Chapter 16: The Chamber of Death

   “Thirty seconds,” the voice boomed.  Carrie was hysterical in tears.  Rebecca was close to that, but still tried to find a way to get out of this situation.  There wasn’t one.

    “Twenty seconds.”

   Dominic slowly edged towards the door, to find it slam shut in front of him.

   “My father never had this properly tested,” Edward’s voice reverberated into the room.  “I wish to test it on both sexes, and see how it affects people of a different age.  See how many more seconds one can last, who screams louder…”

   “NO!” Dominic yelled, hammering on the door, but it was no use.  He would die with them, cruelly and sadistically.  Carrie passed out.

   “Ten seconds.”

   Dominic ran to the other side of the metallic chamber, searching frantically for something on the wall.  Edward’s heartless laugh echoed around them.

   “You won’t find it in time - five seconds,” he cried triumphantly.  “Four seconds, three, two, one…”

   “No!” Rebecca shouted, giving in to terror.

   With a grin on his face that had only been wider after his father’s death, he pressed a button that read ‘Slow and Painfully’. 

   The two inner speakers began hissing out an orange gas.  Rebecca screamed in fear, like she had never screamed before.  Dominic slammed himself against the wall, now having given up searching for whatever it was.  The orange gas slowly made it’s way over to Rebecca and Carrie… soon the pain would begin, and would bring a violent but welcome end…  Only, the chamber wasn’t the only room to emit poison.

   “No!” Edward shouted, darting around the room, fanning away the gas.  He looked up at the small and hidden tube flooding out gas.

   “DAMN YOU FATHER!” Edward howled.  He pressed his hand across all the controls on the board - including the switch that un-strapped the chairs - but lead to blue, red and silver gases being emitted.

   “WHERE IS THE GODDAMNED FAN SWITCH!!” Edward shouted hysterically.

   Unfortunately, only one form of poison-related death was supposed to happen at once.  Before Edward could find a switch for the fan, he was blown against the door by the ferocious ear-splitting explosion of various gases reacting.

   The same explosion happened in the chamber, half vaporising Dominic; what was left of him fell to the ground.  He hadn’t even had time to scream.  The explosion reached Carrie and Rebecca, but passed over them, leaving them only with burns.

   After several seconds, the smoke cleared.  Some more flammable parts of the chamber blazed away, burning what was left of any of the gases.  Rebecca opened her eyes, gasping, as she was in even more pain than she’d been in already.  She could feel blood tricking down her forehead, and her arm, and her leg…  She turned to Carrie, who was still unconscious, but alive.  She attempted to move her leg, and in a moment of horror realised she was standing in Dominic’s blood, the blood that continued to ooze out of the lump of flesh that no longer resembled a human body.  Rebecca vomited.

   Edward also lay in blood - his own.  The explosion had hit him from behind, and his back was covered in burns, none of which were serious.  He pulled himself up with an effort, onto the controls, but careful not to press any more buttons. 

   “I won…” he gasped.  “Your attempt to kill me failed, father… Did you know I would murder you?”

   Rebecca heard the voice, and realised she had to escape soon.  She dragged herself up, shaking.  Carrie then regained consciousness, and reacted in a similar way to Rebecca.  Rebecca then noticed something very important.  A rectangular line had appeared on the wall - about where Dominic had frantically tried to find something.  It was an escape door!

   “Carrie… a door…” she managed to say.  She limped slowly to it, and put her weight against it.  The hinges were fried, and it fell backwards to reveal a corridor.  “We can escape…”

   Edward was too busy tending to his injuries to notice.  He’d seemed to forget they were there, or assumed they were dead, as the camera had been smashed in the explosion.

   Rebecca and Carrie rushed out into the hole in the wall.  They carefully descended the staircase that unfolded in front of them, and slowly went deeper into the hill.  Rebecca found her other knife and gripped it tightly, in case Edward followed them.

   As they got lower, the corridor turned from metal to rocks, and they knew immediately they were underground.

   “The exit… must be somewhere,” Rebecca said, struggling to continue walking.  It was so tempting to just give up and not go on, but she had to, she had to destroy the… Locket… Which Edward still possessed.  They had failed.  Knowing that, Rebecca collapsed onto the stone floor.

They’re still alive!  WHERE’S THE BUTTON TO DETONATE THE ESCAPE CORRIDOR?

   “Rebecca?” Carrie gasped. 

   “Edward, he’s going to kill us…” Rebecca managed to say.  “Carrie, we have to get out!”  Pulling on a pillar, she managed to get back to her feet, and the two girls limped down the corridor, mutually supporting each other.  It became a race against time, to either escape from the corridor, or die.

 

   “Where now?” Anonni asked Billy, once they had stopped at a junction towards the edge of Manchester.

   “This way… I think…” Billy said, pointing to a hill covered in forestry. 

   “How did they get there…?” Paul asked rhetorically.  “Are you sure that’s where the locket is?”

   “You can never be sure with Interimo,” Anonni stated.  “Sometimes you need intuition, other times it’s logic.  We could be going in the completely wrong direction, but it’s the only idea we have.”

   “Exactly, so let’s get going to save her!” Billy exclaimed, and they continued along a path leading to the forest.  While they ran, Anonni took out his blue Interimo-detector, and fiddled with the contents.  After a few seconds he tucked it away once again, while not once slowing his pace.

   “We’re getting closer!” he confirmed.

   “The man said forty seconds,” Billy remembered.  “It’s been over forty seconds…”

   “Did hear Rebecca?” Anonni asked. 

   “Yes… and maybe Carrie,” Billy cried.  “We need to get a move on!”

   The sun was almost hidden now, and darkness slowly crept over them, but they continued to run, for many lives could be in danger.

 

   The corridor detonated successfully.  Edward whooped in delight.

   “They are dead,” he decided.  “It’s a shame two teenage girls caused all this destruction… but their deaths are well worth it.”

   He felt for the locket in his pocket for the first time since entering the chamber.  He brought it up to his lips, and whispered praise and thanks to it.

   “My enemies have fallen…” he cried gleefully.  “I survived my father’s final revenge, and made certain nobody else can lay claim to my locket!”  He turned to the door.  “I will design a new chamber, grander than my father’s!  With only one door…”

   He let out a little cackle, and exited the chamber, making for a window that overlooked the hill.  He had to press his face to it, as the sun was almost down, but he could see the landscape clearly.  Lines of rubble led down the hill where the corridor had been blown apart.  The last of the dust was clearing.  He should go and find the bodies soon, to make sure, but first he would make himself a cup of hot chocolate to celebrate his grand victory.  As an added bonus, he was also rid of that buffoon servant of his.  That would need to be cleaned up, too…

 

   Rebecca was thrown into the ground with a mighty force.  She felt consciousness leaving her…  was this death…?  She tried to cling onto life, and rolled over onto her back.  The pain was almost unbearable…  She was surrounded in dying flames…  But, what was that?  A figure walked towards her… A dark figure… A dark figure holding a sword…

   No, not now…

   She would die after all…

   It was stood there, staring at her through the opaque visor.  Did it know she didn’t have the Locket?  She couldn’t hold on anymore, and consciousness left her, replaced by darkness… if the Knight made a move, she would be defenceless…