City of the Damned

Chapter 15

Emilee's POV

Frank came up behind me, breathing heavily down my neck. I spun round to face him.
'Do you realise what I have just done?' I asked him. He nodded, and frowned, leaning over the pit. He hummed tunelessly, and ran his finger along the edge. He stood up suddenly, causing me to tumble backwards. He caught me, just before I hit the floor. I sighed in relief and he smiled at me.
'Sorry babe, but this might hurt,' he smiled gently. My eyes widened in alarm as he looked at Gerard and nodded. Tess shot me a quick look, before Gerard grabbed her and jumped over the edge of the pit. I heard her scream loudly, then it went silent. Frank smiled weakly at me.
'No, no, no, no, NO!' I shouted, but he shrugged and pushed me over. My first thought was: I'm gonna die. I haven't even said goodbye to my mother. Tears came to my eyes as I thought of this. Or maybe it was the dust?
My second thought was: Where the hell is that light coming from? As we neared the bottom, a bright, spectral light shone up at us, causing me to screw up my eyes from the glare. Frank did the same, but quickly snapped them open when he realised we were at the bottom. We fell in a heap on the floor, my arm being twisted in the process. I climbed off the three of them, brushing myself down. I almost screamed at the sight before me.
Thousands of bodies hung from the walls. I thought they were dead, but then realised they were breathing, ever so slightly. I started over to them, stopping when I heard Tess's voice behind me.
'Don't,' she said simply, shaking her head. There were tears in her eyes. I frowned and went to look anyway. They all had their eyes closed, but as I came closer, thousands of eyelids opened, revealing nothing but flesh and bone. The eyes were gone. They were blind.
I lurched forward to be sick. As I did, one of them grabbed my arm. I screamed, but noticed he was no real threat. He was almost dead.
'Help me,' he whispered throatily. He dropped my arm, whimpering slightly. I reached forward to grab his almost lifeless hand again.
'I'm so sorry.' He groaned in pain, and wriggled in the metal binds that chained them to the wall. I looked at Frank helplessly but he shook his head. I breathed in slowly and gently let go of him. All the people in the cave (or that's what it looked like) closed their eyes again. It became silent. The only sounds were the steady drip of water onto the floor. I walked over to the three of them, and Frank wrapped his arms round me as I cried onto his shoulder.
'Can't we help them at all?' I asked, looking deep into his eyes. They held nothing but sympathy.
'They're already dead. Besides, how would you like to never see the world again. They're in pain but we have no means of stopping it. It'll all be over for them soon. It'll come as a relief,' he assured me. I nodded and looked at Gerard.
'What now?'
'We have to find Ebony.' He spun to walk in the opposite direction, but stopped suddenly. He looked at us with a horrified expression on his face. His breathing became rapid, as Tess rushed up to him.
'Gerard? Gerard! Look at me,' she pleaded. He did and his eyes were filled with pain. I felt my heart stop in my chest. It took a lot to get him scared.
He turned round again, only to point at the rows of bodies positioned on the wall. I followed his gaze and my stomach turned over. Against the wall were a man and a woman. Hand in hand. I couldn't believe this. This wasn't happening. Gerard walked over to them and gently stroked their faces. He rested his forehead against the man's. Tears flowed down his face.
'Gerard? Is that you?'
Tess walked over to the woman, fumbling around with the chains. They wouldn't come loose.
'It'll be okay, I promise,' Tess whispered.
'Tess?'
'Kelly it's me. I promise your going to be fine. We just need to get you out of here. We're gonna get you out of here.' She shook the chains as if that would help them unlock.
'Gerard? Please say that's you,' coughed the man. Gerard sobbed into his chest and hugged him tight to him.
'It's me Mikey. I'm so sorry. I love you,' he murmered softly.