literature

Project S - Chapter 8

Deviation Actions

WhiteNoiseGhost's avatar
Published:
606 Views

Literature Text



Emily and Dante turned around towards the man behind them. The first thing they met with was his devious smile, stretched wide from cheek to cheek.
It didn't nearly inhabit the proportions of an ordinary smile, and not those of a villainous grin or a psychopath's smile, either. The only description that fit it properly was a bitter smile. One that wasn't happy nor crazy, but sinister; a remnant of a tormented soul. Yet, the man didn't show any signs of being anything close to broken. Instead, his attitude showed great pride and superiority. A pure image of might.
Emily was the first of the two to become stricken by the man's intimidating figure. She noticed she had subconsciously backed off a little to hide behind Dante, her flightless wings held high, alerted by the hostile presence. It bugged her that she couldn't see the man's eyes. They were shy, unlike his attitude,  because they hid themselves behind a pair of sunglasses and a few strands of dark, wavy hair. They kept his soul a secret.
His clothing only strengthened that air of mystery he had around him. Contrary to the others who were dressed in lab coats, this man wore a dark gray suit with the infamous Black Rose symbol on it. It didn't have so much as a single stain of blood or chemicals on it. The more Emily looked at him, the more he began to seem out of place.
But then again there was that strange smile of his... the one thing that proved he did belong in the hellhole of Black Rose Headquarters.  

"You're... not a scientist." Emily muttered, her final judgement quiet and unsure. Who was he? Why was he here? How did he find them so easily?
"I can feel your fear, vermin." the man stated in a strong and cynical voice, "and I can feel your sadness as well..." he continued, the tone of his voice suddenly becoming a bit more playful. "Lost a family member not long ago? A brother, perhaps?"
Emily's eyes jolted open wide, the man's words echoing through her head.
She saw it all over again: the people coming into the prison cell, taking her brother away, and she not being able to do anything about it. Mere minutes later, a hiss from another creature, or perhaps a weapon, followed by an ear-piercing scream, perhaps the most frightening one Emily had ever heard.
The scream was there to stay, looping inside her head and getting louder the longer her eyes were fixed on the man in front of her and and her werewolf companion. Screams turned to noise, noise to static, and a pure, penetrating rage began to worm it's way into her mind, smothering the fear and forcing it to make place.
Dante noticed how Emily had started to tremble lightly. He took her hand and shook his head with a concerned frown. "Stay ca-"
"Cut the crap, you dirty, little...." Emily growled, ignoring Dante's warning.
"It's all going to be fine if you just contain yourself for a bit, okay?" Dante managed to whisper quickly, unsure whether or not Emily heard it. The more the man influenced the girl's emotions, the more Dante began to fear the outcome of this situation.

The man's teasing grin grew wider. "My, how rude of you. You shouldn't attempt to swear at me, little one. That is utmost uncivilised, isn't it? But I see... you are definitely not in for a family reunion, I take it?"
Emily tilted her head lightly and frowned in confusion. "How do you mean... 'family reunion'? He... my brother is.... dead... right?"

She felt Dante holding her hand tighter. He warned her once again with a concerned and unsettled tone to his voice.
"Emily, don't fall into his trap. He's on to something. Let us just walk away and-"
"There is no 'away'." The man interrupted him, "not for your kind, foul beasts. What makes you think you can escape where several others have failed?"
Dante glared. If there was one thing he hated, it was people getting too full of themselves. "What makes you think you can stop us from leaving?"
"Getting confident out of the blue? Just a minute ago you wanted to walk off instead of confronting me."
Dante raised his voice in anger. Or was it panic? "Who are you?"

Silence followed.

"I am the one who runs this place" the man replied after a while, "The one who sets up the science programs here. The one who decides what happens to all the nightcreatures we capture."
He walked a bit closer to Emily and took off his sunglasses, finally revealing two acid-yellow eyes with slit pupils and as far as Emily could remember, such eyes were far from human. As soon as his eyes met hers, his voice reduced to a playful whisper. "I'm also the one who murdered your brother, Emily."
Hellfires began to rise high inside of the girl, charring her mind and licking her soul with their forked tongues. Right in front of her stood not only the one who killed her brother without mercy, but also the dreaded monster behind this all. The very leader of Black Rose. She swore she could see his hands dripping with nightcreature blood for a split second.
Dante shook his head once again, reminding her to contain herself. "Emily..."
"Shut up." she hissed back, "I'm going to end this. All of it."
"Emily, don't."
She stepped forward, and looked the man straight into his monstrous eyes. "You will not get away with this..."
"I already did." he said indifferently, after which he turned around and began to pace. "Do you still want your family reunion or what?"
Emily gritted her teeth and wanted to run after him, but Dante was quick to hold her back. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something were to happen to her.
"It's a trap, Emily. You shouldn't go after him, please!"
"I heard you the first time!!" she shouted back, pulling herself loose from his protective grasp with rough force, after which she proceeded to follow the sinister figure through the dim-litted corridor.
"You're walking to your doom! Don't do it!"
But all Dante got from Emily was an angry look over the shoulder. He fell to his knees and grabbed his head with both hands. Tears began to well up at the thought that this could be the last he would see of her. "Emily, come back! Emily!!"

It was as if there was no end to all the hallways. Every single one of them had that same industrial lighting, the same layout and the same amount of doors in the same places,  and every single one of them was just as eerie as the others.
Emily wondered how one could possibly know their way around this place without a map. Or earplugs, for that matter; every time she heard the painful utterings of another nightcreature, she cringed as if it were her own pain. And with every creak of an opening door or some other unknown source, she could feel this discomforting chill that grabbed her with it's icy claws at the top of her head, and from there on quickly sunk towards her feet. It managed to get to her every time.
Marthus smirked when he looked behind him to see that the vampiric girl had chosen to follow him despite the warnings Dante had given her. One of his hands was held inside his suit, his fingers resting on a handgun he kept with him at all times. He knew Emily wasn't the most powerful of vampires, judging by her laughably small wings, but her fangs were sharp as any other monster's. And in the unstable mental state she was in... he couldn't be too careful.
"Emily," he said, "I want you to know that my trigger finger gets terribly itchy when I'm near a nightcreature. So one move in the wrong direction and I wont even bother to show you what happened to your brother."
Emily replied with silence. The further they came, the more she began to doubt whether or not it was the right choice to follow the man. Did she truly want to see what they did to her brother after his death?
And Dante, was Dante alright? Was he still alive?
A tear rolled over her cheek, but she quickly wiped it off. Now was a time to be strong...

Right?

"Why did you choose to show me something instead of killing me right away?" Emily decided to ask after several heartbeats of silence.
"To show you your nearby future." Marthus replied, "I'm going to be honest with you now; you're not going to wander around the facility anymore. As soon as you've seen what we did to your brother, we will do the same to you."
Emily did not feel surprised upon hearing she was going to be killed. She already knew the consequences would be dire the second she decided to follow him. She had been plotting to rip his throat out and then return to Dante, but as soon as he had made her aware that he carried a gun, all hope was lost. Maybe that was the reason she managed to stay calm despite the man's cruel words; all hope was already gone.
"Why only kill me after showing me?"
Marthus sighed. "I.. have this certain need to show others my efforts, a hunger for being noticed. Not that a monster like yourself would understand that..."
Emily slowly became absorbed in confusion and curiosity. Was the man playing some kind of sick mind game with her, or was he actually letting something of his true self out at her?
"Why am I even telling this?" Marthus mumbled, not directed at anyone.
"It's okay, we all have our quirks." Emily replied half-heartedly. Did she mean to comfort this man? Probably not, she thought.  
Perhaps it was her way of dealing with the situation now that there was no way out; starting a semi-awkward conversation with the enemy. Maybe it was to win their sympathy? No, Emily knew the ones who worked here were never to be trusted. It was the rule number one she had made with the prisoners whom she used to share her cell with: never trust a human.

"We're almost there, monster."
"Are you sure that we are the monsters here?"
"I don't need any of your philosophical idiocy."
Emily stifled a quiet laugh of which she didn't know whether or not it was genuine.
"What are you laughing about, vermin?"
"Your answer. It's so... typical."
"Hm?"
"You sound like a vengeful movie villain of some sort."
Marthus let out a short 'hmpf' to emphasise Emily's inferiority as a nightcreature. "Except I am no villain." he stated.
"I'd say that is a discussable thing."
"I will not discuss my motives and reasons with a rat like yourself."
Emily shrugged indifferently. "I guess I'll just stay quiet 'till my death, then.."
She knew that escapism like that was not going to bring her anywhere. But then again, was there even a way out of this situation? And if yes, was there a way out of the facility?

"Here we are." Marthus said as they stood in front of a bunker-like, heavily locked door. "This is where we keep all the important experiments."
There we go, the 8th chapter of Project S, showing a bit of Marthus' different side (d'aww) and focusing on the storyline around Emily and Dante. For any critiques, I was wondering if the story flows nicely in your head as you read it. Does my way of writing work? And are you able to relate to any of the characters? If so, who and why? And if not, I would also like to know why and what I could do better. Are they likeable and 'realistic' in behavior? Thank you very much in advance
© 2015 - 2024 WhiteNoiseGhost
Comments20
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
pamez748's avatar
I want them to see Allen really, really bad for some reason.