Outpost 13: Desolace Series III

Prologue

Up until now, in the Desolace series, we have gotten our first look at the serial killer known as The Headhunter. He is likely the most terrifying individual you have ever encountered; a prime example of what true evil really is. He abducts, tortures, and maims his victims, keeping their heads as gruesome trophies. Then he taunts the police by leaving the headless corpses of his victims displayed for the entire world to see.

Two high school seniors find out about him after fooling around with an Ouija board one night, accidentally contacting a real spirit; the ghost of one of his victims. The apparition leads Katie and Julie through the woods to show them her killer, and the girls make a startling discovery. They recognize the man as their school bus driver.

A strange entity enters the picture, introducing itself to the killer as the Black Knight. He enlists the aid of The Headhunter, bringing him through a portal into the parallel world of Desolace.

He awakens in this new world, and is instructed by the Black Knight to abduct people to work in a place known as The Factory. Doing the Black Knight's bidding, his resentment grows every time he restrains himself from killing.

Back on Earth, Katie has what she believes to be a dream. In this visage she meets a tall, pale sorcerer that calls himself Edward the White. He begs for her assistance, citing the fact that evil has gained entrance to his world from her own and he needs her help to vanquish it.

When Katie awakens, the shimmering spirit that led her to the discovery of The Headhunter is in her room, beckoning for Katie to follow her once more. Katie follows, stepping through a portal into what she thought was a dream world.

As she meets the sorcerer that appeared in her dream for the first time, he informs Katie that they must form a group of people, comprised solely of individuals from Earth. The only catch? They must all have talents that are unique within the group. This group will consist of: a magician, hunter, warrior, healer, and some type of religious person.

After speaking with Edward at length, Katie soon realizes there is a possibility that her friend, Julie, has been brought to this world. She agrees to help him for the time being; in return she asks for his help finding her friend.

Edward agrees to help Katie and they soon set off on their quest. During their travels, they encounter many strange creatures, the likes of which Katie had before considered myth. They also come across more portals that lead to Earth, each seemingly associated with different points in time. They discover that each portal leads them to a specific individual, one that they will need to form the rest of their group.

After some time, most of the group has been assembled; the only one missing is a holy person. The group continues heading north, searching for a portal that will unite them with their final member, and eventually come to the town of Loknar.

There, they discover that some of the townsfolk have disappeared recently. A town guard enlists the aid of the group, hoping they will help to locate the missing people.

Edward agrees to help find them and rallies his group to scour the countryside. As they go about their search, the group comes across a strange cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Tiny objects rotate noiselessly on the roof of the building. The door to the cabin has a strange hand-print upon it, in place of a knob. Decomposing heads sit upon the ground flanking the door, one on either side, and The Headhunter's strange, mechanical horse stands idly nearby. As the group tries to gain entry to the cabin, the story continues ...

Part One

Chapter 1

Katie forced herself to turn and look at the door, making sure to keep her eyes above the decomposing skulls. Melissa was right. Katie had never seen anything quite like it either. The doorknob wasn't a knob at all. Where one should have been, there looked to be a circular metal plate of some sort with the imprint of a hand within it.

Are we just going to stand around and admire the craftsmanship, or is someone going to try to open it? Melissa asked, making it clear that she didn't want to volunteer for the task.

Edward looked at the strange hue that Katie's face had turned after getting sick. I'll do it, he told them as he approached the door.

Melissa and Katie held their breath in anticipation; excited, and at the same time scared, of what might happen once the door was opened. Jack seemed preoccupied with something else. His gaze appeared to be fixed, not on Edward or the door, but rather on the rotting skulls on the ground.

Edward stood in front of the door, inspecting the strange mechanism that in theory would allow him entry if it were not locked. The indented handprint upon the door was either made for an abnormal hand or was crafted in such a way to allow the use of either hand. All of the finger grooves were of equal length, and the indentations for thumbs protruded off to both sides.

He made up his mind to try working the strange doorknob with his left hand. That way, if something unexpected were to happen, he wouldn't be compromising his dominant hand. Edward placed the palm of his left hand into the grooves and was immediately glad of his choice. The metal began to sear into his flesh. He fought the blinding pain, which was tempting him to pull his hand away, and turned the strange knob toward the middle of the door.

The door began to slide to the right. Edward quickly pulled his hand from it and stepped into the doorway, turning his body sideways to block the door should it try to close before everyone got inside.

Edward was about to start motioning the others to come inside when the stench in the building began to assault his senses. He choked and gagged, fighting the urge to get sick, as the overpowering aroma of piss and shit filled the air around him.

The scent had apparently rushed outside as well. Katie and Melissa were approaching with hands clamped over their mouths and fingers pinching their noses shut.

Oh my God! That smells horrible, Edward! Katie's muffled voice was barely audible behind her hand.

Melissa pushed past Katie and squeezed through the opening between Edward and the doorjamb. All she could think right now was that if there was a smell like that inside the building, someone might be in here who needed help.

As Edward continued to make sure the door wouldn't suddenly close on them, Melissa quickly glanced around the room. She saw the row of computer monitors lined up on the tables along the wall, but after a quick scan of their screens she dismissed them. Toward the back of the main room she saw a doorway and headed toward it.

Meanwhile, Katie entered the main room and stood just inside the doorway next to Edward. Both of them watched as Melissa entered the adjoining room, waiting anxiously to see what she would find.

As Melissa entered the back room, her hopes sank. It looked to be a large bedroom of sorts with many beds lining the walls, but there was nobody in here, living or dead. Excrement covered the floor near one of the beds. Attached to the frame of this bed was a frayed and bloody piece of rope that had obviously held someone captive at some point.

Edward and Katie watched as Melissa came back into the main room wearing a disappointed look on her face and shaking her head. Apparently, they were too late to save whoever had been in the other room.

As Melissa moved toward the bank of computer monitors to study them for clues, Jack finally snapped out of the fugue he was in.

He walked inside past Edward and Katie and sat down by her feet. Katie looked down at him sadly. She wondered what was going through Jack's mind right now. Was he sad? Maybe angry? She was pretty sure that one of the heads outside was that of his wife, Natasha. She had seen a few strands of hair still attached to one of the skulls, which looked a lot like Natasha's had.

Melissa made her way from monitor to monitor, and even though she saw some things that she'd never seen before, she didn't see any signs of human life. As she walked back over to join the others by the door, Jack suddenly began to act strangely aggressive.

He began to growl and bark as if he had caught the scent of danger in his nostrils. Jack stood up and stalked across the room to another strange door. It seemed to be a heavy metal door, perhaps one that led to a dungeon, which had a large metal wheel attached to it. Melissa and Katie had seen doors like this before, but only aboard large ships.

Katie walked over to the door. She was about to reach out for the wheel when Edward stopped her.

Be careful, Katie, he warned her. It could be like the door that I opened, he said with concern, holding up his burned left hand.

Katie hesitated for a moment, looking down again at Jack. Obviously something was on the other side, causing him to growl fiercely. The hairs on his back were standing straight up, from the base of his neck all the way down his tail. Deciding that they could be losing a chance to catch up to Mr. M. and get some justice, or revenge if you prefer, Katie reached out and touched the wheel with a tentative finger. When nothing happened, she grabbed the wheel firmly with both hands and tried to turn it. The wheel screeched loudly, but only moved a few inches.

I need some help, Katie said, looking toward Edward. I'm not strong enough to turn this thing by myself.

Edward relinquished his position by the door to help Katie. As he moved, the door he had been keeping open slid silently shut. The dimness of the room allowed Amber to become visible again as soon as the door closed completely. She was blinking like a strobe light almost immediately. Edward stood next to Katie and placed his hands on the wheel next to hers.

Katie looked over to see if he was ready. One. Two. Three! Katie called out. When she got to three, the two of them wrenched on the wheel. Almost as if there was no resistance in it at all, the wheel spun rapidly through their hands.

A heavy clunk resounded in the room as the wheel came to an abrupt stop. Katie grabbed a hold of the wheel once more and pulled. The thick, metal door creaked slowly open. Blinding light shone on them immediately. It took a minute for their eyes to adjust, but once it had, they noticed that Amber was not visible anymore. Before them lay a seeming endless staircase leading down. Suddenly, Katie felt as if she were about to descend into the very pits of Hell.

Chapter 2

When they reached the bottom of the long, stone staircase, they were awed by what they saw. It was an expansive chamber with walls constructed of huge stone blocks, which rose in a curving arc to the ceiling high above and down the other side. Through the middle of the chamber, running for as far as they could see in both directions, was an enormous underground river. A fifty foot wide stone walkway flanked the river on both sides. None of them could even begin to imagine how long it had taken to create such an elaborate tunnel around the river. Unless it was merely an illusion of some sort.

So, what now? Melissa asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

We follow the river, Edward said bluntly.

Well, duh! Melissa snapped sarcastically.

Which way should we go? Katie asked.

Edward studied the river for a moment, trying to make up his mind. If they followed the direction of the current they would head to the right, or what he believed to be south if he had his directions correct. Going against the current would lead them north.

They had been steadily making their way northward for most of their journey, so he assumed that they should keep doing so. Edward really wished that he could see Amber, she would know which way to go. However, since the tunnel was well lit by the same brightly glowing objects that were embedded in the walls throughout the long staircase they had just traversed, Amber wasn't visible right now. Edward had to make the decision based solely on what his gut told him.

He turned back toward the others. My instincts are telling me that we should go that way, Edward said, pointing to what he thought was north. It's the direction that Amber has been leading us for quite some time and I don't see any reason to change course now.

I wish we could see her so we would know for sure, Katie replied dismally.

They began following the river to the north, leaving the staircase that led to the surface, and potential safety, behind. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as they traveled. It was weird not being able to see the sky. They had no way of telling how long they had been walking or how far they had gone. Everything looked the same down here, and the steady drone of the river's rushing current didn't help matters much.

I don't suppose we have anything to eat, do we? Katie asked when her stomach began to rumble.

No, Edward stated sadly.

This is a bad idea! We should head back! Melissa's tone indicated that she thought their excursion through the tunnel was madness.

Jack's bark echoed off the walls of the tunnel. At first, the rest of them had dismissed it as him simply agreeing with the opinions being voiced, but shortly after the echo faded into the distance, the three of them heard another sound. A rapid clicking noise that they soon realized was the clacking of Jack's nails upon the stone pathway. It sounded as if he were running. The group turned toward the noise and saw that Jack was a good distance up the tunnel. If they had waited much longer to check on him, Jack would've been nothing more than a speck.

Wondering what had gotten him so excited, Edward shrugged his shoulders at Katie and Melissa and took off running down the path after Jack. Both Katie and Melissa let out heavy sighs before following suit and running to catch up.

Edward ran for a while, and was considering slowing to a walk to catch his breath, when he noticed that he was actually gaining on him. Jack must have stopped. Maybe he found something, Edward thought hopefully.

He slowed to a jog and then to a walk. Stopping for a moment, he bent over and put his hands on his knees, panting heavily. Melissa and Katie caught up to him moments later. They spent the next couple of minutes catching their breath. Katie was in better shape than the rest of the group and after a minute or so she was making her way over to where Jack was. Then she noticed something just beyond where he was sitting that caused her jaw to drop open in disbelief.

Embedded in the wall about fifty feet from where Jack sat was something she had never thought she would see again. Katie rubbed her eyes because she thought she was hallucinating; a mirage caused by hunger perhaps. When she finished rubbing her eyes, Katie looked again. Sure enough! It was still there!

Hey guys! Katie called to the others. "You have got to see this!"

Edward and Melissa began to make their way over to Katie. When Melissa saw the object Katie was referring to, she took off running toward it.