He longed to let go. He wanted to be enveloped by the pleasure, passion, and ferocity. He wanted this to be the real world and not the chaos and messiness outside of these cavernous walls.
A small and quiet voice cautioned him, though. Don’t fall for it, the voice begged. They’re sirens, and this is a trap.
Jer didn’t want to believe it. He wanted to accept that they’d escaped the raging battle above ground and that the three of them were free and safe and could indulge in their desires without fear. He knew better, however, and he couldn’t simply embrace the ecstasy and let go.
He had to continue the journey he’d embarked on. He had to make things better even if it ended up killing him.
How lovely it would have been to be swallowed up by the throes of passion. Damiana and Evangeline’s touch felt so real. The sensory overload was almost too much. Jer was ready to explode and then go again. He wanted this. He needed this.
Why did he have to keep fighting a battle that he didn’t start? Why couldn’t he take a moment and enjoy the pleasures that the world had to offer? Why not release into the embrace of immersive passion? He was losing the internal psychological battle within himself
He cupped Damiana’s buttocks with lust and strength. He rubbed his other hand against Evangeline’s firm and smooth skin. He began to give in.
Everything changed in an instant, though. Jer thought it was just his imagination at first but became alarmed as the water began to descend, lowering down past his ankles. The cavern walls started to close in.
Worst of all, Damiana and Evangeline began to shrink right before his eyes. Everything was getting smaller.
He looked down, and his feet had begun growing into the rocks. He flailed, trying to get loose but couldn’t move from the spot. He was fastened in place, stuck and incapable of moving.
The walls rushed in faster, trapping him in a fever dream turned nightmare. Damiana and Evangeline had shrunk to the size of bananas.
Jer's hands shook, and when he went to try and pull his feet loose from the ground, he found that he'd lost feeling in his hands. They were numb.
The cavern walls pressed against his face, and despite there being less water, in the more crowded space, it was rising up past his mouth. He gasped for air as the water reached up over his nose, and the walls pushed in, squeezing his body.
He could no longer see Evangeline or Damiana.
Dizziness set in, and his vision grew blurry. His lungs fought back as he trembled. He tried to cry out but couldn’t make a noise.
His body shook and convulsed when he couldn’t hold his breath any longer. His back arched at an unnatural angle, and the convulsions turned violent.
There was no use fighting it. He stopped struggling and let it happen. In his mind, he’d lost. The battle with his inner demons had resulted in defeat.
17
The Interrogation
Jer’s body continued convulsing, and he wretched. Water gushed out of his mouth and all over his body, which was prostrate.
A haziness covered his vision as he tried to get his bearings. The walls no longer pressed against his body, and he wasn’t drowning or being crushed to death.
He wretched three more times before he was able to catch his breath and take in his surroundings. That’s when he heard her voice. The sound was sweet and calming.
“Wake up, Doctor Bennington,” Dakota begged. “Please wake up.”
As his eyes adjusted, Jer saw that he was still on the gurney but no longer strapped down with restraints. “I drowned,” he said. “I could swear it was over.”
“Just a side effect of the tranquilizer they used on you,” Dakota said. “Known to cause hallucinations. You’ll be fine.”
“We weren’t just in an underground river?” Jer asked. “Trapped in some kind of cavernous dungeon?”
Dakota squinted. “No. Matthias’s followers saved us from Pike’s kill-squad,” she replied, “but then they knocked us out and brought us here.”
“Where’s here?” Jer asked.
“A holding room,” Max said from the side. “We’re prisoners.”
Jer looked around. Damiana rested, crouched in the corner of the dark cavern nook. The small place was sealed with a steel-reinforced door.
“What does he want with us?” Jer asked.
“More like what do you want with him,” Max said. “You asked for an audience with him. This is all your fault.”
“But he wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble if he weren’t willing to hurt us,” Jer said. “This is overkill.”
Max scoffed.
“You expect anything less from a monster?” he asked with disdain. “Scratch that. A cult monster leader who fancies himself as the second coming.”
“You don’t know that,” Damiana said. “My understanding is that he wants to free us.”
“Spoken like a brainwashed follower,” Max said. “Let me have some of whatever you’re having, because I need an escape from this.”
“Have you memorized the half of Jasper’s formula that you have?” Dakota asked, changing the subject.
“I have,” Jer answered. “Why?”
“Because she wants to know,” Dakota said and gestured to the shadows of the holding cell that was doubling as an interrogation room in waiting.
Evangeline emerged out of the shadows and purred when her eyes met Jer’s. His heart skipped a beat as she edged closer.
“How’d you get here?” Jer asked.
“There’s an elevator to Sheol,” she answered.
“That would have been so much easier than the route we took.”
Evangeline chuckled and ran a clawed finger down the side of his cheek.
Damiana, Max, and Dakota joined in on the laughter.
“No, goof,” Evangeline said. “It was a joke. If you must know, I’ve been part of Matthias’s movement. When they found out I know you, and that we, you know, are close…they put me in here with your ragtag crew of misfits.”
“I’m not their leader or anything like that,” Jer said.
“That’s not how Matthias’s followers see it,” Evangeline replied. “They think you’re some kind of revolutionary like him.”
Jer scoffed. “I’m just trying to help make a few monster lives better, if I can,” Jer replied.
“I know who you are,” Evangeline said and smirked. “I’m pointing out how you’re perceived. They think you’re a threat to their plans.”
“Since I’m not aware of their plans, that’s yet to be seen,” Jer said. “All that matters to me right now is figuring out the other half of what Jasper discovered and preventing an all-out-war between monsters and humans.”
Evangeline grimaced and averted her eyes.
“What is it?” Jer asked.
“I’ve seen the inside of Matthias’s operation,” she answered. “It’s the furthest thing from altruistic. I don’t pretend to know his true intentions, but I’m worried that we don’t want him to have the other half until we know what he’s planning.”
“Good idea,” Jer said as he pulled the piece of paper with Jasper’s formula out of a hidden pocket in his inner jacket pocket. He then swallowed it whole.
Evangeline breathed a sigh a relief. “Would have gone a different way,” she said, “but that works.”
Jer chuckled. “What’s taking so long?” he asked. “Why doesn’t he meet with us already?”
“His monster-guards said that we have to be interrogated first,” Dakota answered.
“Makes sense,” Jer said. “He probably wants to make sure we’re not undercover assassins working on behalf of GenAdvance.”
“You did work for them before opening the clinic on your own,” Max reminded him.
“Until I was fired,” Jer said.
Max nodded and chortled. “Sure,” he said, “but that would just be a good cover. Perhaps it was a staged falling out.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Damiana said. “Jer’s intenti
ons are true. He’s done nothing but help everyone who’s asked.”
“That may be true, but I don’t care. I just want the fuck out of here!” Max shouted. “I have no desire to meet the infamous Matthias. I just want out of your misguided quest into the monster underground.”
“Don’t like seein’ how the other half lives?” Damiana asked.
“I don’t mind seeing.’ Long as it’s from the comfort of my penthouse,” Max answered. “What I don’t like is mixing’ with you knuckleheads. Buncha thugs and murderers.”
“Just because there’s a few bad apples, you tar and feather the rest of us,” Damiana said.
Jer coughed and motioned to Damiana. “Uh, Damiana. You did try to kill and eat a family of four, right?” he asked.
“That was, like, ten years ago,” Damiana replied. “Ancient history.”
“Try four months,” Jer said.
Damiana’s jaw dropped as Dakota took a step back. She put some distance between Damiana and her.
So what,” Damiana said. “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
“Can I do that now? Can I cast a stone at you?” Max asked. “Because that would feel good right about now.”
Damiana’s eyes glowed as she flipped Max the bird.
“Know how they say that ‘three’s a crowd?’” Max asked.
“Not a clue,” Damiana replied.
“It’s bullshit,” Max said. “Because two’s already a crowd. And the four of us is a clusterfuck. Somebody please explain to these asshole captors that I’m not part of your crew and that I’m the alderman. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll go easy on them if they let me go now.”
“Why’re you fucking with me?” Damiana asked.
“You think this is me fucking with you?” Max asked.
Damiana nodded and glared at him with resentment in her countenance.
“How many people have you killed?” Max asked. “Not monsters, but real people.”
“Y’ever heard the expression, ‘I didn’t kill nobody who didn’t deserve to die?’” Damiana asked.
“No,” Max said.
“Really?” Damiana asked. “It’s a pretty common expression.”
Max offered up a zippered smirk. “I’m not you,” he said. “I’ll never be able to see through your eyes or even understand how you see the world. I don’t go around killin’ randomly, hence I have no use for such thuggish colloquialisms.”
“Well what would you have done, alderman, if you were a ten-year-old kid and your family was butchered in front of you?” Damiana asked.
Max’s smirk faded.
“See, my old man and mom used to clean the shitters in the GenAdvance lab out near the Pharma Flats where they grow the ‘medicine’ that keeps us in check,” Damiana said.
“That’s where the first rebellion started,” Max said.
Damiana nodded in agreement. “First thing out of your mouth that’s been true,” she said. “That was where the first security breach occurred.”
“I remember that,” Max said. “They used a stolen key-card to bust into the armory and steal weapons.”
“Guess who they blamed for the breach? A nobody janitor and his wife.” Damiana’s jaw clenched. “I’ll never forget it. The clock on my wall said it was fifteen after three when the door busts in and they started shooting anything that moved.”
Damiana lifted up her shirt to reveal a litany of scars up and down her sides. The jagged indentations and raised streaks looked like they were from a shark attack. “Got a strong gut, as you can see,” she said. “Took four bladed-rounds before they tossed me outside and torched everything.”
Max shook his head, taking it all in. Then, he locked eyes on Damiana. “But do you remember what happened afterward?” he asked. “How your people, monsters, went on a rampage.”
“Eye for an eye,” Damiana said.
“And that eye fixed on a whole lot of people who didn’t have anything to do with what was happening,” Max replied. “My only sister and her husband. Three kids. There wasn’t even enough left over for a funeral.”
Both of them just sat there, digesting this, unsure what to make of the traumatic experiences they had in common.
“Guess everybody’s lost something through this, huh,” Damiana said.
“Death is about the only thing anybody has in common these days,” Max said. “I’d say I hate you and every motherfucking monster out there, but it takes too much goddamned energy to hate. By the way, back there, when the sky was falling…I appreciate you saving my ignorant ass.”
Damiana nodded as the two of them slumped back to the ground. Ragged. Soul-worn. They’d been through the ringer one too many times.
“Enough,” Jer said, interrupting them. “We’re not each other’s enemies. We caught some bad breaks, but no one in this room has ever intended to hurt anyone else in this room. It’s time to focus on the task at hand.”
“And what task might that be?” Max asked. “Curing Transhumana Monstrare?”
“It’s not a disease,” Damiana countered.
“Doesn’t matter,” Max said. “If Jasper’s discovery is legit, that’s how it will be seen.”
“I said ‘enough,’” Jer said. “We need to prepare for the interrogations or find a way out. Either way, we need to work together, or we’ll die down here alone.”
Silence passed between the four of them. A moment later, the latches on the steel-reinforced door began opening. It swung wide, and four heavily-armed monster-guards stepped inside. The lead monster-guard gestured for Jer to follow.
Jer looked back over his shoulder at his friends. Dread filled his body as he was separated from them.
18
Matthias’s Lair
Inside Matthias’s inner lair, a crescent-shaped room was littered with stacks of ancient books barely held together at the bindings, paintings that must have been hundreds if not thousands of years old, relic analog computers, a wooden desk carved out of an oak tree but without staining and left in its natural state, a small safe built into the backwall with a scanner touchscreen on the surface, and a wingback chair that Matthias sat upon as if it were a throne. His casual but regal posture upon the wingback chair, with his legs spread wide, his arms dangling off the armchair sides, and head tilted back, made him look like a bygone prince that time had passed by.
Only, he was no monster, at least not in appearance.
His red hair flowed down to his waistline, his irises shone a bright blue, and his face was chiseled like a Roman statue. He bore no claws, no horns, and no scaly skin. He lacked a tail. He looked human.
“You’re wondering why the leader of monsters doesn’t look like a monster?” Matthias asked.
“Not that you would need mind-reading abilities to figure that out, but yes,” Jer answered. “And your followers don’t seem to mind.”
Matthias smirked and leaned back.
“I have no reason to reveal my secrets to you yet,” Matthias said. “I want to know if you’re on the right side of this war or not first.”
“Fair enough. When does the interrogation start?” Jer asked.
Matthias chortled. “It’s already finished,” he said. “I have what I need.”
Jer’s eyes narrowed. “How’s that?” he asked. “We’ve just met.”
“I learned far more from watching you and your friends interacting in what you thought was a private conversation than anything I could have gleaned from an interrogator,” Matthias revealed.
“Clever,” Jer admitted and glanced at the ancient books. “What are those?”
“The only texts we could save when the humans burned the Library of Alexandria,” Matthias answered. “They wanted to erase our history completely. Make us believe the lies about our kind.”
“Times aren’t what they used to be,” Jer joked. “If only the kids these days could visit the ancient Library of Alexandria instead of playing video games.”
“You laugh, but your joke is truer than yo
u think. This is a drug addled generation,” Matthias said.
“Every generation is,” Jer added.
“Not like this,” Matthias said. “You’ve got five-year old kids seeing holograms for the first time. And what do they see? Ads for drugs. If you’re sick, we’ve got a drug. Need a better love life, we’ve got a drug. Depressed? Overweight? Underweight? Lazy? Agitated? GenAdvance is there waiting. It’s all a joke.”
Jer’s lips curled up in disgust and acknowledgement. The self-proclaimed leader of monsters had a point, but what was he getting at? Jer wanted nothing to do with being part of either side in a war.
“At least we agree on that,” Jer admitted.
“What is it you hope to accomplish?” Matthias asked. “You’ve caused nothing but more chaos.”
“Chaos isn’t so bad,” Jer said. “Gets the loins moving. Gets the people thinking. Causes everyone to question their reality.”
“I don’t like your sense of humor, but perhaps that’s because we come from different generations.”
“Come again?” Jer said.
“Your world is not mine,” Matthias said. “Your world truly is more a joke, and mine never was.”
Jer took a deep breath. There was a part of him that wasn’t sure he wanted to know the story behind Matthias’s comment. There was also a part that would risk everything to know more.
“You mean the monster world versus the human world?” Jer asked. “If you’re as all-knowing as the rumors tell, shouldn’t you already be aware that I fight for everyone?”
Matthias scoffed. “Do you?” he asked.
“How dare you,” Jer said. “Have I not proven that I’m willing to risk what I hold dear to make a better world for everyone?”
Matthias lit a cigar and took a puff.
“You think you fight for my world, but you do not know my world,” he said. “What you know of monsters is only what’s been handed down to you through fairy tales and myths. Most of it isn’t true. Most of it didn’t happen the way you’ve learned. All of it is meant to control your kind and mine.”
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