The Sleepwalker

Part Three: 19

Overseer Pilgrim
​

Vindicator had left right after Sickle told him the location of the armory, just as Pilgrim had presumed. The surly Overseer was out the door even before Invoke, who was chosen to go with him, along with two other Agents, had even had some of their meager provisions packed.

See, Yeti fur is very flammable, and the meat in the Cellblock was very, very, worryingly fresh. So Vindicator got a fire up and running, using a few particularly sharp bones as roasting sticks, and cooked a bit of protein for them all. They didn't let the fire last long, as the fire would eat up all their oxygen extremely fast, especially if the life support systems were running on low power. Pilgrim had been silent, deep in thought, as Vindicator stomped out the fire.

Pilgrim had been a scientist since his mid-twenties, and he came into contact with dangerous chemicals on the regular, even sometimes forced to extract certain dangerous substances from certain dangerous creatures, like the acidic bile of the Mimic species, or the corrosive saliva of the Mongolian Death Worm, but even through all that he could always predict the outcomes. He always knew what he was getting himself into, and if things were to go 'south' he was never without Plan B... which in most scenarios was a lot of Agents armed with all manners of weapons, energy-based and high caliber ballistics. Honestly, he didn't worry about Plan A failing since B was just as efficient.

But now? He was lost. Left without a Plan A and a Plan B, he was left proverbial alone in the non proverbial dark. In the Cell Block the white lights were a bit brighter, but far from max power. He didn't know what to do, and Warden certainly didn't know either.

"Well..." said Cogsworth, watching Invoke and Vindicator go out the large main door. In order to find out the monster that resided in the Cellblock they had decided to set up a small 'camp' in the corner; Warden stood, an unnamed Agent was beside him, and Pilgrim sat on a large piece of metal, far beyond worrying about blood smears on the rear of his light gray lab coat. Sickle was off on the other side of the ground floor, slipping on blood and searching for clues. Pilgrim heard him muttering to himself; Something about a three-headed dog, a Wendigo, and whatever in the world a Nalusa Falaya is.

Pilgrim turned back to the Warden. "Well what?" It came out harder than he meant it.

"I mean to say that we should search for clues."

"By all 'means' Warden, go right ahead."

Cogsworth looked shocked. "I... I don't know all about monsters like you and Sickle do! We're just here to defend you should a creature come along." As he spoke, he laid a hand on the male Agent's shoulder, who looked uncomfortable.

"If you have forgotten," Pilgrim said as he toyed with an empty vial that he had left in his coat pocket some time ago. "I am not, in fact, a creature lover or professional like Overseer Sickle is. I deal with cursed objects over in Cellblock A."

"Ah... of course I didn't forget. I just... needed a reminder, that's all."

Pilgrim stood up; He wanted to get away from Warden. And besides, Pilgrim was doing no good just sitting there. Faster they found the creature for the twin onis, faster they would be able to get to the escape pods and contact the Council. Pilgrim had never been in the Council's presence before; Yet another new and frightening experience to add to this terribly unnatural time.

Pilgrim went slow, so as to not slip on the slowly congealing blood, and passed by the main elevator's slightly ajar doors. A cloud of red and blue churned inside. The oni would not let anyone in until their job was complete.

After a few hours in the room, the smell becomes worryingly undistinguishable. But as Pilgrim came up behind Sickle, and closer to the elevator cab filled with meat and insides, the smell of rot and death became ten times worse. Sickle, on the other hand, seemed unworried and even had his arm right all in the bloody contents of the cab.

"Anything?" Pilgrim asked, ignoring (or attempting to, he wasn't very successful) all the squishing sounds Sickle made when digging around.

"Nothing of substance," said the divergence-expert, "or damning evidence. Weird thing is that the center of this meat pile... it's frozen. Everything else is cold but right smack dab in the middle..." He tore his arm free with a squelch and looked at Pilgrim. Blood had splattered his glasses, his coat that hung off his wiry frame was covered in red fleshy bits. But he didn't look all that worried. "It's just... a block of ice."

"Does that narrow down our search in any way?"

"Yeah... about a third of the monsters are no longer suspects."

Pilgrim felt like violence. "Isn't that just wonderful."

"Well, not really," said Sickle, adjusting his glasses and not picking up on his fellow Overseer's sarcasm. "See, we know the monster can freeze things, in theory, or this meat could have frozen indirectly as a result of the fight between divergences."

Pilgrim looked around him at the mess. The blood was thick in some areas, but most had started to turn into a jelly-like substance. How long ago the cells opened was near impossible to tell, or who opened the first cell. From a chemist's point of view, of course. Sickle had other ideas.

"Judging by how the Sleepwalker tried to climb up to get us in the elevator shaft, it wasn't him that tore open the first few cells. Look here," Sickle pointed to three cells closest to the main door. "There, there, and that one. They look open... as they should. No signs of damage, no signs of tampering, Pilgrim... It looks like..."

"It looks like some human with clearance opened them," Pilgrim finished for his friend. "An Overseer."

Sickle rubbed his dirty hands together, looking nervous. "Not only an Overseer, I know of at least ten security guards with the codes. Agent Eerie... Agent Speed... and Agent Key... But I trust those people, they'd never... They wouldn't..."

He trailed off, evidently realizing that he wasn't getting anywhere. Pilgrim felt the same way, and he was about to offer some encouraging words had Warden not called them over.

"Sickle? Pilgrim? You might... might want to see this!"

Pilgrim let out a sigh of relief. Finally, they'd be getting some good news.

Boy was he wrong.

Together they walked through the red puddle to join Warden and the Agent at the doorway of a shattered cell. The two men stared into the cell as if it were an intense show playing on one of those television boxes. Pilgrim craned his neck, but still couldn't see inside until he was almost right beside Warden. His eyebrows went up.

Inside, a pretty girl stood against the wall. Her eyes were covered by long, dark hair, and she was dressed in a japanese robe. Pilgrim recognized it from when he used to live in Japan. It was white with red flowers, a big rose right in the middle.

Pilgrim stared at the robe. The flowers... looked weird. And the biggest...

It's blood, he realized with a jolt. That's why she blended right into the rest of the red cell and certainly how she escaped Invoke's initial threat assessments of the room. Not only that, but a bone was protruding from her midriff, which made her look pretty dead. Something or someone had run her through and pinned her to the wall, like she was a spider to be mounted in someone's collection. How dare someone do that, she was such a fine young woman, Pilgrim felt the urge to walk right up to her and free her.

Sickle evidently disagreed. He let out a shriek and slipped down on his rump, splashing blood on the three other men. Pilgrim didn't mind, since the girl was there with him. She loved him no matter how he looked. Was she calling his name? He was sure he heard it.

"Bruce?" She whimpered, using a name Pilgrim had not heard in a very long
time, "oh please, it hurts too much... Please help me!"

He took a step towards her. Sickle grabbed onto his other foot, but Pilgrim tried to shake it off, to no avail.

"Let... me... go?" Pilgrim said, confused. His mind had seemingly left him, he didn't know what he was thinking now. Were these thoughts even his own?

Sickle grunted an apology. Pilgrim didn't remember or know what he was apologizing for, but then Sickle pulled Pilgrim's leg out from under him, and the slick blood did the rest. He face planted in blood with a crack. He might have even broken his nose, because the blood was warm.

"Sorry! Oh my... I'm so sorry!" Sickle said. Pilgrim groaned something along the lines of 'what the frick'.

"That is no lady!" Sickle's voice quivered. "That's a Jorogumo! She seduces men, then eats them!"

Pilgrim's mind snapped back to life. "Whash?"

He looked up to see Warden and the Agent arguing over who would free the girl. Pilgrim kept his eyes away from the Jorogumo. Eventually, the fight became violent when Warden threw a punch at the other Agent, who, evidently not thinking straight, took out his Indexer and took a potshot at Warden. It hit Cogsworth's shoulder, and he tumbled to the ground with a yelp.

The fall probably hurt more than the laser shot, since every cell is three steps up off the main floor. So he stumbled all the way down and fell on his back. Pilgrim could see that the shot was low power, otherwise Warden would have a nice clean hole right through his flesh and bone. Warden groaned and rolled on the ground. Pilgrim looked toward Sickle.

"Isth he freeth?"

Sickle didn't respond, but crawled toward Cogsworth, who was visibly in pain, took off his superior's monocle, and covered his eyes with one hand.

"There, eye contact is broken!" He shouted right into Wardens ear. "Whatever you do, do not look at the Jorogumo!"

In his peripheral vision, Pilgrim saw the Agent walk right through the broken door and hold a hand up to the girl's beautiful face, albeit mostly covered by her hair. His hand moved to the bone pin; He grasped it in what seemed to be two hands, Pilgrim was unsure. He tugged, once, twice, and it came free on the third time. Pilgrim swore the woman grew a foot.

"Thank you kindly," said the Jorogumo. It was hard for Pilgrim to see what happened, but he did see eight long, hairy, gray, red-tipped and slender things extend from behind her. The bottom of her dress shifted and bulged, turning into something that was definitely not a dress, and her fingers grew until they were double the length. Her face and teeth probably changed, but Pilgrim didn't dare to look at her again, even when he heard the Agent scream.

"Jorogumo," Sickle breathed, having most likely seen the transformation as well, "the binding bride. The whore spider. If a certain spider makes it to four-hundred years old, they say it grows to the size of a cow and gains special powers. It binds its victim's feet and eats most of them... or she stores them for later!"

Pilgrim shot him an angry glance. "Das noth helping! Help me get Warden to his feet!"

Together they lifted Cogsworth off the ground and began to half-slouch half-run to the main door as the spider lady reached for the Agent. Pilgrim's nose still felt like it was on fire, but he tried his hardest to ignore it.

"Come on!" Sickle whispered to Warden and Pilgrim, though the other Overseer already knew what was happening. "Almost there... Please come on..."

They reached the door soon enough, and Pilgrim grabbed onto Warden's cold golden arm and put it to the lock. Pilgrim's nose was in extreme amounts of pain, causing his brain to fog up, and he oddly enough tasted copper, but on the upside he was already used to the smell of blood.

The lock clicked and spun, and the door began to slide open. Pilgrim risked a look over his shoulder, eyes on the ground, and saw the Jorogumo spinning a cocoon of silk. The Agent was nowhere in sight.

Sickle began pulling Warden away; Pilgrim hoisted his boss's arm up over his shoulder and followed as fast as he could go.

A screech sounded behind them, followed by the sound of the door starting to close. They were down the hall now, far enough from the door to be considered 'safe'. But the Jorogumo was fast, and the door was slow. Pilgrim looked back. She was crawling out from the crack in the door, forcing it open. Was this how he died? Killed by a spider lady?

From the hall to his left, something emerged from out of the darkness of the elevator shaft he had just been in not a few hours ago. He almost fainted, thinking it was the Sleepwalker. But instead, a metal arm reached up and grasped the edge of the wrecked frame. Pilgrim sighed. It was another Agent! They were saved! Or at the very least they were going to have help, which at this point Pilgrim was fine with.

Sickle, who probably didn't see the black arm, spun and fired a few shots at the Jorogumo, but they missed. Pilgrim knew he wouldn't fare much better. Hopefully that new Agent would. Pilgrim cast another look toward the elevator shaft.

The arm gripped the side tightly and pulled itself up more.

It was not another Agent.

It was not another human.

It was not normal.

It used its other hand, a black, furry, long-fingered appendage, to pull the rest of it up. A head appeared, which looked oddly like a bleached white and grinning stag's skull, with large branching antlers. Its eyes were pits of darkness, eyes shoved back in its sockets. They gleamed in the light, but didn't show any pupils. They were just... Black. Dark. Like Pilgrim was staring into the long throat of Death itself. Its body was no less terrifying. Skinny yet muscular, black fur covering its body and hiding any scars and wounds it had, ribs protruding from its stomach as if they were weeds sprouting from the sidewalk. Its robot arm was much shorter than its other one, which somehow made the metal hand and forearm look out of place. Its grin widened, its white jaw somehow bending, all the while it showed off bloody pointed teeth that a skull of a stag would not and should not have. Then it spoke. Oh boy, when it spoke. Shivers went down Pilgrim's back. The temperature in the hall seemed to drop about forty degrees when it opened its maw.

"Hello," it said in Vindicator's voice.