The Pandora Index (Older work)

The King's Court

Daniel Walker

We stood there alone in the dark. She hadn't spoke. Everything about her seemed familiar, her freckles, her widened eyes, and her flushed cheeks. When an insane person looks at you like you're the one who's crazy, that would usually be a sign to calm down, but I'm not going to let this get away from me again.

"Well? Who the hell are you!" I shouted, squeezing her arm tighter.

"Get your hands off of me." She said venomously. The woman's surprise had faded into anger.

I suddenly felt an invisible force shove me away from her. I stumbled back into the water, and sprang back up immediately, coughing and spitting out the filthy water. The screwdriver had fallen out of my pocket, so much for that plan. I looked back up at the woman. She stared emotionlessly into the water, obviously focusing on something else.

"Hey!" I called.

"Shut up for a minute!" She snapped.

I closed my mouth, and waited. This lady better have some answers. A few seconds later she let out a relieved sigh. Her mask suddenly popped out of the murky water and she grabbed it in mid flight. She was about to put the mask back on but the smell must have made her reconsider. She let it rest in her left hand for now.

She turned to me, a sad look had occupied her face, "Why do you want to know? ...Who I am, I mean."

I hesitated, "I recognize you from somewhere, how come I can recognize you when I can't remember anyone else?"

"You...recognize me?" The woman looked confused.

"So then, who are you?"

The world seemed to pause to see what would happen next.

"...When you're safe, I'll tell you." The woman sighed, "I'm sorry I pushed you."

The woman shoved her hands in her pockets and spun away from me, trudging further into the tunnel. She gave the rope that was still in her hand a hard tug, and I followed her. We climbed back onto the maintenance ledge and followed it.

"We're almost there," the woman said, pointing towards a tall dark shape ahead of us. As we moved closer the dark shape morphed into a ladder that reached up to a manhole. Water dripped through the holes and landed on the ground with soft patters.

"I'll go first this time." the woman said as she gripped the metal bars.

"Wait, how am I going to climb it?" I asked, waving my bound hands in front of her.

Without a word, she quickly pulled another small blade from her pouch and cut the cables around my wrists without any evidence of a second thought. She turned and started up the ladder.

Was she that sure that I wouldn't attack her?

She quickly reached the top of the ladder and pushed up on the manhole cover. She stuck her head out into the open air, looked back down at me, and motioned for me to follow. I grabbed the bars and began to pull myself up, the bars creaked and groaned under my weight. The rust from the bars rubbed off under my fingers.

I grabbed the last bar and pulled myself out of the manhole with a grunt. I stood up to find myself now standing in yet another alley. Judging from the hum of music from the buildings, it must be behind a Mini-Vegas casino, the low thud of electronic music pulsed out of a large black building that took up one side of the alley. A flickering, yellow holosign above a red back door read, "The King's Court."

The woman walked up to the metal door and pounded on it four times. There was no response for awhile.

She pounded on the door again, stronger this time. Two seconds later a little hatch in the door opened.