The Trilogy of the Void: The Complete Boxed Set

by Peter Meredith

  Will heaved himself to the person and unfortunately was able to see into the faceplate. He screamed at the sight and thrust the body away, but like a balloon, it bobbed and came back, the face still pointing at him. It was a man and his helmet was half filled with frozen vomit and blood. His eyes looked to have exploded in his face and terrible frozen fluid hardened by the cold ran from them.

  Cringing at the sight, but desperate, Will kept his face away and released the tether clamp blindly. However, he did look up to watch the man being sucked up the side of Ba'al, before it disappeared in the storm of the demon's body. With shaking hands, he attached the tether and let himself dangle for a minute, resting.

  This was what he was supposed to see, he was sure. However, though he saw, he didn't understand, his mind was in a state of shock and even simple things seemed difficult to comprehend. There were questions that ran around his mind. How did Ba'al get here and how did he get so big? Where was this place? Who would do this?

  Floating there wasn't going to get him answers, so when he had rested enough he pulled himself upright and looked around for a way to get out. There were more doors, higher up and more bodies. The room was huge, and sporadically about it, without apparent reason or even symmetry, bodies dangled at the end of tethers.

  His stomach rolled over at the memory of the last one and he knew he would avoid getting anywhere near these others. He glided along the cable, hand over hand, until he came to another cable heading up and after carefully detaching and re-attaching his tether, he went up. Going up was easy. He was naturally being sucked upwards anyways.

  About fifty feet overhead, he spied a platform jutting out from the wall and he aimed for it. He kept his back to Ba'al, refusing to look in that direction, one of the warnings had read, Remember-Face the Wall!

  Will took this one seriously, wondering if the people dangling from the walls had looked at Ba'al and he didn't want to think about what they had seen. He shivered at the thought and at the dreadful cold. After a minute, he gained the platform and saw that it was enclosed in steel and heavy glass. There was a door opening out onto the great cylinder of Ba'al's chamber and mercifully, it opened as he approached. He closed it quickly behind him and didn't look back.

  The room stretched in a thirty by twenty foot rectangle and unlike the rest of the facility, which was spotless, this room resembled the one beneath the chapel. Symbols and runes scrawled in what was obviously blood decorated the room, but there was no skin or entrails dangling anywhere.

  However, there were a couple of noticeable differences. Just inside the door, in front of Will, a pair of heavy chains were bolted to the floor and further back in the room near another door, two caskets similar to those that he had seen, sat empty.

  He guessed their purpose now. All of the girls in the caskets he had seen were alike in a few obvious ways. One of the girls would be young, a teenager, while the other could be of any age, but with features that Will now associated with gypsy. Black hair, black eyes, sallow or tan complexion.

  Luke was doing, what had been done to Talitha, but on a greater scale and the immensity of the operation stunned Will and frightened him to the very core of his soul. He had seen hundreds of doors in that one hallway alone and with the thirty-six subterranean floors, there could be thousands upon thousands of girls, lying forever in this modern dungeon.

  Ba'al too was greater.

  He knew that the great smoking thing in the steel cylinder, wasn't in fact Ba'al, but a portal into the void, but his presence in this world was far greater. And Will worried then about the size of the portal and a new fear came to him: maybe Luke was trying to open it big enough for Ba'al to come forth onto this plane of existence.

  Deciding he'd seen enough, Will tried to force himself awake, but couldn't. He even jumped up and down, but to no avail. Feeling clueless at what to do, he went to one of the caskets and sat down and waited to wake up. Likely, he'd drunk too much and as he sat, he tried to figure out how much he had drunk and he vaguely remembered the bottle at one point half-empty.

  He sighed heavily and felt a sudden longing to be home in bed with Lisa. Unlike her, he wasn't much into cuddling while he slept, but he would cuddle now, if he could.

  For a long while, he sat daydreaming within a dream, when he heard noise from beyond the far door. He felt a thrill of panic and jumped up; looking around he saw there would be no place to hide except for the caskets, which he ruled out immediately. So he strode to the nearest wall and leaning against it, and idled there as if in thought.

  People in the space suits, perhaps twenty, marched in as if on parade and they didn't seem to notice him. The room's lights were switched on as were heaters attached to the ceiling, they bathed the room with an orange glow and Will felt the wonderful heat baking through his suit.

  A woman, Will could tell by her voice, barked an order and the two smallest people came forth, one slowly.

  "Ok, it's time, take off your suits." The woman commanded, she had imperial voice, which brooked no argument, and the one who had seemed quicker, stripped down; she was a girl, maybe sixteen, black hair and dark eyes. She wore what looked like a soft white jump suit and she was nervous. Her eyes flicked around the room, taking everything in but Will, who seemed invisible to them.

  The other girl was Asian and young as well and she acted as if she had been drugged. Two people helped her remove her clothes and she too wore white, but she wasn't nervous, she simply stood, staring at the floor listlessly, until a moment later she was walked to one of the large symbols drawn upon the floor. There she was pushed to her knees, but still she only stared, seemingly unaware of what was going on around her.

  The gypsy girl, Will considered her such, went to the symbol also, and knelt in front of the Asian.

  "This is very simple. Just read the top part, like you've been taught." The imperial woman commanded, handing the gypsy a thick-yellowed piece of paper. The gypsy became more nervous, licking her lips repeatedly, but when the rest of the suited people stepped back away from her, to the wall, her fear grew and she looked like she was ready to bolt out of the room.

  "Do it now or we'll find someone else who will," the woman said with a dangerous tone.

  The gypsy took a deep breath. "Ok...ok, I can do this." She then read from the paper. It was a demonic language, of that Will was certain. It grated on the ears, but it went deeper than that, and sent a discordant ringing throughout his inner being. Thankfully, it was over in moments and the gypsy knelt, swallowing hard and breathing harder, as if it had been a physical trial to speak the language.

  "The blood, quick!" the woman screeched.

  The gypsy seemed to come alive at the voice and pulled from her white outfit a small curved dagger. Her hands were shaking and it took her a few moments to do it, but she finally cut open the palm of her left hand. She was much quicker at cutting open the Asian's hand and when she had, she grabbed the girl's hand in her own and squeezed.

  The gypsy squeezed hard and the Asian clearly felt pain from it. She fell back writhing on the ground and still the gypsy squeezed, her face contorting into an evil mask, but then there was a sound from Ba'al's great cylinder room. It was like the striking of metal on metal and it vibrated through the building.

  All eyes went to the windows and the black swirling mass of the portal of Ba'al seemed to be growing at an alarming rate.

  "Don't just stand around, chain her, damn it!" The woman pushed at the nearest suited men and they jumped at her command.

  The Asian was no longer listless, but neither was she all there mentally. She seemed terribly confused, as if she had woken from a bad dream only to find it still going on in her waking life. She struggled against the suited men, but they moved her easily forward and put her in the chains that were bolted to the floor.

  The girl screamed endlessly and no one cared but Will. A part of him wanted to go to her to help her, but he was deathly afraid of Ba'al, and when the others fled the room—and that is exactly wh
at they did, running for the door like children, Will ran too. He stayed near the back of the group and he kept looking over his shoulder at the expanding black cloud.

  The door closed almost on him and against his better judgment, he turned and looked through the thick glass windows. Only one other person looked, the woman in command was just to Will's right, the rest stood huddling against the wall.

  The Asian screamed on, yet now she was unheard, she struggled against the chains that bound her, only it was in vain and in moments Ba'al's form had filled the entire outer room, and that was when Will saw Ba'al, not all of him but too much of him.

  The smoke swirling and eddying cleared for half a second, long enough to see that the impenetrable black at the center of the portal, wasn't impenetrable any longer.

  Eight years ago, the portal had been a pinprick. Now in his dream, it was many feet across and Ba'al strained against it. Will stepped back in fear, thinking to run, thinking Ba'al would come through at any moment, but though the beast struggled against the gaping black maw, the opening was still too small.

  "Damn it! Damn it! We're almost there." The woman next to him cried out. Will had a better look at her now and he could see that she was older, in her early fifties perhaps and her hair, what he could see of it, was black as were her eyes.

  Gypsy.

  She sighed behind the mask that hid most of her face and then nodded pleased at something. Will looked back into the room and saw that a portion of the black storm of Ba'al had slipped into the room through special vents. The Asian stopped screaming, her eyes on the death cloud as it grew in the room, and then silently it swept over her.

  Seconds later, the swirling retreated and the black mass of the portal began to regain its prior size.

  The woman turned to the group against the wall and said to the younger gypsy. "You did well and you are to be rewarded as I said you would." The girl nodded and then danced a crazy uncontrollable jig, as she was tasered from behind.

  "You know what to do, Pablo," the woman said casually and with that, she walked off.

  Will was torn between following her and finding out what they were planning next and he chose to stay with Pablo. It was a bad choice.

  The men bundled up both girls and put them in the caskets; they then attached leads and began running tubes into their noses. He knew the girls would next be placed in one of the many rooms and left to rot until the end of time and he realized he should've gone with the woman.

  She was the key.

  Will took off after the woman, jogging as best as he was able in his heavy boots, but she was gone and soon he became lost in the maze of hallways and gave up hope of finding her.

  And just then, he felt a tug.

  It was a stirring of air around him and just like that, Will knew his dream was over.

  Chapter 23

  The Second Sight

  Will came awake with a start, feeling mild alarm jangling his nerves, and sitting up, his eyes roved around the room, taking in the darker corners, looking for shapes, looking for movement. There was nothing.

  He lay back with a heavy sigh. The dream hadn't been anything like what he expected and he spent a few moments replaying it in his head. Right then, he made the decision; he would see into the future to find Luke no matter what the consequences to him or to his family would be.

  Except, he was afraid to.

  With all of his soul, he was afraid to look. The vision of the boy and his box had been like psychic torture. It hadn't affected his body, but his brain felt branded and scarred by the vision and going through that again was the last thing he wanted to do to himself...however the idea of Ba'al in his real form, his true nature exposed for all to see, lose on earth...that would be worse.

  He would look, just not by himself.

  Perhaps it was hereditary, or maybe it was a sense of duty, but Will tried to be a brave man, however there was no way he could do this alone. The very thought terrified him and even if Talitha and Jim couldn't be in the vision with him, they could at least look after his body. He remembered then, how he had hit himself after the last vision and he knew he would still be hitting himself right now if Jim hadn't been there to stop him.

  He got the shivers.

  Feeling suddenly lonely, he kicked off the sheets, got up and pressed his ear to the adjoining door to his sister's room. He could hear water running, but no voices. A glance at his watch and the orange glow told him, 11:48pm. This was an odd time for a shower, he thought.

  Still a trifle uneasy, he opened the door and the uneasiness became near panic. The place was chaos. The desk was turned upside down and thrown across the room, leaning against the door; chairs sat awkwardly kicked over, lamps laid about on their sides. The bed's sheets and blankets were tangle in a mass and Jim Anderson lay asleep naked half under them.

  Will's feeling of near panic shifted gears quickly and he slipped into outrage. He had point blank begged Jim to stay awake and the man had lied right to his face and said he would.

  "What the hell is this?" Will didn't scream it. He was holding back his fury by only the smallest of threads. It came out instead in a terrible growl.

  Jim barely budged, but did emit a low groan as if he were suffering from a hangover.

  Will kicked him.

  He kicked him hard too. Right on the big man's thigh and this got Jim moving a little more and groaning a second time. Will thought about Talitha allowing this and his rage increased. How many times did he go out of his way for her? Countless!

  He stormed to the bathroom and without knocking, he barged in. He had seen her naked so many times; it almost didn't matter to either one of them anymore.

  "Talitha! What..." He stopped in mid-yell.

  She sat huddled under the shower, still fully clothed, her black dress soaked and clinging. Steaming hot water poured off her, but she didn't seem to care.

  Never had there been a more wretched girl.

  The water from the shower couldn't hide her tears and when she looked up, he plainly saw the misery in her eyes. There was only one explanation as to what had happened and he turned to wreak vengeance on Jim.

  "Will!" she called out to him, but it went unheeded. There was a red veil in front of his eyes and black storm clouds in his mind. He left the bathroom and Jim was standing there, right in front of him, naked, his face already caked in blood.

  Will was big. Jim was bigger, but Will had an unmatched fury and Will's balled fist struck Jim hard square on the nose, crushing it. The punch sent Jim reeling, tripping backwards and he fell over the edge of the bed.

  "Will!" a voice called from behind him.

  He ignored her a second time and as Jim was struggling to his feet, Will took a page from Talitha's playbook and sent a roundhouse into Jim's ribs. There was a satisfying crunch as he felt his foot break bones.

  Jim's mouth opened, to perhaps groan, yet no sounds came out at all. His eyes bulged and he fell back down fighting for breath. Will went to grab him by his hair, and that was when Talitha jumped on him. It wasn't an attack or he would very likely have seen it coming. Instead, she leaped on his back and hugged him hard, pinning his arms to his sides.

  "It's not his fault! Will, you have to listen to me, it's not his fault!" Talitha spoke rapidly into his ear. He heard the words, but they came to him from out of a fog and he paused as his mind tried to understand, then oddly, he over balanced and fell sideways onto the bed.

  Like a bull rider, Talitha leapt off before she was pinned beneath him. She righted herself faster than he could and as he made to get up, she chucked a pillow into his face.

  "Will, stop it," she cried, then ironically threw another pillow.

  "You stop it! That hurt." The first pillow had struck him full on the face and his broken nose, which he had suffered at her hands that afternoon was still extremely sensitive. He knocked the second pillow aside with ease, and as he advanced on her and she hopped toward the bathroom.

  "This isn't what it seems," she ple
aded in a soothing voice.

  "What? I know what I saw!" Will cried, his anger cooling, only slightly.

  "What happened was..." her face collapsed back into misery and she couldn't go on and for a moment the room was quiet except for Will's heavy breathing and the sound of the shower still going full force in the bathroom.

  "I raped your sister, I'm sorry." Jim was on his hands and knees, bleeding into the carpet.

  "Sorry!" Will's fury was back in an instant. "How can you say sorry? Was it a fucking accident?" He roared at Jim, who refused to look up or defend himself in any way. Will began to head toward him, but Talitha ran in front of him and put up her hand, stopping him.

  "It was the other Talitha." His sister explained without force in her tired voice and her face became blank and staring.

  It reminded him of how the Asian girl looked in his dream and he blinked then, slowly, feeling odd. "You couldn't tell the difference?" he demanded of Jim, dumbfounded and feeling a little woozy.

  "How could he have?" Talitha asked. "I started it. I kissed him...I don't know, I guess I shouldn't have. But that's what brought Evil T out."

  "Evil T?" At the sound of the stupid name, Will had to suppress sudden maniacal laughter welling up huge inside of him, and he realized then, that he was still drunk.

  "And really I didn't know, I swear. She was very quiet, she barely talked or anything...until the end." Jim tried to explain, apparently to the floor. He still wouldn't look up.

  "I know," Talitha said, figuring he was talking to her.

  "I'm sorry," Jim spoke again to the floor.

  "I know." With that, an uncomfortable silence laid a hold of them. No one moved a muscle, not even to look around. For the next minute, the motel room was like a piece of modern art, the kind that would be featured in a magazine, but no one in their right mind would ever own.