Chapter 2
2152 Words
2
Allie’s footsteps sounded even louder as she walked between the shadowed walls of the alley. Garbage cans seemed to rear up from the darkness, startling her enough to make her freeze before realizing her silly mistake, wherein she hurried faster down the path. Her imagination conjured up dangers real and imagined, of leering faces and grotesque shadow monsters.
“Almost halfway there,” she whispered to herself, but her mind wasn’t relieved.
The only relief was the strange light that had attracted her earlier. As she drew closer to the blue glow, she realized the light didn’t come from any of the adjoining buildings but hung close to the wall on her left. A few more steps and her curiosity changed to confusion. The light was a small orb that appeared to float without line or rope at her eye-level.
Allie stopped five feet from the glow and tilted her head to one side. The light didn’t have a hood or shade around it, and there didn’t appear to be any cord that provided the electricity. A battery-operated light came to mind, but she couldn’t see any brackets that connected the light to the wall. Indeed, there was a good foot of space between the light and the bricks.
Allie let out a yelp as light burst out of the hole and stretched the circle into a portal large enough through which she could walk. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers before the swirling beauty of that sea-blue vortex. A soft breeze came out of the light and wafted over her. Sea air stung her nostrils, and she could hear the faint noise of splashing water against a hull.
“What is it?” she whispered to herself as she, mesmerize by the gap, stretched out her hand.
Two strands of light shot out from the glow and wrapped around her wrist. Allie screamed and tried to pull her arm back, but the light dragged her closer until her fingers brushed against the swirling glow.
“Gotcha!” a voice shouted as a hairy arm stretched out of the vortex.
The stubby fingers wrapped around her arm just past the bands of light and dragged her into the vortex. Allie’s scream echoed down the alley but was cut short when the portal collapsed in on itself and blinked out of existence. The alley fell back into silent darkness.
For Allie, however, her adventure had just begun. The trip through the portal was as quick as stepping through a doorway, but the landing was much harder. The hard, broken concrete of the alleyway ground was replaced by smooth riveted plates. She tripped over her own feet and stumbled to the ground. The stench of sea water she had smelled before once again invaded her nostrils, but with more force.
A rough hand of thick, fat fingers grabbed the back of her coat collar and lifted her off the ground. She squirmed in their hold and slipped out of her coat, but her bag strap caught in the clothes, and she became entangled. Her captor looped its heavy arm around her waist and pressed her against its chest. She gagged as the stench of sweat and rotten food filled her nose.
The man grabbed the top of her head and pressed her head against her neck. “Calm down, girl, or I’ll break your pretty little neck.”
“Don’t do that,” one of the other figures snapped as they stepped into the weak light of an oil lamp.
Allie’s breath caught in her throat as she beheld a man with the snout of a pig. His ears, too, flapped about atop his head like those of aspiring bacon. The flesh on his hands and face were slightly pink, and the hands ended in fingers little more than cloven hooves with opposable thumbs.
Her captor removed his hand and her sore neck straightened out. “Bah. I wasn’t gonna do nothing, at least not when she’s worth so much.”
“We’ll have to see how much,” the pig man mused as he leaned down so he was eye-level with her. His nostrils flared as his beady eyes gave her a close inspection. “I think she’s a fine specimen, but all these ugly humans always look alike to me.”
“The spell was supposed to catch a pretty one,” a third boar-man spoke up to her left. “She looks good enough for whatever that dame wants her for.”
The pork man in front of Allie grabbed the collar of his companion and gave it a yank. His companion stumbled and fell flat on his chin with a heavy clang. “That ‘dame’ could suck us dry in a few seconds, so shut your mouth and let me do all the talking, got it?” His subordinate companions bobbed their heads in unison which caused the one on the ground to bounce his bruised chin against the steel plating.
Allie had watched this comedy of stupidity play out in horrified silence, but now that they had quieted, she took the opportunity to let them know her true feelings. She let out a terrible scream.
Two of the pig men clapped their hands over their flappy ears while her captor winced. Allie squirmed and thrashed in his hold, but his grip didn’t waver.
“Will you shut her up!” the leader snapped.
“It’s your plan to capture these human females,” her captor shot back. “I don’t know nothing about what makes ‘em tick.”
“You don’t know what makes a woman tick, even your own mum!” the leader retorted as he stalked up to Allie. He grabbed her cheeks in his fingers and squeezed her lips into a tight, painful pout. Her screaming stopped and the fear intensified as he stuck his face into hers. She could see that he had a pair of tusks slightly hidden beneath his lower lips and his breath wreaked like dead fish. “Now you listen here, human. We’re gonna take you to a nice lady who’s going to adopt you, so if you don’t want to deal with us any longer than we want to deal with you then you’d better keep your trap shut and look pretty. Got it?” Tears sprang into her eyes, but Allie nodded. He released her with a toss of her head and straightened. “Good. Now let’s go see what the buyer will pay for this pair of lungs.”
Allie was shoved ahead of her captor, and for the first time she was able to take in the other sights. She found herself on the deck of a large ship, but how large was impossible to guess because of the thick fog that covered the area in damp air. A thin metal railing curved around behind her and her frazzled mind still realized they must be at the rear or bow of the ship. Faint gas lamps illuminated a large building in the middle of the deck that she assumed was the pilot house and galley, as the smell of better food wafted over her as they passed the rear of the structure.
The group followed the wide promenade, and she was led down a flight of stairs to the lower deck. The railing stretched out beyond the upper deck so that the walkway was still opened to the sea air and the upper flooring was held up by small wooden posts spaced at perfect intervals. Cabin doors spaced some twenty feet apart now lined the walls of the central structure. Her captors pushed her down the walk and her shaking hands clutched onto the strap of her bag, her last lifeline to normalcy besides the clothes on her back.
The men, if they could be called that, stopped in front of one of the doors and the leader rapped his knuckles on the metal. The door opened to reveal a split-room cabin with a spacious seating area at the front and a door that led into a small bedroom with a bed that looked more at home in a mansion than a ship. A woman of twenty-five sat at a round table with three other empty chairs. She held a glass goblet in one hand and a look of boredom marred her beautiful face. The woman wore attire suited to the early twentieth century flapper complete with a long, beaded dress and a peacock plume tucked between a head band and her hair. Bracelets jingled about her thin wrists and high heels graced her tiny feet.
Allie’s frazzled mind couldn’t help but notice something that sat in the bedroom beyond the main room of the cabin: a coffin. Her heart skipped a beat as images of her imminent death roused within her a fighting spirit. She spun around and flung out her knee in the hopes that these pig men still had all the usual assets. They did, and her knee connected with one of the man’s balls. His eyes bulged out of his head before he collapsed to his knees. Allie dashed for the door, but the third boar man blocked her path.
The leader grabbed her arm and wrenched her back around. He yanked her against his side and lowered his lips to her ear. “Do that again and I’ll cut you open, money or no money.”
The complete conviction in his voice caused her color and fight to drain out of her.
The pig man returned his attention to their hostess who had remained seated with disinterested expression. He bowed his head and the other pigs followed, though the one Allie had injured toppled over onto the floor.
The woman lifted her patrician nose and sneered down at the pig man. “Will you please get up off that rug? It was rather expensive, and I don’t want your filthy clothes to stain it.”
The pig man struggled to his feet, and his companion was forced to help him. Together they backed up behind their leader and followed him as he pulled Allie to within a few feet of the table. He shoved her in front of him and she stumbled. Her legs knocked against the table and rattled the furniture.
The woman lowered her glass and narrowed her gray eyes. Allie’s breath caught in her throat when she noticed the woman’s sharp fangs poke out from under her upper lip. The contents of her cup had stained the glass a deep red, and a pungent rust odor struck her nostrils.
The woman curled her lips up into a sneer and the move accentuated her long teeth. “What is this thing?”
“The companion you ordered us to bring to you,” the pig leader explained.
The woman stood and stalked around to stand behind Allie. Allie stiffened as she felt cold breath waft over the back of her neck. The woman’s voice curled over the tiny hairs and caused a shudder to run through her body. “This ugly little frightened thing? What use would she be as a companion?”
Some of the color drained from the pig man’s face. “She just came through the portal and I’m sure she could be trained-”
“Don’t try to be smarter than me,” the woman scolded him as she strutted back to her chair and set a hand on the back to face them. “You haven’t even lived one lifetime while I have several, though even half that amount could tell me you have brought some wench from a dumpster to pass off as a companion.”
The pig leader frowned. “We had a deal. We bring you a girl through the portal and you pay us.”
The woman narrowed her eyes and her grip on the chair tightened. Allie could see cracks appear in the wood frame beneath her hand. “Are you challenging my judgment?”
The pig man shook his head. “N-not at all!”
The woman raised her glass to the door behind them. “Good, now get her out of here.”
“B-but you paid for the portal,” the pig man reminded her as he gestured to Allie. “Maybe you want to keep her around or something?”
The woman turned her back on the group and shrugged. “She means less to me than the air I no longer breath, so take her with you.”
The pig leader bowed his head and grabbed Allie’s arm. He tugged her out of the room and his two compatriots quickly scuttled after him. They shut the door behind them and gathered in a group.
The one who held Allie whipped his head to her and his lips curled back in a snarl. “You b***h!”
He flung her forward and she crashed into the railing. Allie was thrown halfway over the railing and glimpsed the rough black waters below the ship. The fog had lifted a little, showing her that the vessel moved at a good clip and there was no land in sight.
The largest of the pig men wrapped his arms around her and yanked her away from the railing. He spun around to face his compatriots, and her captor looked over at their boss whose cheeks still bloomed with red rage. “So, what are we gonna do with her now?”
The leader’s eyes fell on Allie and his nostrils flared. “We throw her overboard.”
- Writer
