16.7.2006
The Deadly Game
The Deadly Game
http://www.netsaga.is/media/files/Roll.mp3
Four innocent people are about to go on a journey through hell and near damnation for no fault of their own.
The only reason they have been chosen for this deadly task is that they have turned up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The four victims are unaware of the dangers ahead as they approach each other along a quiet desert road.
Driving his campervan is Steven with his girlfriend Zo and her younger sister Becky.
Coming in the opposite direction is Joe in his pickup truck.
It's one o'clock in the morning and their nightmare is just about to begin.
- - - - -
A brilliant moon gave the desert the appearance of a forbidden planet.
Zo and Becky were taking pictures.
"Hey Zo, take a look over there", said Steven, pointing in the opposite direction.
"Can you see what I think I'm seeing?"
"It looks like the angel of death galloping across the desert", said Zo and they both laughed.
"It looks like the angel of death galloping across the desert", said Zo and they both laughed.
The hooded rider changed its course and started heading for the campervan.
As it came clearly into view Zo screamed and shouted at Steven to slow down.
He slammed his foot on the brakes but there was no response.
The steering wheel snapped, the van swayed from side to side and in his panic Steven didn't see Joe speeding towards him.
It was a head-on collision.
Both vehicles were smashed beyond recognition.
Instead of being cut to pieces however, the victims found themselves lying next to their vehicles, dazed but unmarked.
Steven rubbed his eyes and looked across the road to see what had happened to the other driver.
Joe had stood up, brushed himself down and was stretching out his arms as if to say
"what the bloody hell is going on?"
Before anybody could respond, Joe starting gesturing furiously at something coming towards them on the road.
"It's coming back! It's coming back!"
he shouted and took off.
Having seen the angel of death once that night, Steven didn't fancy a second encounter.
He grabbed Zo and Becky and sped after Joe into the desert.
From the shelter of some rocks they looked back nervously.
They could see nothing but the sound of the horse's hooves was still ringing in their ears.
"Man, what the hell was that chasing us? I haven't run that fast since high school",
Joe said excitedly.
The others were too dumbfounded and out of breath to respond.
By the laws of nature they should be dead but they were alive and they didn't know why.
Then Zo suddenly exclaimed,
"Listen!
Did you hear that?
I'm sure that's a siren".
"It can't be", said Joe.
"How could they have gotten here so fast?"
"Who cares", said Steven.
"Let's just get the hell out of here".
With that they all jumped up and headed back towards the scene of the crash.
The flashing lights of emergency vehicles lifted their spirits.
They began to shout and wave at the rescuers until Steven, in a strange voice, told everyone to stop.
"Don't you think it's a bit strange nobody's seen us or heard all the noise we've been making?"
"What do you me-...?" asked Zo, unable to finish her sentence as she watched Becky run to greet one of the rescuers, trip just in front of him and fall straight through him as if she was an invisible flurry of air.
Steven and Joe stood stock still in disbelief while Zo, in a state of shock, starting running around, laughing uncontrollably.
Steven pulled himself together and restrained her before she lost her cool completely.
"Look!" said Joe, pointing at the ambulance.
"They're taking our bodies inside".
Becky saw bits of her clothing under one of the blankets and started to cry.
Zo ran over to comfort her and as she held her sister she counted the number of bodies being placed in the ambulance.
Then counted them again.
There were five bodies.
"Did you have a passenger with you?" she asked Joe.
"No".
"Then why are there five bodies when there's only four of us?" demanded Zo, as if it was quite normal that their corpses should be wrapped up on stretchers.
Joe and Steven, invisible to the paramedics, examined the bodies.
Jumping out of the ambulance, they told Zo that the fifth body was a priest.
The appearance of a dead priest confounded the unreality of the situation.
The four found themselves squabbling as the rescue workers finished clearing the site and prepared to leave.
Then they found themselves alone again, wondering what they should do.
"Oh no!" Becky murmured.
"What's wrong?" Zo asked.
"I think the horseman is coming back", Becky replied quietly.
A nervous giggle followed, then silence.
The victims focused on the horseman.
"Let's keep calm", said Joe.
"This horseman can't do anything to us because we're already dead, right?"
Joe's bravado gained apprehensive approval but that soon faded as they heard the horseman galloping towards them.
They started walking away into the desert.
Then they accelerated into a steady trot which finally turned into a desperate pelt.
From nowhere the horseman appeared behind them.
Becky was slowly falling behind.
Steven turned back and was encouraging her to hurry when the horseman took out a sword and took a wild swing at Becky's head.
Steven knew the next strike would be fatal.
He tore off his large buckled belt and threw it at the horseman, knocking the sword out of his hand.
It landed in front of Becky who fell over.
At that moment, to everyone's amazement, the horseman disappeared.
Becky didn't have a clue what had happened to her.
Steven was congratulated on his quick thinking and Becky began inspecting the sword.
There were engravings of patterns and letters she didn't understand.
As she was staring at them, Steven saw an electrical discharge shoot from the blade.
Becky seemed blissfully unaware of it as her skin darkened and sagging sprouts of white hair appeared around her forehead.
Steven leapt forward to grab the sword from her but Becky pushed him away.
Electricity seemed to engulf Becky's whole body as she became invisible behind a cloud of smoke and burning flesh.
Zo caught her just before she collapsed, still holding the sword.
She was unharmed except that she looked far older than her seventeen years.
Without warning a sand storm blew up.
With no time to find shelter, the three adults huddled around Becky.
The storm seemed to go on for ever.
Exhausted, the victims fell asleep and only awoke after what seemed like hours.
It was still dark but something was different and not just because of the storm.
The landscape had changed: they were surrounded by large rocky outcrops, as if they had been transported somewhere else as they slept.
Becky was the last to wake.
She looked calm and serene and told her sister she was fine.
Then she announced that she knew why they were there.
"We were part of a deadly game we had no control over - until now."
"What game?
Who's playing it?" asked Zo, Steven and Joe in one voice.
"The game was our deaths to save the life of another", Becky said and stopped.
"I can't say any more until we reach our next destination.
Beyond this outcrop there's a hill and beyond that is an abandoned mining town.
That's where we're going."
Confused and doubtful but too tired to argue, the three adults followed Becky towards the old town.
As they approached the base of the hill the atmosphere changed.
It was colder and more hostile.
After negotiating their way up past huts dotted about the slopes, they finally reached the summit.
"There's the town", announced Becky.
"It reminds me of a creepy film set", Joe commented.
"Let's go!" said Becky and it was clearly a command.
As she guided them down the hill, a sudden gust of wind lashed into the victims from behind, hastening their journey down the rocky path.
At the bottom of the hill the three dishevelled adults wanted to rest or turn back.
But where would they go?
Becky guided them through the old town to a church.
Inside, Becky asked if anyone had a match.
Joe flicked his lighter.
They could see that the church was in reasonable condition despite the age of the deserted town.
Zo noticed some candles.
"They look new", she exclaimed.
"They are new", Becky confirmed.
"Light the candles and everybody come to the centre of the
church and pull back the benches", she ordered.
They did as they were told, then stood back, looking at what they had uncovered.
It was a large circle of the signs of the zodiac with a ram's head at the centre.
Pointing at the symbols, Becky explained that they were used by devil worshippers for animal sacrifices.
"Their leader is known as Davia", Becky said.
"He's a dark angel and not even his followers know that fallen angels will take over a town and bring as much evil to the inhabitants as they possibly can.
"The dead priest had wandered into an area controlled by Davia.
Demons loyal to Davia captured and killed him.
They wanted him to give up his soul willingly but he refused.
The demons used us in a desperate attempt to force him to change his mind.
It was they who called out the angel of death knowing he would have to find a human soul before he could return to the underworld.
The priest still refused but we were killed away".
It all seemed to make sense to Becky.
"But we survived", Joe exclaimed.
"How come?"
"It was God's will", replied Becky solemnly.
"The power of this sword is everlasting life and death.
That's how we have survived."
"But who was the priest and what was he doing?" asked Steven, now taking it as read that Becky somehow understood everything.
"He was a kind of holy avenger looking for evil sects and destroying them".
"So how do we get out of this nightmare?" asked Joe.
"I know it has something to do with recognising the priest's body and then finding this church but that's all", Becky faltered.
"If anything is going to happen it will happen here so I suppose we'd better sit down and wait".
They waited, rubbing their hands and blowing into them as the desert night breeze began to chill their bones.
Then Zo accidentally pulled off her neck chain which fell on one of the candles, extinguishing it.
As she tried to retrieve it she burnt her fingers and the chain fell between the floorboards.
There was a gap just big enough to squeeze her hand through but as Zo's fingers touched her chain the ground began to shake violently.
Becky, Joe and Steven grabbed onto each other but Zo was trapped by her hand.
She screamed at Steven to help her but he was being bombarded by chairs and benches from all directions.
A shaft of light appeared below Zo's hand.
She was becoming hysterical but managed to free her hand and scramble to the side of the church.
The floorboards began to bend and crack like waves in a storm.
The light beneath the floor now engulfed the whole church.
There was a thundering crash as the floorboards exploded like matchsticks, shooting up into the air and bursting through the roof.
The four victims dangled by their finger tips as wood debris and splinters rained down on them like arrowheads.
They coughed and wheezed as they choked on the falling dust.
Then suddenly they were levitated off the wall and transported to where the centre of the church had been.
"Keep calm and hold hands!" shouted Becky.
As the dust settled a large honeycombed pit emerged below them.
"Look! There's the priest", gasped Zo.
There was an altar in the centre of the pit and on it was the priest, held down by four large snakes.
Without warning, the four found themselves being lowered into the pit.
"Look at the heads on the snakes!
They're human", said Joe.
In a rush of panic they tried to break free from the invisible force pushing them down but it was no use.
They landed next to the altar.
They could see that the priest was in agony but before they could do anything the snakes had turned on them, cursing, spitting and blaspheming.
But the snakes couldn't reach them and they suddenly discovered they were could move again of their own free will.
Becky pulled out the sword and struck one of the snakes, splitting it in two.
Globs of blood the size of golf balls shot out of its body.
The other snakes released their grip on the priest and Steven and Joe were able to help him off the altar.
Shaking and delirious, the priest ranted,
"Fear nothing!
Beware the demon protector!
Remember you are the innocent!" and then collapsed.
Steven hoisted the priest over his shoulder and beckoned everyone to the side of the pit.
They examined the honeycomb structure wondering how they were going to climb up it.
Each hexagon was covered with a transparent membrane and there was something inside which they couldn't make out.
"We'll have to cut into them if we are ever going to get out of here", Steven told Becky.
So Becky cut into the first membrane.
What poured out was a thick pungent liquid followed by a baby demon beast.
It started yelping.
"Kill it! Kill it!",
Zo screamed.
As Becky thrust the sword into it the pit started to vibrate.
"Quick!"
Zo yelled.
"Do the rest before something else happens!".
Becky proceeded to thrust into and kill anything that came out of the honeycomb.
"Look at the altar!" Joe shouted.
The altar had begun to crack in several places.
Momentarily distracted, Becky was suddenly grabbed by the wrist by a demon beast.
She dropped the sword.
Zo picked it up but couldn't do anything with it.
Then the altar exploded and Becky fell to the floor with the monster still attached to her wrist.
Zo managed to kick and stab at it until it lay dead.
The dust settled.
Becky lay unconscious.
Something stepped out of the altar.
It was a frog-like beast with a horn protruding from its forehead and heavy teats dangling from its underbelly.
"That must be the demon protector", Zo exclaimed.
It seemed to grow larger every time they blinked.
In a sudden fit of fury, Steven snatched the sword from Zo and began swinging desperately at the beast.
He was dwarfed by the growing demon but managed to stab it under its front leg.
As the leg came down its pointed elbow struck Steven's head which exploded on the impact.
For a second Zo stared in stunned disbelief, then in blind rage she rushed forward to get the sword.
But the demon lowered its head and gouged her in the chest, killing her instantly.
Joe watched in terror as the demon grew stronger and fiercer.
The sword was still embedded under its leg and as the beast struggled to pull it free Joe seized the opportunity to rush forward and grab it.
He then proceeded to slash into the demon's thigh.
The demon fell on its knee and then on its back.
Joe thrust the sword into its eye and there was a horrendous bloodcurdling cry.
As the demon writhed in agony Joe laughed hysterically then stopped as he felt himself being held from behind in a vice-like grip.
The demon had him and was showing no mercy as it pounded him into the ground.
At that moment Becky regained consciousness.
Weeping at the death and carnage in front of her, she pulled the sword out of Joe's bloody hand and cut off the demon's head.
The pit began to rumble and crack.
Becky knew she had to get out fast.
She took off her belt and tied it round the priest, then slowly but surely dragged him and herself up and out of the pit.
As she carried the priest out of the church, she suddenly felt death behind her.
When she turned around, the horseman was standing in front of her with his hand outstretched.
Exhausted to the point of collapse, Becky knew she had to give up the sword.
But she pleaded with the horseman to give back her sister and friends.
Before she could receive any answer she lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
When Becky opened her eyes the first thing she saw was Zo.
They were in the campervan with Steven and the priest.
"What about Joe and the sword?" were Becky's first words.
Zo told her to look outside the window where she saw Joe thrust the sword into the desert ground and then run back to his pickup.
They waited.
The horseman appeared, pulled the sword out of the ground and held it aloft before disappearing over the horizon.
Joe waved, got into his pickup and drove away.
"Remind me never to go camping ever again", Becky said to Zo and Steven.
They all laughed.