A World Long Since Dead

Chapter 5 “The Boss”

“Let me find you a room” Jade said quickly, and pushed open a door on her right.

This one, Mason noted, didn’t even have a lock, just a bored-out hole where a handle used to be.

Peering into the dimly lit interior, Mason could see a dozen bunk beds, with tattered, rough-looking bedding.

In front of the small, unwashed windows were a handful of old tables, upon which some gaunt, angry looking men played cards. As Mace watched from the doorway, one of the men drew a stiletto dagger from his pocket and licked its blade while staring wide-eyed toward the frightened young man.

“This room’s full”.

Jade announced, after a quick talk with an older man in the corner of the room.

Mason breathed a sigh of relief, and the two moved on to the next room.

“I am starting to think those wayward teens didn’t leave, they just grew up” He whispered to himself.

The next room was like the last. This one, however, had about half a dozen men and women hunched over an old analog television set in the center of the room. The screen showed nothing but static, and the small group seemed to be arguing over how best to repair the device.

Jade disappeared briefly, and, sensing a safer atmosphere, Mason approached the group.

“It’s the capacitors, they always blow first on these old TV’s” A man grumbled.

“Nah, it’s not that, it’s the antenna. It’s not powerful enough to pick up any signals. There’s only one pirate station still broadcasting in analog, and that’s all the way out in District 12.” A woman replied.

“It’s not the fucking antenna Lyria, how could it be, we just had it working last week!” the man snapped.

“She’s right” Mason interjected.

“Sometimes the signal can vary depending on the atmospheric conditions. That might be why it works only some of the time”.

“And who the fuck might you be?” The man turned his ire toward the newcomer.

“I’m Maso… Mace, I’m Mace”.

“Well Maso-Mace why don’t you mind your fucking business, yeah? Noone asked for your advice”.

“Leave him Bryce, he’s only telling you the truth!” the woman said.

“I don’t need him, or you, to tell me anything! Pass me the fucking screwdriver!” The man barked.

Jade appeared from behind Mason.

“There’s a bunk for you. There, in the corner. You can grab some blankets from that wardrobe over there.

I’m going to my room, I’ve got some stuff to do. Get settled in, and I’ll come hang with you later.”

“Wait, so, you have a room? Is there any chance, that, you know… I could…”

Jade laughed, good natured, but a little too emphatic for Mason’s liking.

“You just got here” she replied. “You start in the dorms, then maybe in a few months, you get a room. Maybe. Good luck!” Jade winked, and glanced at the gaggle of miscreants assembled behind Mason.

“So, you know Jade?” The man spoke.

“Yeah, I guess?” Mason replied.

“Well, that won’t fucking help you. I’m the boss in here, you respect me, got it?”

“Y, yeah, sure”.

The boss returned to breaking his television set, and the girl stood up.

“I’m Lyra” She said. “The asshole is Bryce”.

Mason made his way to the the corner bunk, and began to remove his jacket.

“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” The boss called out to him.

“What? This is my bunk, isn’t it?”

“No no no. You’re the new bitch. The new bitch sleeps on the floor. Over there”

Bryce pointed to a spot on the floor next to the unoccupied bunk.

“I… I’m not sleeping on the floor when there’s a perfectly good bed right here…” Mason stammered slightly, but held his ground.

Bryce snorted in anger, and shoved Lyra aside, marching toward Mason, his large frame bristling with rage.

The Boss towered above Mace, even as he rose to his feet.

“Floor. Now.” He commanded.

“Fi… Fine! Fine!” the smaller man relented, and took his blanket to the empty spot on the floor.

Lyra and the others glanced at him furtively, then avoided him with their eyes.

Mason’s face burned crimson with humiliation and fear, but he said nothing. Instead, he simply lay on the blanket with his back to the wall, and removed his jacket.

The boss still glared at him as he removed his meagre possessions from the pockets of the canvas longcoat.

Mason removed his now empty credit chip, and then, finally, the pocket watch. He held it in his hands briefly, remembering better times, and then placed it on the blanket beside him.

“Nice watch!” The boss shouted. “Can I borrow it?”

“Bryce no, leave him alone!” Lyra said.

The large man ignored her and walked over to where Mason sat, the glinting gold attracting his gaze like a moth to a flame.

Mason gripped his watch and held it tightly in his hands.

“No! This was my grandfathers watch, you… you’re not getting this!”

“Like fuck I’m not. Hand it over, or I’ll beat it out of you!”

“N-no! No!”

Bryce reached Mason’s hunched form, and in one swift movement, grabbed him by the shoulder, and, with one arm, and heaved the young man to his feet.

“I’m going to count to five, and if that watch isn’t in my hand by then, your head is going through that wall. One.”

“Bryce, just take the credits chip, there might be something still on it…” Mason begged.

“Two”

“Bryce, for fuck sake, give him a break!” Lyra called.

“Three!”

Mace clutched the watch, determined not to let the last thing he owned in the world be taken from him.

“Four! I’m warning you fucker! Last chance!”

Mace closed his eyes and waited for the blow. His body tensed, and his hands squeezed the silver button on the top of the watch.

“Five!”

Mace waited for the inevitable.

And waited.

And… Waited…

Nothing happened.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, and saw… nothing.

Bryce, Lyra, everyone was gone, the room was empty.

“What the…” Mace breathed.

An eery silence hung like a dense fog where previously boisterous voices rang out.

“Bryce?” he called.

Could this be a prank? Some kind of hazing for the new guy?

It was then that Mace noticed the wisps of silver wafting through his vision.

He had dismissed them before as a trick of the light, but they were moving with purpose, and form.

Despite his trepidation, the young man reached out and touched one of the shadowy apparitions, and he heard a dull, muffled voice.

“How would I know where he went? You were standing closer to him than me!”

It was Lyra’s voice, and in an instant, it was gone, and the apparition passed through him.

Mace felt his heart beating in his chest.

He ran towards the door, and, panic rising within him, made his way towards the exit.

Mace struggled to find the handle in his dream-like haze, but eventually located the rusted brass knob.

Turning around as the passed through the door, he saw a silvery apparition behind him.

He heard a low droning sound that seemed to shake him to his core. Mace felt nauseous, and his strength drained from his body.

Then, his world filled with brilliant blue-white light. Mason tried to shut his eyes, but realised that they were already closed.

He fell to the floor, and his world finally went from brilliant white to darkest black.

–

“Mace!” What are you doing lying in the hall? Is that asshole Bryce giving you a hard time?”

“Wha… What?”

Mace woke as if from a deep sleep.

Jade was standing over him, with the, dark-skinned man in the black overcoat, standing next to her.

“Do you want me to make sure Bryce doesn’t bother you again?”

“No, no, it’s fine, thanks!”

“All right, well, I’m going for a shower. I’ll see you later! Stay out of trouble!” Jade called cheerily, and disappeared. The dark skinned mans gaze lingered for a moment, before he too disappeared down another dimly lit corridor.

The dazed young man made his way back into the dorm room, where the atmosphere was considerably more subdued than his previous visit.

Lyra sat on her bunk reading, while the boss tinkered with his still broken TV.

Mace’s jacket and blanket were lying on the bunk in the far corner.

Still feeling tired, he walked to his bunk and sat down.

They avoided him with their gaze. Even the boss was speechless.

What had happened to him?

Mace wondered.

As he lay on his bed he felt the familiar weight in his hand.

The Watch! He realised.

When Bryce had threatened him, Mace had pressed the silver button on the watch, and then everyone had disappeared…

“What if… What if the watch had the power of invisibility?” Mace wondered.

“Nah, that’s crazy…” he told himself.

But what else would explain what had happened?

There was only one way to find out.

Mace summoned his courage, and pressed the button again.

This time, since his eyes were open, he saw a kaleidoscope of colour, the world shattering into a million facets of a diamond, before, in just an instant, they reformed back into one.

He was alone again.

But like the last time, there were wisps of silver-grey smoke where Bryce and Lyra once stood.

Mason stared at them, gradually overcoming his fear.

They were a thousand images all rolled into one, like a movie being played on fast-forward.

The more he stared, the slower they moved, until eventually, they seemed to move at normal speed.

Mason’s stood and walked toward the Boss, and stretched his hand out to touch him.

It passed straight through his silver-grey form. Mace’s hand felt cold, as if he had touched a corpse, and in a panic, he pulled it away.

Instantly, the figure in front of him began twitching frantically, his body seizing violently, and Mason recoiled in fright, backing against the wall.

His heart beating, the young man began to panic, and he pressed the silver button again and again, desperate to end this bizarre pantomine.

It didn’t work.

Still, in front of him, human figures danced in a chaotic display of body-horror.

He ran for the door, and turned one way, then another, as more bizarre images assaulted his eyes.

Eventually, Mason found himself alone.

He could barely hear the rush of the water over the pounding of his heart, but he soon realised that he was in the shower block.

Mace stumbled through the steam that obscured his vision, waves of fear-induced nausea gripping his chest.

That is when he noticed another figure. But this one was unlike the last. Instead of frantic, alien movement, it moved with feminine grace and poise.

Jade.

Mason’s heart stopped pounding, his breath became less ragged, his thoughts became more clear.

Slowly, he began to see the faint, blurry outline of her long neon-red tresses, her muscular, olive skinned body, her shapely breasts and feminine curves.

She had a tattoo on her left shoulder blade, three elongated ovals joined in the center into a celtic knot.

Jade stopped washing her long hair, and turned slightly, covering her body with her hands, but seeing noone.

She stared toward Mason and for an instant he feared that she could see him, but after a moment, she turned off the water, and reached for her towel.

Mason suddenly felt a wave of unnatural tiredness overtake him.

He felt as if he were drugged, and barely managed to walk a few steps before he collapsed, and once again, his world went black.

He awoke, soaking wet and freezing cold, on the floor of the women’s shower block.

His head was bleeding and in pain from where he had hit it on the tiled floor.

He groaned slightly, and stood, before realising where he was.

He glanced around him, but thankfully, the stalls were all empty.

Mason left the block as quietly as possible.

Thinking fast, he entered the men’s showers across the hall, and dried his hair and clothing as best he could.

He then returned to his dorm.

To his relief, it was dark when he arrived, and he could hear loud snoring coming from several of the bunks.

He tiptoed to his bed, and climbed beneath the rough cotton covers.

“So, I can turn invisible now”. He thought.

“Awesome”.

–