No More

Chapter 76: Clockwork Part 1

Bailey woke up in a cold sweat. At first she thought she was in that horrible afterlife, or something worse. But she simply is covered in a white cloth.

Removing it, she looked around at her new surroundings. She, and everyone in Jesse's group, excluding Lisa, is in a stone room. With beds evenly spread out, lined against the wall, and a chest at the end of each one.

Everyone had his, or her, own bed as Bailey calmed herself down. Her heart would have jumped out of her chest if she didn't. Yet she a relieved smile formed on her face.

They escaped. They won! They didn't abandon her; they actually saved her... so she didn't really die? How? She wanted to ask so many questions... and yet that relief and positivity drained when she saw the rest of the group.

Why is it so... sad? Each one is on their beds, an aura of depression spreading everywhere. Axel and Petra are lying down on their beds; Olivia is watching her husband while Jesse's head is down.

Olivia was the first to notice her. But instead of acknowledging her, she just stood up off her bed, and walked out through the wood doors placed next to each other.

"Olivia?" she asked. No response.

Bailey looked around to see Axel. His right arm wrapped in medical bandages around the wound as it has a huge bloodstain. "Axel, your arm!" she shouted in concern, going to him.

But he didn't respond, didn't move. As she approached him, she only saw his slow breathing as his skin took on a pale completion.

"Axel?" She whispered in concern. She then turned to Petra, only to see that the redhead is unconscious. Her bandana is resting on top the chest at the end of her bed.

"Petra...?" No answer.

"That won't do anything." Said Jesse, his right eye closed to hide the runes inside, looking exhausted. "Hello, Bailey."

"Jesse, what's going on?" She asked as the man himself just stood up and started walking towards the door. Jesse gestured her to follow him though the wooden exit.

The two stepped outside to be greeted with snow raining down from the dark sky. It is hard to tell if the sun was already set, or it's simply blocked by the thick weather above.

Bailey noticed the cold air, combination with the weather and the high altitude to see that they are on the balcony that rings around the iron tower they're on, with wide iron bridges connecting to the other five iron towers, and to their balconies that ring around them.

Looking in the distance, she can see the tall, thick outer wall made out of obsidian. Dozens of soldiers from the Kingdom of the Forest are using magic and physical labor to improve the wall with Olivia as she is constructing her redstone turrets along the entire length.

If Bailey had to guess, these towers are at least twenty blocks tall, and about ten in diameter. The wall surrounding them is about fifteen blocks tall, and about a hundred blocks in between the towers and the outer wall.

She then realized that these 'bridges' connecting to the other towers are actually walls to keep other people out. Inner walls to be exact, specifically to keep out the dozens, possible hundreds, of people who are outside of this inner wall. Cold. Hungry. Afraid.

"Welcome to the Clockwork Fortress," Said Jesse in sarcastic amusement. "In other words: a large refugee camp."

"What happened?" Of the many questions she wanted to ask, that vague question is the only one she managed to spit out. Who could blame her as she looked at the terrified people huddling in their own groups around a fire to keep them warm?