God's Confectorium - Chapter 5
< chapter 4 masterpost
Chapter 5
by ericasaur
“What the fuck?” Ryan stops in his tracks again as Brendon looks around, alarmed. “What - why is there-”
“Ryan,” Brendon says urgently, grabbing Ryan’s arm and gripping it tightly. Ryan directs his attention to the town that Brendon is gaping at, and then all of the breath leaves his body at once. The town is coming apart before their eyes, the walls and the ground being peeled away in bits by an invisible force, revealing cage-like walls and hellish buildings where the normal ones once were. It’s like they’re being transformed into another world - a more demented and even more decayed version of the already destroyed town.
“Oh my god,” Ryan whispers incredulously, not able to do anything more than stare wide-eyed and frightened at the sight before him. The siren is getting louder.
“Okay, now I’m scared,” Brendon admits, his throat forming a lump as he tries to remain calm. Ryan turns to face the church where it sounds like the noise is coming from, and he can see the speaker-like device atop the church, beside that weird looking symbol.
“I think we need to get in the church,” Ryan says, squeezing Brendon’s hand. “Like, right now,” he stresses, hearing an unsettling sound off in the distance. They turn around, running toward the giant staircase leading up to the church doors. Ryan tries not to think about the fact that they’re slowly being surrounded by darkness, the light gradually fading as the black chases them.
“What’s happening?” Brendon cries, looking over his shoulder as he runs, panicking more and more as he takes in the horrible sight of the town that is now transformed into something out of a horror film.
“Bren, just don’t look,” Ryan pants, tugging Brendon as they continue up the never-ending expanse of stairs. “Come on, we’re almost there.” Ryan just knows that they’ll be safe in there. Unlike the rest of the town, the church didn’t change; it still looks normal - well, as normal as things are here. It’s almost as if the siren is a warning, because as soon as it went off, everything went to hell.
They finally reach the top of the stairs, just as the massive wooden doors start to close. Ryan grabs Brendon, pulling him into the church, and Brendon turns his head one last time to look behind them, immediately wishing he hadn’t. In the split-second between Ryan pulling him in and the doors shutting, he gets a glimpse of the single most terrifying creature he’s ever seen in his life.
The doors slam shut and Ryan leans against them, breathing heavily. Brendon is staring at the floor, too shocked and petrified to move.
“Fuck,” Ryan whispers, his voice sounding strangled. “None of this shit was supposed to happen,” he says to Brendon, walking toward him. “We were supposed to find Spence and Jon and leave and be done with it, but this? What the fuck is this shit?” he shrieks. God, Ryan never thought he’d be in a situation like this. He’s never believed in this kind of stuff. It’s all for horror movies - it’s not supposed to be real.
“Hi!” comes a screech from behind them. Brendon jumps, letting out of yelp of his own as a girl jumps in front of them. She’s standing there grinning creepily and staring wide-eyed at them, unblinking. “Good to see you made it in time, now you won’t die just yet!” she says brightly. Brendon backs away from her a bit, leaning into Ryan and conveying with his eyes that they should get away from the crazy lady.
“Who are you?” Ryan asks dubiously, completely taken aback considering this is the first sign of human life they’ve encountered in this damn place.
“Lindsey!” she exclaims unwaveringly, grinning blindingly wide at the confused pair. “The grace of God has led you to safety!” Brendon is about to laugh until he realizes that she’s being completely serious.
“Yeah… so what the fuck was that that just happened out there?” Ryan asks, gesturing to the door. Lindsey gasps - actually gasps - and covers her mouth in shock, her face resembling that of someone who’s just been slapped.
“You must never use such language in the house of the Lord!” she scolds, pointing an accusing finger in Ryan’s face. His eyebrows raise significantly and he glances over at Brendon whose shocked face is looking very much the same as Ryan’s own.
“Oh… kay, um. Sorry,” Ryan replies slowly, trying to seem apologetic. Lindsey’s face softens a bit and then her smile is back like it never left.
“That’s alright! Anyway, you were asking about the sirens?” she continues with her upbeat cheer.
“Yeah,” Ryan nods, “that and the fact that the whole fu- freaking town morphed into what I’d essentially describe as hell.” Lindsey shudders at the mention of the place, her eyes growing wide and comically serious.
“Yeah, that happens,” she nods gravely, sounding like it’s in fact nothing out of the ordinary. “This is the only place that isn’t affected. It’s our sanctuary!”
“Wait,” Brendon butts in. “’Our’? There are other people here?” He un-attaches himself from Ryan now that he’s decided Lindsey isn’t a potential threat.
“A few,” Lindsey answers, that creepy smile still on her face. “Most of them have given up by now, though,” she shrugs. “There’s nobody but me here tonight! Oh! And also there were the two boys that came by about a week ago.” Ryan’s ears perk up at that.
“Do you remember their names?” he asks. Lindsey directs her attention to him, nodding enthusiastically.
“Yes! Jon, the nice man with the camera, and the really sweet one, Spencer!”
“A week ago? You saw them a week ago?” Brendon asks a bit anxiously.
“Yep,” she answers. “They came here when the darkness came, just like you two. They stayed for about two days, but Spencer’s leg was hurt, so when they left they said they were heading to the hospital to get medical supplies,” she informs them, turning around and walking down the aisle toward what looks like a sort of altar, only it’s sunken in like a pit. There’s also a giant mural on the back wall - beautiful, but strangely creepy. Brendon and Ryan follow her cautiously, sticking closely together.
“Oh my god, that means they might be okay,” Brendon breathes. “They’re the reason we came here - to find them. They’re our best friends,” he explains to Lindsey. She turns around, bouncing toward them.
“They’re sinners, you know,” she says disapprovingly. “And from the looks of it,” she says, darting her eyes down to their joined hands, “so are you two.”
Ryan looks at her incredulously, baffled and not having any idea what to say, because who the hell is concerned with things like this while their fucking lives are in danger?
“Look,” he says shortly, advancing toward her. “You never answered my question.”
“Oh, right!” she says in that bright tone again. “Well, you see, our town is cursed. The darkness comes often, and our church is our only salvation! The darkness can never conquer us in the hands of our almighty Father!”
Brendon and Ryan probably look like fish out of water, their mouths opening and closing pathetically. This girl’s lost her mind.
“Why in the world do you stay here?” Brendon asks, looking at her like she’s insane - which clearly, she is.
“This is my home,” she waves him off. “No need to be frightened when I have the greatest protector of them all!” Brendon closes his eyes, rubbing over them tiredly and sighing, already getting a headache from the overwhelming amount of crazy in the room.
“How come we haven’t seen any other people around?” Ryan asks, thinking that it’s kind of weird that they haven’t encountered any other townspeople if Lindsey is telling the truth.
“Oh, they don’t come out much. But there were some boys here just a little while ago! They left just before you arrived. They weren’t from around here. There were five, I think,” she recalls.
“So, you said our friends went to the hospital?” Brendon redirects the conversation. She looks at him, tilting her head to the side and smiling. Brendon shudders.
“Yes. They might be dead now, though. The hospital is just full of them,” she says conspiratorially.
“Them?” Ryan repeats.
“Yes, them,” she whispers. “You know, the evil creatures.” She leans back, a secretive smirk on her face like she’s in on something.
“Right,” Ryan says in his condescending tone that comes naturally. “How long until this ‘darkness’ ends and it’s safe to go out again?”
“Well it’s never completely safe,” she admits. “There are always some of them wandering about. But it’ll be over in a couple of hours.”
“Good,” Brendon says, sitting down on a pew. “We need to get to that hospital,” he says to Ryan.
“No!” Lindsey whines, crossing her arms like a child. “Why does everyone always leave me?!”
“Look, we really just need to find our friends and leave,” Brendon holds his hands up in a surrender to her.
“You’re all going to die anyway!” she exclaims angrily before turning on her heels and stomping off through a door. Ryan looks over to Brendon, shaking his head disbelievingly and coming to sit beside him.
“Fuck, Bren,” he says, his voice breaking. He leans his head on Brendon’s shoulder, staring at the floor and wishing that this was all just a bad dream and he would wake up back in their nice, safe house in Chicago. He’d give anything to just have his life back again, planning cookouts with Spence and Jon and going out to bars together and having fun. It all seems so intangible now, like that life wasn’t ever real. And he’s barely been here two days.
“I bet they’re still in the hospital,” Brendon offers. “It seems like a place that would be good to hide out in.” He doesn’t mention the part where he has a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach just at the thought of going there.
* * *
Hours later, or maybe not - they don't exactly have any sense of time anymore - the 'darkness' has still not left. Lindsey hasn't reappeared either. Ryan's kind of glad, considering she was out of her fucking mind.
All he's been doing is inwardly freaking out over the situation they're in. They're in a strange, abandoned town, in a creepy church that Ryan is pretty sure is actually the meeting place of a cult, with their only human contact being a psycho woman who he's afraid might kill them if they go to sleep.
All in all, things are not good.
And then there's this hospital situation. Firstly, if there's anything that Ryan's learned from horror movies it's which locations are always the ones that ultimately lead to death - and hospitals are one of those locations.
Brendon doesn't seem perturbed in the least. That's just how he is, hard-headed, stubborn, determined, and willing to die for his friends. Of course Ryan is set on finding his friends, but his first priority is protecting Brendon. Nothing is going to change that.
Brendon sighs beside him, turning restlessly. He's lying down on the pew with his head in Ryan's lap, tossing and turning and doing anything but sleeping.
"I can't sleep on a fucking pew," he grumbles, looking up at Ryan and blinking wide eyes at him.
"I'm sorry," Ryan sympathizes, petting a hand through Brendon's hair. "Hopefully we can leave soon." Actually, Ryan would much rather stay here where it's safe, but there's no use in telling Brendon that. He's made it clear they're leaving as soon as possible. Ryan doesn't understand how he's being so calm about all this. There are fucking monsters here, creatures that are most definitely not human and are intent on killing, and Brendon just shrugs and continues on his merry way while Ryan is afraid he's going to have an actual heart attack. Brendon always was brave. It's one of the reasons Ryan admires him so much.
Ryan doesn't register the footsteps nearing them, but then Lindsey is there, and he jumps, causing Brendon's head to fall off of his lap. "God, what?!" Ryan produces a sound similar to a squeak. Lindsey just beams, clasping her hands together and clearing her throat.
"I think it's safe for you to leave now," she points to the window that's high up on the back wall of the church. Ryan looks up, noticing that there's a little light out now, no longer the pitch black that existed before. It looks around six in the evening.
"Oh," Ryan barely makes a sound. "Okay, thanks." Lindsey nods, twirling around in circles and starting to hum cheerfully. Brendon shoots Ryan a look before sitting up.
"Um, could I ask you something?" Brendon asks the girl. She stops in her tracks, facing him with a polite smile and nodding again.
"Of course. And if I know the answer I will be more than happy to pass it on to you."
"Right... so our friends, Spencer and Jon. When they came here, how were they? I mean, did it seem like they were okay?" Brendon chews on his lip after the words are out, worry just radiating out of him. Ryan rubs his shoulder comfortingly.
"Oh, well, besides your friend's leg of course, they seemed adequately taken care of," she replies. "Though they did seem scared."
"We have to find them," Brendon turns to Ryan. "Ryan, they're scared and we have to find them." He's starting to get upset, his eyes shining and his breathing getting faster.
"Bren, calm down, baby, we're going to find them, okay?" Ryan soothes, taking Brendon's face in his hands and trying to smile for him. "Just calm down. We have to stay calm." It's funny because Brendon's usually the one telling Ryan to calm down. Brendon nods, a sob leaving him as he hugs Ryan. A small noise sounding vaguely like disapproval comes from besides them where Lindsey is standing. Ryan doesn't pay her any attention as he tugs Brendon toward the doors.
"Bye, then!" she shouts as they walk out.
"She is crazy," Brendon whispers to Ryan, looking behind them and walking faster to get out of there. Ryan actually laughs, something he hasn't done in a while.
"Out of her fucking mind," he agrees, tangling their fingers together. He stops when they're at the bottom of the steps, looking around and making sure that nothing is hiding out, waiting for them to walk by. They make it out of the cemetery without a problem, turning onto the road.
"You know what, I should have looked for a map at the motel," Ryan sighs, realizing that they have no idea where the hospital is.
"Well, there's another one of those street maps," Brendon points to the post just like the first one they had found. Ryan shudders, remembering what had happened after that.
The map shows the road they're on, Nathan Avenue, and at first Ryan thinks they'll have to find another map, but then at the very top left corner, he spots a dot labeled Brookhaven Hospital. "Here we go," he mumbles to himself, trying to figure out the roads to take. "Can you remember the directions?" he asks Brendon, because Brendon has a weirdly remarkable memory.
"Yeah," Brendon says, glancing at the map once more before they start to walk again. It's not until about five minutes into their walk that Ryan realizes how cold it is.
"It's freezing," he suddenly says, because it was not this cold before.
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Brendon says, looking around a little anxiously. "Hey," he stops walking. "There's a gas station." Before Ryan can ask what use they would have for a gas station, Brendon is walking off toward it. Ryan panics for a minute with Brendon leaving his side.
"Hey, Brendon!" he yells, running over to him and grabbing his hand again. "Don't run off like that!" he chides, not trying to be mean but just worried beyond belief. "God, you can't - you can't leave me like that," he says pathetically, voice cracking.
"I'm sorry," Brendon replies softly, running a hand down Ryan's arm. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking." He smiles reassuringly, walking to the gas station with Ryan's hand in his this time.
The first thing they notice is that there's food. They go straight to it, putting as much as they can in Spencer's backpack that they'd found in the hotel room. They're about to leave but then Ryan spots something else, one of those small, handheld radios, on the front counter. He grabs it, thinking that they might need it for some reason.
Back outside, Brendon suddenly veers off to the gas pumps, pulling Ryan with him. "This is what we need!" he exclaims, bending down to pick something up that Ryan can't see. He stands back up holding a 2x4 wooden plank.
"What is that even doing here?" Ryan wonders.
"I don't know, but it's the closest thing I've seen to a weapon, so," he shrugs, taking it with them and continuing on their walk.
They don't pass anything of interest on the way, just a bunch of old restaurants and shops. They can actually see the hospital, a big, tall building - tall compared to all the other buildings - when something attracts Ryan's attention. It's the radio he had grabbed. It's giving off a sort a static, like when a station doesn't pick up. He grabs it, frowning because it started out of nowhere. "What-"
"Oh, shit," Brendon says, sounding panicked. Ryan jerks his gaze up to the sight in front of him. It's another creature, different from the other two they've seen. This one is not moving, and at first Ryan doesn't think it's a creature at all. It's possibly one of the most frightening things he's ever seen. There are legs, and then where the upper body should be... there are just another set of legs, extending up. It's horrifyingly still, almost resembling a mannequin. It's not advancing on them; it's not doing anything at all.
"What the fuck is that?" Ryan freezes up, not able to do anything but stare at the grotesque creature.
"I- I don't think it's one of those creatures," Brendon says, lowering the piece of wood he was wielding. "I think it's just a really fucked up mannequin." He sounds kind of interested rather than terrified like Ryan. But why would there be a mannequin in the middle of the street? Brendon inches forward, getting closer and closer until he's close enough to touch it. He reaches out and Ryan has a bad feeling.
"Brendon, don't touch that," Ryan warns, walking quickly toward him. But just as Brendon's hand is about to brush against it, the thing's whole body moves, like it's just coming to life, like something switched it on. There's no time for either of them to react before it's swinging one of its top legs down, hitting Brendon with such force that he goes flying backward, landing on the ground.
"Brendon, are you okay?" Ryan shrieks, running toward him and intending on helping him up, but Brendon jumps up, walking toward the mannequin-creature with a determined look and not wasting any time before swinging the wooden plank forward, hitting the monster so hard it tumbles backward. It's completely silent, not making any noise like the other two creatures had. It advances on Brendon again, but he hits it once more, this time causing it to fall down. Brendon stands above it, smashing it with the plank over and over, long after it stopped moving.
"Bren," Ryan says gently, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from uselessly bludgeoning the dead creature. "Honey, stop, it's dead, look," he gestures. Brendon is breathing hard, his chest heaving with exertion. He has his eyes closed and is shaking his head with a sort of helpless look.
"I don't know how long we can keep doing this," Brendon cries, wiping the tears that are streaking his pale face. "Ryan, this town is infested with these things and I'm starting to think we aren't going to make it out alive."
"No," Ryan says, sounding a lot braver that he feels. "Don't say that. You just fucking took that thing out, Brendon. I mean, it didn't have a chance," he half-smiles, trying to put some hope back into his fiancé.
"It was pretty badass, huh?" Brendon gives a halfhearted laugh, wiping off the remaining tears.
"We're going to be okay," Ryan assures him, even if he doesn't quite believe it himself.
"Yeah," Brendon sighs, bending over to pick up the wooden plank that is now covered with something that is definitely not human blood. "Let's just go."
The remaining walk to the hospital goes uninterrupted, and then they're standing in front of the old, decrepit building with big letters on the front spelling out 'Brookhaven Hospital.' Ryan has a sense of foreboding, like it's already been predetermined that this place is going to be the worst they've encountered yet.
The building is obviously holding all sorts of secrets, like they've been woven into the architecture, just waiting for someone stupid enough to come and pick them out.
Bracing himself, Ryan pushes the door open. They walk in to a dark reception area, papers scattered everywhere and medical equipment left abandoned on carts. Brendon wanders over to the desk, examining all the papers for anything of use.
Ryan gets out his flashlight, not stupid enough to go on without it.
"Hey, I think I found a map of the hospital," Brendon says, sounding accomplished. Ryan flicks on the flashlight so they can read the map. There are two pages to it, showing the basement and first floor, and the second, third, and roof. This place is full of rooms. Somehow, that’s extremely unsettling.
"Okay, we should go-"
Ryan stops at the sound of his radio going off.
chapter 6 >
* * *
A/N: Hope you liked it! Sorry about the wait. So, if you didn't catch what the radio is for, the static goes off when a monster is near. Also the monster they encountered in this one is called a Mannequin, which is pretty fitting. :b They don't move or look alive at all until you get close to them.