What Following Brings (11 page)

Eden frowned at him.
“
I was built this way, okay? My mom is the same way.
”

“
Okay, whatever,
”
Sergeant Dale said.
“
Let
'
s just get out of here before we get caught.
”

Eden stepped forward, feeling uncomfortable in all of the extra material. Fear filled her as she approached the door and
she
knew chances weren
'
t good she wouldn
'
t be caught. Judging by Sergeant Dale
'
s tense face, his thoughts were similar. She touched his arm gently.

“
Thank you,
”
Eden said.
“
For helping me, I mean.
”

Sergeant Dale frowned at her, but she saw his mouth twitch in an almost smile.
“
I owed you, remember? You saved me.
”

“
You didn
'
t owe me anything,
”
Eden said.

Grunting in discomfort, Sergeant Dale said,
“
Let
'
s go, Eden. You can thank me later, after I get you out of here.
”

Nodding, Eden felt fear fill her soul
.
Now was the time to escape. Then she could worry about everything, from t
he Raiders to the pursuing soldiers
.

Once Sergeant Dale had opened the door to the corridor
.
Eden
stepped
through
and
gazed
around. It was dark and there were only a few soldiers around. One of the soldiers spotted Sergeant Dale and walked over to him with a grin on his face, and Sergeant Dale gripped her arm and held it within his hard grasp.

“
Remain calm,
”
Sergeant Dale said.
“
This guy
'
s real slow, but unfortunately, he
'
s a sergeant like me so I can
'
t just order him away. I
'
ll shake him off.
”

When the Demon reached them, Eden pushed her hand on the bill of her hat and pushed it farther down to hide her eyes.

“
We haven
'
t had an escape. Ever.
”
The Demon soldier shook his head
.
“
What do you make of it?
”

As Sergeant Dale made a disgruntled face, her
eyes darted toward the cell across from hers. Don
'
s cell. She then
gazed
at Sergeant Dale and then back at the door again.
Would Sergeant Dale go for it if she tried to rescue Don? She doubted it.
Biting her bottom lip, she
thought
,
What am I going to do?

At that moment
she heard the sound of thundering feet on the stairs and
gazed
down
, eyes wide. She recognized the sound of a
large
squad when she heard it. Sergeant Dale must have thought the same thing because he pushed his Demon friend out of the way and began to drag her down to the other end of the hallway and toward the next flight of stairs.

“
Go up them,
”
Sergeant Dale said.
“
Hide in one of the rooms. Quick.
”

“
But they
'
ll find me up
t
here,
”
Eden said, desperate.

“
I
'
m going to try to distract them,
”
Sergeant Dale said.
“
Let
'
s just pray
it
isn
'
t Yuri
heading this way
.
”

“
It
'
s him,
”
Eden said.
“
I can feel it.
”

“
Then you better run. Now.
”
Sergeant Dale pulled out a big, silver key and handed it to her.
“
Here. In case the doors are locked. Don
'
t lose the key. We
'
re only given one.
”

Groaning, Eden whipped around and sprinted up the stairs. She discovered
this
hall
was empty. She laid eyes on the
room
where she had first met Yuri and sprinted toward it. There were many cupboards in there. Sure, she may have been too thin to fit into any
Demon soldier uniforms
but she could get into
tiny places and hide
.

As Eden opened the door and darted inside she heard a loud, hideous
,
cry from downstairs. It was Yuri. He was so angry she could hear his voice a flight of stairs up.

“
The prisoner escaped?
”
Yuri howled.
“
The prisoner Commander Donovan specifically sent to us for special guard has escaped?
How?
There are over five hundred soldiers in here. A woman that looks like she does isn
'
t g
oing to just walk by without being noticed. What were you thinking?
”

Somebody responded, but Eden didn
'
t take the time to
listen
. She shut the door behind her and
gazed
around the empty room.
A weapon
.
First I need a weapon, just in case I
'
m found.
If thes
e rooms were used for torturing prisoners then there had to have been something inside
that
she could use in order to fight
the Demon soldiers
.

She opened the cupboard and
gazed
inside and felt fear fill her soul like electricity.
Large glass vials containing Satan Spawn had been lined up like medicine. Wisps of white mist with glowing Raiders
'
faces floated in giant bottles. Small imps with glowing red eyes, spiked tails, and white fangs stood at attention next to herds of crimson, angry bugs. Cherry sludge glowed from inside short, fat vials.
The sludge
appeared
as if it had come from the geysers
Eden had seen while in the Blood Stone chamber
.
The
similarity
between the wicked caves and the sludge caused her to shiver.

To the right of the Satan spawn,
stood
glass rows of holy water.
Eden grabbed as many as she could and shoved them into her pockets. She then
switched
her attention back toward the Satan Spawn with wide eyes.

She touched the bottled Raider and felt that the glass was like ice against her palm. She gasped and whimpered. She didn
'
t want to be stuck in here, not with these monsters around her. Just as she was about to sprint toward the door, she heard the sound of several feet marching down the hallway. Eden
,
k
nowing it was too late to leave,
seized a bottle of the red sludge, the less deadly looking of the vials, and hid behind the table.

“
You two search those rooms
and I
'
ll
search
these,
”
one of the Demons said.
“
Leave no room unchecked. We
'
re in for it if
the
girl gets loose.
”

Eden
groaned
an
d waited. In the room next-door, she heard the sound of banging and knew it would be only a matter of time before they found her in here. Hiding behind the table didn
'
t make her invisible.
Maybe if I try to sneak around them, I
could
get free.
But then wha
t? The downstairs was probably just as bad as up here. She wouldn
'
t be able to get down there the way things were, with or without Sergeant Dale
'
s help.

As she wrapped her hands around her knees, she heard the door bang open.
A Demon came inside.
He
walked around the table and
leered
at her at once. His mouth dropped open and then he
spun
around, probably to yell for his comrades.

Eden
lifted
up her arm and hurled the bottle of red sludge at the Demon before he could open his mouth
. The bottle shattered at his feet.
The
moment the red sludge touched his soul, he
caught fire
as if he was gasoline and the sludge was a
lit
match. The Demon threw back his head and let out pained, horrified yells. A portal opened up in the ceiling and his soul disappeared into it.

“
Did you hear that?
”
one of the Demons down the hall said.
“
This way.
”

Two pairs of running feet came Eden
'
s way.
She
had two choices
:
be captured or use the Demons
'
own weapons against them. Eden reached up, seized the first bottle she came in contact with, and felt a chill go up her arm. A Raider.

She didn
'
t wait for the Demons to reach her to hurl it.
She threw the bottle out the open door and into the hallway; the glass shattered and the mist spread along the floor.
Eden then watched in horror as the mist formed a tall, cold woman with
a blank
expression.

“
Raiders,
”
one of the Demons said.
“
Raiders, run.
”

There was the sound of loud thuds as the Demons fled, but then she heard an even bigger bang and then loud screams filled the prison. It sounded as though one Demon had gotten away, but the other one had not been so lucky
. Eden heard him scream and knew she had made a bad mistake. She had trapped herself in with the Satan Spawn. Sh
e wouldn
'
t be able to get away i
n time. Not from
Raiders
.

The mist entered the examination room and
headed
toward her. She backed up against the wall
as a
cold Raider appeared before her. The Raider stared at Eden with emotionless eyes.

“
Please,
”
Eden said.
“
I let you out, didn
'
t I? Surely you can understand I gave you freedom.
”

The Raider was
detached and cold
. Evil. But she did not swoop down upon her. Instead her head
moved
slowly and she touched the glass vial where another Raider remained.
Eden
withdrew her hand
from the vial
as if the glass had burned her. The Raider
glided
back to Eden.

“
Free them,
”
the Raider said.

“
You can
'
t open the bottles yourself?
”
Eden asked.

“
Free them,
”
the Raider
repeated
,
voice growing louder
.

Eden gasped.
It appeared the Raider couldn
'
t open the bottles. But she knew if she opened them all, there would be no hope for her.
Raiders
weren
'
t the sort of creatures
who
would hold a soft spot in their heart
s
for somebody who
had
released their brethren. The
y
were the sort of creatures
who
would wait for her to open all of the bottles and pounce.