"What? What? That's an insult to me child, I am no what, I am a her," Ursula said with a smug chuckle, "To bad the minute you stepped in here you were already my prey." It wasn't that Vic, M, Stewart, or Reese didn't want to help, but they felt lik they were bound by something. And the watched as the hallway seemed to almost elongate and they were much farther away from the girls. Suddenly a woman came out from the walls. She had nice curves, red gorgeous lips, long platinum colored hair. She wore a tight cat suit though. But her beauty was so astounding, it could turn a dead rose into a living red rose again. Even despite her almost appearing human, her skin color was unnaturally pale, and her eyes looked like of some unknown animal. They were narrow though, which made her cunning. She stroked each man and smiled at them. "You're men are very handsome," she said, "But none caught my eye as so much as this one." She touched Stewart's face and gave a smug smile. "I like a man with mutations, and soft beautiful eyes," she said she then licked Stewart's neck with a strange almost alien looking tongue. She smiled at the woman. "I'll let you work out who wants to die first, I have a series of challenges for you....that is if you want your men back," Ursula said, "If you complete the challenges to my liking I will give you each man back, if you complete them, but don't follow the rules...I'll give you a man back, but give a penalty the strongest woman will have my babies, with this cute looking one." She stroked Stewart's blond hair. "Do we have an agreement?" Ursula said.
Keira shuddered. This . . . woman was so . . . twisted. It made her sick. And now she was proposing some sort of challenge that Keira didn't completely understand. What the hell did she mean by "will have my babies"? Sick! But by agreeing to whatever it was she wanted, they would get the men back. Was it even worth it? "What exactly are these challenges?" she questioned, her grip around her gun tightening. She should just shoot her now and end it. But Keira had a feeling that even a shot to the head wouldn't kill the monster.
Jena took a step to the side, walking closer to Keira. SHe was holding her gun so tightly that it was painful, but she didn't loosen her grip even though she had a feeling that shooting Ursula would do absolutley nothing. That "woman" was sick....very sick. Challenges would get the men back, but what kind of challenges? Keira voiced the question before Jena did, so Jena waited for the answer.
"The challenges will be whatever I demand of you," Ursula said, "Maybe a test of courage and you'll have to walk over molten lava when there is no bridge, a test of compassion, maybe even a test of gladiators, I'll have you all fight it out." Ursula gave another small chuckle. She turned around placed her hand on Stewart's face again. "Your so my type," she said.
Jena turned to Keira, panic was beginning to rise in her. What if something happened to one of them three, or Stewart...or worse Vic? "Keira," her voice was low, but she had a feeling that Ursula could hear every word, "we need to do these challenges, they are our best hope for all of us surviving."
Keira rolled her eyes. This lady was really starting to annoy her, but the only thing they could do to get the stupid men back was to do what she wanted. They would have to agree. And then Jena threw in her two cents, and Keira definately had to agree. "Fine," Keira breathed, her grip on her gun still not relaxing. She didn't trust Ursula . . . at all. And she really didn't feel like walking over lava, being compassionate, or fighting. "I agree." They would all probably rather blow Ursula's brains out than give in to her demands, but Keira still had a feeling that wouldn't be possible. "We agree."
"I'm glad we have come to an agreement, now the men," Ursula said, "Well we must give the men something to do so we can create hmmm....a sense of urgency." Ursula smiled. "Boys," Ursula said. Suddenly the Wall Walkers that had been holding the men turned into glass jars. "These jars are your timers," Ursula said, "Once they fill up with water all the way the game is done, even if the men are dead by then because if more at stake is their minds." Ursula smiled and she touched each jar with another smug laugh. "I have put the men into a catatonia, they'll be within in their souls by now....now this catatonia can make them go insane and die, but you still get them back if they don't make it," Ursula said with a wicked laugh.
Jena let Keira answer Ursula's demands, turning back to face the woman. She so badly wnated to shoot her, but that would get them nowhere. Instead she settled for taming her annoying panic into more steely determination and cool composure. But it was hard to hold onto as Ursula turned the wsall walkers into jars filled with cantatonia.
Keira sneered. Ursula had pushed her anger to its limits. So, she wanted to slowly kill the men? Great! Just great . . . "OK, OK, we get it. If we lose, they die." Keira tried to sound and appear brave. She was the oldest woman, and she had to set a good example. Plus, she didn't want Jena and Anna freaking out on her. Inside, however, she was nervous and frightened. For her sake, for her friends' sake, for the mens' sake . . . She had always been strong. She couldn't back out now. "Now give us our challenge. We're ready."
"Relax." Anna put her hand on Keira's shoulder, sensing the other woman tensing. With her hand still on Keira's shoulder, she turned to Ursula. "So tell us, foul beast, how we play this little game of yours. And mark my words--we will defeat every single challenge. And if you hurt them--you will die. Is that clear?" Anna's voice was deadly as ice. The fear had vanished, and replaced with hardened hatred and anger. Stewart was in danger, she had no time to be afraid, only to defeat this monster.
"Yes, but my prize is that one of these men is mine," Ursula said, "I found out his name too, just from touching him and smelling him....Stewart, perfect for me he has mutations just the way I like my men." Ursula laughed a little again, she gave a smug chuckled and smiled at the woman. She stared at the tense one, she had found out all their names through smell, but this one. "Anna, I'll start the challenges when you ask me to start the challenges," Ursula said.
Anna's knuckles turned white against her gun; the grip she had on it was painful, but she couldn't tell. Nor could she taste the copper in her mouth from where she was biting her cheek to keep from screaming at this creature. "You touch Stewart--you die," she snarled.
Keira remained silent, staring at Ursula with hate-filled eyes. The creature stared back at her for a while before shifting her gaze to Anna, talking to her. So, it was Anna who would decide when the challenges would begin. Keira took a deep breath to calm herself and tore her gaze from Ursula, turning to Anna. "Calm down," she said gently. Now it was her turn to take care of her friend. "Stewart will be fine. We want the challenges to begin. Now."
Ursula laughed maniacal when she heard Anna. "I've already touched him dear, weren't you watching," Ursula said, "So to say that I'll die that should happened a few minutes ago....and he is only mine if you don't win the challenges, he's yours if you do." Ursula gave another smug smile with a small chuckle. "I want Anna to tell me when to start,"
Jena reahced over and placed her hand on Anna's shoulder. "Anna, calm down, I know you want to protect Stewart at all costs. Trust me, I know exactly what you're thinking; but getting angry won't help him. We need to keep a cool head."
"So give them to us." Anna's voice was icy--deadly. Her emerald eyes blazed with her contained anger as she remembered something so similar, and yet so different. "C'mon, Anna. You win this and you won't be my slave anymore," her brother taunted, laughing. "I'll kill you!" Anna had screamed, tears rolling down her face. "Kill you!" "Go for it." He laughed. "See if you can. You can't protect anyone--even yourself. You're useless." Anna shook her head, snapping herself from her reverie. She couldn't afford to be distracted right now, especially not to think of that.
"Anna!" Keira said, hoping to snap the woman out of it. "Let's just play along with her for now, alright? We can't do anything for Stewart right now. Jena and I feel the same way as you do, but there's nothing we can do. Let's complete these challenges and get this over with." She was ready to go.
"Your first challenge is the challenge of trust and how much you truly trust yourself," Ursula said. Ursula smiled at the room changed from just that corridor into a canyon background, it was hot and desolate. There was a giant gap over a fiver of lava, but there was no bridge. "Walk across if you trust yourself, you will not fall, if you don't you'll fall and burn...no talking each other through it and go one at a time," Ursula said.
Anna stared. Her gun was gone. Without it she felt weak and vulnerable. She stood there in her standard issue clothing: black pants, t-shirt, and jacket, all purpose shoes, and hairbands. Something about a routine made her feel better, and it was sweltering. She pulled her shoulder-length hair into a ponytail on the top of her head, took off her jacket and tossed it aside, and at the same time set her resolve. She just had to focus. All her life everyone had told her she wasn't good enough; had broken her heart and her spirit. But the day she had been accepted into the military had been her first triumph. The second had been when she was accepted to this program as a Scientist Protection Officer. The day she had met Stewart was short and courteous, but as time passed they had developed a friendship, and at the same time she had learned she was worth something. She took pride in her job, and she was good at it. Everyone had lied; she was good at something. She was good at being a loyal friend and protector, and now she had to do it again. With this in mind she stepped out over the lava, her eyes shut so she wouldn't look down and lose her cool, and she walked.
Keira watched as Anna made her way across the lava, holding her breath. She didn't want the woman to fall; the friends had developed a bond over the past day or so. Anna, Jena, Reese, Vic, Stewart . . . She had never thought that they would be her friends until now, after all they had been through together, and she cared for each of them in a different way. But when it seemed like Anna would make it across, Keira sighed, relieved, and set forth to follow her, throwing her jacket alongside Anna's. She had enough trust in herself to make it across. A few days ago, before the incident, she wouldn't have been confident. She would have fallen. But the trials she had been through had hardened Keira - she wasn't the same person. Now she walked forward in confidence, trusting in herself. It wasn't only trust that got her across the lava, though. It was her love for her friends, too. She didn't want to see the men killed, and she didn't want to let Anna and Jena down. They needed her, just like she needed them.
Vic found himself standing alone in a well-lit hallway. He was immediately suspicious that something was amiss. Where is everyone? Where am I? Is this real? There were no doors and this part of the facility seemed totally unfamiliar to him. There was nowhere to go but forward. Did I smoke some bad s***? Nah, I ain't lit up since... He realized his entire concept of time was amiss. "Somethin' is definitely messin' wit' my head," he said to himself, drawing his weapon. With his railgun ready, he walked straight ahead, calling the names of his comrades. But, no matter how far he walked, he seemed to be getting nowhere. He increased his speed, quickening to a jog, but it was no good. He heard a sound behind him and looked over his shoulder as he moved along. Nothing there. When he turned to face forward again, he nearly ran into three Generals standing in front of him. Where did they come from? There are no doors, no windows, no other corridors. He raised the railgun and fired at them, annihilating the three creatures with only two shots. There was little left of them, but a bloody splatter on the floor. The sound came again, behind him. He turned around, ready to fire, but there was nothing again. He quickly faced forward again and fond himself staring down the maw of an Eater, ready to devour him. A shadow descended on him as the creature overcame him. He was already within its jaws, inches from the razor sharp teeth, before he pulled the trigger, blasting the Eater away and coating the hall in a bloody mess. Vic began to run, full speed ahead, calling out for his comrades. Where could they be. He ran down the long, straight hall with nowhere to turn, nowhere to hide. He heard the sound of a gunshot. A bullet whizzed by his head. He instinctively dropped down onto one knee and gazed through the scope of his railgun. Whoever had fired the shot would soon regret it. The long, straight hall was a sniper's dream, but what he saw was a nightmare. He saw himself, Victor Trane, staring at him through a rifle's scope. It was sniper versus sniper.
Keren thought to herself, thinking that this was really fun, "Ms. Ursula, if you don't mind I think I'm going to watch." She sat herself on a cliff, admiring the view. "Got any popcorn?"
Jena watched silently as Anna and Keira made their way across. Then it was her turn, she needed to trust herself also. But how could she trust herself when she didn't even know who she was? She closed her eyesa and reflected for a moment. She had thought she was a person who hid behind a mask of unemotion. But what about the other part of her? The part that was friends with Anna, Keira, Stewart, and Vic. The part of her that had slapped Reese for not helping Stewart. The part of her that made her want to cross safely not only because it would help her surviv but because it would help everyone she now cared about survive. She opened her eyes again, she could trust that person. She to threw aside her jacket and began to walk slowly but surely across the lava.
Keren watched amused and astonished, "wow, for a second there I thought she was going to keel over, and where did you get this popcorn?"
Stewart didn't even know where he was. This certainly didn't look like something in his inner soul, a bed made of pink satin pillows. Silk curtains and scented candles. Strange flowers he had never seen before. "You're right," Ursula said, "I wanted you all to yourself, welcome to my room Stewart." Stewart stared at Ursula, what did she want from him. And how did she know what he was thinking? "Because you are in my room," Ursula said coming out from the curtains. She walked over to him and unbuttoned his button shirt. She put her hand on his chest and ran down it. "You are so perfect for me, you and I together," Ursula said. Ursula commanded him towards the bed and he didn't even know why he wasn't resisting her. It was if he had no control, no emotions, just thoughts. And that was it. "You're my puppet my wondrous puppet," Ursula said she licked his chest and went up and placed her lips onto his, "You'll feel what I want you to." * * * Ursula smiled as if something good was happening. "Very good ladies, very good...the next challenge with be the challenge of compassion...you'll meet a series of strangers and you have to declare who is a liar and who isn't...and those who aren't lying you have to give them something precious to you," Ursula said, "The same rules apply no cheering each on and one at a time, Jena you go first this time." Ursula laughed a smug laugh. Jena suddenly was ushered into a chair and she was standing in front of a man with a wiry beard. "My name is Steven, I have recently lost my wife, and I couldn't pay my debts in medical bills, they took my home," Steven said.
