Chapter 30 - I can see the Halo

Current Location: Ponderous Peat

Brent sat on a mossy rock, observing the wall of purple haze they had just narrowly escaped from while his companions caught their breath nearby.

What looked like a shifty, fuzzy quality from a distance resolved into motion up close; that of tiny raindrops. It was constantly raining in the area outside the ring.

The pattering sound of the drops was mixed in with the soft buzzing coming from the threshold itself.

“Oh wait, I just remembered,” Brent said, “I heard from this other guy that it only does a small amount of damage over time. So even if we had gotten caught in it we would probably be fine as long as we didn’t stay for too long.”

The other guy being Duck, who in the few hours they had known each other, had scammed Brent out of gun attachments, left him for dead and then gotten killed himself. So maybe not the most reliable source of information.

“Okay, maybe that’s true but like, I’d rather not put that to the test. Yeesh.” Karisma shivered. She was sitting a couple feet behind Brent, away from the edge of course.

“Yeah, me neither,” Ray chimed in. He was sitting the farthest away, of course. “Anyone else want to stick their hand or something in there, see what happens?”

Astonishingly enough, nobody answered.

“Oh, how about that unconscious chick you brought there. Stick her in there.”

Brent turned around. Cassie lay propped up on a fallen log next to Harry, who was sitting atop it.

Harry looked up to the sky, scratching his neck. “Don’t think so, mate,” he said simply, his tired voice lacking its usual exuberance. “Not after all the trouble we went through to save her. Be a bloody waste.”

Ray was a bit taken back. “Yeah, I was just messing around. Honestly it’s kind of bullshit that we were the ones hanging back but ended up in more danger.”

Brent was incensed by that remark. “What do you mean, more danger?”

“The purple shit caught up with us first and-” Ray stopped, perhaps finally reading the mood. “Okay, what happened to you guys?”

Well, it seemed like they had time to explain. The storm was right in front of them but Dombey hadn’t made another announcement about when it would close. Hopefully when he did it would be back to 3 hour warnings and not instantaneous action.

But on the other hand, that would imply that people were killing each other at a higher rate, more to the organizer’s liking.

While Brent was fretting about this, Harry did the actual filling in for Ray and Karisma.

“Wait, for real? You actually broke the mind control stuff on her?” Ray was incredulous. “Here I thought you just knocked her out and brought her with you to try again later.”

“Nope, we snapped her out of it,” Harry confirmed, “We got her pinned down, but it was actually Brent here who did the finishing touch. Apparently they made some kind of pinky promise when they first met and he reminded her of it.”

Ray smirked. “Damn dude, you just met this chick and you’re already making pinky promises?”

Brent turned away, feeling bashful. “It wasn’t like that. We just didn’t have enough space for a normal greeting.”

Karisma got up and went over to inspect Cassie. “Wow, she looks pretty beat up.”

“Uh, that wasn’t us. Most of it, anyway,” Brent said defensively.

She raised a thick eyebrow. “I meant, like, she could use some medical treatment.”

“Oh yeah, do your thing, Dr. K,” Harry joked.

“You might want to hold off on that until she wakes up,” Brent cautioned. “She might not react well to a stranger touching her.” Plus he wasn’t 100% certain the mind control was actually broken.

“Got it.” Karisma stepped back.

“Why don’t you do it, Brent?” Ray suggested, “You’re not a stranger to her.”

There was the barest hint of legitimacy to that, though Brent was not too keen on going against his own advice.

He was saved from any further heckling, as it was at that point that Cassie’s eyes fluttered open. She jerked up as if spooked, then settled back down when she realized there was no immediate danger.

There was no sign of the ferocious beast from before. Her eyes were clear of the red tint, and her claws were sheathed. Okay, so the spell really was broken.

“Oi, she’s up!” Harry loped over. “You can relax, love. We’re all friendly here. You’re safe, for a given value of the word.”

The fox-girl looked over each of them in turn, except for Ray, who was still observing from a distance with an expression of mild amusement. Her gaze lingered a bit longer on Brent and Reisa.

“A-” Cassie began, then broke up into a cough. When she spoke again it was soft, strained. “I’m- shit. I’m really sorry- about that.”

Harry shrugged. “Hey, no worries, it’s-”

Before he could finish Cassie suddenly scrabbled to her feet and tried to dash away. She didn’t make it far though, stumbling after a few steps and falling back onto the ground face-down.

“Whoa! Hey, take it easy!” Karisma rushed over, and the rest followed. “Are you alright?”

“Uuuugh.” Her only answer was a low groan. It was the same strange skittish behavior she’d shown on the plane. Did she just not want to talk to people?

“Hey, we’re trying to help you,” Brent said, “Why are you running?”

“Why are you running?” Harry repeated in a strange accent.

Cassie slowly lifted her head, realizing she wasn’t going to get anywhere. She sighed and flipped back face up.

“The less interaction we have, the better,” she said helplessly. “It’s worse if you have to kill someone you know.”

“Uh, what are you talking about? We broke the spell,” Brent pointed out. “You don’t have to kill us.”

“Yes, I do.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “I’m talking about this battle royale death game we’re all in. It only ends when there’s one survivor left.”

Oh, right.

“Not if we can help it!” Harry put a hand on his chest. “My name is Harrison Holmes, and I have a dream…”

“Yeah, that we can all somehow escape this island alive,” Ray said, “Any progress on that?”

“Ah, well, I suppose we’d need some sort of vehicle. Another plane, or a submarine-”

“I don’t think any of us have seen another plane since we landed. And did you consider we’d have to fly through that?” Ray jabbed a finger at the purple zone.

“No. If we’re getting out of here, it won’t be that way,” Brent said softly. “I’m pretty sure this island isn’t part of Earth, or any of the other worlds we came from.” He looked at Reisa and Cassie, who had managed to sit back up. “It’s probably going to involve a portal, like the one the zombies came through. But we’re getting off track. Cassie. What can you tell us about the guy who was controlling you?”

“Yeah, that bloke’s a real villain,” Harry said, “We’re gonna get him back for what he did to you and everyone else he hurt.”

She scratched her head. “Ugh, my memory is kinda blurry.”

“I’ve already told them what I know,” Reisa said.

“Okay, uh… he was wearing a black business suit… and a lot of armor? And had a bunch of guns, though he didn’t use them very much...”

Great. So he had all the best gear.

According to Cassie, he’d simply commanded everyone to give him their stuff, and disposed of whatever he didn’t need.

Indeed, she currently had only the bow, a couple arrows, and the clothes on her back.

Now that was a real cheat ability. Brent clenched his fists, riled up at this inequality.

“Before we go on, do you mind if I treat your wounds?” Karisma offered.

“Go ahead,” Cassie shrugged, and Karisma started treating her with bandages.

“How many people does he have now?” Ray asked.

“Uh… the last I saw was five, not including him. Although there used to be two more… an old lady and a little girl. He sent them out and they didn’t come back.”

Brent’s gut churned. They knew what happened to the girl. But what about the old lady?

“Does the five include you?” he asked.

Cassie winced a bit as Karisma wrapped up a particularly deep scratch. “Oh yeah, yeah it does.”

So Donis had 4 thralls left, two of which were out hunting for them.

If Brent’s party was somehow able to bypass those two, they could take on Donis with… six people to his three, a two to one advantage. Huh. It was surprising how much their little group had grown.

Grrrr. They heard the soft growling of a stomach, which turned out to be Cassie’s. She looked away, blushing.

“Oh, you must be starving! Let me get you some food, some water?” Karisma started rummaging through her backpack, but the fox-girl waved her off.

“No, I don’t have much of an appetite right now.” Her face scrunched up in the same grimace that it had before. “I’ve been smelling something kinda gross for a while now. Uh… don’t take this the wrong way, but I think it’s you.” She pointed at Harry.

Brent didn’t smell anything though.

“Me?” Harry appeared to be more intrigued than offended. “What do I smell like?”

Cassie thought for a moment. “It’s little like… rotten flesh.”

Uh oh.