Sub Terra: Et Reditus

Thirty

Gus

I woke up bright and early the next morning. The sun was just starting to peak out from the horizon. It was the perfect opportunity to leave the house. Daniel spent the night at the hospital since his dad's condition had suddenly begun to worsen; Devi stayed over at Dr. Caldwell's house, I wasn't sure why, but it had to be related to the strange things going on around the village; Nadia was sleeping, but I doubted she cared where I went. It was my chance to sneak out and pay Asa another visit.

I quietly went down the stairs, softly opened the front door and closed it with the same level of care. From there, I took the 10 minute walk to the Gagnon house. It was nearly completely dark with a few interspersed street lamps. I had to watch every step, since the ground below me was hard, earthen material, and a slip could've resulted in me getting hurt. Around half way, I had this ominous feeling about going there this early, but I forced myself to continue; it was the same distance there as it was going back. So with that, I pressed on.

Once I got to their front door, I reached for the doorknob, but as I touched it, I felt goosebumps come up on my arm. 

"What are you scared of?" I told myself. "Man up. There's nothing scary about this, besides it being dark. You can handle this."

I took a deep breath in through my nose, and opened the door. It was fully dark inside, so I felt around a wall and flicked on a switch. I curiously decided to peek into the living room, since it was just to my right, beside the short hall that led to the front door, even though a part of me told me to just head straight to Asa's room in silence.

Maybe, just maybe, I should've listened to my instincts this time.

The remains of probably a dozen people lay scattered across the living room. I could recognize some of them, at least the ones that still had their faces, as some of the Madame's children. Kai, Driss, a couple of their brothers and sisters too... I saw them instantly. The most horrifying thing about this was not the amount of dead people in front of me. It was the complete and utter lack of blood, and the clean cuts that separated body parts from their owners. The thing that killed those two donkeys by the river made its way into the Gagnon house and committed a massacre.

I ran back towards the door, and turned away from the side. I bent over and used all I had to stop myself from throwing up out of fear and shock. A thousand thoughts raced through my mind, but it took just one to steady myself and snap into action.

What did it do to Asa?

I didn't care. My body didn't care if that thing was still lurking around the house somewhere. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as my feet hauled the rest of me up the stairs. I was about to make a beeline right through Asa's Styrofoam wall, but in the dark hall to my right, a voice called out to me.

"C'est toi, Gus." It's you, Gus.

I turned my head in its direction, and I could make out the outline of someone sitting in a chair in the middle of the hall.

"Madame...?" I said,

"Viens ici." Come here, she said to me. Her voice seemed much kinder than usual, but it also seemed weak too.

"She just asked me to come over to her. Isn't she wondering why I sneaked into her house so early in the morning?" I thought to myself as I stood just a couple of feet away from her.

"Gus... I thought I would be alone here, but... you came. I'm happy that you're here. After everything that just happened, I'm so happy that I get to see a face again."

"Wh-what do you mean? Isn't Asa here? Did... it take her too?" I said, suppressing my urge to yell.

"The demon didn't touch her, but I doubt she's fine. It went into her room. I- I don't know what she's felt. It's so... so horrifying."