The Marenon Chronicles Collection - By Jason D. Morrow Page 0,28

to shake, but Silas just turned his face to the ground to watch his snail-paced feet.

“Silas,” he said. “My name is Silas.”

“Well, it’s good to meet you Silas. I’m sure it will be good to have a friend where we are going.”

“What do you mean?” Silas asked.

“I have no idea. I just suspect it would be good to have friends. I think everyone here is like us. Nobody knows why they’re here.”

Dink lifted a hand and tapped the fat man on the shoulder. This made Silas almost stop in his tracks, but he kept his head down, daring to glance up only once.

The fat man turned and looked at Dink briefly. “Do you know what is going on?” Dink asked.

The fat man tilted his head down and glared at them as if to say don’t speak to me!

Silas was beginning to see that these people around him were not to be feared. They were all just like him, afraid to talk to anyone, afraid of the unknown at the end of the corridor. That end could be the expiration of life.

Dink moved up to the fat man's side. Silas did not want to lose any sort of ally he may be able to gain, so he moved to Dink’s left. The fat man looked over both shoulders and lowered his head to the two of them.

“What is your name?” Dink said.

At first, the fat man completely ignored Dink’s inquiries, but then his lip began to quiver until finally speech was produced. “People call me Boo,” he said. “I’m not sure what people though…” There was a long pause and Boo then braved a question. “Did either of you have experience some sort of out of body thing?”

At the same time, Silas and Dink answered, “Yes.”

This was strange and Silas was not sure of what to think of it. All of these people were undergoing the same circumstances that he was experiencing yet, most of them were too afraid to even look up, just as Silas had been merely seconds before. He now only feared the end of the corridor.

They began to hear noises in the distance. Talking. Shouting. Like a reverse domino effect everyone’s head shot up. Silas tried to make out what was said, but he could not understand the distant speech. He looked over at Dink and Boo. The two of them had their heads cocked trying to hear what was being said.

Silas then tried using his eyes. The red glow was getting brighter in the distance, like the sun rising in the morning. Shadows bounced off the walls as the line filed through. Silas, like anyone else who may have been watching, knew the glowing had to be bad. If it were not fire, Silas would be surprised. Relieved, but surprised nonetheless.

His two new acquaintances noticed the brightness as well. Boo began shaking. Dink remained calm and collected, but his eyes gave him away. Silas felt cold as he listened to the drum pounding away in his chest. They were soon close enough to the red glow to witness what was to become of them.

As they moved, they saw a creature that looked like a dog, but it had long, furry, human hands and wore a flowing purple cloak. It sat high on what seemed to be a judge’s bench with a large book that looked to be ancient. It held a quill in one hand and wrote as each person said something to it. It had fangs that came past its lips when its long snout was closed, but it was rarely closed since it was speaking to each individual person as they went by. It’s thin, dark eyes barely moved from the book.

Along the corridor, more of the human-dogs were patrolling, forcing people into a single file line. These animals were muscular and stood upright. Each of them was snarling, baring their teeth to intimidate. They wore dark, coarse pants; their fur was their shirt. Their ears pointed strait up and high like devil horns adding to their already substantial height, towering over anyone else in the line.

Silas noticed one of the beasts to the right making its way to him. He was frozen in place as it stomped towards them. He knew he was about to be mauled. Before it came to where Silas was standing, it grabbed Boo by the shoulders and lifted the obese man, slamming him into the single file line.

“Stay it this line!” it yelled. It turned a fierce yellow