Misfits, Inc. (16 page)

“I think I’ll call it a night,” Rafe hesitantly
announced and turned to leave.

Hailey stood and caught him by his injured
shoulder.  He gasped with agony and turned to face her.

“They took Mel,” she announced with fear in her eyes. 
“They’ll kill her!”

“Will you let me bleed in peace?” Rafe demanded as
he pulled away from her.

Hailey looked at the deep, bleeding bite wound then
met his gaze with concern for his injuries.  She reached for his wounded
shoulder.  Rafe moved back a step, defensively clutched his bleeding shoulder,
and glared at her.

“Keep your hands off my wounds, witchy woman.”

Hailey stared into his eyes and again moved her
hand to his wounded shoulder.  Rafe slowly lowered his hand, almost helpless to
her power of persuasion. 

“She’s my friend,” Hailey gently informed him while
clinging to his bleeding shoulder.  Her look was stern.  “I’m going after her
with or without you.”

Hailey removed her hand from his now healed
shoulder.  Rafe stared at his shoulder beyond his torn shirt and uncertainly
touched it with disbelief.

“If they took her to the cave in the woods, we’ll
never reach her in time,” Skyler informed her.

“That tunnel led to the hotel basement,” Logan
announced.  “We can take the back route and meet them there.  I know where we
can find some weapons along the way.”

“Rescue the damsel in distress?” Vance asked while
cocking his head slightly.  “That’s right up my alley.”

“You’re all crazy,” Rafe scoffed while fixated on
his now healed shoulder.

“You know you’ll just show up anyway,” Hailey
replied.

He suddenly frowned while rubbing his shoulder. 
“Yeah, I’m an idiot.  Don’t remind me.”

R
afe stood by the storage room doorway within the basement and
watched the corridor while Logan routed through several old boxes to secure
weapons.  Skyler practiced swinging the baseball bat he held while standing
alongside Hailey, who insecurely studied the ax in her hand.  She would have
preferred the baseball bat.  The thought of using an ax on anyone or anything
made her nauseous.  She didn’t understand why she had been given such a messy
weapon.  Vance gleamed over a nine-iron golf club he’d secured as his weapon
and practiced his imaginary golf swing.  He had great form, obviously having
played often.

“What is all this stuff?” Vance finally asked while
glancing back at Logan.

Logan routed through an old chest without looking
up.  “We had a very strange man on staff a few years back.  He took off one
day, leaving behind everything in his room.  Since his family didn’t claim his
belongings, we put all his stuff in storage.  It’s been here ever since.”

Logan appeared to find what he was looking for and
removed a pair of samurai swords.  He grinned his pleasure and tossed one to
Rafe.  Rafe removed the sheath and touched the blade.  A twisted smile crossed
his face, indicating the sword was to his liking.  Logan kept the other for
himself.  Rafe skillfully twirled the sword, took a frightening fighting
stance, and smirked.

“This works,” he announced.

The nervous tension among the other men as they
watched Rafe’s sick pleasure to the weapon conveyed their concerns.  He was a
dangerous man, and now he was armed.  Hailey, on the other hand, tried hard to
keep from being turned on by his skill with the sword.  She brushed the image
from her mind and looked at Logan holding his own sword.

“What’s in the rest of the boxes?” Hailey asked
Logan as she glanced at the room filled with similar boxes.

He casually shrugged.  “Employees sometimes quit
and leave their belongings behind,” Logan replied.  “Seems to happen a lot. 
It’s mostly junk.”

Skyler glanced at Logan and appeared concerned by
the comment.  “Define
a lot
.”

“I don’t know,” he responded.  “A few employees
here and there.”

Hailey wasn’t convinced with the response.  There
was a pattern among random guest disappearances and employees mysteriously
quitting.  What if there was more to it?  Despite her concerns for Mel, the
circumstances surrounding those patterns had gotten the better of her.

“Tam said a lot of guests take off for romantic
interludes,” she remarked and looked at the three men who’d spent more than
their share of time at the hotel.  “She insists they always show up.  Do they
always
show up?”

Logan and Skyler exchanged curious looks as if
never really considering the question before now.  Rafe looked back at them
with a similar expression.  A few thoughts on the subject were obviously going
through his mind, but no one expected him to share those thoughts.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anything either
way,” Logan replied, now looking concerned.

“Yeah, I mean, no one has ever said anything,”
Skyler announced.

“Women disappearing for ‘flings’ seems common
around here,” Rafe added, surprising everyone with the offering of information. 
He then considered his own comment.  “It always sounded plausible, but maybe
there’s more to it than what we’re told.”

“Is there any way to figure out how many people
have disappeared over the years?” Logan asked.

“I could do some digging,” Skyler informed them. 
“Might be something in the computer.  I mean, there would have been
investigations if someone’s son or daughter never returned home after a trip.”

“You’re overthinking it,” Vance insisted.  “If
tourists start vanishing from the island, it would eventually become
suspicious, and we would have heard about it by now.”

“We’ll worry about that later,” Hailey informed
them, her curiosity now replaced with concern for her friend.  “We need to find
Mel before those creatures do something to her.”

All four nodded in agreement and prepared to head
out of the storage area.  Although no one else heard anything, Rafe suddenly
turned toward the doorway with his samurai sword skillfully wielded.  Marcus
saw Rafe with the sword clutched in deadly fashion and jumped with surprise. 
Rafe lowered the sword and frowned.  Either he didn’t care to see Marcus, or he
was disappointed he didn’t get to use the sword.

“What’s going on here?” Marcus demanded, eyeing all
five with a look that conveyed his concern.

“We don’t really have time to explain right now,”
Hailey informed him with growing concern.  “Mel’s been taken, and we’re
positive she’s down here somewhere.”

She attempted to move past him to leave the storage
room.  Marcus stopped her and firmly indicated the weapons they carried with a
nod.

“I can’t allow you to gallivant around the hotel
armed to the teeth,” he announced.

Rafe placed his hand on Marcus’s chest and easily
pushed him against the doorframe.  His eyes remained locked on Marcus.  The
usually intimidating man stared back with surprise.  What should have escalated
into an altercation was quickly defused by Marcus’ unwillingness to engage
Rafe.

“We’d love to stay and chat, but you heard the
lady,” Rafe growled.

Hailey, Skyler, Vance, and Logan hurried from the
storage room, glancing only briefly at the tense scene in the doorway.  Rafe
released Marcus, who immediately straightened and attempted to compose
himself.  Marcus seemed unprepared for a confrontation with Brody’s guard dog
and backed down.

“Fine, but I’m going with you,” Marcus informed
Rafe without taking his eyes off him.  “I’m in charge of missing persons, and
I’m in charge of security in this hotel.”

“Suit yourself,” Rafe replied without emotion then
casually twirled his sword and left the room.

Marcus sneered his obvious distaste for the man and
hurried after him.

R
afe led the five through
the basement and into the sub-basement along the dimly lit corridor with his
samurai sword ready for action.  Marcus brought up the rear with his gun in his
hand.  Rafe looked around and seemed moderately troubled by something, which concerned
Hailey.  He suddenly stopped at a junction in the corridor then looked right
and left.  He remained preoccupied by whatever he was unwilling to share.

“We need to split up,” he suddenly announced while
barely glancing at the others in his group.

“Split up?” Hailey gasped, sharing the same
reaction as the others.  Was he insane?  What could possibly be gained by them
splitting up?

“This is the right direction,” Logan insisted,
refusing to be bullied by the intimidating man.  “My sense of direction is
perfect.  Straight will take us in the direction of the cave.  We go this way
together
.”

Logan shared Hailey’s distrust of Rafe’s authority
and was the only one willing to call him on it.  Rafe suddenly grabbed Logan by
the shirt, startling the big man, and pulled him a couple of feet away. 
Despite Logan’s size, he was too much of a teddy bear to be confrontational. 
Although she couldn’t hear what Rafe said to him, Logan seemed concerned and
defensive while nodding in agreement.  As they returned to the group, Logan
nodded Vance in the direction of the left corridor.

“We need to check this corridor,” Logan informed
him.  “We’ll catch up with the others.”

Vance appeared skeptical but obediently left with
Logan.  The others looked at Rafe with surprise.  Rafe ignored them and
continued along the corridor heading straight.  Hailey and Skyler exchanged
concerned looks then reluctantly followed.  They walked for several minutes
before reaching a large section of stone wall broken away.  Beyond the broken wall
was the familiar mineshaft tunnel.  They only walked ten yards before reaching
an old, medieval looking door with extinguished torches on either side.  Rafe
attempted to open the heavy wood door by its wrought iron ring, but it wouldn’t
budge.  He looked back at Marcus. 

“Where does this door go?” Rafe asked.

Marcus stared at the door with disbelief and shook
his head.  “I don’t know.  I’ve never seen that door before.  I’ve only been
out this far once a few years ago.  That stone wall back there had been
intact.  This tunnel must have been hidden.”

Rafe frowned his disapproval to Marcus’ answer then
swiftly kicked the door inward.  Despite the thickness of the door, it
splintered and nearly broke off its old hinges from the hard hit.  Everyone
jumped with surprise.  No average man would have been able to break down the
door as Rafe had.  Marcus stared at Rafe, almost certainly amazed by his
superhuman strength.  Rafe lit one of the torches on the wall, removed it from
its base, and entered the dark room.  The other three followed him with some
apprehension.  There were shadows in the short tunnel behind them, following
them, but none seemed to notice.  Rafe’s torch barely lit the large room,
giving little indication to what it contained.  They only thing they knew for
certain was that the room was very large. 

“There must be other torches--” Hailey began but
was interrupted by a chilling, familiar sound.

They heard a low snarl from nearby.  All four
stopped and looked around.  They saw several sets of glowing red eyes within
the room.

“We are so fucked,” Skyler muttered.

Marcus turned back for the broken door and felt
along the doorframe.  A sword suddenly appeared before Marcus’ face,
immediately stopping him.  Logan held the sword only inches from the hardened
man’s face.  Vance maintained a frozen look of annoyance as he snatched the gun
from Marcus’ hand. 

“What’s wrong with you?” Marcus demanded with
forced panic in his voice.  “We need to get out of here!  Those things are in
here!”

The beasts continued to growl and the glowing eyes
circled the room getting closer to them.  Hailey watched the glowing eyes then
gasped with alarm.  Several torches erupted into flames and brightened the
large, oval room.  Mel could now be seen shackled to an ancient altar with duct
tape over her mouth.  She stared at them, attempted to scream, and fought the
old, metal shackles.  There were eight beasts within the room, watching and
waiting to strike.  Vance eyed the iron gate just inside the doorway, ready to
fall at a moment’s notice, and the crude button close to Marcus, which would
release the gate, trapping them inside.

“You were right, Rafe,” Vance announced.  “The
bastard set us up.”

Skyler and Hailey stared at Marcus with surprise to
the double-cross.  Marcus suddenly sneered at them and didn’t bother denying
his role.

“You won’t make it out,” Marcus boldly announced. 
“The Emperor can’t expect to stop us with a pathetic council put together by a
little girl.”

“Will someone shut him up?” Rafe groaned.

“You’ve got it,” Vance announced while smirking.

Vance swung the large golf club for Marcus’ head. 
Marcus ducked the flying club and rolled out the doorway.  The club struck the
nearby wall, hitting the button.  The heavy gate fell from the ceiling with a
loud clang, trapping them inside the chamber.  Vance and Logan attempted to
lift it, but it wasn’t moving.  The ancient pulley system had to be within the
stone itself.  

Marcus stood just outside the gate and mocked them
with his grin.  “That worked nicely,” he announced cheerfully.

Logan rammed his sword through the opening in the
iron bars, nearly stabbing him.  Marcus jumped back with surprise then wagged
his finger while chuckling.

“You’re no match for me,” he announced.

Vance removed the gun he’d taken from Marcus and
fired several shots at him.  Marcus gasped and bolted down the corridor, away
from the gunshots.  Vance turned with the gun still in his hand, appeared
annoyed, and shot one of the beasts.  The beast yelped from the gunshot wound
then looked at Vance, snarled, and charged for him.  Vance squeezed the
trigger, but the gun clicked empty.  The little black cat appeared through the
bars, leaped into the air, and transformed into the white tiger, tackling the
beast to the stone floor.  The other beasts snarled and attacked
simultaneously.  Rafe swung his sword and decapitated the first beast, but a
second beast tackled him to the floor, knocking the sword from his hand.  He
wrestled with the massive beast on top of him.  Hailey leaped out of the path
of the creature before her.  It struck the altar, appearing momentarily dazed,
then turned around and lunged for her.  She cried out and swung the ax,
striking it in the shoulder, but the blow didn’t even slow it down.  The
creature easily took her to the floor.  Skyler struck the creature on top of
Hailey repeatedly with his baseball bat.  Another creature tackled him against
the altar.  Mel muffled a scream.  Stones from the ceiling suddenly crumbled
above them.  Skyler looked up with alarm, saw a large stone about to fall, and
shielded Mel with his body.  The large chunk of stone fell and crushed the
creature as smaller stones pelted Skyler’s back.

A creature lunged for Logan near the iron gate. 
Logan scaled the gate and held himself in midair with only a few finger
clutching the bars, defying gravity.  The beast ran headfirst into the bars. 
Logan thrust his sword downward with his free hand and impaled the creature in
the head.  Logan jumped off the gate and reclaimed his sword.  Vance backed
away from an approaching beast and swung the golf club for the creature’s
head.  The creature was suddenly thrown upward and across the floor.  The
creature attempted to return to its feet.  Vance leaped for the creature and
repeatedly struck it with the golf club.  Skyler straightened from his position
over Mel and looked across the room to Hailey, who was still pinned beneath her
beast and struggled to keep its teeth from tearing into her face.  Skyler
bolted across the chamber, jumped over the back of the beast that had Rafe on
the floor, and reached Hailey.  He pulled the ax from the creature’s shoulder. 
The creature wailed, forgot about Hailey, and swiped its claws at Skyler.

Hailey rolled out from under the creature.  Skyler
leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the sharp claws, and swung the ax into the
creature’s head.  The creature barely had time to wail from the ax penetrating
its skull before collapsing to the floor.  Rafe held back the beast on top of
him by the throat and fumbled for his discarded sword not far from his head. 
He grabbed the baseball bat instead and thrust it in front of his face.  The
creature bit the baseball bat and attempted to pull it from Rafe’s hands.  Rafe
placed his foot between him and the creature and catapulted it over him.  The
creature was thrown through the air with amazing force and harshly struck the
iron gate just inches from where Logan stood.  Logan appeared stunned as Rafe
sprang to his feet.

“You nearly crushed me, Rafe!” Logan cried out.

“I’m working here,” Rafe growled back.

Another creature leaped for Rafe.  Rafe threw
himself to the floor, grabbed his sword as he rolled into a sitting position,
and swung at the lunging beast.  His slit the creature’s throat, spattering
blood across him and the room.  The beast wailed and struck the floor.  Another
creature charged for Rafe’s back as he straightened.  Without turning or even
looking, he flipped the sword in his hand and impaled the creature behind him. 
He casually pulled the sword free, flipped it again, and then looked around the
room as the creature behind him fell to the floor with a soft groan.  All eight
beasts lie dead.  The little black cat sat on top of a dead creature and
casually cleaned its bloody paws while purring.

As Rafe assessed the number of dead creatures, he
snorted a laugh and appeared humored by the sight.  “Not bad for a company of
misfits.”

Hailey hurried for Mel, removed the tape from her
mouth, and stared down at her moderately battered friend.  It pained her to see
Mel scratched and bruised from having been dragged by the creature, although it
obviously could have been a lot worse.

“Are you okay?”

“Never better,” Mel gasped and violently pulled
against the shackles.  “Can we go home now?”

Rafe pulled the ax from the dead beast, approached
Mel on the altar, and chopped through the chains binding her wrists and
ankles.  Mel sat up and hugged Hailey while the others reclaimed their
weapons.  Vance placed his severely bent golf club over his shoulder and looked
around the chamber littered with dead beasts and strewn with blood.  Logan marveled
at the painstaking construction of the chamber.

“I never would have guessed the hotel came with its
own sacrificial chamber,” Logan remarked while shaking his head.

“We should get the hell out of here before Marcus
returns with more friends,” Skyler announced, seeming more anxious than usual. 
He could barely stand still.

“Where do we go?” Hailey asked.

“Marcus isn’t stupid,” Rafe casually informed
them.  “He won’t risk anything in front of the guests.  If we stick together,
we’ll be safe in Hailey’s suite for tonight.”

Vance casually indicated the iron gate across the
doorway.  “There’s just one minor setback,” he announced.  “How do we get out
of here?”

Rafe casually approached the iron gate and pulled
it up with one thrust.  The gate grinded as it ascended roughly back into the
ceiling.  He walked out of the chamber without a care.  The others exchanged
looks.

“You know,” Logan announced while shaking his head,
“I always found that man to be a little intimidating.  I was wrong.  He’s
beyond intimidating.”

Skyler and Vance helped Mel from the altar and to
her feet.  She was still unsteady from an evening of excessive drinking and
sore from being dragged away by a snarling beast.  Hailey again had more
questions than answers as she looked at her battered friend.

“After the creatures brought you here, who shackled
you to the altar?” Hailey asked Mel, since she knew it wasn’t the creatures who
cuffed her.

“I don’t know,” Mel replied while shaking her head,
appearing almost dizzy.  “I passed out when that monster dragged me into the
woods.”

Hailey glanced over the scrapes and bruises along
Mel’s entire backside as they headed for the chamber doorway.  She felt bad for
her friend, but at least they saved her from whatever fate that awaited her on
the altar.  Hailey took one last look around as they left the blood-strewn
chamber.  She was sure it was the same room where Penny had been killed.  If
the creatures were killing guests for food, it would make sense, but that
wasn’t the case.  What happened to those who died?  How did they become
fossilized into the mineshaft walls?  It was almost too much to think about
with Mel having come so close to learning the answer.