Vestige Chapter 3 - The Escape
Sayako drags me by the nape through the forest. I feel abandoned. Aurelia is the only one who bothers to follow me out here and beg for mercy. The others cheered when they heard I was to be punished. The floor is sharp and spiky, yet I don't feel a thing. Sayako throws me to the ground and enters her bag.
"Please, Mother! Stop this!" Aurelia's begging fails to reach Sayako's ears.
She grabs my arm and readies her syringe. The needle pierces my skin and I can feel the warm liquid enter my bloodstream. My body goes numb and my forehead begins to burn up. My knees are weak, but I force myself to stand up. My veins twist and turn and reshape themselves. Filled with red, my vision begins to change. My broken arm begins to move on its own. It pops itself backward and I have to hold it to prevent it from joining with my body.
Aurelia is sitting on the floor crying. That is all I can tell through the hollow lenses I see through. My body twists and I fall to my side. The ground is cold, yet heat warms me to the touch. Something starts to enter my throat. I feel it slide up my mouth and I regurgitate a thick black substance. My skin begins to feel hard and slimy. My muscles disappear into my body and I can no longer control them. I look down at my arms and see black blots of scales. Gone, my fingers won't move, and yet I can control the tentacles before me. The black liquid ceases to leave my body and my legs regain their strength.
The air begins to cool and my veins slow to a halt. I raise my feet to the ground. Around me, the world looks plain. It feels boring even. I can no longer sense the breeze or hear wildlife around me and yet I know it's there. I can walk, though my legs are those of a monster. My shape is human, though it is deformed. Sayako is smiling at me. She says something, yet I hear nothing. She approaches me and embraces me. Her body feels warm and relaxing. Tears stroll down her face and hit my shoulder.
My ears begin to pop and my mind goes blank. I feel what last remains of consciousness I had, fade to black. I can no longer sense what is around me and soon brain thrashes and shuts down.
"Haven't we been here before?" Gray looks to his left and right.
"Yeah, we passed this ten minutes ago didn't we? I think we went right last time, let's go this way!" Jax rushes down the next corridor. They cut past corners and jump down staircases. They dart against stone walls and past girdles of steel. Dripping echoes drown out by the cry of feet hitting the cold floor.
"Hold on. Let's rest here for a second, man." Out of breath, Gray bends down.
"We gotta keep going. Mother took Kata down these halls somewhere and we are going to find her. You're going to help me aren't you?" Jax's forehead explodes in sweat.
"Yeah, I will. Just hold on a second, we've been at this for a while."
The air was hot and light. Jax could feel his lungs gasping for oxygen and yet he continued on.
"We gotta keep moving!" They ran past junction and intersection, passing vents and winding corridors along the way. Rooms filled with water or just nothing at all seemed to litter the tunnel.
"I thought you scouted this thing out!" Gray shouts.
"Not all of it!" Jax ducks below into a shorter passage.
"I don't think we've been here yet. We've gotta be getting closer!" Jax leads the way through a small, narrow duct. They crawl through its length until it arrives in a larger room.
"Shit, it's another dead-end." Gray sighs in disappointment. A dead-faced flat wall greets them.
"Back a ways, there was another path we didn't take, I don't think. Let's try that." Jax jumps up and makes his way back to the previous path. The two take a different turn through more shuffling corridors and tunnels before arriving in a long passageway. In the end, light shines outwards.
"That's gotta be the other side of the wall there!" Jax cries out. His legs move faster than before and he sprints through a steel wall and halts. Around him, a forest sits and in it, a tall girl with purple hair cries quietly.
"Aurelia! What are you doing, on the other side of the wall?" Gray asks.
Aurelia looks up at them. Her face is red and covered in tear marks. She holds her hands to her face and emits an aura of sorrow.
"I, I, I just. I tried to stop her, but I." Aurelia's voice stutters and the words barely escape her lips.
"Stop who? Mother?" Jax questions.
"Where's Lulu?" Gray confronts Aurelia.
"Mother. She. She turned her into that thing!" Aurelia falls down into the dirt and gains a lifeless composure. Her mature body is covered in mud and silt. She hardly breathes or looks at Jax and Gray.
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"So, where are they now?" Jax kneels down.
Aurelia lets out a whimper before sitting up. Her eyes barely look alive and her spirit has dissolved. She gestures towards the tunnel and crumbles down to her spot.
"Damn! She must have taken Lulu away while we were lost in there!" Gray explains.
"How the hell did we not see her while we were in there?! I guess this just means we have to find Lulu as well. And you're coming too." Jax stands up and confronts the tunnel. He picks Aurelia up by her legs.
"No. No. No." Her voice trails off. "I can walk by myself." Aurelia's complexion begins to return to her, but she still seems distant.
"Alright then. Come on, Gray. Let's do this."
"Yeah, man." Gray high fives Jax. The group then enters the labyrinth again.
The light from the outside world replaces itself with the moon. Darkness seeps into the corridors. The group turns left and right and yet they can't maintain the same pace as before. The maze before them is unrelenting in its confusion.
"Hurry up!" Jax shouts back down the passage.
"I'm coming." Aurelia slowly responds.
Tension and stress don't maintain itself forever. The winding passages transform into a calm collection of illusions. It's many turns fade into black. The midnight wind soothes and the silence eases. Jax and Gray begin to slow down, as their exhaustion catches up to them. The night takes over and everything turns to pitch black.
"I can't see anything." Aurelia calls out.
"Yeah, none of us can." Gray stumbles through the dark.
"I only brought one flashlight and it won't last, so quit your complaining and get a move on. I'll break it out once we get a bit farther" Jax returns to his jog.
They pass through one last intersection before arriving at a hall of illuminated overhead lanterns that break through the darkness.
"Light." Aurelia says.
"This has got to be it then!" Jax and Gray rush down the hall to the room at the end. Inside is a bright and eccentric laboratory. Cupboards and tables of scientific equipment line the walls. A couple of large iron doors mark the sides. The focus of the room, a strange chair and headset are smack in the middle of the room. Lulu sits on the chair with the headset covering her face and short, dark orange hair. Sayako, clipboard in hand, observes her, as electrical pulses charge into her head.
"Lulu-!" Gray covers Aurelia's mouth and gestures her to shut it. The group slides to the side of the doorway and waits out of view.
"Raise the voltage." Sayako says.
"Right away ma'am." Another voice, male, is audible.
Sounds of lightning and machinery crackle through the room. It pulses and whirls for minutes before halting to a stop. Smells of smoke and burnt flesh remain in the air.
"That's enough men. You can take your leave for the day. I'll handle the rest of the procedures from here." Sayako says.
"Yes, ma'am." A door opens and walking can be heard. The door then slams shut.
"Aurelia, run to the left and Gray to the right." Jax whispers as he loads his pistol.
"Got it."
"I'll flank her in front. Try your best to distract her, I'll do the rest." Jax hands a rifle, loaded with live ammo, to Aurelia. "Don't shoot yourself in the foot."
"Alright, let's do this on the count of three." Jax holds up his hand and begins to count.
"3."
"2."
"1."
"You can come out now, kids." Sayako's steps grow closer. Aurelia is frozen in fear. Gray is stunned in surprise. Jax halts in anticipation.
"Now!" Jax jumps out from his cover and rushes towards Sayako. Gripping his rifle, his hand rips on the trigger several times. Prepared, Sayako jumps to the side, dodging his bullets, and throws a table his way. Jax throws up his hands and guards his head, as the metal table pins him to the ground.
"Alright!" Gray leaves his protection and enters the room. Gunfire surrounds him. He slides down and knocks over a desk. He then fires across the room towards Sayako. The bullets clang on the metal table she is ducked behind. Equally aggressive dents are then returned from the other way.
"Come on out, my beautiful children! Don't leave me all alone here!"
Jax throws the table off of him and hides behind it. Gray is sitting adjacent to him and he makes a calling motion. Bullets graze his cap, as Gray runs to Jax's cover.
"Yo. Here's the deal. I doubt Aurelia's gonna leave her spot, so we gotta get Mom before she runs over there." Jax whispers.
"Ya got a plan?" Gray cocks his gun.
"Of course I do. Let me handle this. Just get to Lulu!" Jax shouts and jumps towards Sayako.
Gray runs out from the cover and towards the large machine harnessing Lulu. Sayako's rifle takes shape above her table and rapid fires Jax. He sprints and jumps over the table and in front of Sayako. A bullet knicks his calf, yet he continues on. He lands in front of Sayako. Wide-eyed and gap-jawed, Sayako feels his knee before she can react. Jax confiscates her rifle and throws it across the room. He then fires a bullet into both of her legs and ties her to the table, using some rope from his pack.
"You can't do this to your own Mother!" Sayako pleads and struggles. Jax duct-tapes her mouth shut. She sits there struggling to breathe. Blood seeps from her temples and stains her nice outfit.
"I just did, plus, you're not my real mother anyways."
"Is it over?" Aurelia shakes herself into the room. Her pistol falls from her trembling hands.
"Oh, there you are. And I really thought you could handle the real deal!" Jax laughs back at her.
"How's Lulu?" Aurelia rushes to her aid.
"I'm not sure yet." Gray throws his hands over the headset. He pushes buttons and presses screens, yet is only rewarded with beeps and boops.
"Let me see it." Aurelia shoves gray aside. In front of her, the headset is large and leaves none of Lulu's head exposed. The steel sphere is littered in red and green buttons and levers. Aurelia lifts the bottom of the visor and presses up against a switch. Click! The headset separates into four parts and rises into the suspension above it. Lulu's head falls out of it and lands in her chest. Aurelia lifts Lulu's face up.
Her eyes are closed and her expression is blank. Her bob cut hair is fried and stands on its own. Aurelia slaps and smacks Lulu until life returns to her eyes.
"What? Where am I?" I ask. My head is spinning and revolving. I felt like I was just hit over the head with an anvil a million times.
"Finally you're back to us." Aurelia looks relieved.
"You feeling okay? How's the arm?" Gray wonders.
"I'm feeling pretty great actually." I stand up. My headache starts to fade away and my eyes adjust to the lighting. "I still can't move my arm, but it doesn't hurt anymore at least."
"That's great to hear." Jax pats me on the shoulder and picks up Sayako's rifle.
"Here." I hold her rifle in my hand.
"Alright then, let's get going. We still need to find Kata guys." Jax begins to walk towards the doors the men went through.
"Who's Kata?" I ask.