Hell’s Fear (Hellfire MC #11)

Chapter Six.

Team Five: Slaughter, Wraith, Shotgun (Hellfire) . Rock and Carly (Rage) . Bomber (Unwanted Bastards). Max (Hawthorne’s).

Carly

“T his is fun,” I whispered, biting my lip and rattling the bars.

“First time in jail, baby?” Rock teased.

“Yup, how do we stage a jailbreak?” I demanded, and Rock laughed.

“I think that’s related somehow,” Wraith said, pointing at a set of seven pictures on the other side of the bars and the corresponding panels behind us.

“Yeah, but what?” I asked, scratching my head. I was useless at puzzles.

“That first image is of a huge fat man surrounded by food,” Shotgun described, squinting.

“Greedy fuck,” I muttered.

Bomber spun on me. “What did you say?”

“I said he was a greedy fuck.”

Bomber peered at the next picture. It was of a man lazing in a bed while his wife and children ran around him working.

Rock questioned, “Where are you headed with this?”

“I think they’re the seven deadly sins. That could be gluttony and sloth.”

“The third must be lust? It’s an orgy.” Peering at it, I tilted my head. “How can you have sex in that position?”

“Okay, baby, that’s enough.” Rock chuckled and tried to block my view.

“No, babe, no. I wanna know how the hell do you stick your dick in, in that position?” I demanded, crossing my eyes.

“Carly, I’ll show you when we get home,” Rock promised.

“What? After we break our backs getting into that position? No thanks. I’d rather have rough and wild,” I stated, and Rock laughed.

“Okay, on that note, with us all now being jealous as fuck of Rock, those pictures are the seven deadly sins. What do we do with them?” Max asked.

“Something to do with this panel?” Wraith inquired, pressing it.

Nothing happened.

“This is annoying,” I muttered aimlessly, kicking at a panel. I jumped as it slid open, and a mess of wires faced me. “Huh?”

“Great, we’ve got to connect the fuses,” Rock surmised as he sat. Rock, being a contractor, had the best chance among us.

He took ten minutes chasing the wiring and then connecting it correctly. Once he’d done so, the panel lit up. Lust, gluttony, greed, envy, wrath, pride, and sloth all began flashing up in the seven boxes. Each box rotated through the sins before starting again.

“Which goes where?” Bomber inquired.

“There’s no order,” Slaughter mused.

“Try left to right,” I suggested.

Bomber pressed on the first box as soon as it hit gluttony. The box glowed green and turned off. He pressed sloth next, which repeated gluttony’s actions.

“Have those sped up?” Slaughter asked as Bomber let the cycle run twice before hitting envy.

“Yup. Oh fuck!” Wraith said as they got even quicker.

If that had been me, I’d have got the timing completely wrong, but Bomber managed to nail the last four sins.

The bars dropped, and we walked across to the exit that opened up for us.

We entered the next room, and Bomber retreated behind me. I turned and frowned as Bomber paled and bit his lip.

“Huh, I don’t get it,” Slaughter said, scratching his head.

“I do. What animals would you find in prisons? Rats, spiders, snakes, and bats. That’s what this represents,” I stated.

“Dude?” Rock muttered as Max shoved to the back.

“Ain’t ashamed to admit, I’m terrified of snakes,” Max murmured, looking around with jerking motions.

“Keep the rats away from me,” Bomber moaned.

That was going to be difficult as what I hoped were robotic rats, snakes, spiders, and bats filled the room that looked like a prison visitor’s centre. They were everywhere.

“Anyone got a clue?” I asked. There were lots of tables and bolted down chairs. Yet again, we found ourselves locked in.

We tried pushing the gate, but it was shut tight.

A bat swung dangerously close, and Bomber squealed—a six-foot-five man squealing like that was just wrong.

We spent a few moments looking around while Bomber and Max cringed in a corner.

“I don’t understand,” I finally said, shrugging.

“Me either. Did we pull the really fuckin’ hard suite?” Shotgun demanded.

“Check the panels. Maybe there is a hidden one again,” Slaughter suggested.

It was a good idea because two sections opened. The first contained two water guns, which had me scratching my head, and the other held a tap and sink that moved forward.

“Okay, we’re meant to hit something, but what?” Wraith asked, looking completely confused.

“I don’t see anything,” I murmured.

“There must be something hidden beneath the rodents,” Rock said, appearing slightly queasy.

We all scanned the room but saw nothing until Max gasped.

“Dude?” Wraith asked, turning to face him.

“Some of… those… have markings on. Maybe we gotta shoot them,” he suggested and then dry heaved.

“Oh no! Don’t do that!” I cried and heaved myself.

Rock looked alarmed. “Nobody puke!” he yelled.

“Sympathetic puker?” Shotgun teased as Rock took several deep gulps.

“Dude, if he pukes, followed by Carly and me, how long until we all are?” Rock pointed out.

Shotgun went a little pale as I retched again at the image of the vomit-stained room. Rock rubbed my back until I calmed down.

Meanwhile, Wraith had been ignoring us and shooting the critters behind the bars.

“How many should we shoot?” Slaughter inquired.

“Dunno, I’m just targeting the ones with markings. As soon as they’re hit, the marks disappear,” Wraith replied. “It would fuckin’ help if everyone looked as well as me.”

Slaughter, Rock, and Wraith all stood at the gates, and when they found a marked creature, they passed the water gun to that person.

Between the hissing and chittering, the noise level seemed to rise, which ended up with Bomber poking his fingers in his ears. I wondered if he knew that wouldn’t work.

Finally, silence fell, and everything stopped moving. It freaked Max out even more. Shaking our heads and sticking Max and Bomber in the middle, we made our way to the open exit.

There was food and drink waiting for us, as we’d been informed, but I was curiously looking around the vast area we were in. It resembled a maze, but every path was blocked.

“Think we’re meant to use this,” Max said, pulling a tablet from a holder. He pressed a button, and the screen lit up.

“ I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?” he read.

“No damn idea,” Rock replied.

“A candle?” Bomber answered. “I’ve heard that before.”

Max typed in candle, and the bars in front of us split in half. The top part rose a little while the bottom dropped. We had to climb through them.

“Let’s take ten minutes to eat,” Shotgun suggested, and we all agreed.

When we stepped into the next cell, the screen lit up again.

“What month of the year has twenty-eight days?” Max asked.

“February!” Wraith shouted.

Max typed in the answer. A red light flashed on and off.

“All of them do,” I groaned, and Max entered twelve. The bars on the left rose and crawled through.

“There’s a one-storey house in which everything is yellow. Yellow walls, yellow doors, yellow furniture. What colour are the stairs?”

“There is none! It’s one storey,” Wraith crowed just as I said yellow.

I giggled as Wraith crossed his eyes at me.

Max laughed, and this time, we had to climb into the next cell.

We made pretty decent progress and were two away from the exit when we got stumped.

“To which question can you never say yes?”

Every suggestion we put into the answer box was rejected, and we’d spent over ten minutes on this one riddle.

I turned to Rock and wrapped an arm around him as he drew me in close. “Do you think the kids are sleeping?”

Rock stared at me and then laughed.

“Are you asleep yet?” Rock said.

“No. I asked if the kids are,” I replied.

“No, babe. Are you asleep yet? That’s the riddle’s answer. If you’re asleep, you can’t speak,” Rock explained, and we all groaned. Max typed it in, and bingo, the bars moved.

“What can your left hand hold that your right cannot?” Max read.

“Heard this one!” Slaughter crowed.

“Go on,” Max said, and Slaughter’s face dropped.

“I can’t remember,” he admitted, and we all laughed.

“Well, that’s wonderful,” Wraith teased as we tried to think of the answer.

Shotgun crossed his arms across his chest and shook his head. “Prospect, you’re on scut duty for that.”

“His elbow! Shotgun can’t touch his elbow,” I cried.

“Yeah, I can.”

“Your right hand can’t touch your right elbow!”

Max typed it in, and the door opened.

We skipped through and paused.

“I don’t like this,” I whispered, shuddering.

We stood in a room that looked a greenish colour thanks to the lights. The walls were made of different coloured tiles, and the floor was filthy. Around the edges were tumble dryers, and in the middle were two rows of six washing machines.

“Guess we’re in the laundry room,” Rock muttered.

I bent and squealed when I spotted a face staring at me from a washing machine.

“What the fuck!” I shrieked and climbed Rock’s back.

“Crap! They all contain body parts. This is going to get messy,” Shotgun exclaimed.

“Well, I’m not opening random shit until we know why we are,” Bomber stated.

“I don’t understand either,” Wraith confessed, surveying the surroundings.

“There’s got to be a hint. Everyone start searching,” Max replied.

We checked everywhere and were still as confused until Slaughter found a UV light. He shone it around, and a message popped up on the door in the dark corner.

“Turn the lights off and find the clue. The answer will be a messy solution,” Shotgun read.

“I really don’t want to turn the lights off,” I whispered. “Rock’s terrified of the dark.”

“Hey, Rock, get here and take control of the light switch,” Max said.

Rock strode across the room without even a backward glance at me.

Nice.

Rock flicked the lights off, yelped, and turned them straight back on. I laughed at the expression on his face.

“Yeah, that’s not going to work,” Shotgun stated and leaned over to murmur in Slaughter and Wraith’s ears. They turned to stare at Rock with huge grins.

“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t!” Rock warned.

They both moved towards Rock, who swivelled his head as his fists came up. He stepped forward and completely missed Bomber coming at his back. Bomber took Rock’s knees out, and Rock crashed down.

Wraith and Slaughter pounced and started wrestling with Rock on the floor.

“Need help, or we can’t hold him,” Wraith gasped as Rock’s elbow hit him straight in the face.

Bomber dived in, and the three of them subdued Rock.

“Carly, get the lights,” Max ordered, shaking his head at Shotgun. “Can’t believe we are four down.”

Max’s disgusted look said everything.

I turned the lights off, and equations flashed up on the wall.

“Yay, I’m good at maths!” I exclaimed happily.

Max grunted in amusement as I switched the lights back on, and we caught Slaughter smacking Rock on his head with a fist.

I lifted an eyebrow and stared at Slaughter.

“Fucker tried to bite me,” he explained.

“Rock, behave!” I scolded.

“I hate the fuckin’ dark!” he howled.

“You’re an enforcer. Suck it up. Where’s your balls, man?” Bomber asked, still sitting on Rock’s legs.

“I’ll show you balls. Get the fuck off me, and we’ll go man to man,” Rock snarled.

Bomber raised an eyebrow. “In the dark?”

“Wanna go play with the rats, rodent boy?” Rock threatened.

“I’m safe, dude, you ain’t, so shut the fuck up,” Bomber shot back.

“Buddy, wait till we get out of here.” Rock grinned, and Bomber looked worried.

“Motherfucker,” Bomber muttered.

“Quiet, both of you,” I scolded and faced Max. “I can solve those, but where do the answers go?”

“Here, and this is where we’re going to get messy,” Shotgun said. “We have to find the missing domino pieces.”

“Oh, let me guess, they’re inside that,” I replied, waving my hand.

Shotgun nodded.

“Let’s get them out, and then we can answer the sums,” Max suggested.

To my amusement, the lids of the washing machines lifted, which saved us all from getting covered in gunk, but the look on Max and Shotgun’s faces was brilliant.

“I don’t mind helping,” Rock offered innocently.

“Bullshit, we’re not idiots, Rock. Love you, babe, but, yeah, you ain’t moving,” I retorted. Rock narrowed his eyes at me, but I blanked him as Max and Shotgun continued to pull out dominoes.

“Ready?” Max asked, slinging goo in Rock’s direction and ignoring his cursing.

“Yup,” I replied and turned the lights off.

I ignored the roar from Rock and concentrated on the equations.

“The answers are six, two, nine, four, and five,” I announced and switched on the lights.

“I guess we add the dots up on the dominoes and place them?” Shotgun asked.

“On the count of three, everyone get off Rock,” Max said as he nodded at Shotgun. He counted down, and Slaughter, Wraith, and Bomber fled on two, none of them willing to be on Rock when he hit three.

Rock leapt to his feet, looking for vengeance, and I jumped into his arms. He wrapped around me, but I could feel him glaring at everyone. As Shotgun slid the last piece in, the door creaked open, and we entered the next area.

I took off with a scream, heading towards a table and running around it.

“Why the hell are there zombies in a prison?” Shotgun shouted as he ran off, away from me. Shuffling towards us was a group of about ten zombies.

“Ignore the pussies,” Wraith snickered as Max screeched and ran behind the rest of them.

“What the fuck?” Slaughter asked, peering at Max.

“That ain’t natural!” Max yelled.

“Pussy,” Wraith repeated.

“Okay, can we figure out what we’re meant to do? This resembles a prison yard,” Rock said, peering around.

“I think we move those mirrors, so the light hits them and bounces off the door,” Bomber suggested. He pointed at mirrors above our heads and facing in all different directions.

“And no doubt dodge the zombies. Nothing’s ever easy with Marissa,” Rock replied, chuckling.

“Let the zombies chase those, and we’ll work on aligning the mirrors. It’s best if we start at the end and get the mirror lined up there first,” Slaughter suggested.

“If we work in pairs, we can let the zombies chase those three,” Wraith said as the zombies split up.

“Think we need five distracting and two aligning. Wraith, you, and I do the mirrors. The rest of you play nicely!” Rock ordered as I screamed at the top of my lungs.

A zombie reached my table and was shuffling around it. I took off at high speed and raced towards Shotgun, who was running at me. Seeing a zombie on his heels, I changed direction and headed for a table at the far end.

Wraith climbed onto Rock’s shoulders and began moving the mirror while I played dodgeball with a zombie, who decided to take his head off and throw it at me.

I caught the damn thing instinctively and shrieked as my thumbs poked into its eyes. I tossed the head, and Max caught it.

His shriek matched mine, and he threw the head, and another zombie caught it.

“Aww, look at them playing catch nicely,” Rock sneered, and I decided I was better off being a widow than married.

“You’re dead to me,” I hissed as I ran up to him, dragged my gunky hands down his tee and raced off.

Rock just laughed at me as I crashed into Max and went down fighting. A cold, clammy hand grabbed my elbow, and I rolled over and screamed several times, making Max hold his ears.

Happy to sacrifice Max, I yanked my ankle free, climbed over him, and hid behind another table.

“Will you hurry up?” I screeched at Rock, who seemed to be highly amused.

“Hey, Carly!” Max yelled, and I turned and got clobbered with the zombie’s head again.

“No, no, no!” I cried and threw it back at him and then crawled under the table. They couldn’t reach me here.

“Bitch!” Max shouted, seeing what I’d done. The chairs and tables were bolted down and couldn’t be moved, and Max was too big to crawl under them.

I laughed in relief as Max and the others ran around dodging zombies. Suddenly, Bomber stopped running as his eyes widened at me and he started to chuckle. Let him laugh; I was perfectly safe under here.

Curled into a ball, the zombies couldn’t reach me. Or so I thought. A chattering from my side made me look left, and I froze as a zombie began slithering under the table to me.

Panicked, I reared back and banged my head, and, holding it, I crawled out and straight between a zombie’s legs.

Still on all fours, I sped away and ran into Shotgun’s knees.

Shotgun hauled me to my feet, yelled, “Run!” and pointed to the exit.

I didn’t hesitate but dashed towards it, leaving everyone in my wake.

I barrelled into the next room, bent over with my hands on my knees, and panted. The others arrived, and the door slid shut.

“Looks like we’ve got ten minutes until we hit the main room,” Rock said as he took a seat.

I stared at him and decided he wasn’t getting sex for a week. Where had he been when a zombie tried to eat my brains? Huh.

I’d remember this. Rock might not, but I would.