The Inferno Code

Chapter 3

Seven, nine, three, two, zero

I key in the code that our family has rehearsed when the chamber entrance to the underground container was first installed. It is the safest place for when the home is no longer accessible or when a situation calls for immediate hiding.

With a great heave, I breathe a sigh of relief the second the metal door slides open allowing me to enter. At the first step, I push the switch of the light panel peering down the daunting tunnel that leads to the earth below.

I'm too fatigued and begin to feel lightheaded when I step through the doorway. As soon as I am in, my hand touches the inside screen allowing the heavy metal barrier to slam shut. The resounding echo and vibration of the door overpowers my own turbulent gasps.

Slowly and unsteady, I head down the stairway leaning onto the wall for support. Every step I take causes my breathing to falter and the pain on my arm to escalate. I am going too far, separating myself from the demon who has enslaved me. I know exactly what comes next. I have studied the repercussions of my actions, but I'm too stunned to believe that it has actually happened to me—a star pupil at the Academy.

Why had my jacket come off? Why was one of them chasing me? But most of all, I ask my myself why had the Malefic with silver eyes touched my skin? Didn't he know the consequence?

Once I hit the last step of the stairs, a burning sensation travels slowly from my arm to the remaining parts of my limbs. Like the slow paths of molten lava, I'm beginning to feel the blaze. The further away I am from the demon who has marked me, the more unbearable the pain will become. The temperature in my body starts rising causing large droplets of sweat to drench my clothes.

The air from the vents begins cooling the room, and the oxygen tanks start to infiltrate my surroundings. This allows the air quality to sustain life for as long as one year if necessary. That is how each Chamber Annex is built for all homes in the new era. It's a necessary precaution after experiencing the ramifications of the Eclipse War.

Everything starts to blur when I sit on one of the small bunks that is hidden in the back of the enclosure. I begin taking off my shoes, socks, pants, and shirt keeping only my undergarments on. There has to be some way to reduce the heat I feel growing inside me.

I search for water stored in the shelter and pour enough to rinse my face and neck. Although it is slightly refreshing, I am excruciatingly hot! My body craves something cool and artic, so I begin drinking huge gulps of liquid wishing desperately for blocks of ice. My hands fumble around the room in search of an ice box or refrigerator, anything to bring down the temperature that will cause me to soon convulse.

Passing by the small mirror, I see my long red curls in disarray, tangled, and hiding fragments of grass and dirt. My cheeks are red from the exertion and heat elevating within me like burning bark. The face before me is unrecognizable, like some character straight out of one of those horror films we watched at the Academy Rec Room—like its victim. My lip quivers at the sight of my ghastly reflection when I see the dried blood on my torn lip beginning to swell.

Then, in terror, my eyes blink to stare at the mark that has been imprinted on my upper left arm. Tears fill my brown eyes and trickle down to the floor in dismay at the enflamed bright red stain against the color of my pale skin. I try hard to focus on the two-inch diameter emblem that appears to be shaped like curved fangs or some sort of half circle with flames shooting out from its center. It is difficult to unravel the exact image with how swollen it has become.

We have studied various imprints in school of both Crimsons and Malefics that had been observed or recorded by eyewitness accounts and sketched. None were ever the same. Each demon was born with its own unique marking on the right palm of their hand. It is their own special coat of arms that can never be replaced or duplicated. They were created this way for a reason, to claim their victims and forever be identified by the devil himself. It is a way for them to establish their territory and human chattels.