Book by: Cobber

Chapter 15: The Collaq

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Luis felt the pain throb through the darkness of his unconscious. He tried to keep his eyes closed andforce himself from waking, if that was possible. It was the only escape from a reality that had become a nightmare of its own. The throb would not let him.

It was augmented by a sharp kick to his side. He felt himself being dragged and his eyes fluttered open despite his best attempts.

"Get up you sack of shit!"There were pine needles under him and hecould hear the hum of construction in the distance. He had a collararound his neck which started to choke him as he was tugged forward again.

"Get up!" came the furious command. Luis tried to stagger to his feet and was pulled down again by the chain. He heard laughter from the dark shadows. He was outside in the forest, and his bloodied mouth was matted with pine needles. The trees and bushes were dimly visible in the moon.

"Please," he groaned to no avail as another savage tug dragged him forward, twisting his leg and scratching his face against a rock. He tried to get up but his legs buckled and a fresh torrent of blood poured out of his nose. There was a last tug which turned into a drag. He tried to reach out and grab anything to stop his motion but he was too weak, and his tormentor too strong. His head bounced off a rock and then he heard the sleeve of one of his shirts rip. He heard water gurgling and then he plunged through it, momentarily choking on the icy water. Eventually he was too tired to resist, and Luis simply gave up, allowing himself to be dragged.

The sound of machinery grew louder and his movement stopped in front of a pit. He realized the end had come. Martin had decided to kill him after all. He waited for the final push into the pit, and the weight of the dirt as they buried him alive. He could dimly see through his swollen eyelids the tractors and mechanized equipment moving below him.

Death did not come. Instead, he was dragged around the edge of the pit and rolled down a moderate incline. He came to a stop on his back and looked up at the stars. Eventually they dissolved into total blackness.

The clinking of chains brought him back to consciousness and he slowly raised his head. A small trickle of blood dribbled down his face and a sharp pain in his neck made him wince. He saw a figure rapping the chain around a pole, binding him like a dog on a leash.

"Luis, Luis, look here." He turned his head and stared at Martin. He was sitting on a crude rock throne that had been hewn from some of the granite rocks excavated from the hole. Several portable lights illuminated his grinning features. It was a silly sight, the body of a small teen-ager sitting on a disproportioned rock stone. In the background he could see the walls of the pit and an occasional flash of headlights as one of the construction vehicles drove by.

"Luis, welcome. How do you like the throne, not bad?" He jumped up and walked a little distance. "This is the beginning Luis, the beginning of a new order for this planet. Look at me Luis. Just a week ago I was nothing. Now I have a future of unlimited opportunity and power, of scope and ambition."

"What are you?" Luis asked, no longer scared. He felt like death. His head throbbed and he could feel the dried blood clogging his nose and throat. He couldn't feel his legs and thought that he may have ruptured something in his back. No, he didn't want to die, but he was not afraid to ask the question. Martin smiled and walked over to the pole. He unlocked the chain and pulled Luis over to him.

"You know, I'm glad I spared you. You will amuse me. The other resurrected are useless for the task. Imagine, they seem to lose their sense of humor once they're killed." He chuckled at his own joke and pulled Luis to his feet. Martin did not talk like a boy. His humor, his knowledge, his sadistic tendencies were that of a man who had seen much and inflicted pain in the past. Possessed, could the boy be possessed?

"You're not Martin." he blurted out. Martin's face rippled and his voice seemed to lower several octaves into a sound like the gravel being hauled away around them.

"Close Luis, but not exactly true. I am Martin and much, much more. He's here Luis, they're all here inside. And I can hear their suffering and pain and it is the music I hum and the thoughts I think." He laughed and Luis felt himself trembling. His voice returned to normal. "Martin needs me and listens to me, and thus he has fused with me."

"Who is the Collaq?"

"I am the Collaq," he said simply. Luis coughed and the pain racked his body. "That's plenty for you to digest for now!" he yelled dancing around as another truck full of dirt lumbered by.

Submitted: December 19, 2006

Horror fantasy horror evil forces monarch