Delinquency

by Daemon McRae

Essay Four: The Art of the Pursuit

Essay Four: The Art of the Pursuit

The claw itself could only really be called such for the sheer fact it certainly didn’t resemble anything else. Three massive, multi-jointed digits ending in precision points swung around the corner and dug themselves into the wall so ferociously as to create what would have been an echoing smash had the laws of acoustics been kind enough to show up for work that day. As it was, the sounds were still muted, but their absence was easily occupied by the sheer volume and malice such an appendage possessed.

Which paled in comparison to the visage that followed. A face, for lack of a better term, pulled itself into the hallway, nearly scraping the ceiling by the top of its form, and yet the jaw was still in danger of dragging the carpet along with it. Massive in scope and malevolence, it held only the barest resemblance to what would have been a face had it any details left. Where one’s eyes would be were shifting depths of blackness, not of a void, but a bubbling, viscous fluid whose borders within the framework of the creature constantly swirled and curved like an oil spill on clean water.

Drops of the putrid oily material fell into the carpet, both warping and mutating it wherever it fell. The floor would sink in like rubber for the split second it took the drop to splash about, then revert back to its normal shape only to sprout some horrible appendage or growth. Dying, vibrant plants with too many teeth and greedy roots; arms and legs warped and abused into horrible figures; almost tendril-like growths that immediately stretched out and sought god knows what. The monster’s path trail was littered with them.

It had no mouth, simply an open space with prison bars of bone and gristle behind which tortured forms and agonized faces pressed themselves as far away from the creature’s core as possible; their pitiful bodies warped and molded by sheer proximity and effort as they made any attempt to escape their godless prison. On second inspection, however, their expressions were not ones of fear, but hatred. Hatred at their imprisonment, resentment for those who would dare flaunt their freedom in front of them. Arms stretched beyond the bars to grasp anything worth grabbing, and do unspeakable things to it, as maddening promises of pain and luxury echoed from their empty mouths.

The frame of the ‘face’ was little more than an expanse of bone and metal sown together like a quilt with razor wire. Flesh and… other things hung from the wire, peeled off the bone, and dangled from sharp edges and warped corners of the metal plates like laundry hung out to dry. They were… dripping.

The face pulled forward into the hall until it was barely a breath away from the wall before it, then turned in its rattly socket to stare down the way Treble had run. Another beastly claw lurched forward behind it, reaching around to grasp the wall opposite and pull the beast in line with the passageway. While it had no eyes, there was no mistaking it had observed the two girls. It went from a grisly stalking pace to slamming its claws on the floor before it in a mad scramble to reach the new things in front of it.

Neither of which were of a mind to find out why. Sunny and Sugarcoat turned heel and ran faster than they thought possible. Adrenaline ran through their veins like a nasty overdose, the primal lizard brain in the back of their minds screaming horrible obscenities and providing a much-unasked-for slide show of possibilities should they stop running. Driven by fear, over-active imaginations, and a rather impressive survival spirit, they’d caught up with Treble in good time, especially considering the almost lethal pause they’d taken as the creature’s horrible appearance rooted them in fear.

“Took you long enough!” Treble shouted, rather unnecessarily. They were both within conversational distance, and keeping pace, and the creature’s mad scrambling was, however terrifying, still muted by the absence of echoes. Were they of a mind to pay attention, they would have noticed the lack of footsteps or the sounds of heavy breathing. Really though, one couldn’t blame them for focusing more on avoiding the cacophony of atrocious threats and dealings pouring from the monster’s prisoners, or the loud, intentional slams of the claws as it drug itself along at impossible speed in pursuit of its prey.

“Excuse us for not having an appropriate reaction to THAT THING!” Sunny bellowed, gesturing wildly behind her.

“I’m pretty sure the only appropriate reaction is DON’T. DIE,” Sugarcoat retorted. She saw an intersection up ahead, and instead of verbalizing a warning, grabbed both her comrades by the collar and pulled them aside, as the creature dashed past in a frenzy.

Treble paused for breath. “Oh… god. Need to do… more yoga.”

“You NEED to stop smoking,” Sunny scolded, eying both the intersection and the corridor ahead of them with shaky eyes.

“Don’t even- OH COME ON!” Treble yelled, grabbing the girls by the arms and dragging them down the hallway. Which only lasted about a second, as they easily fell into pace. The beast had turned around, and found them in their side hall. Well, actually, as it was crawling on the ceiling, it’s idea of ‘turning around’ was more likely ‘turn upside down and crawl backwards’. Which was surprisingly effective.

The passageway they’d chosen seemed to be even longer than the last. It was difficult to judge length in a space where every ten feet looked exactly the same; they’d probably passed that same side table half a dozen times by now.

Treble, having a rare moment of insight in an adrenaline-fueled panic, saw yet another intersection ahead of them. He slowed the girls half a second by tugging on their shirts, then ducked them all into a side corridor as the beast came much closer to reaching them than it had last time. Treble took the extra seconds to choose a ‘hotel’ room at random and drag them all in, shutting the door behind them and bolting the lock.

Leaning his head on the door, his hands still gripping the lock tightly, he sighed. “Next time you try and side-step a monster, make sure you don’t stand around and wait for it to find you again.”

“Ok, in my defense, I didn’t know it would just flip onto the ceiling and turn right around!” Sugarcoat snapped in an uncharacteristically loud tone.

Treble glanced over his shoulder, his eyes obscured by his now frazzled and stringy mane of hair. “Just saying. But really, good job not dying back there.”

“Gee thanks,” Sunny scoffed, throwing herself onto the bed. There was a bed, surprisingly. The entire room was rather well furnished. A large four-poster queen size bed sat almost directly in the middle of the room, save for having been pushed back to stand flush with the wall. On either side were matching nightstands, pieces of a dark brown wood carved into a rather impressive two-level piece that could almost be called a computer desk. Each had a gaudy lamp on the second level, a simple brass stand leading to a bulb housed in an obnoxious green glass shade. A little string of beads dangled from the bulb.

There was a large dresser opposite the bed. Done in a matching dark wood, it was three shelves tall and much wider, and if one was skinny enough and had a rather impractically thin mattress, could double as a second bed. The window, a large bay style opposite the door, sported maroon drapes to match at least one color in the unconscionable carpet. The walls, carpet and ceiling were much like the hallway, with the exception of wooden paneling behind the bed like the color of under ripe plums.

There was another door, as well, most likely lading to a bathroom. Treble didn’t want to think what would come out of the faucets if they thought to turn them on. “You girls thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That if Ru Paul were here his head would explode?” Sunny groaned, staring absently at the ceiling as her breath came back to her.

“Actually, yeah,” Treble mused, taking a seat at the foot of the bed. Sugarcoat followed suit, and soon they’d all stretched out at convenient, if awkward, angles to rest. Nobody even bothered to pull up the covers.

Or pull back the curtains and find out what exactly was behind the window.

------------------------------

The hours passed as they slept. However unintentional, the rest was much-needed. Treble awoke first, stretching like a wildcat until his hand met something soft and fleshy. He rose with a start to look around for the monster, afraid it had somehow fit itself into the room with them, only to see that he’d brushed against Sunny’s thigh. Looking down at the two girls, he lamented their involvement: people shouldn’t have to be dragged face first into the deep end like this. Not like he was.

One job. One job and I can’t even do that right, he scolded himself as he watched his… friends… sleep. Friends might not have been the right word, but he figured they were well past acquaintances now; running from an other-dimensional terror down an impossible hallway in a pocket dimension certainly does that to you. His eyes settled on Sugarcoat. Cute, when she wasn’t beating you with the truth like a grandmother with a wooden spoon. Her pigtails draped over her face in an almost princessly fashion. She shouldn’t be here. I should have turned around as soon as they started arguing about the flowers. Even when I didn’t know what this was I should have known it was bad.

He tore his gaze away guiltily until it rested on Sunny. In stark contrast to Sugarcoat’s curled up, almost adorable sleeping form, Sunny’s spread-eagle approach to claiming as much of the bed ass possible was overshadowed only by her big yap snoring away. No sound came out, of course, something Treble still hadn’t gotten used to, but should have learned to expect by now. If they die here it’s because I didn’t do enough to keep them away. Anyone else would have been better. The rainbooms, certainly. At least they have an idea of what’s going on. But these two are just civvies. I’m not supposed to let them get dragged into this. It’s my job to keep people like them out of it. Not because they aren’t allowed to know, he reminded himself, but because they shouldn’t HAVE to. I mean, who wants this in their life? I certainly didn’t. It’s not like I walked up to those three psychos one day and said ‘Cool club, can I join?’ I just wanted-

A thought that never finished, as the rest of Treble’s exhausted brain caught up with him. Something was different about the room. Something he felt he should have noticed the moment he woke up. He was supposed to be good at the details. Noticing things his friends didn’t, keeping them in the moment. So when he realized the light around him had changed in the time he’d been asleep, he mentally slapped himself and looked around, quick as he could.

The lights had gone out; both lamps were off, as well as the overhead light. They’d cast the kind of suffused, warm glow that you barely notice when you walk into a room, but now it was gone. In its place was a sickly red light, seemingly coming from nowhere. It filled the room, reaching every corner, almost as it it was coming from ever corner. The walls seemed to pulse with it, save for the space where the wood paneling lay. He slowly stood up, approaching the nearest wall: the one the door was set into. A few feet to the left of the entrance, he rested a hand on the wallpaper, and stilled himself.

It was faint, almost nonexistent, but he could swear if he tried hard enough he could convince himself the gentle throbbing under his hand was actually a pulse. The light seemed to pout from the wall, filtered through the awful wallpaper to cast an ugly glow on the surroundings. Whatever was actually casting that light, Treble didn’t want to know. Unfortunately, their entire lives seemed to be about learning things you don’t want to know so that you don’t DIE horribly.

Having taken a lesson from Rubble a long time ago, DT never went anywhere without a knife. Nowhere near as flashy or intimidating as Rubble’s military-grade killsticks, Treble had settled for a simple spring-loaded switchblade. Certainly illegal in some places, highly practical. Pulling it out of his pocket and flicking it to life, he dug a little into the wallpape, cutting a swath away and pulling it back.

Like he’d suspected, the wall itself was glowing; where the paper had peeled away a brighter, pearlescent glow shone through. Not enough to be blinding, but you could certainly find your way in a dark cavern with it. The light wavered slightly, however, at regular intervals. Putting the tips of his fingers to the exposed wall, he was surprised to find they felt much like any plaster wall he’d ever encountered, save for the pulsing and light.

Answering one question with a basket of others, he rubbed the wallpaper back in place and tucked the edge in just a little to try to hold it in place. When it didn’t fall away, he left it at that, and decided he’d much rather artificial light than… unnatural. Finding the light switch was easy, and with a flick the overhead light flared to life and filled the room with it’s welcome, electric glow. The sickly red luminescence was gone, washed away by the saving graces of mass-produced light bulbs. Or, what he really, really hoped was a light bulb.

Then his brain did that thing where it caught up with itself again, bringing him to the present, and a single question popped into his head: Why the fuck is there a window here? He swept across the room with a newly regained sense of false confidence, restored from having actually done something mildly productive that had left him with all his everything attached. Throwing the curtains wide open, however, banished any and all sense of self-assurance he’d acquired in the last few moments, as the face on the other side of the glass smiled at him and raised a wiry arm.

“Hello,” she said.

Comments

[Dlaf rferg]

Couldn't help but notice Treble 'miring Sugarcoat there.

[Changeling_Shadows]

Throwing the curtains wide open, however, banished any and all sense of self-assurance he’d acquired in the last few moments, as the face on the other side of the glass smiled at him and raised a wiry arm.

“Hello,” she said.

I suppose it would be rude to simply close the curtains back up again?

[FanOfMostEverything]

Well now. Between the street art and the creepy girl, I believe we've found our psychonauts. Of course, just because one isn't weeping horrific mutagens doesn't make her safe.

[LordMentat]

the face on the other side of the glass smiled at him and raised a wiry arm.

“Hello,” she said.

Yea..........gonna go with no.....

[BradtheBrony]

8897011
More like “Goodbye!” before quickly closing the blinds and pretending you didn’t see anything.

[Phoenix Flight]

“Hello,” she said.

“And bye-bye now!” said DT, closing the curtain. Just back away slowly...

[Jarimor]

media.makeameme.org/created/lol-nope-yicjk7.jpg

[Warrior of Virtue]

They're in a giant doll house, aren't they?

[Alchemik]

....well shit. That's probably really really bad.