horrors2

Brushingworth.Chamber_Po.tex

  1\chapauth{Brushingworth}
  2\chapter{Chamber Pop}
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  6Feebly, Luke Bavarious reached into his mouth and pushed on his
  7molar. He winced as it shifted unpleasantly in its socket. Pain
  8shot down his jaw and Bavarious clenched the edge of the sink. The
  9dried blood caked onto his hand cra\-cked and fell into the sink in
 10large flat scabs. Bavarious raised his head and turned on the
 11water, hot all the way. Steam rose from the large sink. Bavarious
 12was in the basement of his office building. The door he had just
 13stumbled through was still open, letting in the night's
 14biting cold air; Bavarious didn't notice. He spat twice,
 15three times, into the sink and plunged his hands into the water,
 16clenching his fists at the near boiling temperature. The liquid was
 17quickly polluted to a dark red.
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 21``Shit,'' Bavarious let out as he finally opened his
 22office door on the sixth floor. Inside the lamp on his desk lit the
 23dim room. Someone in the plastic chair preceding his desk turned.
 24What the fuck, Bavarious thought suddenly, but he let out no sound.
 25``Ah, you're back,'' said the small boy sitting in
 26front of him. ``I've been waiting almost an hour.''
 27``Well sorry kid,'' Bavarious responded as he trudged to
 28his desk chair, ``I've just about had enough people for
 29today.'' The kid stared at him unblinking. He was probably
 30thirteen or fourteen. ``Mr.\ Bavarious? I need to speak with
 31you about an important matter. Don't you think it's a
 32little funny that a kid like me is here to see you? Let me
 33introduce myself, I'm Oscar Crowley.'' While the kid was
 34talking, Bavarious unloaded his Berretta and gave the kid a
 35sarcastic glace every now and then. ``Alright listen
 36punk.'' Bavarious gestured with his Berretta as he spoke,
 37``Today's over. Finished. All that's left for me
 38is a bottle of Jack back home. If you've got some sort of way
 39of paying me outside of Monopoly money and lemonade stands than
 40tomorrow you can come back and give me your sob stories, tonight go
 41home. It's passed your bedtime anyways.''
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 45Bavarious was spread eagle hanging upside down on the moldy couch.
 46He watched Law and Order on the TV upside down in front of him and
 47sipped whiskey from a bottle, most of which by this point dribbled
 48down his forehead. He didn't hear anything when the figure
 49slid open the kitchen window. From the fire escape a dark and dim
 50figure in combat boots stepped into the apartment. Bavarious, due
 51to an insurance commercial that annoyed him even in his inebriated
 52state, lifted the bottle for another swig and saw in the reflection
 53of the moving glass a dark figure lunging toward him. Bavarious
 54raised his hand to stop the intruder but the figure quickly batted
 55away his drunken defenses and closed two gloved hands around the
 56detective's throat. Bavarious' eyes bulged and he
 57coughed a mixture of alcohol and vomit. Flailing, Bavarious saw
 58that he was still holding the bottle of Jack and quickly smashed it
 59over the head of his assailant. After gasping for several minutes,
 60Bavarious got up to check on his unconscious prisoner. The man, if
 61it was a man, was clothed only in a long brown overcoat. His head
 62and face was covered by the coat's large hood. The
 63man's head was completely devoid of hair, Bavarious
 64couldn't tell if he was shaved or simply never grew any. His
 65face was what made Bavarious recoil. Under what should have been
 66the man's eyebrows (which were also missing) was nothing but
 67a series of gashes and burns. Large scars ripped up and down the
 68man's face, the larger ones continuing down into the robe
 69that Bavarious didn't want to look under. The only human
 70feature about the man's face was a vertical gash, about three
 71inches wide and four inches tall, where the intruder breathed
 72harshly.
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 76{\em I need some coffee}. Bavarious walked unsteadily in the
 77gutter. He had left the man/thing in his apartment exactly where he
 78had fallen. Probably not something he would have done sober but,
 79tonight he wasn't in the mood for procedure. His boot caught
 80the edge of a storm drain and he tumbled, scraping his hand on the
 81concrete. He sat that way for awhile. Watching the dirty water
 82funnel into the sewer. When he was ready to keep moving, he looked
 83up. Standing right next to him was Oscar Crowley. ``I told
 84you,'' said Oscar disappointedly. ``What the fuck are you
 85talking about kid,'' Bavarious spat, feeling only slightly
 86embarrassed at his language in front of the boy. Turning, Oscar
 87walked away from Bavarious. ``You're gonna lose yourself
 88in darkness, man.''
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 92{\em What?} Bavarious watched the little boy walk away and thought
 93about the cryptic message. Did the boy know something about the
 94monstrosity that had just attacked him? He had to find out. Getting
 95up, he stumbled down the street and turned into the alley he had
 96seen the boy enter. Suddenly, he halted. Down the three foot wide
 97alley was nothing but a couple of garbage cans, a dumpster and some
 98wires running through the water on the ground. What slowly dawned
 99on Bavarious was that this was the very same alley that he had
100encountered the monstrous noise violator early that day. He slowly
101walked to the end of the alley and back three times, looking for
102any way the boy could have left the alley without him seeing. On
103the third trip back he gave up and decided to go for that coffee
104after all, but stopped halfway out. He had been running his hand
105down the eastern brick wall of the alley and this time he felt a
106faint vibration in the stone. He put his ear up to the wall and
107listened. At first he didn't hear anything and the wall
108seemed to have settled, but a few seconds later he hear a slight
109thudding sound and felt the wall shake once again. Bavarious
110scanned the wall for a window or drain that might lead inside the
111building. Seeing nothing left the alley.
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115From the street the building didn't look like much. He couldn't hear the
116thudding from this far, and the front wall didn't seem to be
117shaking. The front had an old-fashioned lighted sign that read ``Larry's
118RR'' and offered a jukebox, soda fountain, and coffee. The front windows
119were broken but had been boarded up by strong looking wood. {\sc
120  Blackout Armistice} was splashed across the left board in black
121spray-paint. After trying and failing to make sense of this felonious
122abstrusity, Bavarious looked up to examine the upper floors of the
123building.  Most of the windows were boarded, plenty were broken, through
124a few he saw a spare bookcase or desk but nothing was moving in any of
125them. The longer he contemplated the lofts; he began to notice something
126about the rooms. He couldn't quite focus on it immediately, probably
127thanks to the last of the Jack still digesting in his stomach. Suddenly
128he caught it. In a few of the rooms he could see the same orange-tinted
129light faintly. Every so often the light would flicker or go out
130altogether for a few seconds. While this could have been attributed to a
131bad electrical line, Bavarious noticed that in every one of the rooms
132the light responded identically, as if the same bulb was burning out at
133the end of every kitchen socket.
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137Bavarious pulled his Beretta. {\em I'm going in}. He
138wasn't sure why he was going in, but he was sure he was
139going. He leapt up onto the right display window and landed on
140broken glass. With the butt of his gun, Bavarious smashed into the
141wood. Chips flew away but the barricade seemed unharmed. He tried
142several more times and then went the front door. Bavarious
143couldn't see through the glass door but it seemed to be
144blocked only by paper. I hope I'm not gonna regret this. He
145pulled his leather sleeve over his right hand and slammed the butt
146of the gun through the glass door. It shattered and the glass fell
147on both sides of the door. Through the paper he could see the decay
148of an old caf\'e and the same orange light. He reached through
149the tear and tried to unlock the door. The lock seemed to be
150rusted. Sighing, Bavarious steeped one leg then the other through
151the door, kicking away the rest of the paper.
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155On the other side of the dining room the orange light poured
156underneath a door that Bavarious thought looked like a bathroom. He
157crossed the space quickly and approached the door. It was indeed a
158bathroom, but the sign had been defaced. What had once been a
159standard female figure had some sort of black stain on the front of
160her skirt and was dripping black liquid from between her legs.
161Bavarious thought it was the same spray-paint as the outside
162proverb but he didn't examine it closely. He stood with his
163hand on the door for a moment and suddenly he hear the same
164thudding, much louder now, and a shuffling murmuring. Inhaling,
165Bavarious opened the door with his Beretta drawn.
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169Inside Bavarious took one and a half steps before stopping dead in
170his tracks. His eyes glazed over and the orange light of the room
171shined off them like blisters. The room was cavernous. The entirety
172of the building had been hollowed out and Bavarious could see the
173rooms he had seen from the streets above. They seemed to be
174perfectly untouched until they simply ran out of floor. They gaped
175out into sepulchral like pockmarks as if someone with a wrecking
176ball had tried to demolish the building from the inside out. On the
177floor of the room were fold-out metal chairs arranged in rows
178giving the building a church-like atmosphere. The chairs were
179almost completely filled with people. Bavarious couldn't tell
180much about them due to the brown hoods they were all wearing.
181Somewhere in his brain Bavarious recognized them as the same that
182the man who had tried to kill him had worn. The same part of his
183brain that realized there were over four hundred of them. That part
184of his brain wasn't really important to Bavarious at that
185moment. In fact he barely even noticed the room or the people in
186the chairs. His eyes swept past them and were drawn to the sight
187they were all apparently there to witness.
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191At the far end of the room, a few yards to Bavarious' left,
192was a man standing like an accursed teacher at a rusted wooden
193fold-up table. Lying on the table were various medical instruments
194and a small girl. Bavarious thought she might have been seven. She
195had long tangled blonde hair that stretched past her shoulders and
196ended soiled in the puddle of blood that she was lying in. The girl
197had been split open vertically from neck down; the cut had not been
198clean. The man at the table had removed most of the contents from
199inside her but apparently left the connections. Spare blood vessels
200and muscle ligaments crisscrossed over her and draped down to
201various organs that were spread out on the table. Terrified,
202Bavarious noticed that the girl was breathing slowly into a mask
203that was connected to a makeshift airtank below the table.
204Bavarious looked away and saw that at the front of the table, a few
205feet from the first row of chairs, was the body of the man he had
206shot earlier. The body was similarly dissected and seemed to be
207waiting for some sort of terrible transplant procedure.
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211Bavarious stood frozen. He mouth was slightly open. Suddenly, he
212saw a door across the room open and Oscar Crowley step out. He was
213also petrified by the scene and stood standing for several moments.
214When he saw the girl on the table, however, he shouted
215``Sam!'' and charged up the room. The onlookers seemed
216shocked as well and Oscar made it almost all the way to the front
217of the room before one of the men in robes reached out and grabbed
218the back of his shirt. He was stopped dead by the strength of the
219man. Slowly the nearest of the congregation raised from their seats
220and helped subdue the boy. He kicked and bit at all that came near
221him but eventually they dragged him to the front of the room in
222custody where the standing man removed the mask from the girl and
223placed it over Oscar who spat into the mouthpiece but eventually
224slowed his thrashing and eventually closed his eyes. From there
225most of the group returned to their seats while a few laid Oscar
226next to the splayed corpse. Suddenly, Bavarious realized he was
227sobbing. 
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