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“The Chronicles of The Eclipses”

“What do we have to fear but fear itself?” –Former president Theodore Roosevelt

**~Bloody Tears~**

The room remained frozen in fear as only his soft breaths emitted from his lips. The roar echoed in the sacrificial chamber as the tiger crunched over bones and crushed scalps of corpses littering the ground around it.

Howie takes a step back and gulps, his back hitting the wall behind him. His stomach begins to turn in knots, gripping him in a deathly fear as he gazes at the other men for some form of help.

Nick shivers softly, glancing over at Brian and Kevin who both seemed helpless from the platform. A.J. licks his lower lip and slowly bends down to pick a bloody bone with the flesh sliding off it off the ground. Gagging in reflex at the sight, A.J. holds onto the glimmering bloody rib bone watching the dry blood encrusted bone swarmed in flies.

Kevin narrows his eyes and points to Howie, “Go…you started this.”

A.J. growls out, flipping the man off as he steps off the platform watching the tiger sniffing the air, inches away from snapping Howie in half.

A.J. creeps up behind the large tiger, kneeling down so as not to be seen by the animal. Lucky for him the tiger was more entranced by its victim Howie to even notice anyone behind it. He grips the jagged bone in his right hand, ready to battle the animal in case of anything.

Howie watches, feeling his heart throb into his throat, the tiger letting out a rather seeping growl that seemed to tingle down his spine through his flesh. Its sharp razor teeth grit as it begins to open its mouth, a low growl sounding off. Howie closes his eyes, feeling his death approach him. He never thought he was going to die in such an unusual matter: he was expecting something more like getting tortured or getting shot at. But to die through a vengeance of a wild animal, well even that he wasn’t prepared for. In an instant, the tiger leaps into the air towards Howie but drops dead on the ground inches from him as a loud ripping sound vibrates in the air. Howie gazes at the tiger roaring, its abdomen clearly visible through the naked eye, the dark almost black red blood begins to spill out, immersing anything it touched with its color. Howie looks up confused and grateful to see A.J. standing behind the dead tiger, holding a sharp bloody jagged bone in his hands. Gulping, he grips the wall behind him, shakily walking over to A.J., stepping over the dead corpse of the raging animal.

“You…you saved me…” He murmurs out, gazing in shock at A.J.

“No kidding.” A.J. whispers out, shocked by the action he did as the tiger’s paw lied curled next to him.

“That was so fast. I didn’t even see you coming.” Howie murmurs, shaking in anxiety.

“Thought you needed the help. Well, yeah you’re welcome.” A.J. lashes out, walking back to the others. Howie gulps, his eyes gazing over at Kevin in confusion.

Sighing, Kevin nods his head once and gently pulls Howie towards them. “We…we should start cleaning this place up.” He begins handing out the cleaning materials to the four men. Nick takes the rag and chemicals, heading over to the far side of the dimly lit room to begin taking off the spilled blood from the dead animal.

Brian gulps, gazing over at Howie as he sighs: “He’s a little rough around the edges but he really is a nice guy Michael.” Indicting over to A.J. who grabbed a rag and was dutifully scrubbing a wall down.

Howie nods as he grabs a rag, watching A.J. and decided to head over to the man to thank him for his heroic action.

Brian watches, raising his eyebrows as he takes a rag and joins Nick to help clean off the drenched floor.

Kevin pulls on some latex gloves and begins throwing any scattered limbs into a garbage bag: holding back the urge to regurgitate what he ate before hand. He quietly works as the only sounds heard was them quickly moving around and cleaning the place off.

“We need a hose, it would make life easier.” Nick mumbles out causing Brian to chuckle out.

“Oh right of course, cause we could connect to an extension in this room right?” Kevin responds sarcastically, glancing over to the fair headed man.

Nick snorts, “Whatever, it was just an idea.”

“And what an idea.” A.J. smiles as the others chuckle softly.

Howie steps up to A.J. cleaning the wall before him watching the man scrub off a blood stain spotted across the wall. Howie reaches out to an area on the wall to clean off a stain when A.J. was about to touch that area on the wall as well.

“Ohh. You wanna claim that spot, go right ahead.” A.J. rolls his eyes, tensing up as he washes the wall, dumping a wet drench sponge into the metal bucket behind him.

“I just wanted to say thanks: that’s all. What’s your problem?” Howie asks quietly, watching A.J. snort and back away.

“You.”

“Excuse me?” Howie straightens up, turning to face the hostile man.

“You heard me. I don’t repeat.” A.J. narrows his eyes, walking to another wall further away from Howie.

Howie licks his lips, shaking his head in confusion as he tries to understand why A.J. was angry with him.

Sighing, he gazes over at Kevin who approaches A.J. whispering something to him as the tattooed man pushes Kevin away and begins cursing out rudely.

Nick and Brian stop cleaning to see A.J. race up to Howie, pushing him up against a wall behind them.

“What the hell man?” Howie breaks out confused, trying to move out of A.J.’s way. He wasn’t in the mood for a petty fight nor did he plan on starting on. Whatever was bothering A.J. was up to him to deal with on his own.

“Hey A.J.! Leave him alone! What’s wrong with you?” Brian calls out as Kevin steps into the two men in case A.J. throws a punch.

“Him! That’s what’s wrong with this whole thing! He comes in and thinks he can nicely work his way up! Did you see what he did for the initiation?! Then he thinks he can be all friendly and win the boss’s heart over with his killing. Well screw you Michael! And that chick you were talking with. Guess what…she’s with me!” A.J. grins, backing up as Howie inhales deeply letting the words taunt his soul.

“What did you say?!” Howie tenses up, pushing Kevin out of the way. Nick and Brian glance at each other as they race over to the others, each grabbing a guy ready to throw down in the upcoming fight.

Kevin holds his hands out, stepping between the two: A.J. and Howie and frowns. “Let me tell you both something…I didn’t come here to baby sit you. If you have a problem with each other, then too bad. We’re all stuck here and have a job to do. So what you need to do is hold off the fighting or work together and let it go. It isn’t worth fighting over some female.”

A.J. clicks the roof of his mouth, a smirk still spanning across his cheeks. “Fine, you’re right. Why bother, when I already won right?”

Howie growls out, shoving Kevin out of the way as he races towards A.J. Brian stops before him, tripping him as he lands in a pile of blood and decaying flesh, inches away from reaching A.J.

A.J. laughs, bending down to gaze at him, inches away from a sprawled out Howie, struggling to stand up. “Awww. Will you look at that? Michael’s all upset his girl is playing him. Do I sense jealously? Don’t worry, I understand…”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Kevin yells out, silencing the men. “Act your age! Both of you! If you keep this up, you’re on your own from now on. And trust me, I’m the only one worth trusting at the moment. So if you don’t get over yourselves now, then I feel real bad for the both of you.” He seeps out, pushing his way between the both of them. “Get back to work. I don’t plan on staying here all day.” And he tosses a sponge at Howie, glaring at the both of them.

Brian raises his eyebrows, poking Nick on the side: “Hehe, I used to see Kevin do this all the time. He always was the one to break up arguments, never could figure out how he does it, but it’s an interesting thing to see it before one’s eyes.”

Nick scratches his temple, watching A.J. leap and perch on a small ledge, cleaning off the dirt on what where a window would have been if not covered by bricks. He sees Howie slowly crawl and stand up, heading across the room to clean off the walls. The rest of the cleaning was done in a eerie silence with only a few glances and pointing to indict wants next.

Howie sighs, exhaling slowly as they all gather on the granite platform to gather the body bags and begin placing the decaying corpses away.

Nick begins to hum gently to himself as he carefully unfolds a body bag to drape it over a mutilated body. Looking away in disgust, he clothes the body and closes his eyes.

Brian bends down over a corpse to cover it with a body bag when he hear a strange sound coming from behind the closed closet door. Perking his ears, he stands up to gaze at the room, curiosity beginning to grow on him. “Did you guys hear that?” He whispers out, gulping, hearing the sound of something shuffling underground.

Kevin looks over to him confused, shaking his head: “No why?”

“I thought I heard something beneath us that’s all.” Brian carefully picks his way around the draped corpse to cover another body with it.

Howie sighs, stumbling over a corpse, kicking it out of his way when he sees a strange item lying besides the body. “What the…” He whispers out quietly, bending down to gaze at the thick small black plain textbook. Gripping his hands around the book, he picks it up, flipping through the strange hidden language that seemed to foretold a story. He feels the boring of A.J.’s eyes on him as he clears his throat and hands the book over to him. “Maybe Kevin might want to have a look at this.”

A.J. snatches the book from his hands, glaring at Howie. “Fine. I’ll make sure to pass it along to him.”

“Thanks.”

A.J. rolls his eyes, “Yeah sure.” And marches back over to a blood stain wall, wetting it with a bucket and watches the blood trails run down the wall.

Howie sighs, catching Kevin’s glance and points over to A.J.

“A.J. What do you have there?” Kevin calls out.

A.J. shrugs his shoulders and strolls over to him, handing him the book: “Oh, Michael found this. Thought you might wanna check it out.”

Kevin nods, taking the book and begins flipping through it amazed. “Michael…Michael.”

Howie looks up to see Kevin calling him and tilts his head: “Yeah?”

“Where did you find this?”

“Oh, it was under a body, why? Do you know what that is?”

Kevin shivers a little, licking his lips slowly, sliding the book away into the interior of his jacket pocket.

“Kev?” Brian calls out gently, wondering why his cousin was suddenly going pale.

Kevin turns his head over to Brian, crossing his arms across his chest, “It’s nothing for you to worry about. Let’s finish this up so we can all leave.”

“What’s the book about Kevin?” Nick calls out, stepping towards him.

Kevin glances at Nick before dropping his head to the ground below him, “I can’t believe it’s real…”

“What’s real? Fill us in…what’s going on?” Brian gently asks, coming closer to him.

Howie and A.J. each eye other before approaching Kevin as the men begin to surround him.

Kevin sighs, shaking his head: “Stop this. Go back to work now. I have to get out of here fast. I don’t wanna be here at the moment.”

“What do you know?” A.J. asks.

“Too much.” Kevin steps out of the circle as Howie shakes his head:

“No wait. Hold on, you can’t just walk away without telling us. Are we in trouble? What is that book on?”

Kevin shivers a bit before slumping and taking a seat on the top cement stair of the platform; “There was a story…a time back. Before Vincent came into the gang…” He trails off, his eyes wondering away from them all as he tries to recall the story told to him from before.

“How long ago?” Howie kneels down besides what used to be his partner from back in the police station. Now, the longer he stares at what once was a bright exuberated young man, the more he realizes how death changed the living spirit of what was Kevin.

Kevin sadly smiles, staring at Howie as he begins to sniff. “The story dealt with the deadly secret that the Eclipses founded on maintaining a secret. The secret of reliving…somewhat of what once could be called a fountain of youth. But this rebirth is deadly…frightening for anyone to view or experience.”

“What…what are you saying man?” Nick whispers, kicking a piece of dried flesh off his sneaker in complete disgust.

“That book that was found was used for the victim’s dying souls…a somewhat of a time capsule. If you die…you can somehow be reborn again only you won’t be the same person anymore. There were some ideas that Vincent practiced this ritual before his death…” Kevin gets intercepted by A.J. who lets out what was running through the other’s mind.

“WHOAAAAA! What the hell? You mean to tell me that this Vincent dude, the leader of this shi…” A.J. stops suddenly when Kevin buries his head in his hands.

Brian kneels down, gently placing a hand on Kevin’s shoulders: “We want to understand all this…but we’re all confused. You have to tell us the whole story. What do you know about this place?”

Kevin looks up, tears filling his eyes as he shakes his head: “It’s too complicated.”

“It doesn’t matter, we’ll try to figure it all out, just let us know please Kevin.” Howie whispers out, kneeling besides Brian.

Kevin sighs, sniffing quietly: “Like I said. I know too much…”

“What about the book? You said Vincent used this book to live again? Is that it?” Nick whispers out, staring in shock at Kevin.

Kevin nods, holding the book in his hands: “What is listed here are some chants for the revival of the soul. Many claim that once used on a person, it will change them entirely. Their souls are no longer pure: they become somewhat demonic in actions. From what I know: Vincent used this on himself to gain access into a realm of power, a power of maybe gaining strength mentally and physically. He’s an impossible foe to take down. I only know of this working once with a success and that was Vincent.”

“What about others that used it? What do you think could have happened to them?” A.J. runs a hand down his face nervously.

“They died a second death, this one more violent and tormenting then the first.” Kevin responds, shakily holding the book in his hands. “This was written over fifteen centuries ago. The language used here was lost but only recently was studied and found out. Those able to find it have been few.”

Brian gulps, shaking his head: “This is unbelievable…people reliving again after their death, that’s impossible. It can’t be done.”

Howie grins faintly, “It was done once a long time ago by a man.”

A.J. snorts, “That’s different though.”

“Is it really?” Howie stands up, gazing at A.J. “Think of it this way, we live in a world where there is good and bad. If God gave life again to his son, why wouldn’t you think that Satan can’t do the same?”

A.J. rolls his eyes, “Look, I didn’t come here for a Bible study.” He sucks his teeth, walking away from the others.

Kevin glances over at A.J. “He’s right to a point A.J. Resurrection is an impossible motive for any human being. But this book proved there is a way for it. This gang has a secret that is far beyond what you can ever imagine. There’s a reason why this gang was created the way it is. Haven’t you noticed you were selected cause of your looks?”

“So it’s a popularity contest, big freaking deal, so?” A.J. tensing up, wanting to leave the area already, the rotting scent of corpses beginning to make his nauseous again.

“It’s not about who is more popular…it is about opening the gates of hell. This game was named after what many believed was eerie and frightening. When the lunar eclipse occurred, many wars and deaths happened and people began to assume it was because of the strange elements of the moon. Only those appealing in the day and night were safe…chosen like we are.”

“Damn…I would have hated to be ugly then back then.” Nick whispers out, receiving a poke on the side from Brian.

Howie gulps: “You mentioned opening the gates of hell…how is that done?”

Kevin locks eyes with him and frowns: “It’s already been done. Vincent did the chant over a month ago.

“Huh?! No…cause that would make it hell on Earth right?” Brian croaks out, shivering at the sick thought.

“Yeah.” Kevin simply answers, not wanting to discuss this further. He was just glad no surveillance cameras were placed in this room or all the discussion just spoken would have been their death wish.

“So what are you saying Kevin? That Vincent is some kind of devil spawn and we’re all picked to do his bidding?” Nick blurts out, knowing the concept was far beyond stupid.

Kevin shakes his head: “That would be too extreme now wouldn’t it?” Sighing, he checks his watch, standing up and tucking the book away. “We have to finish this up already, I think Vincent is gonna send some soldiers down here to check this place so we should wrap it up and clean off this place.”

“Ok. But you have to tell us the rest of this story before you head out though ok?” Brian quietly states, shuffling over another corpse to cover it quickly.

Nodding, Kevin pulls out a mop and dumps it in a bucket, cleaning off the slops of blood in it. A sudden fear gripped his heart as the truth of this gang begins to dwell in him. ‘I have to tell them…they have the right to know.’ His thoughts plaque him, his eyes averting to the four men busily finishing off the cleaning and piling the stacks of the decrypted bodies together.
~*~

Arianna peers through the crack of the door, jiggling the doorknob in her hands. She was tempted to fling it open to send Coral into a yelling state, but withhold the naughty motive of frightening her friend in the state of mind she’s in.

“Ok Connie.” She smirks, exiting the bedroom and plops down on her bed. “I’m bored. Let’s go find that laundry place, I wanna see the dead man.”

“WHAT?!” Coral stares at her partner in disbelief.

Arianna giggles, “Relax girl. I just wanted to see the body that’s all.”

Coral shivers, rubbing her arms across each other in fight: “Please tell me you’re kidding about this whole thing.”

Arianna smiles, nodding: “Yes. Come on now, you didn’t think I was crazy enough to see that now did you? I have my sanity…or least the little I have and I intend to keep it for a bit longer.”

Coral faintly smiles, nodding: “K.”

A rapping at the door caught the women off guard as they raise their heads to the sound.

“Who?” Arianna calls out.

“There is a message sent to you.” Calls out a young man, his bass voice sending chills down the women’s spine.

“Alright, well tell me.” Arianna remained still on her bed.

“Aren’t you going to answer the door?” The messenger calls out.

“No.” Arianna shouts out, “Now tell me.”

“Very well.” The messenger mumbles and relays the message given to him, instructing the women to met Vincent no later than seven in the evening tonight. “He wants to give you both tasks and believe are up to completing it since you succeeded with the first one.”

“Sure, right, ok, whatever.” Arianna mumbles, rolling her eyes hearing the messenger’s footsteps recede away from the door.

“Well that was interesting…” Coral smirks, poking Arianna in the ribs.

“Hey ow.” Arianna giggles, sniffing the air. “I’m telling you, this place has weird scents and I was right on that smell back at the drop off. I think I might have the smell on my clothing or in my hair.”

“What smell?”

“The fish’s crotch smell girl.” Arianna begins sniffing her own arms as Coral burst out in laughter, wiping the tears that came from the joke. Arianna shortly joins in as the women feel a warmth of relief before their next outing.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**