Chapter 73
AS WE JOURNEYED deeper into the unknown, we started encountering trapped souls of the damned.
The first group—whom we encountered in a chamber where Joe pegged the temperature at 120 degrees Fahrenheit—were people who, basically, did nothing in life. They weren’t good, but they weren’t really evil, either. They didn’t even bemoan their eternal fate in this sweatbox. They were blasé blobs.
I remembered what Dante had written: “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
“Let’s keep moving,” I called out to my squad, all of whom were gawking at the silent specters surrounding us. The souls of the “uncommitted” swatted at wasps and hornets swarming around their heads. They tried to swipe away the maggots and leeches ferociously sucking on their flesh.
We left them to their eternal misery.
After passing through this vestibule, we boarded a ferry-boat and crossed a black underground river.
“Next stop, hell,” droned the ferry pilot. “Hell is next.”
I looked at Lieutenant Russell. He actually grinned. We were both remembering the vow he’d made after our martial arts match: Heck, kid—I’d follow you into hell itself.
We now entered a series of terraced, circular rooms spiraling down in receding levels. It was kind of like the Guggenheim Museum in New York City—only the walls were black and slick and slimy.
The first circle was crowded with souls who simply looked lost or confused.
“I did nothing wrong!” cried a woman. “Why am I stuck in limbo?”
The second circle down was full of those who had been overcome by lust. I recognized a few dead politicians and celebrities, all famous for cheating on their spouses.
We continued down the wraparounds, as if we were trying to get out of a parking garage.
The next circular chamber was filled with souls wallowing in filth, like pigs, while raw sewage dribbled on their heads.
“Why are you here?” I called out.
“In life I was a glutton. I ate like a pig. All day, every day!”
I realized that Dante had been spot-on in his description of the circles of hell. So, having uploaded his masterwork into my memory banks at the age of six, I knew that beneath the gluttons would come the avaricious and the prodigal; that is, people who had spent their lives chasing money. In hell, they had to chase after one another with giant boulders.
The level below that, the fifth circle, was a swampy place—an open cesspool where those whose lives had been filled with rage had to wrestle one another in a pool of chunky brown muck. If you ever visit the fifth circle of hell, trust me—you want to pack nose plugs.
We looped down to the sixth circle, which was filled with heretics (those who disagreed with official Church teachings), and wound our way into the several sub-rings of the seventh circle, where all sorts of violent souls were spending eternity splashing around in a river of boiling blood. In every circle, consequences were paid in death for choices made in life.
“Um, Daniel,” whispered Dana, “can we pick up the pace?”
“Please,” Emma agreed. “This is like a freaky seven-ring circus.”
“It’s amazing,” I remarked as we entered a vast, open space I knew had to be Dante’s Abyss. “He got it all right.”
“Who?” asked Joe.
“Dante.”
“Why are you so amazed, Daniel?” purred a smooth voice from the darkness. It wasn’t any of my friends. Unfortunately, I recognized it all too well.
Abbadon!
“Of course he got it right. Signor Dante came to visit, and he took excellent notes.”
Finally, Abbadon (or Number 2, Satan, Lucifer, or Beelzebub—the guy had more names than a champion show dog) stepped into the dim light of the cavernous room. All I could see of his face were two red eyes glowing in the black circle beneath the hood of his robe. Apparently, Abbadon was going with his grim reaper look again.
“And now, finally,” he said with a sigh, “you are here. Welcome, Daniel. Welcome!”
I could hear his raspy, rumbling breath quicken in anticipation.
“By the way, I heard about your mommy and daddy. What a pity they both had to die—again. On the same day. Again.”
In the blackness beneath his hood, I could now see his slick teeth glisten as his lizard lips slid up into a smile.
And then he laughed.
It was the most hideous laughter I have ever heard.