Living Hell

Living Hell - Chapter 1 Living Hell Chapter 1 Heero stood at the crosswalk that always plagued his dreams.  No matter in which direction he looked, the fog limited his vision to almost nothing. Looking down, he noted that the dark patches looked like it had once been something wet, and something was dragged through it. He took a stop forward and hesitated. He knew that here in this place he would find an answer... but was it the one that he was looking for?  He shook his head and the gng dng dread that grew in his heart as he gathered all the courage he had and moved.   He kept  his eyes mostly to the floor, walking in the direction that the splotches seemed to lead, occasionally glancing up to make sure he wasn't heading to a dead end or an abandoned car. It unnerved him to see no life at all in this small city.  What had caused the people to abandon it, and why hadn't the government sent anyone to investigate it? After his business with Duo, he would demand that Une send some Preventors to figure out what happened. He walked for what seemed like a long time until he came to a dead end. The road looked like it had collapsed, and there was no safe route down.  It basically looked like the earth split in two. The gap was too wide of a distance to make it in one jump, even with a running start. He would have to find some other way. As he turned to leave, he froze. What was that on the side of the road?  And that smell! Heero made his way to it, recognizing the scent of blood. His face remained steady as he approached a mutilated body. His heart, however, jumped. He knelt near the body and sighed in relief.  Despite the bloody mess, there was dark hair showing, and the clothing hinted at this being a female. Or rather, it use to be a female. A few things caught his interest.  As he examined the body, he couldn't help but notice that it looked like flesh had been torn away from her.  An animal of some kind? Bloody footprints moved away from the corpse, but faded away, only giving a clue to the attacker's direction.  But even then, the prints weren't remotely human or animal. Looking further, Heero discovered a blood-stained paper hanging from her pocket, and a set of keys from her belt loops. Heero picked them up, hoping that maybe these keys would lead to some for of transportation. The paper turned out to be a map of the city.  Some areas had been scratched off, other circled.  But one section caught his interest. It was the park near the shore. Thinking back, Heero swore he remembered a park in his dreams as well. Something, or someone, was always coming towards him. He made his mind up.  He would have to go there.  But how? Judging from the map, just about all ways were blocked.  But maybe... There was an apartment complex back down further.  Maybe he would be able to go around that. Glancing down at the keys, he realized that there was a name inscribed on them. "Blue Water Apartments." Looking back at the map, Heero felt a bit of excitement when he realized thatwas was the same set of apartments he was looking at. He tucked the map into his jacket's inside pocket and turned to head back. Something human sized attacked. Heero bit back a shout of pain as the thing latched onto his arm with its teeth.  His hand immediately went to gouge out its eyes, and he was horrified when the eyes popped easily, clear fluids running down his hands. The thing still didn't let go as his hand slipped in the gooey mess.  Skin seemed to slough right off, exposing bone from underneath. Heero finally let out a yell as he tore his arm away from the vile creatures mouth. Adrenaline rushed through him as he dropped to the floor and lashed out with his feet, kicking the creature in the stomach.  It only stumbled a bit, so Heero aimed for the knees. The thing fell and tried to crawl towards him. Heero immediately leapt up and brought his foot down at the head, crushing its skull. He sneered in disgust as blood coated his white sneakers, staining them. What was that thing? It almost looked human... but humans don't just come undone with such rough treatment.  If anything, it looked like one of those zombies that Duo's horror movies use to show. . . only more ugly. And bloody. The stench of death was overpowering as he backed up and turned away. He looked at his bleeding arm.  He had to find a way to heal it.  Who knew how infected it could get. He swore as he made his way to the apartment complexes.  His eyes shifted from left to right as he kept his eyes out for similar creatures.  He could only assume that it might have been the same thing that tore the dead woman apart.  But more than one must have been involved. The one he fought could have caused serious damage, but not enough to cause that much destruction. His own footsteps echoed through the streets, making him tense. Strange how he never felt this bit of fear while in battle.  Yet, here all alone, he wished the rest of his team were here to keep him company. Heero finally hed hed where he was going without any incident, save a stray cat jumping out of nowhere.  It was the only bit of life he had seen.  There weren't even the sounds of birds in this place.  Everything was just too quiet. Heero paused in front of the apartments.  Once again, the road was blocked to the left of him, the thick tarp making it impossible to climb over the fence that held it up.  However, the chain linked fence surrounding the apartments were manage eno enough. Heero climbed over them with ease and dropped to the floor, wincing as the pain in his arm kindly reminded him that it needed treatment.  Maybe he'd be able to find some supplies in here.  Surely someone at least had a first aid kit in their apartments. The front door was locked. Using the key, it opened up just fine, and heero walked into a dark and cool hallway. He flipped the light switch that was on his left. Nothing. With a sigh, he walked in, not bothering to close the door.   X Heero sighed in frustration as he made his way down the second floor's hallway. Most of the doors were locked and seemed to be lined with gundanium steel as none of them budged an inch when he kicked at them.   When he knocked, no one answered, and there were no signs of inhabitants here was well.   Heero then paused. Was that a T.V. he heard? Finally, some human contact! Heero moved quickly toward the room that was emitting the sound.  He stopped at 214.  Sure enough, he could hear some person talking on the television, a game show of some sort. Heero raised his hand to knock on the door when he noticed that the door was already cracked open. Adrenaline coursed through his body as he slowly pushed it forward and peered inside. Bullet holes decorated the walls and the scent of blood and excrement was overwhelming. He made his way inside, trying not to breathe in the scent. Sitting in front of the television was what remained of another human being. Heero couldn't help but think that maybe this was the fate of all this town's inhabitants.  If so, again, why hasn't anyone come to check this place out? Heero spotted an automatic hand gun in the corpse's hand. He walked towards it, wincing as he saw that the person had been completely disemboweled.  His head looked like it had gone through a grinder. He took the gun from the dead guy's hand, the blood on it feeling sticky. With a look of disgust, Heero cleaned off the most that he could with his pants. Looking around, he could see that there was a stash of clips in a wall until near the television.  As he collected as much as he could carry, Heero noticed the picture of a man and a female nurse.  Next to the frame was a key with "309" on it. A nurse girlfriend? She had to have a first aid kit in her room.  His arm was starting to itch. Heero took the keys and turned to leave. Another monster blocked his path. With a startled gasp, Heero jumped back and began to fire into the creature's head. The thing kept coming towards him, before stumbling, and then falling to the ground.  Heero shot it five more times, reloading to do so. It finally remained still.   Heero sighed in relief and shook his head as he quickly left the room.  He hoped that maybe he would find a place to rest in this person's apartment, if she hadn't met the same fate as the guy behind him. Heero's luck seemed to be taking a turn for the better when he found that his way up to the third floor was obstacle free. Trudging along, he found room 309.  However, no one responded to his knocking. Heero took the key and unlocked the door. Quickly stepping inside, he locked it again from inside and took a look around the room.  The kitchen was to one side, two doors led to what he assumed were bedrooms.  The bathroom was on the other side.  In front of him was a similar set up to the dead man's apartment.   A blank television sat in front with a soft love seat. Overall, the apartment looked unused.  A film of dust coated many of the surfaces.  It was as if the owner had stepped out and never returned. Heero headed to the bathroom and searched through the medicine cabinet.  Inside was a first aid, as well as several prescription bottles. He took of his bloodied shirt, wincing as it pulled against his skin.  He opened up the water, satisfied when it came out clear.  He found a bar of soap and lathered it up, cleaning off the blood before working on the rest. His training with Dr. J kicked in as he used the available prescriptions to make his own concoction to battle any possible infection. But without any medical equipment, Heero could only hazard a guess of the possible typed of infection he was risking. In the bedroom, Heero found some needle and thread.  Using the stove, he sterilized the needle and stitched up what he could from his arm.  Hopefully the thread would hold until he found something more suitable. As soon as he completed his task, Heero checked the refrigerator for nourishment.  There were a few unopened packages that still looked edible, and onlfew few things that looked like they expired.   After his quick meal, Heero looked around.   He had been at this for a whole day.  He needed to rest. The room looked secure enough, and he did have a weapon in hand. Heero decided the best place to sleep was on the floor, facing the door.   He settled down, gritting his teeth as he tried to ease pressure on his wounded arm. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep. The tension surrounding him didn't help. It wasn't until he began thinking about Duo did he finally go to sleep. X "Heero?" "Hn?" Duo rested his head against the back of Heero as the Japanese man typed furiously on his computer.  He slowed down as he turned his head with a slight frown, trying to look at Duo. There was something melancholy about his voice. "Do you believe in soul mates?" "Hn." Heero began to finish up his report, not wanting to be bothered by such talk. Duo sighed. "I thought that was what you'd say," he sighed.  He straightened up and turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist. Heero was looking up with him, an intense look in eye eyes. Duo remained still, head tilted, a strange expression on his face. Heero stood up and pulled Duo close to him.  His hand gently reached under his chin and tilted his face upward. Lips brushed against each other. Duo sighed as he leaned forward. Heero's arms wrapped around him, and soon lowered his braided lover gently into their bed, hands feeling their way across his skin, searching for the spots that made him gasp in pleasure.  Sounds that only he was allowed to hear. X A hand nimbly picked up the wallet lying beside the prone figure.  Silently flipping it open, it revealed the photo ID and badge of a Special Agent Heero Yuy. It closed and the figure moved around.  Enough moonlight crept in through the window to reflect off of long blonde hair, and what vaguely looked like a female. Black maryjane shoes stopped in front of Heero's torso. The man was in a deep sleep, hand resting against a gun. The person raised her foond bnd brought it down hard against Heero's injured arm. Heero yelped, sitting up quickly, dropping the gun and clutching his arm. Cold blue eyes snapped open. A girl about 8 years stood in front of him, her expression equally cold. "What are you doing here?" she asked. Heero did a double take as his pain began to recede. "Relena?" he asked. The girl sneered as she shook her head, two small braids moving side to side. "No, Mr. Yuy.  I'm not your precious Relena. I'm Serena... or Rena for short." She looked back at the wallet in her hands.  "For  a Special agent, you sure are incompetent." "Big words for a small girl," Heero growled, snatching the wallet out of her hand.   "not not small enough to be whoring, huh?"  Rena walked to the kitchen as Heero looked after her in shock. "What?" "They killed my family, you know?  The bitch that owned this place took care of me.  So long as I paid her in return with that blob of a boyfriend downstairs.  I saw what they did.  Fat bastard.  Got what was coming. No more dick for me." Heero couldn't help but feel sick as he watched this tiny eight year old preparing a meal for herself. "And the owner?" he asked, wishing he could haul that woman away. Rena turned to look at him.  "She bled nicely." Rena went back to making her meal.  "Why are you here?" she asked. "Looking for someone," Heero responded, still in shock.  He knew that he was considered cold when he was young, but he didn't think he was like this.  There was something a bit more sinister about hearing a little girl so casually claim that she was a "whore" and possibly a murderer. "Yeah.  We all come here looking for someone, or something.  Things weren't always this bad.  At least before he came." "He?" "Yeah.  Three years ago.  Before then, this place was kind of happy.  But then it began to grow dark, as if a shadow heen een cast over it.  Then he made his appearance, and things became bad. Real bad.  No one speaks his name, or at least those that are left of us.  And no one can escape.  No one comes for help.  So again, why are you here when no one else can get near this place, or leave?" "Hn." Rena rolled her eyes. "'Hn,'" she repeated, mockingly.  "So you are that 'Heero Yuy' that he hates." Heero gave a start.  "Who?" "I told you, we don't say his name.  Mostly because we don't know who he is.  But everyone knows he hates Heero Yuy.  Because his precious is always trying to run away, to reunite with him I guess." Rena's expression turned melancholy.  "Sometimes I wish that he could get away.  Sometimes I just wish he'd die.  Then maybe the evil that rules over us will die too." "Who? Who keeps trying to gety?" y?"  Heero's heart began to race.   Rena remained silent, as if collecting her thoughts. "You know, he is our only point of brightness in this town.  It's the only reason we also sometimes hope he doesn't escape.  Whenever he's in that monster's lair, others can come out and be safe.  But when he's not there, he takes care of us, trying to keep us alive.  He really doesn't deserve this life at all. "Most of us here do deserve it.  We've all done something unforgivable.  This place is our punishment.  This is our hell.  Any maybe, this is yours as well.  Maybe that's why you were able to come here." Rena finished her meal and cleaned up. "But our little bundle of joy didn't deserve to be here. It wasn't his fault.  Despite what he's done in his past, he was an innocent.  He has a good heart.  Unlike the master, like others call him." Heero began to feel frustrated. "Will you just get to the point?" Rena scowled as she moved to the door.  "You never had the patience, did you?" she said angrily.  "I know a lot about you.  I know more than you know about yourself. How? Simple!  Because he spoke a lot about you.  Both of them have.  One who hates you, and the other who just wants forgiveness. And just being in the same room with you makes me sick.  Go ahead and try to find the person you're looking for.  But be warned."   Rena opened the door and paused for a moment.  She slammed it shut, her final words echoing  in Heero's head. "The master will not let go of Duo so easily." tbc.... a/n:  Sometimes I've been asked how I come up the these ideas or how I write them and crap, and really, the mood just has to be right.  For this particular tale, I'm listening to a CD that might not be well known, considering the only place I've found it as at a Costume shop during halloween.  www.midnightsyndicate.com will give more information, and the particular album I'm listening to is entitled "Vampyre: Symphonies from the Crypt" Really melancholy and creepy stuff. I love it... *wicked laugh as she fades into the darkness*