God's Confectorium - Chapter 3
“Ryan,” Brendon whimpers again, his grip on his arm tightening as the shadows underneath the car start to move. Ryan holds onto him, staring across the street and barely breathing as the figure starts to crawl out from underneath the car, its shape becoming more and more distinguishable.
“What the hell is that?” Ryan whispers, too scared to do much else. The - the thing, whatever it is, crawls completely out into the open, and any thought that Ryan had of it maybe being a person is obliterated as he stares at the grotesque, armless creature moving toward them. Its skin is grey and it doesn’t have a face.
“Ryan,” Brendon says urgently, tugging Ryan’s arm and wordlessly begging him to do something. But Ryan is frozen in place and unable to stop staring at the advancing creature. It’s standing up now, and there are ribs protruding visibly from its torso. The way it walks is jagged and slow, but still with clear intent - intent on reaching its target. “Ryan,” Brendon says again, snapping Ryan from his horrified intrigue with the monster.
Ryan’s mind suddenly goes into overdrive, his heart frantically racing. The monster stops when it’s close to them, its torso shaking and jerking, and Ryan notices a hole in its chest. He realizes what’s going to happen, and he grabs Brendon’s hand and pulls him away just as the creature emits some sort of liquid from its chest spraying nothing but the air as they move out of the way. Some of the spray caches Ryan’s jacket, and he throws it off as it begins to sizzle. Acid. The thing is shooting acid at them.
“Brendon, come on, now,” Ryan says helplessly, grabbing his hand again and running as fast as he can. They don’t look to see if the thing is following them, and if it is Ryan hopes it’s too slow to catch up. His mind works quickly with his feet, remembering the correct roads to turn at to get to the motel.
They run and run, not stopping for anything, making turns here and there. Ryan can feel a stitch forming in his side, and Brendon is breathing heavily beside him. Ryan remembers the map saying something about South Vale, the southern part of town. And he remembers the Inn being directly across from a park - Rose something. Rosewater Park. “Look for a park,” he tells Brendon, his breathing labored and his legs feeling like jelly.
They slow down, walking along the current road. There’s nothing special, just a few restaurants, a gas station with an abandoned car parked there, some houses - all of them looking eerily silent. “There!” Brendon points, and Ryan looks up to see a park not far away. It’s surrounded with fog, and he just now notices the whole part of this town is surrounded by fog. The park looks like maybe it was once beautiful and full of life, its stone architecture smooth and appealing to the eye. He also notices a huge church somewhere in the distance, seeing its symbol - not a cross, oddly enough - protruding from the top of the building and a graveyard surrounding the front. Brendon drags him over across the street and they stop in front of a big sign. Jack’s Inn. It’s definitely an old fashioned-looking sign, much like everything in the town. Ryan thinks that if this place were inhabitable that maybe he’d like it. But as much as he’d like to appreciate the scenery, he wastes no time in getting his ass in that motel.
When they walk in, they’re cautious. They have no idea what to expect now, after… that. But as they creep inside, there is nothing. They entrance part is dirty and unkempt, pictures hanging off the wall crookedly and papers littering the reception desk. It’s obvious that this place has been out of business for a long time.
He flips the light switch on the wall, expecting it to be useless, but surprisingly the small lobby fills with light - dim, but so comforting.
“Do you think any of those… things will be in here?” Brendon nearly whispers, darting his frightened, wide eyes to Ryan’s. Ryan bites his lip, looking around and shaking his head slowly.
“I don’t think so,” he whispers back. He lets go of Brendon’s hand to walk behind the reception desk. There is nothing of use that he spots right away, just piles upon piles of scattered paperwork, but upon further inspection he notices the cupboard filled with room keys. The only problem is he doesn’t know which rooms they should check. He runs his finger along the keys, until he sees an empty hook. “Hey, the key to room 121 is missing,” he tells Brendon, turning around to look at him.
“Maybe it’s Spencer and Jon,” Brendon says, his eyes lighting up for the first time. “Come on,” he says anxiously.
“Hold on, there has to be like - like a master key here somewhere.” He continues to search everywhere - the desk, the drawers, cabinets - but he finds nothing. So with a sigh, he reaches over and grabs a random key, just in case they need a room to sleep in, and makes his way back over to Brendon.
The walk down the hallway is a hesitant one, both of them wary of inexplicable creatures. They encounter room 121 without a problem, however, noticing that the door is slightly ajar. Brendon pushes it open, peeking inside before walking in the rest of the way. There’s nobody.
“Spence?” Ryan calls out softly. No answer. “Great, not here,” he sighs.
“Wait, look,” Brendon says, moving over to the dresser. He turns around holding something - a camera. “Jon’s camera. They were here,” he confirms. Ryan’s starting to feel like he’s in a mystery-slash-horror film.
Brendon moves to sit on the bed, Ryan following him, and he turns on the camera, flicking through the images. They look at the happy couple on the digital screen, pictures of them laughing, smiling, kissing, and Ryan feels like he’s going to cry. They were so happy and neither of them knew that they were entering what is essentially hell. Ryan is starting to understand why this place is rumored as a ‘hell on earth.’
“I hope they’re okay,” Brendon whispers, staring down at the pictures. He’s crying, Ryan notices, a tear falling onto the screen and making the picture look distorted.
“It’s gonna be okay, Bren,” Ryan assures him, wrapping his arm around his small frame and tugging him closer. “We’re okay,” he says, pressing a comforting kiss to Brendon’s forehead.
“I miss them,” Brendon admits, biting his lip and not tearing his eyes away from the image of Spencer smearing cake in Jon’s face while they both laugh. The picture pretty much conveys everything about their relationship - their ability to make each other laugh, always, and their never-ending happiness with each other. God, Brendon misses them.
“Me too,” Ryan says quietly, pressing the button on the camera to switch to the next picture. He’s surprised when he doesn’t see another picture of them, but of a part of the town instead. “Hey, I think that’s that park,” Ryan says, looking at the picture of the stone entrance. When he squints, he can barely make out the name on the sign - Rosewater Park. “Yeah, it is.”
“I’ll bet you anything Jon photographed it on their way in here and told Spence he wanted to go visit it,” Brendon smiles a little, remembering how Jon is always so adventurous, never fully satisfied until he’s explored every single landmark in a new place and taken his gorgeous pictures.
Ryan looks at Brendon, something clicking. “I bet he did,” he agrees. “They might be there,” he says, watching as Brendon understands too.
“Yeah, but without his camera?”
“He has like six cameras, Brendon,” Ryan reminds him. He’s about to suggest they go, but he notices the light gradually dying down outside when he looks toward the window. “We should stay here until tomorrow. There’s no way we’re going out there in the dark,” he says, his skin filling with goosebumps just at the thought.
“Yeah,” Brendon sighs, shutting the camera off and placing it on the bedside table. Ryan takes a moment to actually look at the room. It’s worn-down, the yellow wallpaper peeling off the wall in various places. The floor is brown and carpeted, giving off a musty, stale scent. All of the furniture is wooden and chipped, including the bed. The comforter on the bed is crumpled, probably from Spencer and Jon having slept in it. All in all, it looks like it was once a nice hotel, probably full of tourists.
The thing about this place is that it’s actually beautiful - or it was at one time - and it’s sad to see what’s become of it now. Ryan wishes it wasn’t so aesthetically pleasing, then maybe Jon would have never wanted to come here in the first place, and Ryan wouldn’t have to be here right now, scared for himself and scared for his fiancé.
“I’m scared,” he admits to Brendon, who looks up at Ryan’s unusually choked-up voice. “I really am, and I never expected to encounter something like - like whatever that thing was. But we’re going to be okay. I’m not going to let anything hurt you, Brendon,” he promises, and he knows that’s a promise he’ll keep forever. Nothing’s going to hurt Brendon unless it kills Ryan first.
“I know,” Brendon murmurs, leaning over to kiss Ryan softly. “I know you won’t.”
* * *
Before leaving for the park the following morning, Ryan searches the hotel room thoroughly, making sure they aren’t missing anything. He finds a bag that he knows is Spencer’s, containing three bottles of water, some food, matches, and a flashlight. Ryan is suddenly thankful for Spencer’s preparedness for everything. He tosses the camera into the backpack and zips it up.
The water was working in the bathroom, so they were actually able to take showers. It’s still creepy knowing that an abandoned town has working water and electricity.
They walk right out of the room without hesitance, ready to make their way out. They swiftly turn a corner, only for Ryan to stop abruptly while Brendon screams. Right in front of them, making its way closer and closer, is something like Ryan can only imagine comes from nightmares. It’s not like the one from yesterday, but just as frightening. It’s small and flesh-colored, but it doesn’t - it doesn’t have arms or a torso, or even a head. It’s just got legs, and a folded over body with protruding spikes in its back. It’s body is covered in veins, pulsing and moving. It makes a horrifying noise, and Ryan backs up.
“Oh my god,” Brendon cries, “What do we do?”
“I don’t know,” Ryan shakes his head helplessly as the thing draws nearer. He realizes that they need a weapon. They need something to protect themselves with. Ryan’s survival skills kick in, and he does the only thing he can when the creature gets too close to them - he just kicks it as hard as he possibly can, and it stumbles back, but doesn’t fall, so he kicks it again. It hits the wall and makes an angry noise. Ryan stomps on its body, kicks it over and over until it stops moving and he’s breathing hard.
“Fuck,” Brendon exhales, placing a hand on his chest and closing his eyes. “I can’t believe you did that,” he says incredulously.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Ryan says, his mind reeling and his heart frantically trying to calm itself before he has a fucking heart attack.
“Let’s - let’s just go,” Brendon suggests, lacing their fingers together and squeezing lightly before pulling Ryan with him. Ryan glances back at the limp creature slumped against the wall, blood puddle around it, before following Brendon.
Outside, it’s not bright. It’s got to be around nine in the morning, but it feels gloomy and dark outside. He guesses this is as bright as it gets here.
They make their way straight to the park, Brendon now afraid and paranoid, looking over his shoulder every few seconds. He feels a little safer now, knowing that Ryan actually can protect him.
They walk up the stone steps, and onto the path that winds around the park, walking until they reach a giant fountain. He knows Jon took a picture of this fountain. It’s something he wouldn’t be able to pass up.
They walk around aimlessly, starting to feel more and more helpless as they go. Brendon seems interested in the place though, looking around attentively at everything and reading the plaques on stone displays that are dedicated to people he’s never heard of.
“Fuck,” Ryan breathes, stopping in his tracks.
“What?” Brendon asks, snapping his head up and looking in Ryan’s direction. In the middle of the path is one of those things - like the first one they encountered - lying on the ground, but it’s dead, blood and acid surrounding the lifeless body.
“Someone had to have been here,” Ryan points out. “Somebody killed it.”
“God, this is so fucked up,” Brendon says, sounding defeated like he’s accepted that this is the kind of place they’re in, like he’s given up all hope of this just being a bad dream.
“No, this is good,” Ryan argues, staring at Brendon encouragingly. “This means that Spencer and Jon are capable of killing these things. They’re still here somewhere, probably hiding and too scared to try and leave,” he reasons. Brendon nods along, because he knows Ryan is right, but he’s still worried. What if they really aren’t still alive? What if one of those things got them? It’s a constant stream of worry lingering in his mind, not even attempting to make room for thoughts of peace.
“Yeah, okay,” he says quietly, accepting Ryan’s small kiss and following him as he maneuvers around the dead body.
“It’s so weird, you know,” Ryan mutters as they walk. “To think that in the middle of the day, something like that is just wandering around. It’s fucking terrifying,” he shudders.
“This place is like…” Brendon sighs, trying to think of the right words. His stomach won’t settle, that uneasy feeling creeping up on him. “It’s like one big bad dream.” Ryan thinks that’s pretty accurate. Even in his bad dreams though, he’s never imagined things like the ones here. That’s probably what makes it so horrifying; the fact that this is something he never knew - or would ever believe - exists.
“The sooner we find them the sooner we can leave and forget this ever happened,” Ryan says, stepping over a branch and helping Brendon over it.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget about this,” Brendon says dubiously. “I’ll probably have nightmares about it forever.”
Ryan agrees silently, but he’s doesn’t say anything else. He can’t stop thinking about the possibility of his friends being dead. He can’t stop picturing them, huddled together, scared and alone and having to fight off these horrid creatures. They might even be trapped, and that possibility hadn’t even occurred to him before now. What if they’re locked somewhere, surrounded by these things and unable to get out? What if they’re starving to death? The thought alone makes his feet move faster along the path.
It’s a huge park, he’s realized, and they’re in the middle of it now, seeing benches and abandoned vendor carts. This place must’ve been thriving once, busting with families and couples, smiling and laughing together as they sit and watch the squirrels play. The only memories left now are scattered fliers for town festivities littering the ground and abandoned children’s toys. Ryan’s nearly cries when he spots a small doll lying on the ground.
“Did your mom ever tell you what actually happened here?” he asks Brendon. Brendon’s always been reluctant to talk about the tales his mother’s told him about this place. Ryan understands why now; because they were true. He thinks Brendon always knew that, but was terrified to find out he was right.
“All she said was that this place was the best place on earth, apart from the religious freaks of the town, but other than that, she said it was great. But then suddenly people started getting sick, dying even, and nobody knew why. Turns out the coal mine underground caught fire, killing most of the workers down there. By the time people aboveground found out, the fire had spread too much and was impossible to put out.” Brendon sighs, looking around his shoulder again to make sure they are still alone.
“They closed off the mine, thinking everything would be fine. But they didn’t realize that the fire was causing people to die from carbon monoxide poisoning, or just general lack of oxygen,” he explains. Ryan nods along, simultaneously keeping a watchful eye out for them. “The fire literally started creating sinkholes in the ground, causing houses and buildings to crumble.” That explains some of the sunken-in buildings in the north part of town. “They eventually deemed this place unlivable and evacuated it. The fire eventually stopped burning, but ever since then it’s been… different,” he looks at Ryan meaningfully.
“God, that’s awful,” Ryan says, wondering how all of the citizens reacted to the news that they had to leave their homes and never come back. They stop, nearing the edge of the park and looking over to see that church that Ryan saw yesterday with the weird symbol.
“Wonder what’s in there,” Brendon hums, nodding toward it.
“I don’t know, but I can guarantee you Jon found it fascinating,” he raises an eyebrow. It’s good that they know their friends so well, otherwise this would be a hell of a lot more difficult. Ryan just hopes to God they’re still alive.
“Let’s go then,” Brendon says, trying to manage a smile.
Ryan nods, but just as they start to walk, a siren goes off in the distance.
Chapter 4
A/N: Written by ericasaur