Welcome to chapter twenty-third of an ongoing gritty noir series from ‘Sin Street’ created in partnership between Kate Granger and Sissitrix. Follow a woman’s desperate tale of humiliation starting in a pit of despair before her rebirth, revenge, and resurgence. This series began in a dark place because it must.
Previous Chapters, from First to Last:
Fallen Angel. Rude Awakening. Rest and Recuperation. Taking The First Step. From Rags To Riches. Revenge is a dish best served cold or warm. Did Erin cross a line? Are We Alone? Enter the Glass Cube. Leave or Die. Who Is My Friend? Going Underground. Death Ballet at the Ice Ring. A Swinging Dick. The Mansion House. A Time For Calm. The Virtue League. Resurgence Begins. Reunited. Apocalypse Now. Mirror Mirror On The Wall. A Funeral Pyre
The silo’s grim perspective shared none of Underground Club's consensual, carefree ambiance I knew and loved. Although we entered this place through the same door as our own hallowed BDSM club in Sin Street, any similarity soon ended. I felt cold; it was dark, dismal, and dreary, with desperate moans of dead or dying souls pervading.
The smell of death was real and raw, activating my gag reflex. For a moment, I pondered what technology was conceived to give me full sensory perception while my body was cocooned elsewhere in a pod.
The music died, and deviant paying guests had left, leaving a murderous trail of blood and shredded body parts in their wake. I saw adults, kids, and parts thereof heaped in piles with straggling, twisted corpses littering the spaces between.
“It’s the final showdown, my friends.”
“What’s your plan, Erin?”
I turned back to Sissitrix, Rex, and Allen with a blank mind and haunted feeling but absolute determination to win this desperate endgame. I felt anxious, with overwhelming butterflies as though perched on the eve of a tumultuous battle, seeing the same stoic look on their faces.
“I have no answers for you, Rex. How could I?”
“What, really, Erin? There is no plan whatsoever?”
“I figure we’ll get outside this version of Underground and run like fuck.”
“What about these awful fucking places? Are we leaving Limbo and Treachery intact?”
“We’ll destroy them another day.”
I had a plan but knew we were being listened to, so I duped everyone, especially Red October. I hoped Max was on our team, but that wasn’t a guaranteed fact I could take for granted. Limbo was wired for sound, of that much I was certain, and it meant I must keep my plan a secret.
I sprinted, and my friends followed me out of the Underground Club. It would be easier to spot and confront twelve Red October acolytes on the streets than in this desolate place.
I paused at the exit door, checking my pistols were loaded, and patted two sheathed knives on my waist.
“Where the fuck are we going?”
“They expected us to fight them on the silo floors, Rex. We would be foolish to take on the dragon in its cave.”
“Why aren’t we killing them?”
“Inside Limbo’s silo, it is twelve of them versus three of us. They won’t all chase us outside because some must stay, protecting Max and the ordered shutdown of their awful simulation hardware.”
“Are we running or fighting, Erin? You have confused me.”
“We could be heard in the silo, Rex. I played a bluff.”
“Red October thinks we’re running?”
“Yes.”
“But we’re fighting them, Erin? For the love of god, please tell me we are killing these cunts today, here in this awful, disgusting, fucking inhuman place.”
“Definitely. Drive us back toward the coal barge first.”
Inside, our Rolls Royce Rex floored the accelerator, and soon, through our back windscreen, I saw two cars giving chase with headlights burning brightly. We were no match for them in speed and were quickly overhauled with the lead car slewing in front, stopping us.
Red October had no clue what our firepower was, something I’d counted on before we set the chase in motion. Rex exited the car with two machine pistols, spitting death at our enemy. He looked awesome, like an avenging demon, built to kill and loving doing that.
By the time I followed him, Rex had killed two of our enemies, strafing them from the crotch to face with a beautiful line of bleeding holes. I approached the second vehicle, leaving the first to Rex and Sissitrix. I emptied both magazines more expertly than I should have been able to, given my complete lack of combat skill.
A man slumped to his knees, clutching his midriff, staring, stupified at me as though needing an explanation as to why he was dying. The woman passenger who was with him scattered, taking cover behind abandoned, burning cars as she ran along the street.
When someone entered my mind, I paused, terrified that I was possessed.
“Erin?”
“Max… is that you?”
“Yes.”
“How the fuck?”
“I control this world to some extent, and you are part of its simulation.”
“Okay, now would be a good time not to be cryptic, sweetie.”
“I’ve given you warrior status. You can fight like a demon. Kill them all, Erin, then kill me, please… end this torture.”
Red October’s acolyte ran like the wind, and I gave chase, unsheathing razor-sharp knives, my only remaining weapons. The woman dodged inside a disused industrial building, and I followed, immediately regretting it as she leaped from a doorway hiding place, stabbing and lunging at me with every step forward.
I backed away, parrying her blade, waiting, biding my time, always in complete control. My balance was perfect, and when I moved like a Samurai, she swayed like a drunk. I kicked hard, caught her knife arm, and she lost balance. As she fell, my next kick slammed a boot into her head, which snapped backward, and she recoiled, holding her jaw.
She rushed forward to grapple me closer and get a hold of my clothes. I saw blood lust and lunacy in her eyes and wondered what controlled these vile people. I pushed her away, but she ran at me again, so I dodged the acolyte’s bulk and allowed her to pass before I rammed a tightly balled fist into her face, crushing soft cartilage in her nose.
She bled profusely, clutching her crushed nose in disbelief. It excited me more than any recent sex I’d enjoyed, aside from Rex’s beating with a pole before he fucked me. Feelings of tension in my body were released, ecstasy replaced them, and adrenaline wiped out all my recent worries.
I wanted to kill her.
I needed to make her suffer a horrible death.
She bolted towards me like a raging bull, slashing wildly and screaming furiously, feinting left and right, swinging savagely. I laughed like a crazed killer, dodged, ducked, and kicked her knee hard, stabbing her forearm rapidly three times before backing off while she recoiled in pain.
“I’ll take you apart one piece at a time, Red October cunt. I’m fucking loving this.”
“We’ll win the end, Erin. We have been victorious in every simulation of this moment.”
“Haven’t you noticed something is different this time? You Red October cunts are dying. I bet that never happened before.”
“Fuck off bitch!”
She looked confused, and I knew I’d struck a nerve. My enemy held her arm, limping sideways and spitting out the blood pouring from a mashed-up nose down her throat. She looked surprised before rage consumed her again, and then my enemy advanced.
I was her matador, and it was time to finish the Red October beast off. I ran at her, dodging punches, and grabbed her left wrist with my right hand, pulling my enemy firmly towards me.
I half kicked fresh air to the side with my right leg, then rotated it high, wrapping around her elbow, launching my body upwards, jumping and twisting, until I sat on her shoulders with one leg on either side of the Red October acolyte’s head. My calves draped casually over her torso, and I smiled up at the heavens, riding atop the wobbling beast who was already dead but didn’t know it.
I felt sure I looked magnificent and proud.
Rex and Sissitrix burst through the door and stared at me in horrified amazement as I clasped a knife with both hands and leaned back as far as gravity would allow. My hair swung majestically to the floor, and then I paused before thrusting my heels into the Red October bitch’s chest, driving both legs like pistons, using every ounce of my strength to arc upward.
I screamed my revenge for every dead child in Limbo. My body was a coiled spring, releasing its raw power. I arched above my Red October enemy like a sword of Damocles, launching over her head, stabbing downward, burying my knife blade up to its hilt in her heart.
I stared into her eyes, and the last thing she saw was my unbridled fury and hatred for her.
“Seems one of us got well and truly fucked, after all.”
I rode the beast’s shoulders as she crumpled to the floor. My enemy was spent and done when I dismounted, victorious but far from sated. Rex stared at me, open-mouthed and terrified.
“Where the fuck did that come from, Erin?”
“Max helped me. He made me stronger and more capable to bring war to these cunts.”
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“Don’t ask. Are they all dead, Rex?”
“We killed four.”
“I killed another two. Six remain at their Underworld silo.”
“Are we returning there now to finish this job?”
“Yes. Let’s head straight down to Treachery.”
Allen couldn’t fight and didn’t know the route to Treachery, so he stayed outside Underground Club, keeping the car safe. I led my friends inside, replete with new killing skills even exceeding Rex's.
The same deathly, bloody, dire scene met us, but this time, we were only outnumbered by a factor of two. All three of us were ascending with a sweet, scant smell of victory, countering an aroma of death.
I stopped dead in my tracks, thinking about our plan, evolving it now. My body and mind were far more warriorlike, and an instinct deep inside warned me.
“Not Yet, Erin. Come to me.”
“Okay, Max.”
Rex looked desperate and ready to kill a million Red October because corpses everywhere reminded him of the love he’d lost.
“What’s the plan, Erin? Are we heading straight for Treachery or not?”
“Let’s get back to Max first. We need more from him before we walk into the dangers of Treachery.”
I didn’t wait for any remonstrations so I ran ahead, following the path I recalled. In the server room, I saw Max twiddling his fingers, virtually speaking. He looked surprised but pleased to see me.
“You got my message? I thought you had ignored it?”
“I’m here… what is wrong, Max?”
“You know what to do… think hard, and the truth will be revealed.”
“Send me to Treachery now.”
“You figured it out? Good girl.”
“You’re running the simulation, Max. Send me to Treachery; Rex and Sissitrix will stay here as surety of your honesty.”
“I won’t harm you.”
“You control the mirrors, Max.”
“Yes, but Red October controls me, Erin. Ergo… they control everything.”
“Yes, but they cannot do that from inside Treachery. Lead them to me, and I will kill every acolyte on their high table. The remaining six will die.”
“Another cabal will rise and come here from Sin Street because nobody fears Treachery since there is no permanent keeper there. Another crab in the Sin Street bucket will elbow their way to the top of that stinking pile, then spill over into Limbo.”
“They won’t if you send Rex and Sissitrix back there to create order from chaos. I know you have mirrors here, Max. Send them home, and I’ll prevent anyone from returning, ever.”
“You’d do that and leave me here to be free and alone to manage Limbo as I deem fit?”
“We’ve rigged Limbo to blow. Rex can give you control over the trigger. If you get bored, you can commit suicide.”
“Then nobody would have Limbo. Those despicable souls in the world above must come here before Treachery. ”
“It’s your choice, Max. Run Limbo as it is intended or be destroyed.”
Suddenly, two dozen mirrors dissolved into our simulated world. Each was a portal to somewhere. I recognized Limbo and Treachery, then another that was, very obviously, somewhere right outside Jupiter Mall.
I looked at Sissitrix, who saw the same opportunity I had. They ran to the Sin Street portal, pointing at rioters lining up against an armed force that could only intend to kill them.
“I must go, Erin. Our people need the army Rex created.”
“Go Sissitrix. Arrest the Mayor, support Diana Von Rigg, and clean up our streets.”
“Goodbye, Erin, and good luck.”
We hugged, and they left through a portal shimmering in the looking glass when they reached within a meter of its event horizon. After they walked through, watching Sissitrix walking away on the real Sin Street felt odd like I was seeing them on a TV screen.
Max coughed, which was surreal, given that he was a gaseous head in a glass bowl.
“What is it, Max?”
“You must go now, Erin. The remaining six acolytes know my portals are open and have asked me why.”
“Tell them you’ve sent me to Treachery.”
“They will follow you, and there are six. You are one.”
“You made me more powerful, Max. I can do this.”
“Please tell my mother that I want to die.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“You’ll know when the time comes, Erin. Please do it.”
“I’ll give Red October the slip in Treachery, then return through your mirror, Max. Keep that open for me, please. Look after Rex here for me as well.”
“I’ll try Erin. Good luck.”
I had no plan, but that seemed to work for me so far. I stepped closer to the mirror, which shimmered, giving me clear sight beyond its event horizon. I saw the epitome of hell, far more gory and disgusting than Limbo by a magnitude of tenfold.
I turned, ran back to Rex, and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him deeply.
“I love you, Rex.”
“Please come back, Erin.”
“We’ll be together, my dearest sweet lover. Have no fear of that.”
I held my breath and stepped into the inferno, surprised my body wasn’t immediately consumed by it.
On the other side, I stood in a maze with fiery walls around me. It was dark and yet light wherever I looked, as though a torch were shone where I needed it.
“Welcome to Treachery, Miss.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Abigail, Miss Erin.”
She couldn’t have been more than eight years old, looking innocent and very pretty, dressed in an old-fashioned, ankle-length cotton nightdress that was stained badly with blood.
When she smiled, I reeled backward, terrified by the sharpened teeth Abigail bared. Morsels of raw, bloodied flesh clung to her jagged enamels.
“What are you eating, Abigail?”
“My Daddy’s arm.”
She raised her hand and showed me a savaged, gnawed, bloodied arm with multiple lacerations on the bicep where Abigail had focused her feeding.
“In Sin Street, I killed him for no reason, so they sent me to Limbo, where I was so bad, Max sent me here.”
“You were bad in Limbo… how the fuck did you manage that?”
“I’m really fucking bad; that’s all I can say. There is no need for me to explain why to you other than to say that I love myself. You should fuck off now and save yourself, Erin. Go back if that’s even possible.”
“I can’t leave until Red October is dead. I need to speak with the keeper of this place. Please help me, Abigail.”
She pointed the forefinger of her father’s dead, shredded arm to the left, so I ran with little other choice but to trust her. Almost immediately, the maze became a corridor without junction choices, so I followed its course.
When I reached the center of the maze, I felt exhausted. The expansive room I found myself in seemed vaguely familiar, but darkness mostly prevailed. The light still shone wherever I looked, but the few meters I picked out were limiting.
I placed a hand on each hip, leaned back, breathed deeply, and shouted upward.
“Give me a fucking break, please.”
“What do you want in this place, Erin?”
“Some proper fucking light would be a reasonable start, keeper.”
A voice chuckled as though I had amused them.
“Let there be light for the resurgent whore.”
The room lit up, and I staggered backward in shock.
“This is the ballroom in my fucking Mansion House.”
A Resurgent Whore #24
Welcome to the last chapter of an ongoing gritty noir series from ‘Sin Street’ created in partnership between Kate Granger and Sissitrix. Follow a woman’s desperate tale of humiliation starting in a pit of despair before her rebirth, revenge, and resurgence.
Art reflects truth, records violence and now, a child of darkness. Our artist points to truth and yet that grips the strands of our mind so fleetingly, like the reflection of evil in a mirror. Another masterpiece in art Sissitrix, thank you - love it!
The mirrors never lie until they do, and people die. Max oh Max thou deceitful hound from hell. Yet is this place hell, or another place that isn't. Perhaps this new place is closer to hell, indeed, a step in that doom filled direction. All points to a finale next week.