No Control (Chris Motionless)

Chapter 44 - Five Offerings

Part of me wanted to point out that Chris would still be in danger, but another tiny piece of me worried that he himself might be a part of that danger. So, I gave her the best answer I could manage right then, "We'll figure it out once we are back at the dorm with them, and then we can decide if we should make a run for it."

I heard her let out a sigh and my gut twisted at the sound. I knew that I was letting her down, but  I was so unsure of what the right thing to do would be at this moment. 

"Check and see where these new murders have taken place," I instructed to give her something to do because I had a sneaking suspicion that we would find the same pattern. I listed off the names of the recent victims before turning back to my own search.

I read through the texts in hopes of finding something that would indicate when this was meant to take place. Did it have to happen on a certain date? Or planetary alignment? A comet? I considered all the cliches I could come up with, but so far nothing like that was mentioned. A particular passage made me pause though.

'For the ritual to begin, a willing offering will be brought about, this will be something represented by innocence, e.g. a freshly born calf or a newborn human baby.' 

"Oh god," I breathed as my breath seemed to catch in my chest. My mind snapped back to recall the heavily pregnant woman I had met at the first JTR Movement meeting. "They can't be serious."

"What? Did you find something new?"

I read her the bit of text before adding, "A pregnant woman in the cult I had met said that her son had been chosen to play a crucial part in this thing they call the 'New World Order'. I think that he's going to be sacrificed as soon as he is born. His birth will be the beginning of the ending for them."

"What kind of fucking monsters are these people? It's like they are trying to outdo the very thing they worship."

"As far as I'm concerned they are the only real monsters in this situation," I muttered as I continued to read. 

'To call on one's rival, the parts of four sacrifices for an offering must be given to the individual seeking the rival for consumption. These can include, the kidney, womb, genitalia, and heart.'

From what I knew, by now they had all the pieces they needed to start their plot for bringing about armageddon. The only thing they seemed to be missing was me. A wave of nausea rolled through my body then, but I kept pouring over the text, trying to somehow make sense of all of this.

'To begin a binding ritual to cast something out of a person, five offerings must be presented as well. These are classified under Christian rite to be the most effective. Most of these offerings are more symbolic in nature and are as follows: sin, trespass, grain, burnt, and peace.'

"Okay, I'm finally off the train, I should be there in less than ten minutes," Mackenzie informs me and then adds with a breathless sort of laugh, "It feels strange to be this nervous about someone popping out to get me in broad daylight like this."

"Just hurry." I pleaded as I continued to learn about binding which thankfully seemed to be a much less sinister ritual, but that didn't make it an easier one. Where would I even be able to find a raw piece of grain on such short notice if I were to actually do this? 

I let out a hysterical sort of giggle, which prompted Kenzie to ask, "What are you laughing about?"

"The fact that I'm actually indulging in the idea of casting a spell against a demon."

"It sounds like we really need to take you away from all of this. At least for the sake of your sanity."

Movement out of the corner of my eye has my head whipping in its direction as some of the books on the crowded shelf shifted over from their own weight, causing a small tin that had been wedged up against the underside of the next shelf above it to fall and pop open. My eyebrows knitted together as I rose to my feet to make sure that I wasn't seeing things. Peeking out of the container were particles of what appeared to be some sort of dried-up plant. I gently slid out the metal box and lifted the lid to find several short pieces of dried wheat. 

"Well, no one can say that Kim wasn't prepared." I mumbled as I shook my head at the sight before speaking to Mackenzie, "I think you're starting to have a point there. I think I'm beginning to get as bad as everyone else who has been involved in this Jack the Ripper mess." 

"I mean, can anyone blame you? This whole thing would be a lot to deal with for even a trained cop, so I'm surprised that you've managed to keep it together for this long."

"If you can even call the state I'm in right now together," I mutter as I clean up the mess. 

Despite how ridiculous I felt, I put the locket into the tin, shut the lid, and stuffed it into my hoodie. I told myself that it was merely a way to make myself feel better, to pretend that I had some tiny bit of control in this fucked up situation. 

Several minutes later, Mackenzie arrived at last and I couldn't remember a time when I had been happier to see her other than the moment she had helped me get away from Matt. She gave me a tight hug as soon as we were shut up in Kim's house. 

She must have been looking around from over my shoulder because she remarked, "Wow, you've been busy in here, haven't you?"

I nodded as we let each other go and led her over to the lockbox while saying, "You should have a look at some of this stuff, it's almost too hard to believe."

"My suspension of disbelief is getting stronger every day that this goes on, so I have a hard time thinking that I'm going to be all that shocked." She points out as she sifts through the papers and the book. She pauses as she reads over the old list of things that had to do with the last ritual before asking, "Can I see the written notes you found?"

I handed her my phone and waited quietly as she glanced back and forth between the two different notes before nodding firmly to herself stating, "These notes you found were clearly staged. I don't see how else Chris would just have them like that."

"He could be a part of it though."

"Why would he leave it out in the open like that where you might find it? If he was really out to harm you, I don't think he would be that careless. They were obviously planted there to scare you or frame him. Hell, maybe both."  

I let out a huff of air and murmured, "Maybe you're right, but at this rate, I have no idea what is happening now. I don't know what's their doing, his own, or just some random coincidence." 

By the time we had cleaned up everything, gathered what I would need, and made our way out of the house, the sun had just begun to set. My stomach gave a nauseating roll as my mind offered up scenarios of what could be waiting out there on the streets once nightfall had come. That meant that I made us nearly jog back to the train station, just wanting to get the hell out of London as fast as possible.  

Back in the Cambridge area, I felt some of the tension I had been carrying ease up on me as we finally stepped onto the campus grounds. As soon as I was in the safety of our dorm, my only intention was going to be finally getting some rest because my sleep deprivation was starting to catch up to me. I was so caught up in the thought of it that I nearly shouted when Kenzie's hand shot out to yank me to a halt. 

I raised an eyebrow at her and began to question her, but I saw that her hazel eyes were trained on the gazebo in the courtyard. I slowly turned my head in that direction, noticing a figure slumped against the side of the structure.

"Do you think someone just might've had too much to drink?" I ask, trying to not jump to conclusions even as I make sure to not speak above a whisper. 

She didn't let go of me as she replied in an undertone, "There's only one way to know for sure."

"We could just call campus security or something?"

"We're going to have to walk past them regardless."

"Fuck, you're right." I hissed and began to lead us in the direction of the immobile person.

There was hardly enough light now to make them out, but as we grew closer, my pulse started to quicken. It couldn't be. I had to be seeing things due to my ever-increasing paranoia. 

"Amber, oh my god, is that Chris?"

I could only nod as I took in his state, the dark coating that stained his once white shirt.

"What is that all over him?"

I felt like I was going to choke on my own words as I said, "It's blood."