Tales of the Fallen Book I: Awakenings

by David G. Barnett

  “Yeah, well, at least my daddy still talks to me.”

  Travis didn’t know what had happened but it got real hot in the room. Really hot. He could feel the bed start to shake. Travis found himself moving…fast!

  “Watch the big guy,” Boscoe said cheerily, “he’s gonna blow.”

  And it did seem like he was indeed “gonna blow.” The demon had gone a dark crimson and Travis could swear steam was coming out of various places on Dew’s body.

  “You ever want to piss-off an old school demon, just mention daddy,” Boscoe laughed. Travis wondered if the little thing had a death wish. But he wondered from across the room.

  Dew slowly stood and turned to Boscoe. But instead of showing fear, Boscoe just laughed louder at Dew. “Let me guess, you’re gonna shove me up your ass?”

  “Oh, you can bet on it,” Dew said through gritted teeth. And he started toward Boscoe.

  Boscoe didn’t flinch. In fact, he seemed calmer than he had been since being pulled out of the mirror. “But I think they may have something to say about that.”

  Shadows filled the room in a wave of chilling wisps. They swirled around Travis’ naked body, causing a massive attack of goosebumps. Then the shadows slipped further into the room, gathered and formed a solid wall of swirling grey smoke between Dew and Boscoe. And as Travis stared mesmerized at the churning mass it began to break apart. It split into four sections and each one spun itself into a miniature whirlwind, spinning, spinning, spinning. Travis grew dizzy and had to grab the wall behind him for support as the four twisters formed into four men—four very big and very mean looking men—all mirror images of one another.

  The four men all brought up their right hands in unison. Dew stopped short, his anger visibly abating, but still clearly, totally pissed. “Is there a problem, Mr. Dewanal?” they all asked in a calm manor. The four voices echoed each other by just a split second, giving their already menacing presence an added creepiness.

  Dew stood up straight, took a deep breath and let it out. “Just having a little disagreement with one of my distant cousins here.”

  “We have become aware of the situation here in regards to Mr. Boscoe. It would appear that he has overstepped his privileges and we will remove him, remind him of the rules and refuse his admittance for quite a while.”

  “Aw, shit, come on!” Boscoe yelled, not nearly as smug as he had been minutes ago. “It was a mis—”

  But he stopped short when all four of the shadow men turned in unison and commanded him: “You will be silent.”

  Boscoe dropped his head and muttered to himself, “I’m just saying it was a mistake.”

  Dew’s body color had changed back to its non-descript color and he laughed and clapped his hands together. “Boys, no trouble from me. I swear,” he said holding his hands up in surrender. Then he turned to Travis, “T-man, get dressed.” And Travis got dressed faster than he ever had in his life. Within seconds he had gathered his scattered clothing and even the shoe resting next to Boscoe and was fully clothed and standing next to Dew. The four shadow guards stood motionless.

  “T-man and me are just gonna go ahead and blow out of here and let you tend to Mr. Boscoe here,” Dew said, the sarcasm dripping. “Let me just make a door and we’ll be on our way.” Dew moved around the wall of shadow guards, about three feet from Boscoe, extended his claw up and placed one of his talons high up on the wall, poked his nail into the sheetrock and pulled it down. The wall responded like flesh, splitting apart, the edges of the incision puckering up and out. Behind the cut lay a void of deep crimson.

  “There,” Dew said proudly. “That’ll do her.” Then turning to Travis, “T-man, after you.”

  Travis didn’t like this cordial Dew. This wasn’t the demon he had come to know over the past couple of hours. It was kind of skeeving him out, but he moved forward anyway, stopped short of just walking right into the bloody hole, tossing it a skeptical look.

  “Go for it, man. It’s cool. I’ll be right behind you,” Dew assured.

  So Travis placed a hand on the edge of the fleshy fissure. It felt like warm meat that seemed to suck his hand into it and made Travis shudder, but he closed his eyes and stepped through the gap.

  Dew turned to the four shadow guards. “Sorry to have bothered you boys.” And he began backing into the hole. “Wouldn’t want to ruin any future fun I might have here by getting banned, so I’ll just head on out.”

  The four guards all nodded at Dew as he entered the hole he had created. Dew continued backing into the red void and once he was all the way in it started to heal itself, the cut fusing back together at the top and bottom. The two ends grew closer and closer and were about to meet when Dew’s upper body shot back out of the remaining gap. “Sorry, boys, I’m gonna be needing this.” His arm lashed forward and his claw wrapped itself around Boscoe’s head with a firm grip and yanked. With a horrified squeal Boscoe was being pulled through the air and into the closing hole in the wall.

  “Shiiiiiii…” was all the shadow guards heard as Boscoe disappeared behind the now closed wall-wound. They all gave the wall an irritated squint, shrugged, then tilted their heads slightly as if hearing someone calling them. They all collapsed into swirling shadows once again and took off out of the room.

  ««—»»

  Travis found himself standing on a field of flesh. He turned in place, looking around him and knew instantly where he was. But it wasn’t quite what he expected. When he finished his circle he found Dew standing there with a squirming Boscoe dangling from his claw.

  “Let me go, you prick!” Boscoe squealed.

  Travis ignored him and looked at Dew instead. “Guess this is Hell, huh?”

  Dew looked around absently. “Sort of.”

  “Kind of stinks.” Travis wrinkled his nose at the smell. It wasn’t horrible, like a rotting carcass, but definitely had a meaty and earthy odor.

  “Yeah, well, what did you expect, cinnamon and apples?”

  Travis turned his back to Dew and stared out over the downward sloping flesh field, its raw, red hills extending far off into the distance until it met a mountain of tangled bone. Travis noticed something even more odd about the ground, as if being made of flesh wasn’t strange enough. He stared with fascination as the ground seemed to rise and fall ever so slightly. Like it was breathing. “Okay, that’s creepy.”

  Travis then shrugged and turned back to Dew. “Not as hot as I thought it would be,” he said casually.

  “Well, like I said, it’s sort of Hell. More like Hell’s Home Depot. Everyone has their own vision of Hell, their own preconceived ideas. This is where the building materials for each individual Hell comes from.”

  Travis raised his left eyebrow—he could never raise the right one for some reason. “Really? So everyone who goes to Hell has their own personal Hell then? No huge pit of bodies writhing in agony? No demons with pitchforks skewering the damned?”

  “Sure… Well, used to be that way. There were a lot of pits, a lot of pain, anguish, torment, screaming, gnashing of teeth and all that shit, and it had all been customized.” Dew grew animated, moving his hands about the air, Boscoe jerking around like a rag doll. “Everyone’s Hell was like a little play with its own set and cast of characters. One guy’s Hell may be spending eternity surrounded by screaming kids with snot covered noses. Another might go more old school with the demons and shit.”

  Travis nodded. “So that’s when you get called in?”

  Dew shook his head. “Not anymore. I mean, we did at first, when people started thinking about Hell as a real place and started coming down here, but thanks to Christianity, Hell started getting busy real quick. It was fun back in the old days, but man, the hours got worse and worse. So someone, don’t remember who, came up with the idea for the personalized Hells.” Dew motioned to the landscape. “Then they formed all this shit to help create them.” Dew paused and seemed to be lost in thought. Then he quietly said, “But it’s all different now. Hell has changed.
The boss has bigger plans now.”

  Travis could tell there were some serious issues under the surface of what Dew was saying. But he figured it was best to let it go. It wasn’t his business and if Dew wanted to tell him he would. “So you all kind of retired?” Travis asked trying to bring Dew back to the here and now.

  Dew shook himself out of his thoughts. “Yeah, kind of had to. There aren’t that many of us. I mean true demons are The Fallen and it’s not like there were millions of us. Just too many people coming here for us to handle. We couldn’t breed fast enough to keep up with demand. I mean, just think about it, if you believe in Hell and that any sin you do will make you end up there, then you’re going to end up there.”

  Travis shook his head, trying to wrap his brain around what Dew was saying. “So all the people who believe in Hell end up here because of their guilt?”

  “Not all, but most yeah. Most Christians end up down here. Almost no one goes to Heaven except for Jews.”

  “Ha, really?”

  “Yeah, and fucking crazy bastards who think they are righteous. Cult leaders, mass murderers killing in the name of God who think they will go to Heaven because they are doing God’s work. They believe it so it happens.”

  Travis stared wide-eyed at Dew. “Shit.”

  “Yep, it’s a bitch. You should see the look on some priests’ faces when they end up down here. Fucking priceless.”

  “I bet,” Travis agreed. Then he thought some more and noticed Boscoe again. “What about things like him? Couldn’t you just make a lot more demons to handle the work?”

  Dew shook Boscoe some more bringing another squeal from him. “Tried at first. Couldn’t breed enough to keep up with demand. So we went to the raw material idea. Plus, you ever see some of the female demons?” Dew shuddered. “I’d rather fuck Boscoe here.”

  “You wish,” Boscoe said disgustedly.

  Dew shook Boscoe a couple of times. “Shut up, buttplug.” Then to Travis, “We have a lot of halfbreed children like dipshit here. Got to give his daddy credit, wood nymphs are fucking hot. Too bad you end up with fucktards like this.” Dew held Boscoe up to his face. “Speaking of which…spelunking time.”

  Boscoe doubled his squirming effort. “No, Dew. Don’t, please. We’re family!”

  “I know, I know. That’s why you’re going in the backdoor and not the long way.”

  “Oh, shit!”

  “Exactly,” Dew laughed. Then he proceeded to snap all of Boscoe’s limbs, which left Boscoe a screaming mess. Dew flipped the half-breed upside down and held him by his broken legs. “Upsy daisy,” Dew said and launched Boscoe high up in the air. He shot Travis a quick grin. “Watch this.”

  Dew jumped up did an impressive half flip, came down on his hands, arms spread wide, his legs leaning forward, but apart and opened his asshole…wide. Travis was stunned. Boscoe’s scream of Nooooooo, snapped Travis from his asshole-gaze and looked up just in time to see the spindly demon-nymph descend rapidly into Dew’s gaping butthole. As Boscoe disappeared, his scream grew distant as if he was falling into an endless pit. The sound was cut off when Dew slammed his hole closed, pushed off the ground, did a half-backflip and landed on his feet. He slapped his hands together and rubbed them. “That’s that.”

  “Can’t he just crawl out of there?” Travis asked somewhat confused, partially wanting to know the answer and partially not.

  “Not anytime soon. It’s like another fucking world in there. My ass is vast and far-reaching,” Dew said proudly. “It knows no end.”

  “Awesome,” was all that Travis could say.

  “You fucking know it.” Then Dew let out that big laugh Travis had grown used to, but now there was something missing from it. Dew seemed different since the scene at Painfreak. Something in his demeanor had changed. Travis could sense that Dew was trying to be the same, but it was an act. Travis just knew that what Boscoe said to Dew back in the room had struck a nerve and cut deep. But Travis decided not to pursue it. And before he could think anymore about it Dew said, “Okay, T-man, time to take care of your business. “

  Travis shook himself out of his thought. “Uh, okay.”

  “So you want to find the guy who killed your wife and do something nasty to him?”

  Travis was shocked and stood there jaw hanging. He stuttered a bit before saying, “How did you…”

  Dew moved up next to Travis and placed his bigass arm around Travis’ shoulders. “Give me a break, T-man. I know everything about you. When you summon a demon, you become an open book.”

  Travis flashed Dew an angry look. “Then why the hell did…”

  “Relax, man. I wanted to have some fun. I don’t get out of Hell all that often. Gotta take advantage when I can.”

  “Damnit!”

  “Easy, boy. It’s your time now. Hold on, we’re going for another spin.” And Dew pulled Travis in tight and they were gone in a flash.

  ««—»»

  Although this was the second time in hours Travis had traveled by Dew’s black vortex express, it wasn’t much better than the first time. At least Travis didn’t pass out and go into another replay of the past. He couldn’t really handle another episode reminding him of his wife and her terrible death at the hand of a madman…

  …a madman he would soon confront and end his half-century long campaign for revenge. Soon he could put an end to his nightmares. Soon he could rest.

  ««—»»

  They emerged from the darkness into the entrance of an alley off a large but quiet street. Travis shook off the effects of the trip and followed Dew out onto the brightly lit curb. Buildings towered on all sides. Travis couldn’t tell where exactly they were: New York, Chicago? Whatever. It didn’t matter as long as the journey ended here, tonight.

  There was electricity in the air. The hair all over his body stood at attention leaving Travis feeling like he was covered in ants. He looked around, wondering what the hell—

  “FUCK! GET DOWN!” Dew screamed and shoved Travis hard, back into the dark alley. Dew watched Travis hit the ground and spun back toward the street and raised his head. It took Travis a second to rebound and roll onto his back, pushing himself up just in time to see Dew’s body expand. His skin turned black, his muscles rippled as if preparing himself. The air changed and the ground began to vibrate beneath his ass. Travis’ eyes opened wide in pure fear. What the fuck is going on? He looked past Dew’s shoulder. Then…utter stillness for a split second…

  …then…

  Dew spread his arms wide, his muscles bulging to almost bursting his skin and he yelled, “Aiiigghhh!!!”

  FWOOOSH!! BOOOOM!!!

  A flash of light completely obliterated the top floor of the building across from Dew. Travis was blinded but somehow his survival instincts kicked in and he launched himself at Dew’s feet, and into the shelter of the demon’s rock-hard body.

  Within seconds the first of the debris started landing around them. Large chunks of twisted metal and stone wrapped in flame descended upon them, Dew batting them away like he was swatting at flies. The barrage of burning bits of building was relentless and came at them for what seemed an eternity. Travis stayed huddled behind Dew, praying it would end soon. And soon it did. The downpour of destruction gave way to a cloud of dust and smoke that enveloped Travis and Dew in its choking embrace.

  Travis began hacking.

  “Hold on, man. I got it,” Dew assured and then Travis heard the demon inhale. It lasted for a minute and then the sound of a wind tunnel erupted from Dew as he let out a burst of air that cleared the debris cloud from around them. Travis’s choking subsided a little and he managed to stand.

  “What…what the…hell was that?” Travis shakily asked, still very afraid.

  “Shhhhh!” Dew commanded. “Something is wrong. Very wrong.” He stood taller and smelled the air. “Something is here. Something I haven’t sensed in a very long time.” Then his shoulders slumped a little. “Oh shit,” he said softly.

  Dew turned
and looked straight at Travis, his eyes, both very visible through the lumpy mass of his face. And in those eyes Travis saw fear. Pure…fear.

  Travis backed up a little, concern lining his face. “What?” Travis was on the verge of sheer panic. “What?”

  “What the fuck have you done?” Dew said, menace in his voice.

  Travis backed up more. “I-I-I don’t… What are you talking…”

  But before he could finish he saw Dew’s claw flash forward to close over his face. Travis’ words were muffled. Dew pushed Travis a little further into the shadows but still close enough to the street so they could see.

  “Quiet,” Dew hissed. Then he looked around cautiously, afraid. “I don’t want it to see us.”

  They watched as the dust cloud settled to the ground. Burning paper fireflies danced through the air with falling black ash. They continued looking up, up and up until they found the smoking remains of the office building’s top floor. Through the smoke and fire, twisted limbs of metal stabbed the night’s sky. The building settled in a loud series of creaks and moans accented with the harsh crashing sound of falling glass.

  “Don’t move,” Dew ordered.

  Travis did as he was told. But Dew’s massive claw tightened even more over the small man’s face and Travis began slapping Dew’s arm, mumbling in panic beneath the demon’s grip. “Shhh. I don’t want to be seen.” But suddenly Dew let go, realizing it was already too late. They had been seen.

  Travis remained silent, looking up, confused. Then he saw it—something plummeting through the night sky…

  down, down, down…

  …to the street—the street right in front of the alley where Travis and Dew now stood.

  ««—»»

  Travis didn’t think Dew could get any more tense, but he did just that. Dew crouched down as if preparing for an attack.

  It quickly became apparent that the falling figure was that of a man. He seemed to fall for a long time. He remained upright, his feet approaching the ground rapidly. For an instant Travis thought that dropping off the side of the building had been a bad idea. This guy was gonna be splattered meat in a few seconds. But at the same time Travis just knew that wasn’t going to happen. And he was right.