Thunk…
Thunk…
Thunk…
The hard repetitive sound of Jacob pounding his head on the main door echoed loudly through the house. The hard thud endlessly repeated as everyone else sat around, the last bit of their hope leaving them like a thief in the night. How long now? How long have they been locked inside this death trap? This prison.
Thunk…
Thunk…
Thunk…
Jacob continued to beat his head against the door. The only thing between them and freedom was a simple wooden door not even a few inches thick. Yet despite his efforts, the door remained closed. Not just sealed off, but no scratch on it; no trace of any indentation, no splintering, not even a drop of blood that would come from Jacob’s head after beating his head for what felt like hours. Still, On and on he banged his head.
“Would you please stop that already?” Joshua huffed as he sat down with his back pressed against the wall.
Jacob paused.
“I don’t know what else to do…”
“There's a first.” Joshua rolled his eyes as he scoffed, a bit of venom dripping from his lips.
Jacob turned and looked confused as he rubbed the back of his hand on his head to dry up some of his blood.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Ever since Pa died, you’ve always had to be in charge. You always had to be the know-it-all.”
Joshua then made a stupid face and mocked his brothers voice, creating a caricature of a whiny, impulsive child.
“Oh, I have a great idea; let’s save money by building only one house for our huge families; let’s not double the size of our crops this year to help the war effort; let's risk our lives by going into a house straight from the pits of the seven hells!”
“I didn’t know the house would be like this, Joshua…”
“Of course you didn’t. You don’t think of any downsides to a plan of yours until after things get bad. Our families are so big, we have our kids sleeping in the same rooms. They hardly have a space for themselves. If you had listened to me about feeding the army, they would have paid us and we’d have all the money we need to rebuild.”
“The army would have just taken everything then.”
“You don’t know that! You think you know everything. Why, because you happen to be the first to come out of mom? Face it: you know nothing.”
Illyana sat down and tried to comfort Ulysses who sat down hugging his knees like a frightened child.
“Joshua. Jacob. Enough.”
Yet the brothers continued to fight, arguing as Joshua had begun to stand up for himself, letting the venom flow from his lips.
“The fact of the matter is, Jacob: no one elected you to be the leader. No one forced your hand to do this.”
“You don’t know how hard I work to keep our family surviving.” Jacob glared, gnashing his teeth as Joshua stood up. “I have worked myself to the bone keeping our families afloat. Did I make some mistakes? Yeah, sure, but I’m not perfect. No one is.”
“Then quit acting like you’re perfect. You are not in charge of me. You’re not in charge of anyone.”
“What brought all this up? Why now?”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“No. Tell me what happened.”
“Like you wouldn’t know.”
“Know what?”
Illyana finally had enough and yelled. “That's Enough! Both of you! Now is not the time to be at each other’s throats over something petty.”
Joshua growled and snapped at Illyana. “Petty?! If not for him, We wouldn’t Be in this mess! If not for him, We’d be back at the farm, away from this nightmare!!!”
Joshua’s face was red with anger, but he blinked soon after and regained his composure. He sighed through his nose and lowered his head.
“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”
Illyana placed her hand on his cheek. “It's okay. We’re all on edge right now. We have to stick together.”
Thunk…
Thunk…
Thunk…
Joshua turned and glared at Jacob.
“For the last time: Stop banging your damnable head on the wall you stupid-”
Joshua froze in terror when he saw his brother was away from the wall, not banging his head. Jacob too was frozen as he turned to the door.
Thunk…
Thunk…
Thunk…
The entire group stood up, afraid of what the house was doing next. Slowly, they crept away from the door as the thunk grew louder with each passing moment. Ulysses pulled his sword out, ready for anything as the sound grew more and more, almost ear splitting. They backed up further until they hit the fireplace, ready for whatever was on the other side of that door.
Thunk…
Thunk…
Thunk…
Lilliana produced flames from her hands and readied herself. Jacob and Joshua drew their weapons and were ready to unleash their fury on the creature outside. Moments passed as they waited…
As suddenly as the noise had begun, it stopped. The absence of the knocking was even louder than if it had continued. The ear piercing silence flooded the room. Everyone breathed heavily as the silence persisted.
Jacob stepped forward, with his makeshift weapon pointed at the door. After a sigh, he lowered his weapon and turned to the rest of the group.
“I think the house is just trying to screw-”
Jacob suddenly screamed out loud and fell back, knocking over the table and chairs as he felt blinding pain. He looked to see that there was a large curved spike like that of a claw poking right through his foot. Joshua’s first instinct was to pull Jacob away from the thing and get his foot off of the spike before quickly trying to stop the bleeding.
The Spike remained motionless on the ground for a moment before it retracted back into the darkness from under the floor. Soon another spike burst out of the floor, followed by several more. What crawled out of the large holes was some unthinkable insectoid abomination.
The creature that rose from the floorboard had eight limbs. Six long and slender legs and two arms with sharp mantis like forearms with bladed tips. They were sharper than any scythe they had seen. One of its blades dripped red with Jacob’s life’s blood. Its carapace was glossy like resin and shimmered like oil in water.
The abdomen pulsated and twitched, twirling around like a tail with sharp earwig like pincers flexing. The thorax was coated in a protective shell like that of a beetle. Like the rest of the creature, its carapace was shiny, oily black with hints of wild colors from the light. The only difference was that the thorax shell had sharp spikes growing out of the back as well as the tips of the spikes having a rusted color to them.
The head of the creature was by far the most disgusting aspect. It looked like some hybrid of praying mantis and human face. The large yellow compound eyes with what looked like a red pupil. The face of the mantis looked almost human with a split jawbone acting as the mandibles for the insectoid mouth with finger-like digits inside to pull its prey into the gaping maw.
The creature would lunge at the wounded Jacob, only to find Ulysses there as its opponent, taking his sword and stabbing at the creature with his blade. The beast let out a cicada-like scream as it reeled away in agony. Ulysses stepped forward and would slash at the abomination, crossing his blade with the scythe like claws of the creature. It was as if crossing swords with an enemy as the creature parried the strike.
When the monstrosity focused on Ulysses, it was lightning fast as it blocked almost all of Ulysses’s strikes. The sound was reminiscent of swords clashing before the beast retaliated, striking Ulysses on his shoulder, and causing him to bleed. With Illyana focused on healing Jacob, Joshua stood up to grab his weapon and flank the creature. With the wounded eye, the creature had trouble fighting two at once, yet it was still deadly, giving Joshua several cuts on his belly and chest, and slashing deeply into Ulysses’s leg.
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Meanwhile, Illyana was focused on stopping Jacobs bleeding. She placed her hands on the wound and burned the wound, cauterizing and preventing more blood loss. This of course caused Jacob to scream violently, almost kicking Illyana instinctively. Once she was done with the wound, Jacob passed out from the pain. Now Illyana could freely help Joshua and Ulysses deal with this monstrosity.
She rushed over to Ulysses’s side and would spray fire at the beast. It yelped and moved back, giving them all some breathing room. Yet as the one beast was pushed back, the floor had begun to buckle and break open. More of these things began to crawl out slowly. This forced the rest to back away. Ulysses and Joshua would grab the unconscious Jacob and put him over Ulysses’s shoulder. Ulysses had been used to carrying wounded men, and could move the fastest. Illyana continued to spray fire at the beasts, pushing them back. Yet they were relentless, crawling slowly forward. The more there were, the tougher the battle became. Ulysses and Joshua ran down the hall with Illyana giving them some covering fire as she followed closely behind.
Illyana would produce a wall of fire to block the hallway, hoping to give the group time to escape. She ran to catch up with the rest. Her wall would not last, and the abominations would force their way through the fire as it began to die out, leaving not a scratch on the house.
The group ran down the hallway, knowing that the creatures were in hot pursuit behind them. They knew the flame would not protect them.
In a moment of desperation and fear, they piled into a room and locked the door. They moved the large dresser from one side of the room to block the door. Then they moved back as one large group away from the door, keeping their eyes peeled for even the slightest of movements. Everyone covered their mouths trying not to utter even a whisper. Jacob tried to stifle his pain as best as he could.
They remained silent for as long as possible, trying not to react to the chittering noises that came from the other side of the door. It almost sounded like a stampede of angry bulls coming down the small hallway. How many of these creatures were there now? The noise of their hunt dragged on like a knife cutting them down their back in a slow, sadistic way. Then, just as quickly as they had arrived, the noise ceased. Yet the group was not about to leave the room right then and there. What if those things waited on the other side of that door, being just as quiet? What if they knew everyone was in there, and were like cats waiting for the mouse to pop out of his hole?
They decided to stay there for a little while longer. Jacob laid down on the bed since his foot was injured. They sat there waiting, too afraid to make a noise, any noise. Silence can be a dangerous thing, especially when left alone to one’s thoughts. Joshua sat down in the corner of the room and closed his eyes, waiting for the chance to leave this room which had already worn out its welcome. Suddenly, a noise. From the wall to his right, he heard something like banging and screaming. He looked at the others to see if they heard it, alas, they could not. No one else reacted to the noise, acknowledged its existence, or even seemed to be made aware at all. Joshua pressed his ear against the wall to listen in.
He could hear muffled screaming and moaning. Yet as he listened, it became more clear. It sounded less like the creatures slaughtering some more hapless adventurers, and something more carnal. Then his eyes grew larger as he recognized what was going on. The house was antagonizing Joshua again. He heard the lustful moans of his wife in bed with Jacob. The betrayal stung worse than anything these bugs could do. He pulled his head away and hung his head low. He looked up at Jacob lying in the bed. Joshua began to have dark thoughts about his brother.
He had to know. He had to know this very instant what was true and false. He pressed his ear against the door and then looked at the group
“I think they’re gone.” Joshua said in a welcoming contentful sigh.
Everyone else watched him for a moment longer to see if anything would try to burst through the door and cabinet, yet there were no such noises. A sigh of relief washed over them, yet Joshua would move over to Jacob, standing over him at the bed.
“...Is it true?” He said behind gritted teeth and clenched fists.
“What?” Jacob was confused, blinking in bewilderment as he would sit up.
“Is. It. True?”
Jacob had no idea what to say. He swallowed hard, a terrible thought placed in his head as he looked up at his brother.
“...Is what true?”
“Don’t play dumb with me!” Joshua barked angrily at Jacob, gnashing his teeth like an angry wolf.
“Is it true, yes or no?”
Jacob blinked and swallowed hard and would begin to sweat. He looked at Ulysses for a moment and then back to Joshua.
“I-I don’t know what-”
Joshua slammed his fist on the wall with a hard thud.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Jacob! Yes or no?”
Ulysses stood up and have his arms out to try to calm them down
“Calm down. What's gotten into you?”
“Stay out of this, Ulysses.” Joshua continued to look at Jacob as if trying to mentally kill his brother.
Jacob blinked and would crawl away slightly on the bed away from Joshua.
“J-Joshua… I think you shou-”
Joshua grabbed Jacob by the shirt and glared at him.
“It's a simple question, Jacob. Answer me. Have you been sleeping with my wife? Yes or no?”
Jacob couldn’t believe what he had just said. He had been found out. His breath heightened and his heart began to race.
“J-Joshua. Y-You have no idea what you’re saying. T-The house is lying to-”
Joshua growled loudly and shook Jacob like a baby with a rattle.
“If it's not true then just say it! Don’t stammer around like an idiot and lead me around like an idiot. It’s a simple question. Yes or no, that's all you have to say. Yes or no.”
Ulysses would touch Joshua’s shoulder.
“Alright, that's enough. Let him go.”
Joshua ignored him and continued to glare at Jacob.
Jacob swallowed hard. He lowered his head in shame and sighed in sorrow.
“...yes.”
Joshua’s lip quivered. With that admission to guilt, he felt tears welling up in his eyes, yet he fought the urge to cry. His fury would be mighty as he gripped his brother tightly.
“...Why? Why Jacob? Why would you do that?”
Jacob couldn’t even look him in the eye.
“I’m sorry… It never should have happened. Last year after the harvest, you went to take the produce to market. It was such a haul that everyone celebrated. All the kids were playing, everything was just fine. Fiona, Diana and I got drunk and we partied too hard. Fiona passed out on the couch, and it was just me and Diana in the house. One thing led to another… by the time we sobered up and realized what we had done, it was too late.”
“There was this…sense of giddiness we got into. We…did it a few more times together. Though a while ago, Diana wanted to stop it. She said she felt dirty, and what happened between us was a mistake. I agreed, and that was that… Then…came the day the dragon came…”
Joshua scoffed and threw his hand in the air.
“Bah. You decided to fuck her again?”
Jacob shook his head.
“No. She came to me in the barn and…”
He trailed off. What more could he say that did not stab his brother in the back already?
“She’s…pregnant…”
Joshua slowly let go of Jacob. He covered his eyes and could feel the anger building up.
“How? How could you do this to me?! I’m your brother!”
“Joshua, please, I’m sorry.” Jacob stood up with shaking feet as he tried to balance himself.
Joshua growled and glared daggers into Jacob’s very soul.
“You’re sorry?! You slept with my wife! You stabbed me in the back and got my wife pregnant with your baby!”
Jacob held his hands up, pleading for Joshua to stand down.
“Please. Joshua. Calm down…”
Joshua reacted by quickly grabbing Jacob by the throat and strangling him, unable to contain the sheer rage anymore.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!!!”
Ulysses tried to pull Joshua off of Jacob, only to receive a hard punch from Joshua. Joshua was a large, strong man and had the force to knock Ulysses out like a light. Ulysses fell hard, as if someone had dumped a sack of rocks on the ground. Illyana rushed over to him.
“Ulysses!!!”
She pulled him away to try to make sure that Ulysses wasn’t injured. She would try to wake him up. Joshua continued to strangle Jacob, but before Jacob could pass out, he bestowed Joshua with a swift hard kick between the legs, causing Joshua to back up and fall to the ground. Once able to breathe again, Jacob looked for a suitable weapon. His sword was near Ulysses, and Joshua stood between them. So Jacob grabbed the next best thing, a candlestick from the nearby nightstand.
“Back off, Joshua. I’m warning you!”
Joshua growled and tackled Jacob to the ground. He would then rain powerful, heavy fists down on Jacob’s head, getting his knuckles bloodied. Every punch felt like a hammer falling right down on Jacob’s face. Rivers of blood poured from Jacob’s brow. Jacob would reach for the candlestick that had been knocked out of his hand by the tackle. Joshua kept hammering down into Jacobs face as if he were making sausage. Jacob grabbed the candlestick and swung it at Joshua’s head. Joshua was sent to the ground, clutching his head. Jacob felt his adrenaline pumping through his veins and would quickly get on top of Joshua, hitting him repeatedly with the candlestick.
For every punch Joshua gave him, Jacob’s weapon came down harder. Jacob took it far beyond self defense. He beat Joshua badly as he could swear he heard cheers behind him. Cheers from Diana. He wanted Diana, didn’t he? He wanted to have it all. Joshua was just in the way. He heard the voice in the back of his mind whisper loudly. “Do it, Kill him! Take what's yours!”
He continued to beat Joshua. Illyana watched with utter horror, never seeing such savagery before. She looked at Jacob as he and Joshua had descended into madness. She gripped her fist tightly as she stood up, letting Ulysses down gently and would throw a fireball at Jacob’s face. Jacob screamed and fell back, the pain snapping him out of his psychosis. She went over to Joshua to see what could be done, but the damage had been done. Joshua was dead by the time the candlestick came down the third time. The other countless strikes were just for the sadistic twist.
Jacob blinked, realizing what he had just done. He had murdered his own brother. He knelt down and started to sob.
“No…no… Gods, what have I done?!”
Jacob looked at Illyana and Ulysses. He then looked down to his blooded hands. Stained with the blood of his own brother, and littered with his greymatter. He began to hyperventilate and then he looked at the sword. He looked at Joshua’s sword, still attached to his hip. He quickly grabbed the sword and pulled it from the scabbard. Illyana stood, aiming her hand at Jacob, ready to give him another fireball to the face.
“Put down the sword, Jacob. Don’t make me do something I’ll regret…”
Jacob simply stood there, sword in hand. He tightened his grip around the hilt and then looked Illyana right in her eyes.
“My life is nothing but regret now…”
Without even missing a beat, he took the sword and slit his own throat before Illyana could react. He fell to the ground, choking loudly as he gave out a last gurgled breath. And just like that, he was gone too, laying beside Joshua. Illyana stood there, her entire body feeling numb to the touch. She backed away to the wall and sat down. She looked at Ulysses who began to wake up.*
“Uh…w-whats…oh no.”
Ulysses awoke to see the bloody sight. He looked away. He turned to look at Illyana. Now, it was just them. Just these two. They stared at one another and swallowed the hard, bitter truth. They were going to die here.