A Time of Rest

[Marli Anderson]

The growing cold was slowly spreading out from the wound. It was something that she had never felt before and for the first time since awakening. She felt fear.

Crashing through the forest loudly Marli focused her vision in continuing her trek towards whatever lays ahead. Every step brought another round of pain as the branch moved ever so slightly within her. She could feel her blood soaking her legs through the armor. Knowing she’ll bleed out before succumbing to the other injuries.

Already the case that held the sealed container of filth was almost empty. The black oil that she relied on as lifeblood was the only thing keeping her alive.

Her feet made a crunching noise, looking down she saw that she stumbled onto a gravel driveway. Knowing that now she had a fifty percent chance in which she would either find a home or a road, all depending in the direction she chose. Deciding in going left, the driveway seemed to rise slightly in this direction and for most people, they would build on a higher level to the road below.

Marli’s spirits lifted as she rounded a row of high shrubs. Before her was a clearing. The home situated towards the back of the clearing. Someone had spent a decent amount of money in the construction of the two story home. The exterior was constructed of logs, giving it that rustic but modern look.

A single vehicle was parked near the detached garage. The Ford F-150 was of a newer model year but definitely showed that it was heavily used for work. She walked towards the home, hoping that the owner was somewhere else or things might become interesting.

As her foot came to rest on the first step up to the wrap around porch, her head felt like it was on fire. Crumbling, she squeezed her head with both hands as the visions returned with vengeance. The tortuous screams of the demons under the constant testing of their tormentors. Marli groaned in delirious pain, succumbing to exhaustion she blacked out.

The dreams floated before her, she reached out. Her fingers brushing against the frigid glass that contained her. “No no no please, please let me go.” she muttered. Her limbs weak under their own weight. The glass slide down revealing the darkened lab. In the distance, blurred vision kept her from focusing on the vague shapes of people moving about “ah, good it’s awake.” She felt the cold air against her naked body as gloved hands lifted her. “Let’s get it into the next phase, Dr. Hashimoto has aligned the samples to this one’s DNA.”

She tried to lift herself up from the gurney “It’s a fighter, perfect.” She felt a pair of hands grasp her head. Turning it roughly, the sharp burn behind her left ear snapped her muscles rigid “Alright, this one is marked, get moving.” She tried to scream only a muffled groan escaped her lips.

Marli’s eyes shot open. the dream still vivid and real in her mind. She laid there staring at her surrounds. Above her, the ceiling was adorned in wooden supports and the soft glow of the 40 watt lamp to her right illuminated the room she had found herself in.

Trying to sit up was met with a sudden slap of pain in her stomach, knocking her back in the bed “You should rest” The voice was soft with the hint of warning within it. She turned her head to look at its source. Sitting in a chair in the far corner, the woman looked to be roughly in her sixties. Resting across her lap was a old fashioned breech loading shotgun. “I’m not sure where you came from but you have a lot of explaining to do.”

“I am assuming you were the one to mend my wound?” Marli whispered loud enough for the woman to hear. She brushed her hand across her bare stomach, running across the patch of gauze taped to her skin. “Yes, before that you were screaming in delirium at the foot of my steps. Are you contagious?” the woman motioned across Marli, the black veins in deep contrast to her pale skin “I am not.” Marli replied seeming to have eased the others mood slightly. “Thought I had moved as far away from all of that and here you are. Almost spread your brains across my yard, thought you were one of them filth infected nutjobs use to see out in the field.”

Marli’s curiosity was peaked to her words “You know of the filth?”

The older woman’s laugh was loud in the small room “Yes dear, the Secret World reaches far and wide. So, what are you then?”

“Someone that failed in their mission.” sighing, Marli resigned in staring back up to the ceiling again. “When you decide in telling me, there’s some food in the kitchen and don’t think in trying to kill me. I may look old but I can still kick your young ass.”

The older woman stood up, keeping the shotgun in the crook of her arm “And don’t try to get up to much, worked to damn hard in keeping your innards inside.” She walked out of the bedroom, leaving Marli alone, staring up at the ceiling.

 

[Marli Anderson]

“Sometimes you think that people would learn with every action that they cause, there’s going to be something bigger coming back at them.” The older woman had changed out Marli’s bandages several times during the past day. She had told her that her name was Miranda.

The feeling that Marli got from her was cautioned empathy. “People only think of themselves and no one else. They feel that the time they have in this world is given for them to greedily use.” Miranda gave a small snort of confirmation as she fussed about finishing the breakfast “For someone like yourself, you do have a lot of wisdom packed into the head of yours.”

Throughout the night Marli tried to sleep. The visions had returned with vengeance, causing her to spend hours in a cold sweat and awake. “You didn't get much sleep last night, did you?” Sliding a healthy portion of scrambled eggs onto the plate in front of Marli “You know if that the filth is taking over.” Marli interrupted her “The filth has no control over me, it is as part of me as the same as my blood.” Another small snort the only sign from Miranda “I knew several people like yourself. Always willing to put themselves in the front line for the greater glory of whatever faction they were aligned with.” She went back to the stove where several slices of bacon were sizzling
“What happened is that they died. Every single one of them. The only thing that happened was that the higher ups within their safe rooms and bunkered housings simply called up even more fools to throw against the fire.”

Marli had been shoveling the eggs into her mouth as she listened. Since her awakening, this woman had actually spoken to her as another person. Not as a weapon or as a faceless agent that should follow orders and never question things “I tell you this because those people you think have your best interest at heart. They don’t, sorry, but they don’t.” Marli watched her top the pile of eggs with three strips of what could only be described as deliciousness personified “You are just a part of their game. A thing to be told to go here, do this, kill that. Have you ever thought about what you would like?”

“I have not.” Marli had her own thoughts, nothing in what Miranda mentioned. It was always about the missions, to keep balance in the world and to never waver from that path. Her life was always something that meant going from one hotel room or dingy room to the next. The countless names that passed her way blurred since the defeat of Theseus. She clearly remembered the experiments that Theseus did. The information pushed into her mind, training her further into killing without regret. To suppress every part of normal human emotion into a place, locked far away as emotion only weakened. She was glad in that Blake and the others had descended into the building. She could still feel Theseus's pull. Calling upon her to become one with the filth, to use it to kill everyone. The temptation was strong, to use the refined filth and to become stronger, better than what Theseus could ever construct. The defining moment was when she was connected to Jerry, telling him of her plans was where she felt his feelings towards her. Those glimpses into another’s emotions had cemented her path.

“Hey, you doing alright?” Miranda was staring over at Marli. “Yes, forgive me. I was only thinking of something that had happened many months ago.”

“You looked like you were miles from here.” Marli shook her head “I think I was.” She chewed the overly greasy piece of bacon, letting its flavor slide it’s way down her throat “What caused you to come out here?”

Marli’s question was as innocuous as she thought, she watched Miranda’s face slide into a semi-hard stoic appearance. “A choice I was forced to make.”

 

[Marli Anderson]

"Have you enjoyed your kills?"

Miranda's question seemingly coming out of the blue. They had been clearing out some underbrush near the older woman's home, barely speaking to each other the whole time. Marli stopped and regarded the weight of the question "No, I do not." She turned, looking over to Miranda wondering in why now deemed it to be the best time in to asking a question such as that. "Some in your position would enjoy the thrill of the hunt. To know that by your hands, blade or gun, a life would be extinguished. To have the lopsided balance restored for just a fleeting moment before another would be given orders to remove yet another frayed thread."

Marli had listened to the stories that Miranda deemed safe to share, the past few weeks seemed to ebb without a hint of passing. "I don't take pleasure in that someone's life is taken from this world, only that my duty is to"

"Your duty?" Miranda quickly interrupted. She stood there with fierce defiance in her eyes, the machete held tight in one fist by her side "You speak of duty when you know nothing of its true meaning."

"I know that what I do is to serve the greater good in protecting the fragile balance of this world."

"Child, you are just as naive as.." Miranda's grip tightened around the handle. Her face stiffened as memories of her past washed over her "Nevermind, you're stupid and thick headed in believing whatever nonsense they fill your head with." Quickly turning Miranda angrily slashed at the undergrowth. Deciding in not pressing the matter any further, Marli returned to the work at hand.

Night had fallen quickly, the work giving her time to focus and not dwell on other matters "You're strong Marli, more than you yourself give credit too." Miranda spoke softly setting a plate of scrambled eggs and ham before her "your visions, they've subsided since you've been here?"

It was true, the nights were filled with restful sleep. The painful visions only visiting on the rare occasion. "They still come only now, rarely. I have to thank you for this."

"No, it wasn't me." Miranda directed a finger over to Marli "that, is your doing. You see whatever brought you to receive those visions was simple magic. You delved into something you weren't prepared for and your ass got burned. you can say fate brought you to my steps but, I won't. Fate doesn't offer souls such as ourselves a free ride. We have to earn it, earn our place within this universe and only then can we begin to scratch at its surface."

"We're not destined to know what is in store for us."

"No, but we can make some pretty damn good guesses though." Miranda stood up from the table "Now, finish up. You've got a long journey ahead for you in the morning. The gods tell me that things are looking up for you." She grinned with a sly wink before returning to the kitchen.