|
|
Ramona trembled with terror as she huddled in a corner of the white room. Again and again she had searched the room for some clue that might reveal what was happening to her. Close examination of the room had revealed nothing but cold, smooth white walls, ceiling, and floor with no doors or windows anywhere. It was little more than the interior of a white cube. Light seemed to pass though the walls from without as if she were inside a squared ping-pong ball. The illusion became complete as the lines of intersection between the walls blurred before her vision. The white room was totally devoid of warmth or comfort.
Ramona didn't know how long she had been here. The last thing she remembered was the fight in the alley, but when that had been was lost to her. Ramona's naked body ached from head to toe and was covered with countless seeping wounds. She found the stench from them nearly overwhelming. She recognized the symbols of power she had drawn, now only scribbles of filth. The room frightened her. Her physical condition and mental confusion frightened her. But most frightening of all, she felt totally powerless!
"My dear, I am so disappointed in you." Stephen Alzis stood quietly in the middle of the room. "I had such great expectations of you. I gave you such a simple task and you failed me. If I cannot trust you to complete such a simple task, how can I ever trust you at all? It is so heartbreaking. Can you imagine such heartache?"
Ramona's heart stopped beating. Excruciating pain exploded through her body from the center of her chest, as if a huge claw was trying to crush her heart. She writhed on the floor, screaming soundlessly. Jagged black edges began to constrict the field of her vision.
"Please, my Lord! Mercy!" thought Ramona, all power of speech lost to the agony in her chest.
"Mercy? Now that is an interesting concept, isn't it," said Alzis thoughtfully. "Merciful, to be forgiving... I suppose I could be merciful if I felt you hadn't failed me intentionally. And if I thought you were truly sorry for having failed me. Tell me, dear Ramona, did you intentionally fail me? Are you truly sorry? Would you like to serve me again?"
"Oh yes, my Lord!" screamed Ramona's agonized mind. "I am so sorry! I never meant to fail--he was too strong. Please let me serve you again. I will never fail you again, I swear." Ramona writhed and convulsed across the floor as the pain increased exponentially with each passing second. She could no longer see Alzis. Her vision was a field of exploding stars. Surely her chest would explode any moment.
Then it stopped.
Ramona gasped as she crawled to Alzis' feet. Prostrate, she kissed his shoes as she wept.
"Thank you, my Lord," Ramona cried passionately. "I'll do whatever you say. I will never fail you again."
"I know you won't, my dear," spoke Alzis tenderly. "You see, the task I have for you now is very simple. You will serve me by providing love for those who have yearned so long for it. It will be impossible for you to fail at this task. Am I not merciful?" Alzis smiled as he slowly vanished.
With horror, Ramona watched the white room became transparent and then vanish. In its place was a huge circular pit easily a hundred yards in diameter. Ramona stood in the center of the pit surrounded by an immense horde of hellish half-human abominations howling with lust and madness. Terrified, Ramona looked up at the mouth of the pit where Alzis stood watching.
"Please, Lord! Don't leave me here!" Ramona screamed as the mouth of the pit pulled away until it also vanished. The depraved horde advanced.
"Serve me well, my dear. I'll be watching."
Bobbi tensed at the window.
"We have problems, folks. Lepus, I told you you shouldn't have shot that wino. It looks like every wino in town has come to avenge him."
Lepus ran to the window and looked out. The street was teeming with human derelicts; each armed with a club or a piece of pipe or some other piece of debris. They were coming out of the sewers and the alleys, from around the corners, all converging on the building.
"Fuck! What is this shit?" cursed Lepus. "Get ready, people. They're gonna be on us any minute now."
Harvey pulled his Desert Eagle. He'd often been told what a poor choice it was for a field gun, but as he listened to the tromp of countless footsteps coming up the stairs outside the apartment, he was glad to feel its weight. The shit was definitely about to hit the fan!
"Damn!" shouted Harvey, "Somebody better do something fast!"
"Why, Harvey, I would be glad to help." Robert Hubert stepped out of thin air. "You can have what's behind Door #1," Hubert gestured towards the hallway door, "or you can have what's behind Door #2." A black door materialized in the wall where none had been before.
"The choice is yours," said Hubert as he stepped back into thin air.
The black door shimmered in the wall. Thuds and crashes began to resound from the apartment's entrance door. A crack appeared on its surface.
Harvey looked at the crack in the door, then at the black door in the wall.
"FUCK! FUCK!! FUCK!!!"
Back
to the Challenge Home Page
