My Friend

[Ron Caliburn]

I can't possibly imagine why, but One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest comes to mind here. So much for health-care reformations.

I hope things worked out for the best.

KT's right. You people have a penchant for the dramatic.

I read the book - struck way too close to home.

I don't think the place was ever a sincre attempt at health care.

[Ron Caliburn]

I counted the steps on the way down, as near as I figure; when I reached the bottom I was a good thirty or forty feet below the basement.

I stepped out into a cavern.

From up ahead came the sounds I had half expected since I got here – drumming and chanting. There was definitely some sort of ritual going on.

Wood smoke mixed with the smell of burnt meat wafted from the cavern’s mouth to my position.

This wasn’t going to be pretty.

Cautiously I worked my way along the cavern mouth to where I could see inside the main chamber.

In the centre of the chamber an altar had been hewn from the rock. Two of the orderlies were pulling the previous victim from the table, his blood still draining away into the channels carved across the altar’s surface.

Two other orderlies were dragging another patient onto the altar. From the odd angle of his arm, I could see he’d been one of the ones who resisted.

The orderlies hefted him onto the altar with a thump, taking the remaining resistance out of him. Simultaneously the previous victim was tossed into a furnace at the end of the room.

As one of the orderlies turned their back to me I saw the dribble of blood and wiggle of a tentacle at the back of their scalp.

At least I didn’t have to worry about taking out humans.

I moved further into the chamber, using stalactites (or were they stalagmites?) to cover my approach.

As I got a better view of the chamber I could see the chanters – it was the patients. Two of the orderlies moved among them, smacking any who didn’t keep time. I suspect the worst of them was the next selected for the altar.

I continued looking around the chamber – it looked like electric lighting had been wired in from the institution, lighting up the whole of the chamber – except for the dark space on the ceiling, directly above the altar.

It was in there I saw the eyes.

Two big eyes glowing red.

Six little eyes glowing green.

All blinked in unison as they focused on the patient on the altar.

Long, slender legs emerged from the dark space as the eyes moved downwards. Soon a great pair of mandibles had come out into the light, the rest of the head following. Finally the great abdomen.

It was a spider

A spider the size of a car.

Two of the limbs shot downwards and grabbed the patient from the altar, a split second later he was at the creature’s jaws.

The scream echoed through the cavern.

The corpse fell back to the altar, its chest torn open and empty.

I couldn’t let this go on a moment longer.

I slipped on my goggles and triggered my detonator again. A few dozen feet overhead a thermite charge ignited and burned its way through the generator’s power line.

The chamber plunged into darkness save for the dull orange glow from the furnace.

Of course, with my goggles, it was bight as day for me.

The first to go were the orderlies . . . as much as the spider-thing was the bigger threat, I didn’t want to get blindsided. A few rounds from my Piece and it was just me vs. the spider.

Unfortunately it could apparently see just as well in the dark as I could – it flung a glob of webbing at my hiding position, forcing me out from behind cover.

I fired as I ran . . . blasts from my Piece punching holes in the creature’s exoskeleton or sparking against the rocks of the ceiling.

It howled at me and skittered sideways as fast as I was running. A faint shimmering field appeared around it and my next volley of bullets ricocheted off.

Fortunately I had heavier ordinance.

I dived behind another column of rock just in time to avoid another glob of its webbing. I rolled out the other side, M16K already to my shoulder.

The first few bullets deflected off the shield, but by the end of the clip those .45s were punching into the creature with splashes of green ichor.

A fresh form came at me from the side – taking advantage of the limited side vision my goggles gave me.

A great clawed hand carved deep furrows in my armour and knocked me sprawling.

“I was hoping to see you again. I owe you one for ruining my plans that first time.” It was the Devil Ghost Kolya and I had busted up – the Devil with Wings . . . I guess that made Kolya the Manbear.

“When you escaped the vampire I sent to trap you, I was most displeased.” A clawed hand the size of my chest lifted me and hurled me across the cavern to land in a heap next to the altar.

“But then I met you. Well it wasn’t you . . . but it was close enough for my purposes.” He slowly stalked his way towards the altar. The spider thing descended from the roof to land above me.

“It’s funny how he figured out what was really going on in this place when you didn’t.” The Devil Ghost’s huge maw split into what might be described as a smile.

“You were the only one to ever escape Nordstrom.” It was the spider’s turn, blood and saliva dribbled from its mandibles onto my armour. “If your lawyer hadn’t brought in those outside psychiatrists you’d have stayed here like all the others.”

“Once I’m done with you here, I’ll be travelling to Russia in search of your companion.” The Devil Ghost interjected. “Your evil twin has given me enough information to have him dealt with by my associates . . . but I intend to be there for the final strike . . . Like I am now.”

That’s when I set off the flare I’d slid into my hand while they were yammering. My goggles worked in the IR spectrum so, while looking into the flare would have overloaded them, the several million candle power of white light it shed was meaningless.

For the Devil Ghost and the Spider Demon, it was like the Sun had just risen inside their eyes.

As I rolled out from between them, my Piece was once again at hand, punching in through the front of the spider creature's face and out the back of its head. It shuddered and collapsed on top of the altar almost immediately.

I scampered around behind its corpse, which was already turning into a mound of millions of tiny spiders, and reloaded. I popped out from behind the altar in time to see the Devil Ghost, charging out of the cavern. I let go with a few rounds at him, but I don’t know if I tagged him.

“Oh Musta Fwuffahs! You bwought Wonnie tah save us!!”

Apparently the cat had followed me down and had found Gabrielle.

You can always trust a cat.

I lit a couple of light-sticks and as best I could, I led the survivors out of the cavern and up the stairs. I did a head count as we went . . . 17, 17 survivors.

There had been hundreds of patients here when I’d lived here.

Probably thousands over the 150 years or so the place had been in operation.

This place was a slaughter house, purely, simply.

Once we reached the top of the stairs I immediately knew we were still in a bad way.

Apparently my little trick with the generator had backfired.

The place was on fire.

[KonThaak]

Goddamn... I hope you let it burn to the ground.

[Ron Caliburn]

Trying to control a crowd of 17 mental patients by yourself is difficult under the best of times.

Shuttling them around right after they’d almost been sacrificed to a giant spider is almost impossible.

Now try leading them safely through a burning building.

Fortunately I knew how the orderlies did it (besides from the clubbing ‘em with nightsticks).

“Alright everyone, we’re going to go through this together. I want everyone to find a buddy.” I grabbed Gabrielle’s wrist – I wasn’t going to let her get away from me when I’d gone through so much just to get this far.

Once everyone had partnered up. “Okay everyone . . . I’ve got great news! They are shooting a movie here in the institution and you are all going to be famous!”

They cheered.

“They didn’t tell you sooner because they wanted you to all act really scared down there in the cave. But now they need you to act brave and do exactly what I tell you. Is everybody ready?”

They nodded.

“So what we are going to do is everyone is going to follow me and Gabrielle out of the building. Now the movie guys have made it look like the building’s on fire – but don’t worry, if you follow me exactly, you won’t get hurt.

“I can’t stress how important it is to follow me exactly. If I get down on my hands and knees and crawl, you need to get down on your hands and knees and crawl. If I start to back up, you need to back up. If I start to run, you need to run.”

They were smiling now. They were actually looking forward to this.

“Is everybody ready?”

“YEAH!!!” they roared back.

“Okay then, follow me!” I lead them into the fire and smoke.















The glow of the sun was just visible outside when we piled out the fire-door and made our way to the visitor’s parking lot.

I congratulated them on their work as actors and told them to wait. The firemen who were supposed to be here for the next scene were running late and we needed them before we did anything else.

They bought it hook line and sinker.

I called 911 and got the real authorities on their way. Knowing how far out of town we were, it was going to take several minutes for them to get there.

I kept the survivors distracted with games of Charades and Simon Says until I heard the approaching sirens.

“Alright folks, big final scene time. The Firemen and the Police will come here and rescue you. So stay here in the parking lot until they get here. Once they get here, let them take care of you and that’s the end of the movie.

“As a part of the movie, I can’t be here when they arrive, in fact, you’re not supposed to tell them about me, otherwise it might ruin the movie. Does everyone understand?”

They nodded and smiled at me. “Okay, I’m going to go now, so stay put for the Firemen and the Police.”

I grabbed Gabrielle by the wrist and booked it for the hole in the fence as the sun crested the horizon.

I listened to the rescue effort of the sixteen survivors on my police scanner as I drove home with the seventeenth beside me. Oblivious, she was talking to Mr. Fluffers about how brave he’d been.

Not Me was back in action and that Devil Ghost was probably winging its way to make Kolya’s life a living hell. Perhaps it already had started . . . I don’t know. He hasn’t answered me in far too long to be sure.

But I knew where that vampire hunter hunting vampire I fought last year had come from, the giant spider was dead and its house of horrors had burned down atop it. I’d rescued more than a dozen people and managed to pull Gabrielle out of there.

Not perfect, but I’ll put it in the win column nonetheless.

[KonThaak]

Congratulations, man. I can't put into words how this makes me feel... I'm shocked and upset that we never found this earlier, I'm damned glad you and Gabrielle are alright, I'm really glad she's gonna finally get the help she needs, and I'm glad the place is shut down.

All in all, incredibly good work.

As always. ^_^

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Great job Ron!

I wish I'd been there to help. Although I don'tt think you'd have wanted anymore fire and explosions.

[Shadowstalker]

Ron I really wish you had called me in on this I could have been there in under an hour. Oh well Glad to hear everything worked out.
Oh KT no worries about Gabrielle and where she will be staying Rose has her at a place where they do try to help people, and they have a pretty good record at it. Oh and also a very liberal visiting set up for family which Ron is now listed as.

[Ron Caliburn]

Other than a bit of shut eye, I don't think I stopped moving for more than an hour anyway - especially not between the two trips.

I'm just glad I can put that place behind me.

[Hannah]

Hi Everyone

It was really neat having Gabrielle around fer a few days . . . even if she did monoplize 'Musta Fwuffahs'

It was really kinda weird tha way she talked ta Wie. Like she knew somethin' 'bout 'er that we didn't.

Hannah

PS: She told me somethin' about a prince commin' fer me . . . kinda wierd

[KonThaak]

A prince, huh?

Well, congrats in advance. =D

[Shadowstalker]

A prince huh? Did she mention what kind of prince, or anything that could give an idea where he may come from, this could be very important?

[Ron Caliburn]

A prince . . . we'll be having a talk about that.

[duamerthrax]

not too eager to let your little girl go, huh? not that i blame you in the least.

[Shadowstalker]

Uh oh I was expecting a reaction like that. Protective dad mode is now in effect, not that I blame Ron in the least.

[duamerthrax]

hey, there's an echo in here.

[Ron Caliburn]

Something I remember about a prince that makes me suspicious.

[duamerthrax]

oh? what was it? and was it that bed that you're getting worried now?

[Shadowstalker]

Ok so how about telling us who you think this prince could be?

[duamerthrax]

ok, this is getting a little creepy, shadow.

[Shadowstalker]

Sorry I guess my mind is working on a similar track is all.

[Koralth]

Admittedly creepy, you two. Congrats, it was a match made in heaven!

You know what I want to do? I'd like to just believe her prince is that guy who does all that crazy free running stuff, that's what I want to do...

[GhostSpider]

Why do I get the feeling that this is not Prince charming who is coming.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

You don't think she meant that Crimson King guy do you? Or the Nightmare King guy? Or some other evil third party...?

[Hannah]

Admittedly creepy, you two. Congrats, it was a match made in heaven!

You know what I want to do? I'd like to just believe her prince is that guy who does all that crazy free running stuff, that's what I want to do...

Hi Koralith

That would be kinda interesting . . . but I don't think it will be him. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm clumsy and stupid now.

Hannah

PS: I never asked for a Prince.

[Ron Caliburn]

Since my time in the institution came up recently, I thought I'd bump the post up so everyone can read a bit about it.

[Sophoroto]

How is Miss Gabrielle doing, Mr. Caliburn?

[Ron Caliburn]

She is improving a bit now that she has better care, but there is no cure for her - she just doens't process the world in the same way normal folks do.

[GhostSpider]

Ah, normalcy is over rated anyway.

[Ron Caliburn]

Yeah, but being able to dress and bathe herself without supervision would be a nice improvement.

[Sophoroto]

That is good to hear. Hope she can get to where she doesn't have to live in an institution.