CAPTURED

Chapter 8: The Good In The Bad

A loud crash rang out as Charlie's life flashed before her eyes.
Behind her, the wooden door that Josiah and Martin came through suddenly flew across the room, hitting and crushing a small handful of cult members. Their black robes whipped into the air as their unconscious bodies flopped to the floor.
In the doorway stood a tall, menacing figure that was breathing heavily. Familiarity resonated from the creature and Charlie instantly recognized what it was.
The creature wore an old, tattered sack on its head with half of it drenched in black ooze. It had tattered clothes on its back where scaly, black skin flashed through the large holes scattered across its shirt and pants. Its hands were massive, each one containing five scaly fingers with needle-like claws protruding from the ends. On its mask, two holes were torn into it, one for its mouth and one for its piercing red eye that stared at the cult members with hate.
"The Guardian!" One of the cult members shouted over the chanting and sudden screaming before Charlie could even open her mouth.
The Guardian roared as it pushed its massive body through the narrow doorway, breaking off chunks of the wall during the process. On its back sat the one man Charlie despised: The crazy Italian man named Agostino.
Agostino elegantly sat on the creature's back like how a king would sit on his throne. His back was perfectly straight and he had a cocky smirk on his face.
"Greetings, everyone," Agostino announced over the panicked screams of the cult members.
Mark, the deranged executioner, silenced everyone with his booming, raspy voice, "Agostino, what could you possibly want now? Can't you see I'm busy?" Mark seemed nowhere near afraid. He was the only calm person in this room. Or so it seems.
Agostino, still holding the cocky smirk on his face, replied, "Mark, you know exactly what I'm here for. The girl. 'Tis the boss' orders to help her."
"You can't do that! The sacrifice must be made! She must die!" And with that, Mark raised his machete into the air, preparing to slice into Charlie.
However, before he could do that, a loud whooshing noise and then a ring shot out. Charlie looked up and saw Mark's machete missing from his hand. She was confused until she looked up at the throne next to them and saw Agostino's large knife pinning the machete against the wall.
He had thrown his knife and had somehow managed to perfectly throw it into the large loop hole that was burrowed into the handle of the machete.
The large blade hung against the wall, swinging slowly like a pendulum.
Mark stared at the wall, terrified. He swallowed hard before turning back to Agostino who was still sitting on the creature's back with his arms crossed.
"Change your mind?" Agostino asked with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Mark, with fear clouding his mind, suddenly screamed, "Attack them!"
And all at once the cult members charged toward the Guardian and its master, yelling their battle cries and pulling their small knives out of the pockets of their robes.
With the two fighters now distracted, Mark reached for the machete that was dangling from the knife burrowed into the wall. But before Mark could get a grip on it, the knife flew out of the wall, barely missing Mark's scarred face. The knife flew back over to Agostino where he easily curled his fingers around it with a serious look on his face.
"Don't even try," the Italian man said as the machete fell to the floor with a loud clanking noise.
Mark growled and yanked his machete off of the floor. He leapt off of the staircase and charged toward Agostino with his machete raised in front of him.
As Mark and Agostino brawled, the Guardian was right behind him easily crushing the groups of cult members. They tried attacking all at once, but were soon tossed across the room like rag dolls.
Charlie was still stuck on the altar with thin ropes tied around her wrists. There were ropes near her ankles, but Mark didn't even bother tying them. She wriggled her wrists around, grunting and groaning as the rope dug into her skin.
After struggling for a few more seconds, Charlie finally managed to pull her right hand free where she was then able to untie the other rope around her left wrist. She then pulled herself off of the altar and ran for the door the Guardian came through.
However, before she could run through the door, Mark's machete whooshed past her face, slicing her cheek open during the process. A small stream of blood trickled down the side of her face.
Charlie turned around and saw Agostino trying to hold the angry Mark back, but he violently pushed him away, knocking him onto the floor.
"Charlie, move!" Agostino yelled.
She tried to move, but Mark grabbed her by the hair and pushed her down, like he did to Agostino.
Across from them, Agostino growled and held his right hand out toward the storage room. A loud ringing noise followed by a groan, emerged from the room and a few seconds later the deformed body of Josiah appeared in the doorway. Agostino had revived him, like what he did to Emily.
Josiah now had the body of a monster and his face was consumed with the black ooze. The sludge ran down his scaly arms and legs, and dripped onto his black robe that was already beginning to rip from his massive body.
The new creature hobbled through the doorway and charged toward Mark, grabbing him by the throat and one of his arms. With its new massive strength, the creature tore Mark's arm right out of his socket, sending blood squirting onto the floor and wall.
Over by the Guardian, Agostino pulled himself up and yelled, "Go, Charlie! Run!"
And without another word, Charlie ran through the broken door and down the hallway that was littered with heaps of limbs and bodies.
Out from a room on Charlie's left, a cult member barged through the door, reaching for Charlie with outstretched arms. Charlie managed to dodge both of his arms and ran for the door that sat at the very end of the hallway.
The hooded man still ran toward her, making animalistic grunts and screeches that terrified Charlie.
When she reached the door, Charlie slammed it open, not realizing that the floor was filled with large holes that she could fall through. She continued to run down the hallway, the animal behind her easily gliding over the holes in the floor. Charlie, however, had gotten her foot stuck in one of the smaller holes and the hooded maniac began to grow closer to her. Both of them screamed, Charlie screaming in fear and the man screaming with pride, as he leapt toward her with both of his long arms reaching for her.
The man landed on top of her sending both of them rolling across the wooden floor. In the hassle, the man's hood had been pulled off of his head revealing the terrifying face of a hungry creature that was half human, half monster. Its long tongue shot out of its mouth and rubbed against her cheek, tasting the blood that trickled down her skin.
This made the creature even more desperate for her blood and it began to claw at her stomach. Its scaly fingers rubbed against the cloth and it soon began to rip along with her skin. Charlie screamed in pain and slammed her knee into the creature's robed stomach, sending it flying off of her. She quickly crawled to her feet and made her way to the other end of the broken hallway.
Before she could reach the end, the wooden floor caved in and Charlie fell to the floor directly below her. She fell for a good three seconds before slamming against the hard wooden floor. The wood above her fell to her sides and landed with a hollow thud before everything went silent.
Charlie, with blurry vision, stared up at the broken ceiling above her and gasped when a blurry figure suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Charlie, right? Come on, I'll help you up," the figure spoke in a slightly deep voice.
Charlie's vision cleared a bit and she was able to see what the figure was. It was a man dressed in the same prison outfit as Charlie and he had dark brown hair that was in a messy combover. He appeared to be at least 30 years old and he had a large scar above his upper lip. The man held his arm out and Charlie's first instinct was to grab it. His entire hand enveloped her own and he easily pulled her up from the cold wooden floor.
"Let's get you somewhere safe," The man said as he pulled Charlie to her feet.
Charlie rolled on her feet and tried to keep her dizzy body balanced, but again fell to her knees.
The man wrapped his hands around her shoulders and pulled her up. "I'll help you walk. Just hang on to my arm."
Charlie nodded slowly and wrapped her small arm around his giant one, allowing him to lead her to wherever they were going.
"Who are you," Charlie managed to speak, but her words were heavily slurred, "and why are you helping me?"
The man took a few steps before replying, "My name's Abe. We have much to discuss once we reach my room." That was all he said as he continued to guide Charlie down the blurry hallway.
They walked down two brightly lit hallways before Abe finally opened a door to what appeared to be a small room. The light flooded in from the hallway and filled the small room, revealing a slightly blurry bed in front of Charlie.
"Have a seat on the bed here," Abe said calmly before carefully guiding Charlie down on the bed.
Charlie shook her head softly, watching her vision slowly come back to her. She was finally able to see what was going on.
To the right, Abe was shutting the door to his room. Just before the room went completely dark again, Abe flipped the light switch that was resting next to the door. A single light flicked on above the two of them and Abe came striding over to her again.
Charlie examined Abe and saw that he was a very well-fit guy who seemed to be at least six feet tall. His dirty blonde hair was gently swept above his left eye and was slightly curled at the ends. He was wearing the same outfit as Charlie except his sleeves were rolled up, revealing two heavily scarred, muscular arms. His hazel eyes stared into Charlie's and he smiled a bit. His face was also scarred, but not as bad as his arms.
"So..." Abe began, "you're the one that everybody's hunting down, huh?"
Charlie looked at him with curiosity and replied, "Yeah...but how do you know who I am?"
"Word gets around here pretty fast." He gave a slight chuckle. "But I know someone who helped you."
Charlie was puzzled now. "Who?"
"My two brothers, Jake and Edith. Unfortunately they're both dead. Do you remember them?" He replied.
"I know Jake, but who's Edith?" Charlie asked.
"He was thrown into the death machine by himself. Sacrificed his own life to save you."
Suddenly, Charlie knew exactly who Abe was talking about. The man who saved Charlie at the beginning of her journey. His name was Edith.
"I know him! My god, you're really his brother? I am so sor—" Abe cut Charlie off.
"My friend, no need to apologize. It was Edith's choice. That's how he was before he left us. He would never resist to help anyone that needed it," he paused for a moment, "But he knew what you're trying to do. We all know."
Charlie stared into Abe's beautiful hazel eyes that were now gazing at the dusty floor. She shifted her position on the bed which caught Abe's attention.
Abe examined Charlie and discovered the heavy bags she had underneath her eyes. Her entire body was cut up and the side of her face was drenched in blood. He got up and moved to the other side of his room where he opened the drawer of his small desk. From inside, he pulled out medical gauze.
"Give me your arms," Abe said as he approached Charlie.
Charlie held out both of her arms and allowed Abe to gently wrap both of them with the gauze. He took a smaller piece and wiped the excess blood off of Charlie's sliced cheek.
"Thanks, Abe," Charlie said quietly.
He nodded silently and then moved back to the original spot he was standing in. It was silent for a few minutes before Abe finally spoke again.
"Did Edith tell you?" He asked.
"About what?" Charlie asked curiously.
"Where he's at?" He asked again.
Charlie just looked at him confused and blinked silently. He was making no sense.
"Where Max is at?"
Charlie felt her heart jump inside of her chest. She stood up anxiously and approached Abe while asking, "You know where Max is?!"
Without even moving away from the anxious Charlie, Abe replied, "I don't...but he does. That's why he left this here in case I ever found you."
Abe moved over to his bed and lifted the dirty mattress, revealing a wrinkled paper underneath it. He pulled it out with his giant hands and calmly, but quickly, handed it to Charlie.
The paper had a carefully drawn map of the asylum's basement on it. The basement was a huge maze of hallways and rooms, but one room had a red circle with an X in the center of it. Next to the circle was the letter M written messily. Of course, the room was in the very back of the basement...and in the very back of the asylum.
"Is this the room Max is in?" Charlie asked quickly.
"Apparently so. Though I suggest you get some sleep before you head off. I got a room across from mine that you can rest in," Abe replied.
Charlie calmed herself down and nodded slowly, accepting how tired she really is. Hopefully now she would be able to fall asleep without having to worry about that deranged priest coming for her.
Abe gently grabbed Charlie's arm and led her to the small room that was right across from his. He let her step inside before reaching his arm around the corner of the doorway to flip the lights on. Charlie moved to the bed and sat down, rubbing her throbbing head while doing so.
"You just call me in before you doze off so I can turn the lights off. I don't want you to have to get up," Abe said softly.
Charlie smiled and nodded lightly. "All right. Thanks."
After that, Charlie watched Abe walk back into his room and sit at the desk that was propped up in the corner. He pulled out a clean piece of paper from the drawer and carefully set a chipped wooden pencil next to it. He closed the drawer and pushed his chair in while he began to draw on the blank sheet.
Charlie sighed quietly and rested her head on the pillow. The soft cushion made her realize how long she has really gone without real sleep.
She stared up at the ceiling and let herself get lost in her running mind. She thought about Max and wondered if he was still alive. She thought about finally reuniting with him and her heart began to race. A few seconds later, numerous images of the cult and that other creature that tore those soldiers apart, flashed through her mind causing her heart to race even more. The images flashed even faster until a deep voice broke Charlie out of her thoughts.
Charlie jolted upwards and saw that it was only Abe. He was standing in the doorway with a worried expression on his face.
"You okay, Charlie?" He asked.
Charlie touched her throbbing head and replied, "Yeah, I just have a bad headache."
"Well, get some sleep now. There's a lamp to the left that you can use as a nightlight." He pointed to the small nightstand that was resting against the bed.
On top, there was a large bullseye lamp covered in layers of dust. The light was slightly cracked and it was very rusty.
Charlie reached over to her left and grabbed the lamp. She pressed the switch and the light quickly flicked on. It was surprisingly bright.
"I also have a flashlight that you can use on your journey. I'll go grab it," Abe said as he quickly backed into his room.
He moved over to his desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out a small flashlight. He grabbed two batteries and stuck them into the flashlight before striding back into Charlie's room.
"Here, I'll put it on your nightstand," Abe said.
He carefully set the flashlight next to the lamp and then turned toward Charlie.
"Are you going to sleep now?" He asked patiently.
Charlie yawned like a kitten and Abe smiled in response.
"I guess that's a yes then," he said playfully.
Abe began to walk toward the door, but Charlie suddenly grabbed him by his scarred him and pulled him back. Abe looked at her with a surprised expression.
"Abe...thanks for everything. I really appreciate it," Charlie said while giving him a slight small.
Abe smiled back and said, "Well, kindness does run in my family. Plus I couldn't let someone like you die. You need to leak the evidence, Charlie. We're all rooting for you."
Charlie nodded and said, "Thanks," before pulling Abe into a big hug.
The hug lasted a few seconds before Charlie yawned again.
"I better let you get to bed now," Abe said while giving Charlie a little chuckle.
He pulled himself out of the hug and trudged out of Charlie's room where he stopped in the doorway and turned around.
"Sleep well," he whispered as he silently shut the door.
Charlie smiled and rested her head against the pillow, finally allowing sleep to take over. She fell asleep with the same grin on her face and, for once, finally had a decent dream.
1 HOUR LATER
The slumbering girl awoke with a jolt when a loud banging noise filled her ears. She pulled herself out of bed, her heart beating loudly inside her delicate chest.
Outside, Charlie could hear the voice of Abe arguing with another unknown voice.
"She's not here! I don't know where she is!" Abe's muffled voice shouted from across the hall.
"I know you're lying, Abe. The entire cult knows you're lying!" A deep, raspy voice screamed back.
"Why do you care about me? I'm not even apart of your damned religion!" Abe screamed again.
"We care because you're a heretic and heretics can't be trusted."
Suddenly, there was a loud bang and a crashing noise in the other room. It sounded like metal and wood colliding. Following that, there was a scream and a piece of metal came flying through the flimsy wooden door. Charlie ducked and moved toward the door where she could now peek through the hole.
Across in Abe's room, Mark had the poor man pinned against the wall with a large, bloody pickaxe pushed against his chest. The bed that was in the center of the room was now split in half.
Mark had somehow managed to get his missing arm back. But instead of it being a normal human arm, it was a scaly, ooze-covered arm that was jet black.
"I'm not a heretic you crazy priest!" Abe screamed with fear in his voice.
Mark easily towered over Abe and overpowered him. He pushed the pickaxe closer to his chest and screamed, "You left us, Abe! You abandoned your real home just so you could protect the outsider! And now you're hiding her from us."
Mark was wearing his old executioner's mask and his necklace again. The mask was drenched in blood and had a few small tatters in it.
"I don't know where the outsider is! Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. This entire place deserves to go down in flames with you in it!" Abe spat in Mark's masked face.
"That's enough! Our lord has decided your fate. You must die," Mark yelled as he slammed the butt of the pickaxe into his side.
Abe groaned in pain as he fell to the wooden floor. Mark flipped around and shoved the blade of the pickaxe into Abe's back, easily lifting him up into the air.
"This is what heretics like you get!" Mark screamed as he tossed Abe's helpless body into the hallway.
He flailed his arms around and tried to push himself up, but Mark quickly came over and sliced into his neck, instantly killing Abe.
"Damn you and your outsider," Mark whispered in his raspy voice as he trudged down the hallway with his bloody pickaxe.
Charlie watched in horror as the strong smell of Abe's blood filled her nose. She opened the door with shaky hands and was greeted with his lifeless body laying face down. His right arm was outstretched toward Charlie's door like he was begging for her help and his lifeless eyes stared deeply into her's.
"Shit, poor Abe. I'm so, so sorry I couldn't help. Damn Mark and his entire cult," Charlie cried as she knelt next to Abe's body. "I hope you and your brothers find peace wherever you go," Charlie paused to swallow hard, "Thank you for everything."
After thanking him, Charlie walked back into her room and grabbed the flashlight that was still resting on the nightstand. She stepped over the pool of blood that was surrounding Abe's body and then moved to his room.
She found the paper with Max's location resting underneath the broken bed and quickly pulled it out. She stuffed the paper into the pocket of her prison outfit and then moved back into the hallway.
Now, Charlie had another goal. A bigger, tougher goal that might take her a few hours, or a day, or a week. That goal was to find Max. Find Max and then get the hell out of here. Charlie knew her journey would be long and dangerous, but she also knew she would find him. She just had to keep hoping.