The Cabin Is Always Hungry

LAST RESORT

Part 4

The orb’s murky green glow slowly died out, its magical properties seeping out of its core, turning it into a mundane object. Useless now, besides becoming a centerpiece. But it did the job by giving me what I wanted (and boring a hole through my wallet).

I had four names.

Four.

Finally, I know who they are.

Conrad gave me two, and after the metal cuffs on his wrists unlatched, freeing him, the two women changed their tune.

Conrad promised that the first name was a lot closer to me. The cult knew him as The Collector. Conrad insisted that he had a strong relationship with him as a courier and knew the man by his name, Richard Viswanathan. Conrad also revealed—to my thanks—that the North American headquarters of the cult was based in New York, where The Collector would be.

The second name was something he had heard from The Collector. All Conrad knew was that this person was based in Dubai and that he was called The Teeth. All three—Allie and Jessica included—had heard rumors about him that would make Goliath blush. He was wealthy and influential enough to have the full ear of the UAE’s crown prince and affect the oil market.

And Allie gave me the last name: The White Queen. She overheard Jonas talking to her during their countless nightly hookups. No real name was given, but Jonas was anxious whenever he spoke to her, and he was always mad and brought the mood down after their conversation. Allie swore that Jonas spoke to the White Queen at least once every week. I felt it was the same woman he had left a voicemail to before he died, and Oracle had traced that call to London. Since plenty of the cultists were congregating in England, she might be the big enchilada in this wild hunt I found myself in.

With the brief exchange I overheard before I killed Jonas, The White Queen might have started all of this shit. She ordered my death and turned me into…this—forever tethered me to this fate.

The Seat.

I finally know who they are.

Now, all I needed to do was to find them.

And when I find them…well, let’s just say I had plenty of ideas.

Jessica’s sharp yelp brought me out of my thoughts, and I focused on the Furnace Chamber. Jessica was sitting on the platform’s cold, bare metal floor while Allie helped tend to her injuries.

“Can you shut her up?!” Conrad spat with the crossbow in his hand. He managed to pry it off the contraption to use it as a weapon, but Goliath was already gone, hiding in the shadows. I wasn’t worried he would be able to incapacitate him. Not with an arrow. It’ll take more than that.

“Do you see him?” Conrad asked the others. He was afraid to leave the platform and the dim light and venture out into the far corners to look for the killer. No, he could tell that would be a death sentence. He was barely a fighter, and the only strong-looking guy in the group got mind-fucked through the eye. Strength in numbers, he probably thought.

“I—I don’t—Jess, you gotta stop moving. I’m trying to pull it out,” Allie said, wiping the sweat forming on her forehead. Allie was not much of a medic, and she was clearly trying to do what she saw on TV. It looked cool on TV. They didn’t show how disgusting it would be, though, and pulling an arrow out of someone’s flesh didn’t just slip off like butter. It felt like yanking it out of a wedged rock.

Jessica, lying on the ground, seized Allie’s wrist before she could pull the arrow out of her knee. “Don’t you fucking dare, you bitch.”

“I know it’s gonna hurt—”

“Don’t. You. Dare.”

Jessica didn’t make it to the last word when Allie yanked the bolt out of her knee, and the woman howled in pain. Blood spurted out, and Allie quickly tore off her sleeves and tied it around Jessica’s leg. “There, there. You’re okay.” R̃₳𐌽οβĘṤ

“I don’t see stairs,” Conrad said. He pointed to the ladder. “We have to get up there. I think I see a door. That might be the exit?”

Jessica eyed the near-vertical ladder. “Are you fucking kidding me? I can’t climb that! Look at my leg!”

Conrad scowled. “Then, stay here! I’m not holding your hand. You think that guy will leave us alone because we gave up The Seat?”

“That Castle guy said he’ll let us go if we give him names. I…maybe he’s not going to hurt us anymore?” Jessica asked.

“I’ll believe it once I see daylight,” Conrad said. “And people. Without masks.”

“Hold on! Where did he go?” Allie asked.

Conrad shrugged. “Fuck if I know. I don’t see another door anywhere on this floor, though. Still, we can’t stay on this platform. Not for long anyway.” Suddenly, he bent over, clutching his stomach where a bolt was still sticking out. He refused to take it out. He realized that once he did, he would bleed out quickly. “Fuck, that hurt.”

“We really need to get that out of you,” Allie said.

Conrad shook his head. “No. I don’t want to bleed out. We might have to do a lot of running.”

“Well, you can’t run with that fucking thing inside you, dumbass.”

“Let’s just get to the ladder, please?” Conrad sighed, exasperated.

“No, I can’t—” Jessica started. “Please, Allie. Don’t make me climb that.”

“Jess, you have to! Or else we’re going to leave you down here. You don’t think I would?” Allie said sternly. “That guy is probably waiting for the chance to pick us off one by one. You have to come with us, okay?”

“Easy for you to say!”

“That ladder’s our only way out! Do you not understand that?”

Jessica looked at the ladder again and then at Brandon, still sitting on the chair. She let out a soft whimper. “Brandon…”

Allie frowned. “I know, I know. He’s gone, Jess. We really have to move. Can you do that?”

“Okay. Um, I’ll… I’ll try. But it hurts, Allie. It really hurts.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you.” Allie wrapped Jessica’s arm around her shoulder, pulling her up.

“Jesus, you women are slow. I’m going to the ladder,” Conrad said and walked toward the ladder. “Careful. The rungs are a bit dirty and slippery. I’ll climb first.”

“Wait. Can we have the crossbow?” Allie asked.

“What for?”

“I’ll cover you while you climb up.”

“Do you even know how to shoot this thing?”

“I…what, you think I can’t?”

Conrad held on to the weapon tighter. “This stays with me.” He slung it over his shoulder for good measure.

Allie stared daggers at his back. “Asshole,” she muttered under her breath, though only Jessica could hear and nodded in agreement. She saw a pipe leaning to the side and grabbed it.

Goliath watched from just behind the huge furnace, studying them intently. He didn’t strike for now, and I reckoned he was waiting for them to get further up the ladder. After all, Jessica was slowing them down, and Conrad was being a dick. None of them were fighters, though, which was a good thing. Easy pickings. It was intentional that it looked rickety and unsafe, and I understood their hesitation and caution. It is all about the illusion and the atmosphere. With everything decorated, my Dread effects suffused this chamber at its maximum level. In the past four minutes since they were freed, their Resolve never rose.

The exit was forty-eight feet up. To get to it, they had to climb two ladders and cross two narrow catwalks. The first catwalk hung twenty-five feet up, which Conrad just reached. The second loomed above at forty feet.@@novelbin@@

“Okay. Everything looks good!” He said.

Allie turned to Jessica. “You go first. I’ll be right behind you, but we’ll take this slow, okay?”

Jessica nodded but stayed quiet. Above, Conrad didn’t wait for the women to reach the catwalk and crossed it toward the next ladder.

“Conrad! Wait!” Allie said as Jessica lifted herself up to the fifth rung. “You gotta help Jess get up there!”

But Conrad didn’t listen. “I think I can see the door!”

“Wait up, damn it!”

“I’ll go open it and check. Don’t worry!”

Despite his caution, Conrad was eager to get out of the chamber. He was embarrassed that he peed and puked himself throughout the entire ordeal, and once he was freed, he didn’t like that the women couldn’t look him in the eye. He regretted wearing lighter gray pants, and it was obvious that he had soiled himself. Even I noticed the smell. As he crossed the catwalk, he glimpsed someone standing by the steel vat and fired the crossbow at the phantom shadow. However, he only managed to hit a pipe, which hissed steam after it was struck.

“Was it him?!” Allie shouted. “Did you get him?”

“No, um, I don’t think so. I don’t know.”

“Save your ammo, idiot,” Jessica said after she reached the twelfth rung. Only thirteen more to go.

“A little bit more, Jess. We’re almost there,” Allie encouraged.

Jessica looked down at her doubtfully and struggled to reach the thirteenth rung. She paused for a couple of breaths.

Back at the catwalk, Conrad loaded another bolt from his jacket’s pocket, also struggling to draw the string back, taking him almost a minute just to load a bolt. He had to point the crossbow face down on the floor and use his foot for leverage. He didn’t have the strength for it. Peeking out of his pockets, he only had three bolts left. Once the bolt was loaded, he cracked his knuckles, fingertips lined with bruised blood vessels and capillaries. His arthritis kicked in. He had to make his next shot count.

“I’m gonna keep going,” Conrad called back.

Allie nodded. “Be careful—”

Too late.

Conrad stepped onto a panel grating, and suddenly, gravity swelled, and a rush of air swallowed his legs. The panel collapsed and fell beneath him, leaving Conrad flailing for dear life. His stomach slammed onto the edge of the still intact floor ahead, but the impact broke off the bolt still sticking out of his gut. He let out a shriek, blood spurting out from his wound. He wanted to bend over to alleviate the pain, but instead, he scrambled for a handhold. Nothing. The blood—almost like oil—made it easier to slide down until, luckily, his fingers slipped into the catwalk floor’s hexagonal holes. It looked like he broke his pinky finger doing it.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Conrad dangled twenty-five feet in the air with nothing but the bare, soot-ridden ground below to greet him. “Shit! Shit, shit, shit!” Conrad shrieked. “Help! I need help!”

“I’m coming!” Allie said, trying to climb ahead of Jessica. “I’m coming, Conrad! Hold on!”

“I don’t know how long I can hold—”

The floor panel let out a piercing creak, snapped like a twig, and gave way, swinging Conrad around like a piñata. He spun in the air, crashing close to the edge of the platform, missing it by several feet. If he had swung further, his head would have smashed onto the concrete edge, and Conrad would be screaming a different tune. A resounding snap of bone echoed across the furnace chamber. Conrad’s bloodshot eyes glistened, horrified and a bit confused by what just happened. The pain quickly reminded him, and he wailed.

“Help!” Conrad shouted. “Get down here and help me!”

Conrad grimaced. He didn’t want to look at the gaping flesh nor the snapped bone, the tibia sticking out of his leg and almost protruding out of his pants’ fabric, now soaked with blood. He had to reorient himself, thankful he didn’t hit his head on the way down. But now he couldn’t walk, and climbing the ladder in this condition would be difficult. Jessica had it easy. Worse, he dropped his crossbow, which sat on the catwalk above him.

But something felt off. He didn’t hear the others climbing down the ladder to help him. He didn’t even hear them cry out. Looking up, Jessica and Allie gaped at him—no—at something behind him. And that was when he noticed the shadow cast by the furnace looming at his right side. A deep, muffled, cold breath echoed from behind, and Conrad slowly turned around to look over his shoulder and saw Goliath standing over him.

Goliath raised his axe. Conrad took a deep breath and closed his eyes for the inevitable.

“Climb!” Allie screamed at Jessica from the top of the ladder.

Below, Goliath hacked through Conrad’s body. He managed to let out a shriek before the blade sliced through his collarbone at a slight angle and chopped off his vocal cords. He was still alive by the fourth hack, and Goliath was careful not to hit his head. He needed him alive to experience the precious, repulsive few seconds of pain and terror.

Look what I am doing to you, to your body, and you can’t do anything about it, Goliath tried to say.

[ You have gained 1 essence: Conrad Crespo ]

[ You have gained 150 crystals ]

Goliath admired his handiwork for a few seconds to catch his breath. He gazed up at the catwalk, where Allie and Jessica shimmied around the missing floor by grabbing the railings and crossing the catwalk toward the second ladder. He searched Conrad’s jacket and picked up the three crossbow bolts, placing them in his own pocket, and then walked toward the first ladder.

Allie snatched the crossbow from the floor and looked down the hole. “Oh, no! He’s climbing up!”

“Quick! Shoot him!” Jessica screeched.

Allie stood against the railings and aimed at the hulking figure climbing fast up the ladder. One bolt left, and she had to make this one count. They didn’t see Goliath picking up Conrad’s remaining ammo.

“What are you waiting for? Just shoot him!” Jessica said.

“I can’t get the angle!”

“Allie, he’s almost up!”

“He’s too fast!”

“Shoot him already before he gets to us!”

Allie panicked and pulled the trigger. The bolt flew through the air, hurtling toward Goliath.

But Goliath barely ducked, stared at the women, and caught the bolt mid-air before it could hit him through the eye. Allie and Jessica gasped, horrified, as Goliath snapped the bolt with his thumb and curled fist and threw the wooden bits off to the side. Then, the masked behemoth lifted himself up to the catwalk landing.

Like a cat playing with their food, Goliath took this moment slowly. He sauntered toward the panicking women like a stalking lion, as if he knew there was no way out. No escapes. No amount of begging would make him think otherwise. He left the axe lodged in Conrad’s body below, but he was high enough that he’d use gravity to do the job for him. He still had his hunting knife sheathed on his belt, but he only used that for special occasions or during emergencies. Meanwhile, Allie and Jessica scrambled to climb the second ladder, especially Jessica. Allie’s makeshift bandages around Jessica’s wound were not helping, and she was slowly bleeding out, making her weaker and paler. She only made it halfway through before she realized Goliath had reached the bottom rung and was watching up at her curiously.

“Get away!” Allie shouted and threw the crossbow down at him. Goliath caught it again mid-air and slung it around his shoulder. He began to climb.

“Jess, keep moving! He’s below you!”

“I can’t! Oh, I can’t, Allie!” Jessica clung to the ladder, frozen in fear.

“Move! You have to move!” Allie finally reached the top of the ladder, bent down, and reached for Jessica’s hand. “You’re almost there, Jess! Take my hand!”

“I can’t!”

“Take my hand! Reach! You can do it!”

“I can’t!”

“Reach!”

“Ahhh!” Jessica shrieked. Goliath seized her ankle and yanked her down, but the woman managed to hold onto the ladder by looping her arms around the rung.

“Get off! Get off of me!”

“Jess!” Allie watched in horror as Jessica fought for her life.

Jessica’s grip was getting weaker. She barely had seconds of adrenaline to go in the tank, and she couldn’t hold on to that ladder forever. Goliath climbed another rung higher just to reach her better, wrapping his big hand around her wounded knee and sinking his thumb through her gaping flesh. Jessica let out another high-pitched cry, loosening her grasp on the rung.

And that was enough leverage for Goliath to grab her ankle again and yank her down.

She missed the catwalk below. It would have saved her if she did, but Goliath yanked and swung her in the direction of the furnace, and Jessica fell to the ground on her back next to Conrad’s chopped-up body. She was still alive from the forty-foot fall, but it had severed her spine, and she couldn’t move. Goliath could tell as well, and instead of going down to finish the job, he turned his fiery gaze to the last woman standing.

Allie looked down at Jessica prone, eyes glistening with regret and guilt. She had no other choice. So, she scrambled to her feet and ran across the catwalk toward the exit door. I reckoned she only had fifteen seconds left before Goliath was on her. I got lucky that she tripped midway through in her panic, losing precious seconds of her escape. She got back to her feet, pushing every strength she had to get there, extending her hand out for the door, and—

Thwack!

The crossbow bolt slammed through the nape of her neck and out of her throat. Allie crumpled to the floor, thrashing and choking. She grasped the sharp edge of the bolt protruding out of her neck, trying to rationalize her fate. She was on the floor, and the door was right fucking there. She reached out for the handle but couldn’t find the strength to get up and grasp it. Goliath towered above her, head tilted to the side as if studying her pain and anguish. He discarded the crossbow to the side. Allie let out another gurgled croak, trying to breathe through her nose, but snot and blood blocked it; she was drowning in her own blood.

Goliath seized her by the armpits and heaved her over the railing. Bones and flesh crunched and squelched as she landed right next to Jessica, blood and brain matter splattering all over the prone woman’s face. Jessica couldn’t move nor scream, paralyzed from the neck down. All she could do was watch Goliath climb back down the ladder toward her.

[ You have gained 1 essence: Allie Collins ]

[ You have gained 150 crystals ]

> GRAVITY KILLS, Oracle said nonchalantly. Or maybe not. It was tough to tell the emotions of a computer, okay? Plus, he hardly made off-the-cuff comments when a delver died, letting Demon do all the commentary work instead.

I turned to look at the computer with a curious gaze. “Did…did you just make a joke?” If it was, Demon would be proud.

It took Oracle a moment to reply.

> I AM STATING A FACT, he said.

I kept my gaze on him a bit longer. “I don’t mind if you joke around a bit, Oracle. You’re always so serious.”

Oracle did not respond.

To be fair, a lot of people have fallen to their deaths today, especially the twenty-two cultists on the plane. Oracle updated me that it was massive news across dozens of channels, and social media was blowing up with various videos from the hikers on the ground and the commuters along I-84. The current assumption was that it was some kind of terrorist attack. As I said before, planes didn’t randomly explode in the sky, and the FAA would take months of investigation to determine the cause.

For the next ten minutes, Goliath dragged the bodies (and body parts) of the delvers and threw them into the furnace. But before he could drag Jessica to the oven next to her boyfriend, Demon’s shadow lingered above her body. Goliath waited and folded his arms. He seemed to acknowledge something unsaid between them with a slow, deliberate nod. Then, Demon slipped inside Jessica through her mouth and nostrils. Her eyes shot open a heartbeat later, and the once-familiar blue irises blazed with an unnatural, molten golden hue.

Jessica got up and stretched, and her wounds gradually healed, leaving only scars. You had to thank infernal healing for that, and most fiends possessed them.

“This new body has…spice,” Demon said, stretching her spine.

“I never really asked. How long can you inhabit that body? It might take weeks until the next delve.”

“Indefinitely,” she said. “Although, if I possessed a human for more than two weeks and I leave their flesh voluntarily or forced out of it, they just die from a heart attack or a stroke.”

Good to know.

“Need help, Goldie?” Demon asked Goliath.

Goliath chucked Conrad’s arm inside the oven and shook his head. Then, he walked toward the wall’s control panel and turned the oven on.

And there they are, the cultists burnt to a crisp

But I got my essence and didn’t mind that it’s over-baked.

Goliath approached one of my many-eyes, waiting for orders.

“Was that fun?” I asked him.

Goliath glanced at the furnace and shrugged.

I chuckled. “I promise to give you a longer hunt next time. Maybe with several delvers. I’m sorry, but we had to get rid of these cultists fast.”

He raised all ten of his fingers.

“Ten Delvers? You think you can handle that many on your own?” Demon asked. “I mean, I can. Possess three bodies, divide and conquer, and win the night.”

He gave me two thumbs up.

“I always appreciate your confidence, Goliath,” I said.

“Me, too,” Demon said. “Oh, bad news, my liege. I am rifling through Jessica’s memories; she had no recollection of The Blacksmith’s face. She was just talking to one of his emissaries. Another lawyer, she thinks. Also, do you know she is allergic to olives and shellfish? This body sucks.”

“Do you have a name for this emissary?”

Demon nodded. “Kim Min-Jun. It could be an alias. A handsome fellow. They’ve met five times, and she was thinking of fucking him on several occasions.”

“Oracle, can you find anything about that guy?”

> I’LL SEE WHAT I CAN FIND THROUGH THE INTERNET, BUT SOUTH KOREA IS SO FAR AWAY. THEY ARE NOT WITHIN MY BORDERS. MY EYES ARE LIMITED.

“Don’t worry about it. Just do your best,” I said.

[ The Immaran Guild has rewarded you 10,000 crystals. You may use it at your own convenience. ]

And there it is. “Huh. True to their word,” I said.

“Indeed,” Demon said.

Maybe a part of me doubted Elvis’s promises, but I must admit, he got me there. I imagined hundreds of administrators cheering for the delvers’ deaths a few moments ago, and I didn’t know if I should be sickened or proud of it. A part of me enjoyed what I was doing to these cultists. I had no sympathy for them. But what if it was one of the hikers nearby? I shuddered just thinking about it.

Looking at my Core Tab, this reward would bring me up to a total of twenty-six thousand crystals, plus change. My essence total brought it to thirty-one. Jessica’s essence hadn’t been collected yet.

NORTH CEDAR LAKE

Dread Level: 6/10 - new dungeon(+); bloodthirsty core (++); massive domain(+); massacre site (++)

Crystals: 26,150

Essence: 31

> NEW YORK CITY IS THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE COLLECTOR, Oracle reminded me.

“I’ve never thought about the logistics of creating a dungeon inside an urban hellscape,” I said. “Do you think building one in the middle of a city is a good idea?”

> NEW YORK CITY HAS A POPULATION OF SEVEN MILLION POTENTIAL DELVERS ABOVE THE AGE OF FIFTEEN.

“We wouldn’t run out of potential delvers,” Demon said. “But it will make our anonymity difficult to manage.”

“I’m not planning on feeding on seven million people. That’s not happening.”

Oracle and Demon said nothing.

I am not killing that many people. Besides, a delve like that would require wiping them out before dawn. But if I have to do it, I can summon an archetype like…no. Focus. This is not the time. I ignored the logistics for now.

I looked at Oracle’s screen of the security feed at the Evergreen Medical Center. Danny and Tessa were still unconscious, tended to by Doctor Calloway and several nurses. I had plenty of time to plan my next move and expand my territory before they woke up.

“We know our targets now,” I said to each one of my archetypes across my domain. “Our focus is to grow. I sent them a convincing message not to fuck with me again, but the next time we see them, they’ll be ready for us, so we have to be ready as well.”

> I CAN PERFORM A BACKGROUND CHECK ON RICHARD VISWANATHAN AND PREPARE A REPORT FOR YOU BY THE END OF THE DAY. WARNING: NEW YORK IS NOT WITHIN MY BORDERS. I AM LIMITED IN MY ABILITY TO FIND ANYTHING ABOUT HIM. THE LIKELIHOOD OF HIS ONLINE FOOTPRINT IS SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED.

“If we are dealing with people like him, they would have covered their tracks and scrubbed off any evidence that they exist,” Demon interjected.

“Thank you, Oracle. He’s our prime target. Once we have him, we’ll know the identities of the other three, but it’s a long journey to New York. I will build the second dungeon in the city.” I waited for the others to oppose such a risky plan and the second dungeon’s location. Old Growth was the only one reluctant to go for it, but I told him Central Park could be a potential home. There were plenty of parks in the city, too.

Having multiple dungeons was like having a massive teleportation gateway. I couldn’t teleport the cabin and the lake in the middle of the city, but my archetypes could freely move between the two locations. I could do that as well. Both dungeons shared the same dread and stats. After all, it was still me, just another extended body part or an organ. If I wanted to make them have different auras, I had to manually purchase the traits.

Other than Oldie’s reluctance to be a plant monster in an urban jungle, Demon, Goliath, and Oracle liked the plan because they had more territories and hunting grounds to explore. However, Siren loved it. The rivers and the bay were nearby. She had plenty of water to cover on the surface and under the city. She also reminded me that Sirens could easily navigate the city’s sewer systems. North Cedar Lake and the underwater cave system were a kiddie pool to her.

“Four-hundred and sixty-three essences. It might take us a couple of years, maybe three, to collect that amount without raising any suspicions. Oracle, can you also find out anything about The Institute? Jessica mentioned it earlier. It didn’t sound like they are part of the cult, but I want to know if they are dangerous or if we should keep an eye on them.”

> I WILL, LORD DUNGEON.

We had a plan. It might not be concrete right now, but at least I had given my archetypes a goal to hit, at the expense of murdering four-hundred and sixty-three delivers. But today, I needed to focus on growing myself and increasing my power. I needed to build my arsenal so that by the time I created the second dungeon, my armies would march through the portal and destroy The Collector’s men and anyone who dared oppose me. No doubt a person like him had better security than Jonas and Hodge. Maybe even better magic if what Conrad said was true that the members of The Seat were favored by Astaroth himself. I had to assume that they possessed infernal magic and protections.

I can’t take any chances.

I regarded the others again. “I think it’s time for an upgrade, don’t you think?”

I opened the [ Monsters ] tab on the menu and selected each of my archetypes’ fourth traits.