“Oh, I’ll just ask him later then.”
“Deliver the girl and I’m sure he’ll satisfy your wishes.” She added with sarcasm.
Taliah knew that she was in serious danger. She felt a strange movement in her stomach. She rubbed her belly. There was a knot there. What the hell was that? What had they done to her while she slept? She thought. She listened and found another heartbeat inside of her…she’s pregnant! Wait! When? How could she hear its heartbeat? She pondered. She could hear two heartbeats in the front seat. They were much slower than the baby’s. Another, much faster heartbeat, raced nearby. It was in the back with her. She could smell him and could taste the blood in the air. She found him and turned to see who it was. There was a lumbering giant of a man in the dark corner. His eyes were closed and his hands were on his knees. He spoke.
“There’s no escape for you, Taliah.” The voice was deep and menacing.
“I am with child. Help me. I can’t go with them to that place.” She begged.
“And you think I give a shit about you or your baby?”
She turned to him.
“Let me go!” She whispered forcefully.
The man stood up, untied her bindings and banged on the door to the front. It opened.
“What do you want, Steve? Jesus, you stink.”
“Let me go.” He mumbled and charged into the front. The screams quickly vanished and the van made a sudden stop. Her gurney fell over spilling Taliah on the floor.
Taliah quickly sat up and wondered what the hell just happened. Steve returned to the back and kicked open the back doors. An armed escort questioned his intentions after exiting their vehicle. His violent demeanor encouraged a flurry of gunfire. He leapt at the man shouting and quickly dismembered him.
Taliah cautiously climbed out the back wearing a hospital gown and white socks. Steve staggered to his feet. His injuries spilled quite a bit of blood but his wounds healed shortly thereafter and turned his gaze to Taliah.
“Let me go.’ He spoke hoarsely.
“That’s right. Let me go.” She confirmed.
She entered the driver’s side of the car that the gunman was driving.
“Are you coming?” She spoke to the man.
“Let me go.” He stood in the street mindlessly repeating the same phrase.
She shrugged and drove off towards the way that she came. In the rearview mirror she could see Steve sprinting towards her screaming.
“Let me go!”
After a mile or so, he disappeared into the distance. Why was he acting so weird? Had her words influenced him? Her stomach groaned. She was hungry….extremely hungry and she didn’t have a clue where she was nor where she was going. She worried about François. He was unconscious the last she remembered. Why had she been asleep all this time? She wondered.
A dense fog settled on the road up ahead and five figures were walking in front of it as if they were exiting the mist. She slowed down the car about a mile away. The land was barren except for the road and those people. She lowered her window and listened. An eerie silence surrounded the area. A quiet tune from the radio sung into her mind. She turned it off and listened. The aroma of Azrael and something else entirely struck her senses before the sound of Azrael heartbeats found her eardrums.
“Nope.” She affirmed.
Uneasy about her situation, Taliah turned the car around and headed back towards the van. Maybe they had a GPS system and she could track their recent stops. She studied her rearview mirror and the figures vanished beneath a hill. When she approached the van, Steve was sitting on the back bumper with his hands on his knees like he was when she first met the man. His head lifted and he stood up when she shut off the car about twenty feet away. Taliah brought in a massive sigh, opened the door and approached the van. She kind of felt sorry for the guy.
“What did you do to me? Steve asked in a deep voice.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She hurried over to the driver’s side of the van and tried to open the door. It was locked. She sighed.
“You did something to me and I killed Eric and Lisa.” He looked at his hands with disbelief.
She walked around him and hopped into the back of the van. A backpack was near the front with a change of clothes for one of the two dead bodies up front. She shut the back doors while glaring at Steve so he wouldn’t come in. As she pulled the clothes out, she soon realized that they were the man’s. She put them on anyway. They were baggy on her but she tightened the elastic on the pants so the waist would not fall off. She rubbed her stomach and smiled.
“I’m going to have a baby.” She beamed.
Taliah climbed into the front and searched for a GPS device. Their faces were dressed in horror and their necks were twisted unnaturally. Steve was a force to reckon with, she thought. On the bottom left of the windshield, a Garmin GPS was suction cupped to the window.
“I knew it.” She danced.
Taliah toggled the menu and searched for ‘Search History’. She found an address labeled The Veil. She tossed it into the large front kangaroo pouch on the sweater she stole from the bag. Another duffel bag up front had several bags of chips and candy bars. She grabbed the bag and carried it with her to the back door. When she opened the door, Steve was standing there.
“You can’t leave.” He glowered.
“Let me go.” She smirked and waited for him to respond as before.
“No, you’re staying.” He avowed while pointing to the ground with his left index finger.
“After what you did there.” Taliah gestured behind her towards the front of the van. “You think they’ll forgive you?” She gestured to the dead shooter on the pavement.
“It doesn’t matter. You can’t leave.” He stood firm on the subject.
“I’m leaving, Steve.” She attempted to hop off the van to the left of Steve.
He caught her and lifted her to his face.
“You can’t leave.” He spat. She wiggled within his hands.
“Let me go!” She shouted into his face. His eyes widened and he dropped her.
“Let me go.” He mumbled. She rubbed at the bruises on her arms.
“Finally.” She huffed. “Let’s go, Steve.” She continued and walked over to the car.
“Let me go.” He stood with a blank start.
Taliah walked back over and looked into Steve’s eyes.
“Let me go.” He groaned.
“Follow me, Steve. This won’t end well for you if you stay. Besides, I think I could use your strength.” She ordered and disapprovingly pinched her own bicep.
“Follow me…yes.” He turned towards her.
She began her walk towards the car again. She glanced over her shoulder. He was close behind. When she reached the car, she turned and faced him once more.
“Get in the car, Steve.” She demanded.
“Get in the car.” He responded and climbed into the passenger seat. The car rocked from the weight of him as he settled into his seat.
“Okay, I think I’m getting the hang of this.” She admitted as she climbed into her seat and fastened her seatbelt. She smiled at Steve and gave him the thumbs up. He just gave her a blank stare.
“Can you be normal or will you be this weird repeating freak all the time?” She asked.
“Huh? What am I doing in here?” He scanned around with confusion.
“Reset.”
“Reset? What did you do to me?” Steve asked.
“Don’t worry about it Steve-O. I’ll ask the doc when we get back to the Veil.”
“Back to the Veil? No. We are waiting right…”
“Enough, Steve! This is happening. You can either join me or wait outside for your friends to cut you open to find out why you let me go.” Taliah interrupted. She didn’t truly know what his people would do to him. She doubted that they would actually cut him up, but she needed to sell it. She needed an ally, especially a powerful one.
“I’ll stay.” He admitted.
They sped off towards the Veil guided by the GPS coordinates from the Garmin.
Chapter 27: An Unfortunate End
Tommy awoke to a banging on the front door. It was fast and powerful. He wiped drool from his lip with his right sleeve as he sat up from the couch. What was that? He wondered and slowly stood up into a crouch. The door was being knocked on. A voice was heard muffled within the banging.
“Let me in. Yo, Tommy, let me in.” Jarrell hollered.
“Oh, shit!” Tommy cussed and hurried towards the front door. He hurriedly pushed the desk out of the way. It was heavy. It seemed heavier now than before.
“Hurry, man! They’re coming.” He shouted.
“Aight, Bro. I’m getting this shit out of the way.” Tommy explained.
He finally moved the desk into the corner. He turned around and it was there again. What?
“Hurry up man!” Jarrell cried out.
“This desk is back. What’s going on?”
Tommy woke up. There was a deafening silence in the air. He studied his watch. It was 3am. They had been gone for more than two days. He had a tough reality to face. He was alone. They weren’t going to come back. Later on in the morning he decided to head out for fuel for the generators. He returned to his dreams in hopes to be fully recharged in four hours.
The morning came with a flash of lightning. Thunder rumbled. Tommy awoke. He felt sluggish and wondered if it would be wise to head out in the middle of a storm. He shuffled towards the windows facing the tower and slowly peeled back the blinds. The back of an Azrael’s head was in view. He jumped back, dropping the slat quickly. He could smell them along with the smell of rain in the air. He built up the nerve to take another peek but from another window on the other side of the door. He walked over, quietly pulled one slat up and saw more Azrael. There were thousands of them out there just waiting for something.
Tommy walked away slowly and made a quick perimeter check of the building. An open back door and a busted lock brought Tommy back to the recording studio in a hurry. He had rested a chair beneath the door and it rattled violently from the several dozen Azrael now within the WVON building. This was it, he thought. He sat on the couch and placed his revolver into his mouth. He clutched the trigger tightly. He waited for the door to open. This was it, his end.
A shrieking howl outside surprised him and he almost pulled the trigger in response. The banging on the door ceased and the aroma of the Azrael slowly dissolved from the room. Tommy spit out the weapon and wept. He was moments from taking his own life. The thunderstorm persisted throughout the morning. Tommy collapsed from mental exhaustion.
Banging on the door returned waking Tommy. He knew he couldn’t avoid it. They were coming for him this time. The door kicked open sending the chair beneath it hurling forward. Tommy shoved the revolver into his mouth and pulled the trigger.
“Get down!” Shannon shouted. Jarrell and Lester retreated from the studio thinking they were being shot at.
Lester stood up and slowly walked inside the room. Tommy sat on the couch with his head leaned back. Brains were splattered across the back wall and his right hand still clutched his revolver.
“Don’t go in there.” Lester warned.
Jarrell ignored the warning and barged inside. He grabbed at his head with both hands in shock.
“Tommy! He…he was alive!” He stammered.
“Did he?” Shannon whispered to Lester in shock. He nodded. She cried.
Jarrell punched a hole in the drywall and left the room with anger, sorrow and guilt in his heart. Lester knew the young man needed time to mourn his friend.
“I’ll go fill the generator.” He whispered to Shannon while placing his left hand on her shoulder. She sat on the floor in tears. She looked up at him and nodded her head. “What a waste.” He mumbled as he descended into the basement.
They located a fuel truck a mile to the west. It took them a few more hours to locate a means to extract the fuel since the valves were all rusted shut. A small herd nearby caused their progress to halt until they left the area. They hid in a nearby apartment building on the third floor. It took them a few days and a call to a mega herd to leave. The thunderstorm provided Lester and Jarrell a means to knock the valve open with a sledgehammer timed with the roar of the thunder. They filled up two five gallon containers and brought it back to the apartment until daylight.
They knew there was a chance that Tommy didn’t make it but to have his life snatched from this world for no reason at all right in front of them was demoralizing.
Lester emptied the five-gallon container into the generator, primed it and attempted to start it manually. After a few tries, it sputtered to life and lit up the room. A faint sound of white noise could be heard upstairs. Filled with hope for once, he hurried upstairs and into the studio. Shannon was gone and the front door was wide open. He entered the doorway cautiously and peeked outside. Shannon and Jarrell were hugging in the field. Heavy raindrops washed away any tears they were sharing. Knowing the dangers that they faced outside, he knew it was time to end their insanity.
“It’s working! Come inside. It’s dry in there.”
They looked up at Lester, nodded and rushed back inside.
“You guys are gonna catch a cold.”
“We’re going to change out of these clothes. Could you…?” Shannon nodded towards the studio.
“Sure, I’ll clean it up. Maybe later we can say…”
She shook her head.
“Not yet.” Shannon forced a smile and disappeared into the bathroom. Jarrell headed to the kitchen area and changed.
Lester wrapped a blanket tightly around Tommy’s corpse and carried it to the back corner of the basement. He returned upstairs and wiped the wall with a sponge and bucket of water with a sprinkle of a cleaning agent. They both entered dryer and in better spirits. Jarrell couldn’t keep his eyes off the stain that remained. Lester couldn’t get it all off. They used the frequency map to find the correct frequency and reported in.
They were met with static.
“Are you sure you got the right channel?” Jarrell asked.
“I’m positive. I triple checked before I called out.” Shannon admitted.
“Try again.” Lester urged.
She tried once more with the same result.
“It’s gotta be wrong.” Jarrell worried.
“Or.” Lester feared the worst.
“Or what?” Shannon asked.
“Chicago’s been compromised too.”
Chapter 28: Dr. Kolovski
“We’ve got eyes on the objective, sir.”
“Is it alone?”
“Negative. The objective is travelling with two bogeys.”
“Are they a threat?”
“They appear to be protecting the objective. Do we engage?”
“Negative. Track and report. I’ll give Mark a chance to capture his failure.”
“Roger. Breaking coms to pursue the objective.”
“Copy.”
The door knocked.
“Enter.”
A badly bruised man entered Dr. Kolovski’s office. A swift swing from a metal baton met the soft tissue behind the man’s legs.
“Kneel!” The guard shouted.
The man complied. His hands were handcuffed behind him.
“That’s enough. You can leave us.”
“Yes sir.” The guard exited the room and shut the door behind him.
“The infamous Mario Cortez sneaking around my corridors.”
Mario just glared at Dr. Kolovski.
“You have nothing to say? This is not how this works, Mr. Cortez.”
Again, Mario chose silence.
“Do as you like then.” He activated a button.
A few guards returned and beat Mario within an inch of his life. After two minutes of backbreaking attacks and serious muscle fatigue, the guards exited the room covered in sweat.
“This is what you wanted, Mario.”
Mario groaned in pain.
“Still, you’ve got nothing to say?”
Again, Mario groaned while attempting to sit up.
“Look at you, beaten to a bloody pulp and still stubborn as a mule. This is definitely proving my reports correct.”
Dr. Kolovski opened a folder and leafed through some documents.
“You…took…friends.” Mario mumbled, licked across his teeth and spit out blood.
“So, he speaks. Very impressive. Yes, Mr. Cortez, I’ve taken your friends. All of them to be exact. Young Taliah is on her way here as we speak.
“Mon…ster.” He rocked and attempted to sit up without luck.
“She is the monster Mr. Cortez. Well, that creature that’s in her belly is. But you know this already. You found all this out just before you slit a colleague of mine’s throat and scared my medical personnel half to death. You are some hero, Mr. Cortez.”
“I’m…no hero.” Mario muttered.
“I know you’re not. Actually, right now you’re what I like to call, a means to an end.”
Mario rolled onto his back, stretched out and belted out a boisterous laugh.”
“Oh, you find this conversation humorous?”
“A joke…you…are a joke.” Mario laughed into a coughing fit that brought a significant amount of blood from his lungs.
“Such a defiant prick. I was going to request information about your beloved Chicago but have realized that you are less informed than I am about that failure of a town.” He pressed a button again and held it. “Get this piece of trash out of here.” He released the button.
The guard from earlier entered, assisted Mario to his feet and dragged him out of the room. Dr. Kolovski pressed the button on his desk once more.
“Bring in the big guy.”
Two minutes later, Simon entered the room on his own accord with his hands handcuffed behind him. There were two guards on each side guiding him in. Simon noticed the blood on the floor and before the guards swung their batons, he was on his knees.
“Quick one. Leave us.”
“Yes sir.” The guards answered in unison and exited.
The Azrael (Book 5): Prisoners Page 17