World of Women - World of Women – V4 – Chapter 21

The sounds of fighting became more intense. Grabbing Faeri’s hand, the pair of us left the room. I never had intended to stay in that room anyway. If I couldn’t seduce Lyra into releasing me, I would have inevitably used other means to escape. My initial fear came from my lack of understanding of the situation. After Lyra broke down and told me everything, I had a much better grasp.

When it came to Cornelia, my biggest concern had been Hannah’s unpredictability. When she had seemed to know Cornelia personally, I had worried that Cornelia and she might have had some kind of dark past that would make her more willing to harm her. When it came to Lyra, I at least understood their relationship. As both former Queens of Amaryllis, it made sense they were wary of each other. As for Lyra’s predictability, I didn’t feel like she was the kind of woman who could truly commit dark deeds, even if she was acting. The fact that she broke her cover and told me everything only minutes after the meeting showed how much of a soft heart she had.

“Lyra, I have one more question I didn’t get answered.”

“Now?” She asked as we sneaked down the hall, her head looking left and right as she cautiously progressed.

“Where’s my daughter?’

“Raven?”

“Raven…” I worked the name through my lips since it was the first time I had ever heard her name.

“She’s with my brother.”

“You’re brother!” My eyes flashed angrily. “That guy? How can we trust him?”

“Clyburn… he is my brother. He’s hiding underground. I got Hannah’s help to get him hidden from the MPA. That’s how I got involved in all of this.”

“Still, he’s one of those guys, and she’s a girl! Don’t you remember how he used to fantasize about you?”

“Our daughter is two! He’s not a monster. As for how he feels about me, it’s not like he doesn’t still want me. However, don’t forget that as much as he wanted me, he didn’t touch me for sixteen years. He never pushed past my bottom line, and he mostly respected the boundaries. With a girl like me, there were ways he could have gotten what he wanted, but he didn’t.”

“That’s true… you’re a bit easy. When I was in Caleb’s body, I just had to touch you a little and you were purring like a kitten.”

“C-c-clyburn!” her back stiffened. “That’s… I mean… I cried myself to sleep for months after thinking I had cheated on you!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pour salt on old wounds. It’s great that our daughter is someplace safe while you’re doing this. Growing up with a male role model has been advantageous for a lot of girls like you mentioned with your job.”

“It’s fine… you’re right, I was easy. All those other men these last two years also had me purring like a kitten.” She turned and stuck her tongue at me.

“You’re kidding, right?”

She turned away and kept walking.

“It’s a joke! You’re making a joke!”

“I wonder…”

“You… do you want me to rip off your clothes and have my way with you right here?” I snapped at her back.

Her body shuttered, and then turned to me and winked. “If I knew jealousy made you such an animal, I would have been using this technique from the beginning.”

“You…”

Another explosion and the factory shook again. Her expression turned serious. “We have to move quickly.”

She walked to a place a few steps away and then unlocked a door before shoving it open. It was another cell, and inside was Cornelia. She was sitting on a bed, seeming to not be doing anything. When she saw Faeri in the doorway, she gave an insolent sneer.

“Your little rebellion falling apart?” She gave Faeri and challenging look.

“There is no time for personal attacks.” I shoved past Faeri. “We need to get out of here.”

Cornelia jerked up to a standing position, the ugly look on her face morphing into one of surprise. “Clyburn!”

I took two steps and grabbed her arm, pulling her with me out of the room. “If we’re caught here, can you imagine how much trouble you’ll be in?” I asked in an admonishing voice.

“Me? If a male like you is caught here, they might send you to lockdown!” Cornelia responded, her face flushing.

Faeri watched as we passed. Her eyes distinctly fell on our holding hands. Cornelia followed my lead silently, but she still shot Faeri a glare as she passed. The group of us continued in silence this time, moving down the hallways. Faeri took the lead. Although we could hear the continued sound of fighting, Faeri led us distinctly away from it. However, she also seemed to be leading us deeper into the facility, rather than toward the edge.

The previous atmosphere I had built up with Lyra was gone, and we moved with an almost somber feel. We finally came to a dead-end. I worried that Lyra had taken us the wrong way, or perhaps the wall was fake. However, it was nothing that dramatic. She kneeled, and I could see there was a manhole cover.

“Don’t tell me we’re escaping in the sewers.”

“It’s not a sewer. It’s a maintenance tunnel,” Faeri explained. “Help me with this.”

I crouched down and grabbed the edge while Cornelia continued to glare at her unhappily. Using all of our strength, we only just managed to get the lid up and pushed over.

“These lead all over this district. It engulfs the entire male district. You can easily get lost in them, so be mindful and you’ll be able to escape undetected.”

“Maintenance tunnels? Why were there maintenance tunnels?” I asked incredulously.

“This entire district was intended to be a floating island. Just like the other islands, it has an entire network of corridors to maintain the runic formations. I can’t tell you why it was never launched.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t expected a reasonable explanation.

“We’re in the male district now?” Cornelia asked.

“There is no use trying to keep it a secret now.” Faeri sighed. “It seemed like the best place to hide.”

There was another boom, and the place shook once again.

“Not anymore.” I sighed.

“Go, Clyburn. Any way we look at it, you can’t be captured here,” Faeri said.

“Wait? You’re staying behind?”

She smiled weakly. “I have my own means of escape. I have to lead whoever hasn’t been apprehended away from here. The revolution needs its leaders.”

“But who needs the revolution?”  Cornelia responded with an ugly expression on her face.

“They’re not attacking dumbly. We have various barriers. They are knocking one down, securing and capturing everyone there, and then moving to the next. There are six in all. It sounds like they’re already through three. I have no more time, I must go.”

“Wait.” I grabbed her arm as she tried to walk away.

She gave me a reassuring smile, putting her hand on the back of mine. “I’ll see you again, my love.”

She spun and ran away. I watched her until she turned a corner, and then finally turned back to see Cornelia looking at me with an eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“You fucked her, didn’t you?”

“What? That… ah… I mean…”

She shook her head. “I’ve tried to get you to sleep with women all week, and you’ve gone out of your way to fuck anyone else.”

“You’re giving me crap now?” I sighed, grabbing the edge of the hole and lowering myself down onto the ladder as I climbed down into the maintenance tunnels.

After reaching the bottom, Cornelia followed after me. We left the lid undone. It was beyond the pair of us to be able to push it back on the hole from that angle. That meant that we couldn’t sit there, because once someone reached that area, they’d be able to see how we escaped. Of course, they wouldn’t know it was us compared to just a random gang member. Perhaps, that was why Faeri didn’t come with us. Even if we were caught, we could claim we entered the tunnels from some other point and had no association with them. The cops wouldn’t be able to prove anything.

As for Lyra, I did worry about her. I felt like she was in over her head, but I could say the same thing about myself. I never thought that within a week of leaving the MPA center, I’d be knee-deep in a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Between demons, murderers, and the government, it was difficult figuring out which was worse. Of course, there was a possibility they were all the same.

I glanced around the hallway. It resembled the concrete halls that I had seen once during the Day of Wrath. I had ventured around underground where Hannah had used these tunnels to form her own group on campus and mount a resistance against the Senior wrath girls. It made sense that when she formed a new organization, she’d use this same trick. As for how she knew about these tunnels, it was anyone’s guess.

The hallways were large if a bit damp. Since they weren’t in continuous use like the floating islands’ and were affected more directly by the earth, they had more signs of decay. I reached out my hand once again to Cornelia. She glanced at it, but this time, she didn’t grab my hand. Instead, she turned and started walking down the hallway. I frowned, and then followed after her.

“I’m not sure how far we need to get away to guarantee that we’re safe, but we should assume the farther we get, the better.”

“Mm,” Cornelia responded, not saying anything else as she continued along the path.

It was dark, but Faeri had handed us both flashlights before she took off, so we were able to make our way forward without too much difficulty. It was still a bit spooky walking through the derelict and forgotten place. After taking a few dozen turns, I started to lose my sense of direction. I thought that it’d probably be a good idea to surface at the next stairway or ladder we found. It was at that point that I noticed a mysterious light in the distance.

Although this place was abandoned, the power that fed the buildings also ran through all of this stuff, so if someone knew where this world’s equivalent of a breaker box was, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult turning things back on. That seemed to be what occurred ahead of us. We both looked at each other, but then we slowly approached the light. There was no way the police would have gotten ahead of us or had the foresight to cut us off here, right?

As we approached, I heard grumbles and mutterings of a voice. That voice sounded feminine. She sounded like she was talking to herself, and I could occasionally hear cracking and crunching sounds. It left an eerie impression as the sounds bounced off the walls and echoed throughout this place. The pair of us moved forward anyway, eventually coming out into a large room. I thought this must have been the main hub of the island, where the thrusters were controlled. Hannah had once taken over one of these rooms and nearly caused an island to crash. That mess had since been cleaned up, but it took over a year.

“Hm?” A curious voice sounded out from behind the panel.

I could see the shadow of a person behind the wall, and they appeared to be hunched over something. Cornelia grabbed my shirt and tugged it.

“Clyburn, I don’t think we should be here,” she whispered, but the acoustics in the relatively silent room was to the point that they could be heard quite easily.

“Clyburn?” A voice came out. “Clyburn… you came. Hehehehe… I thought I’d have to seek you out, but you came right to me.”

As the voice spoke, recognition started to fill my ears, and my heart rose into my throat. The form slowly stood up, walking out from behind the panel. It was a young, skinny woman. Although she was pretty, her eyes had a dark, sunken-in look, and her teeth looked dirty. In fact, she looked completely dirty, like a beggar. Her hair was stringy and fell over her eyes. She also walked slowly and disjointedly, almost like she was a zombie. In her hands was a bone, and as she came into the light, she lifted it up and bit into it, causing a resounding sound.

“We’re sorry to bother you.” Cornelia could see trouble, so she tried to drag me away, but I didn’t move.

There was no point in trying to run.

“Rebecca,” I said. “Why are you here?”

“I wonder…” She laughed, taking another bite and making a sucking sound as red juices came out. “I was invited here.”

“Clyburn, this woman is unhinged. We need to go. She was someone from the Day of Wrath.” Cornelia’s voice seemed to be filled with fear.

“She’s not a woman anymore. She’s a demon.”

Although I was trying to keep calm in my voice, my heart was beating a mile a minute. The last time I had encountered them, the only reason I lived was that they had been under the impression that the ceremony worked and I was their demon king. At this point, I had no doubts Rebecca would try to kill me if she had the chance.

“Don’t start this stuff again. Look, Clyburn, she’s a very dangerous woman. You should know more than most.”

“I do, that’s why I know there is no point in trying to run. Demons are too fast.”

“Hehehe… smart boy.” Rebecca grinned.

Strangely enough, her teeth were still perfectly clean, even though the edges seemed to be covered in black filth. It gave her an even more demonic look.

“You’re the one who has been killing all the men?” I predicted.

“That sounds like me.” She laughed. “It’s your fault, you know.”

“My fault?” I blinked.

“You’re the one who crippled this body, allowing me to take it over. Unfortunately, I’m not like Ash. She was made up of so many male parts. This body only had a blood marrow transplant from a man. It turned out not to be enough. I have to keep eating like this. When I don’t, it becomes harder and harder to maintain control.”

“So, male demons don’t need to be so ruthless.”

“Of course, all demons are, because we can be.” She laughed, seeming extremely relaxed like she was completely in control of the situation.

In many ways, she probably really was. I was racking my brain for a means of escape. The best choice I had come up with so far is for the two of us to run in opposite directions. She would chase me, and I would die. However, there was a chance that Cornelia could get to safety before she finished me and went after her.

“Clyburn, don’t feed into her delusion,” Cornelia protested.

She didn’t believe in demons. She knew who Rebecca was, but in her mind, Rebecca was just a psychopath. On the day of WRATH, Rebecca was on Diba Monic’s side. Although she didn’t commit the sacrifices, in many people’s minds, she was just as guilty as any of them. When she woke up from her coma, she killed several people and escaped. It was believed that she was simply an escaped member of the WRA.

“Oh? Is that you, Shy Anne? Hehe… not so shy anymore, right?”

“Sh-sh-shut up!” I looked over at Cornelia, realizing she was shaking.

“Tell me, did you know they could fit the whole paddle in there when you had your virginity taken from you?” Rebecca grinned hatefully.

“F-f-fuck you…” Cornelia burst into tears, her legs shaking so hard that she nearly collapsed.

“You… you were one of the girls under the tree… the one who… the one who killed her attacker.”

Cornelia fell to her knees. She was breathing hard, and it sounded like she was hyperventilating. I didn’t even know what to say. I had known she had some ties to the day of WRATH, but I never imagined it’d be so traumatic. On that day, the men had hung from the trees, and the women were brutally raped by the seniors under them. When I arrived, there was a girl named Rosetta who had been brutalized with a paddle. When she escaped, she beat her captor to death.

However, she hadn’t been the first girl to be brutalized that day. I had never known who the Shy Queen was, and I didn’t look closely at that traumatized, haunted girl’s face. I didn’t want to. After everything she had experienced, I was the last guy she’d want to see. After all, the day of WRATH had been triggered by me. Now that I knew the truth, this woman’s face was superimposed with that dead-eyed girl.

Everything she had spoken of in the past suddenly came rushing to the surface. That was why she acted so distant toward sex. How could she be shy after what she experienced? On that day, she had everything stripped from her. I couldn’t stop some tears forming in my eyes as I looked down at the trembling girl. She seemed to be quickly regressing to that day. Seeing Rebecca, the essential ring leader of that event, was just too much for her heart to bear.

“How’s your vacant, broken womb, hmm?”

“Ahhhh!” I was startled as the collapsing Cornelia suddenly let out a scream and stumbled to her feet, racing at Rebecca.

“Cornelia, no!” I cried out.

Cornelia ran at Rebecca, throwing her hands out to strike the other woman. However, Rebecca was far too fast. She easily dodged and then grabbed Cornelia by the throat. She lifted her up the ground. As she displayed her strength, her eyes turned completely black, without the slightest bit of whiteness. As Cornelia choked, she looked down with wide eyes.

“W-what… are… you?” She demanded in a raspy, broken voice.

“Rebecca! Let her down!” I shouted.

Rebecca looked at me and then smiled. “You care about her, don’t you? You like this girl.”

“L-let her go! Please!”

“I wonder what her neck snapping sounds like.”

“No!”

I watched helplessly as her fist started to tighten on Cornelia’s throat. Just when I expected to hear a crack, there was a sudden boom. Half of Rebecca’s head erupted in blood. Her face caved in and she dropped Cornelia, falling to the side like her strings were cut. Cornelia fell to her feet, stumbling back until I caught her. My eyes immediately went to the side where the gunshot came from. There was a second tunnel, and a person walked out of it. When I saw her, I let out a noise of both shock and relief.

“Brooke…”

“I fucking hate demons,” Brooke said.

Although I had told most of my girls about them, Brooke had been the only one there who had seen it. She knew that demons were real. Even Lyra only saw the ritual. Any occultist could do such a crazy, murderous act. Brooke had been in the Demon Castle when it all went down. She was holding a large rifle, which is what she had used to shoot Rebecca.

“Y-you killed her…” Cornelia panted, as I helped her up. “You killed her.”

“If it were only so easy.” Brooke snorted. “We need to get out of here before she gets up.”

“Gets up!” Cornelia had an incredulous face.

“B-bitch… That hurt!” A voice cried out, causing all of us to look as Rebecca slowly rose off the ground.

Her face was covered in blood, and partially deformed, but it was healing at a visible speed. Cornelia’s mouth fell open. There was no way to pretend ignorance now.

“It’s all true… it’s all true…” Cornelia’s eyes shook as she grabbed her head, she eventually looked up at me, her eyes wide as she began to finally believe everything I had told her.

“Fuck off!” Brooke snapped, lifting her rifle and shooting.

A hole blew out of Rebecca’s chest. She fired again. And again. And again. Each time, more holes were made in Rebecca. Finally, she collapsed to her knees. She was still smiling, even as she collapsed to the ground.

“As I said, let’s move it!” Brooke snapped.

“W-wait!” Cornelia cried out “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know… make sure she stays down.”

“Those were my last three bullets.” Brooke shrugged. “You’re welcome to give it a shot.”

As we looked back, Rebecca’s hand suddenly slapped onto the floor, and she pushed up her head, giving a bloody smile. “Come on, baby, give me a kiss.”

“I think we should run.” Cornelia turned back and announced.

“Good plan,” Brooke agreed bitterly.

The three of us turned and fled, followed by a piercing laugh from Rebecca.