Figments of Fear (A Dark Fantasy Horror): The Edge of Reflection 2

by Carver Pike

  “Come on. He’s gone,” she said.

  “She’s right,” Gabe agreed as he grabbed Dozier by the shoulder and tried to turn him away.

  Dozier took one more look at the manhole, and the splash of blood that stained the concrete floor around it.

  “I’m sorry, buddy.”

  He shook his head and then turned to follow Gabe and Ivy.

  As they ran into the alley, a loud pop and swoosh echoed off the alley walls. Gabe turned in time to see a woman shoot up out of the manhole like a bottle rocket aimed at the sky. Her arms were pinned at her side and her face was up, her chin raised high. Right behind her came a second and third woman.

  “What the fuck was that?” Gabe yelled.

  “Did y’all…did y’all see that? Three chicks just came up out of the ground!” Dozier yelled. “Now I done a lot a drinkin’ and I done seen a lot a crazy shit in ma life, but I ain’t never seen three chicks come up outta the sewers.”

  Gabe saw that Ivy was as shocked as he and Dozier. It was Haylay who called them back to reality, snapping his fingers in front of Gabe’s face.

  “Hey, you think we can keep goin’? I don’t mean to rush you or anything, but I ain’t wantin’ to die tonight, y’all,” he said.

  ***

  Goody Bones had no idea that there was danger lurking inside the sewage tunnel. He only knew that back in Darkar, an open manhole was the best avenue of escape, so the second he saw Dozier leave the exit unguarded, he quietly made his way around the figments and dashed out of the shadows and over towards the hole in the ground.

  He was only about five feet away when the three sisters shot up out of the manhole right in front of him, sending Goody Bones crashing to the ground and sliding across the floor on his backside.

  His eyes fixed on the three women hovering above ground, floating in dead air, and he scrambled backwards, trying to flee. A brick wall halted his escape, so he sat stunned, watching the ladies, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

  The three sisters spread out across the width of the alleyway, perfectly blocking any attempt at escape. To their normal prey, any weary traveler looking for a good time, the three sisters looked like the answer to a lifelong prayer, but Goody Bones knew nothing so beautiful would dare travel around at night, and nothing innocent would shoot up out of the sewage tunnels.

  Still, he found himself desiring all three women. Each was beautiful in her own way. One was brunette with bright green eyes. Her mouth was a bit large, with full, luscious lips, the kind of woman that sleazy men would be looking for in their pursuit of a one-night stand. She flicked her tongue out, licking her bottom lip, in a move that must have been meant to tease Goody Bones.

  The redheaded sister surveyed the dead bodies around the alley and seemed to be searching for something. Her long locks tumbled down her back and over her shoulders, looking a bit wild and unkempt, but not trashy. Her roaming eyes and strange grin scared Goody Bones, but somehow his fear was overtaken by curiosity, as his eyes lingered on the bright red hair that stood out like hot fire against her smooth pale skin.

  But it was the blond Goody Bones was most drawn to. He’d always liked blondes, and this one had hair that hung just above her shoulders, accentuating her long, tanned neck and lovely bare shoulders peeking out of her dress. She smiled at Goody Bones and passed him a wink. All three women wore bright white, flowing dresses that gave them an angelic appearance.

  Goody Bones sat back on the ground, staring up at the three lovely ladies in front of him. He glanced behind him to see that all of his remaining soldiers had lowered their weapons and seemed to be infatuated with the stunning women who hovered above the ground, a fact in itself that should scare most men.

  The figments had even stopped in their tracks and looked over at the women, surprised by their sudden appearance. Goody Bones looked once more at the women and then back at his men. He was smart enough to know that something wasn’t right. Any woman that pretty he’d always had to take by force. These three seemed to be begging for attention

  “They’re hovering above the fuckin’ ground, you idiots,” Goody Bones reminded his men.

  That did the trick. The men shook the daze off and raised their weapons at the women, forgetting about the figments. Something about the women seemed a lot more important.

  Goody Bones rose to his feet and brushed off his legs. He did so slowly, taking his time, like he didn’t have a care in the world. The three sisters watched him. Goody Bones looked at his men, and then back at the three women. He used the muzzle of his gun to scratch his head.

  The redhead sister licked her lips and blew him a kiss. His interest in the blond faded as he suddenly felt more attracted to the fiery-haired woman who seemed to be digging him just as much.

  “Hey, Chica. You wanna play?” Goody Bones asked her.

  The redhead threw her head back and cackled. Her laughter rang through the air and bounced off the brick walls all around them. Goody Bones’ men aimed their weapons at the sounds. Goody Bones himself turned to make sure that his soldiers were still behind him and ready to fight.

  The redhead flew forward and snatched Goody Bones up by his neck, yanking him into her embrace. His gun crashed to the ground. Her grip was ferocious and he tried with all of his power to break free of her, but it was the bear hug of death. There was no escaping her grasp. Her beautiful and seductive face changed into the face of an old, evil hag.

  Goody Bones kicked her in the gut, but none of the strikes fazed her. She was unnatural. No amount of fighting would help him break free of the ugly hag with the insanely strong grip.

  She pulled his face close and pressed her lips against his. She shrieked and growled as she began to inhale. An incredible tightness formed in his forehead, like a terrible headache was coming.

  He tried to pull away from her embrace, but she was too strong. He saw faint white light leaking out of his mouth and flowing into hers. The pain became unbearable as he felt his face begin to crumble.

  ***

  Gabe, Ivy, Dozier, and Language struggled to keep up with Haylay, who was leading them through the alley at a ferocious pace. He didn’t seem to care about any possible threat waiting for them on the outside.

  “I told you that shit was a bad idea,” he yelled at Gabe. “But nah, you had to go and do shit your own way.”

  “We didn’t have a choice,” Gabe defended himself.

  “Well, we’re walking right out of the alleys now, just like I said we should’ve done earlier. Too bad Sergio and Conductor had to die before you would make this choice.”

  He was right and Gabe had no real argument prepared. He’d done what he thought was right at the time. The fact was, two of them died in the alleys, but he was sure that they all would have died if they either stayed in the fiery building or marched out into the streets with Goody Bones and Belgrave.

  “What were those things?” Gabe asked.

  “The three sisters,” Haylay informed him. “Witches, who will grow old and die unless they feed on the life force of others.”

  “That’s some freaky shit,” Ivy said.

  “Freaky? Them bitches are a pain in the ass! You know how hard it is to turn tricks when all the guys are afraid you might wanna suck on their life force and shit? It’s fuckin’ ridiculous,” Haylay rattled off, clearly upset with the three sisters for more things than simply trying to kill him. “Like I wanna be suckin’ on life forces.”

  At the end of the alley, a truck stopped. Belgrave and his men jumped out.

  “This ain’t no normal run of bad luck, man,” Dozier said. “We’re cursed.”

  “Go back,” Gabe ordered.

  “Back there? You crazy?” Haylay asked.

  They ducked down behind a dumpster and watched as Belgrave and his men stood next to their truck, peering into the alley. For a second Gabe thought they’d been spotted, but he could tell from the way Belgrave was holding back that he hadn’t seen them.

  “We gotta go ba
ck and use a different alley,” Gabe whispered.

  “I say we shoot these fuckers now. I’m tired of running,” Dozier argued.

  “This isn’t how I wanna die. Not until I see Lisa again,” Gabe said.

  Ivy glanced over at Gabe and flashed him a smile.

  “She’d like to hear that,” she said.

  Dozier rolled his eyes and reached out for Language’s hand. He gave it a squeeze and she smiled at him.

  “Y’all motherfuckers are all in love and shit? We about to die, damn it,” Haylay reminded them.

  Gabe crouched and led them quietly back the way they came. Nothing about the plan, or lack thereof, made sense. They were headed towards the scene of a massive rumble between humans and beasts, and they were sure to be the only humans still alive when they got there.

  He knew that it was a mistake to go back, but there was a chance they could make their way into another, safer alley and finally escape.

  Gabe could hear Belgrave and his men behind them, but they seemed to be in the middle of some sort of argument, shouting at each other, masking any sound Gabe and his group were making in their escape attempt.

  At an odd break in their yelling, as silence filled the air, Language accidentally kicked a bottle cap lying on the ground. The cap skidded across the pavement and splashed through a puddle before clanging off the brick wall. Gabe closed his eyes and swore under his breath, knowing that Belgrave and his men were sure to hear it.

  “Hey! Who’s down there?” Gabe heard Riker call out in his Irish accent.

  “Go!” Gabe ordered and they took off towards the mayhem at the end of the alley.

  “It’s them,” Gabe heard Riker yell.

  He looked over his shoulder to see the men waiting for the order to attack. The large silhouette of Belgrave stood at the center of the others.

  “Fuck ‘em up,” the silhouette called out.

  His soldiers rushed into the alley, making no attempt to be stealthy. Their footsteps thundered and splashed through puddles. Behind the running killers, Gabe saw the silhouette and the other large man who’d been shouting at them a second before, pull something down over their faces.

  “Night vision,” Gabe said to himself, a shudder of fear running down his spine. “Run! They’ve got night vision. Get out of the alley!”

  As they reached the opening and spilled back out into the fighting, Ivy turned to say something to Gabe. He kicked her in the ribs, sending her tumbling to the ground as a tomahawk sliced through the air where she’d been standing only a second before. The blade missed Gabe’s knee by an inch and clanged off the brick wall behind them.

  One of the soldiers pulled out a second tomahawk and prepared to fling it at him, but just as he raised it above his head, a figment sunk its teeth into the man’s bicep and ripped it off. The soldier screamed and fell to his knees.

  Gabe reached down and offered Ivy his hand, but she was staring past him, surveying the blood and guts and the fighting that was still raging. He pulled her into the shadows at the side of a building and looked out in awe at what was going on.

  He saw Goody Bones lying dead on the ground. His face was all shriveled up and the veins beneath his flesh were like hard thin lines drawn all over his skin. His eyes were bugged out and lifeless. It was as if he’d been vacuumed out. All of the fluid was drained from his body.

  Gabe felt a tap on his shoulder and looked back to see Dozier sliding closer to him.

  “We cain’t sit here all day like this, brother. Call it. Fight or flee?”

  Gabe knew that Dozier more than likely wanted to fight. The man seemed to always be up for a good fight, but behind that hard exterior, he knew Dozier had to be exhausted. He was about to give the order to flee when a figment appeared out of thin air right in front of them. It opened its mouth wide, definitely about to let out a loud shriek, when Dozier snapped his axe out in front of him, burying it in the neck of the creature. It turned to dust and disappeared.

  “Alright, flee,” Gabe answered.

  As soon as he got the words out, the figments followed their dead pal’s lead and all opened their mouths and began to scream. This time, instead of dropping to their knees, Gabe ran from them, stumbling through the darkness, searching for an alley to escape down.

  He looked back to see Belgrave and Riker on their knees, clutching their ears. The three sisters weren’t bothered at all by the screams. They continued killing humans and figments alike.

  Doing his best to cover his ears with his gun-toting right hand and his empty left, Gabe found an alley and ran excitedly towards it. He suddenly stopped at the opening and backed away. The figments’ shrieks ceased, more than likely from the loss of their life forces by the three sisters.

  Gabe removed his hands from his ears and held his gun out in front of him. His head ached and his ears rang, but none of that compared to the sinking feeling in his gut as he saw Cloak, the evil assassin who’d fought off Goody Bones’ men back in Darkar, standing there in the dark alley in front of him.

  The assassin’s hood was pulled down over his head, his red eyes shining, as he scraped his long swords against the brick walls at his sides. Moonlight shone on his weapons. He grinned when he saw Gabe and tilted his head back enough to reveal his scarred face.

  “Cloak,” Dozier said over Gabe’s shoulder.

  “Who?” Haylay called out as he jammed a finger into his ear, trying to clean it out.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Gabe said. “Seriously? He’s still trying to catch me?”

  “If your bounty is worth so much, I should be trying to collect it myself,” Dozier said.

  “You might as well,” Gabe replied. “Everyone else seems to want it.”

  Gabe continued to back away from the alley, his eyes glued to the villain who wanted him dead, while the others searched frantically for another escape route.

  As Cloak stepped closer to them, he was challenged by two figments. He swung his swords over his head and decapitated both of them. Their wrinkled bodies shattered into ash.

  He stood for a moment with his blades still out at his sides, as if taking in the action in front of him. He scanned the crowd of dead bodies on the ground and then looked up at the living beings. When he saw Gabe, he grinned.

  “I think he found what he’s looking for,” Dozier said.

  “Think you can take him?” Gabe asked.

  “Have you seen that dude?” Dozier replied.

  “We gotta get out of here,” Ivy said.

  Gabe turned to follow her and the second he did, the blonde sister flew towards her, scooped her up and slammed her against a brick wall, pressing her lips to Ivy’s. She closed her eyes and began sucking the life force from her when Language fired two rounds into the woman’s back.

  She dropped Ivy to the ground and spun to look at Language. Gabe ran to Ivy and caught her as she fell to her knees, gasping for air. He raised his gun and fired it at the blonde woman, hitting her twice more.

  She jerked as the bullets slammed into her, but then turned and glared at Gabe. She looked like she was about to attack him when Language shot her again. This time the woman didn’t hesitate. She spun around, and from Gabe’s position, he could see the back of her head change from flowing beautiful golden locks to dry, worn out strings of brittle hair.

  In midair, she waved a hand and a strange ripple filled the air, like waves of steam. The blonde’s powerful unseen force yanked Language off her feet and bent her back at an awkward angle. With her back arched, she hurled violently at the blonde witch.

  Gabe aimed his gun at the witch, but was afraid to pull the trigger. The chance of missing and hitting Language on accident was too high. The witch cackled loudly and reached out to Language.

  Dozier leapt into the air and swung his axe at the blonde woman’s back with all of his power. The blade seared right through her rotted flesh, chopping her in half. Her two halves hit the ground and both wiggled around wildly. They twisted violently towards each oth
er and began to reattach themselves.

  “Cloak,” Ivy reminded Gabe.

  Gabe helped Ivy to her feet and saw Haylay crouched down next to the open manhole, the one Conductor had disappeared into earlier. He was trying to get their attention. Once he saw he had it, he waved a hand, telling them to follow, and then dropped down into the sewer.

  Gabe searched and found Cloak far enough away, battling a crowd of figments. One of them dove at Cloak, but he squatted down and flipped one of his blades into the air. As the blade skewered the figment right through the neck, it slid down the blade, a figment kabob, and then exploded in a rain of ash. Cloak bowed down as if taking a curtain call after a magnificent performance.