Part 50

It started happening almost instantly. Once Steve's finger completed the large outer circle and started tracing the elaborate curves on the symbol's interior, the door began to respond.

At first it was a barely noticeable tightening in the air.

That was the only way Steve could have described it: as if the air around him was drawing close... looking over his shoulder as his fingertip copied the lines and arcs from the page onto the rough iron.

Then the iron itself started to grow warm. Not hot. Not uncomfortable. Just warm... almost body temperature.

He felt the metal shift beneath his light tough.

It didn't move. It didn't swing open or fall inward. The iron just seemed to... shrug... as if it were gathering its strength.

Steve's finger swept out the final strokes of the design amid a rising tension that he could feel in the air.. .the walls... the door... everything around him. And when the last line was done, Steve's finger paused... waiting.

"Hmmm..." he said after a few seconds of silence. "Well, that was-"

CLANG!

The sound rang out from the door like the striking of a giant iron bell. Steve skittered away from the iron slab, dropping the pages and slapping his hands to either side of his head. The sound faded as suddenly as it had come, leaving no echo other than the faint ringing in Steve's ears.

The door was still closed. Still closed and as solid as it had been before.

But when Steve's fingers curled around the small bar traversing the circular indentation, he knew the iron door was going to move even before he started pulling.

It was heavy; it was still a giant iron slab.

But now it was unlocked.

Steve pulled. Lightly at first... then harder... then harder still. He grunted his way into the upper limit of his strength before the door started to swing open on still-invisible hinges-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"Huh?" Steve spun. "Wha-"

Jones... the black man that had been with them earlier... tackled him, knocking him down and away from the door with an impact so hard it rattled Steve's teeth. He hit the ground with Jones on top of him, one knee pressed into the center of his chest as his right hand drew back in a fist.

Behind him, Frank stood motionless and confused in one of the entry ways.

"-the fuck?" Frank said, frowning.

"DON'T OPEN THE DOORS!"

"GET HIM OFF ME!" Steve squealed. "FRANK!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S IN THERE!"

"AND YOU DO!?!"

Jones's fist began its descent toward Steve's face-

-but Frank grabbed his wrist. Jones twisted toward him, snarling.

"MOTHERF-"

Frank drove his own small fist into Jones's throat.

"AGGH!" Jones rolled off of Steve, grabbing his neck and coughing.

"Now will somebody tell me what the fuck is-"

Jones sprang at Frank. Frank tried to dive to one side, but Jones's fist caught him in the stomach, doubling him over.

"Frank!" Steve came off the ground and threw himself at Jones. The two men collided, knocking Jones off balance and sending both of them stumbling into Frank. All three men went down, with Frank's hands fastened around Jones's throat and Steve attempting to keep Jones's fists away from Frank's face.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!" Steve shouted.

"I think that's obvious!" Frank growled.

"Don't fuck with those doors! There's something bad on the other side!"

"How do YOU know!?"

"I just KNOW!"

"Well I guess your intuition needs a tune-up," said Maurice. He'd strolled past the others during the fray and finished what Steve had started. Now he stood in front of the open door, smiling at what lay beyond. "Because this looks like the way out to me."