End Journeys
somebody once told me the world was gonna kill me
Dinner is on the floor of the motel with a red carpet. Three bowls of chicken soup, a plate of baked potatoes with melted cheese and grilled tuna fish into Ruby, Felix and Thomas' dinner.
"Why do you bother cooking?" ask Felix.
"Didn't I cook for you every day?" answer Ruby.
"But this food is not what it used to be" Felix replied.
They spent their dinner, the atmosphere was very different that night because of a dangerous mission they were going to do.
"Bring your cell phone," suggested Thomas.
"I'm afraid of getting caught," Ruby hesitated to bring the phone to that place.
"Have you seen the Korean drama Save Me? Here's how to hide the phone," Thomas took an elastic cloth with a rubber fringe and put it on Ruby's thigh and put it in the cloth.
"What a smart way," praised Ruby.
"Yes, because of you I like Korean dramas a little bit," Thomas blushed.
"When is the full moon?" Felix interrupts Ruby and Thomas who seem to not consider Felix among them.
"Three more days" replied Ruby.
***
Ruby went back to that place. Thomas and Felix waited nervously at the motel until Poppy came to them.
"Good night" Poppy said with a depressed face.
"How's Ruby doing?" ask her.
"We haven't found it after a long day of searching. I'll call the police, " said Thomas.
"I'm the one who reported it, your car can't get out of here. So it has to be a short walk" Poppy offered to help.
"No, we can do it ourselves. And our car's rear tire deflated. Please phone the workshop person yes," Felix replied while asking Poppy for help.
"Can you tell me what clothes Ruby was wearing when she left?" Poppy asked again.
"He was wearing checkered pants, a red shirt with a picture of a cat and sandals with a fish motif" Felix recalled the clothes Ruby wore yesterday.
"Well," replied Poppy and left Thomas and Felix.
Poppy left them and got out of the motel. I don't know where he went, because Thomas and Felix didn't see Poppy going to his mother's house.
"Why him? Looks like he doesn't want us to leave or is afraid we're calling the police" Thomas conjectured.
"Of course he doesn't want us to leave. We will be sacrificed" Felix replied.
"Ruby called the police when he found the body in the river but until now the police have not come" Thomas added.
"What is it that keeps us from getting out of this place? We should've run away earlier before we had any guard and we could have left Ruby's car here, but it's too late. We just realized that we've been framed" Felix regretted.
He was a little sorry not to listen to Ruby who wanted to come back soon during their initial stay.
***
Ruby walked over to the gate guarded by two men. The men did not look like members of the sect, they were dressed all in black in leather jackets and chain pants like thugs.
Ruby went inside casually and saw the other sect members passing by doing decorations.
"White stream!" shouted a woman in a golden black robe. Ruby just saw a robe like that tonight.
"Your job is to take care of the dried spices to be put into the bodies of the sinners later" the woman said.
Ruby was confused as to what the woman meant.
"Is there a new member?" the woman again asked the question.
"There is a mother" answered someone standing at the front. It seemed like that person was the one in charge with the white flow.
"New members come forward" he exclaimed.
Several advanced people approached the leader of the white stream, including Ruby. He didn't know what to do, he just followed the people who came forward.
"Other please continue your work," the woman disbanded the association. The same thing is done by black and red schools, they gather their members and ask if there are new members, then the new members are gathered. Here Ruby got information that the sect was divided into white streams, black streams and red streams.
"Who's in charge of the spice?" ask the white sect leader.
Someone who took care of the spices along with Ruby came forward and Ruby followed.
"Your job will be to put the spices into the bodies of the two humans before they roast us" he said.
Ruby suddenly glued. His sweat was pouring, he couldn't move his legs.
"What are we going to do after they're baked?" ask someone next to Ruby.
Without answering that question, the leader of the white sect only beckoned by raising his two hands like someone eating.
Ruby now knew that this sect was also a cannibal.
Ruby was a little desperate to find out that she and her lover who were the target to be victimized in this event will be eaten by the followers of the sect. He twisted his brain and found a way for the sect's plan to fail, but relied on the police for nothing.
Ruby returned to work with the others, trying not to arouse suspicion among the cultists. A large, cloth-covered statue was in the middle of the altar, it seemed like it had just been moved because it did not exist this afternoon.
Sometimes Ruby imagined what would happen if she was caught sneaking around as a sect member.
"Ah, I have an idea," Ruby whispered with a smile. Luckily he was wearing a face mask and no one saw him.
While the followers of the newly joined sects prepared altars and various other means, the followers of the long-joined sects gathered in a hall that was located behind a string of flowers arranged by thread.
"I will open this to the public through social media," he said. This is his chance to gather evidence. Some of the followers of the new sect, passing around the hall to transport the water that was transferred into the barrel. Ruby helped there because her task was done, then she slipped into the crowd of old sect followers.
He listened to what the golden-robed woman had told them.
"When they fall asleep, kidnap them. Kill a man who just came to this motel. He was a friend of two of our victims" he said.
"There are four more people that I've already sealed. Finish 'em off after you guys finish the guy off, '" he added.
It was certain that Thomas was what the woman meant. And the other four people Ruby did not know who the sect members were referring to.
It was too dangerous for him to take pictures there, so he went away with the water carrier. He walked around the place and saw a building. Ruby approached and peeked, inside the building contained a meeting room, like a meeting table and several people in golden black robes were there including Poppy. However, Poppy was wearing a black robe.
"Is there anything strange?" ask an old man to Poppy.
"Until now Ruby has not been found" replied Poppy.
"Make some people look for him" the man ordered.
"Didn't he have to go undercover to keep an eye on the newly joined followers?" a woman held Poppy away. That woman was none other than Poppy's mother.
"The woman is near here," a golden white-robed woman walked into the room.