Madelyn's Last Dance

by Ike Hamill

  “What he did was pure cowardice,” Nora said.

  “I don’t care,” Harper said. “This is what they wanted. They could have attacked you much faster than they did, but what they wanted to do was make you turn on each other and lose hope. Did you see how they didn’t really go in for the kill until it was clear that I was going to kill them?”

  There were some nods, but also some mumbles of disagreement.

  “You people were defenseless. You saw what happened when Jacob first swung—he didn’t hit anything. How long did they have you pinned in the corner?”

  “Several minutes,” one person said.

  “See?” Harper asked. “Several minutes and they only killed one of you.”

  Amelia handed the second wrap to Isaac, who pressed it to Benny’s neck. The fresh wrap stopped the flow quickly. Isaac nodded up to Amelia.

  “Don’t you think they could have taken out more of you if they wanted?” Harper asked. “They could have, but they didn’t. What they wanted was to demoralize you before you died. That’s their real goal.”

  “They’re wolves,” Nora said. “They don’t have a goal besides killing. I don’t know why you’re trying to give them all kinds of complex intentions.”

  Jacob took up the argument. “When did a pack of wolves come into a building and try to face down twice their number? You said the gun didn’t work when you fired it, right? But it worked when Harper shot? You think that’s normal. No—these weren’t just wolves. This was The Wisdom. It came to you in the form of wolves because that’s what it needed to do to scare you people into losing faith in each other and yourselves. Don’t you dare let it win that easily.”

  “What do you know about it?” a man asked.

  “Let them talk,” someone else said.

  “We don’t have time for any more talk,” Jacob said. “There are other rally points and likely more people who need help. We can’t stand around here while they might be under attack. Who’s coming with us?”

  Nora shook her head. Some people looked like they might be swayed while others turned away.

  “Isaac, where are we going next?” Harper asked.

  “Flower Street rally point,” he said. He took Benny’s hand and guided it up so the man could put pressure on his own wound. With the wrap sealed in place, it looked like he was out of danger.

  “Let’s go,” Jacob said. “If you’ve got any backbone left, come with us.”

  Logan took a rifle from an old man’s hands. He didn’t object. Harper checked her rounds, and Jacob gripped the axe handle.

  “I’ll join you,” one middle aged man said. He stepped around the others. He gripped a flashlight. Amelia and Isaac led the way towards the stairs.

  “Wait,” Nora said. “I’ll come.”

  “You sure?” Brook asked.

  Nora nodded.

  “The rest of you take care of each other,” Jacob said as he walked backwards. He stepped over the carcass of a wolf. “Take care of each other and remember—we stick together or we die alone.”

  He turned and trotted after the others.

  Sam joined Amelia and Isaac at the front of the party. Brook and Logan walked with Nora. In the rear, Harper and Jacob walked side by side and kept watch to make sure nothing snuck up on them from behind.

  “How’s your arm?” Harper asked.

  “Fine,” Jacob said. “The teeth barely punctured my jacket. I just have a couple of scrapes.”

  “Next time we find extra wraps, you’re taking one,” Harper said.

  “I’ve got an idea about that,” Amelia said. “Just past Flower Street, I know a place where we can get wraps.”

  “Eyeball lady,” Brook called from the front of the group.

  “Yeah,” Amelia said.

  # # # # #

  They gathered at the doorway.

  “Logan, give that rifle to Jacob,” Amelia said.

  “No,” Logan said. “I guarantee I’m a better shot than he is.”

  “That may be, but it won’t help if your bullets don’t hit.”

  “What?” Jacob asked.

  Isaac started nodded. “Right—the stick. Remember? You weren’t able to hit the wolf until you were bitten.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Amelia said. “Harper lived through The Wisdom before, and she was able to hit the wolf with the stick immediately. You weren’t able to strike it until one had bitten you. Logan, you’re not injured yet, so maybe the rifle won’t do you any good.”

  Logan pulled the firearm close to his chest. He seemed unswayed by the argument.

  “Guys,” Harper said, “it might not even be wolves again. That was the first time I had seen any.”

  “Yeah, it was a ghost at the library,” Brook said.

  “Whatever,” Amelia said. “I’m done arguing.”

  She nodded to Isaac, who was in the lead. He gripped the handle and pushed. The grinding door echoed in the empty room. Tiny lights dotted the ceiling. They didn’t provide much illumination, but with the aid of the flashlights, the group could see enough to know that there were no people inside. Isaac and Brook entered first.

  Jacob and Harper backed through the door last and then closed it. The group spread out into a line and started across the room. They had come in through the side door of the meeting room. Compared to most of the rally points, the place was in good condition. The ceiling was intact, and the wood floor didn’t show any signs of water damage. It was an open space, dotted with columns to support the building above. On one end, some emergency supplies were stacked. Aside from that, the room was empty and clean.

  “This doesn’t make sense,” Isaac said. “Plenty of people from the library should have been assigned to this rally point. Besides, you think a lot of people would have come here because of the proximity to the healers.”

  “Maybe something already got them,” Sam said.

  “Don’t say that,” Nora said.

  “There’s no blood, and no sign of a struggle,” Harper said. She raised her rifle and pointed it at movement. A mouse scurried from behind a stack of boxes. It stopped behind a plastic jug that was filled with water.

  Isaac began to cross the room.

  “Be careful,” Brook said.

  He slowed a little, but stayed on course.

  “Hello?” Logan called. “Did you guys hear…”

  Isaac stopped. Brook walked up behind him.

  They all listened for a second. Logan cocked his head, but he seemed to be waiting rather than listening.

  Isaac continued one step and then two. He turned back and a confused look passed over his face. “I think…” he started to say. He glanced over to Logan.

  Everyone turned towards Isaac as his leg went up in the air and his arms began to swing in giant circles. Isaac leaned way back and glanced over his shoulder at the floor. Pure terror registered on his face. As he lost the battle with his balance, Brook strode forward and reached for his hand.

  The rest of the group stood watching, confused.

  Brook caught his hand and gasped as Isaac fell. His standing foot slipped and disappeared. She was jerked forward as Isaac’s leg disappeared into the floor. Brook screamed for help. For a second, Isaac was trapped, half in and half out of the floor. His body ended at his belt. Brook was on her hands and knees. Her muscles were strained as she attempted to hold him up. She fell to the floor as the rest of Isaac disappeared. Only his hand and wrist were still protruding from the floor.

  Logan slung the rifle to his back and ran forward to slide to a stop next to Brook. He grabbed her arm to support her and worked his way down to Isaac’s wrist. He grabbed it with both of his hands. The others came forward cautiously.

  Harper kept her rifle up. Jacob moved quickly. He tapped the floor with his axe handle before each step. They both came to the edge at the same time. The chasm appeared like magic. When she leaned forward, she saw a rift that cut through the floor. The walls of the descent were vertical rock, like a cliff face. T
he bottom was too far to see, but there was an orange glow down there as if they could see all the way down to the Earth’s core. If she leaned back again, the floor was solid once more.

  Brook and Logan should have been able to easily lift Isaac, but they struggled at their grip on his hand and wrist. In fact, his weight was steadily pulling them even closer to the edge. Sam grabbed Brook’s legs to anchor her. Amelia grabbed Logan.

  Harper lowered her rifle. Jacob threw himself to the floor. Leaning over the edge, they could look down forever, but that’s not what was drawing their attention. Gripping the walls of the cliff were their fellow citizens. There had to be twenty of them down there. People had fallen into the gap and were clinging to the rock face.

  “We need a rope,” Nora yelled. She was on the far side of the room. A couple meters below her, Penny held on with one hand and reached up with the other.

  Jacob looked up. Of course there was rope coiled on top of the supplies. But the supplies were on the opposite wall of the room. The chasm cut across the entire room. There was no way to reach that stuff. Jacob realized that Cleo was stuck a few meters below Isaac. As Isaac’s feet tried to get purchase on the wall, he was kicking debris down into the woman’s face. He saw other people he knew as well. The pain and exhaustion showed in their faces. Some looked like they were barely holding on.

  Jacob pushed back from the edge. The floor looked solid once more. He stopped at Harper’s position and took the rifle. She gave it without question, but Jacob didn’t want the gun. He unclipped the strap and handed the weapon back to her. Next, he ran to Logan and repeated the process. Logan and Brook were finally starting to make progress on lifting Isaac up. His elbow emerged from the floor as Jacob took the strap from the rifle and stepped around Amelia and Sam.

  Jacob continued to where Nora was looking down at Penny. He tied the two straps together and put the loop around his wrist.

  “Harper!” he yelled. Jacob turned to Nora. “Grab that column and hold my leg, okay?” She nodded. Jacob pressed his body flat to the floor and lowered the strap over the edge. His head felt strange as he leaned over the side. His neck began to ache immediately. Penny batted at the strap a couple of times before she managed to grab it. She gripped it with one hand and slipped her other through the loop.

  Harper arrived and joined Nora in bracing Jacob’s feet.

  “Pull,” Jacob said. Penny looked up at him with pain and determination in her eyes. He put all of his strength into trying to lift her, but the strap might as well have been sunk in stone. When Nora and Harper started to pull his legs, Jacob thought that his torso was going to break in half. Meanwhile, his eyes were drawn down to the infinite drop. He saw the flicker down there and realized that the orange glow was coming from fire. He imagined he could hear something in the depths laughing and calling to him. It whispered to him to let go.

  His pants were beginning to slip off. His belt caught on his hips and scraped his skin. Hands gripped his jacket and pulled from there. Jacob tried to ignore the depths and focused on Penny’s eyes. With all the pain that he was feeling, he saw twice as much there.

  “Don’t you dare give in,” he pleaded with her. They were locked together now. Somehow, if she relented, he knew he would have no chance.

  Harper and Nora pulled. Jacob’s head slid back from the gap. Only his bent arms were over the edge. It felt like they would tear off at his elbows. But with each tug, the absurd gravity of the chasm was lessened. He looked over and saw that the others had nearly rescued Isaac. His legs were the only thing still over the side.

  Jacob felt hope, and then he felt the strap slip.

  He bucked himself over the edge again, trying to collect the slack. The loop was pulling from around his hand. Jacob tried to jerk it upwards so he could renew his grip. Pulling with all his strength, it felt like reality was stretching and Penny was staying exactly where she was.

  Nora and Harper were unrelenting. They hauled him in and Penny came too. Everything felt easier as Jacob was slid backwards from the edge. Penny’s hands emerged and then her arms. They reeled her in. Down the trench, Issac’s feet came out from the floor. His rescuers collapsed backwards with Isaac on top of them.

  Jacob stood, and they finished pulling Penny from the gap. He leaned over the edge again to see who else the strap might reach. All the rest of the people in the chasm were too far down for the length of the strap. Jacob’s eyes returned to the ropes on the other side again.

  Where they had pulled Penny free, the gap wasn’t very wide. It seemed that he could clear it if he had a running start.

  Penny struggled to her feet with the help of Harper and Nora. She saw where Jacob’s eyes were looking.

  “You can’t jump across, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she said.

  He looked at her.

  “It has extra gravity or something. I can’t explain. I tried to jump across and you saw how far I got. You’ll fall before you even get halfway across,” Penny said.

  “We have to do something,” Harper said.

  # # # # #

  They pulled back from the edge and formed a circle.

  “We don’t have time,” Isaac said. “It pulls so hard. I don’t know how any of them are still holding on.”

  “He’s right,” Penny said. “Every second counts.”

  “We form a chain of people?” Logan asked. “We climb down, holding onto each other?”

  “No. No way,” Penny said. “It’s way too dangerous.”

  “Let’s not forget what we’re dealing with here,” Amelia said. “This is just like the wolves, right? It wants us to give up. It wants us to lose hope.”

  “What’s she talking about?” Penny asked.

  “What if we go around?” Isaac asked. “Go outside and then break in through the windows on the far side. We can drop in right next to the ropes and then throw them across.”

  “I wouldn’t assume you can throw anything across there,” Penny said. “You might need to run them around. I think gravity gets stronger and stronger as you get closer to the center of the gap.”

  Isaac nodded. “We’ll get them and then run them around then.” He turned to Brook. The two of them ran for the door.

  “I say we tie off to these posts,” Jacob said. “I believe that the farther back we are from the edge, the easier it will be to pull.”

  “Why would that be true?” Nora asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jacob said. “But when I was over the edge, I couldn’t lift at all. As soon as we got Penny back from the side a little, everything got easier.”

  “Yeah,” Sam said. “Logan is stronger than us, but we were able to drag Brook and Logan back even though they couldn’t lift Isaac.”

  “How many ropes are there?” Jacob asked.

  They looked across the gap. The windows were high up on the wall. They saw the light and then Isaac’s foot as his boot kicked at the glass. After he had cleared out the shards, they saw his legs wriggle through. Brook lowered him and then he jumped down to the floor. For a second, Isaac stood very still, like he didn’t trust the floor to hold him. He slid one foot towards the crates of supplies and gradually found his confidence.

  “How many ropes?” Logan yelled.

  “I don’t know. Four?” Isaac yelled back. He was only five or six meters away, but it seemed like an impossible distance as they waited. Isaac collected the coiled ropes and tossed them up to Brook’s waiting hands. When he was done, Isaac dragged one of the crates over to get some height. Brook’s arm appeared again and helped him climb out.

  Sam and Logan crept close to the edge so they could spot the best locations to lower ropes.

  “Hang on,” Sam yelled down. “We’re coming.”

  To the waiting group, he looked like he was shouting at the floor.

  Isaac and Brook returned and many hands set to uncoiling and securing the ropes. They made nooses in the free ends and handed them to Logan and Sam to feed over into the gap. The chasm pulled at the r
opes greedily. The slack was tugged out of the lines. Sam and Logan tried to swing the nooses over to stranded citizens. The effort showed on their faces. It took all their strength to move the ropes once they were over the edge.

  “Okay, this one,” Sam said. He pointed at the rope he was working. Sam stayed at the edge while Amelia and Isaac pulled.

  Logan had two ropes ready. Jacob and Harper took one. Brook and Nora took the other.

  Penny slid herself carefully to the edge so she could watch the progress. She shouted down to someone. “Brace your feet and then get the rope around your body.”

  As soon as they had enough slack, Brook and Nora coordinated and moved to the far side of the pole where their rope was secured. Using the pole to brace their legs, they were able to haul much faster. Jacob saw their success.

  “Harp, I’ll hold it here. You move back,” he said. He held the rope while Harper moved and then she was able to secure it for him. Soon they had reproduced the technique that Brook and Nora had come up with.

  Jacob decided that it wasn’t just the fact that they were bracing their legs. There really was an advantage to being farther away from the chasm. He called their findings over to Isaac and Amelia, but they didn’t have enough slack to work with. They were struggling to make any progress at all.

  “I got this,” Harper said. Their rope was coming so easily, that Harper was able to pull in the slack by herself.

  Jacob broke off and went to help Isaac and Amelia. Even with the three of them pulling, the rope wouldn’t budge.

  “We’re going to snap it,” Amelia said.

  “Sam!” Jacob yelled. “Are we stuck on something?”

  Sam turned and nodded. He moved down the edge of the chasm to where their rope went over the edge. From Jacob’s position, it looked like Sam was crawling down a perfectly normal floor to a place where the rope disappeared into nowhere.

  Logan hopped over Harper’s rope and came to help them pull.

  “Is it stuck?” Jacob asked.

  “Yeah,” Logan said.

  Harper yelled. Jacob dropped the rope.