The Eye of the Bedlam Bride — Chapter no 59

[ 59 ]

IT WAS A KICK TO THE TEETH.

It took a second, but the horror flashed across Ren’s face as the implications of it all settled in.

I quickly ran through the options, and I came to the same, terrible

conclusion as Ren.

My view counter was spiked, once again.

Donut now had the two keys in her inventory. One key for the door in the church, now guarded by Imani, and one key for the door here in the Capitol building. This door would only be useable for the next four and a half minutes.

We couldn’t just give Ren a key. The rules were clear, and they’d been made just for this sort of impossible situation.

In order for Ren to get that key, we would have to first get Donut here.

We would have to initiate a card battle. Donut would have to use a Flee card, which meant Donut would lose one of the two keys. We wouldn’t be able to pick which key we lost.

If the system was generous, and it dropped the key to the Capitol building, we would teleport away, Ren would get the key, and she could rush into the chamber.

If the system was being a dick, and the system was always a dick, it would drop the key to the church. Ren would probably still be okay. They would still have a key, but her squad would have to make their way across town to the church where they’d have to get past Imani.

Donut and I, meanwhile, would be fucked. We’d be teleported away from the Capitol building. We’d still have the key to get out, but we’d have to get to the door in time, which would be next to impossible. It would have to be now. And since we really wanted to get that key to Imani?

It wasn’t going to happen.

Four minutes left.

In either scenario, we’d have to get Donut here. I could toss Samantha.

That would take two or three minutes at least, and that was assuming my aim was true. I could get the red spider and use the Loop de Loop, but that would require a crawler other than myself to switch places with Donut. It would have to be Khulan, which would be the equivalent of killing her. Besides, she wasn’t getting up off that floor. She remained draped over the ruined body of her husband.

There was another scenario. One Donut and I could still pull off. I could have the spider rush into the room and touch Ren. They’d switch places. With Ren gone, nobody would be left to initiate a card fight. Donut and I could rush down the stairs and be safe. However, that meant Donut wouldn’t have time to pass on the second key, the one for the church exit, meaning nobody else would be able to escape. We’d be killing Imani.

Uncertainty washed over me.

If you make this decision. Be sure. Be sure it’s your only option. This is more than just a failsafe. It’s the end of everything. If there’s time to do something else, don’t be so quick. So you must be absolutely certain.

All of this whipped through my mind in a matter of seconds. I looked over my shoulder and whistled. From across the street, the little spider hopped up, dragging the memory ghost pants with it. It started moving toward me.

Carl: Donut, get ready to teleport! Make sure Mongo is put away.

Fast!

If we didn’t do this now, Ren would challenge us to a fight. She didn’t have a choice. There was only one key left, and she knew if we were going to willingly give it up, it’d be to Imani and not her. What else could she do?

There were no scenarios left where it wasn’t her or us.

She could kill you right now. It would put Donut at a disadvantage. Be careful.

I examined the woman who’d turned into a dog. I barely knew her, but by now most everyone in the dungeon knew her story. She’d grown up in Mongolia, and she’d been a fashion model, once upon a time. She’d left the country and moved to France. A jealous ex-boyfriend had stabbed her and her dog. She’d spent the next year in a hospital before retiring. She’d recently returned home when the collapse happened. Her entire group had all been

people she’d grown up with, all from a tiny little village. Her entire circle of friends, brought down by this goddamned place, this goddamned floor, one by one.

It was terrifying how quickly, how easily everything could change.

As I watched, Ren sat down heavily on the floor. Garret made an uncertain noise and plopped down next to her. She reached up and unsnapped her flamethrower attachment, and the whole apparatus toppled onto the scorched, broken tiles.

“You know, I was really looking forward to torching some of those assholes on the next floor.” She leaned over and rested her head against the meatball.

The red spider clicked up the steps and stopped just outside the chamber.

I lifted my hand, causing it to pause.

Above, the ceiling cracked ominously. Over by the exit doorway, Khulan continued to cry. She was a tiny woman, young but with the skin of someone who’d worked outdoors her whole life. She clutched onto the larger form of

the dead crawler.

“Khu, come,” Ren said.

“No,” she replied.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Ren raised a hand, stopping me.

She continued to look at her grieving friend.

Three minutes left.

“The only thing that was keeping her together was her husband. She’s not going to want to go on, and I’m not going to make her, not anymore.” She sniffed. “It’s funny. Growing up, she was the toughest of us all.”

“We still have four days left,” I found myself saying. “There’s still one key. I have to give it to Imani, but I might have figured a way to teleport us to another area. You’ll have to train up your trap skills, but there’s time. We can do it.”

“So we can kill someone else for their key?” she asked. “By my count, there’s one key for every three or four squads. They really fucked us this floor. There’s time left, but everybody is already going down the stairs. I’m not going to do that, Carl. I don’t want to be responsible for hurting someone else.”

“Then… then… you can fight us for it. Fair and square. It’s your only chance.”

“Carl,” she said, turning to look at me. She shook her head. “I say this

with love. You are an idiot. You can’t fight us. You can’t give your key to Imani. You have to save it for yourself. Do you remember when you flew that airplane to save our bubble on the fifth floor? And then when you killed all the hunters? That’s when I realized who you are. Don’t you understand?

You’re more than just a person. If we lose you, we lose everything. You’re a symbol. You’re the embodiment of our hope. You and that fucking, annoying cat that everyone seems to like for some reason. You two bought a goddamned slot on Faction Wars. Everyone who remains can’t wait for the chance to fight someone real, someone actually responsible for all this. If you two don’t get down to the next floor, we all lose that. You can’t sacrifice yourself. And you know what? I know Imani thinks that, too. If you give her your key, she’s just going to try to give it back to you.”

Donut: AM I TELEPORTING IN? ARE YOU SENDING SAMANTHA TO ME? DO WE HAVE TIME? ARE YOU USING THE

LOOP-DE-LOOP? WHAT’S HAPPENING?

I swallowed.

Carl: Stay put. We’re saving the Loop trap. I’m gonna toss Samantha to you in a minute.

Ren returned her head to the side of her large pet, and she stroked his strange, bumpy skin. He made a purring noise.

So much regret filled me. I should have let Ren finish Quan off. I should have used my last teleport trap as a way for Donut to get here more easily.

You can only anticipate so much. You can only prepare for what you can think of, and it still won’t be everything. You can’t win every battle.

I thought of what Mordecai once told me about Drakea, that he’d been killed by one of his own traps because the showrunners had tipped the scale, had broken their own rules to make it prematurely blow.

They were exterminating us one by one, and no matter how hard I worked, someone was always going to be there, looking over my shoulder, wondering how they could make it more dramatic for the audience. How soon before they decided it was my time? Or Donut’s?

So much regret.

My view counter remained spiked, but it was starting to ease off now it was clear we weren’t going to fight. That made me unreasonably angry. Fuck you all.

I looked nervously up at the ceiling. “We have to get out of here,” I said.

“The door will crumble, and then the whole building is going to collapse on

top of us.”

She kicked the flamethrower attachment at me. “Take it,” she said.

Several items from her inventory started appearing on the floor, one by one.

Rings. Clothing items. Potions. Scrolls. “Take it all. Fast. There’s good stuff in there, including a bunch of Eye in the Sky scrolls.”

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, suddenly alarmed. I had a memory of another place. Another time. A clearing in the forest where

Miriam Dom had done the same thing.

I remembered my mother.

This is my birthday present to you. I am giving you a chance at life.

“I’m donating to the war effort,” she said. “My flamethrower is named ‘Velma,’ by the way. I didn’t name it that.” She was holding it back, barely.

So was I.

“We have four days left! We can figure something out!”

She ignored me. She pulled one last item from her inventory. It was a small, crystal knife. It looked like a butter knife. It glinted with red light.

“This is called the Knife of Frozen Tears, and it’s made of something called Sylvan crystal. It’s not very sharp, and it’s not all that valuable, but it can kill Garret. Each time he regenerates, he gets another weakness. He’s up to four now. Sylvan crystal is one of them.” She broke, then, at that last sentence.

“No. No, no,” Garret said. It was more a sound than actual words. I was pretty sure the thing couldn’t actually talk, but it could mimic some noises.

Tears streamed down the dog woman’s face.

The far wall sagged.

Warning: The Stairwell Exit at El Capitolio Nacional de Cuba has been rendered inaccessible. All available keys through this exit have been destroyed.

She struggled to speak. “He’s a type of pet called a tummy acher. He’s a great tank, and he’s practically immortal. It’s really hard to kill him, and if he dies, he regenerates. But every five times he dies, he resets back to level one, and you have to get him to bond with you again. They say he won’t remember, but I’m not sure. This will be the first time it happens. Each time he regenerates, he’s tougher, but he also has a new weakness, so you have to be careful.” She sniffed. She looked over at Khulan, who remained prone near the collapsed wall. “It’s just like the rest of us. We look stronger, we have tougher skin, more scars, but there’s another crack in our…” She

couldn’t finish.

Garret whimpered. He pushed himself against Ren, like he couldn’t get close enough.

She was openly sobbing now as she talked directly to her pet. “I had a dog once, before all this. He died protecting me, and now I’m going to protect you. You’re going to go live with Carl. He’s going to take care of you because I can’t do it anymore. He will feed you every day, and you’re going

to be a good boy for me, won’t you?”

“Uh,” I said.

She stabbed the knife directly into the side of the pet, and he immediately tumbled over, dead. Just like that. He died instantly, like she’d flipped a switch. A moment passed, and his corpse started to shrink, like he was having the air pulled from him.

Ren wiped her eyes. “It lists his weaknesses in his description, and he’s going to have a new one now, but his weaknesses so far are sylvan crystal, consuming hobgoblin sweat, the bite of a rivenwing, and consuming undead flesh. That’s what usually kills him, so be careful, because he eats everything.

Each time he comes back, he risks getting a common weakness, so try to keep him alive.”

“Why did you do that? We have four days left,” I said yet again, flabbergasted. “It’s… it’s not over yet.”

Ren had her eyes on her friend. As quickly as the tears had come, they were gone. She’d given herself a moment to be emotional, and all that was left was business.

“No, Carl, it’s not over yet. Not for you, but it is for me. As soon as Khu is done crying, she is going to kill herself. She’s lost everything. She lost her little girl, who was inside when it started, and she’s lost everyone else along the way. She has nothing left. Nothing. I don’t either. Except my faith that you, Carl, will make somebody regret choosing us for this.”

She was silent for a moment.

“I don’t want my friend killing herself to be the last thing I see. It has to be now. I want to go out having done something good. All I have left for this floor is to deny them a fight. I’ll take it. If I can’t help you on the next floor, I can at least give you my best gear, and I can protect Garret.”

I looked down at the pet. He was still unconscious, and he was now level- one. His name had disappeared, too. It was like he was a completely new pet.

I remembered the first tummy acher I’d ever seen, way back on the second

floor. It had been in a cage near Mongo. This was the same. A tiny, little, round ball on two, stubby legs. This one’s single tooth stuck out on the outside, making it look like he had a massive underbite.

Ren produced a pet carrier, and she gently picked the unconscious meatball up. She gave him a tender kiss.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and she put him in the carrier. She paused. “His new weakness is something called Reaper Gaze. I don’t know what that is.”

She slid the carrier over to me, and before I could talk myself out of it, I put it in my inventory. A host of pet-themed achievements appeared and disappeared.

“If you do figure out some miracle before this floor is done, make sure that Sister Ines doesn’t go down the stairs,” Ren said. “I’ve met Paz a few times, and he’s a good man. Don’t let her get away with keeping his card.”

“I won’t. But what are you going to do now? If the roof collapses, you probably aren’t going to die. You’re just gonna get stuck.”

She held up an arm, showing a wrist bracer. It was the only thing she still wore. That and a little, heart locket around her neck with a dog paw print on it. “You ever see the movie Predator?”

I knew what the device was. I’d seen them before, for sale at the Desperado Club. “You’re going to blow yourself up? Just like that?”

“They want us to fight. Me and Donut. This is me going out on my terms.

You would’ve wiped the floor with us anyway. This is me telling them to go fuck themselves.”

This was too much. It was her choice, and I understood why she was doing it, but I hated it. I hated everything about it. I hated that my views kept going down, that people didn’t care. I hated there was nothing I could do to stop her.

This will stop it. It’s so loud, Carl. It’s so loud.

“Okay,” I finally said, standing up, trying to hold my emotion in check.

A wry smile crossed Tserendolgor’s face.

Ren: Princess Donut. I have a confession to make. Everything you’re saying is true. I was trying to steal your experience the first time we met.

I did cheat at the pet show. Your Mongo is the rightful champion. I’m

sorry.

Donut: I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!

Donut: CARL, DID YOU HEAR THAT?

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said, chuckling.

She grunted with amusement.

“You know, many of my people are afraid of cats. Some think if you look into their eyes, they can steal your soul. I hope that’s true. I hope she lives up to her hype.”

Across the room, Khulan stood and shuffled to us. She wrapped her arms around Ren’s neck.

She wasn’t crying anymore, either. Her eyes were unblinking as she stared off into space.

“Garret is a good boy. Please take care of him. Bonding is easy. Feed him something a few times. Make sure it’s not undead flesh or that it’s never been touched by a hobgoblin. Try to find out what that Reaper Gaze weakness is as soon as you can. I’m pretty sure they’ll make you give him a new name, so come up with something good.”

The ceiling cracked again. There was a ping. Quan’s body could now be looted of the rest of his gear. I still wouldn’t be able to get his cards.

Hopefully we were done with that anyway. I quickly started to gather up the rest of Ren’s dropped gear, including the enchanted flamethrower, which was really part breastplate, part weapon.

Ren’s eyes flashed, and Khulan dropped several items on the ground.

More rings and potions and a glowing spear, along with multiple armor items plus a few unread magical tomes. A ton of coins.

“Here,” Ren said. “I can’t give you my totems, but I just rearranged my deck and took all the other cards out. You’ll have to carry them on you until you give them to Donut, but here’s all my cards. There’s a few rare special and mystics in there in case you need them, including these two. I never got to use them.”

I stared at the last two cards. One was a consumable Glow-Up card. The other was a consumable special card, and it featured two, large men in tights.

It was called The Midnight Express.

I gathered the large pile of cards and stuck them into the waistband of my boxers. It wouldn’t let me take them into my inventory.

“You sure about this?” I asked one last time.

“Carl. Make them suffer.”

I put my hand on the dog woman’s shoulder. Her whole body trembled.

“I will kill every last one of them. Every one.” I leaned in to her ear, and I whispered, “I goddamned swear it.”