The House part one
"Confess your sins," the madman tells me, "and be saved." The water drips on my forehead again. I can't see where it is coming from, but it is annoying. Not as annoying as being strapped down and yelled at by a deranged lunatic, but annoying.
"I don't have anything to confess," I say. "You've lost your mind, David. You don't have to do this."
"I have to save you," David tells me. "I have to hear your confession." He lifts a rod from a rack of recognizable torture devices. He smacks the palm of his hand as he walks closer to me.
"You can't save me," I tell him. "But, I can save you. Let me go, David. Let me go before my friends find me." He lifts the rod and brings it down across my ribs. If I weren't strapped down, I would double over in pain. He asks again for my confession while I regain my composure. I tell him, "If they find me like this, they might kill you. You need to let me go." His answer is to strike me again. I guess I can't blame him. I'm not exactly cooperating with him, either.
David strikes me across the face. My tongue runs itself across my teeth, making sure all of them are still there. I feel the tingling numbness from my cheek to my eye. Cold water continues to drip on my forehead. I blink the pain and water from my eyes and ask him what he wants me to confess. David kneels next to me and his voice lowers. He isn't whispering, but he isn't yelling anymore. "Just tell me," he says as if we were conspiring together, "just tell me your sins."
Part 1, In Which Our Hero Confesses How It All Began
Six months ago, I was a weekend security guard for a Pennsylvania coal mining company. It was my job to make sure that the locals didn't venture into the mine shafts. The company was less concerned that a few chunks of coal would be pilfered than that someone would end up hurt or lost. I had a simple routine, a simple life.
Sometimes I would find people and shoo them away. But, on this day the person I found didn't shoo. She was a strange woman with long dark hair and big brown eyes dressed in a man's business suit. "I'm sorry, you can't be down here," she told me. But, wasn't that my line? I tried to point this out to the strangely dressed woman, but she was insistent that there was something too dangerous in the mine. Again, that was what I was supposed to protect her from.
As we were arguing, a man came from deeper in the mineshaft. A broad shouldered, hawk nosed man, carrying a sledgehammer. He apologized as he passed and told us he was going to get the horses. I pointed out that he wasn't allowed down there either. "That doesn't matter," the woman insisted, "he isn't down there anymore." She had a point, except that the made me wonder who else might be down there and the woman wouldn't leave so that I could find out.
We argued some more and I started to push past her when I saw two more people walking toward me. They were walking briskly. One was a man who kept looking over his shoulder. In front of him was a woman of short stature, or possibly a very strong girl, dressed in a dirty white dress and with an unconscious man over her shoulders. As they passed the tiny powerhouse said just one word: "Boom."
Before I could even wonder what that meant, the woman I had been arguing with had spun me around and was leading and pushing me back toward the exit. "You know," she said, "you're right. We really shouldn't be down here. Let's talk about this outside."
By the way they were hurrying, I half expected a huge dramatic explosion. I was half wrong. As the blast erupted, the mine crumbled and hot sand blew out of the opening, covering all of us. The short one yelped, "Ace!" once the rumbling stopped. She seemed excited by the devastation.
"What is going on here?" I demanded to know. But, none of them were interested in telling me. The first one had gone to get their horses, and the others just sort of waited around.
The second man and the woman who waylaid me in the shaft shared cigarettes. The small woman sat upon the unconscious man. On occasion he would stir and she would hit him over the head with a sock filled with beans. At least, I thought they were beans. She later showed me that it was dried corn.
One of the times the girl knocked her prisoner unconscious I asked her to stop. She offered to cut his throat instead of continually quieting him, but all three of us objected to that. The man explained, "Now, Ace, you know that the Doc is going to want to talk to him."
We had a lot of time. Eventually, after the dust settled and boredom set in, the normal sized woman in the suit agreed to talk to me. She told me that her name was Deliani, and the man with her was Jason. They knew the prisoner by the name Elton Huffman. "We don't know if that is his real name," Jason explained as he lit a new cigarette, "But that is what his followers called him."
"We gave them a good scare in Pittsburgh," Ace commented from her perch, "And let some of them escape so that we could follow them here. He is the last one."
"We think," Delianni adds. "We think he is the last one, Ace. But he might not be. That is why the Doc needs to question him. We need to be certain." Ace reluctantly agrees to keep the prisoner instead of murdering him. I'm happy for that. If they kill him, they might kill me for witnessing it. It was with that realization that I also came to the assumption that I couldn't just leave. I was a part of whatever was going on.
"My name is Kelly," I told them, "and you still haven't explained why you are here."
By the time the Doc got back with the horses, the other three had explained to me that they were part of a secret society called The Travelers of Rose. Their leader, Rose, sent them all over the world fighting against evil cults and other dangerous organizations. Huffman was in league with a Doctor Keller who was experimenting with people and animals. Men named Murray and Vincent were sent to deal with Keller while Delianni, Ace, Jason and the Doc were sent to find Huffman. They hoped that the entire organization was led by Huffman and Keller, but they weren't certain.
"So, that explains why we are here," Jason said as he lit a new cigarette, "How about you tell us what you are doing here."
"I work here," I explained. "It is my job to guard the mine shafts on the weekends." All four of them looked at the collapsed and ruined entrance to the mine.
"So," Ace asked me, "You are looking for work?"
"Ace," Delianni said, a bit of the tone of a scolding mother in her voice. While we had been talking Ace tied Huffman's hands and sat him with his back to a tree. She and Jason pointed guns at him while Delianni and the Doc talked to him. I stood off to one side and hoped that no one got shot. Especially me.
The Doc took his sledgehammer from his saddlebags and dragged the handle in the dirt. He engraved a circle around Huffman and whispered something that I couldn't make out. He stamped the head of the hammer on the ground in an intimidating fashion and then began questioning the prisoner.
Delianni was nicer, sort of. She was rather polite but direct in her questions. She pointed out that Jason and Ace were ready to kill Huffman. Even mentioned that they had to stop Ace from slitting his throat while he was knocked out. The woman in the strange clothing said that Huffman didn't have to die, and promised that he wouldn't if he cooperated with them. I hoped he would take her up on her offer.
Huffman answered all of their questions. He revealed that his role in the organization was recruiting and sustaining the cult in secret. The cult then supported Doctor Keller's experiments. Those experiments were supposed to lead to the creation of appropriate sacrifices. And, it was a man named Shawn Titus who was making arrangements for the proper place and time for the sacrifices to be made.
In exchange for his own life, Huffman told the quartet that Shawn Titus was waiting for a communication from Doctor Keller and himself. Titus is currently in Allentown. After the Doc informed the rest of them that he believed that Huffman was speaking the truth, Jason asked if they were going to Allentown.
"Someone else will take care of it," Delianni told him. "We'll report it to Rose. She'll decide what to do about it. Now, we just have to take care of him." Huffman objected, as did I. They had promised that he could live if he cooperated, and he did. Delianni patted Huffman on the cheek and said, "I promised. And, I'll keep that promise. We aren't going to kill you." She stepped back and nodded to Ace. Before I could shout a warning, Huffman was bludgeoned unconscious again.
Jason and the Doc pulled an empty coal cart to the collapsed mine entrance. Together, with an impossibly small amount of effort, the two of them upended the cart and swung it into the rubble. They both fetched debris and began to bury it. Ace dragged Huffman to the cart and placed him, almost protectively, inside. Delianni directed them in the placement of debris. It was very carefully designed to look natural. While they carried out her orders, she stepped forward and began chanting in a strange tongue.
It was at this time that I thought I might flee. All four of them were occupied. And, if burying Huffman alive was their way of keeping a promise not to kill them, what might they do to me? I didn't make it half a dozen steps before a gunshot and exploding bark from a nearby tree stopped me.
"You need to stick around," the Doc told me. Smoke was still coming out of his pistol.
I returned to the rest of the group. "You are a lucky man today, Mister Kelly," Ace told me. I didn't feel very lucky and said so. I also told her that the Mister was unnecessary at this point. Ace explained, "You are lucky that the Doc shot at you. I would not have missed."
"I missed him on purpose," the Doc claimed.
"You do that a lot." The tiny woman countered. The Doc didn't have further retort. The color in his face could have been anger or embarrassment. I didn't press the issue.
Delianni finished whatever she was doing and brushed the dirt off of her suit as she stood up. "I'm sorry," she told me, "but you need to come with us, Mister Kelly."
to be continued ...
"I don't have anything to confess," I say. "You've lost your mind, David. You don't have to do this."
"I have to save you," David tells me. "I have to hear your confession." He lifts a rod from a rack of recognizable torture devices. He smacks the palm of his hand as he walks closer to me.
"You can't save me," I tell him. "But, I can save you. Let me go, David. Let me go before my friends find me." He lifts the rod and brings it down across my ribs. If I weren't strapped down, I would double over in pain. He asks again for my confession while I regain my composure. I tell him, "If they find me like this, they might kill you. You need to let me go." His answer is to strike me again. I guess I can't blame him. I'm not exactly cooperating with him, either.
David strikes me across the face. My tongue runs itself across my teeth, making sure all of them are still there. I feel the tingling numbness from my cheek to my eye. Cold water continues to drip on my forehead. I blink the pain and water from my eyes and ask him what he wants me to confess. David kneels next to me and his voice lowers. He isn't whispering, but he isn't yelling anymore. "Just tell me," he says as if we were conspiring together, "just tell me your sins."
Part 1, In Which Our Hero Confesses How It All Began
Six months ago, I was a weekend security guard for a Pennsylvania coal mining company. It was my job to make sure that the locals didn't venture into the mine shafts. The company was less concerned that a few chunks of coal would be pilfered than that someone would end up hurt or lost. I had a simple routine, a simple life.
Sometimes I would find people and shoo them away. But, on this day the person I found didn't shoo. She was a strange woman with long dark hair and big brown eyes dressed in a man's business suit. "I'm sorry, you can't be down here," she told me. But, wasn't that my line? I tried to point this out to the strangely dressed woman, but she was insistent that there was something too dangerous in the mine. Again, that was what I was supposed to protect her from.
As we were arguing, a man came from deeper in the mineshaft. A broad shouldered, hawk nosed man, carrying a sledgehammer. He apologized as he passed and told us he was going to get the horses. I pointed out that he wasn't allowed down there either. "That doesn't matter," the woman insisted, "he isn't down there anymore." She had a point, except that the made me wonder who else might be down there and the woman wouldn't leave so that I could find out.
We argued some more and I started to push past her when I saw two more people walking toward me. They were walking briskly. One was a man who kept looking over his shoulder. In front of him was a woman of short stature, or possibly a very strong girl, dressed in a dirty white dress and with an unconscious man over her shoulders. As they passed the tiny powerhouse said just one word: "Boom."
Before I could even wonder what that meant, the woman I had been arguing with had spun me around and was leading and pushing me back toward the exit. "You know," she said, "you're right. We really shouldn't be down here. Let's talk about this outside."
By the way they were hurrying, I half expected a huge dramatic explosion. I was half wrong. As the blast erupted, the mine crumbled and hot sand blew out of the opening, covering all of us. The short one yelped, "Ace!" once the rumbling stopped. She seemed excited by the devastation.
"What is going on here?" I demanded to know. But, none of them were interested in telling me. The first one had gone to get their horses, and the others just sort of waited around.
The second man and the woman who waylaid me in the shaft shared cigarettes. The small woman sat upon the unconscious man. On occasion he would stir and she would hit him over the head with a sock filled with beans. At least, I thought they were beans. She later showed me that it was dried corn.
One of the times the girl knocked her prisoner unconscious I asked her to stop. She offered to cut his throat instead of continually quieting him, but all three of us objected to that. The man explained, "Now, Ace, you know that the Doc is going to want to talk to him."
We had a lot of time. Eventually, after the dust settled and boredom set in, the normal sized woman in the suit agreed to talk to me. She told me that her name was Deliani, and the man with her was Jason. They knew the prisoner by the name Elton Huffman. "We don't know if that is his real name," Jason explained as he lit a new cigarette, "But that is what his followers called him."
"We gave them a good scare in Pittsburgh," Ace commented from her perch, "And let some of them escape so that we could follow them here. He is the last one."
"We think," Delianni adds. "We think he is the last one, Ace. But he might not be. That is why the Doc needs to question him. We need to be certain." Ace reluctantly agrees to keep the prisoner instead of murdering him. I'm happy for that. If they kill him, they might kill me for witnessing it. It was with that realization that I also came to the assumption that I couldn't just leave. I was a part of whatever was going on.
"My name is Kelly," I told them, "and you still haven't explained why you are here."
By the time the Doc got back with the horses, the other three had explained to me that they were part of a secret society called The Travelers of Rose. Their leader, Rose, sent them all over the world fighting against evil cults and other dangerous organizations. Huffman was in league with a Doctor Keller who was experimenting with people and animals. Men named Murray and Vincent were sent to deal with Keller while Delianni, Ace, Jason and the Doc were sent to find Huffman. They hoped that the entire organization was led by Huffman and Keller, but they weren't certain.
"So, that explains why we are here," Jason said as he lit a new cigarette, "How about you tell us what you are doing here."
"I work here," I explained. "It is my job to guard the mine shafts on the weekends." All four of them looked at the collapsed and ruined entrance to the mine.
"So," Ace asked me, "You are looking for work?"
"Ace," Delianni said, a bit of the tone of a scolding mother in her voice. While we had been talking Ace tied Huffman's hands and sat him with his back to a tree. She and Jason pointed guns at him while Delianni and the Doc talked to him. I stood off to one side and hoped that no one got shot. Especially me.
The Doc took his sledgehammer from his saddlebags and dragged the handle in the dirt. He engraved a circle around Huffman and whispered something that I couldn't make out. He stamped the head of the hammer on the ground in an intimidating fashion and then began questioning the prisoner.
Delianni was nicer, sort of. She was rather polite but direct in her questions. She pointed out that Jason and Ace were ready to kill Huffman. Even mentioned that they had to stop Ace from slitting his throat while he was knocked out. The woman in the strange clothing said that Huffman didn't have to die, and promised that he wouldn't if he cooperated with them. I hoped he would take her up on her offer.
Huffman answered all of their questions. He revealed that his role in the organization was recruiting and sustaining the cult in secret. The cult then supported Doctor Keller's experiments. Those experiments were supposed to lead to the creation of appropriate sacrifices. And, it was a man named Shawn Titus who was making arrangements for the proper place and time for the sacrifices to be made.
In exchange for his own life, Huffman told the quartet that Shawn Titus was waiting for a communication from Doctor Keller and himself. Titus is currently in Allentown. After the Doc informed the rest of them that he believed that Huffman was speaking the truth, Jason asked if they were going to Allentown.
"Someone else will take care of it," Delianni told him. "We'll report it to Rose. She'll decide what to do about it. Now, we just have to take care of him." Huffman objected, as did I. They had promised that he could live if he cooperated, and he did. Delianni patted Huffman on the cheek and said, "I promised. And, I'll keep that promise. We aren't going to kill you." She stepped back and nodded to Ace. Before I could shout a warning, Huffman was bludgeoned unconscious again.
Jason and the Doc pulled an empty coal cart to the collapsed mine entrance. Together, with an impossibly small amount of effort, the two of them upended the cart and swung it into the rubble. They both fetched debris and began to bury it. Ace dragged Huffman to the cart and placed him, almost protectively, inside. Delianni directed them in the placement of debris. It was very carefully designed to look natural. While they carried out her orders, she stepped forward and began chanting in a strange tongue.
It was at this time that I thought I might flee. All four of them were occupied. And, if burying Huffman alive was their way of keeping a promise not to kill them, what might they do to me? I didn't make it half a dozen steps before a gunshot and exploding bark from a nearby tree stopped me.
"You need to stick around," the Doc told me. Smoke was still coming out of his pistol.
I returned to the rest of the group. "You are a lucky man today, Mister Kelly," Ace told me. I didn't feel very lucky and said so. I also told her that the Mister was unnecessary at this point. Ace explained, "You are lucky that the Doc shot at you. I would not have missed."
"I missed him on purpose," the Doc claimed.
"You do that a lot." The tiny woman countered. The Doc didn't have further retort. The color in his face could have been anger or embarrassment. I didn't press the issue.
Delianni finished whatever she was doing and brushed the dirt off of her suit as she stood up. "I'm sorry," she told me, "but you need to come with us, Mister Kelly."
to be continued ...