by Carver Pike
“Whooo arrrre youuuu calling a cheaterrrrr?” Slither slid his chair back and grabbed his sword off his bunk.
Nothing was more important than his honor, and to be called a cheater was like being slapped in the face and called a whore.
Viking stood up and reached for the axe on his back.
“Hargh! You think you can use that sword on me, you snake fuck?”
Slither slowly stood up with his sword in hand.
“The bounnnnty would beeee soooo much more with onnnnly two of usssss,” Slither said. “Your death would beeee nooo losssss to meeee.”
With both men standing face to face on either side of the table, Changeling calmly placed his cards face down and looked up at them, wearing his woman face.
“Gentlemen, please. Kill each other,” she said.
Both men looked down at Changeling and watched as its face changed to a man, then back to a woman.
“Hargh! Can’t you concentrate on being either a man or a God forsaken woman!” Viking spit a wad of phlegm onto the floor.
“I pity you,” Changeling said in his man’s voice. “You’re a big oaf with disgusting habits.”
Viking grabbed his cock and gave it a squeeze.
“Disgusting habits?” He looked back at the girl sleeping on his bed and pointed his axe in her direction. “That there is a woman. A sexy, sweet, moaning, groaning, sucking, and fucking woman! Hargh!” Viking pointed his axe at Changeling’s sleeping area. “And what do you have in your bed?”
Changeling looked at his bed. When he turned back toward Viking, his face was that of the woman.
“Sweety, that would be a man and a woman, a sexy, sweet, moaning, groaning, sucking, and fucking man and a woman.” His face changed back to that of a man and his voice deepened. “You should try diversifying your lifestyle a bit,” he added.
Viking spit once more on the floor.
The woman returned to Changeling’s face.
“If you two are finished prancing around the ship like beasts aching to split each other in two, might we go on with our game?” Changeling asked.
Slither set his sword down on the bed and returned to his seat. Viking slung his axe over his back and returned to his.
“The rowers are taking too damned long! I need action. I’m not meant to be cooped up for so long,” Viking announced. “I need to feel the warmth of spilled blood and taste new cunt.”
“Men,” Changeling said under her breath.
“We’ll ssssstop off at one of the shore townssss ssssoon to resssstock our food and bring new slavesssss aboard. Then you’ll have no commmmmplaintssss, Viking,” Slither assured him.
“Lord Shiva’s seer said they will be headed to Chi-Killian,” Changeling reminded them in his manly voice. “Maybe we should go straight there without stopping.”
“Maybe you should keep your mouth shut, pansy! Hargh!” Viking interrupted.
Changeling gave Viking a roll of her eyes.
“Chi-Killian isss a crazzzzy placccce,” Slither said.
“They’ll be lucky to make it five feet into the city before getting killed,” Changeling’s manly voice said.
“Sssssoooo will weeee,” Slither added.
They all laughed at that and went back to their game.
Chapter 6 - Growth of a Soldier
The man squatted over his hole in the ground, taking a dump, the way he always did when he first awoke. He’d enjoyed his time crapping outside his prairie home for many years, but he wasn’t sure how much he liked it now, with this daggone bright light blasting him in the eyeballs. He’d turn the other direction if he could get himself to break habit, and if his makeshift toilet seat could be turned around.
He’d never seen anything like it. Nothing but darkness and grey skies his whole life, or what he could remember of it. Since he’d appeared he’d never seen a bright sky. He’d heard of one once, from his buddy, Bill Grainger, who’d told so many stories over a pint of sharp wine or a few sniffs of coral that folks stopped believing any of ‘em were true.
Bill Grainger told it like this. He’d once been takin’ a piss in a filthy bar bathroom, when he suddenly got mad as hell, reached into the mirror, and switched places with his reflection. Said he killed a bunch of people at a baseball game, with a shotgun or somethin’, then came back through the mirror. He said when he went ballistic at the baseball game, there was a bright light in the sky that shined down on him the entire time he was killin’ folks.
The man shielded his eyes from the bright light while he tried to push out the last of his stubborn shit. The sun in his eyes reminded him of how he’d never believed Bill Grainger. Now, trying to pinch one off under the blazing thing, he supposed his old buddy had been tellin’ the truth. Too bad ol’ Bill took a knife to the gut over a card game before this new sun showed up. What a shame he didn’t get to take a shit in the sun.
The man had just finished wiping his ass with wet leaves when he heard a rustling in some of the nearby bushes.
“Misty, that you?” he called out, hoping the woman in his bed hadn’t stolen any of his royce before headin’ back to her husband.
She was always doin’ shit like that. Damn thief. If it was Misty rustlin’ the bushes, she sure as hell wasn’t fessin’ up about it.
“Misty, I ain’t kiddin’. If you steal ma damn money again we gon’ have words!”
Before the man had the chance to pull up his pants, the black oozy blob raced from the shrubs, zigged and zagged, and slid across the ground right in front of him, making its way towards his house.
“What the hail! You go on, get! Get away from ma house!”
It stopped.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” the man said with a chuckle. “You understood me, didn’t ya, boy?”
The slimy creature bubbled and fizzled like a puddle of dark acid. It quickly grew to a larger blob and then it grew larger still. As if being shrink-wrapped, the ooze started to tighten up and stretch, growing into a full-sized but featureless man.
The crapping man stood with his mouth agape, watching this transformation take place in front of his door. He couldn’t run. There was no place for him to go. He could try to make it into his house, but to do that he’d have to get closer to the ooze than he had any desire to get.
He pulled his pants up, buckled them, and was considering making a run for his back door when the black, shiny, man-sized creature began to tremble and stretch out its legs. It rolled onto its knees and stayed crouched over, its forehead against the ground for a moment.
“Harry?” the man heard Misty call out from inside the house.
The creature’s head suddenly jerked upright, as if searching for the source of the voice.
“Harry, I gotta go. Evers is gonna be home soon and if he gets there before I do we’re both gonna be in a world of shit,” she said as her voice made its way closer to the open doorway.
When she reached it, she stood with her robe completely open, her naked tits, belly, and all exposed for both he and the creature to see.
“Misty, I think you best get back in the house, and close the door. Might wanna lock it, too,” Harry warned her.
The creature turned and looked at him as it stood upright; its tall, muscular, jet-black body was impressive in the sunlight, like the skin of a killer whale. It resembled a human, but had absolutely no features and no genitalia. Like a naked ninja action figure, the creature stood and stared at Harry. Its ears were round, but it had no holes leading into the sides of its head. Black indentations marked the spots where its eyes should be, but no eyeballs existed.
It raised its right hand and Harry’s eyes opened wide as he saw that its fingers were as sharp as knives. It lashed out at him, slicing his face in five bloody marks. He screamed and fell to the ground. Through blood-soaked vision, he watched helplessly as the creature rushed at Misty, who’d frozen in place at the sight of the thing.
It grabbed her stomach and held her in place until she screamed and fell to the floo
r, curled up in a ball. Then it turned and calmly walked away from the house.
Chapter 7 - Pleasure Pier and the Maze Beyond
The rest of the trip across the lake had been uneventful, giving some in Gabe’s group the chance to rest. Vincent and Vision had dozed off, allowing Lisa a good thirty minutes of shuteye. Gabe even closed his eyes for a few moments.
Bronc had taken the wheel long enough for Tact to take a power nap. When Tact finally informed everyone they’d be reaching land soon, the sun was at full strength and they were all ready to get off the vessel and stretch their legs on solid ground.
From the water, Gabe could see what looked like a Ferris wheel out past a giant pier that was cracked and poorly maintained. The wheel wasn’t moving, but just the sight of it brought a smile to his face. He’d grown up attending every church fair the city had to offer, which usually meant leaving Detroit and heading out to some of the nicer suburbs, where the rides were always a little more expensive, but safety wasn’t as much of an issue.
“Is that a Ferris wheel?” Lisa asked as she rested her head on Gabe’s arm. “Or am I just so exhausted I’m seeing things? Or did I die and my heaven consists of carnival rides?”
Bronc and Emma had joined them up top and Emma even smiled at the sight of the wheel.
“The Wonder Wheel, you mean?” Tact asked.
“Is that what it’s called?” Lisa replied.
“That’s what the general calls it,” Tact answered.
“The general?” Gabe replied.
“Yeah, General somethin’. Starts with an F. Can’t remember, but he’s a bad dude. Bad as in good as long as you don’t break any of his laws.”
“And what does that mean for us?”
“We should be fine. I’ve only visited Chi-Killian once, with Sasha, and the general was pretty cool. He was trying really hard to clean up the city.”
“The place looks deserted,” Ayana mentioned. “Are you sure we’re going to be able to dock here?”
Gabe didn’t see any ships anywhere near the pier and somehow he felt that parking their boat might not be a good idea.
“Yeah, I’m kind of wondering the same thing,” he added.
“We’ll be okay. Besides, we don’t have any other option. We need to get in and out quickly. You see that big black building there, with the Xs on it?” Tact pointed off in the distance.
It was clear which building he was referring to as it was the tallest in sight. From the water it looked like a dark tower with a jagged top. It definitely wasn’t the most inviting building he’d ever seen.
“That’s the Observatory of Oddity. Probably a good three miles from here,” Tact said.
“That’s not so bad,” Hawks replied.
“Not if we go unchallenged. If we run into strangers, it could be a really long walk,” Tact said.
Docking the boat proved to be easier than Gabe expected, and as they all stepped onto the wooden pier, only the sound of the water smashing against the wooden pillars below and the crying of the birds circling overhead could be heard. All else was silent.
Random papers scattered across the ground blew in the wind. Some stuck to the shack-like concession stands that looked to have been abandoned long before their arrival. Metal roll-down gates covered most of the concession stand windows, some locked in place with padlocks, but most just rolled shut and sitting a few inches from completely flush with their counters.
Dark stains that could have either been oil or old blood pocked the cement ground that lay just beyond the wooden pier.
Gabe walked next to Lisa, just behind Tact, Hawks, and Ayana, shifting his eyes in every direction, knowing he’d look paranoid to anyone paying attention, but unwilling to quiet his own suspicions that something wasn’t right.
He heard Bronc and Emma behind him, Emma having a hard time, limping along, groaning with each step. Aside from that, the place was just too damned quiet. It wasn’t like he expected to hear people shouting out, “Get your piping hot corn dogs!” or “Come on, mister, throw the rings onto the bottles and win a big pink furry bear for the lady!” Still, he expected to hear something. Even shouts of “Come and get a hot vial of coral!” would be welcome at the moment. Anything but the strange silence.
The sun beating down overhead calmed his nerves a little. He could imagine what it would be like stepping off the boat in complete darkness, which would have been the case a week ago, so he was grateful for the sun.
One of the papers blowing in the breeze touched down on Gabe’s knee, wrapping around it as if hugging him hello. He bent over with one hand clutching the back of Vincent’s head, and reached for the paper with his other. He lifted it up to eye level and read aloud: “Final Notice. Anyone caught partaking in an act of violence during hours of peace will be arrested and sent into the maze, absent trial.”
“Absent trial?” Lisa asked. “Like, no judge, no jury, just instant imprisonment?”
“I’ve heard of the maze,” Tact said. “It’s why they started calling Chi-Killian the Mazes of Chi-Killian. They say it’s a death sentence. The people tossed in there are trapped in the sewers, left to try and find a way out, while the crazies of Chi-Killian hunt them down. Pretty sick shit. All the nutcases who suffered the old blast and are not fully right in the head, they’re down there in the maze, and it’s said that they eat anybody they catch.”
“What do you mean, “those who suffered the old blast”?” Gabe asked.
“I don’t know the story, not really,” Tact replied. “But there was a big blast, nuclear I think, and it destroyed most of the city. The people who were here at the time kind of lost it. Radiation poisoning, I think. When I came here with Sasha, that’s what the general was trying to clean up.”
As Gabe and the gang were discussing the written warning they’d found, a woman shot out from behind one of the concession stands, her head wrapped in a ragged turban. A large golden ring pierced her nostrils. She grabbed Hawks’ arm and nervously shook it.
“Please, have you seen my JoJo? I have to find my JoJo.”
Hawks backed away from the woman and held out a hand to force her to keep her distance.
“What do you mean, lady?” he asked. “What’s a JoJo?”
She looked at him, cocked her head to one side, and grinned. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment. To Gabe it looked like she was about to attack. Instead, she just shook her head, fingered the ring in her nose, and laughed. “Ha, hum, you haven’t see my JoJo then?”
“She’s crazy,” Ayana said.
The woman suddenly whipped her head around and sneered at her.
“We’ll see who’s crazy!” she yelled.
To Gabe’s right, a man with a gas mask over his face, no shirt, and tattered sweat pants bounded across the ground on all fours, like a crazed ape. A muffled giggle escaped the gas mask as he continued past them, as if being chased in some deranged version of hide and seek.
“My JoJo!” the woman cried out as she raced after them. “JoJo, please. We have to get inside before the sirens!”
“Looks like the general has done a standup job of cleaning this place up,” Gabe joked.
“Gabe,” Lisa said as she watched the strange couple fade off in the distance. “She seemed really scared.”
“We’ll be fine,” he assured her. “Just a few miles to the tower.”
They reached the Ferris wheel, and what once was a symbol of fun days past twisted into a wheel of carnage up close. Razor blades adorned the seats and razor wire served as straps, which had apparently been used to keep people in the chairs. Chunks of ripped clothing clung to the blades and Gabe imagined there’d once been pieces of flesh to go with it, before the birds had picked it clean. Old blood coated what was originally a white paint job.
Like a tie-dyed monstrosity of red and white, the large wheel hovered over them, reaching high into the sky. The sun shining against it made the disgusting torture device gleam brightly.
“I think I’m gonna puke,” Lis
a said as she cupped a hand over her mouth.
“Hey, you hungry?” came a loud, friendly voice.
“Oh no, I’m so not,” Lisa mumbled.
“Me, neither,” Emma agreed, with a forced smile.
Just beyond the Ferris wheel, sitting atop a cooler in the shadow of what appeared to be an old ticket stand near the pier parking lot, was a wrinkled guy with a big smile on his face. Crow’s feet at the corner of his eyes seemed to grin along with his mouth and he wore a red baseball cap. His pleasant demeanor clashed with the previous woman’s paranoia.
