“No, it’s not,” Lauryn said firmly, stomping down the hall with Talon, Will, and Robbie right on her heels.
I hope.
Like most of the community rooms in the small brick church, Maxwell’s office was in the basement, squeezed in beside the choir rooms. It was a tiny closet of a space made even smaller by her father’s insistence on keeping and displaying every gift anyone had ever given him. After decades of ministry, this meant there was no longer room for anything but a tiny table, a chair, and a threadbare couch. Her father was stretched out on the latter, lying with his eyes closed and his worn Bible in his hands. He jerked awake when Lauryn entered, blinking in the lamp like he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, and then his dark eyes began to shimmer.
“Lauryn,” he whispered, heart in his throat. “Robert.”
“Hi, Dad,” Lauryn whispered back. “We—”
Maxwell lurched up before she could finish, dropping his Bible on the floor in his rush to grab his children. “I thought you were dead!” he cried, clutching them both to him. “Thank you, God! Thank you for sparing my children!”
For a moment, the three of them just stood there wrapped in the tangled knot of each other’s arms. It was the closest they’d been to being an actual family Lauryn could remember, and she would have happily stayed there forever. But they didn’t have forever. They might not even have until morning unless she moved quickly.
“Dad,” she said, breaking away at last. “I need to talk to you.”
“What?” He shook his head. “No, baby, you need to go upstairs with the others and pray. The end is—”
“No. It’s. Not,” Lauryn said firmly. “I know things look really bad, but this isn’t the Apocalypse. It’s just an attack, and if we don’t want to go down, we need to fight back.”
Maxwell gave her a severe scowl. “Lauryn,” he said firmly. “I know you don’t believe, but surely you’ve seen what’s happening? The signs in the sky—”
“No, that’s actually not it at all,” she said quickly. “I have seen them, and I do believe.”
“You believe?”
The question came out blatantly skeptical, not that Lauryn blamed him. “I do,” she said with a sheepish smile. “You know how you always used to say God would give me a sign? Well, tonight he smacked me upside the head with one, and I’m telling you, God is not ending the world. He wants us to make sure that doesn’t happen. I know this is going to sound really crazy, but everything that’s happened tonight isn’t due to God’s wrath. It’s the result of an attack by hell on Chicago. That said, the creatures out there aren’t demons. They’re transformed people. Those are our neighbors, and they need us to save them.”
“She speaks the truth,” Talon said, stepping into the tiny office as well. “Your daughter has received and worked miracles this night, Reverend. She is right. If we’re going to have a hope of saving our city, we need to fight.”
“Fight?” Maxwell said. “Are you insane? We’re not warriors. We’re just—”
“You’re faithful,” Lauryn said. “That’s all that matters. Despite the plague sweeping through Chicago, everyone here has managed to avoid being infected. That’s a sign of great faith and character, which means you all have everything you need to fight this. I can show you how, but you have to trust me . . . and you have to be brave enough to go out there and do it.”
Maxwell’s eyes went wide. “Go out?”
“I know,” Lauryn said. “It sounds crazy even to me, but I swear this is how it has to be. Every one of those transformed people out there is acting like a hook. That thing you saw in the sky? It’s a fortress full of demons, and the demons possessing all those people are helping to pull it into our world. If they succeed, and it bursts through, it really will be Armageddon. But we can stop it before that happens. We just have to heal those people. I already know how. I did it this morning in the hospital. I did it to Robbie.”
Maxwell gasped. “Robert? You . . . ?”
“So they tell me,” he said guiltily.
“It’s true,” Will said, leaning in the doorway. “I saw it with my own eyes.”
“And he’s not even a believer,” Lauryn finished, smiling at her father.
“I’m really not.”
But Maxwell wasn’t listening. He was still shaking, looking at his daughter like he’d never seen her before. Finally, he asked, “How do you know all this?”
Lauryn took a deep breath. Here went nothing. “An angel told me.”
If she’d said that to anyone else, that would have been the end of the conversation, but her father was different. Unlike her, he’d always believed. That was why she’d stayed away for so long, because she’d thought he was the crazy one. Now, she could only hope that Maxwell would see past the hurtful things she’d said before and take her at her word. She should have known better, though, because Maxwell didn’t look angry or doubtful or even smug that she’d finally seen the light. He just looked happy.
“I knew he’d reach you,” he whispered, patting his daughter’s shoulders. “I knew you were made for the Lord’s work, Lauryn.” He turned around and bent over, scooping his Bible up off the floor. When he had it firm in his hands, he turned back to her with a determined look. “What do we need to do?”
Lauryn grabbed him and hugged him tight. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for believing me.”
“I always believed in you,” he whispered back, kissing her cheek before he pulled away. “Now I assume you’ll need to talk to everyone?” When Lauryn nodded, Maxwell pushed his way out of the office. “Then let’s go.”
Still grinning, Lauryn followed happily, hurrying after her father as he strode up the stairs with astonishing speed. By the time they made it back to the fellowship hall, everyone seemed to be waiting for them, but Maxwell just held up his hand. “My daughter has something to say,” he said, motioning for Lauryn to get up on the little stage at the room’s far end. “She’s seen the light and knows how we can all be saved. Listen to her. She speaks the truth.”
That was enough to set the room fluttering, including, unfortunately, Lauryn’s own stomach. She’d been so determined to fix this, she’d completely forgotten how much she hated talking in front of crowds. But it was way too late to back out now, and so she forced herself to climb up, taking a deep, terrified breath before turning to address the room.
“I’m Dr. Lauryn Jefferson,” she said, speaking as loudly as she could. “I know many of you think this is Judgment Day, and I know it looks that way, but I’m here to tell you it’s not. This destruction is not God’s doing! It’s a plan by a very evil man to sacrifice our city and bring hell into Chicago.”
She paused there, waiting for the inevitable heckling that was bound to follow a statement that insane, but the crowd stayed silent. Apparently, being trapped in a church by a demon mob changed what you were willing to accept as fact, and when it was clear the people were still on board, Lauryn continued.
“We can’t let this happen,” she said, voice trembling. “But to stop it, I need your help. The creatures outside our doors aren’t monsters. They’re your neighbors and friends who are being used like puppets, and we’re the only ones left who can save them. Now is not the time to cower behind closed doors. Now is the time to come together and take our city back! Again, I know that sounds insane, but God wouldn’t call us if it wasn’t possible. I know we can do this if we work together, but I won’t force anyone who isn’t willing. If you want to stay, stay. But if you’re willing to fight, come with me to the Ohio Street Beach.”
For the first time, someone spoke up. “What’s at Ohio Street Beach?”
“Safe access to Lake Michigan,” Lauryn said with a grin. “I know how to beat this, because I’ve cured it before. Water and prayer can remove the corruption. It’s just like scrubbing a wound clean. With all of you helping, we’ve got all the prayer we need, and if we get to the beach, they’ll have to go through the water to get to us, which will also slow them
down. At that point, all we have to do is grab hold and wash them clean again.”
“It’s a baptism,” Maxwell said, his face breaking into a smile. “Of course! It all makes sense. But there have to be thousands, hundreds of thousands of possessed people out there. We’re barely a hundred. How are we going to cleanse them all?”
“That’s just it,” Lauryn said. “We don’t have to cure everyone, at least not all at once. Remember: each one of those people is a hook the enemy is using to drag hell into our world.” She looked back at the crowd. “You’ve all seen the fortress in the sky, right? That’s what they’re trying to bring through. That’s why they needed the whole city—because it takes that much power to force something that big into our world. But if we can banish the demons out of enough people to knock out even a fraction, they won’t have the critical mass necessary to actually break through, and that will buy us the time we need to cure the rest.”
By the time she finished, her heart was pounding. That was the first time Lauryn had actually spoken her entire plan, and it had actually come out sounding even better than it had in her head. She just hoped everyone else thought so. It was one thing to say they should fight back, but quite another to ask a group of normal, mostly elderly people to go out into the demon-riddled city of Chicago and baptize monsters who were trying to kill them in Lake Michigan in the middle of the night in November.
But as with everything else that had happened tonight, she should have had more faith. She’d barely finished explaining before Miss Yolanda stood up, shotgun in hand. “I told you those people just needed Jesus,” she said proudly. “I’ve been to Ohio Beach plenty of times. We can take the church vans.”
Her words were like the stone that kicks off an avalanche. The moment she hopped on board, the rest of the room began talking loudly, making plans for how they were going to get across town and what they’d do when they got there. Several had already grabbed their stuff and pronounced themselves ready to go right now. It was such an extreme turnaround from the terrified huddled mass they’d found when they’d first arrived, Lauryn almost couldn’t believe it. Her father, however, seemed to be having no problem.
“It’s hope,” he said, giving her a wink. “You gotta remember, we thought we were going to die. Now you’re here telling us we’re not, and more, that we can save the people we’d already thought we’d lost.” He shook his head. “It’s amazing how much more lively a person gets when they’ve got something to fight for.”
“I guess you’re right,” she said, staring in wonder as the crowd began to self-organize.
“Of course I’m right,” he replied, pulling the church van keys out of his pocket. “I’m your father.”
As ever, that made Lauryn roll her eyes, but Maxwell was already off, calling for volunteers to drive those who wouldn’t fit in the vans. She was about to hop down off the stage and join him when Will appeared beside her.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, reaching up to help her down.
“I think so,” she replied. “I mean, I don’t feel sure, but it makes sense with everything I’ve learned.”
And if I’m wrong, then we’re all dead, and it’s all moot anyway. So there’s that.
From the look on his face, Will was thinking the same thing, but he kept it to himself, turning to the crowd that was already streaming toward the back of the church where the vans were parked. “I can drive,” he said. “I’m a cop. I’ve had combat-driving training.”
This sparked a huge argument about how no stranger could know how to drive their vans better than they could. Honestly, Lauryn wasn’t sure who was right, but she could have hugged Will a thousand times for the show of support. Unfortunately, she had no time. Will was already off, and she had work to do. So, sword in hand, she turned around herself, making a beeline through the remaining crowd to start planning exactly how they were actually going to pull this off.
19
Bright as Crystal
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life,
bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God.
—Revelation 22:1
To Lauryn’s surprise, getting the people to the beach was actually the easiest part. Because of its focus on missionary work, Missionary Baptist had four very sturdy, very large passenger vans. These were enough to fit most of the crowd, and those who didn’t fit had the cars they’d driven to get here. Getting them back into those cars was a bit hairier than getting to the vans since the cars were on the street where the mob of possessed people was still waiting, but just like before, Talon was a machine, clearing the way with great sweeps of his sword to let the people run back to their cars. They did it, too, which was what surprised Lauryn the most, though after what her father had said, it shouldn’t have. These were the kind of people Z3X hadn’t been able to touch. That meant they were exactly the sort to rush into danger to help others, and that’s what they did now, piling into the cars and vans to form the convoy that would take them all safely to the water.
As one of the few armed people, Lauryn had taken point, riding shotgun in one of the vans. Leaning out the window and using her sword like a beacon, she led the charge through the dark city in what had to be the most surreal experience of her life. As Talon had shown her earlier, the demons fled before the holy light. She couldn’t get hers to shine anywhere near as bright as Talon’s, but it was still enough to clear a path through the wide roads leading to the lake. She still had to smack off the few that were fast enough to jump at them, but while that should have been terrifying, Lauryn wasn’t afraid. Even as her heart pounded, she felt nothing but the excitement and satisfaction of knowing she was finally back on track. After being at the mercy of monsters for so long, she was finally fighting back, and it felt amazing.
The medical professional in her was tempted to chalk this up to some kind of grandiose delusion brought on by extreme fear. But the rest of Lauryn—the one who’d jumped to her death and then come right back again—felt only a bone-deep satisfaction as the whole convoy rolled to a stop at the cement barrier separating the highway from the dark lakefront.
“This is it!” she cried, hopping out. “Everyone, get in the water!”
This command was met with hesitation, not that Lauryn blamed them. It hadn’t yet gotten cold enough this winter for the lake to actually freeze, but it couldn’t have been more than a few degrees above ice. To make things even worse, it was choppy, the black water driven up in large, terrifying waves. Under any normal circumstances, going into that kind of environment without a proper wetsuit would kill you, but these were hardly normal circumstances, so Lauryn led the way, charging into the freezing water up to her thighs.
Sweet merciful Lord . . .
And he was. It was definitely cold, but not nearly as cold as it should have been. In fact, once the initial shock had worn off, the water actually felt warmer than the air, which was a miracle if Lauryn had ever seen one. Even so, she gave it a full minute while everyone unloaded, going into the water up to her chest. Only then, when she was certain she wasn’t sending these people to their hypothermically induced death, did she raise her arms and wave the others in.
“Come on!” she yelled. “Before they get here!”
“What makes you think they’re coming?” Robbie yelled back, looking at the water like it might bite him. “It’s not like we can send them an invitation.”
This was enough to make the crowd look doubtful, but before Lauryn could respond, Talon hopped out of the last of the cars, his sword still glowing like fire. “They’ll come,” he said, his deep voice ringing over the wind. “Wolves will always hunt the sheep. Look.”
He pointed at the streets behind them, and several people in the crowd gasped. Down in the water, Lauryn couldn’t see why at first, but she could smell it. There was a foul odor of sulfur on the wind. It drifted down to the lake from the dark city like a warning, stirring up the vultures roosting in the trees that lined the shore.
&nb
sp; That was enough to overcome the crowd’s reluctance. They charged down the beach into the lake, wading into the dark water with only a moment’s hesitation, and just in time. By the time the last of their group was in up to their knees, the first demons had appeared on the highway above, looking down at the people in the water with their glistening eyes like a pack of coyotes eyeing a coop of chickens. But just as Lauryn was about to start taunting them down, the situation changed.
It happened like a shift in the wind. There was no buildup, no warning. One moment, everything was as it had been all night. The next, a great sound rang out across the city, a horrifying, skin-crawling mix of hunting horn and the ripping of something that should never be torn. It echoed in the night, vibrating through the air like knives. Then, with a final sickening lurch, the castle in the sky tore its way into the world, and the winged demons Lauryn had seen on death’s threshold poured through like a waterfall.
Even as it was happening, Lauryn couldn’t describe what she was seeing. Watching the . . . the things pouring from that hole was like trying to focus on an optical illusion, probably because no human eye was ever meant to see a creature of hell in the flesh. All she could tell was that they were horrible and enormous, easily dwarfing the cars they’d left abandoned on the road. Already, the night sky was blacker than black with the shadow of their wings, and they were still coming, tearing and clawing and ripping the hole wider as they wiggled through the gaps between the castle and the hole it had ripped in the sky.
“What do we do now?” she whispered at last, turning to Talon, who was standing in the freezing water next to her. “This whole plan was to stop the castle from ripping through—how can we do that if it’s already happened!?” There was no way. She’d failed. “I was too slow,” she whispered. “We have to scrap this, turn back.”
Talon shook his head. “There’s no turning back from this.”
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