Part 28

The Russian stands panting before Jason until his eyes finally regain their focus and see the blade in my brother’s hand.  “Jason, it’s me,”  He says and I watch as my brother squints.  “Look past beard, add fifteen, no, twenty pounds.”  Rush says.  

“Viktor?”  My brother asks and a smile eclipses the Russians face.

“You do remember,”  Rush says.

I glance at Jason, who shakes his head.  

“Yeah, I remember you,” My brother says before punching Viktor in the jaw.

Viktor falls to one knee, laughing.  “Yes, yes you do, but do you remember her?”

“Her name was Veronica, and she was wearing a blue strapless dress,”  Jason says.

“Haha, yes!”  Viktor continues to laugh as he rises.

“Ok enough, so what are you doing here?”  Benny asks, and both my brother and Viktor turn toward him.

Viktor wipes a trickle of blood from his mouth before responding, “Cat, the Snake Lady, came looking for you.”

“Yeah, she found us in the hospital.  That you sent us too,”  Benny says, cutting his eyes at the Russian.

“What are you saying?”  Viktor asks, rising to his full height and puffing out his chest.  

Mary steps in between the two men and immediately Benny’s demeanor changes although the Russian refuses to back down.  “Charles, we’ve found the glass shore, what’s next?”  She asks.

Rush glares at me but I ignore his look, “We’re looking for the path into the water,” I say, trying to remember if there were any other details.

Mary brushes past Rush who turns his glare upon her.  Suddenly, Mary turns around and cuts her eyes at him.  “Was there something else you needed?”

“She does have spirit, I see why you like her,” Rush says.

Mary almost hides her blush before she is storming off.

“How do you know it’s that direction?”  Benny calls after her.

“I don’t,” She calls over her shoulder.  

Benny rushes to catch up, and I look at Rush and shrug, “You coming?”  My brother falls into step beside me as I hobble my way behind her, holding my sphere aloft.

“Do you know what we’re looking for?”  Jason asks me quietly.  

I look over my shoulder to where Rush still stands before I answer.  “Not the slightest,” I admit.  “I can send you home if you want you know.”

“Ok, so how will we know when we find it?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

We finally catch up with Mary and Freak Beans, who have paused and are looking out over the gentle waves.  

“Do you trust him?”  Mary asks me as I glance back to where the Russian still stands in the distance, a silhouette outlined by the last rays of red light from the Devil’s Rib Cage.

“Sometimes,” I answer honestly.

”Hey, are you coming?”  She calls to him.

He turns, whether toward us or away from us I can not tell, the distance is too great and the light is behind him, but his reply reaches us.  “Run!”

He moves back toward the opening he came from and draws what appears to be a cane or a slender blade out of nowhere and swings it, meeting the advance of someone coming from the tunnel.  “Go!”  He shouts again, followed by the ringing of steel against steel.

I stand transfixed, watching the two forms dual, the clanging of metal on metal echoing off the stone wall to my right and the rolling tide to my left.

“Who is he fighting?”  Benny asks, stepping up beside me. 

“I don’t know,”  I have lost track of who is who, the bodies dancing, but one of them cries out in pain and staggers backwards, before lunging forward, re-doubling their efforts.

“He said run,”  Jason says, placing a hand upon my shoulder, “I think we should trust him on this one.  Besides, with you hurt, we need to build up as much of a lead as possible,”

“Yeah,”  I agree, turning, and dragging Benny with me, head off, leaving the sound of the battle behind me.

We run, well more like shuffle, for nearly half an hour, all of us looking over our shoulders, but no sign of pursuit comes.  Finally I can move no more and panting , I fall to my knees, clutching at wound, feeling the warm blood that has soaked my shirt.  “I… can’t… go… on.”  My breaths come in short, fiery bursts.

Finally I manage to catch my breath and a motion for my brother to come closer.  I lift my shirt, “How bad is it.”

“Not bad,”  He says, but he is unable to hide look of worry that crosses his face.

I reach down and my hand comes away sticky.  I crawl my way to the water’s edge and rinse my hand before reaching into my pack and pulling out a spare shirt, which I dip into the water and use to wipe the blood from my wound.  One of the stitches is broken, and blood continues to trickle out, but it does not appear to be gushing.  

“What’s that?”  Benny asks pointing out over the water.

I squint, but can’t see what he is pointing at.

“Is it a light?”  Mary asks.

I continue to stare, and sure enough, there does appear to be a light off in the distance on the water and it appears to be coming toward us.

Benny tucks his sphere back in his pack, and I place mine back in my jacket, leaving us in complete darkness.  

“None of you move,”  Jason says, putting his hand on my shoulder again.  Silently, afraid to breath, we watch as the light comes closer to shore before passing by, completely ignoring us, heading in the direction which we came.

“Was that Death?”  Benny asks once the light is finally out of sight, and I restrain myself from calling him an idiot.  I had seen the black-robed figure too, paddling the raft along the underground waterway.