Black Eyed Children 02 Devil's Rise

by Sara Clancy

  He narrowed his eyes on her as one side of his mouth tugged up. It seemed like an eternity had passed since the last time she had seen him smile, and she decided to take it as a good omen.

  She had taken care to make sure that she wasn’t on his injured side. As they watched the wall of mist writhe, they reached out and took a tight hold of each other’s hands. Impressively, Tristan had managed to keep a hold of his flashlight through everything and now wielded it as if it could actually offer come kind of protection. She clutched her knife with the same kind of delusional hopefulness.

  Hand in hand, they raced out into the mist. The screams started instantly, rising around them with the fury of a tornado. Phantom hands latched onto them, working with the sole purpose of knocking her off balance. She jarred her leg painfully with every attempt to keep upright. Adrenaline flooded her system, her body’s last desperate gasps for survival.

  She heard the sound of a metal door slamming against stone a second before Tristan tugged her almost violently. The unseen world around her narrowed, her shoulders bouncing off one side of the narrow hallway then the next as the screams grew louder. The stairs were torture. In the end, Tristan had to practically drag her up the thin flight.

  One more crash of metal and they were on the roof. Instantly, the harrowing cries were replaced with the fierce wail of the mountain wind. Despite the golden smear of the sun, the temperature plummeted, leaving a layer of sleet covering the roof. The fog remained in place as the lashing wind forced them to slide across the ice. Raising her free arm to shield her eyes, she tightened her grip on Tristan’s hand.

  Ruby quickly lost track of where they were. It left her completely reliant upon Tristan to know not just where they were going, but that they weren’t about to step off the edge of the building itself. It was a level of trust that almost drove her to madness. Suddenly, he yanked her close to his side, the sharp pull knocking her off her feet. She slid straight into Tristan’s legs, bringing him down upon her. Without releasing their hold on each other, the wind pushed them across the roof, gathering strength and momentum.

  Rolling onto her stomach, she drove her knife into the roof in an attempt to slow them down. The concrete didn’t yield, leaving the thin blade cracking open the sheet of ice rather than digging into the stone. The scrape produced a shrill sound but slowed them down enough to regain their balance. Squinting into the wind, she caught glimpses of Tristan’s flashlight beam waving through the haze. It flung around in an indiscernible pattern until their clasped hands rose into the air.

  She realized a second later that he was getting up so she hurried to follow suit. Unable to yell over the raging wind, Tristan pulled at her hand. It made it clear enough that he wanted her to follow him. It seemed too much to hope that he hadn’t gotten just as lost as she was. They hurried along until his grip squeezed her hand with a bone crushing intensity and tugged her to a stop.

  Once she was still, he dropped her hand. Her fingers opened and closed continuously as she waited. A moment later, a hand pulled at the rope wrapped around her. She instinctively slashed at the phantom limb, realizing a moment too late that it was actually Tristan. In a stroke of luck, it seemed that she missed as he continued to unwind the rope without hesitation. The flashlight beam flung around while her mind raged for her to move, to do something. But her body could barely muster the energy to do anything beyond shiver.

  Once he had finished untangling her, she shoved the knife back into her pocket, resisting the urge to slash at him again as his hands slipped up to her shoulders. He began to push. It’s him. It’s him, she repeated it with a fevered need to believe it. Because if it wasn’t him, she was allowing the phantom hands to drive her closer to the edge of the roof. Restlessly testing the knot around her stomach, she staggered back, trying not fight.

  Judging by the tight grip he had on his shoulders, Tristan believed that there was still a distance left to the edge. There wasn’t. One more step and she dropped. Her scream was stolen by the gale that surrounded her as she plummeted. The slack of the rope cut short, bringing her to a sudden stop. The knot slipped free with the solid jolt. She clawed at the rope, unable to keep herself from sliding down as the now free end of material flapped against her legs. The wind pushed at her, making her swing like a pendulum. Too afraid to scream, she struggled to wrap her legs around the rope in a way that would give her any kind of footing. She didn’t have the upper body strength to hold on by her arms alone.

  The material battered against her as her arms failed. She tumbled down until the rope pulled tight around her thigh, squeezing her wound as she was flipped upside down. The wind sent her scraping along the side of the wall, rolling her over and over until she reached an empty space. On instinct, she latched onto the corner. Blood pooled in her head as the sheets ripped at her thigh. The wind tried to drag her away. Her nails splintered as she gripped at the stone. After a series of failed attempts, she managed to get a hand in her pocket without losing her position. The material of her jacket tore open as she wrenched her knife free.

  Each muscle of her stomach protested as she reached up and swiped the blade at the rope. She was unsure if she had cut it or if the wind had worked in her favor. But in either case, she dropped again, only stopping when she hit the stone floor. The blow pushed the air from her lungs, leaving her helplessly gasping and her body frozen in pain. As the wind passed the open wall of the gondola room, it created a high-pitched whistle. Still, it was quieter than it had been on the roof and she was able to hear herself desperately gasping for air.

  Determination alone made her move. The blade of her knife clicked against the concrete floor as she pushed up onto all fours. She tried to bend her injured leg. Pain sliced through her. A hot bolt that made her arms buckle and forced her to release an agonized scream. Her pants grew damp with blood and even the frigid air wasn’t enough to cool the fire that raged under her skin. With a solid thud and a broken gasp, Tristan landed beside her. Every attempt to call for him was reduced to a miserable sob but it worked well enough to draw him closer.

  It took some fumbling, but he found her within the dense fog soon enough. His arm wrapped around her waist, pressing against the savage bruise on her stomach as he lurched her onto her feet. He hesitated at her scream.

  “Are you okay?” he asked. “I’m sorry.”

  Her free hand reached out for the flashlight. Cupping her fingers over his, she directed the beam in the general direction she thought they had to go. He took this as a response and pulled her up, this time working through her cry of protest. They lunged and scraped their way across the room until they found the cabinet. The moment she had the manual within her hands, she realized how useless it would be. With the fog, it was impossible to read a single word.

  “Well, time for Plan ‘B’,” Tristan said.

  A small tune played over the whistling wind as he turned the radio on. Ruby’s mind swirled and crashed as Tristan began to talk with Nina. Keeping each other up, they lumbered to the control panel, Nina’s voice buzzing the whole time. Everything she said made sense when they hit her ears, but lost all meaning a few seconds later. Tristan held the radio to Ruby’s ear as she ripped open the panel door. Unable to see and barely able to hear Nina over the static, it seemed like each task took a hundred attempts. She couldn’t concentrate through her pain or even move her fingers as they numbed in the bitter cold.

  It didn’t take long for the whispers to find them. Within moments, they swarmed around them, twisted up the few of words Nina managed to get through the static. It felt like a thin layer of ice had formed over her jacket and clung to her hair by the time she made her last adjustment. A gentle whirl rose up from the depths of the wind, and with a staggered clunk, the gondola began to move. She couldn’t see it. But the sound alone was enough to throw her into a state of euphoria.

  “You did it!” Tristan roared. “She did, Nina. It’s working.”

  Crackling static covered any response but they were both t
oo excited to care. Using the pedestal to drag herself up, Ruby searched out the beam of Tristan’s flashlight. It didn’t take her long to catch sight of him as he rushed towards her and drew her awkwardly into a tight, joyous hug.

  “I’ll never insult you again,” he boomed. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Fearing separation, they resumed their bone-crushing grip on each other’s hand, and carefully ventured forward. There was only the metallic drone to guide them towards the track. But nothing gave a hint for when a carriage was actually passing them by. A few passed by, their icy surfaces smacking against them before seeming to evaporate once again. She lifted her knife, holding it out just far enough that the passing metal scraped against the blade, creating a shrill cry. After only a moment of silence, Tristan caught onto what she was doing and began to count aloud. It was seven seconds between carriages. Three for it to pass.

  Three seconds. She mulled it over in her head, the number sounded smaller each time she considered it.

  “How far to the drop off?” Tristan asked. “We could have a little longer.”

  “I wouldn’t go past six seconds,” she said.

  It was a conservative estimate but she wouldn’t be shaken from it. With the tricks of the mist, it would be all too easy for them to be lured over the edge.

  “Six seconds,” Tristan repeated, his fingers tightening around her. “Well, at least we have a few cracks at it.”

  As if to mock them, the sound of running footsteps surrounded them. Tristan and Ruby closed in on the pathway of the carriages. They slammed at each one that passed, blindly searching for the button that would open the doors. The footsteps drew nearer as they failed again and again. Laughter crawled along Ruby’s spine as she tumbled into hysteria. Tears burned her eyes, her heart raced, and every hair on her body rose up with the knowledge that something was lurking just behind her. Drawing closer. Reaching out.

  The familiar click and hiss of the carriage doors opening made her breath catch. Tristan exploded into a flurry of words, urging her to get in. But finding their footing was difficult and they were forced to trudge along as they attempted to find the gap. The laughter rose as it neared.

  I didn’t count! The thought slammed into her with crippling force. Her mind whirled, trying to calculate how long was left before they would tumble to their deaths. Her movements grew desperate and uncoordinated as the metal slipped out of her hand. Tristan pulled her back from chasing after it. The laughter seemed to mock her, grinding against her nerves as Tristan pulled her back a few steps, preparing for their next attempt.

  They lunged at the next carriage, hit the button, and opened the doors. In all their fumbling, Tristan was able to pull himself in first, unwittingly kicking her in the process. The heel of his foot smacked into her jaw and it was only their entwined hands that kept her on her feet. Running alongside the carriage, she tried to hurl herself through the open door. The knife in her hand kept her from being able to properly grasp the rubber floor. Tristan released her hand to grab her under her arms, dragging her up just as a phantom hand grabbed her legs. They tugged at her, dragging her backwards, away from Tristan and the carriage. Ruby thrashed. Each time she kicked herself free, she attempted to push off the floor again, only to have the hands latch onto her once more.

  Suddenly, the whistling wind transformed into a lashing gale. The hands fell away and she instinctively tried to push off again, only to find that the ground was no longer there. The carriage gave a lurch and tipped onto an angle as it began its decent. Gravity pulled at her, driving the rim of the carriage into her battered ribs. A strong gush hit the carriage. The open doors allowed the wind to gather in the carriage and rock it onto a far harsher angle. Ruby scrambled to compensate for the blow but quickly lost ground. She clawed at the rubber floor, but it was Tristan’s hold that kept her from plummeting into the abyss.

  Then the carriage rolled back the other way and Tristan scrambled to take advantage of it. Together, they fought for every agonizing inch. Twisting herself into sharp angles, Ruby pulled her legs across the threshold. Tristan lunged across her, hitting the button just as another burst of wind bombarded the carriage. A resulting lurch slid them both back and would have hurled them out of it altogether if the doors hadn’t locked shut.

  In a tangled, painful mass, they tried to catch their breaths. The beam of the flashlight sliced into the darkness, and it struck her how clear the air was within the carriage. The only sound was their heavy pants and the groans of the machine. As they crossed a supporting rail, the fog rose up from around the carriage like the drawing of a curtain. Slumped on the floor, Ruby watched the haze lift, a weary but blissful smile pulling at her lips. The motion cracked open her ravaged lips, allowing her to taste the slightest tang of blood, but it wasn’t enough to deter her. Seconds passed into minutes. She didn’t move, content to lay still and feel the air warm as they made their way down the mountainside.

  “Tristan! Ruby!” Nina’s voice screamed over the clearing radio line.

  Tristan peeled himself off of Ruby to slump against the floor.

  “We’re on our way down,” he said, breathlessly, his voice bubbling slightly as a smile pulled at his face. “We’re okay.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Nina said.

  “Don’t suppose you can get some lunch ready for us,” Tristan smiled.

  “Well, it would be dinner,” Nina corrected in the same light tone.

  Ruby’s insides turned to stone. She scrambled to sit up, noticing for the first time just how dark the world beyond the glass was. All the while, Nina continued to speak, telling them how they had been trying to get a hold of them all day. How the radio only allowed a sentence or so every hour. Ruby barely paid attention. The task of pulling herself onto her feet took too much effort. Slumping against the bench, she looked out the window. The lights of the base site shone like diamonds below them, growing ever larger as they descended.

  Tristan dropped down next to her, the rocking carriage giving him little choice. They stared at the lights, neither one wanting to admit the realization that was dawning upon them.

  “They kept us there all day,” Tristan said at last. “It’s the third night.”

  Ruby couldn’t turn to him. Couldn’t tear her eyes away from the lights of their salvation now that it was finally there. So close. Barely a few moments away.

  The tears in her voice caught her off guard as she replied, “This carriage is a public area. They won’t need an invitation to come inside.”

  With a rumble and groan, the lights below flickered off, and the carriage slowed to a stop.

  Chapter 16

  Light clung to the horizon. While the lights were off in the mountain base, making the structure bleed into the cold stone, the nearby town was still lit up in a sea of stars. As the carriage swayed, Ruby found herself unable to look away. It’s right there, she thought. It’s all right there. Vaguely, she could hear Tristan breathing rapidly. The flashlight clicked off although it didn’t make a staggering amount of difference. Now out of the fog, the moonlight cast the world below them in a silver glow. The bench seat dipped as he crouched down next to her.

  “Any idea of what to do now?” he asked in a whisper.

  Ruby didn’t say anything. She just watched the lights.

  “Ruby,” Tristan hissed. “Snap out of it, I need you here.”

  “To do what?”

  “The same thing we always do. We just have to hold them off until dawn.”

  She turned to him. “We’re in a box, dangling over a sheer drop. What are we going to do?”

  “Whatever we have to,” he said.

  The thick wire that held them up wobbled, making the carriage vibrate. They sunk onto the floor, scanning the windows and holding their breaths. Held in silence, Ruby was torn between wanting the light back on and joining Tristan in the need to hide. Slowly, Ruby reached out, searching the floor for her dropped knife. The next vibration was joined by a gust of wind. The combi
ned effect made them scramble to brace themselves.

  “Do you know how to lock the door?” Ruby whispered.

  He shook his head and they pressed closer to the floor. Caught in the throes of the wind, the carriage continued to rock, creating a constant stream of creeks and groans, and they bobbed around. But it was the vibrations that pulled at her curiosity. Gradually, she inched up, craning her neck so she could see out the back window. The moonlight kept the world in shades of black and shadows. By it, she could make out the cable as it reached back up to the clouds and the other dozen carriages. It was among the dangling, swaying metal that she caught sight of it.

  Higher up, a dark shape bled out from the shadow of a carriage. It was shapeless at first. But as it neared, the edges of the blob began to solidify.

  “Oh, God,” she gasped.

  Reaching out blindly, she grabbed Tristan by his shoulder and shook him, desperately needing him to tell her that she was mistaken. That there wasn’t a child walking towards them. Because if it were true, gravity had no pull over them. She watched with horror as the child walked along the underside of the wire, immune to the lashing wind.

  Her mouth opened as she gulped for air. Barely able to tear her eyes way, she looked over to Tristan.

  “I see them,” he confirmed.

  Them. The word made her snap back to the window. It took her a moment longer to spot the other two. One was crawling along the side of the wire that was climbing up the hill. The last was scurrying over a carriage, ducking in and out of the moonlight.

  “Get down,” Tristan whispered sharply, one hand coaxing her down.

  They both flattened, trying to hide within the shadows, barely breathing.

  “How high are we?” Ruby whispered.

  Lines formed between Tristan’s eyes as he turned to look at her. “Maybe a story or so.”

  “The trees will slow us down, right? Enough that we might actually survive it. It’ll hurt like a bitch but–”