Chapter 32: Rescued

The station was quiet; something that put me more on edge than ever. Union Station had always been a hub for people all over the GTA. I thought for sure this place would be swarming with Etherials by now. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever get over how weird all of this is.” Ariea says and we all hiss at her to be quieter.

“Are you crazy?!” I whisper, “You’ll draw another wave of them.”

“A wave of them?” Seren asks now whispering too.

I nod and tell her about the wave that had chased Clair and I across the city and about Neil.

Mrow?

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of the cat that.

“How long has that been there?” I ask. It had been so quiet I couldn’t see it.

“He and I met at when we got off the train.” Seren says, the two of them lighting up as the cat starts to purr in her arms.

“Wait, isn’t that...” Clair starts and moves to get a closer look at the cat. “It is!”

Shhh I hiss at her.

“Right, right, sorry; but this is the cat Neil and I found when we were looking for you.”

“Wait, that’s Crystal?” I ask incredulous. To think that cat had survived all this time. Though I suppose she could sense the Ethereals as well as I could, if not better.

“Hmm, I wonder if she’s seen the people sending out that broadcast.”

Mrow!

I watch as Crystal jumps out of Seren’s arms and runs off into the darkness.

“You can’t seriously be thinking of following this cat can you?” Ariea asks.

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Yeah how about we don’t follow the cat and just find your stupid path thingy.”

“Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if the cat knew the way.” Clair chimes in.

“Seriously you too Clair? This is crazy! You think its crazy too right Danta?”

“Hmm? Wha.. what? Oh um yeah crazy...”

Silence

“Danta... are you okay?”

“Yes I’m fine. Let’s go there are people waiting for us.” 

                           *****

“Jeeze, how’d I get stuck with the nut jobs?” Ariea complains. 

“Sorry, we’re pretty much all thats left.” Clair quips back.

“Where are we now?” I ask, as Crystal stops in front of a building.”

“Bay and Front.” Clair says.

“The building with the open space in the middle? That’s probably one of the easier ways down into the PATH. Thanks Crystal” I say and reach down to pet the cat.

“Yeah yeah, so the cat can lead us across the street, big whoop.” Ariea chimes. 

“Well it was a path with no Ethereals around it.” I say. 

“Which if you ask me is a blessing. Who knows what we’ll find down there.”  I continue as I reach for the carousel door. 

The first thing I noticed as I stepped through the doors was the smell. Clearly the food court downstairs hadn’t been cleaned in some time.

“Ugh would it kill someone to fabreez in here?” Ariea says as she comes out of the carousel. I shoot her a look. “What? What did I say?”

“Come on, the PATH is just down the stairs.” I say and start to walk down them.

“Hey Seth, hate to break it to you but it’s pitch black down there.” Danta says behind me.

“Of course it’s pitch bl... oh!” It takes me a second to realize that everyone else still needed to see to get around. It had been so long that I just took the darkness as a given.

“You guys didn’t bring flashlights?” I ask.

“Sorry, I was too busy packing up whatever guns I could to keep us safe.” Danta says.

“Well I brought one at least.” Clair says and steps down beside me. “You three wait up here, we’ll go see if we can’t find our broadcasters. Crystal, you keep them away from the ghosts.”

Mrow!

“You’re leaving the cat in charge?” Ariea starts.

“Can you sense the Ethereals Ariea? Didn’t think so. So shut up and listen to the cat!” Clair says her tone turning a fire red. 

“Be safe, and come back soon okay?” Seren says her voice nasally.

“For sure!” I say to her, “Why don’t you guys wait outside where its not so smelly.”

“Okay! Come on kitty, lets go outside.”

                               ******

As Clair and I decend into the PATH the smell from before seems to grow  in intensity to the point it starts to make my eyes water.

“God what died down here?” I ask as I cover my face with my shirt.

“Probably them.” Clair says as a dark mass appears on the floor. I gag. It never crossed my mind that the corpses of the Ethereals victims would one day start to decompose. So often were we out in the open, it’s likely the wind kept them from smelling too bad. 

“Ugh... how could anyone survive down here?” I ask as I lead the way to one of the interconnected hallways. 

“We’ll just have to ask them when we find them.”

“Where do you think they would hide?” I ask.

“It would have to be somewhere with a lot of iron. Right?” Clair asks and I nod. The Ethereals would have trouble reaching them if they were surrounded by iron.

“Maybe they’re holed up in one of the shops down here. Or there is that one food court with metal doors on all sides. Maybe we can start there.” I say as I pull up my mental map of the underground labyrinth.

“Alright. We can check the shops along the way as well.” 

Our footsteps echoed against the smooth tile floors as we passed through the first set of doors, their echoes illuminating the space around us. Against the glowing walls I could make out the small silhouette of Clair. She seemed taller that I remembered.

“Hey Clair?” I start.

“Hmm?”

“What do we look like now?” I ask her. When was the last time I had seen my own reflection. Even now I had a hard time picturing my own face, I know I have blue eyes and brown hair, but I couldn’t picture them. I knew she had long black hair down to her waist but the silhouette in front of me had shoulder length hair.

“Well, mostly we look like chicken wings with no meat on them.” She said as she poked me in the ribs. I could almost picture that cheshire smile she used to wear.

“You’re hair’s gotten longer, and I suppose mines gotten shorter. You and I are almost the same height now...” As she spoke I started to build the images of us in my head, their images giving me some peace of mind.

Speaking of peace, I hadn’t seen a single Ethereal since we entered the path. Something seemed off.

“Oh thank goodness! Someone came!” The voice cuts across the hallway making me jump a good foot into the air.

“Quickly, over here!” the voice continues. “Quick before they come.”

I look around nervously, worrying she may have caught the attention of any number of Ethereals. Clair and I begin walking towards this lady. “Are you the one who put out that broadcast?” I ask attempting a stage whisper.

“Yes, yes that was me. Quickly now. It’s safe in here.” She continues.

“Thank goodness we found you in time!” Clair says ecstatic that we had actually found the people on the radio, her red voice flaring in the dark. “Please follow us, our friends are waiting just outside. We can get you out of the city.” 

“Yes of course, but first we need to make sure we are safe. Come on now.” The lady beckons again, She’s just beyond the doors to the food court. We’re so close to rescuing the people we went looking for.

A firm hand grabs my shoulder freezing me in place.

“If it’s that bad out here we better get our friends so that they can be safe too.” Another woman’s voice comes from behind me.

“Yes of course, of course, bring more. But leave the children here, they are safe here.” The woman beyond the door continues.

“No, no we’re a family I couldn’t possibly leave them all alone.” The lady behind me replies her voice green like grass after the rain.

“What are you talking...” Clair starts, but she is cut off as the door lady begins screeching. 

“No! This will not do, they must come here. They must!”

I stagger back a step.

“Come now children lets go get our friends before they get eaten by the ghosts.” The woman behind me says and turns us around so that we can start back the way we came.

“NO! NO! NO!” The door lady is screaming now. “THEY ARE MINE!”

“GO!” The green lady yells as the food court doors explode open behind us, the result of dozens of bodies launching themselves through them and towards us. I need no more prompting to make a mad dash back the way we came. Thank god I had this place memorized almost as well as the path to the Dragon’s Den.

Crunch

I hear the sound of bones cracking against the pillar I had just barely grazed past myself. The resulting scream casting the small hallways in blinding light.

“THE GHOSTS WILL NOT HAVE THEM! ONLY ME AND MINE!” I heard the broadcast lady scream over the wail of her hoard.

BANG BANG

The gunshots came from my shoulder. Had Clair fired them? Had she been caught? I could barely make out where anything was in all the noise.

“Doors kiddo. Doors!”

My head starts to spin as I smash face first into the metal doors and I stagger back a bit. Just enough to feel my assailants breath against my neck before I’m practically thrown through the doorway and down the hall.

“Seth over here!” Clair’s voice cuts through the noise and I race towards her as fast as I can.

BANG BANG

“Come on shoulder, not now.” The green lady hisses as we race through another set of doors and out into the first food court. The echoes where more diminished here, I could make out the space again. I bolted towards the escalator and fairly launched myself up it.

“Guys go! Run!” I shouted at the glass doors ahead of me. Clair close on my heels yelling as well.

I hear the first of the hoard reach the top of the escalator and plead for my legs to please move faster.

“What the hell?” I hear Danta exclaim. “Over here, hurry!” The four of us burst out through the emergency door and into the street. “Get to the church and barricade the doors I’ll hold them here.” 

“Oh no tough guy, no noble sacrifices today.” The woman in green says and we run. As hard as if Ethereals were on our tails we run, back to that broken glass church.

Author's Note

Hey, It's been a while.
I want to thank you whoever has read this far. It really means a lot to me.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope I'm able to contine this much sooner than the last one.