Chapter 12: The Fountain
Water rushed over Max's head and he was fully submerged underwater. He could not see the point of entry, but he saw a small white cottage at the bottom of the fountain floor. Max started to panic and swam as fast as he could to the small house. He pushed open the door, almost out of breath, and fell face first into the house. He slammed the door. Somehow, the water didn’t gush into the house, instead it remained outside.
"Where the hell am I?" yelled Max, freaked out of his mind. He looked inside the house. It was almost bare. There was just a wooden table and a bright red chair. Max sat in the chair and noticed he was completely dry. He leaned forward and the instant his hand made contact with the table, a small red book materialized. The book appeared to only to have a couple of pages inside and on the cover words started to come in focus. He read them out loud, “The Red Death". Max quickly opened the book and he heard a loud scream and he threw it down almost instantly. He sat there sweating and nervous. He looked at the table and spotted a small yellow note. This read, “Every time you read a sentence of the book you’ll hear the worst sound possible." Max realized the noise he was hearing was the scream and cry of his sister, Betty. He opened the book and heard that awful scream again.
"I’ve just got to read three pages and I'm done!" he shouted, almost out of breath. He read about half a page, and shut the book unable to hear Betty screaming any more. The yellow parchment reappeared again, but the words had changed. "Every time you close the book, you forget what you have read. You must complete the entire thing if you wish to learn about the Red Death."
Max grabbed the paper, crumpling it up with his fist in rage. "Goddamnit, things like this always happen to me!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He opened the book slowly, immediately hearing Betty's scream. "Stop it Max! Please Max, stop hurting me!" he heard Betty shouting. He carried on though, reading every sentence, making sure he didn't miss one word.
When he finished he put the book down, finally understanding the biggest weakness to the Red Death was really himself. Max was immune to the Red Death, and they could not hurt him unless his head was chopped off. The four men had already told him this, but now he believed it. He also found out that the Red Death were weak in the chest, and if you shot them anywhere near the heart they would die instantly. Anywhere else, and they would still be alive. Max sat motionless at the table not knowing what to do next. He looked out the window and stared blankly at the water outside, it was so clear. Just when Max had started to let his guard down he heard a loud knock at the door. He hopped out of the chair and looked at the door. Again, three loud knocks came from outside of the house. Max pulled out his plasma ray gun and shot at the door, creating a huge gaping hole. He could see the water just beyond the door, blue crystal clear water, staying right where it was.
Then a voice shouted, “Who dares enter my domain?" Max paused, the hair on his back standing straight up. "It’s me Max! The four men told me to come down here." He stood there waiting for what was going to happen next. A small girl walked toward the door, but did not enter the house. "Come out and play Max. Forget all your troubles and play,” the girl said in a deep voice.
"Who the hell are you? What do you want?" Max shouted, now completely shaking.
The girl’s body turned inside out, and morphed into a large man with no eyes. "I cannot let you warn the town of the Red Death, Max. Stay with me here Max, have no worries about anything else."
"I wish I could do that, but you can't always do what you want!" Max responded. He pointed his plasma ray gun at the thing and fired, blowing a hole through its chest. It let out a huge roar and ran at Max.
“Bam!” Max shot it again knocking its head right off. He watched as the head started to reattach itself to the creature’s limp body. He ran out of the front door not remembering water was surrounding him. He took in a breath and sucked in a mouthful of water, and then he jumped back into the dry house gasping for air. The being was on the ground, attaching its head back to its neck. Max leapt into the water, swimming to the surface as fast as he could. He reached the half way mark to the surface, and looked back down. He could see the thing starting to swim up, and it was gaining on Max. It had gotten less than ten feet next to him, so he pulled out his plasma ray gun and shot.
“Bam!” The man with no eyes was shot again in the chest and now he stopped swimming, floating down to the fountain floor. Max had almost no air left in his lungs, and he saw his life flash before his eyes. That’s when he heard a small whisper in his ear. It was Rich saying, “you can't give up now boy. You can't stop yet!" Max opened his eyes and swam as fast as possible. "Almost there" he thought to himself frantically. "Ahhhhhh!" He yelled as he reached the surface. The second his fingertips were out of the water, he found himself sitting straight up in the three inches of water. He sat there regaining his breath, trying to figure out what just happened. "I'm guessing you found what you were looking for?" the first man announced.
Max stared at the four men, who somehow had reappeared, "What the hell is that place, or the fountain?"
"It is a journey, and it's different for each and every person. You must conquer a fear of yours to see what you must really do," the second man said. Max walked out of the fountain, his clothes were soaked and he felt like ice. "Go relax in the sacred baths and think about what you've seen, you must stay here and rest," said the third man. Max walked to over to black gate, looked back and replied," I don't have time to rest, I have to go save my town."