The Gateway

The Gateway - Deleted Chapter: An Encounter With The Dead

An Encounter with the Dead

**THIS IS NO LONGER PART OF THE FULL NOVEL "THE GATEWAY"**

James was now walking through the white corridors for a third time, Mr. Smith on his right and Lucy on his left. Mr smith had not told James where they were going but had assured him it wasn't another meeting. They had all been chatting talkatively at one point, with even Mr Smith joining in.  He hadn’t said much about himself however, he joined in much more when they were discussing the plan. Since that topic ended, Lucy had been talking almost constantly. James didn’t mind though, it was nice listening to her after so many years on his own. He was lucky he had retained the skills needed to talk to others, he had heard many stories of people who had been lost in the wilderness for so long they forgot how to use basic conversation skills. "So how did you become an elder" James asked after she had finished telling a story about her childhood "the title is always passed down through generations of the elder family" she replied "so your parents handed it down to you" James said, half knowing that this was an insensitive thing to say. "They went missing" she replied, confirming James’s thoughts "I’m sorry I wasn't thinking" he said apologetically "it's ok you didn't know" she said with a forced smile. The group walked on for the next few minutes without saying a word, walking briskly thorough corridors, turning corners and climbing down stairs, never once going through any of the doors that lined the vast stretches of corridor. “What’s behind all of these doors?” James asked curiously, directing the question at Lucy “A whole manner of things” she replied reluctantly “What sort of things?” James asked persistently, not realising that Lucy was no longer in the mood for idle chat. “Laboratories, Offices, Meeting Rooms, everything really” interrupted Smith, eager to break the tension.

The conversation was interrupted abruptly, and all thoughts of tension breaking were swept aside as a crash sounded on the other side of some double doors further up the corridor. The three of them froze and stood dead still, staring straight at the door. Another crash echoed down the corridor and a man dived through the white painted doors, rolling into the opposite wall as he landed. He looked like an explorer of some sort, he was wearing a camouflage jacket and trousers, with heavy looking boots on his feet, guns strapped to his leg and waist, and survival gear all over his belt just like Mr. Smith. "Who is he?” James asked quietly

"He’s a researcher" replied Smith quickly, but with equal volume. "They travel to the border area between life and death" he added

"So he travels through the gateway" asked James

"No” Mr Smith replied, slightly slower this time, “at least not all the way through"

"Well, what's he doing" interrupted Lucy "It looks like he is running away from something,” said Mr. smith, and just as he finished speaking, a dark figure burst through the door and onto the man. The Researcher squealed helplessly as the beast killed him biting into his flesh with razor sharp teeth. It finished eating and looked up to face the three observers further down the hallway, its teeth were stained red, but all you could see under this layer of blood was pure black, a characteristic James had never before seen on an animal. "DUCK!" shouted Mr. Smith as he pulled out a black handgun and fired five shots into the creature’s head. It continued to charge despite smith's efforts, standing on all fours like a dog, a dog covered almost entirely in mated black fur, saliva was dripping from its mouth as it ran, thick wet saliva similar to that of a large and playful Labrador. Lucy pulled James out of the way just as the horrible monster ploughed into Mr Smith at full speed, he was knocked several meters down the corridor but thankfully managed to land on his feet, he was bleeding badly from the shoulder and so presumably this was where he had been hit. He stumbled back a few steps and fired his gun blindly at the oncoming mass of fur. He twisted awkwardly to try and escape but his arm caught the creature’s face as it rushed past. The beast howled angrily and clutched its head whilst Mr Smith was lying unconscious on the floor, bleeding badly and struggling to breath.

James saw Smith go down and was panicking as he watched it turn towards Lucy, she had her eyes closed and was muttering something under her breath. James thought of shouting to her, giving her a warning about the beast, but quickly dismissed the idea and turned back to the beast, Lucy would need to concentrate as much as she possibly can. The creature snarled, revealing its hideous teeth once again. James then closed his eyes as well, copying his companion, hoping against hope that he was doing the right thing. He began to push his conscious towards the creature, feeling Lucy doing exactly the same thing next to him, energy flowed through James and took the shape of bright white light that hurtled towards the creature, crashing into it with so much force that it was lifted off the ground.  A split second later, Lucy also released a ball of energy which hit the beast square in the head whilst it was still suspended in mid air, the second impact caused it to flip over backwards and land face first on the concrete floor. It was unconscious and badly injured but not dead, neither of them had the energy left to kill it with magic. Just knocking it out had caused Lucy to fall to her knees and James was almost gasping for breath. “Finish it off” she said, reaching for her dagger and handing it to the boy, he took it and walked to the beast, not really having the energy for a reply. James knelt down at the creature’s side and placed the knife on the creature’s neck. He paused for a few seconds to catch his breath, and test the thickness of the skin, the beast had tough hide, that would need a hard push to penetrate. James took this into consideration and in one fluid motion, thrust the dagger in and out of the beast’s neck, creating a long thin slice that would almost certainly be fatal.  Lucy then crawled over and tended to Mr. Smith whilst James studied the creature. Admiring the weaponry that had almost killed them.

Groans came from Smith’s direction and James turned round to look at his condition "he's not good" said Lucy whilst in the process of casting a healing enchantment. Mr Smith was lying on the hard floor, surrounded by blood from a large wound in the man’s stomach, Lucy had her hand on the wound and it was very slowly closing up, but it seemed as though she didn’t have the energy to close it completely. “A little help” she gasped “Oh, right sorry” James said, walking over to him and pushing his conscious towards him. “What the hell are you doing!” she shouted, James opened his eyes and looked down to see the white ball of intense energy that he had just conjured. “you’re trying to heal him not attack him” she said angrily, just as the energy disappeared into thin air “I’m sorry, I don’t quite know what to do” James said apologetically.

She sighed and took his hand, placing it on the open wound, with hers on top to hold it down “close your eyes” she instructed, in a much more sympathetic tone. James did as she said and she began to mutter strange words under her breath. Although he couldn’t see the wound James could feel it closing underneath his hand. Slowly stopping the steady flow of blood, and repairing the damage. Mr Smith would be saved, but he couldn’t help thinking about the poor explorer, who was lying dead further down the corridor.