14
I arched my eyebrow, looking left and right, unsure of which way to go. To my right, a strong draft of wind blew past me, the cold air hurting my nose, and to my left—I heard screams and the sounds of whips cracking. Left seems like the place for fun, I thought. I whistled away, hands in my pocket, drawn towards the chaos, walking in the left corridor. The walls were smooth like marble, a dark brown in color, with a few painted symbols of unknown origin. A door, on my left, forced me to stop and retrieve my borrowed flintlock. I heard no commotion inside, everything was quiet, and a truly maddening silence that unsettled me. Reaching for the silver knob, I turned it to the side, hoping to open it, but the door wouldn’t budge open. It was sealed up tightly to stop anyone from entering, or, perhaps, stop something from leaving.
What am I even thinking about? Why am I even bothering with this stupid door?
I sighed, placing the flintlock back on my holster, the chain rattling in my arm, and walked away. It would have been nice to see what they were hiding inside; however, time was the one thing not on my side. But the one thing I had on my side was the element of surprise.
“Time to get to work,” I exhaled, turning my skin black as the abyss, and my fingernails sharp and long as razors.
I prowled through the walls like a shadow, like a phantom, stalking the area for prey. The corridor, to my disappointed, forked again into two different passages, forcing me to choose again the path I wished to take. And again, I followed the direction of the screams and whips, planning to investigate the reason behind their cries. Footsteps, coming from something big, forced me to hide in the shadow of the wall, my breath held, as I waited for the threat to pass. All I saw was its faint shadow, its misshapen form, which served as a reminder of the dangers that awaited me. I exhaled slowly when I could no longer hear the creature, advancing further into maze of a base. Stopping, looking up, I stood aghast in what appeared to be the factory, where they created the mutant chimeras. The place was big, far too big to be inside a mountain, and it housed mechanical contraptions of great magnitude. Several mutant chimeras roamed the area, some of them in the air, and some of them stationed on the ground—all guarding the area from intruders. They were ships, on the furthest side, being serviced and repaired, and by my guess, their transport to earth for the invasion. This was my ticket off this planet. The temptation to just blitz forward, ignoring all the dangers, and commandeering one the ships, was overwhelming. The problem I would encounter, with that direct plan, was being shot down again by their special weapon, and forced to endure this madness all over again. First plan: destroy the special gun.
The mechanical contraptions ran on some sort of external power source, most likely a lot of water and coal in abundance, and this whole terrain was full of it. Keeping out of sight, I crept further into the factory, hidden behind a metal drain pipe that connected to every machine inside the plant. Up above me, I saw people in cages being transported into one of the machines, and once they were inside, they screamed in agony for several seconds, as horrible things were done to them. The one who were weak and fragile for the procedure were thrown out of the machine and into some sort of dumpster. To even imagine what was going on inside would even haunt me for all eternity.
“Hey, you there,” a voice cried out, causing me to turn my head to the left. “Please help us, stranger.”
Below my feet, there was some sort of compartment, which housed the captives, and it had small holes to let air in. The prison cell was buried on the floor below me, hidden from prying eyes by pipes and meter gauges, as if they were trying to hide something inside.
“I can’t help you at the moment,” I replied, walking towards them, kneeling down, and scanning the area for enemies. “If I try to help you, I will lose my element of surprise.”
“Wait, please, I can help you find what you are looking for,” he pleaded with me, sticking his left hand halfway through the hole. “I can help you find what you are looking for.”
“And how do you know what I am looking for?” I asked, blinking, my curiosity roused by his unexpected response.
“I know that you are looking for the special weapon that shot you out of space, and you plan on killing the madman.”
Yes, you are right, but how do you know of this?”
“I have the ability to read the minds of others, a dormant ability found in my species. I know where it is, and if you want to find it, you have to set us free.”
“Tempting, but no thanks; I will enjoy the challenge of finding it by myself.”
“But you are running out of time, Dark Assassin, your mission target will leave in the next three days, and your objective will fail.”
“Bastard, just how much of my mind are you reading? I should cut your tongue out, just for knowing all of that.”
“Oh, don’t worry about your secrets—I will not tell anyone as long as you help us out.”
“And what about the other inmates, who just heard you say those words to me?”
“Well, I didn’t think that far ahead, but I am sure they will keep their beaks shut from freedom, isn’t that right, guys?”
“Oh yeah, absolutely, definitely will keep our mouth shut,” the men, in the background, replied at the same time.
Crap, this was definitely the unexpected mess I was afraid of. There was nothing that irritated me more than blackmail. And under a different circumstance, I would have killed them all for knowing my secret, but this was no ordinary predicament I was in. Besides, I needed a distraction—something to draw away the numerous guards in the factory, and buy me enough time to find and eliminate the madman. Glancing down, I moved some of the stuff out of the way, locating the metal rail above the outer lock. The lock, a relic from the past, was made from thick, reinforced gold with circular striations in the middle, and it required some sort of special key to unlock it. I pulled out my flintlock, aimed it at the lock, and pressed my finger on the trigger, debating on my plan of action. If I fired, they would surely hear me, and in a matter of seconds, this area would be swarming with mutant chimeras.
“Use your physical strength,” the man said, his small finger pressing on the rail, and his grey eyes glomming slightly. “Breaking this lock, I am sure, is child’s play for someone of your caliber, Rave.”
“If you keep talking, I am going to just kill you all, right now,” I hissed, no longer amused with his ability to peak into the madness inside my brain. “I am sure you know how dangerous I really am.”
“Yes, I clearly do,” he whispered, removing his finger from the rail, as the small compartment fell into utter silence.
Grabbing the lock, my breath held, I pulled the lock back with all my might—attempting to disengage the shackle from the rest of the lock. In a small clank, it tore off, the momentum and strength, inside my own body, felling me to the ground. Thankfully, the running machines and screams of mortified captives drowned the noise my body made, when it smashed against the equipment in the back. I heard the door, on the ground, squeak open slowly, and I shifted my body up, observing what was happening. A dark, tanned man, looking cautiously around, pulled himself out of the compartment and landed on the floor on his belly. Sighing out loudly, he faintly smiled at me, before turning his head around, and extending his right hand into the door. He pulled out a small girl, roughly six years old, and based on her physical looks—she appeared to be his daughter. She had black hair, wrapped into double buns, a green jumpsuit with white stripes on the side, black, leather boots, and in her right hand, she held a stuffed teddy bear. Another child, a boy this time, came out next, and he was trembling with fear. He had small incision holes around his eyes and mouth, grey, shabby hair, and his hands looked wrinkly and old for his age. I stood up, holstering my flintlock, and plodded closer to see what was happening. More than ten people had been lodged into this stink-fest of a compartment, and were, probably, being subjected into some heinous experiment by the madman.
“Take this,” I sighed, handing the
man my flintlock, my mind distracted. “You will need it more than I do, and if you go unnoticed, you might be able to make it to the ships in one piece.”
“Your compassion towards children is a redeeming quality, Rave,” he smiled, grabbing the flintlock from my hands, with his knee planted to the ground. “It is not a bad thing to care for others.”
“I really think I am going to kill you,” I hissed, shaking my head, as I turned around and began to walk away. “The longer I stay here, the more I am tempted to snip out your life.”
“Wait, Rave,” he yelled, running towards me, and stopping inches from me. “The gun you are looking for is right above you, located above those machines. It is guarded by three powerful mutant chimeras, a special force chosen by the madman, and they are very ruthless.”
“And what of the madman? Where will I find him?” I asked.
“If you try to destroy the gun, he will come to you; he is very protective of his special weapon.”
“You have my gratitude, stranger, and I hope you make it off this planet in one piece. And if our paths do cross again, I will more than likely try to claim your life, so stay out of my way, and out of my sight.”
“I understand, and thank you for helping us.”
Turning around, I scurried forward behind the large, eroded pipe, staying out of sight. I stopped when I saw a mutant chimera, standing above me, looking in the opposite direction. It had the head of a ram, thick, muscular arms, and was dressed in a golden armor with a black cape on the back. It must be a high ranking officer, I thought.
“Get those machines loaded, you buffoons,” it boomed, raising its right hand up, and turning its head to the left. “The master wants the new batch of prisoners tested as soon as possible.”
“What should we do about the men in the tunnels?” another voice asked, with a tone clutched by fear. “They have killed more than fifty of us, and they will be arriving here within the next five minutes or so.”
“Oh, don’t worry about them,” it replied in a confident manner, placing its hand behind its back. “The master has other plans for them, just wait and see.”
Feeling my insatiable killing urge, I exhaled deeply, looking at the chimera with bloodlust. I curled up the chain in my hand, looking in every direction first, before throwing it over the chimera’s neck. I pulled the beast back, its cape blinding me from what was in front of me, as I felled the creature to the ground. My first plan to remain concealed had failed—it seemed—due to my awakened, murderous intent. The power, inside of me, was too strong for me to mentally control. The monster shrieked, its eyes bopping out, and its hands clutched on the chain around its neck. But before it could break free, I whammed it three times in the snout with the socket wrench, draining all of the energy from its body. A final kick to the throat finished the monster off, seconds before it had the chance to stand up and unveil its mechanical wings.
“What have you done to our boss?” another mutant chimera growled, looking down at me, with its large cannon pointed at me. “I will make you pay for this.”
“This is not going to be easy,” I commented, chuckling softly. “I should have known that.”