Those That Deserve

"What's that noise?" called Adam from down below.

"Truck comin'," Dan hollered back. "We got company."

"Get outta there, hide I can deal with it!"

Dan paused for a moment looking over his shoulder at the approaching vehicle. "Fine, be careful."

Dan ran off and Adam looked back down at the large chest at his feet. The hole he was in was a good ten feet down and about 3 feet wide. The rope that was tied off up top hung loosely against the dirt walls. Adam was thinking fast. The chest was locked tight. The only way to get that thing open without the key would be some heavy explosives. Of course they most likely had those. Adam picked up his shovel he had set on the ground and began to continue his digging to the side. He had made a small alcove so far but it wouldn't do good to try and hide in it. From the right angle he'd be seen. Hopefully they would assume it was an empty hole, if only he could hide away deep enough.. So he kept digging. Then the earth gave way. The little alcove crumbled to reveal a small tunnel beyond. Adam stared in surprise for a moment but was brought back from shock by the sound of a truck coming to a halt and parking above. Car doors opened and slammed and heavy footsteps could be heard approaching. He didn't have a choice. Adam heaved the chest up and stepped into the tunnel. As he did so the ground began to shake and dirt and pebbles began to fall all around. Adam dove inside just as the entire hole collapsed in on itself.

Adam coughed and sputtered, spitting out dirt and trying to clear his lungs of dust. It was pitch black inside. The opening to the tunnel had been sealed up with who knows how much dirt. How had the hole even collapsed like that? In any matter he was safe from the assailants for a little while. At least until they dug him out. But he wasn't going to wait for that. Adam felt around his pockets for his lighter. He found it and pulled it out and flicked it a couples times until the flame sparked to life and illuminated the tunnel around him. It was a very tight tunnel. It was big enough for him to almost stand up straight, but not wide enough for him to carry the chest. He could drag it along behind him. He had no other choice but to leave it which wasn't really an option. He climbed over the chest and grabbed the handle on the side and lifted it to a tilt and began dragging it slowly along.

The tunnel was sloping slightly downwards going deeper into the earth. Adam closed the lighter wanting to save it for if he really needed it. For now the tunnel seemed to be endless and the same as the rest, so he kept moving forward, one hand dragging the chest behind him and the other slowly feeling around in front of him. He had been walking for what felt like a good hour before he decided to take a break. The air was thinner and he was starting to have a hard time breathing. He stopped and sat down on the chest and focused on slowing and calming his breathing. When he was steady he flicked the lighter back to life. The scenery had not changed; the walls were still bare dirt, stone, and the occasional root. He looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel, which seemed quite solid. He hoped it wouldn't cave in anymore, but with no support or anything it was a probable problem.

Suddenly Adam looked all around him. He had sworn he just heard someone whisper in his ear. It was very faint and quiet, but he knew he had heard it. Unless he was just hearing things. Maybe the lack of oxygen was getting to him. Yes, that had to be it. No air will do that to a guy after a while. He could start heading back but that would most likely mean giving up the chest. For all he knew they could have dug out the hole and be heading down the tunnel right now. And with that thought he closed the lighter and got to his feet and began dragging the chest along.

Another twenty minutes or so down Adam began to hear a low sort of humming noise. It seemed to be emanating from all around him with no discernible source or cause. What was it, and what could be causing it? The further down the tunnel he went the louder the humming noise got becoming more of a buzzing that drilled into his very brain. He suddenly noticed a change in his footing. He was now on solid rock rather than dirt. He flicked the lighter to life once more and shined it around him. He was now in a larger tunnel made of solid rock, some type of granite. But his stomach knotted up a bit as he read the writing scrawled across the walls, floor, and ceiling of the rock tunnel. One phrase, written over and over again, "Hell is always open for those that deserve." The writing was shaky and messy and looked like it had been written in a great hurry. Most likely the doings of a mad man, who else would do such a nutty thing? Or maybe some kids. This tunnel probably lead into one of the old mines around and had another way in and out. Kids always liked to come into the old mines and tag them, desecrate them, throw wild parties. Damn kids. It was just some kids. But there still seemed to be no end in sight, even in this larger tunnel. So Adam closed the lighter and once again began trekking along dragging the chest behind him. This was actually a good thing. Once he got into the main part of the mine he could probably find a way out, and that meant freedom. Hopefully Dan got away too, and then they would meet up and could get back on track. The plan was still the same, just a detour is all.

As he continued on the humming and buzzing had now grown louder than ever and Adam could barely hear himself think. Then he noticed a light coming from up ahead. Must be the end. He kept moving forward until he found himself climbing through a small doorway into a large rectangular chamber. The ceiling of the chamber was very high, almost out of sight. How far down had he come? The light was coming from torches in metal brackets all along the walls. They seemed to have been freshly lit and were illuminating the whole chamber quite nicely. Then Adam noticed at the far end; a huge statue stood erect upon a pedestal that was in the middle of a pool. It was a large circular pool with water as black as the darkness he had just come from. The torches barely even seemed to reflect in it. It seemed to churn slightly, and Adam realized along with the humming noise there seemed to be fairly heavy air flow in the chamber, but where it was coming from he could not tell. It was warm air. He turned his attention back to the statue. It was quite bland. The pedestal seemed to be more ornately carved and decorated than the statue itself which seemed to be nothing more than a tall rounded blob. It reminded Adam of one of those ghost cartoon characters, where it was just a rounded head and the sheet covering the body. But there seemed to be no eyes or other features of any type. Adam decided to move forward. The chamber was made of the same granite rock that the last portion of the tunnel had been, only it was totally bare. No writing was scribbled around, there was nothing but empty space. Well empty except for the little pool surrounding that statue at the end.

As Adam approached closer to the statue he began to notice the carvings in it. Strange and alien hieroglyphics the likes he had never seen before. He was no archaeologist or anything, but he was sure that these symbols weren't in any kind of history or language books. They were so bizarre, twisted, and crude...almost like the same hand writing in the tunnel. He almost thought that maybe they were just scratches and gashes in the rock, but they were far to deliberate. The humming noise seemed even louder near the statue and Adam suddenly began to feel increasingly uneasy. Something felt very wrong about the whole thing. This room shouldn’t exist. It couldn’t exist. This was something out of a dream, maybe even a nightmare.

Then it stopped.

The room went completely quiet. Suddenly the torches all went out as if blow by a huge gust of wind, but Adam felt nothing. It was pitch black. He couldn’t see a thing and for some reason he dared not flick the lighter on. Something told him he should wait in the dark and not be seen. Then he heard it. The water in the pool sounded as if it were churning and trickling somewhere. It was slow and soft but definitely moving. Adam felt frozen with fear. He couldn’t move, nor did he want to. He could now feel wetness around his feet and realized the water, or whatever the liquid was, was moving around below him. From the sound of it it was moving past him towards the tunnel he had come through. After what felt like hours of standing in the dark, the liquid flowing steadily past him, the torches suddenly became lit again.

Adam could see the light return through his now shut eyes. He didn’t even remember shutting them, but as he opened them he felt at ease. He was still facing towards the pool and statue. The statue looked the same, though he could have sworn the carvings were glowing slightly white now. But apart from that the pool was still full of crystal clear water, showing the stone beneath. Adam’s heart skipped a beat and he felt his body become warm, cold, and shaky all at once. He turned slowly around to find himself face to face with a mass of blackness looming over him. A disembodied voice echoed around the chamber, “Hell is always open for those that deserve.”

In the Rocks

In the Rocks

It was a cold day in late November, the clouds were dark and dreary and the sun was blotted out to a dull glowing orb on the horizon as it set. Night was falling soon and as I stood with my friend Anna on the beach we began to shiver more and more. It was getting much colder very fast and so we agreed to head back to the parking lot and to our car. As we turned to leave I paused, something catching my eye off to my left. What I thought had been a flicker of light drew my attention to the mass of rocks that piled along the shore line and jutted out a little ways into the ocean. Anna paused also, seeing me stop, and followed my gaze to the rocks.

“What’s up?” She asked.

“I thought I saw something over there. A light or something.”

“Oh, well it’s probably just some kids or something.”

I nodded and was about to turn to keep walking when I saw it again. This time a definite flicker of light within the rocks. This time it lingered longer before going out. I turned to Anna, but she had seen it too.  For some reason we both felt a strange chill, but from within rather than from the cold wind around us. Something seemed very odd about that light flicking in the rocks. There were no caves over there that we knew of. We frequented this beach quite often all throughout the year and had never known there to be any caves, or even any hollows large enough for a person or larger animal. 

“Come lets go back, it’s just some kids,” Anna said again. “Cece, come on please.”

But I was transfixed. I can’t explain why but I was staring at the spot where the light had been when suddenly it came back, only this time staying lit up, and shimmering as if coming from a fire source. I still felt the chill. And I felt drawn. I wanted the fire to warm me. I was so cold. I needed to get to the fire. I began moving toward the light when Anna grabbed my hand and yanked me back. I turned to stare at her as I jerked my hand away. She was saying something but I couldn’t understand her. Her voice was muffled, as if she was talking through thick glass. I called to her but she did not seem to really hear me either. I continued walking on towards the light in the rocks, and I noticed Anna followed along.

As we got to the rocks we found a fairly large opening to a cave. The cave itself was pretty large, tall enough for us to easily stand, and spacious enough for a handful of people to sit around in. But there was no one. Only a small crackling fire in the center of the cave. A pack sat near the fire, as well as an unrolled sleeping bag and a book of matches next to it. Anna and I looked at each other. We climbed inside. Once in the cave all sounds of beach; the waves, the wind, the seagulls, had all ceased. We could see the scenery through the mouth of the cave, but could hear nothing of it at all. Now only the crackling of the little fire. We noticed too the wonderful warmth sweeping through our freezing bodies. We sat down near the fire, warming our hands and feet and staring into the flames. I wanted to speak to her. I wanted to tell her I was sorry.

“For what?” Anna asked.

“What?” I said snapping out of my daze.

“You were saying you were so sorry, over and over. For like the past five minutes...”

“Oh...I, I don’t know. I think I’m warm enough let’s go back, this is weird.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Anna sighed as she got to her feet only to stop suddenly and gasp.

“Cece, the cave. The entrance is gone!” I looked all around. There was no hole. No ocean, no beach, only solid smooth rock. This didn’t even look like the beach rock that we had entered through. 

“Ok, let’s not panic,” I said trying to stay calm. 

“Why did you insist on coming in here?” Anna yelled, clearly panicking.

“It was so cold out there, I wanted to warm up by the fire.”

“But we had no idea who’s fire it was, and it wasn’t even that cold!”

“I...I don’t know. Let’s just figure out how to get ok?”

Anna glared at me for a moment before turning her attention to the rock, feeling around for a crevice or something. I began doing the same before noticing a tangle of brush and bushes at the far side of the cave that I had not noticed before. Or maybe had not been there before? I showed Anna and we approached them.

Cold air. We both felt it as we got nearer and then we definitely felt and heard a stiff wind blowing through the bushes. I began pushing aside the branches to reveal a small opening large enough for us to fit through. But what was on the other side did not make me want to go out there.

A vast and dark snowy landscape met my eyes. Rolling hills covered in towering pines stretched as far as I could see. Anna looked through as well and gasped. We exchanged looks, glanced back at the crackling fire, and then back out to the snow. The sky was still gloomy with dark and foreboding clouds, and the wind was harsher and sharper than ever. Anna and I nodded at each other, silently agreeing to go out and figure out where we were and what was going on.  Had we been drugged? Had we been abducted? 

Once we stepped outside we knew our shorts and t-shirts from our beach attire were quite ill-suited for this weather. To make matters worse, it began snowing. We were now standing in the middle of an increasingly violent blizzard. We looked all about us, and turning round we found the cave entrance we had just exited from was now gone. This almost did not surprise me at this point, though Anna seemed to be having a brand new wave of anxiety washing over her. As we looked about for any sense of direction, we were seemingly shown the way by a far off light atop one of the distant tree covered hills. This was not a fire light though it seemed, as it was quite bright and yellow and round and was not flickering. I motioned to Anna and we began making our way as quickly as we could. The direction was against the wind, so in addition to the freezing snow we were pushing against heavy, piercing winds. Our skin was already quite frozen and I could no longer feel my feet or hands, not to mention my poor face. The far away light now appeared to be much closer. What had seemed to be possibly close to a mile off was now only just up a steeply sloping hill that we had just reached the bottom of. I began climbing haphazardly up the side, slipping and sliding with every grasp in the snow. Anna followed close behind.

After what felt like an eternity flailing through the snow we reached the top of the hill where the wind and snow had stopped almost completely. A slight breeze blew, and a single snow flake drifted serenely down here and there. And in the center of the hilltop was a small hut with only a door and a single window, from which the bright yellow light was glowing. We wasted no time getting to the door, hoping that it was at least much warmer inside than out here.

I knocked hard on the door several times. We waited, shivering nearly frozen to death but there was no answer. Anna barged through the door, “Forget it I’m going in.” I followed after her. She screamed. She was gone.

I caught myself just in time, maintaining my balance at the very edge of a cliff. I looked behind me. No door. Nothing but a vast expanse of rock. I looked back down over the edge. Anna lay at the bottom, a disturbingly far fall, laying flat against the rock floor below. Blood was pooling around her head.

“Anna!” I screamed as tears began to flood my eyes. “Anna say something! Please!”

Then I noticed a rope tied securely around a large boulder to my right. I didn’t care if it was a trap, I had to try it. I grabbed hold of the rope and slowly climbed down to where Anna lay. I ran to her and picked her up in my arms, covering myself in blood. Her head was split, her skin already graying, her heart not beating.

“Anna,” I sobbed holding her close to me, “I’m sorry...I’m so sorry, Anna...”

Tears spilled down my face for what seemed to be hours, until I heard the clatter of rocks above me. My head snapped up and I looked to see a figure standing on the cliff high above me. The cliff seemed to have become taller, and in the lighting it seemed nothing more than a black silhouette.

“Help!” I called desperately. “Help me please!” It just stood there. “Please, I need help, I don’t know what’s going on or where I am can you help me?”

It slowly raised its arm and pointed one long finger at me. I saw where the face should have been begin to shimmer and shift and suddenly the figure was right before my eyes, wearing Anna’s face, but a deeply distorted version of it. The eyes were pure black, and the mouth was grotesquely wide. The scream it emitted was ear splitting. I jumped back in shock and felt myself falling. Falling deeper, and deeper, and deeper. All was darkness around me. Thud.

I hit something soft, cool, and sandy. I heard the calls of seagulls. I heard the crashing of waves and the sound of laughter and chatter. I opened my eyes that I seemed to have shut tightly, only to be blinded by the bright sunlight. I was on the beach again. Laying on my towel in the sand. People were all around. Children running and chasing one another, while parents conversed under colorful umbrellas. The sky was clear blue, not a cloud to be seen. I had just fallen asleep. It had all be a bad dream! Anna’s towel was next to mine along with her bag and sandals.

But I could not find her. Anna was nowhere to be seen.

But what I did see was the flicker of light off to my right. In the rocks.

Not All Heroes Wear Capes Or Are Heroes

Once I took a cigarette out of a guys mouth and flicked it to the side. He glared at me and then I gave him a little boop on the nose.

"Smoking kills," I said gruffly, "I just saved your life."

He got really close to me, our noses almost touching. I know, gay right? But don't worry, you'll live. He was still glaring as he grumbled a quick thanks and then walked past, giving me a pat on the back as he walked away.

I was in many ways a hero. Saving lives was just what I did. It's all I had ever done since I was kid. It started all when I was a youngin' growing up on my grandparents' farm. My grandpa was about to shoot one of the pigs to use it for meat for the winter. But I knew I had to stop him. I told him it was wrong but my grandpa just told me to go away and go inside, and to not bother him while he was working. So I took my favorite baseball bat and hit my grandpa over the head, and then let the pig go free. My grandpa was pretty mad. I had never gotten a beating like I did that day before. My butt was red and stinging for days after. But I knew it was well worth the sacrifice for that pig. Ever since that day I knew it was my fate and destiny to fight evil doers and save lives.

Like one time I went to a bar, and one of the guys made just the worst comment to one of the waitresses. Something about her having really nice long hair. Disgusting pig. So I naturally sprang into action. I broke my glass over the mans head, and once he was good and unconscious I kicked him a few times for good measure. I said, "You're welcome," to the clearly grateful women as she stared at me with her mouth wide open and eyes wide. The look of pure admiration and appreciation. That's what I live for.

Another time this guy did not hold the door open for me as I struggled out of a coffee shop with TWO drinks in my hands. The injustice was too much to handle, and so I threw my five dollar cup of hot coffee at the man. As he cried out in pain, distracted by the boiling hot liquid dripping from his skin, I swooped in and gave him the old one two. I knocked him from his wheel chair and and smashed his face against the concrete.

"Maybe next time you'll think twice before being so self centered and not holding the door for someone," I said as I kneeled on top of him to prevent the villain from escaping.

"Why would you do this," the man whimpered like a coward.

"Just doing my job, sir, you're welcome," I got up and walked away, my heroic act enough to compensate for my spilled coffees.

This was my life. A hero. A martyr. A savior. And I was happy to do it and people just loved me. So yeah, you could say I like to beat people up. In the name of justice!

Unfortunate

The match sparked into life and briefly lit up his face as he lit his cigarette. He took a couple of drags before turning his attention back to the man tied up on the floor. He looked at him for a few seconds before smirking a bit and then bending down in front of the man, balancing on the tips of his feet. Again he stared for a few more seconds and then took another drag, then put the cigarette out on the man's cheek. The man groaned and his faced clenched up in pain but he did not scream or yell, even with his mouth gagged. He was mostly silent.

"You know," said the man tossing the cigarette butt away. "It's a shame your pretty little wife and her sister weren't here tonight. We were really looking forward to sharing their company after all this messy business was done. But what can you do. I guess we could wait for them but since your bitch ass won't tell me when they'll be back we can't really afford to hang around too long. But you know that's fine, makes it worse for you, more fun for us."

He pulled out a switchblade from his back pocket and flicked it out.

"You ever had a small, thin blade like this here stiletto slowly slid under your finger nails, Mark?"

The man's eyes slightly grew wider as he began to violently struggle at the ropes binding him.

"Calm down now, we won't get to that just yet. I was just curious. Though it seems that you haven't had that before, but seems like you know what it must be like. Yeah it is not fun let me tell you..."

Mark still struggled against the ropes and was now grunting and most likely trying to yell against his gags.

"You messed with the wrong people, Mark. See next time you...well there won't be a next time will there? I sure hope you've learned your lesson. And if you haven't, don't worry...you'll be dead very soon."

The man pulled out a small box from his jacket pocket, drawing out another cigarette and a match again and lighting it up. This time he dropped the still burning match on the ground, then took a couple of drags and tossed the burning cigarette to the curtains. The man closed the switchblade, tucked the box back into his pocket and stood back up and walked towards the kitchen where he began rummaging through the cupboards. He carelessly threw out anything he was not interested in until he seemed to finally give up his search.

"You don't have any damn tea in this house, Mark? How terribly un-classy my friend."

A car door outside slammed.

Mark's wife and her sister were home.

The man smirked. "Well now, how terribly fortunate."

The cigarette butt slowly smoldering, slowly began to heat the curtains it lay under. They ignited. The man smiled as the fire quickly began to spread.

“Well I best be on my way,” he sang loudly. “I forgot to tell you I spilled a bit of gas around the house, so sloppy of me. You take care now, Mark.”

Outside a raven flew low over a burning house while two women stood by hysterically crying as fire fighters attempted to put out the flames. It circled around surveying the situation before landing in a nearby tree, it’s back to the blazing scene, now staring at the full moon. What a peaceful night, thought the raven. But not for those folks down there. How unfortunate. Unfortunate indeed.

The Most Popular Person in the World

It was back in the 1900s when I was born into a wealthy family in the wild, wild west. My father was an inventor, he had been since he was boy. He was a brilliant man, smarter and wittier than any other you'd ever meet. He worked in his own shop in the growing town of Las Vegas. We lived in a massive home on the outskirts of the town and my father had his shop deep below the house in a huge warehouse-like basement. It was common knowledge in our family that my father had made a recent breakthrough in his work, but we did not know exactly what it was, and we were forbidden to speak of it to anyone outside.

In school I was a smart boy as well, most likely getting some of those good old brain cells from my father. However I was a rather socially awkward kid, and didn't have any friends. You might say I was the most unpopular kid in my school, even if it was small. I tried to not let it bother me, even if I didn't have friends, the other kids mostly just left me alone.

But that all changed one day.

My father rushed into my room one morning as I was about to leave for school. He looked at me seriously and sat down on my bed.

"Son, you must listen to what I say. I have made a terrible mistake...I have doomed the world...but I know I can save one person...I must save you."

I tried to ask what he was talking about but he hushed me and grabbed my hand and pulled me along. He brought me down to his shop in the basement and showed me two large objects in the middle of the room. One was what appeared to be a large glass tube, standing upright with all sorts of hoses and wires coming from it. The other object was a massive cube-like thing, all black and smooth and not very interesting.

"The glass case there, you must get inside and stay there until you hear a high pitched noise letting you know it is alright to get out. That big black box...it is something I should never have created...it was a mistake….But you will be safe inside the case."

Again I attempted to question my father but he hushed me, grabbed my hand and pulled me to the glass case. He knelt down in front of me and looked at me while he held my hands. He kissed my forehead and gave me a little push inside and closed the door.

"I love you," he mouthed to me. The sound outside was completely cut off. I could hear nothing. Suddenly I noticed movement to my side and I looked and saw that the big black cube was vibrating violently and spewing out what looked like steam. I looked back at my father just as his whole entire body seemed to disappear before my eyes, almost like dust or sand being blown away in the wind. I screamed and cried and eventually passed out. When I woke up later everything seemed normal. I pushed hard on the door of the glass case and it fell open. There was no sign of my father. I rushed upstairs.

There was nothing. The house was silent and empty. I looked outside. There was nothing. No plants. No animals. No people. No nothing. Just absolute silence. I was alone. Quite alone.

Simple Syrup

He throws it in your face and says it’s what you ordered. You know for a fact that this was not your order. You don’t eat meat products unless they are kebabs. Something about the veggies and the stick holding it all together. But this big bucket of syrup was not in any way shape or form or even made up of what you wanted to order. You are mad. You are going to complain but suddenly he winks at you and smiles. He knows the real reason for this whole messy situation. He slowly pulls out a large kebab from behind the counter waving it around like a crazy flag pole or something. A marching band enters, and it's now a parade. Your parade. What a fun day. You are happy, because kebabs make you happy, but simple syrup does not. Simple syrup makes you sad. Simple syrup is EVIL.

Choice of Slaughter

He looked back at me.  There was pain in his face.  Even he had to face the cold hard truth, just as I had to.  No other option.  No other way.

The ashes rained down and settled softly upon the ground like new fallen snow.  It was almost beautiful, but when you walked it didn't have that lovely new snow crunch, and the smell...you were instantly reminded what the reality was.  Fire, destruction, death...everything so far from beauty.  I wasn't even sure I knew what beauty was anymore. 

"Addie, look alive," said Dave quietly pointing towards a building off in the distance.

"What do you reckon is in there?"  I asked him, knowing what the answer was.

"Let's check it out, keep on your toes."

We moved slowly and cautiously towards the run down barn, rifles aimed at the ready...for anything.  As we got closer we began to hear the noises.  The raspy, heavy breathing.  The shambling of feet.  Then the smell of rot and decay began floating out towards us.  Sickening.  Saddening.  I knew what we were about to see.  It was all I could do to hold back the tears.  So many people.  So many innocent lives ruined, corrupted, destroyed.  All in a single night.

We approached the door, one of us on each side.  Dave looked at me, and I looked back.  Our eyes met.  He nodded and we both rushed in.  It was over quickly.  A few ringing gunshots, a couple of shrieks and cries, and it was done.  Dave went outside to radio HQ a status report.  I was glued where I was.  I had killed so many.  So many before.  But this was...different.  It was a family.  Or so it seemed.  What appeared to be a mother and father...and a child.  A small, weak child, couldn't have been more than six or seven years old.  I couldn't hold it in.  A single tear rolled down my cheek and I choked slightly as I began to sob. 

"Addie, let's roll."

"I just need a minute, Dave." 

He nodded and walked out. 

This was it.  All the training, the boot camp, even the two deployments...none of them were close to this.  This was in her own town.  Her own town, ravaged by by a chemical attack.  It had made everyone sick.  It had made them rabid.  So her she was, with Dave, and the other squads hunting them down and slaughtering them.  They didn't have a choice. 

There was no other choice...