Dead Frontier/Issue 118

This is a preview for Issue #118 of Dead Frontier, titled ''Are You Afraid of the Dark? This is the fourth issue in 'Volume 20. '''The entire issue is planned to be posted the week of October 14, 2013.

Issue 118 - Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Cole’s eyes open slowly, his vision met with darkness. He tries to look around, but immediately regrets the movement when he feels horrible stabs of pain in his head. He nearly cries out, but holds it back out of intense fear. He presses a hand to his temple and winces, feeling something wet dripping from his head. He moves his jaw tentatively; that fall really did a number on his face.

He’s surprised his eyes still haven’t adjusted to the dark, and he makes an attempt to rise. Of course, it’s a failure as his knee holds him back, and he collapses onto his backside again. He then hears a rustling sound to his right, and a laborious groan. Barely, he can see a figure slumped against the wall, hair hanging over her face.

“Lucy?” he says breathlessly. He ignores the pain in his leg and scoots over to her. Her head lolls to the side, and he tries to get a good look at her. Her eyes are closed, and he can see some faint bruising on the right side of her face. Dried blood trickles down her chin. How long have they been here? “Can you hear me?”

He grabs her by the shoulders, and says a little more forcefully, “Lucy, talk to me.” She mumbles something he can’t understand, but it’s enough for him, knowing she’s alive.

“My fucking head…” she mutters after a few seconds. Then, she looks up, and recognition flashes over her face as if this is the first time she’s noticed him. “Where are we?”

“I--I don’t know. I just--” He trails off and takes a deep breath to compose himself. “Are you okay?”

She nods ‘yes,’ an obvious lie, and tries to rise to her feet. He advises against it, but she persists. It’s a struggle, but she helps him to his feet as well, and afterwards, he leans against the wall, breathing heavily. It’s still too dark to see much, but from what they can tell, it’s a large, barren room. She holds onto his arm as they walk along the perimeter, but even with her assistance, he soon has to take a break. Without his cane, the pain is too much to bear right now, and the pounding in his head is only making his fear and frustration worse.

“C’mon,” she urges him gently, and she goes to take another step, but her foot hits something. She looks down and...sees a leg. Her eyes inspect the body from the bottom up, until she reaches their face. She squints, suppresses a gasp, and falls into a crouch. “It’s Chloe,” she says. “Chloe?” She repeats her name a few times, but receives no response.

Without warning, a door on the far end of the room opens, and someone walks in, lantern in hand. Cole and Lucy turn, staring at the approaching figure, which suddenly stops a few feet inside. Around the room, they can now see people lie in various states of incapacitation--Duke, Adam, Daniel, Farrah, and Chloe, all bruised, bloodied, and unconscious.

Otherwise, the large area is completely empty, besides the few blood stains on the cement. However, as the figure begins walking again, the lantern illuminates some of his features.

Dark-skin.

Over-sized muscles.

A scar across his face. The light accentuates his awful, yellow-toothed grin.

“Good evening,” he says. Lucy gets to her feet slowly, and presses her back against the wall.

Impulsively, Cole grabs her shaking hand tightly. “It’s okay,” he whispers.

“It isn’t,” the man replies quickly, taking a single step forward. There’s a long pause, with only Lucy and Cole’s quivering breaths filling the air. “I’ll be back when your friends wake up.” He begins to turn, but Cole’s voice stops him.

“Who--who are you?” Cole asks hesitantly, and he swallows hard afterward. The man freezes mid-turn and once again tortures him with that terrible stare. It almost looks like the question irritates him; his right cheek quivers, and he approaches Cole. Each step is slow and deliberate, and his footsteps, although quiet, seem like an overly-loud pounding in the silence of the room.

He gets so close, Cole’s trembling ceases and he squeezes his eyes shut. He can smell the man’s breath, rotten and repulsive, and he breathes right in Cole’s face. “I’ll be back when your friends wake up,” he repeats.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Cole mutters quickly, and he finally opens his eyes when he hears retreating steps. Soon, the man is gone out the door again, the absence of the lantern refilling the darkness.