by MJ Fletcher
“Thank you for getting me out of there.” I scratched the nape of my neck trying to make the nagging feeling go away.
“No problem that’s what friends are for.”
One of the few structures that hadn’t been fully destroyed came into view, sticking out of the ground like a lone cactus in the middle of a desert. It was a building of substantial size, or had been, and the power flowing out of it was impressive and at one time must have been remarkable.
“Is that it?” I asked.
“Yup, that’s where we’re going.” Nightshade jammed his foot against the pedal and we roared straight for it.
We reached it within a few minutes. Nightshade pulled the car up as close as he could to the front of the building and came to a stop. I grabbed the door handle, hopped over Jess, opened the door and stepped out into the Dreaded Wastelands.
A humid breeze whistled past me and the smell of decay and soot hung heavy in the air. It seemed as if it had been forever since moisture had touched the ground here.
I closed my eyes and reached out, my senses searching for any kind of power signature. It didn’t take long to connect with it and pinpoint its origin... the top of the building. Reams of energy flowed down from it and around us.
“Can you feel it?” I turned to Slade as he stepped out of the car.
“Yes.” His eyes were locked on the top of the structure while everyone else emptied from the car and joined us.
“How long do you think we have?” I asked Edgar.
“Not long. They had other Chronicle pages that probably pointed them to the Wastelands; our page, takes them directly to the spot, right here where we are.”
“Then we need to hurry. Everyone stay together, no one gets left behind no matter what and everybody be ready for anything. We’re not alone here.” I activated my doorknob and in the distance a howl broke the silence. Gremlins, just great, this was not going to be easy.
“What was that?” Val’s voice quivered.
I wished there was a way to send Val home safely but this place didn’t react well to portals. If I opened one without some type of anchor on the other side I could lose her. Our best bet was using Nightshade’s car to head back as a team.
“Val, stay close to Edgar and whatever you do, don’t leave his side.” I grabbed her hands and forced her to look in my eyes. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Okay, now how the hell do we get in there?” I spun around glaring at the building as if my determination alone would gain us admittance.
Slade walked up and started inspecting the walls. He moved his hands along them searching for some type of entrance. Luckily, he was wearing his gloves otherwise his hands would have been covered in soot and grime. He moved along slowly checking every crevice he could find. I wanted to shout at him to hurry up, we didn’t have much time, but there was no point in making him anxious when he really needed to be careful. Something clicked when his hand brushed over what at one time appeared to be a shiny tile.
He stepped back staring in awe at the building. “This was an Impossible Engineer hall.”
“That makes sense, they would house their own Artifacts.” Nightshade shrugged as if he expected it.
“What could have happened to it?” Slade asked no one in particular.
“The war,” Edgar responded.
Slade nodded as if he agreed and yet appeared unsure. He stepped forward turned the tile and lifted it off, revealing a small open space containing a metal handle. He grasped and twisted it. Another tile a few spaces over clicked and Slade knocked it off and grabbed the handle in that cubby as well. He twisted both and the sound of metal scraping metal echoed over the wastelands. A circular line appeared through the soot and dirt as Slade twisted the round portal as if unscrewing a bottle top. The massive door began to open as Slade continued to spin the handles until a hiss of air shot out from one side and the door finished opening to reveal a dark and dank entrance to what once had been home to the Impossible Engineers.
“Your people; you first.” Nightshade gestured with a wave of his hand. Slade took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold into the darkness.
A light flared as Slade turned on an Impossible Engineer Ever Lit flashlight. He turned back, tossing one to Nightshade. He caught it with one hand and clicked it on.
The inside of the building wasn’t as nearly in as bad shape as was the outside, though it was far from pristine. Dust and cobwebs covered the walls and a thick layer of soot carpeted the floor. What once appeared to have been tapestries were now nothing more than strings of cloth hanging from the rafters.
“We need to find the stairs bef—” I never got to finish my comment. Out of the darkness came a green, howling gremlin rushing straight toward us. I swung my arm up raising an energy shield that the gremlin slammed into. It roared and pushed back against the shield. The layer of soot made it impossible for me to dig my feet firm and I found myself being pushed further and further away from my friends.
The monster continued to roar with rage, his claws slashing along my shield trying to shatter it. Screams pierced the air all around me but I couldn’t differentiate the voices. Flashes of light stung my eyes, but I was too busy trying to hold off my attacker to see what was happening.
The beast suddenly leapt off me and turned his attention to something else. I immediately created an energy whip and swung it out. It coiled around the monster’s neck and I gave it a hard yank sending the gremlin crashing on its back with a yelp. My whip recoiled and I readied it again as the gremlin growled, scrambled to its feet, spun, and rushed at me again. This time I was prepared, I cracked my whip taking its legs right out from under it just as it got to its feet.
“Keep it up ugly.” I twisted my energy whip in a circle giving off enough light to illuminate the space around me. The gremlin growled, slobber running from his mouth and then he scrambled backward, turned and took off running into the darkness once again.
I looked around and spotted Slade, Edgar and Val. “Where are the others?”
“More than one gremlin attacked. We got separated when one chased Nightshade, Jess, and Faith down a corridor.” Slade was breathing heavily and thin lines of blood dripped down his arm from where he had been clawed by one of the beasts.
“You okay?” I asked and nearly sighed with relief when he nodded.
“We need to get the Artifact, then we find the others. They can handle themselves for now. Where too?” I looked to Slade, being an Impossible Engineer it was up to him to use his senses and feel the power signature of the Artifact.
“We need to get upstairs; it’s somewhere up there.” Slade followed the light from my energy whip and we found the staircase in no time. Slade took the lead, Edgar and Val followed behind and I brought up the rear.
I peered over the side now and again as we climbed the stairs for what seemed like forever to make sure nothing was following us. The ground got further away until it finally disappeared leaving nothing more than a dark hollow below us. The staircase came to an end on a large landing at the top of the building.
“Any ideas?” I asked Slade taking a moment to lean against him.
The floor suddenly shook as if it were hit by an earthquake and I would have fallen to the ground if Slade hadn’t grabbed me and kept us both on our feet. Screams and howls echoed from all directions and the entire structure shuddered from whatever had exploded.
“What the hell was that?” Slade looked to me.
“Hopefully, not Nightshade, Jess or Faith and then of course the First Kind could have arrived. Either way it isn’t good, we need to get that damn Artifact and get the hell out of here. See what you can do, Slade.” Slade closed his eyes and reached out with his abilities. Since he was an Impossible Engineer he would have the best chance of tracking the power signature of the device.
He opened his eyes and shook his head. “There’s too much power here I can’t get a fix.”
“Damn it, o
kay, let me give it a try.” I closed my eyes and reached out, sending my energy in search of a power signature. Power flowed from all different parts of building, some I recognized and it wasn’t good.
“Anything?” Edgar asked.
“The First Kind is here. I can feel them and there are a lot of them.” I kept my eyes closed as I answered and continued searching, trying to locate the power source of the Artifact. I couldn’t pinpoint it. It was like a moving target, nearly impossible to hit. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t focus. It reminded me of when I trained with the Impossible Engineers before I declared. I had felt as if I could affect the various devices and almost had a few times, but it had never quite clicked. I had, however, always felt the power trickle through me and like Gavin said not everyone could do that. Maybe my problem was that I always considered myself a member of the Doorknob Society. I never really gave any of the other Societies any thought. What if I had? What if I had pursued those trickles of energy and concentrated? Would I have been able to activate and control Impossible Engineer devices?
I cleared my mind and thought of only one thing.
I’m a Polymorph, all things must heed my call.
Warmth spread over my body and I was transported back to the hall of the Impossible Engineers when I had been working on the devices with Slade. I could see myself engrossed in the task, happy and content, my fingers moved over the gears and switches and they responded to my commands. I was an Impossible Engineer; everything in the building suddenly came into focus. I was no longer in the hall with Slade; I was in the present and could see everything clearly.
Lines of energy flowed all around the building but they all returned to one place...one source. I opened my eyes and started running down the hallway. The others followed behind me racing to keep up. I stopped in front of a solid wall and reached out, not searching but knowing where I needed to touch. I depressed the section of wall and a hole opened displaying two handles. I grasped both of them and pulled them out stepping back.
“Everyone move.” I said calmly and the others raced to the side as the walls moved, popping out and sliding to either side. A metal wall with two holes in it rested behind the false wall. I took the two handles I had removed and slid them in and twisted them. The metal shuddered and hissed under my fingers.
The wall fell away like shattered glass and hovering in silver light was the Artifact. It was a long cylinder with engravings running its length and two discs covering each end. I reached out to grab it and stopped myself, Gavin’s voice in my head.
You can’t tell your friends what you are.
I turned to Slade and gestured toward it. “Grab it.”
He looked at me oddly and stepped forward reaching into the light and lifted the Artifact out. He shuddered as the power of the device rushed through him.
“Oh my.” He stared down at the object in his hands, his eyes as round as saucers.
“You okay?” I touched his shoulder snapping him out of his hypnotic trance. He shook his head and looked from the device back to me.
“Yes, sorry. How did you do that, only an Engineer should have been able to access that wall?”
I shook my head disagreeing. “I could hear it in my head. The Artifact told me what to do but warned me that only an Engineer could hold it. That’s why I had you take it,” I lied, realization striking hard and fast. Gavin was right about me... I am a Polymorph. And I figured he was also right that it was best to keep that knowledge to myself, at least for the time being.
“This is amazing.” He hefted the object up glancing over it.
I grabbed his arm pulling it down and waved Edgar over and yanked his map bag open. I pointed to the bag and Slade nodded dropping it in and snapping out of his trance once it was out of sight.
“Now what?” Edgar asked as he handed the bag to Slade who draped it over his head and across his chest securing it so that he wouldn’t lose it.
“We need to find the others and get out.” I ran my hand through my hair trying to think of my next step. “The problem is this place is overrun with First Kind.”
“Can you track our friends like you did the Artifact?” Slade asked his hand resting protectively on the bag the whole time.
“I might be able to.”
Val screamed as I was about to close my eyes and Slade jumped forward with a roundhouse, knocking who I assumed was a First Kind to the ground with a well placed punch.
“Run!” I screamed and grabbed Val, shoving her forward to race down the hall. People were pouring out of the surrounding rooms and throwing attacks at us as we passed. I placed protective shields around us, but they kept shattering under the mass of energy directed at us. We spun turning a corner only to find a First Kind waiting for us. He smiled wide and activated his doorknob before I could do anything, he flicked his wrist and I knew he was opening a portal beneath us. I didn’t want to drop my shields but I knew we would all drop if I didn’t.
I reacted too late and I felt the rush of power as the portal opened and just when I thought we would fall through it, the portal shifted spinning around the floor and opening under the man who had created it. He screamed in horror as he fell into whatever abyss he had intended to throw us in.
“Keep moving!” Slade shouted and we ran past as the portal disappeared. Screams echoed from the hallway we had left and I didn’t understand why there weren’t a hundred First Kind on our trail.
I looked to Slade. “What the hell is going on?”
“I should have realized it when we had entered. The building is a trap. If you try and open or use a portal in here it will reflect back on you. It’s an old, but very effective Impossible Engineer trick.”
“How do we get out?”
“We don’t.”
Chapter 25
Status: Stranded in hell with annoying people.
“What do you mean there’s no way out?” Okay, I was yelling, but I had damn good reason, seeing as how we were stuck in some twisted dimension and if I opened a portal it could kill me. And now according to Slade we were stuck in this crazy ass building. We’d found a side room and hid ourselves while our attackers were preoccupied with the same problem.
“The trap was used to stop other Societies from ever being able to leave. It was affective, though some complained too much so. That’s why we stopped using it,” Slade explained.
“Can’t we leave the same way we came in?”
“If you can find it. That door moves every hour.”
That’s just great.” I rolled my eyes and hoped that Nightshade, Jess or Faith hadn’t tried to open a portal to search for a way out. I turned my head and saw Edgar and Val huddled together hugging tightly. For people facing such bad odds, the two were certainly making the most of the time left to them. And I was happy for them and determined to get them out of this hell hole.
“There has to be another way out?” I insisted refusing to give up.
“There was a failsafe for any Impossible Engineers who may have gotten trapped. They would put in a two way portal that opened between Engineer halls. But once the doorway was opened it had to be closed from both sides, otherwise it remained open.”
“You mean someone would have to stay back and close it?” I shook my head at the thought of getting stuck with First Kind and gremlins. I guess we would deal with that when the time came.
“Yes, but I’m not sure a doorway would still work here. The other end would need to be active and there aren’t many places as old as this. It might not even exist.”
“Way to stay positive, Slade. It’s a chance and one that we need to take right now. Where the hell would this door be?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure.” he said frustrated.
I mean what the hell already. I would like one break you know just one. I lowered my head, scrunched my eyes shut and placed my fingers on the sides of my nose and squeezed as hard as I could. What good it did, I don’t know but I raised my head with renewed vigor.
“Oka
y, we need to find Nightshade, Jess, and Faith and then we can put our heads together and try to get the hell out of here. Keep an eye on the door while I see if I can reach out to them.”
Slade walked to the door and leaned next to it, peeking out it to make sure no one was around. I closed my eyes and concentrated on all the energy signatures running through the building. I had to ignore the massive surges of power pouring off the Artifact that Slade was carrying and tried to separate all the people in the building. This was not going to be easy. The First Kind had come in fully loaded; they were crawling all over the place.
I suddenly sensed something two levels down. I reached out, searching, trying to locate a familiar scent. It was an aroma I knew very well. I’d know that power signature anywhere.
“I found Nightshade,” I said with relief. “He’s two floors down and on the other side of the building. It appears they stopped moving just as we did. I think we can reach them.” I opened my eyes and pointed to the door. Edgar and Val came up behind me while Slade slid the door open and checked the hallway.
“We’re clear.” He stepped out into the corridor leading the way. We moved carefully to the end of the hall, stopped, and waited while Slade gave a quick glance down the connecting hall. He turned, raising his hand and pointed one finger at himself and then back to the hall. I nodded understanding that he intended to check it out alone and I grew apprehensive as he crept away.
The muffled sounds of a struggle didn’t last long and Slade peered back around the corner signaling for us to follow. We snuck out, passing the crumpled First Kind guy lying on the floor. We went slowly trying to stay to the shadows keeping as silent as possible. My hand remained firm around my doorknob but I didn’t activate it, not wanting to leave my signature to be tracked.
I stopped abruptly causing the others to halt in their tracks. My hair stood on end and I shivered as a familiar energy rushed throughout the building. I knew this power signature all too well.
