As we slowly made our way down the long rope toward the ground, I nearly fainted. All around us, hanging by their necks from the ceiling, were hundreds of corpses. It looked as though half the city had been strung up in here. Suddenly I knew why the building still stood. The Beasts were killing the remaining people one by one. And, they probably were planning on a rescue mission. I buried my face into John's chest. I couldn't watch as the dead bodies swung slowly, ominously, from side to side.
"Shhhh, Elaine, everything is going to be alright. I'm right here. I'm not going to let you go." John whispered in my ear. In that moment, I realized how much better things seemed when John was here, when I could hear his voice. Even surrounded by death, sunlight was present, in him. He made everything better, that's how I knew I was in love. The whole world looked brighter when he was with me, more magical. I knew even more firmly that I never wanted to be parted from him.
Finally we reached the floor. John gingerly stepped to the ground then asked, "Can you stand? It's okay Elaine, we're past them, we're far past them." His soft voice in my ears gave me reassurance. I nodded and stood on my own two, albeit shaky feet. John took my hand and pulled me through the large room toward the elevator that would take us to the most likely place for the refugees to hide: The War Room.
As we reached the elevator, John jerked his head suddenly and looked to the shadows. Raising his ray gun it charged and discharged rapidly as he killed six Beasts in quick succession. Then we hurtled around the reception desk and into the elevator where he punched the button for the lowest level. Breathing quickly we stood there looking tense as the awkward elevator music piped in from invisible speakers. Suddenly, the elevator jolted to a halt three floors above our destination. A flickering overhead proceeded the failure of the lights. We were plunged into inky blackness. All at once the door opened and a dart flew in quick as a flash, hitting John in the neck. A long, hairy arm reached out of the darkness and grabbed John. I tried to keep him in the elevator, but the Beast ripped him from my grasp. The elevator door slammed shut and it continued it's decent as though nothing had happened. The lights even flicked back on. When the elevator stopped I tried to get it to go back up, but it refused to budge. Then, as soon as I stepped off, it closed its doors and began to move upward again. I was trapped here, and John was a prisoner of the Beasts.
The absence of John stabbed at me like a knife. My world had plunged into darkness quickly as the lights in the elevator. That was the thing about the magic of love, once you've seen the world that way, all bright and beautiful, reality without your beloved seems empty and dim. I didn't believe John was gone for good, or dead, I knew he would come for me, but until I saw his face again, or heard his voice, or even received the smallest letter from him, my world was as dark as a night without the moons.
Oh no!!!
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