Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  One of them cut off suddenly.

  ‘Like a tape had been stopped. Or a throat had been cut. I could really use a miracle right about now. I know two in one day is pushing it, but please!’

  The chain fell from where it was anchored to the ceiling and landed on the floor with a loud clang.

  Josh panted, quick shallow breaths. He felt light-headed, his heart racing.

  When the echoes ended, the only sound he heard was the pounding of his heart. He stared at the door, expecting it to open any second. They had to have heard that.

  The door did not open. They weren’t coming.

  ‘Maybe they didn’t hear. Even if they did, there’s no way they would equate that sound with me pulling the chains out of the ceiling. It’s impossible. A…’

  ***

  “A miracle. That’s what it is. It’s a bloody miracle you weren’t killed.”

  His mother, crying, held him against her chest, tightly, and kissed a cut on his forehead.

  Josh was six years old. His body was covered in scrapes. His head felt funny and he could not feel his left arm.

  “It’s nothing,” he said.

  “Nothing? You were hit by a bus! Your body flew into that tree.”

  “Leave the boy alone, Therese.” His father spoke from the doorway. He was dressed in a dark suit and sunglasses, like he was heading to a funeral. “Get him to the hospital. I’ll take care of the police here. And that driver. I will definitely take care of him.”

  ***

  Josh pushed the memory away. ‘Focus. That has nothing to do with this situation. I’m just lucky. Things just work out for me.’ He looked around the room and laughed. ‘Yeah. Things work out for me really well.’

  A voice he recognized as intuition told him he couldn’t risk the second chain falling. He’d been lucky once. He didn’t want to push the luck he had left. As quickly as he dared, he lifted his right hand. The chain rose with it, a harsh metallic sound trickling through the room each time a link moved across concrete.

  By the time his right hand was halfway up, he started to feel the strain. Each link was two inches of thick steel. It was heavy and, after two car crashes, his body was fatigued. Moving quickly would lessen the strain but increase the noise. If his captors caught him with one arm free, they would kill him immediately.

  When his hand reached the manacle, he searched for clasps. Finding it locked, he searched the seams for a weak point.

  ‘If I can pull the metal chain out of the ceiling, I should be able to snap this right off.’ Only problem, he had no idea how he’d done that. All he did was pull and ask for…

  ***

  “A miracle.”

  He looked down at Tommy Delonki. Once his best friend, he was now just a frail 16-year-old lying in the dirt. His body was battered almost beyond recognition. Tears smudged the blood and dirt on his cheeks.

  “It’s nothing.” Josh, crying, held Tommy’s hand.

  “Nothing?” Tommy coughed. A trickle of blood dripped down his lips. “You took on those things. You beat them and you’ve barely got a scratch. You did that all for me? I guess we’re still friends after all.”

  Josh looked over his shoulder.

  Bodies burned behind him, scaly flesh now blackened and charred.

  “They’re called Edimmu,” Josh said. He looked back at Tommy and squeezed his hand. Tommy blinked, the movement slow like a snowflake falling from the sky.

  “How do you know that? I’ve never told you.”

  Josh swallowed and looked down at his hands.

  “I don’t….”

  ***

  “…know.”

  Josh froze. ‘What the hell is an Edimmu? It had to be those winged things but Tommy was right. There’s no way I could know that. Just like I couldn’t pull a chain out of the ceiling. Or survive getting hit by a bus at six. There’s no way I could…’

  The manacles on his both hands clicked open. The left swung away while the right fell with a thud at his feet.

  “Impossible.”

  He looked around the room hoping to find his clothes. There was nothing in the room except him, the light bulbs and the chains.

  And the door.

  Then, Jan screamed again.

  ‘Analyze later,’ he thought. He walked to the door, assuming it would be locked. Still, when he turned the doorknob, he felt a stab of disappointment when it didn’t move. ‘Guess I’ve run out of miracles.’

  ‘Damn.’ He stepped back and studied the door. ‘I’ve got to get them away from her. No idea how many there are or how they’re armed. Dad taught me to run from this sort of thing. He said not to worry about him or Mom, just get myself out of the situation. I always told him I understood. On some level I guess I convinced myself I could be the stone-cold survivor. But I can’t leave her. I couldn’t live with myself. This door’s only going to open from the other side. Guess I know what I have to do.’

  He lifted a length of chain. He swung it above his head several times, gathering momentum. When it built up enough speed to create a humming sound, he threw the chain.

  It slammed into the door.

  The solid metal door didn’t break but that wasn’t his intention.

  All he wanted was to get their attention.

  He wiped sweat from his nose and walked back to the door. He put his ear against the cold metal and heard nothing.

  The screams had stopped.

  He picked up the chain and listened again. He heard a faint, repeating sound, like the tick of a clock.

  Or footsteps.

  ‘Wish I could remember how I killed those winged things. The Edimmu. Guess I’ll have to rely on what Dad taught me.’

  He covered his mouth, terrified for a moment. Then he stretched his arms and shoulders. He had to relax if he was going to do this. Mouth dry, he picked up the chain again. He threw it above him and it shattered into the nearest light bulb. He turned his head as glass showered down on him. When he looked back, the room was darker than he expected. With luck, it would make the fight more equal.

  He shattered the other light and the room went pitch black. Josh closed his eyes to fight disorientation. He walked, arms outstretched, to the door. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see a crack of light under the door.

  ‘Hinges open outward. Can’t hide behind the door. I’ll have to stand in their blind spot and hope for the best.’

  He pressed his body up against the wall two feet to the right of the doorframe.

  He waited.

  With a loud slam the window opened. A square of light lit up the back wall. Josh held his breath.

  “Lookee here, Simon. This bloke wants to have a go.”

  ‘Australian?’ Josh thought. ‘I’d expect a French accent this deep in Quebec. These boys aren’t local.’

  Josh heard two clicks. His father had trained him to recognize the sounds: guns being cocked. That was all he needed to know.

  He heard keys jingle and, after a series of metallic clicks, the door unlocked. It opened slowly. The darkness dissipated into murky gray. Josh saw the silhouettes of two men against the back wall. The one in front was slightly shorter than the one behind. Their bodies cut off most of the light. Josh had only a few seconds before they saw him.

  He sprung.

  With his left hand he grabbed the wrist of the front man’s gun hand. He held it out to the side and, in the same movement, punched with all his strength at his throat. His target’s face went red even as his fingers twitched on the trigger. A bullet shot into the back wall. Josh grabbed the man’s head, pushed it down and smashed his knee into the man’s face. His body went limp. Josh threw him backwards into the second man. Instinctively, the bigger man’s hands went around his friend, trying to break his fall. Josh tensed the index and middle fingers of his right hand and stabbed them straight through the second man’s left eye. When he took his hand back it was covered in red and white goo. The second man screamed, hands rushing to cover his wound. Josh stepped
on the wrist of the first man’s gun hand. He put his weight on it until the man let the gun go.

  Josh picked up the pistol and shot both men in the head.

  The echoes hung in the air for a long time.

  ‘That was too easy,’ he whispered. ‘Seriously. How did I do that? I’ve only fired guns at the firing range. Dad said if I was fighting for my life I had to be willing to kill. He said when the time came it was just about death, yours or the other person’s. Still, shouldn’t I be more freaked out? I killed these guys and I feel nothing.’

  He stared at the gun in his hand. A moment later he bent down to retrieve the second man’s gun. It was the first time he really looked at his captors.

  The shorter man was a slightly balding redhead. The one in back bore an uncanny resemblance to a young Robert Redford. Both wore white surgical gowns over dark clothing.

  ‘Not what I was expecting,’ he thought. ‘Maybe Rebecca was right. Maybe this isn’t random at all. Maybe we are hostages. But if they’re after my Dad, why weren’t they questioning me? Dad said they would shoot a video with me to prove I was still alive. Who are these people?’

  He stepped over the bodies into the hallway. The door to his cell was one of many that lined both sides of the corridor.

  ‘So many doors,’ he thought. ‘I could shout out for Jan, try to find out where she is. Stupid. That would give me away. I’ll just have to check the doors one by one.’

  Josh stopped in front of the next door and cautiously opened the window. Inside was a young woman in a torn blue dress. She hung from the ceiling just as like he had. Intravenous tubes pumped black and green fluids into her body. Strange symbols were drawn in blood down her arms.

  ‘Who are these people?’ He shook his head and closed the window. ‘Questions for later. I have to find Jan and get out of here.’

  The next door on the right was open. It led to a brightly lit room with three operating tables equally spaced around the room. One bed was empty. Jan was in the second. His eyes froze on the third.

  “Brian.”

  Josh ignored Jan’s pleas and stood over his friend’s body. His legs had been removed. On a nearby metal tray sat a surgical saw with pieces of flesh embedded in the teeth of the blade. Brian’s face was stiff, open mouth frozen in a scream that would last forever.

  “Josh, you’ve got to snap out of it,” Jan said. “Help me.” It wasn’t the words that got to him; it was the surprisingly calm tone. He forced himself to turn away from Brian and untied the straps that bound her to the table. She wore a blue dress identical to the one he’d seen on the other woman. The same strange symbols were drawn in blood down her arms.

  “Are you okay?” He asked. “What were they doing to you?’

  “I don’t know.” Jan slipped off the table. “They said I was a candidate. Kept muttering something about Eyeness and Activation. Who cares? They’re crazy people. I’ve seen at least five of them. They come in shifts. Two left a little while ago.”

  “It’s okay. I killed them.”

  Jan’s eyes went wide and she took a step back from Josh.

  Josh passed her one of the guns. “Take this. I know how much you hate guns. Don’t worry about being accurate. If you see someone coming you don’t recognize, point and shoot. Have you seen the others? Rebecca or Matt?

  “No.” Jan glanced briefly at Brian’s body. She turned away and folded her arms over her chest. “They made me watch. Wanted to see if it triggered something.”

  “Damn.” Josh swallowed down tears and stared at the ceiling. “We need to focus if we want to get out of this. Stay close and watch my back. Okay?”

  Jan nodded. She grabbed the gun with both hands and followed Josh back into the hallway.

  Chapter Five

  “We need to find a phone,” Jan whispered.

  “No, we don’t.” Josh looked up and down the hallway, trying to think.

  “Josh, we have to get help.”

  He turned and placed the palm of his hand against her cheek. “Jan. I love you. Trust me.”

  Now that Jan was safe, he realized he’d made a tactical error. He led them back to his cell and searched the bodies of the men he had killed. He found a set of keys and cursed under his breath.

  “What’s the matter?” Jan very deliberately kept her eyes off the dead bodies.

  “There are a lot of keys on here. I’ve no idea which one opens what.” He stood. “Here’s the plan. We’ll go up and down this hallway. There are doors on each side. I’ll open the window on one side, you open the other. If you don’t recognize the person, close the window.”

  “We’ve got to help them…”

  “No, we don’t. Look, by rights we should just get out of here and leave everyone behind.”

  “By rights?” Jan narrowed her eyebrows. “Is that what your secret agent father would do? Would he even save me? Or would he leave me to die?”

  Josh looked at her and said nothing.

  “I see. Well, whatever you think, you’re not your father.”

  Josh walked away from her. She followed and grabbed his arm.

  “You’re not your father.”

  “I don’t know what I am. Not anymore. But I know this scenario. My dad trained me for this. I can get us out of here as long as you trust me.”

  Reluctantly, Jan took her hand away.

  They opened four windows before they found Rebecca. Like Jan, she wore a blue dress and her arms were covered with strange symbols.

  She wasn’t alone.

  An elderly blond man held a knife to her throat. His pants were around his ankles.

  “Bugger off, Keith,” the man said over his shoulder. “You said I could have this one. Leave me be.”

  Blood pounded in Josh’s head. He looked at the gun in his hand. ‘I can’t risk shooting from this angle. I could miss and hit her.’ He thought over his options. Then he kicked the door. Jan squealed – instinctive shock. Josh motioned for her to press against the wall. He knelt down, back on the opposite wall, and raised his gun.

  “What the hell is your problem?” A face appeared in the window, eyes wide with realization.

  Josh fired.

  Rebecca screamed. With a thud, the body collapsed.

  He tossed the keys to Jan. “Try them all if you have to. Get the door open. I’ll keep you covered. He looked up and down the hallway. Sooner or later someone would investigate the shots. But that wasn’t what ate at him. It was the look in the man’s eyes. He’d seen it hundreds of times in horror movies. It was the look every victim had when he or she confronted the monster in the darkness. ‘And I’m the monster,’ he thought.

  Jan didn’t hesitate. It was one of the things he loved about her. Most people would collapse in hysterics. But not her.

  “Hold on, Becka,” she said through the window.

  “Get me out of here,” Rebecca moaned. “I’m not sure he’s dead.”

  It took ten minutes before Jan found the right key. Once the door opened, she stepped over the man’s body and tried keys on the manacles. Josh watched the hall. When she was free, Rebecca fell against Jan, crying.

  “Move quietly,” he said as he bent down to take the dead man’s knife. It had smudges of blood on it, blood that had to be Rebecca’s. He wiped the knife on his jeans and passed it to Rebecca. “We’re going to find Matt and get out of here.”

  “What about Brian?”

  ‘Crap’, he thought. He turned to face her, opened his mouth and tried to think of the words to say it.

  Her face went numb.” Oh,” Rebecca said. She gave several quick, shallow nods, took a quivering breath and let the tears fall down her face. Then her eyes glazed over as Jan led her out of the room.

  ‘She handled it better than me,’ Josh thought. He searched the dead man’s clothing and found a gun in a holster attached to his belt on the floor. ‘But then, she didn’t see the body.’

  They found Matt in the next room. Thankfully, he was alone and unharmed. He still had his
pants, but was also missing his shirt, socks and shoes. Jan unlocked the door with the same key that had unlocked Rebecca’s cell.

  Matt opened his mouth, his eyes asking where Brian was. Josh shook his head and passed him a gun. Matt took it, going pale as soon as his fingers touched the metal.

  “I’ve never fired a gun.”

  “Like I told Jan, don’t worry about being accurate. Point and squeeze. If nothing else, the noise might scare them. We have to find the way out of here. But not until we kill the last two.”

  Matt looked over at Jan, eyes wide. Then he stared down at the gun in his hands. “Josh, we can’t do this.”

  Josh didn’t turn around to look at him. He walked slowly to the open door at the end of the hallway. As he moved closer, he saw a set of stairs leading upwards.

  “Josh,” Matt hurried to get to Josh’s side. “We can’t kill these people. It’s wrong. We’ve got to get out of here, get help.”

  Josh stopped but did not turn around to look at him. “That weapon in your hand is the only help we’re going to get.”

  Matt put a hand on Josh’s shoulder. This time Josh did turn around.

  “Listen closely, Matt.” Josh’s voice was a harsh whisper. “Once we head up those stairs there won’t be time for me to repeat myself. You’re not an idiot. You know the situation we’re in. These aren’t the kind of people you just run from. You run, they follow. And they will catch you. It may take an hour, a day or a decade. But they will come after you. And when they do, they’ll kill you. This isn’t civilization. There’s no help a phone call away. They’ve already killed two of us. I will not let there be a third. So, if you don’t think you can pull the trigger when you need to, take the girls and go hide in one of the cells. I’ll come back for you when it’s over.”

  Matt dragged nails down his cheek and then bit them. He turned to look back at the others. Jan lifted her gun, resolve written clearly on her face. Matt took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine. Let’s do this.”

  Josh raised his lips in the hint of a smile, then started up the stairs. Matt followed him with the two women close behind.

  The air reeked of cigars and roast chicken. Josh held his hand up, motioning the others to stay put. Back against the left wall, Josh crept up the stairs. He kept his gun pointed at the top of the stairs. The unpainted metal door reminded him of the large walk-in freezers he had seen at the restaurant that Brian’s family owned.