I bang three times, "O'Malley, open up!" The doors cycle and I walk up to him. "Took you a while, Scott." I plop down in a seat, he scoots closer in his rolling chair. "I did it." "Did what?" I pull out a magazine, "What is this?" I shrug, he tries to whack me, but I catch the ruler. It hurts, but it beats getting hit in the side or the head, "Why is Hayley not back yet?" He stretches and pulls a bottle of whiskey out his coat, "Don't know. They broke plenty of cameras. Millions of dollars gone. Less and less engineers are reporting to me on schedule." He goes to take a sip, but stops.

"Hey. Kid?" He hands me the bottle, "I pushed you too far." I take it and take a sip. I cough, why is it so- god that's powerful. "I mean, I made you almost kill yourself." I shrug, "It's fine." He shakes his head, "You got shot at, I ordered you to kill those four men." I throw the bottle to the ground and it shatters. He throws his hands up, "That was good whiskey. Luckily for you, this alcoholic has his own stash." "Malley?" He stops and watches me flick one, two, three bullets out my magazine fast, rinse, repeat. I unfold the paper and hold it out, "Read the fucking message." He sighs deep, "Now I'm going to need a couple whiskeys for this talk."

He sets a couple whiskeys down on the console and he starts off, "I am the leader of everything. I control the world." I scoff, "What?" "Don't raise a brow, I'm only getting started-" He pulls a grey necklace out his shirt, "When a demon or angel shows it's true power, this glows like a damn Christmas tree." I shake my head, "You really are insane." He groans, "How the hell do you explain what we have in the reactor!? That is a person that can absorb necrotic tissue and radiation and walk away fine. This necklace almost blinded me when the ship got overrun in mere hours!"

"You're stuck in here all the time, you're just too drunk when you operate this thing! A radioactive shine from the reactor could absorb into that stone like a glow in the dark frog." He scratches his head and nods his head, "Perhaps, but you're not hearing me. Angels and Demons are real and Carter has one in him." I laugh, "So just exorcise him and be done with it." He shakes his head, "We caught it too late. We could do it, but we'd have to actually get to him." I shake my head, "This is beyond stupid, couldn't it just be a coup and I've picked a bad side of it?" He rolls his eyes, he stands up with two whiskeys in hand and shakes them, "For the love of Christ, will the angel, Markus Klein reveal his power to me!?" A blue light shine from his stone around his neck and I squint at it.

"Now without my words, show me the divine light in your own way!" The blue light blinks to a voice, "Shut the fuck up, I'm busy!" He scratches his head, "Well that wasn't Markus, that was someone else!" Palm to forehead, he's drunk shouting. "A cheap parlor trick." He groans, "Ok. Now I am not going to blow this girl up, she is my life's work." I follow his finger, to the reactor. "She's had so many hearts over the years. And hell, this one will last forever." I yawn, "So, we're going to lure a devil down to Georgia!" I raise a brow, "What the hell are you talking about?" He cackles incoherently and starts writing something down. "I'm going to go find Hayley." He mumbles to himself, "Open the doors?" I plop down in my chair. Well, I'm stuck. Time to try to keep up with an Irishman. I take a sip of Whiskey and cough my brains out.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Carter punches me again. I groan in pain, "Where is the real message!?" I stammer, "You're talking like Scott! How far you've fallen from that strong front!" "It's in the pistol grips! Unscrew them!" He grabs my cheeks, "Yeah? Are they?" I nod and he puts pressure down on my jawbones, "Yeah?! Because last time you lied! And the time before that! What more must I remove from this FUCKING GUN!?" I sob and he removes his hand so quick and jabs me in the jaw. I sob as he shouts, "Hit her more, Kaylin!" I shake my head as Kaylin cracks his knuckles, "Fuck you, Carter." "N-" The punches will never end, no matter how much I beg. Kaylin shakes his hands and as he cocks back I stammer, "I-I-" Carter mocks me, "I-I-what do you want?!" He shows one side of the gun, I shake my head, "I didn't see anything in this side, you didn't say which side!"

I shut my eyes and he shouts, "Open them!" He flips it around and smiles, "Look at me, not the gun. Look into my eyes. If it isn't here, I'm taking your eye." I shout, "I consent!" He tuts, smiles and grabs my chin, "It's ok. It's ok. It's over. You did what I wanted." I smile and he laughs, "You see how much you don't have to endure if you just trust my plan." I nod and he shakes his head, my smile fades, "But you didn't trust me. You think you can just beg once and it all gets better?" He smiles wholesomely, and lifts the pistol grip off, he rolls his eyes and I start jerking at my restraints, "Oh...Hayley!" "Please! He said it was there! IT WAS THER-!" He grabs my mouth and shushes me, "I believe you. Calm down. I believe you, Hayley." Please Carter- "Hayley?" He gives a stern look, "Beg extra good and you won't feel sadness anymore. Hate, sadness, pain in general. You will feel like you soar in a golden paradise, high in the sky, when you accept my voice as truth." He picks up a scalpel.

I can't just sit and get drunk. Where the fuck is she? I sit down at his computer, camera feeds in one file, he's super tidy on this thing. Logs upon logs, where the hell does he even back all this data up? I open the files, Carter's zombies started destroying cameras since I killed those men. I tap on the table. Computer room. Ugh, there's plenty of them. It takes me quite a while to make sense of his file setup. I gulp as I find her. Kaylin knocks her unconscious, looks up into the camera frowning, then starts dragging her away.