Timeline: Present
Point of View: Claudia
Location: Earth (Charleston, West Virginia)
Claudia’s moment of shock was short-lived. She thrust forward with her arms, hoping to use her enhanced strength to pull the man forward. Instead, the cold metal of the chains wrapped tightly around her wrist stopped her. She tugged again, but felt surprisingly weak. She felt as weak as she had been back before she’d been to the red planet, when she was still a weak, lost girl. She quickly realized that her essence had been nearly completely drained.
What’s going on? She tried to ask her mind, her essence, but there was no response. There was only silence from the other end. She felt terribly alone, and fright boiled up from within her gut.
One of the man's hands was on her shoulder, his fingertips touching her neck as the other pulled down on the chains, holding her in place. She could feel the heat of the man, Mitchell, breathing against her ear.
“I’ve got a few abilities of my own,” he said. “The one you feel now is called a Siphon. With a touch, your essence becomes mine, and you lose all your abilities. Isn’t that great? As long as our touch remains, you’re nothing more than one of all the weak humans outside being ripped to shreds. You’re under my control, my bitch. How does that make you feel?”
Claudia said nothing, wishing she could strategize with her essence on how she might win against this man that had unexpectedly overpowered her. Never again, she told herself, would she let herself be blindsided like this. Never again would she trust anyone. She’d been a fool. She’d taken her new abilities for granted.
“I knew you were the strong one,” he said, “Your friend offered a nice distraction, using the restroom. I didn’t have to do anything. Not really. The idiot did it all for me.”
“Claudia?” Ralph asked, exiting the bathroom. “Oh, hey, what’s going on?”
“Ralph, kill him!” Claudia shouted.
But Ralph was paused by his confusion. He couldn’t quite see Claudia, but it seemed like the man man they’d just met was holding her down beyond the open door to his left. Why would he do that? “Hey, Mitchell, what’s going on?” He asked.
“Ralph, god damnit, you dumb fuck…” Claudia said before she felt an impact at her neck. She fell forward to the floor, and the door behind her slammed shut. The chains of the captors in front of her rattled as the girl struggled and cried. Claudia could faintly hear something happening beyond the door, but didn’t know what. The room wasn’t only air-sealed, but sound-proofed, too.
She tried to throw the chains holding her arms together to the floor, but found them still tight behind her back. Had Mitchell locked them together? She couldn’t see behind herself to tell, and she twisted and pulled, trying to get them off, but could make no progress.
Fuck it, I’ll break them off, she thought, but as hard as she tried to pull apart, she couldn’t break the metal. She tried to check her essence, see how much she had left, but couldn’t see that, either. It was as if her mind had truly returned to a previous state, back to a time where it was unaware of its own potential. Mitchell had said it would remain until their touch was severed, but he no longer had a hold of her. Why wasn’t her power returning?
Ralph. She had to get to Ralph. Mitchell would kill him easily. Ralph was strong, stronger than he realized, but he wasn’t battle tested. Claudia remembered how sloppy she’d been those first few fights on the red planet. She’d been lucky to not get killed by the lesser buzzsaw creatures. She hoped Ralph would, too, have luck. She could still hear them beyond the walls, but it was nothing more than muted voices and movement. Were they fighting? Was Ralph still unaware of the danger the man possessed? Would Mitchell try to kill him? She looked at the bodies in the corner of the room, split at the ribcage and discarded. What was Mitchell trying to do with them?
The little girl shifted in her chains against the wall again, and Claudia was pulled from her thoughts, remembering that she wasn’t alone. There were five people chained up on that wall, with several sections of empty chains beside them, waiting for more prisoners. The chains were thick, but hastily bolted to the steel walls of the room. She realized then that the room had once been a cooler, food storage for those using the underground bunker. Mitchell had killed the refrigeration and re-purposed the room for his own sick aspirations, whatever they were.
Beside the girl was a teenage boy with brown hair, beside him an older bulky man with black hair that was greying, and finally two women beside them. Only the girl was moving. They were all beaten and bloody, the little girl having a red splotch dried into her blond hair. She was crying, her mouth twisting under the duct tape silencing her. Claudia approached her, then turned her back to the girl. She felt around until she located the duct tape, then tried to tear the tape from the girl's mouth. It was awkward, and she ended up yanking the girl’s head a few times before finding the leverage to tear off the stubborn tape.
Her voice freed, the girl began to scream. “Help! Help! Help. Jesus, please help me. I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home,” the poor girl said immediately, the tears pouring from her eyes. Claudia saw that her right eye was blackened and swollen, a recent injury.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay now,” she said, and got as closed to the girl as she could. She wanted to hold the girl’s head, but was unable to do so because of the chains. She hoped her body warmth at least shed some comfort to the girl. The girl leaned her head into Claudia’s chest and continued to cry. “What’s your name?” Claudia asked. The girl continued to breathe harshly into Claudia’s shirt. Claudia tried again, wishing she could lift the girl’s head up to look at her. “Hey, look at me,” she said. The girl tentatively looked up into her eyes, waiting. “What’s your name?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Erin,” the girl said, her voice quiet and wavering.
“Erin. Good. My name is Claudia. We’re going to get out of here, okay? But I need you to be strong and help me. Can you do that?”
The girl, slowly at first, nodded her head.
“Okay. Are you alone in here?” Claudia asked.
Erin shook her head. “No.” She looked at the people beside her. “They haven’t woken up in a couple days. Can you wake them?”
Claudia didn’t like the sound of that, but she nodded her head and said, “Yes, of course.” Claudia couldn’t hear anything happening outside of the door and grew nervous about what was happening. Had Ralph been subdued? How long before Mitchell entered the room again?
Touch the bodies against the wall. There’s some essence you can take. You can use that to heal the others a little. They’re not dead yet, but they’re close.
Oh sweet Jesus, you’re back. Claudia nearly felt tears of joy.
Yes. That man’s touch numbs your abilities, but it would seem that the effect isn’t permanent. He stole nearly all of your essence. You're very weak.
I figured he did.
Claudia approached the pile of bodies, could see the essence glowing faintly off of them. She got as close as she dared, then spun around . She tried to reach back to touch the bodies, but struggled to do so. Eventually she lost her balance and fell backward into the gore. She felt the split bodies wetly shift to accommodate her weight. She was slipping into the bodies, being sucked into the gore, and she was disgusted. She continued to slip into the stench of the rot. Even so, she’d made contact, and the essence flowed into her. It wasn’t much, but it was something. When she’d taken in all there was, she rolled off the pile onto her knees and started to stretch her arms, hoping to break the chains.
Heal the others first.
Fuck that, I want to be free of these chains.
If you use up too much essence, you won’t be able to wake the others. They could die before you find another essence source, if you even get the chance.
Claudia thought about Mitchell just outside the door, and stood. She rushed over to the first person, the teenage boy next to Erin, and touched him. He was cold to the touch. She started to send essence.
No don’t. This one’s dead. It would be a waste.
That’s not promising… Claudia thought, and moved on to the taller man. He was a big bear of a man, his arms toned, as his massive stature leaned forward against the chains. Claudia hoped desperately that this one would be on her side. She touched his hand with hers and sent essence. He shook awake with a surprisingly jolt, and Claudia fell to the ground in surprise. The two looked at each other. The man’s frantic eyes soon shifted to sadness when he saw Claudia’s chains. Claudia stood again and awkwardly tore the tape from his mouth.
“Who are…” The man started to say.
“Just wait,” Claudia interrupted, “Let me wake the others first.”
Before waiting for a response, Claudia moved down the line to the two women, who seemed as if they could be close to her in age. They looked oddly similar, with striking red hair and freckled, pale faces. Claudia wondered if they were twins. She touched the first one, and she, too, awakened with a jolt. This time Claudia was prepared, and she moved down to the next. As this one thankfully awoke, the one on the left cried out in happiness, and leaned her head in against the other. Together the two women cried and embraced as much as their chains would allow.
Claudia returned to face the man. “I’m Claudia,” she said.
“Bruce,” the man responded, and Claudia almost laughed at the name. They should have a child together, a little girl, and name her Beatrice Bruce. It was an odd thought, but sometimes those odd thoughts were intrusive.
“What’s going on here?” She asked.
“Mitchell is mad. He’s trying to get back to that red planet. He’s seeing the portals that the popolacs are creating out of human bodies and he’s trying to replicate the process. He’s been unsuccessful, clearly.”
Claudia thought back to her conversation with Ctaolthost, when the sentient planet had explained that she could generate doors by murdering another person. Had Ctaolthost understated the difficulty of the task?
“I came here alone the day after the poplac’s first invaded Colorado. Mitchell and I had been communicating for a long time by then, but I hadn’t pulled the trigger yet on the trek. The fucker surprised me as I came in the door. Touched my arm and knocked me out cold over the head. I woke up in here and… I’ve watched what he’s done ever since.”
“Why didn’t he do… that,” Claudia said, pointing to the bodies, “To you guys?”
“He didn’t want to waste everyone. His exact words. He’s saving us for his next attempts, but doesn’t want to try it again until he has other ideas on how to do it.”
“But why?” Claudia asked. “He could use any portal in town. The popolacs are making them all over the place.
Bruce only shook his head. “I don’t know. I really don’t. The man’s crazy.”
It’s probably a power thing. It’s gone to his head. I’d wager he plans to rule the new world.
“Do you know the girl?” Claudia asked, as she looked over at the girl. The girl had been listening to the conversation, tears still dripping down her face.
“No, she… She came here with her brother.”
Claudia considered the dead boy beside his sister, and felt an iron ball turning in her gut. She felt pain for the little girl, but pushed through it. She’d deal with that later.
“The others?” She asked, gesturing to the hugging girls.
“Sisters. They arrived after me.”
Claudia nodded. She could have guessed. Claudia tried to examine their abilities and saw that they had none. “You haven’t seen Ctaolthost yet.” She said. It wasn’t a question, just a speaking of thoughts as she considered the present.
“Cah… towl… thoste?” The man asked, head tilted with bewilderment.
“We’ll get there. Are you aware of your… abilities? Your essence?”
“Lady, you’re talking crazy shit like that man out there now.”
Fuck.
We need to get them to a pylon. This is good, Claudia. We have more people, now. People that may have the abilities we need.
“Don’t mind that. We’ll get to that. Right now we just have to get out of here.”
The man rattled the chains as they held him up against the wall. “Been trying.” He said.
“You’re telling me that a man with arms like yours can’t break a few chain links?”
The man said nothing, and Claudia first considered that he didn’t have a sense of humor. She looked over at the bruised girl, however, and knew it wasn't the time. She'd been insensitive and regretted it.
“Okay,” Claudia said.
“Okay,” the man said. “Plan?”
But Claudia had none. She stretched her arms, but as her essence had predicated, she didn’t have enough left to use her enhanced strength.
“Fuck,” she said.
She desperately hoped that Ralph had survived, as she approached the door and started to beat against it with her shoulders.
----------------------------------------
Some time later, her prayer was answered. The door opened. Outside it stood Ralph.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” she said.
Ralph stepped into the room, dragging the corpse of a buzzsaw behind him. “I figured you’d need a little boost.”
Claudia smiled as she touched the body, taking in its essence and feeling her strength return.