Through the Looking Glass Ch. 04

While the showdown was going on, Lisa dropped Carla to the floor leaving her gasping for air while Mitch got dressed and checked his pack; everything was still in it. He placed the necklace back on his neck, then looped the flashlight pouch onto the pack's belt as Lisa checked over her bag, satisfied that nothing was removed. She checked the stop watch; nineteen minutes.

Of course, Mitch thought as he listened to the women bantering, that blonde was traumatized by a family member too; I should have known it was personal for her as well by the way she acted, just like Carla. Damn it, I'm a scientist; I'm suppose to be smart.

The women of the group grabbed and held Nicole, dragging her towards the scientists. She kicked and screamed at the others, but Nicole wasn't going anywhere as far as the ladies were concerned.

Mitch, his eyes filled with red anger, charged Carla and caught her by the neck, slamming her back into the frame. She was too frightened to move as he held her there, his other hand clenched into a big fist and ready to smash into her face.

But Lisa bolted to his side and laid a hand on his trembling arm, whispering, "Mitch... don't."

He looked at her thoughtfully, then turned back to Carla and saw exactly what Pam said she was: a hurt, vengeful, insane woman.

Mitch loosened his grip and released her, a look of pity on his face as she sank to the floor coughing.

"You need help, Carla," he said softly, "Help that you should have received years ago."

"We'll make sure they get it," Pam said, holding an arm of Nicole's, "We're going to the police; we're going to tell them everything. If these two are lucky, they'll be sent to a mental facility where they can be watched and treated."

"What about the rest of you?" asked Lisa.

Pam just shrugged, "We'll take our chances. The authorities may go lenient on us when we turn them in, and tell them what's really been going on..."

"NO!"

The scream came from Carla, who was on her feet and brandishing an automatic pistol. She aimed at Pam and shouted, "Traitor!"

Everybody yelled as Pam ducked to the side just as Carla squeezed the trigger. The bullet missed its target and slammed into Nicole's chest, knocking her off her feet and sending her to the floor, dead.

Another shot rang out, this time the bullet grazing another woman's shoulder and sending her down winching in pain.

Mitch and Lisa didn't wait around to see the conclusion of the scenario playing out. They darted for the door, Mitch glancing at his watch to see that they had only four minutes left, and leaped into a dead run once they hit the hallway.

The move didn't go unnoticed by Carla; she went after them, waving the gun wildly and screaming at them as they ran away.

"I'll kill you, male! I'll kill all of you!"

She fired at the retreating pair, and the bullet ricocheted of the dirty wall in a puff of old dirt and cement. Lisa screamed as another ricochet missed her head by a mere foot, and Mitch hustled off to the side and down another hall.

But the pair skidded to a halt when the hallway ran out. Mitch frantically tried the two doors available and found them locked. No windows, no way out; dead end.

Lisa grabbed Mitch's arm, shaking all over, when Carla appeared at the other end of the hall and slowly advanced on them. Mitch pulled Lisa behind him and stared Carla down, hearing the muffled beep of Lisa's watch.

"It's over, Carla," he said evenly, flicking his eyes from hers and the gun in her quivering hand.

"It'll be over when you're dead," she hissed at him, "It'll be over when all of you males are dead. You're all nothing but trouble; always causing problems, always fucking every woman you want... raping them, because you can."

"That isn't true, Carla," Mitch responded, trying to reason with her and hearing the pounding of footsteps coming from behind her, "Those men are gone now; the ones who attacked you and Nicole were individuals, not a whole gender. You can't keep blaming half of the world's population for the actions of a few..."

Mitch had to stop; he could see that he wasn't getting through to her. Carla's head was tilted and twitching in rage, her lips curled into a snarl and her eyes wide and filled with hysteria. She moved stiffly as she stepped towards the pair, the gun still shaking.

She was that far gone, traumatized by her own father to the point of insanity. She knew nothing else but hate; nothing and no one could possibly help her now.

Mitch held Lisa close as she buried her face into his chest, sobbing; they knew what was coming next. But the tingling started to wash through their bodies, and...

Carla, wild eyed and giggling, pulled the trigger.

Mitch and Lisa cringed, hearing the blast and then... nothing. They looked at Carla, frozen in place, and the bullet from her gun hanging in mid-air with the smoky gas from its propellent trailing behind it.

In that same second, the energy in their bodies rushed out and formed the swirling gateway.

Mitch, knowing the other women were only seconds away from capturing Carla, blew out his breath in relief. Lisa wiped her forehead, breathing hard and fast, thankful they were still alive.

Mitch started towards the gateway, but Lisa grabbed him.

"Wait a minute; we're underground. How do we know the basement is still going to be there?"

Mitch realized she was right; they could easily wind up being trapped inside mounds of dirt, or even solid rock, if the basement wasn't in the next dimension.

He got near the portal, its reflective surface throwing back a distorted image of his face and body, and after taking a breath stuck his head into it. After a moment, he pulled away from it with a small smile.

"The basement's still there; we're clear."

Lisa huffed a smile and, adjusting the strap of her bag, took Mitch's hand and walked towards the gateway just as her watch beeped its ten second warning. Mitch stole one last glance at Carla with a look of sadness. He honestly felt sorry for her; knowing that incident in her young life should never have happened to her, but also knowing that nothing could be done to help her get passed it.

The scientists walked through the gateway, disappearing into the mirrored, watery opening...

* * *

Time unfroze, and the ladies in the hall resumed their run and caught up to Carla. She started to turn, whipping her gun around, but that's as far as she got before she was tackled by three others including Pam.

She barreled into Carla, pushing the gun towards her torso and, with the other two going high and low, wrestled her to the floor.

Just as they all hit the deck, the gun went off a second time.

Everyone froze, Pam looking at Carla with shock in her eyes. She pushed herself off of Carla and revealed the blood stain on the front of her blouse.

But the stain on Carla's shirt was bigger.

All of the ladies gathered around Carla as she coughed up droplets of blood, splattering her cheek, and shuddered as the last breath wheezed out of her mouth.

At the end of the dead end hallway, Nora gingerly lifted herself from the floor and cradled her forearm where the bullet grazed it. She, as well as the others, had no idea how far gone Carla and Nicole were with their own personal vendetta. Nora knew they would be pissed when they found out she released their latest 'victim', but she didn't know how pissed they would get... until now.

"They lied to us the whole time, and we never knew," said Nora, wincing.

"Nobody's going to know."

They all looked at Pam, and she answered their unasked question.

"We're leaving this place. Leave everything here except personal items. We can't leave any traces of our being here."

"What about the cops? You know that guy I set free is going to go to them and bring them here. I convinced him that this whole thing was Carla's doing and we had no idea. He promised not to tell them anything about us, but they'll find traces of us..."

Pam stopped Dora's ranting, "It'll be alright. Most of the stuff here came from our shops and stores. Of course they'll find my DNA on the chains, cords, and metal clamps; my husband owns the hardware shop where they came from, and I stock the shelves."

"And the knives came from my kitchen in the restaurant," another woman piped in. And another added, "And so did the clothes and blankets from my store."

"Exactly. If they ask, we'll just say those things must have been stolen by Carla and Nicole; we've already filed stolen property reports and they'll believe it when they see what's been going on."

"And what do we do with Carla and Nicole?" asked the stocky brunette, staring at Carla's unmoving body.

Pam just shook her head, "Leave them. The police will think Carla killed Nicole, which technically she did, then took her own life. They won't figure out the motive behind it all, and even if they do they're dead already. The case will be closed; what more can they do to them?"

Pam turned to all of them, "Get your stuff and get the Hell out of here. We'll lay low for awhile; we'll contact each other in a few months. For the time being... we were never here."

The ladies darted back down the hall and into separate rooms, gathering their belongings and then heading for the tunnel that led to an open storm drain near the wide stream behind the city.

Pam took one last look at the dim basement before trekking through the tunnel and muttered, "We'll start the cause again, and next time... we're going to do it the right way."

She turned away from the chamber of horrors and ran down the dark tunnel, following the others.

* * *

...and emerged from the portal, checking their surroundings; the basement area was still there, just as Mitch said, but a lot darker than before. The swirling energy shrank and rushed back into the scientists with a flush of icy sensations.

"Well, still here... and still alive." Mitch looked at his wrist to see he wasn't wearing a watch this time.

Lisa, absently clicking her stopwatch and resetting it, added, "And completely naked."

At her remark, Mitch looked at himself and found she was correct. He wasn't wearing anything, with the exception of his necklace and the waist pack. He noticed Lisa in the same state of undress; not a stitch on her, except for her necklace and her carry bag.

Mitch wanted to make light of their unusual situation, but the scientist in him couldn't joke about it.

"I don't know if this is a good thing or not."

"I'm not sure, either," agreed Lisa, looking over her naked body, "No bumps or bruises... hey, your lip is healed."

Mitch instinctively brought his hand to his face, fingering the area where Carla hit him. The cut to his lip, along with the blood, was gone as if it never happened. He also noticed that the marks on his wrists where he was cuffed had disappeared as well.

"I'll be damned," he said, "I wonder what would've happened if Carla had..."

But Lisa stopped him quickly, "I don't even want to think about that. It's over; let's just forget it."

"Okay, it's forgotten." Mitch reached out and hugged her, feeling her warm naked skin against his, "Alright, let's see if we can find a way out."

The two started walking down the dimly lit hall slowly, until Mitch brought out his flashlight. Clicking it on and sending a tight beam of light down the expanse, he and Lisa saw old and discarded equipment and pieces of machinery lining the walls. They carefully made their way around the unwanted junk, checking side rooms along the way. They found them in the same condition as the hall, with old parts and whole machine units that had the look of years of non-use. The pair found the room where Mitch was being held in the former dimension; it too was the same as the others, with boilers and heating units connected to pipes and fixtures, dusty and unused for who knew how long.

"I guess they don't use this place anymore," Mitch said with a shrug.

"Guess not," Lisa looked around and spotted the side hall that led to a stairwell, "It's this way, Mitch; I overheard two of the girls mentioning something about stairs to the top at the end of this hallway. They said something about a tunnel leading to a storm drain too, I think it's at the other end of that T-section we were in."

"Did they say where it lets out?"

"To a stream or river outside the city, but I'm not sure how far."

"Alright, let's take a look at the stairs. If we can't get out that way, we'll try the tunnel." Mitch led the way down the corridor, again passing discarded lumps of metal and such, and with Lisa right behind him they came upon the stairwell.

"This has to be it," Lisa said as she peered up the dark area, "I didn't notice any other sets of stairs down here."

"Let's check it out. Watch your step; we're bare footed, and I don't want you stepping on anything and hurting yourself."

Slowly, they crept up the lonely and unused stairwell, making the old metal steps creak in protest from their weight. They paused when they reached the next level of the deep basement, but from what they could see the floor revealed much the same thing as the one below it. They pressed on, heading for the next floor, and again found another level in the same state of disarray.

"How deep are we?" asked Mitch, pointing his light upwards. The beam caught the ceiling of the well; they were close to the top, or at least closer than they were. They continued their climb, still being careful where they stepped, and finally reached the top of the stairs.

Mitch flashed his light towards the door... and Lisa screamed in fright, burying her face into Mitch's chest and quivering.

His light illuminated the skeletal remains of a human lying on the floor just inside the door, the bones bleached white and dried to the point of crumbling to dust.

"Jesus," he whispered, holding Lisa tightly against him, "Honey, it's alright; Lisa, it's okay," he gently pushed her away a little, her bottom lip trembling, "Lisa, listen to me. I need you to hold the flashlight while I try and get the door open, okay?"

Lisa focused on what Mitch was telling her, and she nodded shakily as she took hold of the light in her shaking hand. Pointing it at the door, she saw Mitch delicately making his way around the poor soul that was perhaps left here and forgotten like the rest of the basement underground, and forced herself not to look at the ghastly remains.

Mitch put his shoulder into the stiff door and shoved, producing a shriek of metal against metal, and a spike of light wormed its way through the crack he had made. He shoved again, this time pushing the unyielding door all the way open, and looked inside the small anteroom beyond.

There was another small set of stairs leading up, and at the top was what appeared to be a lattice of old metal strips hastily dropped over the opening to the little room. Mitch leaned back into the stairwell, seeing Lisa still aiming the light at him.

"Come over to where I am now, and wait for me; I'm going up to check things out to see if it's safe. It's okay, Honey; he won't hurt you."

Albeit very slowly and carefully and not quite convinced, Lisa complied and edged her way around the skeleton, still quaking with fright. Once passed it, she scooted quickly to Mitch's side and wrapped herself around him.

"Shhhh, it's alright sweetheart," he comforted, feeling her quiver against him as he held her, "It's alright; I've gotcha."

Between pants and sniffs, Lisa asked, "What happened to him? Why would someone just leave him here like this?"

"We don't know that anyone did," Mitch answered, peering up at the metal debris over the room opening, "but we'll find out what happened. We'll go to somebody and tell them there's a body here; the authorities will know what to do." He let go of Lisa and added, "Wait here for a minute, then I'll call you up."

But Lisa grabbed his arm, "Mitch, you're forgetting something," she tried to be serious, but the small smile crept into her lips, "you're naked."

Mitch's eyebrows went up, "Oh, yeah; you're right. Well... if anyone asks, I'll tell them that we were kidnapped by some crazy person and held captive. She took everything we had and tried to torture us, but we managed to escape and get out of here. Not the whole truth, but not exactly a lie, either." Trying to get the rest of her smile to appear, he added, "And who knows, maybe I'll give a bunch of ladies a thrill when I'm up on top; how often do you see a naked man walk down the street?"

His joke worked, for Lisa spit out a chuckle as she wiped away her scared tears, and even she tried to lighten the mood by joking, "Only if I get to give some guys a show," and gestured at her nude curves.

Mitch grinned, happy that she was feeling a little better and not so scared anymore, and proceeded to push the strips of metal and pieces of drywall out of the way. It wasn't as tough as he thought it would be; the debris wasn't connected to anything. He shoved the majority off the opening, making dust and bits of debris flutter down over him, and found that the light came from outside and saw a piece of the sky above. Bracing himself on the sides of the opening, he hoisted himself up and out.

Lisa waited for him, deliberately not looking at the skeleton behind her, and tried to see anything out of the opening above her. All she could see was the sky, but it looked funny; it looked dull and dingy, almost dirty. Another couple of minutes went by, and Lisa started to worry. She gingerly stepped around the debris that had littered the steps and climbed up. She saw a head and a bare back to her right just passed the lip of the opening and knew it was Mitch.

"Hey," she called out quietly to him, still not sure what was awaiting her when she got outside, "is everything okay?"

Mitch didn't answer her.

Her fear started to creep back into her as she hauled herself out of the hole, watching Mitch the whole time as he stood there and didn't move.

Once outside and on a sidewalk, Lisa went to Mitch's side.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why didn't you come and get..."

She stopped asking when she saw his face, a look of utter disbelief plastered on it. Lisa looked at what he was staring at... and her jaw hit the ground, their eyes threatening to pop out of their heads at the sight they were beholding.

They were in the city, the buildings lining the roadways like any other. But the streets were devoid of moving traffic and were replaced with hulks of rusted metal scattered all over the pavement. The buildings that towered over them were faded and dirty, their facades cracking and crumbling, and not one possessed an intact window. The sidewalks were littered with trash and debris, old plastic bags blowing about and snagging on anything in their path. The trees that lined the walkways were gone; only the holes where they stood remained, as if scooped out of the ground roots and all. The entire area had the look of a war zone, sans the bomb craters and bullet holes and the burnt black scarring left behind by both. The section of the city looked deserted and unused... empty, for decades.

No sound, save that of the breeze rustling through the streets; no movement, except the occasional piece of trash blowing by... and absolutely no living person in sight.

"My God," was the only thing Lisa could whisper out of her trembling mouth. She and Mitch didn't need to worry about anyone seeing them in the nude.

There was nobody left to see them... at all.

...to be continued.