furiously swotting at his face and body, jumping out of bed and screaming in terror. Slegna tried to wake him from his dream, without success.
If this kept up Terry would lose his mind and be in torment till the end of his mortal days. This would be a fitting punishment for his actions but Slegna needed him and had already resolved to make him a fiend in the realms of the Unbalanced.
The spiders climbed Terry’s legs, torso and neck. As they began to enter his mouth, Slegna made his move. Focusing all the energy about him, Slegna constructed a hound of despair out of the spiders. Terry stood in horror as the spiders formed a grotesque crawling mass the shape of a hound. He was transfixed as the beast stood before him, adding to his terror. The hound spoke in a hideous guttural tone.
“You have crossed the bounds of humanity with your lust for cruelty and vengeance. Serve me or return to your fate.” Waves of torment washed over Terry indicating the depth of suffering that would befall him if he chose to refuse Slegna’s offer. Slegna patiently waited.
Now Terry stuttered, “Am … I … d-d-dead?”
“Not yet. Now, choose!”
The hound in front of Terry collapsed and the spiders once again headed towards him. His dread was so powerful that he couldn’t hear his soul screaming for recognition. In that moment his soul darkened with the cloak of ignorance and was hidden from his spirit.
Terry was overcome. “I am yours. What do you want?”
“Awake from your dream, then return to sleep. When you wake again, I will be your inspiration. Follow and you will be rewarded.” Terry did as he was told, remembering only that his life would be better if he just followed his inner voice. A sinister awareness filled the room where the boys were sleeping. Slegna was pleased.
Joe had been secretly organising to leave the gang. He hated the violence of the other three and had hidden away money for his escape. Slegna would have to make Joe’s leaving beneficial to his plan.
He entered the outer aspect of Joe’s mind with thoughts of freedom and a way to escape punishment from the law. This would mean betraying his mates to the police in exchange for amnesty. Slegna could see the idea starting to take hold and nudged it a little more with feelings of righteousness. Joe would betray them in the morning.
Mick had idealised Andy ever since he’d rescued him from those four thugs. Normally, Andy wouldn’t have done anything. However, seeing Mick crawling along the gutter with a knife sticking out of his back while four thugs were kicking him hadn’t seemed right. Andy walked up and, pulling the knife out of Mick’s back, shoved it into the largest of the four. The shocked look on the man’s face was priceless. Andy then removed the knife and thrust it into the first thug that came at him. The other two ran off. Andy took Mick to the hospital, brought him home and had taken care of him ever since. Entering Mick’s dream, Slegna strengthened the loyalty between Mick and Andy.
Andy had some brains. The little gang prospered with him in charge. It was time for them to branch into organised crime. A suggestion or two would cause Andy to meet the correct people to help start their new careers.
Entering Andy’s dream state would be trickier, as Andy knew he was responsible for all his actions and therefore Slegna couldn’t terrorise him with his past deeds, unlike Mick and Terry, who made excuses for their behaviour. Joe, on the other hand, had never taken part in any of the violence. Terry had beaten him senseless and called him a coward after he had tried to stop them raping a woman. Andy had been forced to step in.
Slegna would send Andy to a meeting with some influential people with information to be revealed at the appropriate time. Leaving the boys to their dreams he went to pay a visit to the people Andy was to meet.
* * *
The next morning Andy awoke with a burning desire to follow his instincts. He told Terry and Mick to ditch the car and find another one. Joe was to find a different place to stay. They would meet up in two days at the deserted sawmill at ten am; until then they should lie low. While Terry, Mick and Andy went about their business, Joe set about cleaning all traces of his presence from the place. He then located a phone and rang the hospital.
“Good morning, Memorial Hospital, may I help you?”
“Yeah, I was wonderin’ if ya could put me through ta the nurse in emergency, please.”
“One moment.” Joe nervously waited for the emergency nurse to answer the phone.
“Nurse Collins, emergency.”
“Hello, was ya the nurse on duty when those blokes brought in that beat-up lady last night?”
“Yes. How might I help you?”
“I would like ta know if the cops was called and who would someone talk ta about it?”
“The officer-in-charge was Detective Laura Dunstan, Metropolitan Police Department. Does that help?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Joe found the number in the phone directory and rang.
“Metropolitan Police Department. Can I help you?”
“Could I speak ta Detective Dunstan, please?”
“Whom may I say is calling?”
“She don’t know me. Just tell her it’s about the bashed-up lady from last night.”
“Please hold while I transfer you.”
“Detective Dunstan speaking.” Joe was taken aback by the almost disinterested way in which the detective answered the phone.
“Yeah. Detective, I was wonderin’ if you have that program where ya protect people who squeal on their mates.”
“Do you mean the Witness Protection Program?” supplied Laura.
“Yeah. That’s the one.”
“Yes, we do, but it will depend on your evidence, Joe.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone as Joe processed the information. He suddenly looked about, wondering if she could see him. He started to hang the phone up, stopped and then went to hang it up again; she couldn’t possibly see him, could she? How did she know who he was? He didn’t know if he should continue or not.
“Hello, Joe, hello.”
Laura had turned on the recorder the moment she had answered the phone and another officer was also listening to the conversation. Her captain gave her a ‘keep him talking’ sign while they did a trace.
“How’d ya know it was me?”
“You’re the kind one. We know about all four of you, Joe, and the women you’ve taken.”
“Look, I had nothing ta do with any of them ladies. I tried ta stop ’em, but they went crazy like. They ain’t me mates no more,” Joe said, wondering if he was doing the right thing, except, he hated the violence and wanted out of the gang.
“I see. Why don’t you tell me about it?” suggested Laura.
“I watch movies,
