Episode Eleven

As I charged out the door I was hit with the same thick smoke as before. I could see nothing in front of me and this time I was alone. I could hear Brian’s shouts from a distance but I couldn’t see him. I held onto the wall for support and crept along in the direction that I thought the shouts were coming from. My heart hammered as I realized that they were growing farther and farther away and less audible by the second.

            I soon came to the end of the wall and hesitated. If I went any further I wouldn’t be able to find my way back. I couldn’t see where I was going and I knew that sooner then later I wouldn’t be able to hear the direction Brian was being taken. I momentarily thought about heading back and closing the door behind me before all of the clean yet hot air was polluted.

            Then I thought about Brian. He was the only person in this forsaken place who had shown me kindness, and I was sure that kindness is hard to come by in Hell. He had put his own self at risk in helping me and I had to do the same for him. I didn’t know where I was headed or what I would encounter but I knew if I didn’t act fast I would lose my only friend. Yes, he had gone from an ally to a friend in the short time I had known him.

            Without thinking I blindly stepped away from the wall and started to shuffle forward. I felt as if I were blindfolded. If I looked down I could only see as far as my hips, the rest of my body was masked by the thick rancid smoke. I felt as if my lower body was detached from the rest of my body. Very carefully I crept along in a straight line, my arms spread out in front of my body as a barrier between me and anything I might encounter.

            Numerous times my fingers would graze against the warmed skin of a tree trunk or be scratched by the thorns on a nearby bush and each time I would gasp out loud and curse this wretched place. As I stumbled onward one small inch at a time I noticed that I was able to see lights dancing through the smoke. Far off red light began to waver and dance in front of me. I could no longer hear Brian’s screams. Instead a steady crackling of flames picked up in volume.

            Soon to my relief the smoke began to clear and along with this my slippered feet no longer sifted through dead limbs and shrubs but landed on the hard solidity of asphalt. As I crept through the last remaining trees and wisps of smoke I saw that I was overlooking the city of fire that had been so far away in the safety of the building Brian and I had taken refuge in.

            I seemed to be on the outer edge of the city, still surrounded by the foliage of the forest behind me. I stood before a busy street and I instinctively shrunk back to better hide myself. Demons of all different sizes but all equally terrifying roamed up and down the sidewalks but what surprised me the most were the uncountable numbers of humans who walked freely between them or stood next to them on street corners conversing with the horned, fiery, or scaled beasts. There are people on Earth who had willingly chosen to walk beside the Devil and his Army. I thought as I scanned the scene before me. Only those who had sinned but not willingly given themselves to evil have to suffer in this Hell.

            The City of Fire was exactly that. The buildings and high towers that loomed over me were indeed blazing. Flames illuminated them from the inside out. The smoke from these buildings seemed to float high above the city before settling onto the forest behind me as if directed to do so.

            All around me the city moved quickly and loudly. One demon, three horns on top of his head wearing thick scaled garments roughly shoved a human to the ground as he walked past. This human unlike the others I saw conversing and haggling with the monsters, was thin and just as dirty as I and the other poor souls had been when we were dumped from the ferry to the beach.

            Chains, that seemed to almost be glowing from heat, were cuffed around the man’s wrist and ankles. I could see from my spot between two overhanging trees the raw and blistered skin from underneath them as the hot metal moved and slid around on his thin bones. The man quickly jumped up and away from the snarling demon as he quickly ran through the crowd.

            The thought quickly came to me that this man was some sort of slave that served the monsters of this city. As I looked around I began to notice more people like him, shabbily dressed and filthy, carrying boxes or pushing carts. Some seemed to be following demons around as they went about their daily activities.

            My eyes swung to the end of the street as a loud commotion picked up and a crowd gathered there. From where I was I had to squint to make out the shape of two human slaves pushing a large cart onto a platform. Inside of cart, surrounded by high metal linked walls were more humans, arms bound behind their backs and their faces covered in soot.

            One of the largest and closest demons to the two slaves pushing the cart growled and order in a language I couldn’t understand and immediately the two slaves jumped to his command. They opened the gate to the cart and roughly dragged the terrified people to the ground. There they kneeled on their knees with their heads hung low. Only one of the many captives looked freely around at the group that stood around him, his teeth gleaming white against the black that painted his skin, his eyes without even a hint of fear. Brian! My mind screamed as I saw Brian become hoisted to his feet and the group move in closer to him.

            Its Brian!

           

Reviews

[KAOlmsted]

This is really coming along, Tabitha...keep up the good, hard work!

[Lorna]

Brilliant writing!

[Marie]

Very good. I guess you're going to expand this to a book.

[Tabitha t]

I am still struggling with ending it. I see this turning into a book yes I do t think I could end this prematurely

[Craig2591]

Good writing. I think this story is your best writing yet.

[Tabitha t]

Thanks!

[gombeggar]

ahh..it continues along...wonder wut dante would think of all this?