Chapter 10:
Darkness Between Roses
The way people consider their realities is something very peculiar and relative, I really don't understand people.
I tried to concentrate on what was important, in the main hall there were no windows, and one of the only entrances is closed, Lana and Leonard arrived after Jack, so Jack wouldn't have locked it, so this is a joint effort, but who?!
While I was holding my arm I was thinking every second to try to find a solution:
"How did Jack manage to kill so many people in 15 minutes?"
"How did Jack find us in this huge place?"
"Why didn't Jack kill me and only wound my arm?"
While thinking I started to pay attention to the Fight between Leonard and Jack, both were on the same level of agility, strength and speed, until in a moment both of them back off at the same time.
"Well... I guess I've already prolonged this too much" Jack says keeping his hands under his Bloodstained cloak.
At the same time the lights go out and I hear a soft and serious voice, some sarcastic tones too, at the same time I hear footsteps echoing all over the place, silence takes over and Lana gets up, there is still a little bit of clarity in the place because of the emergency lamps, the light was cut and the little bit of clarity that remained served to show the silhouette of who was approaching.
"The little wingless bird Johnny Graybarrial, bereft of his freedom and chained in accoutrements that are not even his fault" speaks that voice in the same tonality as he approached through the left corridors.
"And who would you be?" says Lana as she puts her hand on the table for support
"My name itself is Brunard, but everyone around here knows me as Gerald!" Showing his silhouette Gerald speaks in an intimidating and sarcastic tone with a smile on his face, without reaction I am completely paralyzed
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS GERALD?" Shouts Alice in a slightly irritated and confused tone of voice
"Huh, why should I explain myself to you, You're nothing but a whore, you should be dead!" Gerald speaks in the same tone, At this moment I feel irritated and that paralysis stopped instantly.
"AND WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT?" I say in a nervous, irritated tone as I look directly into Gerald's eyes.
"Ha... think with that tiny head Johnny, if you get to a level of selling your body to old men who don't care about you and do whatever they want, you are just a puppet that runs on money, your body is a temple and this girl's body, as well as all here, is already desecrated" says Gerald with a more serious and intimidating tone.
"I don't know what you have against Alice or any of these girls, but we shouldn't judge the reality of others without at least knowing the situation they are going through!" I spoke in an irritated tone while sawing my fists.
"What's the point Johnny, if we're all going to die" Gerald says as he pulls out a lit match and throws it near the curtains causing them to catch fire and quickly spread to the carpets and rugs.
"Really these Sisyphus underlings are all dumb, you will die here" Lana speaks as she takes the last sip of wine from her cup.
"You need to think better Lana, I will kill you and run away, I have locked you here and entered the secret tunnel that only I know where it is" Gerald speaks while raising his arms slowly
"Okay then, I know how rotten and meticulous you people are so I won't waste my time here" Lana pulls out the same pistol I had and shoots Gerald hitting him in the head.
"WAIT... LANA WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! HOW ARE WE GOING TO FIND THE TUNEL?!" I say in a slightly desperate tone.
"Johnny use your head, he was bluffing, this was an architected plan to capture us and to make sure we will die down here from all of this, and he was ready to die even, he was willing to die for Sisyphus, now the question is... if Sisyphus' goat was willing to die for him, the one who is his Executioner... is he willing to die?!" Lana after finishing speaking faces Jack and points her gun at him with an intimidating look.
Crying...
Jack was crying at that moment, Jack learned everything from Sisyphus, Jack couldn't accept the reality of having to leave his master forever, so Jack cried the tears of a murderer.
"Is that serious?!" Lana with an annoyed look says pointing the gun at Jack
"Are you really crying after all you've done Jack?, After a mass slaughter all over London are you really crying?!" Says Lana still angry and confused
Sixing his tears Jack kneels down and joins his hands in a position to pray.
"At least...can I say my last words to get rid of my guilt?" in a slightly sad tone Jack says as he remained kneeling.
"Be brief and give us some information" Lana speaks in a serious and intimidating tone
"I just want to say that...always the light that saves us...comes from those who are helpless" Jack speaks with a serious and slightly nervous tone, at the same time between his hands there was a light grenade
"And let there be light..." said Jack as he tossed the grenades into the air.
"RUN" Leonard shouted as he ran towards Lana, the grenade bursting into a great white light blinded me for moments and deafened my ears making me hear only a buzzing sound and some screams so muffled that it was impossible to hear them. I can feel someone holding me and starting to run, making me run together, I wonder who is pulling me by the hand.My hearing and vision begin to normalize, I realize that Alice is pulling me while the flames are consuming the curtains and the smoke is reaching us little by little.
"Where will we go?" I ask Alice
"I know where there is an exit, when I wanted to leave early I went that way... but we have a problem!" said Alice as she ran
"And what would that problem be?"
"We'll have to go back to that room where we were" says Alice in a nervous and slightly hopeless tone, I try to keep calm while I think about how we're going to get out of this situation, I look to the sides and see Leonard running along with Lana.
"We have a chance to get out of here, but first we have to complete the mission"
as I complete the sentence I begin to hear a high-pitched sound coming from outside, a sound I had heard on the radio, it was loud and you could also feel a kind of vibration, it was a fire truck.
"Ah... it's the firemen, they are here, they will help us" I say with a hopeful tone
"If it's up to them we can survive, but they won't help us with Jack, at most they will try to put out the fire from the outside and break in, but Jack will kill them all, one by one" Lana says as she runs along with Leonard
"So the only way out... is by killing Jack" I think to myself
"Come in here!" Alice points to a red French door with Two large handles, entering the room, we find a table with several packs of cigars stacked forming a pyramid on top of a round table surrounded by a red sofa, in the same room There was a large closet and there were three large beds with white sheets and two more large armchairs with velvety fabrics.
"What room is that?!" I ask with a curious tone
"I've never been here but they say it's a room for Junctions or something" Alice says as she goes straight to the walls and starts to smooth them
"What are you doing?!" Lana asks
"This building was designed from a German Bunker, it was a rebel hideout a while ago, over the years this here has turned into a cabaret for noble and high class people, even though it looks like an old building, the man who designed this house, knew that one day it would collapse or be destroyed somehow, so in some rooms he put French doors to represent a few things" says Alice as she smoothes the walls.
"I see, in a way made to 'signal' something..." Lana speaks in a thoughtful tone as she looks at the surroundings of the room, and Leonard at the door.
"Exactly... I found it!" Says Alice excitedly in a hopeful tone, thus tearing off the burgundy wallpaper of that room, thus revealing a hardwood door with no doorknob.
"I see...just like the French tunnels they used in WW1 and WW2" Lana says in a surprised tone.
"But it's without a doorknob, how will we open it?" I say as I search the surroundings of the room.
"Don't worry about it young Johnny" Leonard speaks smiling and goes straight for the door and using the tip of his left foot as a support and using the strength of his leg for momentum and using his other leg he kicks the door hard causing it to break and fall.
"Now let's go!" Leonard goes in the front with Lana, and I go in the back with Alice.
"Alice where does this passage lead to?" I ask with a somewhat suspicious tone.
"I don't know, I've never come in this room and never needed to use these doors until today" says Lana in an un-neutral tone and with a somewhat melancholy look on her face.
When we arrive at the end of that corridor we see a high spiral staircase, you could notice the smoke coming in little by little from the top, the staircase ended in a door that led directly to a room in the wing above, I didn't know what we would find there, but we went up anyway.
Upon reaching the door, Leonard opened it and thus ripping the wallpaper and entering a room that was on fire, the floor was a little loose and creaking boards on the floor, from the looks of it that floor was going to collapse, Leonard took the lead and with slow, large steps he stepped board by board, the place was hot so everyone was sweating profusely.
After much effort Leonard gets to the door and tries to smother the fire with his coat, Lana takes the lead this time, and decides to go through as well, Leonard manages to smother the flames from the door and then opens it with a push using his shoulders for support.
"It's clear...dope...we're in room 40, which room were you guys in?" Leonard asks looking at Alice and me as we walk across
"230, stay higher up!" says Alice
After Alice and I crossed over we started running toward the bedroom.
"Don't you find this situation strange?" says Lana as she runs
"What do you mean?!" I ask
"Since we got here it seems like it was some kind of method that we had to follow in a calculated and precise way, from the killing until now, when we got here the door was open and we got information that you were here, then we are locked in here in an abrupt way, then we killed the doorman who was definitely just a subordinate blinded by Sisyphus' authority, then the flames, the light grenade and the tunnel, as if we were being guided by some kind of Grim Reaper of death, don't you think it's strange, Johnny? " Lana says in an accusatory and very disturbing tone
"Now that you said it, it's a little strange really, but it could all be a coincidence... right?" I ask looking at Alice, as Alice looked directly at the ground.
"Of course it is...I bet Jack is here on account of you being from a big London family Johnny, now let's get the hell out of here..." Alice speaks in a neutral tone and quickening her pace.
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After a long time of climbing stairs and walking corridors, we arrived at room 230, we were away from the smoke and away from the flames, everything was quiet the atmosphere was tense and I could feel that there was something wrong there, not knowing how or where Jack was, I started thinking about what Lana said, I thought about how this situation could turn into a trap.
And even before he can think straight, Leonard opens the door and sees a string connecting a bomb and releases it, causing it to fall to the ground.
"RUN..." Shouts Leonard as he turns and throws himself in front of Lana.
The grenade exploded...
I see the shrapnel of the walls and the door flying in all directions, I see the smoke disappearing into the air, the gunpowder bursting and making a small flash, and in the middle of all the chaos I see Alice's face, that because of the shrapnel and the small shock wave threw herself to the ground, In the midst of the chaos Alice was sad, with thin tears coming out of her eyes and running down her face, I didn't know why she was like that, but I knew it was sad and for some reason caused a great regret in her chest.
If I stop to look at the situation I got myself into with this girl, if I were told this story for myself, I would never say that the nice waitress from a small restaurant on one of the busiest streets would be the girl who could be the reason... for my possible death.
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