The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 11

"Well!" Hendra screaming. He leapt up to the cloud and took Dika's foot.

Something blew Hendra away with a tremendous push.

Magisna and Alexza shouted as Hendra was thrown against the wall.

Please stop, Magisna prayed in her heart. It's not real-this can't happen!

He heard a crunching sound like a broken bone. He closed his ears and screamed.

The red fog was spinning increasingly faster around Dika, like tightening his grip.

The fog could not have done it, Magisna told him. He couldn't do it because he wasn't alive!

It's just dust. This can't be happening!

The red fog was spinning even faster. Dika's body looks increasingly squeezed and then jerking.

Magisna's stomach is churning. He could only stare at what was next in a silence full of horror. He held his stomach and swayed forward and backward. He felt his body tremble uncontrollably, but could not get up. Can't run. Can't scream. He could hardly think. All he knew was that he was watching another human being dying.

The red cloud swirled away along the tunnel. Fly unnaturally fast, even though there is no wind that moves it. Dika's body was still hanging in it, limp and motionless. Then the darkness swallowed it.

It vanished!

Magisna stared at the red mist in shock. I didn't dream.I woke up. And I was crazy.

"This can't happen" he whispered. "It doesn't make sense."

Alexza and Novi sat next to him among the bricks, frozen.

But Hendra stood staggered. In a roar of anger, he chased after the red cloud.

"Hendra, no!" shout Magisna. He forced himself to stand with his legs still healthy. But it's too late to stop Hendra. Hendra darted deep into the Labyrinth to save his friend.

The torch light was lost in the dark tunnel.

Magisna's throat is blocked. Will he see Hendra and Dika again? Would that strange fog do the same to Hendra as it did to Dika?

"We have to get out of here" came Novi's trembling voice behind him. "We just need to try and get back across that colem again. At least we know how to get back. We have to go in the opposite direction to the creature."

His words touched Magisna's attention into their situation. "We can't go without Hendra as well as Dika" he said. "We need to find them."

"Don't-we have to unplug." Novi groped the surrounding land in search of the torch, but could not find a single one. He tried to seize Magisna's torch, but Magisna pulled him away.

"Here's the torch" Novi ordered. "Now!"

"Wouldn't," Magisna replied, moving backwards. "We can't leave Hendra the same as Dika so alone."

"But we have to get out of here!" shout Novi. "Now too! We can't go back to where those creatures are. Do you understand?"

"You go, Nov. Let him in here, let's take it!" scream Alexza.

"But we need a torch" Novi explained.

Alexza's eyes narrowed. "The dashboard is for us. It's up to you to follow what you don't."

Magisna looked at him in surprise. Is Alexza scared? Or does he not care at all about Hendra? Is that how scared she is? So afraid to run away-and leave Hendra. Then it turns out that he is not so strong, Magisna thought.

Who is Miss Yuppie now?

"Try thinking, Eka," Novi pleaded. "You don't leave now, we're dead."

"Keep Hendra the same way?" ask Magisna.

"They're dead, Eka!" shout Novi.

Alexza leaped towards Magisna, trying to snatch the torch from his hand.

"Something came out of the hole, something I don't know what her name was killing Dika. Now that thing must have killed Hendra, too. They're dead" Novi shouted almost in tears. "Now it's gonna be chasing us while you're just sitting here with that torch t o l o l!"

Magisna paused for a moment, listening. But he heard nothing in the corridor.

Where is Hendra? Did the red fog swallow him up too?

Alexza stepped forward Magisna with clenched hands.

Magisna imagined Dika hanging in the fog, lifted from the ground a meter high in front of his eyes, and it was not a dream.

He has to concentrate. Must strong.

"Please!" he warned Alexza.

"Keep you want what if the cave doesn't stop?" challenge Alexza. "Lu can't take us. Here's torch!"

Magisna glanced at the torch. The fire died quickly. And if the torch dies they'll all stay in the dark.

There was no other way to light another torch without Hendra-he had a lighter.

Alexza is advancing again.

Magisna hated to admit this to herself, but Alexza's request made perfect sense. "Okay," said. "We're pulling, now. Before this torch t o l o l died."

"Here, the cave that brought it," Alexza replied, taking the torch from Magisna. "You're the one who took ntar to slip again. Fuck us."

Magisna wanted to remove the grin from Alexza's face. But that means he has to wait.

The red fog was back there in the tunnel. And he came to them.

Magisna wanted to run as fast as he could. But he can't. He should stay calm.

Novi and Alexza were already scattering in front of him, while flames were up and down in the darkness.

Magisna limped as fast as she could, concentrating her body weight on a sprained ankle.

The flame of the torch seemed to be getting smaller - far enough in front of it.

A huge wave of fear attacked Magisna. He could not continue his journey with them. Her ankle is too swollen.

"Wait for the cave" he called.

The torch in front of him flickered missing as Alexza and Novi circled a corner.

They're not really gonna leave me, are they?

Magisna let out a small scream that stuck in her throat. He tried to double his speed. A pain rattled his leg every time he stepped. He stretched out his hand in front of his body in the darkness, fumbling against the wall.

The wall is over. He followed her around the corner.

The torch was in front of him again.

Thank God, Magisna thought. He continued with great difficulty.

It concentrates on a flickering, up-and-down, and glowing torch. But no matter how heavy he pushed his body, the fire looked increasingly smaller.

He kicked a bottle to the side. The bottle broke, causing the mice to panic in fear in the darkness. Squeak and giggle.

Oh, that voice again, her mind panicked. It was just the sound of a mouse, he told himself. Not the sound of giggling. His ankles throbbing at every beat of his heart. And his pain was like a sledgehammer raining down on him.

Just as she thought she was about to faint, Magisna saw the light of the torch getting brighter.

Novi and Alexza stop.

Maybe I should just wait, Magisna muttered to herself.