Limbo

Finally

ASHLEY:

Between the noise from the helicopter, the cops yelling through for everyone to come out, and the people freaking out over the snakes, I can barely hear myself think. But as soon as I'm untied from the chair, I hop up, start working on getting back the feeling in my hands, and holler at the guys, "Does anybody have any ideas on how to get the gun away from that dude?"

They all glance blankly at each other, then back at me, sort of shrugging. But then Jinxx does a double-take and gestures toward the guy, saying, "Yeah, it looks like maybe somebody does."

We all look around just in time for me to see Rachel's mom using a piece of wood to whack a metal bucket that's just been jammed over his head. Bob, who's closest to him, darts forward and grabs the gun, wrenching it away and turning it toward the cultists. Jake pulls a pistol from under his shirt, and they start kind of herding people into a corner, while the rest of us check out the rest of the room.

CC pokes my shoulder and points to Rachel's dad and Wade booking across the room, toward the blocked-off area, with Rachel and her husband right on their heels, each of them carrying a couple of very pissed-off snakes. I head that way, with C right behind me, but before we can catch up, Wade has gone behind the curtain, and Berridge is standing just outside, muttering something unintelligible when Rachel pops up in front of him.

Now I guess having a couple of rattlers seeming to free-float in your face can be kind of startling, but from his reaction, I get the feeling that this isn't what's at the front of his mind right now. He looks completely shocked, and breaks off his mumbling just in time to have a pair of snakes shoved into his face, which causes him to start screaming again. Sawyer blows right past us, barreling toward his brother, so I decide that since Rachel seems to have her dad under control, I'll go after him, and CC follows along.

Considering all of the other nuttiness I've seen since we got here, I'm ready to see anything from a meth lab to fucking torture dungeon, but what we actually find behind the curtain is completely beyond anything I could have thought of. There's sort of a hospital room set up, and I'm utterly horrified to see Rachel lying in the bed, thin and even paler than I'm used to, hooked up to a bunch of machines. But as mind-blowing as this is, it's not even the worst.

"Holy fucking shit, what the fuck is this!?" CC yells, but I'm not sure if he's referring to Rachel herself, or the fact that Wade has ripped the covers off of the bed and is in the process of unfastening his pants. When I see this, I just sort of snarl at him and drive the heel of my boot into the base of his spine, nearly making him tumble over the end of the bed.

He catches himself and spins around, shooting me a death glare. "How dare you try to interfere with my destiny? This is what I've...," he yells, but it trails off as he looks around. "Milord, why did you stop? Go on with the incantation, so the Master can act through me!"

"I think that might be a little difficult with a couple of these hanging off of his face, big brother," Sawyer announces, moving toward him with a snake in each hand. "So why don't I just put these two where they'll do the most good, you sneaky, perverted piece of shit?"

Wade starts backing away from him, which puts him closer to us, and we both jump him, tackling him to the floor. The three of us are rolling around, and the curtain thing goes down with a crash, allowing everyone to see what's going on. I glance up for a second, and see Jinxx, Andy, and Rachel just a couple of feet away, looking completely stunned, which I can totally relate to right now.

We're rolling around throwing punches, and we both manage to get on top of him and pin him down. He tries to throw us off, but Andy stomps on the back of his head and seems to kind of stun him a bit, and Jinxx dashes over to grab some of the rope off of the chairs. He brings it back and starts tying Wade up, looping his right hand to his left ankle, and vice versa, basically hog-tying him, and then runs a loop around his neck before tying it off.

"Now lie there and be still like a good boy, or you'll make yourself very uncomfortable," he says, with an absolutely wicked grin. "Or, now that I think about it, go ahead and try to get loose. Do everyone a favor and choke yourself to death."

Wade starts swearing at us, using combinations I've never thought of, but he gets quiet when he's suddenly rolled over onto his back, staring up with a horrified expression. I glance around and realize why, when I see Rachel's mom standing there with a very large mallet in her hand. "You were actually stupid enough to think we would allow you to take advantage of my daughter, asshole? Not now, and not ever. Say goodbye to your laughable claim to manhood, you little bitch!"

We all flinch when the mallet swings into his crotch, and he lets out such a high-pitched wail that I almost expect his throat to burst. He's sobbing and gagging on the floor in front of us, and Berridge is just a few feet away, starting to swell up and change color from the snakebites. Then the woman he called Jane comes over to him and starts trying to get him off of the floor, and I hear her tell him, "I need you to get up, Victor, and I can take you out the back way. I'll take care of these, and when you recover your strength, we can start over."

I decide that there's no fucking way this is happening, so I walk over and do something I've never done before in my life: I grab her by the hair, yank her to her feet, and tell her, "I'll snap your fucking neck myself before I'll let you leave this room! Your sick little fantasy is over, you delusional bitch, and these two fuckwads aren't going anywhere unless they're in handcuffs or a bag!" I pull her away from him, and call out, "Hey, can one of you grab some more of that rope for me?"

CC grabs some off the other chair, and helps me tie her up, and about that time we hear pounding on the door, and Whitworth yelling to be let in. Bob and Jake still have everyone corralled in the corner, and Charlie has managed to get his gun back as well, so he's joined them, but heads for the door to let them in. I look around the room and see Rachel standing near the bed, looking at herself with sort of a confused expression, and I try to get her attention, but she won't even acknowledge me. She glances around, then walks over, takes the mallet from her mom, and moves toward the altar thing. We all watch her, not sure at first what she's doing, but then she picks up the medallion, drops it onto the concrete floor, and swings the mallet, cracking it in half. She hits it several more times, turning it into nothing but a small pile of stone chips and twisted metal, and I don't know if I'll ever admit this to anyone, but when it breaks, I could swear that I saw a weird-looking sort of shadowy thing come out of it, and sort of evaporate into the air.

Probably my imagination, from all the stress, because demons and things like that don't really exist. But until I came here, I didn't believe in ghosts, either, so I guess I'll never really be sure.

Once the medallion is destroyed, she lays the mallet on the floor, and walks past us, over to Sawyer and her mom. She looks at them for a couple of seconds, and just as the cops come storming in, I hear her say something that sucks the air right out of me:

"All right, that's done. I guess we're finally free to go now."