Showdown at the Motel

She clutched her throbbing skull. She turned back towards Freedom. “They—they’re already here.”

The men emerged. They all wore leather pants, vests, and more. Freedom suspected they attempted to look like a biker gang. Instead they look more like the Village People. Well, minus the Indian.

All five men pulled their handguns from their jackets as they moved in to a loose semi-circle around the motel room door.

Freedom just grinned. A bullet caught the man farthest to the right. His shoulder exploded in to a mess of blood and bone. The other four men scattered as another blast hit the ground where they stood only moments before.

Freedom glanced up to the motel roof, where Tilby shoved two more shells in to his shotgun at lightning speed. Freedom’s hands reached in this trench coat. They emerged a moment later, his twin .45’s at the ready. He fired at the ground only feet short of their fleeing attackers.

Freedom raised the weapon by a few inches. His next shot struck the back of the nearest target’s knee. The kneecap shattered in a pray of blood, and the “biker” dropped to the ground as his three surviving comrades made their way in to a black van parked on the street.

Tilby dropped down from the roof only a few feet behind Freedom. “Get to it, Patton. We need to make this quick.”

Tilby made his way towards Iniri. She still clutched at her throbbing forehead. “The hate,” she mumbled. “So much hate.”

Freedom stepped next to the “biker” who clutched at his wounded knee. Tilby’s victim only shivered. Probably in shock, Freedom guessed. Leaving only one option for his “interview”.

“Tilby, Iniri, one of you get on the horn and get an ambulance over here while I have a talk at our friend.” They both nodded before Iniri headed back in to the motel room to place the call.

Freedom bent down and hefted the still semi-conscious attacker to his feet. “Listen up,” Freedom said. “Right now, you control your own fate. Help us out and me and my friend will let you live. Clam up and I’ll personally see to it that you bleed to death. Slowly. Am I perfectly clear?”

The “biker” nodded.

“Good. Now I’m gong to ask a few questions and you’re going to answer them. First question: who sent you after us?”

“I don’t know, man. Nobody knows his name. We just call him Atlas. He runs the whole organization.”

Freedom looked back to Tilby. “Atlas?”

“Name doesn’t ring a bell, but that doesn’t mean too much at this point. I’ve been under deep cover for months now.”

They turned back to the wounded man. Freedom leaned in close to the man’s face as he spoke. “Where can we find this Atlas character?”

“Nobody knows that outside of Liberator and his lieutenants. They’re the only people allowed in Atlas’s inner circle. We usually get our orders from one of them.”

“Fine then. Where can I find this Liberator?”

“He’s normally based out of a recycling center in Ankeny, but he’s been on the move a lot since—”

Freedom shook the suddenly quiet man. “Since what?”

“Since the plan got underway.”

“What plan?”

“We aren’t really privy to the details. Each faction received a generator like something out of Star Trek and a set time when to activate it. No one knows what it does, but we know it will strike a blow against the corrupt government of this so-called democracy.”

Freedom let the man drop back to the ground. He turned and walked towards Tilby. Both men walked to the front of the motel door. Iniri came out to meet them.

“What’s the plan?” she asked. “We’re going to this facility in Ankeny,” Freedom said. “It’s our best bet to find out what’s going on here. And you never know, we might get a lead on the Montalvo girl, since she seems to be wrapped up in this whole mess too.”

Tilby stroked his moustache as he thought. A few moments later he spoke. “What about these generators he talked about?”

Freedom shook his head. “If this movement is as widespread as this idiot claims, we could never stop everyone. Out best bet is to go to Ankeny and try to find these idiots’ fearless leader.”

“All right,” Tilby said. “I’ve got nothing better. Let’s do it.”

Iniri nodded. “I came this far. No backing out now.”

“We’re agreed then.” Freedom turned back to his informant. “Time to get an address and pay our friends a visit.”

*****

The sound of scraping metal brought Annabelle to shoot upright from her place on the floor. Utter darkness surrounded her. She shivered at the near freezing cold produced by the massive whirring fans somewhere above her.

The scraping again, as if something wanted out this black, metal hell. Or worse.

Wanted in.

Annabelle shivered again, but this time it wasn’t from the cold. She remembered the guard’s words. The boss has a visitor planned for you.

Did they plan on playing with her mind before they kill me or rape me or whatever they want with me? Why would they do such a thing?

No, she reminded herself. They don’t want me dead, at least not yet. They want something, but what?

She tried to cut off her current train of thought, but it proved impossible. With nothing but darkness to pull her mind from her thoughts, she could find nothing but the scraping to focus upon.

She screamed but she could not cover the sound of the scraping.

“Stop it,” she cried out. “Please! Just go away!”

The scraping grew more furiously paced. It wanted in.

“Stop playing with me! If you want to kill me, just do it! Stop these goddamn games!”

The scraping stopped.

Annabelle pressed her ear against the wall. She could hear nothing.

The wall shook as the first blow landed against the other side. Annabelle fell back hard as the blows continued to rain down on the wall. The metal screamed out as it buckled under the blows.

“God,” Annabelle said. Her voice dropped down to nearly a whisper. “What are you?”

The light blinded her as it stabbed through the torn tear in the wall. One last blow landed, then all went quiet.

The ray of light shifted as whatever it was on the other side of the wall moved.

Annabelle gasped as a massive bloodshot eye filled the hole. A growl emerged from the thing’s throat.

“Oh God, no—”

The beast began to pound the wall once more,. The hole tore larger and larger. And still larger.

One great gray fist passed through the opening. It pulled back and ripped another massive chunk of the wall away.

Annabelle screamed.

She screamed and screamed as the beast pulled himself in to the room. Light shone around the monster’s dingy gray skin. He looked almost human, she thought, but stood upright in front of the light. He towered over anyone she had ever seen.

A low growl rose from its throat.

Annabelle screamed again. The creature Leaned in close and looked at her with narrowed eyes. She fell silent

He reached out one massive hand and gently stroked her cheek.

His words came out like gravel. “Daw-ta? Yar daw-ta?”

Annabelle fainted dead away.