting for the next performance. The dancing fountains of Bellagio were a historic crowd pleaser and never failed to draw attention. Aleksandr worked his way along the edge, craning his neck and desperately checking the gaps between bodies. Every passing second crushed him.

  A monotone horn blared through hidden speakers. The Bellagio went dark and a series of small water jets broke through the water's surface. The first strings of classical music began to play and the jets shot up thin, towering pillars of water. Stark, white light illuminated the streams as they began to writhe in time with the melody. Everyone stilled, entranced. Aleksandr intended to make the most of it.

  Leaping up onto a public bench, he combed the now still bodies. Desperate for even a glimpse of the twins. Two tight spins produced nothing.

  “Nadya! Ivan!”

  His outburst drew a few harsh looks. One person went so far as to shush him. It didn't stop him from calling out again. Finally, he noticed a shift in the horde and two small figures dashed towards him. Relief broke through him. Every muscle in his body went slack, dropping him from the bench. He landed hard on his knees but didn't feel the pain. Couldn’t even feel his arms as he opened them wide and welcomed the twins. They threw their tiny frames against his chest with enough force to push him back. Instead of bracing himself, he clutched onto them, barely remembering not to crush them in his need to have them close. Small fingers clenched his uniform to its tearing point, their thin chests heaving hard as they gasped for air. He kissed their hair in turn and squeezed them tighter.

  “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  Nadya whimpered. A broken sound that escaped her chest as when she would wake up from a nightmare. Or when she would be left alone with Olga and Petya. Ivan kept his silence and trembled.

  “I’m here,” Aleksandr said, struggling to even out his voice. “I’ve got you. I’m right here. Are you bleeding? Is anything broken?”

  Both of them pushed their faces harder against his shoulders. Eventually, with a little more encouragement, they shook their heads. Aleksandr's eyes closed as he released a deep sigh.

  �
��Where’s Evelyn?”

  “We left her,” Ivan almost sobbed.

  “She fell behind,” Nadya added, trying and failing to sound emotionless.

  “You did the right thing.” He pulled back enough to meet their eyes. “Look at me. You did the right thing.”

  They begrudgingly nodded.

  “We saw Vera and Vlas,” Nadya said softly. “They chased us. We didn’t see where they went.”

  Aleksandr heard what she was trying to say. They have her.

  “We shouldn’t have left her,” Ivan mumbled.

  “Better her than you,” Aleksandr corrected instantly.

  “They’re going to find us again,” Nadya said.

  “Not Vera.”

  They all tensed and turned to the panting voice, Aleksandr resenting the fact that he hadn't even noticed her approach. Sweat dripped from Evelyn’s brow. Deep, heaved breaths rocked her body as she laced her fingers behind her head. After a few failed attempts, she managed to push a word out.

  “Dead.” She didn’t have the energy left to wince and just flicked a hand out towards them. “Sorry. No. Tact.”

  “You’re sure?” Aleksandr asked as he unzipped Ivan’s backpack, retrieved a bottle of water, and passed it to her.

  She took it with an ecstatic smile. A few hard gulps and she gave up on a verbal answer, settling on a nod instead.

  “You killed her?”

  The music continued to play. That, the delighted cheers of the audience, and the random throb of the jets efficiently covered their conversation from prying ears.

  “Furies,” Evelyn choked.

  “Did you see her body?” Ivan asked.

  Evelyn shook her head and finished off the last of the water.

  “Then we can't be sure,” Nadya said. “What if she escaped?”

  A half-deranged giggle spilt from Evelyn’s lips. A hard task since she was still heaving her breaths. “Big ... shark.”

  “That would do it,” Ivan nodded.