Spliced

The world was different in wolf form. There were so many smells and sounds. It could be quite overwhelming for those not used to it. Indeed most new-borns, as the new but not necessarily always young wolves were called, often got lost in the wolf. Even many of the older ones would sometimes give in to their senses, letting the wolf take over entirely. Staying in command took a great deal of self-control and, as with most things, became easier with practice.

Wolf longed to run. To feel the soft grass beneath his paws. To smell the sweet pine fragrance of the forest. The hard concrete floors and musty smell of these corridors would have to do though. For a second Wolf almost lost himself in the pure and simple joy of running, almost. He allowed himself that brief moment and then he was back on track, focused on the job.

He was almost to the entrance when he smelt it. Another werewolf. He skidded to a halt. Hesitantly sniffed the air, trying to detect the direction and distance. He dropped his nose to the ground and followed the scent for several paces. Then a few paces more. Then, around a corner. He kept going further down the corridor. It grew stronger. There it was. He stopped. Several metres away stood another werewolf. This one had a dark black blueish tinged coat. Wolf held his ground. The other wolf did likewise. For a while they just looked at each other. Eventually the other wolf lowered his head, giving Wolf permission to approach.

Wolf cautiously stepped forwards. Once face to face they sniffed each other. It’s often said that wolves can smell fear. The truth is close enough. They might not be able to smell fear directly but there were certain scents that would indicate the likely presence of fear or other feelings. A liar’s sweat. A thief’s swift heartbeat. Wolf sensed nothing immediately dangerous from this new wolf. As far as he could tell this new wolf had been running and there was nothing there but exhaustion. In it Wolf sensed weakness, a prelude to death.

Wolf backed up a few paces and adjusted his ears and body language to indicate that he was going to change into human form. The other wolf did the same.

A moment later a dark-haired man stood facing Wolf. They were both completely naked but it wasn’t something that either of them took note of.

“You alone?” The other werewolf looked down at Wolf with weary brown eyes. He was taller and skinnier than Wolf.

“No.”

“Where is your pack?”

“Not a pack, friends. Down the hall. Back that way. I’m Wolf.” He held out his hand.

The other man ignored it and his eyes narrowed.One foot inched back slightly.

“Strange name.”

“It’s a nickname.” Wolf dropped his hand.

“Given to you by your friends?” he asked suspiciously.

Wolf shook his head. “My real name’s Wilfrid. There’s not much else one can really do with name like that.”

The man cocked his head sideways and seemed to think about it. He gave a nod of understanding.

“I’m Roland. You shouldn’t separate, the walls have a tendency to move in this place.” Roland glanced around.

“We’ve noticed,” Wolf replied “I was just on my way to check if the way out is clear.”

Roland chuckled. “Not likely. Like I said, things move. The exit’s probably not even there anymore. Wasn’t when I last checked.” He glanced upwards. “They like to play games with us.”

“They?”

Roland stared straight at him. “The people who brought you here.”

Wolf stared right back at him, processing what he’d just been told.

Roland glanced around, checking over his shoulder. “I should get going. I have to find the rest of my pack.” Roland made a move to leave.

“Wait! What did they bring you here for? What did they tell you?”

Roland paused. “They told us something was killing their people. Offered us money to help them.” He gave a bitter laugh. “I guess it’s easier to get people with a half truth. I don’t think they control the monsters.”

“Why did they really bring us here?”

Roland half turned, ready to leave again. He shook his head. “My best guess, we’re some rich psychopath’s form of entertainment. I should get going, before those things come back. It’s not safe to stay in one place too long.”

“How long have you been here?”

Roland stopped again. He blinked. A strange look came over his face. “I don’t know, could be days, could be weeks.”

“How do you eat?”

“We find it. Sometimes in strange rooms. Sometimes we hunt it, when we’re desperate. We’re not the only ones down here.” He spared Wolf a new look. One that raised the hairs on Wolf’s back. Wolf stood his ground. Roland shook off whatever thought it was that had entered his head, and continued with some more information. “The rooms move and sometimes there are traps. I don’t know if it’s them or...”

“This place?” Wolf finished for him.

Roland nodded and then paused waiting to see if Wolf would ask any more questions.

“How many of you are there?”

“My pack specifically?” he shook his head sadly. “Not as many as there were. All up there are four of us left.” He paused then started speaking again “but I couldn’t’ tell you exactly what happened to all of the others, it’s possible some of them are in the maze somewhere. I should get going.” He made no move to leave however. He seemed lost in thought and very tired.

Wolf looked down the corridor towards the exit. “You could come with us” he offered.

Roland glanced up and upon seeing the direction Wolf was looking he replied “I told you, it won’t be there anymore. You’re trapped like we are.”

“I have to check.”

“Suit yourself.”

Roland turned to leave. So did Wolf. Each headed opposite directions. Wolf stopped and turned back again. “How far is your pack?” he called after Roland.

“Don’t know, we got separated, I got chased, and then I smelt you. I’ll find them, probably. I have to. Either way, like I said it’s best to keep moving in this place. Good luck.”

Wolf nodded. “And you.”

Roland turned and transformed back into a wolf. Wolf did the same. Roland bounded away with lopsided gait. The man was on his last legs. Wolf could see that but he could also see that offering help was pointless. Wolf focused his attention on what he could do. Despite Roland’s conviction that the exit would be gone Wolf felt he had to see it for himself. He moved forward, more cautiously this time, but no less swiftly.

He smelt the blood before he saw it. No scent of life so he kept moving. However, sometimes blood could have an overwhelming scent that meant it could mask other smells. Something which had been a problem when he’d been searching for Cat earlier. Wolf used all his senses. He listened for sounds and heard nothing. He felt for vibrations. Still nothing. He poked his nuzzle cautiously around the corner, sniffing intently. Then his whole face. He found nothing. Not even any bodies. Just the red stains and blood soaked scent they had left behind. The only evidence they had ever been alive at all. Presumably they had been dragged away somewhere.

Roland was right. It was just as he had said. The exit was gone. Where there had once been an archway there was now just a blank wall. Wolf walked up to it. He sniffed it, pawed it, and pushed his shoulder into it. He turned to leave and then, as if he could surprise it, he turned back and rammed the wall with his shoulder again. The wall remained, just that, a wall. Wolf shook himself, feeling silly now. This shouldn’t be a problem for Sirius though. Not wanting to waste any more time he launched himself down the corridor. Back towards the others.

While Wolf had been on his short mission the others had been bombarding Tanya with questions. Asking her everything they could think of that may help. Tanya was unfortunately not very helpful. She seemed to know very little about the organisation or the Hall of the Dead. It made Cat somewhat suspicious but then Cat was often suspicious of people.

“How many people work here?” Amanda asked.

Tanya shrugged. “About 50 or 60 but I don’t really know for sure.”

“Has anyone else been here recently?”

Tanya frowned. “There was one group . . .”. Recollection flickered across her face. “Or maybe more than one. Here for different things, and before the bodies. We had some guys here about the lights . . . some problem with the generator, and another group, quite dressed up. I’m not sure what they were here for. None of them ever stayed very long and I don’t think the lights ever got fixed.”

“The lights? You mean the flickering?” Amanda probed further.

Tanya nodded. “Sometimes they’d cut out completely, for minutes at a time.”

“Where’s the generator?” Cat asked.

“Err . . . I’m not sure. One of the higher floors.”

“Is that the only power source?”

“I don’t know. I’m just the doctor.”

“Do may people get sick here.”

“Not really, just the usual injuries you might get at a military training base for example.”

“No scientists?”

“No, there are those too.”

“But lots of military types?”

“Yeah, more of those. And a couple of suits. Whether they’re Magicians, Warlocks, Aristocrats, or just regular management, I couldn’t tell you.”

“What’s the usual? Injury I mean, or illness.” Amanda asked.

“Oh you know, minor training injuries, coughs, colds, aches, pains, indigestion.”

“And deaths?”

“Not usually.”

“Nothing serious?”

“Not until recently.”

“How did they find you?” Cat asked.

“There was an outbreak and it got a bit of media attention. They contacted me shortly after that so I assume that’s how they found me.” She almost laughed. “I figured a change of pace would be nice.”

They kept asking poor Tanya questions until Wolf returned but they didn’t learn much more that was useful.

“You want Sirius to punch through this wall?” Amanda asked incredulously as they reached the block at the entrance.

Wolf nodded at her with a look that suggested he didn’t think it should be a problem.

It wasn’t that Amanda thought Sirius wouldn’t be able to do it. She’d seen him knock down a wall only minutes before. It was just that, looking at this one, it was hard to tell how thick it was, and while he might be able to make a decent dent in it if it went too deep he was also likely to run out of energy. Not to mention the risk it collapsing on top of him if he had to go into the wall to get through.

Magic wasn’t limitless and witches weren’t invulnerable. Individuals who were more adept at magic could be more efficient, but regardless of how talented a person was there was always a limit. Magic had three main measures to it; power, control, and efficiency.

Power was pretty self-explanatory. It was a measure of how much one could do. For a firestarter it meant the difference between lighting a match three feet away by pointing at it, versus blowing up a building a block away without even looking at it, maybe even while barely thinking about it.

Control was arguably the most important measure of magic. There wasn’t much point being able to blow up a building by thinking about it if you accidentally took out the wrong building or worse, the entire neighbourhood, especially if blowing up a building wasn’t even your intention in the first place. Likewise, being strong enough to lift a car wasn’t very useful when it also meant you couldn’t hold a lover’s hand without accidentally crushing it.

Individuals with great power were also often less efficient, meaning they used more energy and tired faster. Just getting tired wasn’t the worst consequence of low efficiency either; long term energy depletion could result in dehydration, starvation, or hypothermia, ultimately ending in death. Coupled with insufficient control and one could easily overuse their magic, depleting significant energy reserves in a single instance. At best one might just simply pass out. At worst the body itself would implode, converting everything into pure energy in a messy explosion.

Luckily for general society most high powered individuals without control had a tendency to implode before they reached adulthood. Puberty was the worst, but as a witch aged usually their skill at magic would improve.

Sirius had sufficient control that he was very unlikely to ever implode. He’d know long before he reached that point. Good control didn’t guarantee good efficiency though and Sirius was not one to give up easily. He’d keep going until he was well and truly tired. Given they had no water or food with them it was this that Amanda worried about.

She considered attempting to blast through the wall herself. It was unusual for a firestarter to have a lot of control but Amanda was the exception to the norm. Her efficiency, likewise, was exceptional. Still, blasting her way through stone wasn’t an easy task and if there was a chance they’d need to fight their way out of this place maybe it was better to let Sirius take this one. Her powers would be more useful if they ran into soldiers, although she always hated the idea of having to use her powers on people. Plus exploding this wall would need quite a bit of precision, directional contained heat was tricky and she didn’t want to bring the whole ceiling down on everyone.

While she was thinking Sirius approached the wall. His fist slammed into the wall. Stone flew off the wall. Indi instinctively shielded, although it hadn’t been necessary at all. Amanda watched Sirius closely, checking to see how much effort he was exerting.

The initial punch had made a decent dent in the wall but he seemed far from bursting through. He got a few more inches in when Amanda told him to stop. She instructed everyone to step back. Indi held up her hands, ready to summon her shield again.

Amanda rubbed her hands together. It wasn’t something that would help, just a routine she’d been picking up lately. She took a breath, then forced herself to stop and drop her hands to her sides. It wouldn’t do to develop a habit like that. Once you acquired a crux for casting magic it made it harder to cast it in other ways. Witches who regularly used their hands to cast, or worse, a wand, could become physically bound and lose their ability to do their magic in any other way. If that happened then one become reliant on having their channeling object with them or their use of magic became predictable and thus less useful in a fight. Good control meant constant practice. Likewise, Amanda often liked to practice without looking at her target. This was important to get right though so this time she focused her eyes on the wall.

She imagined a fireball being created beyond the surface, hopefully in the centre of the wall. She kept it small at first but increased the heat, until, when she thought she had it right, then she released it outwards. The wall exploded. The dust settled and revealed a distinct hole.

Amanda started to smile but as she did the wall moved in front of her. Rock flew back into place. While they all watched the wall repaired itself until it looked no different than it had before Sirius had thrown his first punch.

Amanda’s hands curled into fists but she kept her cool, releasing them a moment later with a sigh.

Somewhere upstairs in that darkened room Trevor observed his victims. To his left stood two men and one woman. His companion on the floor, still sat with her mirrors.

Travis, the bodyguard stationed at the inside of the room’s entrance itched to ask a question. Travis was not a complicated man. He liked the simple pleasures but he had always had far too big a mouth on him. It got him in trouble, often, making life less simple than he’d desire. He was young, barely 19. Initially he had wanted to become a police officer and he had joined up right out of high school. He’d almost completed his training when another offer had come along. The chance to work as a personal bodyguard. They’d offered him almost double what he would have made as a police officer. Something that happened in this chaotic world far too often. He’d leapt at the chance, as most would, at least that’s what he’d told everybody. Truth was he’d been thinking about dropping out of the police force and reconsidering his career completely. Maybe retrain as a chef. His big mouth had gotten him in plenty of trouble during training and by the time he got the job offer he was pretty sure his trainer was out to get him, if not a few of his classmates as well. His father would have been disappointed in his leaving, more so in his new “sissy” career choice. Body guarding was somewhat of a compromise. This was better than police work at least, and better pay. Plus it kept his parents happy, for now. It also meant faster savings so eventually, once he’d saved enough to move out of home he could look into those cooking courses again, maybe even start his own small restaurant. Body guarding might sound interesting but most of the hours were frightfully boring.

“So,” he began, curiosity finally overcoming him. “How are they going?”

“They’ll head towards the center soon enough. They can’t get past my wall.”

“That’s good right, for the ritual?”

Trevor pulled his eyes from the screen and looked at his most recent body guard. They never lasted very long, and he was beginning to feel that this one would be no exception. Before he could respond however, the door to the room flew open, and his own employer entered.

“We’re running out of time.”

“Relax.” Trevor turned back towards his mirror screens. Trevor didn’t meet the aristocrat’s eyes. He did it on purpose because he knew the man hated it. “We have plenty of time.”

Trevor suddenly felt the cold steel of a muzzle pressed up against his head.

“I want that firestarter dead before the ritual is done. I need her magic in it. The others that are down there too. All of them. If it’s not done in time, it will be your blood being sacrificed. Got it?”

The gun was removed from the back of Trevor’s skull, and when he turned to look the aristocrat was gone. Trevor turned to his three body guards. Some use they had been. He raised one hand and quickly brought his fingers together in a fist. Their bones crunched inwards. Their eyes exploded outwards. His mirror controlling companion kept her eyes down. They would be no use to him now, they feared the aristocrat too much, although he cursed at having to find new ones later. He had no doubt that the aristocrat intended to include him among the sacrifices once he’d served his original purpose, but Trevor like to walk the edge of risk, and he was enjoying his games a little to much to leave just yet. He still had time.

“So,” Falco started, “do we just take our chances in this maze?”

“If so I’d suggest that we mark the walls,” Amanda suggested. “Even if it doesn’t make much of a difference. At the very least we do need to stick together.”

There were a few nods of agreement but otherwise everyone was silent, contemplating their situation.

Indi spoke up first. “There was that big hole in the center of the compound. We could try head for that.”

“And when we get there?” Cat inquired.

“Falco could fly up and fetch some rope,” Indi replied matter of factly.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Zephyr commented.

“Except for the security cameras and the little matter of where to get rope,” Cat interjected as she lent back against the wall, either in rest or because she thought they were going to be here a while.

“I don’t think they watch them all the time and we can just move fast,” Indi replied.

“And the rope?” Cat didn’t bother to mention that several people, one of which was Indi, could not possibly move that fast up a single rope, even if someone strong was pulling.

“I have rope,” Amanda replied.

“You have rope?” Cat repeated incredulously, forgetting all her other concerns.

“There’s also rope in the equipment room,” Tanya added.

“Now that’s something you could have mentioned before,” Cat told Tanya before turning to Amanda. “Why do you have rope?”

“I always bring rope.”

Cat frowned, then shrugged.

“How are we going to find the hole?” Zephyr asked.

Amanda’s gaze landed on Wolf.

Wolf shook his head. “We’re underground so unless you have a compass? Even sniffing it out would be problematic, I’m not even sure what scent I’d be looking for, and it’s quite some distance from here. It’s not like following the trail of a person.”

“Well do we know which way we’re facing now? Maybe we could measure the angles of the hallways as we walk,” Indi suggested.

Falco tried not to laugh. “Trust you,” he chuckled.

Zephyr also grinned.

Cat just rolled her eyes and asked, “with what?”

Amanda also shook her head. “We’re not going to notice subtle changes in direction.”

As the last of her words left her mouth a sound drew their attention back to the wall. A small crack was forming, inching it’s way up and out along the floor. Suddenly it stopped, as quickly as it had started and then it sealed itself over again.

Falco walked over to inspect the disappearing crack and the wall that trapped them. He frowned. It just looked like a normal wall again now.

The ever-wary Zephyr hung back. As did Kass. She seemed to be keeping out of everyone’s way.

Cat lent up against he own wall, feigning boredom in an attempt to give herself a bit of a rest. She tried to pretend that she didn’t notice Indi’s worried eyes glancing her way every now and again.

But Indi never could stay focused. She started to take a step past Cat and Tanya, towards the wall Falco was inspecting, only to be stopped by Wolf who held out his arm in front of her. His look told her to stay back and wait.

It was an act that Cat might have smirked at if she’d had the energy. Classic chauvinistic Wolf wanting to protect the women. He’d long since learnt not to treat Cat or Amanda that way, although it still took some self-restraint on his part. Indi probably wasn’t going to be able to get around it. There was an innocence about her that seemed to demand protection. She was so very smart. She had an eidetic memory. A genius, and yet there was a nativity to her. Maybe it was just her childlike optimism. Even Cat, who typically did not tolerate ‘babysitting’ or being around anyone who was not fully self-sufficient, in other words everybody by Cat’s standard, still went out of her way to protect Indi. Indi pouted in response to Wolf’s gesture but waited just long enough for Wolf turn and take a step towards the wall himself before she started to follow. She never made it that far however.

With a loud rumble the entire floor of the hallway collapsed taking Kass, Tanya, Cat, and Indi with it. Zephyr made a leap for the hallway behind him. Without his magic he might have fallen with the others but as luck would have it his super speed let him make the jump almost flawlessly. Almost. Being slightly below floor level when he started his jump meant he managed to clear the edge of the floor with ease, however, this meant he found his feet slightly behind him after doing so. Thus he crashed forearms first onto the floor.

The others turned just in time to see Indi make a desperate grab at the edge of the floor. They watched as her fingers gripped the edge then slipped away again as she failed to hold on.