Chapter 6 - Part 3 (532 hits)
Category: GeneralLabels: Chapter6
Rating: 2 on 16 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Nath (w_t_a_y_s_t_r_m) (View user info) at 2006-07-13 07:48:07 EDT
Part 1 - http://www.ubersite.com/m/90340
Part 2 - http://www.ubersite.com/m/90388
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As the bright light that momentarily filled the room faded away, I found I could now see the detail where I was stood. My first assumption had been correct, as I was in a large, lobby type room, with a staircase directly in front of me, with two doors on either side of the room beneath a small balcony that had four doors on the upstairs.
The staircase went straight up to the balcony, which branched off in both directions providing access to the four upper rooms. It reminded me a lot of the opening room in the first Resident Evil game, but with much less decoration. Two of the downstairs doors were barely hanging on, with one of the upstairs ones just resting in its frame. There was no paint or paper on any of the walls and the floor was unsurfaced, with just the hardwood exposed.
"So what am I exactly?" Thoughts of a walking disease ran through my mind.
"As I said," The invisible voice was just in the room, no obvious source. "There are things you must learn."
"Such as?" My patience was growing thin, and I was becoming more and more anxious to find out what it was that was killing everyone.
"Neither of us are in the place to discuss this. Come and find me and I will explain more." The voice disappeared, leaving me stood alone in the silence.
"Where are you then?" But there was no answer.
The voice had just appeared to come from nowhere, giving me no clue at all as to where to begin looking for the person who had been speaking. But the same as with the flies, I trusted that whoever it was knew everything that I needed to.
Guessing that the person would not be in one of the rooms without a decent door on it, I went to try the rooms on the downstairs left. The first one was locked, so I left it as it was and tried the next one, which swung open.
Inside I saw what first looked like a scientists dream, but upon closer inspection seemed more like a nightmare. On the tables that lined the middle were beakers and tubes, needles and chemicals, some still, some bubbling. Lining the walls were charts with pictures of human organs and other things that I didn't understand enough to even guess at. On the far wall was a large desk with a neat line of beakers, all filled with a different liquid.
However, the room was also crawling with insects and mold. Many of the containers were covered with green moss. Where the wall met the floor along the sides of the room unhealthy looking plants and fungi were growing at random intervals, while flying insects buzzed around the room quite close to the ceiling. It didn't look as if anyone had even attempted any sort of experiment in this room for years.
There was nobody in the room, and no other doors coming off the walls, so I left it, making sure to close the door behind me. Making short work of the stairs, I decided to turn right and tried the first door I came to.
It opened a crack, but there was something behind it blocking the door from opening any further. I pushed a little harder, but was unable to budge the item. From the tight angle I was just about able to make out the smooth, metallic cover of whatever it was blocking my entrance, but there was no detail or any obvious markings to tell me what it was.
Ignoring this room I moved onto the next one. As I twisted the handle the door fell off its hinges and inwards, landing with a loud, echoing crash on the floor inside the room. I looked at my hand which was still holding the handle, which I dropped to the floor and took a step in.
The door creaked heavily as I stepped across it, but the room was almost deserted. The only thing in it was a collection of chairs that were all facing towards the right wall, which had a large world map on it. Some of the parts were coloured in a dark red, but this seemed to be pretty random, with some North American parts, a very few in Australia, a lot of Africa and Europe and some small parts of Asia. There was no pattern to it that made any sense to me at first glance, so I just ignored it and looked around some more.
On the opposite wall was a door that joined this room and the one I had just tried. With a confident stride I walked across the room and tried this one. The handle clattered around in my hand, but the door itself didn't budge.
"If every fucking door is locked, how can I find you?" I shouted out, but once again got no response.
I threw myself as hard as I could at the door, but it made no signs of moving. As I began to rub my shoulder I realised that I was just doing so through habit. The arm I had just rammed at the door with was feeling fine. The impact pain and the ache just didn't exist.
Feeling more comforted by rubbing it better anyway I left the room and walked back across the top of the stairs to the other side of the house. The first door was the one that had just been placed in the frame, so with a quick glance in I saw nothing, just a deserted room.
"Must be you, then." I said to the final door that I stood in front of. I reached out and twisted the handle, turned and pushed it open. The second the door was just an inch open, I heard a hum of music coming from inside. The door swung inwards to the most lavishly decorated room in the house.
In the middle of it all was a large rocking chair, with a man sat in, smiling as he rocked backwards and forwards in careful motions.
"About time you got here." He said as his smiled widened. "Come in. Sit down. Learn your family tree."
I carefully stepped in, pushing the door closed behind me.
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The room was lined with old, Victorian looking wallpaper, which was brightly coloured and seemed to give more light to the room. Next to the window was a desk with some pieces of old paper scattered across, along with a record player, clearly the source of the music. The papers had clearly come from two of the open drawers that were in the desk that seemed to be overfilling with the old sheets. The floor was covered with a rich, thick, brown carpet that ran across the whole width of the room. It was a complete shock to find a room like this in such a house.
The man pointed to a chair that was behind the door that I dragged out a little bit and sat down in opposite him. It was a bit uncomfortable having him stare at me so intently with that smile, but if he had the answers that I needed, I was willing to let him.
"What about my family tree?" I asked. "What do they have to do with this?"
"At the end of this song." I concentrated more on the music, hearing a quietly played metal track, but it was one that I didn't recognise.
After a few minutes the music faded away and then stopped completely.
"Do you like Savatage?" The man asked me.
"Never heard of them." I said, feeling uncomfortable at having to mention a metal band I'd never heard of. "But it sounded okay."
"Of course it did." The man smiled even wider. "I love tribute songs."
"Who was it a tribute to?"
"Soon, soon." The man got up for the first time and opened another draw in his desk, lifting out a can of Dr. Pepper. "Dr. Pepper?"
"Not for me. Can you just tell me what's going on?"
"Of course. Sorry." He took his seat and opened his can with a hiss. "Your family tree. What do you know about it?"
"Nothing. Except for those who I've met."
"You've never looked into it?"
"No." I answered. "I've never felt the need to."
"Correct." He said it like I could have possibly got my own feelings wrong. "And I would bet good money they should you ask any of your family, none of them have ever felt the need to either. And it's a good job too."
"Why?" I was getting annoyed. I was just wishing he would get on and tell me.
"Because I need you alive. If you'd ever decided to kill yourself now you'd have been very successful. And if you had, we'd have had to wait for another couple of decades."
"Dude, seriously." I finally had enough. "Just tell me what the hell is going on. I'm getting pissed off now."
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm getting to it, I promise." He answered, his smile fading slightly. "As you can see, I've been doing lots of research to ensure that you are who I wanted," He swung his hand absently towards his desk with the papers. "And based on the journey here, I'd say that I got it spot on."
"Well done." I was close to the point where I would begin swinging fists at the man.
"You see I had to go through over five hundred generations of your family history to track you down. Going right back to middle-eastern cities, where your bloodline began." He took a long sip from his can, draining most of the Dr. Pepper. "Thirsty work."
"This isn't answering my question. I'm not bothered about my family history."
"I know. But it's of utmost important to what we have planned."
"Who's we?"
"You, me and the two others. Did you not meet them?"
"I meet someone on the steps. Thin man, very old."
"Right." The man said. "And there are two others. One should have been in their lab."
"You mean someone actually uses that place?"
"Of course."
"And was there no-one in the war room?"
"War room? The one with the map? No."
"I wonder where those two have got to. Well anyway, those three will be your accomplices in this task. Actually, that's not the correct terminology. You will in charge of them."
"I don't want to be. I just want to know why I'm killing everyone."
"Why? Does it bother you?" He asked. "Honestly?"
I thought long and hard and suddenly realised that it didn't. I had no remorse over all those people who had died. Even the children in the streets. Nothing.
"I guess I don't. But that doesn't stop me wanting to know why."
"Well if he isn't out killing people," The man smiled wider than ever before. "What else is Death supposed to do?"
User Reviews
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2006-07-18 16:34:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I <3 Nath
Submitted by sinna (user info) at 2006-07-14 06:15:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Going well. The part with the main character walking round exploring the rooms reminded me a hell of a lot of Resident Evil (I realize you already made that comparison). I found myself thinking, "right, remember the map's in there, that might be part of a puzzle. Remember the lab's there, that'll come up again."
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-07-13 11:53:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2006-07-13 11:32:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Cool.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-07-13 09:53:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yup, keep 'em coming. And here I thought this series was starting off as a crazy office post.
Submitted by phuzzygish (user info) at 2006-07-13 09:04:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You're doing very well, keep it up...
Submitted by w_t_a_y_s_t_r_m (user info) at 2006-07-13 08:50:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I really enjoyed writing it.
I've always wanted to be a more serious writer, but tend to find myself slipping into a more basic style. Think because I rush and don't really concentrate. Decided to try something for a different for a while to see if I can actually do it.
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2006-07-13 08:48:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It's more Stephen King than Pratchett. Was it hard for you to write this? I've never taken you for the type of writer that enjoys going into detail about a charachters environment.
Submitted by w_t_a_y_s_t_r_m (user info) at 2006-07-13 08:20:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Maybe I should more of them
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2006-07-13 08:13:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Mort is Susan's father...Ive read far too many Pratchett books, I know all this shit off by heart.
Submitted by w_t_a_y_s_t_r_m (user info) at 2006-07-13 08:07:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
This will be in a different direction to that (hopefully). The only pratchett book I read was Mort
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-07-13 08:05:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
PLUS FUCKING TWO.
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2006-07-13 08:04:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by w_t_a_y_s_t_r_m (user info) at 2006-07-13 07:59:01 (#)
Ranking: 0
Is this similiar to a pratchett story?
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Susan Sto Helit is Death's grandaughter and occasional stand-in when hes busy or distracted in the Dicsworld series.
Submitted by DCWoody (user info) at 2006-07-13 08:01:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Girl finds out her grandfathers Death, a bit similar, but quite different too. Erm.
'Music with Rocks In' I'm pretty sre its that one.
Submitted by w_t_a_y_s_t_r_m (user info) at 2006-07-13 07:59:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by DCWoody (user info) at 2006-07-13 07:55:06 (#)
Ranking: 2
Saw it coming, as soonas the guy mentioned family history for some reason. Terry Pratcfhett mebe.
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Is this similiar to a pratchett story?
Submitted by DCWoody (user info) at 2006-07-13 07:55:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Saw it coming, as soonas the guy mentioned family history for some reason. Terry Pratcfhett mebe.