Heads Of Medusa

TO THE SAFE SIDE (edited)

"She's here," someone grumbled aloud, but Athena did not see who it was. Her eyes were tightly shut as she ran through the doorway only stopping when she presumed she must have gone right through it.

As she advanced, those standing in the way immediately cleared off for her, as if abhorring physical contact with her.

After hearing that unknown, treble voice, she slowly opened her eyes. When her eyes were just half open, she gasped and immediately widened her eyes, taking in her new surroundings.

Now she was really curious about where she was. It was driving her crazy.

From the ceiling to the floor, glass shelves with all sorts of guns and other arms in them were erected.

She kept on turning around in amazement.

At the extreme end of the room, there was a seemingly invisible table there. It was very transparent that if nothing was on it then one could just walk right into it.

But fortunately, the swords on them made it quite obvious that there was a thing like that table there to support and keep them, like a mini armory.

There was nothing else around, so her attention went back to the people watching her which she might have almost forgotten about.

She looked around at the faces and realized that their size was much more than when she'd first seen them.

In fact, she couldn't even see the man that had walked away from her in frustration.

They looked from one to the other, quite perplexed.

Athena also noticed, apart from their show of emotion, that they were dressed quite differently from the set of crowd she'd earlier seen... that is, with the exception of two guys with snake tattoos all over their arms. The jackets they wore were sleeveless and, not only revealed their muscles, it exposed their strange tattoos. Their tattoos were identical and they also wore the same jackets with the head of a woman with snakes for hair.

Some girls were looking dreamily at them, but they paid them no heed.

This place was strange, Athena told herself for the millionth time that day.

She felt deep down in her guts that this was not normal, something really serious was going on.

Well, she also understood that things might be a little more serious than she expectation.

Suddenly, one of the shelves of guns shook and slid aside for a guy to walk in... which he did with his eyes closed.

The secret entrance disappeared behind him with a rumble. His eyes sprang open.

He looked around, appearing as puzzled as the others.

He was dressed casually like the rest of them (including Athena) except for the guys with the snake tattoos. Athena noticed it. She looked down at her attire, for the first time since she'd received anything other than darkness.

She realized she was wearing a red dress.

Her hair was lying freely upon her shoulders and backwards and she had a feeling it looked quite messy.

That's not the important thing, she told herself. Although, looking at the other women around her, she felt somewhat self-conscious because their hair looked like they needed the saloon.

First, what was she doing here? Obviously, she wasn't the only one who was brought here without their consent, and, from the look of their expressions, they were just as shocked and curious as she was.

What was the meaning of all of this? What did they want from her... from them?!

Who were they?

Lots of questions ran through her mind and she needed quick answers.