Angel Falls

Chapter 22

I ran.

I ran as fast as I could. My face was covered in sweat, and tears were running down my face once again. But I didn't care. Whenever there was a security guard in my way I just stabbed him until they stayed down. I didn't want to, but it was my only choice.

I needed to find Nate. I had no idea where he was, but I assumed that he was in the Reject Bin. Hopefully I would be able to save Quattro and Mikael too.

After trying to navigate through the maze of hallways, I found myself once again standing in front of the door of the Reject Bin.

I unlocked the door, and I ran inside without hesitation. Once again, the room was mostly dark, so I couldn't see very well. I looked for what seemed like hours, but then I heard a faint cry for help.

"Ryou...is that you?"

I rushed towards the cell, and I finally managed to find Nate, but he looked very ill.

"Nate, are you okay? You don't look so good."

"I woke up a few hours ago, they...they drugged me again."

I unlocked the cell door, and I tried helping Nate up.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I am now."

Despite the fact that he was drugged, Nate could walk fine on his own. Since it was dark we had to move at a slower pace.

We finally managed to find the exit, but there were five boys standing in front of me. One of them was very tall and he was holding a mace, and he had dirty blond hair and ripped clothes.

"Hello."

He walked closer towards us, and I started to panic even more. All I had was a knife, if I tried attacking him I wouldn't stand a chance.

"What are you doing running free? God doesn't allow that."

After the boy said that, I knew who they were. They were some kids from Sector B. And by their "God", they were referring to Lane.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but your God is dead," I told him, and I couldn't help but smirk after telling him that.

"What? That's impossible, God can never die." The boy started to look scared, almost...sad.

"Well he is dead. But it's okay. Now that he's gone we can finally leave..."

"Shut up!" the boy screamed, interrupting me. "I don't believe you, you're lying!"

"Please, just calm down, we don't want to hurt you..." Nate said, trying, yet failing to reason with them.

"Grab him!"

The two boys charged at me, trying to get hold of me. I tried stabbing them, but before I could they grabbed my arm, and they took the knife in an instant. They threw it across the hallway so I couldn't grab it. They held both my arms down so I couldn't do anything. The other two took Nate by surprise and captured him with ease.

"Terumi, what should we do with them?" asked one of the two people who were grabbing my arms.

"I have an idea."

He walked closer and examined me, and I started to feel very uncomfortable.

"If what this person says is true and God really is dead, then we'll have to find a way to revive him somehow. Maybe if we sacrifice him along with that other person, then God will then come back."

I couldn't believe what I just heard, they were going to sacrifice me? Bringing him back from the dead?  None of this made sense, and obviously this ritual of theirs isn't going to work.

I hoped that maybe they were joking and this was all some kind of prank, but they were dead serious.

"We will begin the sacrifice now. As for the other one he is useless to us. For now we can throw him in a prison cell until we decide what to do with him."

...

The seven of us made it to the steel door, which was still open. We then walked inside.

I was terrified. I wanted to help Jaden and all the others, but I was completely powerless. Two of them took Nate and locked him in a room. The rest of us continued walking.

It was similar to Angel Falls itself. The difference was that some people walked freely, but others were stuck in prison cells. But what really disturbed me was the display of severed heads.

I've seen a lot of gruesome things during my long and painful time in this place, but every little thing continues to disgust me even more.
I started shaking as I realised that maybe they would put my head on that wall...

I noticed that there were no security guards around either. I guess since they were so faithful towards Lane that they wouldn't even dream of leaving.

Eventually we entered a very large, spacious room. All it had was a stone slab covered in blood and some weapons on the wall. This must have been the sacrificial chamber.

There were about five other people here, and they stood by the wall, watching, and there was a boy with black hair done in a ponytail that had a knife in his hand. Terumi whispered something in his ear.

"So we're sacrificing both of them?"

"Yes, Jason, we are. It's only way that we will be able to revive God. How's the other sacrifice?"

"He's been quieter than usual. It seems to me as if he's given up trying to fight back."

The door opened, and two more patients arrived, who were also holding knives, and they were accompanied by a taller boy who's hands were tied together by rope.

He looked kind of familiar...

I then realised who it was. It was Jaden. He was the next sacrifice.

"Ryou? What are you doing here?" he asked, looking at me as if he saw a ghost.

I didn't know what to say to him. I tried speaking but my mouth wouldn't open. After our history together, I didn't know what to say. This was the last time we would ever see each other again.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." he whispered, on the verge of tears. I haven't seen him like that since we were kids...

"The sacrifice will now begin!" Terumi announced, and everyone began sitting down to pray.

This was it. It was all over. We were both going to die. There was nothing we could do...

Taking everyone by surprise, there were screams coming from outside the room.

"What, what is this?" Terumi shouted.

The door opened. Another person had entered the room.

It was Paich, his hand firmly gripped on the axe, which was now covered in fresh blood.