Deep Down Under

Chapter 46

Brook's Café, Vienna, 4:56 pm

Sadowsky felt guiltier as each minute passed. He felt that they all should have been searching for Lucia. She was lost in the godforsaken city. A cruel group of terrorists were loose. If, by any chance, they stumbled upon her, it would be giving them a huge upper hand.

Also, if they had got their CCTV surveillance up and running that would increase their chances of finding her. But they didn't need any CCTV surveillance to find her. The news flashed his images, along with the location. That was enough information for Then Nine.

"We shouldn't be here," muttered Sadowsky.

Giggs stopped mixing sugar into his coffee, "What do you mean?"

"We have to be out there! Looking for here!" burst the professor.

"Quiet down," whispered Giggs as a few heads began looking his way. Sadowsky covered his face, and then they went back to their business.

"She's my responsibility!" he said aggressively through a whisper.

Giggs spread his arms wide like an eagle, "As far as we know, she's already with them."

"Fine, then we'll have to go and get her."

That made Sophia jump in, "No, no, no, no, no. You can't go into the cathedral."

"I understand your concerns, but you have to understand mine," fired Sadowsky.

"You walk in, we have World War Three," she said firmly.

"Look, Ben you have to make a choice. Save Lucia, or millions of lives," defended Giggs.

Sadowsky twisted his face, "So you're on her side now?"

"Just choose," he pressed.

He breathed out, "I have, I'm going in," and with that, he got up and walked out the door.

Sophia shot up, resisting her grandfather's attempt to hold her back. She gripped Sadowsky on his arms and restricted him from moving any further, and glared into his eyes, "I didn't travel halfway to Europe in an attempt to save the world but fail because you wanted to save one life, instead of hundreds."

He returned the fixed gaze, "I'm going, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind."

She threw her arms in the air, "You don't even know if they have her!" she yelled.

Then the TV screen in the café crackled and Lorssen materialized in front of them, "Evening all, I have a message for Sadowsky. It'll be quick I promise." Then the camera shifted its focus to a chair with a woman strapped, it was first focused at the feet, and then slowly rose. No later, it showed her face, wide and clear.

Lucia.

* * *

Saint Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, 5:01 pm

Lucia tried her best to free herself from the ropes that bound her to the chair. But all her attempts were futile. Now that Sadowsky knew that she had been kidnapped, he would surely come to the cathedral, but not for them, but for the sake of her aid.

She never knew that her life would her come to this. Getting entangled with an ancient brotherhood called 'The Nine' formed to protect a scientific secret, which was being researched by her father.

Two days ago, all that would have been some crazy story come by some teen with a vivid imagination. People didn't believe in such abnormal, extraordinary events, but they sure as hell wanted to.

One of them untied her arms and placed a plate on her lap, "Eat," commanded the man in a Russian accent.

It was just plain rice with some gravy; she picked up the spoon and took in a bite. She gagged, but forced the rice, although she didn't want to call it that, down her throat.

That was torture in itself.

What the hell is this?!

She wondered what next was in store for her. Tomorrow, they would meet the intergalactic government. Sarcasm didn't suit at all her times, especially in times of crisis like this.

"What shit you've given me," she complained.

One of the men got up, he was the leader of them and was Indian, "Hey, that shit we've given you is food. Eat it or starve for the rest of the day. You don't want a grumbling stomach when you watch your 'uncle' die, do you?"

She looked at him with disbelief, "You're the Devil himself."

He shook his head, "Oh, he's yet to come, my dear."

"What the heck are you talking about?!"

He responded by a grunt and turned his back on her, and walked away, leaving her with the plate full of inedible food. That's a nice oxymoron.

* * *

Brook's Café, Vienna, 5:04 pm

Sadowsky was walking down the street as Giggs, Sophia and her grandfather followed him. Yelling at him to stop, but he was deaf to their cries. He looked up at the clouds; they looked dense, like they were packed with water droplets.

"Stop!" shouted Sophia.

"Ben! Come on!" that was Giggs.

Sadowsky looked at him with filth. Giggs was just trying to prevent the doomed scenario from happening. As far as he knew, all that could have been a lie.

"Fine, Ben, just listen to me. Just listen to me," cried Giggs.

Sadowsky glared back, "What?!"

"I'm coming with you." That softened him a bit, his expression calmed down. But it agitated Sophia and her grandfather began blurting out random things, "He will unleash Hell upon this earth! He will!" and gripped Sadowsky's collar. For the first time those two saw into each other eyes.

Sadowsky's head started aching; it was throbbing continuously with pain. Then panicked voices started fading away, the world around his got fuzzier until it turned into complete blackness.

He awoke seconds later, but to his surprise, he couldn't recognize anything he was seeing. Giggs, Sophia and her grandfather were nowhere to be seen. The whole place was in ruins, buildings levelled and on fire. The only thing that he saw was closest to people were their remnants, hands, legs, and even some heads, all scarred and smothered in blood. As were the streets, it was scattered with body parts.

He turned his neck towards the sky, what he saw brought fear into his mind like nothing else. It was dug so deep, that it would be impossible for him to uproot it.

It was orange with a tinge of blood red. No wonder the prophets called it Hell. The whole place was an inferno, and all the dead lay there, waiting for nothing in specific. One scene was enough for him to conclude that the third World War would be worse than the first two combined.

The voices of Sophia and Giggs boomed in ears, both yelling at the same time. It was undecipherable for him to understand. But they were nowhere to be seen. Also he could faintly hear the grandfather screaming out in his ear, "He will! He will unleash Hell!"

But then another voice rang in his ears it seemed to be coming from a particular direction, to his right, under a pile of fiery rubble, it was a man, his face bloodied and scarred, croaking only one word.

"Help. Help. Help. H-Help!" he screeched the last word out his mouth.

What's wrong with him?! Should we take him to a hospital?! He could hear Sophia shriek, but all the voices came from his mind.

The trapped man let out a continuous piercing shriek.

That finally made Sadowsky snap out of it.

* * *