03:08
Episode 3: Dog Days Mechanix
Part 8
The explosion woke Violet. She had been in a record store in a city she knew to be Golden Valley. and the sound of violence had snapped her back to the basement. Now the waves of pain washed over her. The pain was less than it had been and by that she estimated the lost time at thirty minutes. Her shoulder throbbed and her one arm would not move. Her legs were rubber posts attached beneath her and her head pulsed with pain.
Violet forced herself to roll over and brought her knees up under her. There was a cinder block wall there and she rolled against it. Off to her left, beyond a pile of tarps and buckets, Violet heard chanting and the constant barking of a small, yappy dog. She felt duct tape around her wrists and opened her hand. Ned had taped them behind her back. Violet thought knife and closed her fingers around the hilt of a bowie knife. She used it to carefully slice through the tape and when she was free she dumped it back into hammer space.
For a minute she knelt on the cold concrete floor, panting. Her arms beneath her supporting her weight. The air tasted strange down in the basement; metallic and sweet. She thought about this smell, this oddity, until she realized her sweatshirt and jeans were sticky top to bottom with her own blood. Violet retched. She forced herself to breath slow and deep through her mouth until she could stand the smell of her own blood.
When she felt stable, when her stomach no longer pushed against her throat, she looked up towards where the yappy dog – where Leeloo – barked. A hole had been forced through the concrete block at the far end of the unfinished basement. The hole was crude and unfinished but large enough to fit a work cart through. The rest of the basement was deserted, a single dark room of skeletal walls and mysterious shadows. She reached behind her and retrieved a forty-five caliber pistol from hammer space, then she began to crawl towards the hole. She was slow and every movement was torture as bad as what Ned dealt. As she advanced Violet heard what she guessed to be kitchen appliances being thrown on the next level, crashing to the floor. Recognizable but disturbing laughter accompanied the crashes. Violet sighed.
Can’t you ever be quiet Laurel?
There were more crashes from upstairs and Laurel yelled something witty about ‘keeping cool’ at whoever she was fighting. Violet guessed the projectile had been a refrigerator. She continued crawling forward until she could peek into the open space. Someone had gone through a lot of trouble to create a large, dry room next to the house. The walls were rough-laid cinder block with not too neat mortaring between. The roof was simple steel decking supported with four unadorned I-beams placed unevenly around the room. Bare electrical cable ran along the floor supplying power for five spotlights on stands. The purpose of the room was obvious once Violet saw the alter in the center. Ned and the woman in red stood behind the alter and Leeloo was chained on top, yipping and growling loud enough to nearly drown out the woman’s chanting. Two men dressed as ninjas stood facing the opening. Violet held her pistol as tightly as she could but her hand was still healing. She could barely feel the grip against her fingers.
There’s no way this will work
A black-clad arm reached around the corner and snatched the pistol from Violet’s hand. A ninja stood above her. Another ninja appeared from around the corner and lifted Violet to her feet. He dragged her into the room. The red woman ceased chanting.
“I thought you said she would be secure,” the woman said to Ned. “I need to complete the ceremony. Take care of her now.”
“Take her upstairs…” began Ned. There was another loud crash and a repeat of Laurel’s insane laughter. Ned squeezed his eyes closed in frustration.
“Fuck it,” he yelled. “Let’s see how well you come back from a gun shot.”
He snatched the forty five from the ninja and pointed it at Violet’s leg.
Violet thought ‘knife’ once more and in a single motion grasped a long knife in each hand and stabbed the two ninjas beneath their rib cages. Ned fired. Violet’s lunge had moved her. The bullet grazed her thigh but the added pain was enough to drop her to the floor where she knelt, wheezing. Both ninjas knelt beside her grabbing their stomach. Blood dripped through their hands onto the concrete floor
“Damn it!” shouted Ned. “Just fucking die already!”
He pointed the pistol at Violet’s head.
A red jet of light lifted Ned off his feet and slammed him into the cinder block wall.
“Do not kill her!” the woman shouted.
Violet looked up at the alter. Leeloo stood silent and trembling. The woman’s eyes glowed red and her hand, still extended towards Ned, arced with electricity. She turned her fiery gaze to Violet.
“Do not interfere or I will inflict pain on you as you have never felt.”
The woman closed her eyes and breathed deeply, then began chanting once more.
Violet turned from Leeloo. She gripped a knife and dragged herself towards Ned who lay unconscious against the wall. Behind Violet the alter was enveloped in a bright light. The smell of sulfur filled the room. One of the ninjas collapsed into the puddle of his own stinking fluids. Violet continued towards Ned.
Gonna have to kill you, she thought.
Violet reached Ned. She knelt over him and raised the knife in both hands. Ned’s eyes flickered open. He smiled and flicked his right hand. The forty five fired. The bullet’s impact threw Violet backward onto the floor. Her shoulder was a mass of bloody torn flesh and shattered bone. Violet was unconscious but breathing.
“You are one tough bitch,” laughed Ned. He smiled at Violet’s body and tossed the forty five away.
The woman’s chanting grew louder and Leeloo began to float above the alter. She didn’t bark or growl but a slow, whining whimper grew in her throat.
Laurel appeared in the doorway.
“Stop right there!” she shouted.
