Neverquest – Part 132

Characters: Sophia, Alyssa, Neil, Kelsey

Location: The basement of CNN

Time: Day 5 – Shortly after dawn

Sophia watched the battle of the bell tower from the basement of CNN, sitting on one of the desks with her knees hugged against her chest. Through Michelle’s eyes, she watched Gena’s magic unfold. Hundreds of flames licked the screen. Their black fingers like ash quickly turned to lightning and danced in the inferno. Through it all, she saw the red of Gena’s eyes, glowing embers of hate, and blamed her for everything.

She wanted her dead.

Neil watched from the doorway to the control room. “…Do you think Michelle will be okay?”

“I know Michelle,” Sophia said quietly. “She won’t let us down.”

“Even so, let’s get ready to pull the switch. We can always try for the password again.”

Sophia nodded, but her eyes were on the screen, locked with those red embers. “…Why’d you do it? Why does it mean so much to you, Gena?”

Neil looked at her. He wanted to reach out for her, to help her through this, but there was nothing he could do. They were both helpless.

“I’m sorry, Sophia,” he mouthed.

But he knew she didn’t hear him. Slowly, he looked down at the screwdriver in his hand, closed his fingers around it, and disappeared back into the control room. He still had a job to do.

Just about that time, Alyssa came down the stairs, looking dark and frightened in the shadows. She appeared beside Sophia, her eyes like black glass, and she whispered so softly that she sounded like she was holding in her breath.

“The dark deed is done, Master,” she said, holding Sophia’s arm. “Our hands are washed clean of this blood… We can finally rest in peace.”

“What are you talking about, Alyssa?”

“The body. I got rid of it.”

Sophia jumped to her feet. “You what!?”

“Oh, my God!” Alyssa screamed. She started shaking Sophia’s arm. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.”

“What!?”

“…I wish I had a mirror right now. I want to show you what your face looks like.” She started flailing her arms like a madman. “You were all like, ‘Oh, my God! What have you done? Please, tell me you didn’t move the body. Oh, nooo, not the body.’ …Priceless. Simply priceless.”

“Alyssa…” Sophia said, exhaling slowly. “What did you do with Marcus?”

“I put him in the dumpster out back.”

Sophia stood with her jaw open.

Alyssa closed it for her. “Don’t worry. It wasn’t out of my way or anything. I was just about to throw away this bag of chips and I thought I’d empty out the rest of the trash for you.” Smiling, she held up the crumbled bag in her hand and reached inside. “Chip?”

“W-why… How…?”

“Oh, I asked Kelsey to help me. You wouldn’t believe how heavy that thing was.”

“That’s because that ‘thing’ was a human being!” Sophia cried. “Alyssa, you can’t just throw Marcus’ body in the trash. He has to be buried.”

“Simmer down. He was. We put him in the dumpster and then poured the rest of the trash on top of him so he wouldn’t stink up the joint. You wouldn’t believe how hungry that made me.” Pulling out a potato chip, she held it to her lips and chewed slowly and deliberately. “I can tell by your lack of verbal response that you appreciate all I’ve done for you. You can thank me by handing over your boyfriend.”

“…I can’t believe you, Alyssa. You have to be insane.”

Smiling, she crunched into the potato chip again.

“And you—Kelsey!” She turned to the secretary, who had just come down the stairs. “What were you thinking?”

“Well…he did kind of smell,” she admitted.

“That’s because you dumped garbage all over him!”

Alyssa wiped her hand on Sophia’s shoulder. “Would you calm down? It’s not like he was a living thing with thought and emotions.”

“Yes, he was, Alyssa!”

“I hope his stench comes off my clothes. I’d hate to have to throw these away, too.”

“Get out of my sight. You have no respect for the dead.”

Alyssa stuck out her lower lip, which was covered in chip crumbs. “Aww, that’s not true. I have just as much respect for the dead as the living. The dead just happen to make better chairs.”

“…You make me sick.”

Alyssa continued to smile and let her eyes drift towards the monitors on the wall. “Ugh, still watching that fantasy game, I see. Mind if I change the channel?”

“Yes, we do mind.”

Alyssa crunched away. “Wow, looks like your team is losing pretty badly. Look at the pile of bodies on the floor.”

“Gena’s more powerful than we originally thought. Whatever kind of virus she put into the game, it’s making her even stronger as she loses connection with the real world.”

“So she’s becoming part of the game?”

“That’d be my guess.”

“Awesome…”

Sophia turned to stare at her. “Yeah, I’m glad you think it’s awesome. Meanwhile, we have about a dozen lives with ten hours left to live unless we get that password.”

“Well, what exactly are you doing to save them?”

“…What?”

Alyssa shrugged and bit into another chip. “They’re in the game dying. Nerd boy is over there playing with his screws and wires. You’re the only one who isn’t doing anything to uncover the password. If you ask me, you’re the weakest link here.”

“No one asked you.”

“Whatever. Just don’t say I’m the only one here who has no respect for the living. You’re the one watching them die.”

“Shut up, Alyssa.”

“It’s a good thing we can’t see your dad’s screen. It’d be a real shame if you had to watch him die.”

That was all Sophia could take. Screaming, she threw herself against Alyssa.  They crashed through the table and ended up on the floor, clawing and pulling at each other’s hair.

Kelsey stood up. “Girls! Girls, stop that this instance.”

“Jesse is mine!” Alyssa shrieked. “He knew me before you even existed. I own him. I own him like an old pair of socks and you have no right to take him from me!”

Sophia eventually pinned her down and put her knee over Alyssa’s chest. “You need to stop this right now, Alyssa. I don’t care what kind of beef you have with me, but it’s going to have to wait. This isn’t about you.”

“It’s all about me! You took him from me while our hearts were still entwined. You took me along, too, and I’m not leaving until you let him go.”

“Would you forget about Jesse!?”

“That’s enough,” Kelsey said, grabbing Sophia under the arms and pulling her away.

Alyssa lay on the ground, disheveled hair dangling over her eyes like a cat’s tail, and breathed deeply. “…I’ll always hate you, Sophia. You put your hands on something that wasn’t yours.”

“Oh, get over yourself already! Nobody wants to hear about your emotional decay.” Sophia fell back, panting, and leaned against one of the desks. She glared at Alyssa and remembered those burning embers, candles in the dark. “…Look, if you’re so torn up about Jesse, then just go home now. I don’t care. You can even go to the cops, if you want, and tell them everything that’s happened here—but you’re so damn insane that I don’t think your own mother would believe you, so I guess that’s out.”

“You steal my boyfriend, kidnap me, and then force me into your ring of murders and sin. I can’t go anywhere now. Because of you, we’re all screwed.”

“It didn’t have to go down like this, Alyssa.”

“But it did! It did, Sophia, and you’re to blame.” She crawled over on her hands and knees. “That’s right. That’s right. Don’t you see? Those kids are slowly dying while you stand here and spit more excuses at me. But the clock knows the truth. Just look at it. It’s counting the time to their deaths.” She smiled and pressed her face against Sophia’s nose. “Hickory dickory dock, another life will soon be lost.”

Sophia narrowed her eyes and put her hands on Alyssa’s shoulder to push her away. But they were so preoccupied with each other that they forgot to watch the monitors. They didn’t see Gena’s magic overcome Michelle. They didn’t see Michelle on the ground, bleeding through her white robe, and they didn’t see Gena towering over the screen. And those fires kept on burning…