Hellscape

Chapter 17: The Hydra Tubes

    As Melinoe and Lazarus shuffle along in the darkness, feeling the slimy walls and kicking through shallow puddles, they hear the faint echo of dripping water. Mel pauses, holding the underlight close to the curvature of the tunnel wall, realizing they are in fact in a drainage pipe. Boy laps his tongue through one of the puddles, snorting happily as the refreshing water just as a cool gust of wind blows in from nowhere, spraying the teenagers with a delicate smattering of droplets.

    In the distance, the sound of rushing water grows increasingly loud. Slowly, Melinoe turns around to face Lazarus with wide eyes, "I don't like the sound of that."

    A large gulp travels down his neck as he whispers, "is that-"

    "Water."

    Another gust of wind blows past them and thicker droplets spray their faces. Blown backwards by the incoming flood, Mel clasps her hand in his and tugs him behind her as she runs down the pipe — the wave of freshwater roaring behind them. In the crook of the pipe wall, she spots a ledge and she jumps into it, pulling Lazarus in with her as Boy hops up to hide behind their feet.

    They watch as the water rushes past them seconds later, bursting down the pipe.

    Lazarus covers most of Mel's face, hiding her in the corner as the water blasts past them — spurting and spraying as it hits against the lip of the space. After several moments, the water settles, ebbing down until only a shallow ankle-deep level remains. Lazarus hops out of the cove, shaking his drenched blue hair and pushing it backwards.

    "What was that?"

    "That was our way out of here," she says, jumping down next to him. With a wide smile she looks up at the boy, "we're gonna follow it."

    Without another word, she marches down the tunnel leaving him standing in the pipe with a furrowed brow and a cocked head. He jogs to catch up to her, nearly tripping over the hellhound circling his feet. The mutt growls at him as he offers a quiet apology.

    Mel follows the small puddles in the rounded floor all the way to a fork in the pipe. She leans into the new pathway, but immediately recoils, "holy shit."

    "What is that smell?"

    Melinoe covers her mouth and nose, shaking her head violently, "I don't wanna know."

    "Please tell me that's not where we're going," Lazarus says through the hand covering his face. His steely eyes start to water under the horrifying scent.

    A pit forms in Mel's stomach as an agonizing scream echoes from a round grate sitting at the end of the short pathway. She keeps her hand over her face as she takes timid steps closer to the red neon light shining into the drainage pipe. Peering through the crossed bars, she gasps at the sight below.

    Lazarus whisper-yells, "psst, Mellie! Come back here!"

    She turns to shush him, bringing a finger to her lips and waving him down to where she stands against the grate. He sighs heavily, not wanting to get any closer to the stench, but he walks down the tunnel anyway and looks through the bars.

    Stretched and hung from bolted chains in the ceiling, is a demon that seems too familiar. His face has been beaten black and blue and is too swollen to show any defining characteristics. His chest is bare with deep lashes that ooze blackened blood, explaining the smell. A long whip is smacked against his body and he cries out again, sobbing.

    "Now," a coarse demonic voice says, "how did it happen?"

    "You saw him," the tortured underling says, "his throat was torn out."