Infuse

by Michael Cornett

  The young man lay on his back, gasping as he stared up at the stars. He was covered in cuts and tears from the abomination’s sharp nails. Blood gushed from the large gash on his chest. Alec tried to find the right words, something that would make things better, but all he came up with was “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Nick.” He didn’t look at Alec, he just started to weep and said, “Please don’t let them take me. Don’t let me become one of them.” Kable yelled, interrupting the dying man’s plea, “Gotta go, Alec!” Alec glanced to the field and saw a row of pale galloping bodies. He turned back to Nick and repeated his words, “I’m sorry” and slide his blade through the soft spot on the back of Nick’s head. Alec felt like he was plunging the blade into his own heart, but there was nothing else to do. It sickened Alec and caused the rage to burn hotter inside him. He wanted to scream, to rip the abominations’ arms off and beat them to death. Then he heard the word, no more than a whisper, infuse, as if the wind was whispering to him.

  Alec stood up determined, rage now searing his insides, but the calm whisper of the word somehow taming the rage just enough that he knew what to do. He had known what he needed to do ever since waking from his dream. Alec centered his weight, lowering his arms to his side, three fingers pointing to the ground. His left arm extended straight out in front, palm facing outward, right arm in a ninety-degree angle. The motions felt powerful, natural, as if he had been practicing this ritual his entire life. He tapped his left shoulder, then the center of its chest. He shifted his feet, sliding his right foot across the tile, stopping it slightly in front, leaving the left foot positioned slightly behind but still shoulder width apart. His arms flowed through the motions until his three fingers tapped the center of his chest, and in a voice that barely seemed his own, spoke the word, “infuse.”

  His body exploded with heat and light as tremendous power surging through his veins. The sheer intensity of the heat was insane, but Alec felt no pain, only the feeling of raw power flowing through his muscles. He stood idle for a split-second, examining his hands and arms which were glowing radiantly. A cacophony of shrieks shook him from his awe, reminded him of the imminent danger. The abominations were upon them, but Alec no longer felt the fear he had moments ago. It was time to unleash his rage.

  He pivoted towards the first abomination and leapt, light streaking behind him as he closed the distance in a single leap. Lines of light crackled through the ground like lightning as he landed right onto the approaching abomination, crushing it as he landed. Even mangled from Alec’s blow, the abomination was still biting and snapping at him. He stomped down on the abominations head, but his foot didn’t crush the skull like he expected. Instead, his foot passed through its demented skull. Through Alec’s brilliant eyes, he witnessed a twisted form, like that of a demon, fly out of the abomination into the night sky.

  There was no time to reflect on what he had just seen or how he was doing what he was doing. There were three more abominations that were nearly upon him. Alec drew his katana as to meet the onslaught of abominations head on. In his hand the blade became radiant, light beaming from the razor sharp blade and shining brightly through his gripped fingers.

  Alec bellowed, unleashing his rage, his loss, his pain, funneling all of it through him and into the abominations. His radiant blade cut through the night air, easily slicing through the chest of the first abomination, who was hurling itself at him with its melted mouth and jagged teeth. Alec spun, side-stepping to his left to avoid the other two abominations. As he spun, he extended the blade with one hand, slicing through the head of one of the abominations right below the eye socket. As before, a demon spirit hissed as it flew out of the corpse into the star-filled sky. Alec continued to move with the speed of light, blinking back to the third abomination and slicing diagonally down through its head and out the side of the torso. Another spirit fled the decaying body.

  A single boom, not the higher pitched shots of Mr. Pat’s rifle, but the low growl of a shotgun pulled Alec’s attention back to the cabin. In the blink of an eye he was back in the cabin doorway. He leapt up the steps, but was blocked at the top by Kable who was firing three rounds the opposite way down the hallway. The big man lowered his rifle, not moving. His large frame blocked the view of the hallway. Alec couldn’t stand it any longer, pushing his friend to one side of the stairway and moving into the hallway. His world came to a screeching halt, causing him to collapse to his knees. The light radiating off him illuminated the bloody mess in front of him.

  It was something out of a horror movie. A nightmare. Five bodies were scattered about the narrow hallway, two abominations and three human. Mr. Pat was slumped over near the shattered window at the end of the hallway, shirt covered with blood and shards of glass. A large male abomination was sprawled on the floor, half its body in the hallway and half hidden in a bedroom door. Sara was lying face down in the middle of the hall, neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Blood still dripped from her hair. Just in front of Alec, Natalie sat, back against the wall. Alec sat frozen on his knees.

  Kable had pushed past Alec and now let out a loud gasp. Alec looked up to see his friend holding Luciana. She was still alive, and had been trapped under her mother’s fallen body. Something snapped inside of Alec as took in his surroundings. The carnage that lay before him, the smell of death that smothered him, baby Luciana crying, and the shrieking abominations coming to finish them off. But before they could, something even worse happened. Sara’s body began to shake and tremor, violently spasming and then her head twisted up to look at her husband and daughter. The eyes that peered up were not her own, already empty and beginning to take on a red tint. They were not the eyes of a woman, but that of something much more evil.

  “Kable,” Alec shouted, pointing to Sara’s reanimating body. Kable was so deep in his own self-loathing and mourning, that he didn’t even seem to notice, or maybe he just didn’t care anymore. Sara swiped at him, brushing his pants. The confusion and horror on Kable’s face would be forever burned into Alec’s mind. Alec did the only thing there was to do. He dashed down the hall to end her life, but as he went to swing his blade he stopped himself just short. He couldn’t do it. Instead, he used his momentum to slam Sara into the far wall, pinning her arms against the wall. His reach was the only thing that kept him from her gnashing teeth. Alec stared into those haunted red eyes and a tear trickled down his own cheek. Sara had been a good friend to he and Natalie, hell he was in their wedding.

  “Do it,” Kable choked out from behind him. “Just do it.” Alec clinched his teeth and stepped back just a hair, giving himself enough space to push his blade into her head. For the first time he felt tormented as he killed an abomination, as his friend’s body dropped limply to the floor.

  Alec turned and looked back to Natalie, not able to meet Kable’s eyes. He needed to check on his own wife, to see how bad her wounds were. He blinked back to her and wrapped his glowing hand around the back of Natalie’s neck to soothe her. She was crying, holding her…she was holding her stomach. Alec looked down to see blood seeping through her fingers. Alec didn’t understand. She was ok. She had to be. Shrieks surrounded the house, seeming to come from all directions. His hands shook as he held her, “You’re OK. You’re going to be OK. I’ll stitch this up. I can fix it.” She smiled at him as if she had already accepted her fate, as if his glowing skin were normal. Her beautiful green eyes glistening with tears. “I knew you would find a way to save us.” But he hadn’t. He had lost. He was too late, too slow. “Find our baby girl, Alec. Find her and keep her safe.” The shrieks were all around them now. They would be upon them any second. He had to do something. “Hang in there, a little longer. Please, Natalie.” He kissed her forehead and stood up.

  Alec began to run down the hall. “Move!” He yelled, his own voice deeper than usual with a harsh rasp. Kable turned, seeming to notice Alec’s glowing skin for the first time. Fear, sadness, and confusion littered the big man’s face as he stepped out of the way. He looked…
broken. Alec dove head first, or rather blinked head first out the window flipping and landing in a crackle of light.

  A cacophony of shrieks met his thunderous entrance. In a single heartbeat Alec’s eyes had scanned his entire field of vision. Over a dozen abominations were about to engulf the cabin. He cursed, not sure he could stop them all, even with the powers surging through his body. If he couldn’t stop them all, he was about to make as many as he could pay for what they had done. He blinked to the abominations closest to the cabin and spun, blade extended. The glowing katana cut through the bald heads of two abominations like a fiery tornado. He roared as he blinked to the next abomination, the tip of his blade slamming through its red eye as he reappeared beside the demon. He continued blinking and cutting down abomination after abomination, screaming in frustration, fighting for all of his fallen friends and releasing his rage.

  As Alec moved, he was not a man, but a force. A force fueled with righteous anger and a need for vengeance. He felt no pity for the former souls that had inhabited the rancid bodies around him. Their former inhabitants were gone, souls replaced by these demons and their longing for destruction and chaos. He mercilessly slaughtered them one after the other, losing control of himself as he did so.

  As Alec began to blink to the last abomination he felt the power leave him. He looked down at his hands. There was no glow, just blood, mud, and sweat. It covered his hands and arms, dripping off him like rain water. He felt exhausted, but his task was not complete. He reached for his assault rifle, but remembered leaving it on the floor by Natalie. The abomination was on the porch, headed inside. “Heeyyyy!” He screamed at the nearly translucent abomination. He ran straight towards it as fast as he could, willing his body not to collapse. He needed to keep going, just a little longer.

  The abomination stopped just inside the doorway, and twisted its head back towards him as he screamed. Beady red eyes met his own, and the skin melted away from its mouth as it shrieked in defiance. Almost as if it accepted Alec’s challenge, it turned and galloped towards him on all fours. The abomination leaped into the air snarling with rows of jagged teeth. Alec tucked one leg and slid under it, the edge of his blade slicing through the abomination above. The abomination writhed and shrieked as it tried to stand up, but Alec had nearly severed it in two. Alec slowly pushed himself to his feet and walked over until he stood over the flailing abomination. It was still trying to swipe at him as he plunged the Katana down into its red eye. This time he saw no spirit flee the fallen abomination, it simply stopped moving.

  Alec did his best to jog back into the house and up the stairs, but his legs that burned with fatigue. He reached the top and found Kable sitting with his back against the wall, holding Luciana as streams of snot and tears flowed down his face. Natalie was slumped over with closed eyes. “No. No. No!” Alec tried to say, but the words didn’t come out. He ran to kneel by her side and saw her chest briefly rise and fall. It wasn’t much. She was fading. He grabbed her hand, gently squeezing it as he touched his forehead to hers. Warm tears streaked down his face, rolling off his dirty chin. “I’m here Nat. I’m here.” Her eyes opened just enough to see him, and the corners of her mouth raised slightly. “Plea…” He tried to speak but choked up, barely able to breath. She touched his cheeks and whispered, “I knew…You could save us.” She drew in a ragged breath. “Don’t give up…hope. Be strong…” She choked and coughed up blood, wincing in pain. Alec couldn’t take it, couldn’t handle this. Not his wife, his best friend. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave me. I can’t lose you too.” She fought back the pain and smiled at him again. “She’s still out there somewhere. I have…” She coughed up more blood. “I have to believe it.” Alec nodded and pressed his lips against hers, holding onto the kiss, holding onto his love. When he opened his eyes she was gone. “I love you,” he sobbed, pulling her limp body to his. “Oh God. Oh God. I love you. I’m so sorry,” he said as he rocked with her. He knew what had to be done, but he couldn’t, not yet. He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, “look the other way. Let me do this for you,” Kable said.

  He sat there holding Natalie until the first rays of sunlight expelled the darkness from the hallway. Sasha was there too, cuddled next to his leg. He didn’t want to move, to face the day, to come to grips with reality. It was Kable that stood up first, carrying his wife’s body down the stairs. That finally, gave Alec the strength to stand up and carry his wife’s body down to the pond.

  Muscles all over Alec’s body ached as he dug the graves. Sasha sat patiently beside Natalie, occasionally whimpering. When they were finished digging, Alec gently placed Natalies body, now wrapped in a white sheet, down in the ground. He fell on his knees beside the grave, broken. Kable stopped digging Sara’s grave and stood beside him, hand on his back. “She was a good woman. A good wife and mom,” the big man said. Alec looked from the grave up to his friend, “I don’t know how we are going to do it…I don’t know if I can.” Tears streaked down Kable’s dark cheeks as he met Alec’s eyes, “Together.”

  Alec whispered his goodbyes to Natalie as he kneeled there. “Forever and always, I’ll love you.”

  The story will continue in book 2, Power Word: Reveal. Thank you for reading!