by Michael Todd
Brock bent down, catching a charging man on his shoulder and lifted him into the air. He carried him over to the grass and dropped him. “Don’t you guys have some sort of angel powers? Can you help pull these people out of this?”
Katie and Pandora looked at each other, and both sprouted their wings. Katie nodded at Brock. “We do, but the last time, it only calmed them a little bit. I’m not sure if it will work at all this time, but we’ll give it a shot. Something has to give or we’ll be fighting these humans for hours.”
Katie and Pandora took off into the air and circled around in front of the mob. As soon as they took flight, they began whistling wildly to get the people’s attention. The nightmare-hazed group followed the sound, their eyes still clenched tightly closed. They stopped attacking the team, giving them a reprieve to back up and ready themselves if it didn’t work.
Katie reached out and took Pandora’s hand. They pulled the energy from their chests and let it build and build, the bright glow radiating around them. Pandora kept her eyes shut, her body pulsing from the energy. “You ready?”
Katie nodded. “On three. One, two, three!”
Both of them released the energy that had built up in their chests and it exploded from them in a wave of light, moving over every single person below them before dissipating. They floated for a moment, waiting to see what would happen. The people began to calm, some even coming out of it. Katie put her hand to her chest and breathed deeply.
Pandora laughed, surprised that it had actually worked. “I’ll lead them out of harm’s way.”
Pandora began to whistle again, regaining everyone’s attention. She kept backing up from the lake and the city. Timothy had detected nothing outside the city, but no one really knew. The group followed, walking almost like zombies as they followed her away.
As Katie slowly floated down to the ground, the team all checked in, letting each other know they were good to go. Pandora watched as the familiar black fog showed itself again. It was rolling down the street toward them.
Pandora landed next to Katie. “Kabbus has arrived.”
19
Angie sat on the couch, one leg underneath her, turned toward Juntto. He sneered at the pizza she was holding over her plate. It was a huge slice of New York-style with extra cheese and pepperoni. “Open up and eat some real pizza.”
Rolling his eyes, Juntto opened his mouth and took a big bite. He chewed and swallowed, watching the news out of the corner of his eye. Angie smiled. “See, that is pizza.”
Juntto lifted an eyebrow. “It’s pizza, yes, but is it enough pizza?”
Angie opened her mouth to argue, but Juntto’s phone went off before she could speak. He grinned, holding up a finger, and put the phone to his ear. “This is Juntto.”
The general didn’t even greet him. “We have a problem. I need you on a plane to Provo, Utah. Kabbus the Nightmare has resurfaced.”
Juntto jumped up with a serious look on his face. “Yes, General.”
Brushwood let out an exasperated sigh. “You have to hurry.”
Eddie’s hands shook and he held them in front of his face, peering at them. He blinked. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion. The entire scene was completely chaotic. Kabbus lurked in front of him, his tentacles flying everywhere. Eddie raised his gun and adjusted his sight. He blinked again, trying to get the blurriness to dissipate. Letting out a deep breath, he pulled the trigger.
The bullet ricocheted off of a sign two feet to the left of Kabbus. He lifted his head, furrowing his brow, and staring at the distorted metal, the bullet lodged in the building behind it. He had been so far off on his shot that he might as well have closed his eyes. He shook his head to clear it before trying again.
He took the shot, and it hit the brick wall to the left of Kabbus. The brick it struck disintegrated, chunks flying everywhere. “What the fuck?”
Eddie looked down at his gun, making sure that everything was in order. There was nothing on it that seemed like it could cause such a huge difference in aim. He shook his head and rolled his shoulders. Kabbus had slithered toward a woman on the ground who was having a nightmare. Eddie gritted his teeth and aimed again, this time sending the bullet straight into the woman’s head.
He froze, his eyes wide, realizing he had just killed someone by accident. Coco, what the fuck are you doing? I need your goddamn help. I am all over the place, and I can’t figure out how to fix it.
Eddie could almost feel Coco’s deep fear. The demon whimpered, but he didn’t say a word. Eddie shook his head. Coco, snap out of it. Kabbus is going to kill all these people.
A soft cry came from Coco’s mouth, echoing through Eddie’s head. Please, Eddie. Please don’t do it.
Eddie pulled his brows together. Don’t do what? Kill Kabbus? I thought we talked about this, Coco. You work with us now. You defend the innocent and the Damned. Why are you doing this?
Coco sniffled. Not Kabbus. Please, Eddie, don’t send me back to hell. I promise I’ll be a good demon. I’ll do whatever you like.
Eddie couldn’t understand what was wrong with Coco. Coco, why would I do that? I have been waiting to have a demon again. Get it together!
Coco shrieked, PLEASE don’t send me back. PLEASE! I promise to do whatever you want me to. Coco is a good demon.
Eddie shifted his eyes back and forth, looking for anyone else on the team. They must have all moved into cover. He pulled up his gun, realizing that Coco was going to be absolutely no help. He aimed again and again, blasting away at Kabbus. Not a single one of them came anywhere close to the Leviathan.
Eddie slammed his fist down on his leg. “Fuck fuck fuck!”
Brock rubbed his eyes, gripping the M-16 in front of him tightly. He had to get himself in a good position. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, his mouth falling slightly open. He glanced around him, finding himself on a stage with a band behind him. He grabbed for his gun, but in its place was a guitar—his old guitar. He ran his fingers down the strings, hearing the sweet tones echoing from the speakers to his right and left.
In front of him was a sea of people, all laughing and cheering, putting their hands in the air. Brock let go of the guitar, leaving it hanging from him. He turned in a circle, slightly confused. Wasn’t I just fighting something?
His old bandmate came up and slapped him on the back, putting his hand over the mic. “Hey. You okay, dude? We are kind of at a show here.”
Brock looked at him frantically. “Where is Katie?”
His bandmate looked at him strangely and then laughed. “Oh, you mean the hot blonde? Don’t worry. She’ll be waiting in your trailer. Right now, you have a house to fucking rock!”
Brock smiled, turning back and looking at the thousands of screaming fans in front of him. He pulled his guitar back up in front of him and stepped to the microphone. “HOW’S EVERYBODY DOING OUT THERE?”
The entire stadium erupted in screaming. Brock strummed his guitar. “Here’s a little ditty I just recently wrote. It’s for you.”
The crowd cheered and Brock wiped his arm across his forehead, feeling his long hair flowing over his shoulders. He chuckled and began to play, leaning forward and singing into the mic. The song wasn’t one that he could remember ever playing before, but for some reason, it streamed out of him like he had played it a thousand times. Even the band was backing him up on it.
Brock shrugged and looked back as he rocked into a guitar solo. His bandmates screamed, giving him the rock and roll sign with their hands. He closed his eyes and let the music just flow out of him, every strum, every note, melodically flowing like it was the most natural thing in the world. He put his lips to the mic and sang out the last line of the song, finishing up with a deep strum of the guitar.
He kept his eyes closed, the band’s last notes vibrating through him. He knew it was the best song he had ever played or would ever play again. It had exploded from his soul like a train. When he stopped to listen to the fans, the entire stadium wa
s silent. A smile pulled on his lips, just knowing they had all been shocked and amazed by the tune.
Slowly he opened his eyes, staring out at the sea of faces. The reaction wasn’t exactly what he had thought it would be. Everyone was just staring at him, some in disgust, others in confusion. There was one clap way out in the back, and then the crowd began to boo. They hated it. They hated him.
Brock shook his head and put his hands up. “Wait! I can do better! Wait!”
It was no use; he knew there was no way he could do any better. Still, with the crowd turning, he panicked and tried to strum the guitar, but his fingers no longer worked…
Turner kept low, moving around a large piece of debris in the street. The people were getting more and more destructive in their terrified haze. He couldn’t shoot them, so he had to just let them continue until they could get it all under control. It was difficult concentrating on a Leviathan when the very people he was there to save were beating him mercilessly everywhere he went.
As he walked around the corner, he paused, tilting his head to the side. Standing halfway down the block was Eddie. At first, he was going to call to him, but then he realized that something was definitely not right. He was standing a few feet from a brick building, firing his gun into it over and over again. He would pause, pound his leg, and shout, “Fuck fuck fuck!” Then, after a moment, he would raise his gun and fire again.
Turner started to walk toward him but stopped again, turning to his right to find Brock. He glanced up and down the street, but there was no one else. Brock was standing with his nose just inches from the wall, completely zoned out. His eyes were glazed, and he had a look of anguish on his face as he moved his hand up and down over his gun like it was a guitar.
“Fuck,” he whispered to himself, turning to find Katie.
She wasn’t on the block; he could only assume she had taken flight with Pandora. Either way, they had to fight Kabbus. He ran over and grabbed Brock’s shoulder, shaking him lightly. “Snap out of it. We have to finish this thing!”
Brock began to weep, shaking his gun up and down. “It was the best I’ll ever do, man! The best I’ll ever do.”
Turner backed up and ran for Eddie, but he couldn’t pull him away from the wall. “Guys! Get your shit straight. We need to…we need to… What the fuck is that?”
Turner backed into the street, looking right and left, hearing giggling. He paused, slowly lowering his head and looking down at his pants. They moved wildly around his crotch. He jumped, dropping his gun on the ground. He unbuttoned his pants as fast as he could, pulling one leg out. As he pulled the other, he fell to the ground, shaking his leg to get the rest of it off of him. “Fuck, shit, fuck. There’s something in my pants. Something in my pants.”
He looked down at his boxers, where everything had gone calm. Turner looked around, but there was no one there except Eddie and Brock, and they were too obsessed with their own thing to pay any attention. He could still hear the giggling. Anxiety bubbled in his chest as he slowly reached down and began to lift up the front of his boxers.
“Holy fuck!” he screamed as little green goblins began jumping out, running up and down his chest, snarling and giggling.
He tried to knock them away, but they seemed to multiply. One stopped on his chest and let out a high-pitched squeal of excitement. “We’re the dick pox! We’re here to eat your dick!”
Turner screamed, clenching his eyes shut as hard as he could.
Katie flew over the streets of the small city. Everywhere she went there were people screaming and freaking out, caught in their own heads. She kept sending out calming waves, at least quieting them down for a few moments so they wouldn’t hurt themselves or each other. Pandora had gone the opposite way and was doing the same thing. She had to get to Kabbus and stop the madness before he ended up taking out the whole town.
She glided around the corner and flared her wings to slow her down. In the street below were Turner, Eddie, and Brock, and they were definitely not okay. Brock stood crying as he stared at a wall, strumming his gun like a guitar. Eddie was shooting at a brick wall over and over, even after there were no more bullets in his gun. And Turner, he was lying on the ground in the middle of the street clutching his crotch and screaming at the top of his lungs. It was obvious that they were in their own nightmares.
Katie flew up higher to see if Pandora was close, but she couldn’t spot her. She bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head. “If I don’t save them now, they’re going to be fucking frozen dead gray Kabbus meat.”
She took a deep breath and dove, wishing she had some sort of telepathy with Pandora or at least a fucking comm, so she knew what was going on. But Katie knew Pandora had her own issues to deal with. She had been chivvying people down the street toward a large warehouse on the outskirts of the town. She was trying to get them to safety, figuring one warehouse would be a lot easier to protect then miles of city streets and residences. Still, Katie really needed her help.
Katie stood in front of the guys and let out a calming wave. She needed to get them away from the city; only then could they kick the dreams out of their minds. Eddie began to relax, dropping his gun and just standing there. Brock’s arms fell, and his shoulders relaxed. Turner let out a deep breath and stared aimlessly at the sky.
She took off toward Turner, grabbing him under the arm. “I can get you to safety.”
He stood up, whimpering. “They’re eating my dick. Eating my dick.”
Katie blinked. “Right. Okay. We’ll stop them, buddy.”
Walking over to Brock, she took him by the hand. He said nothing, just followed her, tears still staining his cheeks. Last she grabbed Eddie, who kept shaking his head. “I just keep missing. I keep missing. Coco, where are you?”
Katie pressed them together and opened a portal before guiding them to some sort of dark, shadowy world. She didn’t even take the time to look around. She had to get the guys back to the base. She opened another portal and walked out, determining that the base was pretty close. She hadn’t planned to open her portal this close, but that was okay. They were only a few hundred feet from the front gate.
Katie heard the portal snap shut behind her and she bent over, breathing heavily. “We are really close, guys. You should be feeling better already. I told you it would be tough. It’s hard to escape Kabbus and his nightmares. It will take practice for us all. I’m just glad I was able to stay upright to get you guys…”
Katie turned around with a smile that quickly faded. “Out…of…there…Oh, fuck!”
Instead of Brock, Turner, and Eddie, Kabbus let out a deep laugh, his tentacles writhing as he slithered straight toward the base. Katie froze for a moment, trying to figure out where the guys had gone and how he’d gotten through a portal that small.
Suddenly it clicked, and rage blew through her. She was absolutely horrified. She had been so busy trying to save the guys that she hadn’t even realized that Kabbus had lured her right into a fucking trick. She slammed her hand against her legs and screamed. She had spent all that time killing demons and defeating the masterminds behind the hellish movement, and in the end, she had been tricked by some multi-tentacled slob who didn’t even have the decency to bullshit her with words.
She ran her hands through her hair, tapping her foot wildly on the sand. She stared down at the granules as they began to blow around her. Suddenly she realized something. It wasn’t just the fact that she had been tricked. It was the idea that instead of saving her team, she had endangered everyone at her base. She had brought Kabbus right where he wanted to go. Right where the demons would have wanted him to go.
“The base is in danger, and no one even knows Kabbus is near,” Katie whispered to herself, pacing back and forth.
She stopped and looked at Kabbus, who was still slithering toward the base. “I can’t let this happen. That motherfucker has to die.”
She reached down, running her hand over Tom in his holster. She pulled it out and took off, run
ning straight for the Leviathan. She aimed at him, slowing down to make sure she got off a good shot. She pulled the trigger once, but it clicked. She stopped, pulling the trigger again and again, but her gun was empty. She reached down for more ammunition, feeling in the pouch, but she was out.
She shook her head and kept pulling the trigger, but nothing came out of the barrel. Katie reached over her shoulder and patted her back, but she couldn’t feel her sword. “No, this can’t be happening. Where is it? Where is it?”
She whirled around to keep her eyes locked on Kabbus, but when she did, he was gone. She stared at the base, but there was no one out and about, no vehicles running, no training going on. The wind blew hard, pushing sand across her face, but Katie didn’t flinch. She knew what she had to do. She had to get to the base and warn them before all hell broke loose.
She started to run, but all her feet did was sink into the sand. She screamed, using everything she had to pull her leg free and take another step. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she pressed on, looking at the base—her home, where everyone she loved was waiting without warning.
Pandora put out her hands. “Everyone stay here, and you will be safe.”
All the people nodded, surprising her. For some reason, they had almost all snapped out of it. She closed the doors and took off, flying fast across the city. She spotted the guys below her, so she did a quick scan and landed. Turner was sitting on the ground patting his crotch, Eddie was backing away from a wall and looking down at his gun in confusion, and Brock had walked out into the street, scratching his head.
Pandora looked around for Katie but didn’t see her. “We need some fucking comms. Brock, what happened?”
Brock was still coming out of it. He looked at Pandora strangely. “She…she opened a portal.”
Pandora’s eyes went wide. “Shit.”
Brock shook his head. “I don’t know where she went.”
Pandora pressed her lips together. “I have an idea, and I hope to hell I’m wrong.”