Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Trapped

The Conjoined had pounded the metal door for some time. Now it was silent, save for the sounds of munching, and the buzzing of a single light bulb above the small confined space.

Resting her back against the wall, Riley swallowed a handfull of fries, followed by a long drink of water. Her throat was thankfull. Her pallet?

"Couldn't you have gotten some soda too?" she asked.

Henry blinked at her. "We're starving and dying of thirst, and you wanted soda?"

Riley shrugged. "Well, yeah. It's all I drink."

"Why am I not surprised?" Alysa said.

Riley narrowed her eyes at the woman. "What do you know about anything?"

"Diet often reflects the person. That's all I'm saying."

"Your diet must be bread sticks," Riley muttered.

"Really? Why's that?"

"Cause you seem like you have something shoved way up in there."

"I'll have you know-"

"Will you both stop?" Henry asked. He lowered a handfull of fries for Princess to eat. "You're both being judgemental. And how about we focus on a way out of here."

Riley scanned the thick concrete walls. She glanced at the door. "There's only one way out."

Alysa shivered. "It just had to be a clown. No way we can face something like that. We have unique abilities don't we? Anyone have a means to get through a wall?"

"I could fire some rounds, you know. They are never ending. It could chip away stone.

"And the bouncing bullets could chip away bone too," Alysa said. "Anyone else?"

Riley tightened her fist around the hem of her skirt. "There must be more to your build than just shooting a gun."

Julio spun his revolver around his finger. "What you mean?"

"Pull up your menus."

Riley sat beside him, helping him nagivate the floating display, feeling like she was helping her grandma use a touch phone for the first time.

"See?" she said. "You have a skill that you're not even using. Burst Shot. Remember that when we're being chased."

Riley looked at the marine next.

She shook her curly hair. "I know how these things work."

"I doubt that," Riley muttered. "Like you've ever played an MMO."

"Tell that to my level 70 Death Rogue."

Now that she did not expect from the woman. "Really?"

The woman nodded. "It was a great way to clear the mind." She sighed. "But this is different. I feel like I'm back over seas."

Riley fiddled with her skirt. "I guess that leaves me."

"What specialty do you have?"

"Writing."

"Interesting. What can it do?"

"I don't know, I haven't tried it yet."

"Why don't you write something?" Alysa said.

"It's not that easy."

Henry was looking at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Can you give it a try?" he asked. "I don't want to risk going out there if we can avoid it."

"I already tried." Riley withdrew her notepad and pen from her skirt pocket. Everyone just sat there looking at her. "How about some privacy?"

One by one they looked away. She could still feel their lingering thoughts, their doubts of her abilities. But whatever. Riley took a deep breath.

Something to get them through walls. She focused on the far wall

Summon a door on the far wall, she wrote.

Error! Insufficient description!

So she couldn't just write something in. She had to be able to describe it. That meant she needed to know the thing well enough, or have a physical object to descrive. In theory she could duplicate items if she described them well enough.

That was a big if.

People always complained she didn't describe things enough in her writting. White room syndrom blah blah blah. And her mother always told her that her use of words was so stiff and forced.

She tightened her jaw. Why was she so useless?

"How's it going?" Henry asked.

"Huh? I haven't even started."

"It's been thirty minutes!" Alysa said. "How long can it take?"

"Thinking is a big part of it."

Henry raised his hands in a calming gesture. "If we brainstorm with you, would that help?"

Riley relaxed. "Yeah, it would. I need to describe something that could get us through the wall."

"How about a pickaxe?" Julio said, mocking the gesture of mining.

"What is this, Minecraft?" Riley said.

Henry slapped the wall with the palm of his hand. "It could be two walls thick, and the noise might draw attention on both sides."

"How about a portal? I've seen the monsters use them," Alysa said.

"I tried it once. Maybe if I was descriptive enough. It's either that or I describe an open hallway."

No one protested. The hallway was the simplest idea, so it was probably the least likey to fail.

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She began to write.

An opening will form in the wall, as tall as a man. There will be a hallway beyond that, stretching far enough to open into a room beyond.

She chewed her lip. It seemed without fault. When she lifted her pin, she received a prompt.

You have made a Creation!

You are permitted to summon one Creation every 24 hrs.

Summon Creation?

She selected yes.

You could have blinked and missed it. One moment their was a wall. The next there was a arched depresion in the wall.

With more concrete blocking the way.

"What?" She looked back to her writing. "I described a hallway and everything..."

"Can you do it again?"

Riley closed her eyes. "Not for another 24 hours."

She had one free opertunity to create something useful and she failed.

Henry hit the new section of exposed wall. "It sounds thinner."

"What are you going to do? Punch a hole in the wall, big man? The girl failed. We'll need to find another way."

The woman's words cut into Riley's soul. She was worse than a failure. She'd doomed them. She was nothing.

Everything her mother had told her was true.

"Riley," Henry said.

Riley froze. Her hand was on the door handle. "Maybe it will only kill me. You guys can make a run for it."

"You can try again. You're smart. You'll get it right."

"You don't know a thing about writing."

"I know you."

She let her hand fall to her side. Now they knew just how fragile she was. She wanted to scream. This wasn't a game. She just wanted to be free from this place.

Riley turned around, sliding down into a sitting position with her hands wrapped around her knees.

Princess came walking over. At the first the dog pretended to not be interested in her. Then it walked over to her hand and licked it.

Riley watched the strange way that darkness moved like a wave beneath it fur. This dog had contracted some essence of that dark crawling monster they'd killed.

She drew a sharp breath.

Princess angled her head.

"The dog," Riley said.

Henry stroked his beard in question.

"Remember how that monster turned that box onto dark liquidy stuff? Maybe Princess can do the same."

Henry leaned forward. "That's a great idea. Princess?"

Princess released a little growl, sitting down purpousfully in the middle of the room.

"Maybe after I feed you more?" Henry said, teasing the dog with some fries.

The little dog's eyes went big. Her neck stretched forward, head ballooning to ten times its size to snatch the fries. Henry looked down at his fingers as if amazed to still have them.

Princess burried her head in the food bag.

"Don't let it eat everything!" Alysa said.

Henry gently grabbed Princess around the waste, lifting her out of the bag. The dog emerged her normal size, face covered in ketchup. The big man sighed.

He held the little dog like it was a baby with a dirty diaper, and he had no idea what to do about it.

Riley smiled softly. "I think she's ready."

Henry gently placed the dog in front of the failed entrance. It just stood there shivering. Henry tapped the wall with his finger. "Right here, Princess. Do your thing."

Everyone waited in silence.

"I promise you endless fries and burgers," Henry said.

Princess raised her little mug at him.

The big man sighed. "And you can always sleep on my lap."

The dog waited.

Riley gestured him to continue, a smile she could contain plaguing her features.

"And I promise to take care of you forever, because you're my dog."

Princess looked back to the wall, chin raised, she waddled forward. Her head shifted into that strange black stuff, melding into the wall. The wall became a pulsating black membrane, dark veins spreading outward. Slowly the dog became unmelded, and the membrane remained.

"Aye, chica! Now it's my turn." Julio withdrew his knife, cutting through the membrane. He stuck his head through. "Looks good!"

He crawled through, dissapearing beneath the hanging mess of dark flesh.

Alysa was about to go through but Riley put a hand on her shoulder .

"I'll go first."

Better to risk her own life. She got down on her hands and knees, pink hair hanging in her face. She cringed as the cold slimy stuff hung down to graze her neck.

Beyond there was a hallway.

It didn't run forward. Instead it went sideway, ending a 90 degree angle before contuining onward. She pulled out her notepad, inspecting what she had written.

She hadn't specified nearly enough, which resulted in the system deciding for her. Riley waited for the other two to crawl through, and then as a group they approached the bend in the path.

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