Demon (The Mike Rawlins Series Book 1)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “D is really into this,” Stan said. “I’m wondering if he’s seeing and smelling stuff we can’t. When he stops I keep thinking he’s warning away something.”

  “Arf!” Demon glanced back at Stan as if affirming his observation.

  No one laughed. The small group of believers took the single syllable affirmation as gospel and tightened their formation behind the dog. Gail tugged on Steve’s sleeve, pulling him closer to the teens ahead of them.

  “When that damn dog indicates trouble, Dad, don’t doubt it,” Gail whispered. “I know it sounds strange but I think Demon understands everything we say.”

  Before they reached ‘Times Square’ the designation for their turn left onto C-D (Seedy) corridor to D Block, Demon had halted the already uneasy group with a series of growling yips. He raced around the group, jaws snapping at seeming empty air while the two park rangers edged toward their assigned group.

  The man with Haddington on his nametag watched Demon without speaking. Thirty years old, he had been working around Alcatraz for five years. Between eerie sounds blended with tales of hauntings from coworkers, Jim Haddington nursed a healthy respect for the old prison. His partner, Alice Cummings, had been working around ‘The Rock’ for nearly twice that time. Fourteen years Haddington’s senior, she considered him to be like her younger brother. He towered over her five foot, four inch, slightly overweight form. Where Haddington was pasty white with short cropped hair and an ever present frown, Cummings was dark skinned, long hair in beaded ringlets, and a grin that rarely faded from view. It faded now.

  “What’s the dog all on about?” Cummings asked Mike, as the rangers closed in with the group.

  “He’s clearing the way,” Mike answered without hesitation.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Look lady,” Janis interjected, “if you’d seen the things Demon can do, you’d be huddlin’ with the rest of us.”

  “He eats ghosts,” Connie added.

  “D might not be eatin’ them now,” Stan explained, “but he’s probably letting them know not to mess with us.”

  Only Alice Cummings laughed. When she noticed not even her partner was joining her, she shook her head derisively with a hand wave. “I’ve been on ‘The Rock’ a long time. Nothin’ haunts this place but the damn wind and chill. I should be huntin’ for the girl instead of wastin’ my time guiding Ghost Hunter wannabes. I feel like I’m being punked.”

  “We know how this all sounds,” Jerry said, stopping Janis from moving into Cumming’s face. “Believe me. You wouldn’t want to see what Demon’s clearing. I know I don’t.”

  Cummings smirked and rolled her eyes. “If you say so. Let me know when you want to proceed, I’ll be over at the bend.”

  Before Cummings moved more than twenty feet, Demon shot by her, teeth flashing. The darkened area near where Cummings was heading began glowing with a dull greenish haze. A shaggy haired, almost emaciated figure in prison garb, holding what looked like a makeshift knife made from sharpened scrap, shimmered into view. Demon’s jaws snapped shut on the ghostly form’s shiv wielding wrist. A clatter of metal hitting the floor followed by a scream of angry pain pierced the hushed silence reigning over the teens and their guides. Mike and Jerry grabbed Cummings’ arms and hauled the woman back with them as Demon drove the apparition through into the closed up cell on his right. The metal scrap shiv blurred into nothingness.

  “Oh my God… what the hell was that?” Haddington held onto his partner who was shaking, her arms folded around herself.

  “Some Casper D didn’t want messin’ with us,” Janis answered. “I ain’t much on doing the ‘I told you so’ stuff. Something’s got this dump in an uproar. Best let D do his thing.”

  “That… that thing looked like pictures I’ve seen of Rufus McCain,” Cummings pointed a shaky finger at the now darkened cell where Demon had driven the apparition.

  “Who?” Connie asked, peeking out from behind Janis.

  “Rufus McCain was a prisoner who tried to escape with Doc Barker, Henry Young, Dale Stamphill, and William Martin,” Haddington answered in a monotone voice. “He was killed by Henry Young after they served twenty-two months in solitary. No one could find out from Young why he did it. May…maybe McCain’s looking for Young.”

  “Good Lord!” Steve spoke up for the first time. “I hope all that comes out on my hard drive. I’m afraid to play it back for fear of missing something.”

  Demon finished a last survey of the area. He returned to sit next to Mike.

  “Demon thinks it’s okay to go on,” Mike said.

  “Arf!”

  “Can… uh… you know… Demon walk up with us?”

  “Sure, Mr. Haddington,” Mike agreed. “Lead on. Demon will stay with you.

  Janis patted Cummings’ shoulder. “You owe D a beer, lady.”

  “Arf!” Demon agreed. He walked ahead and waited for Haddington and Cummings to join him.

  “I’m glad D chomps on ghosts instead of running from them like Scooby Doo,” Gail whispered over Mike’s shoulder.

  The remark drew chuckles from the group as they paced down the corridor while staying only steps behind Demon and the park rangers.

  “Why did I let you talk me into coming on this Freddy Kruger nightmare?”

  “Shut up, Connie,” Janis hissed, giving Connie’s hair a tug. “If I hadn’t you would have whined about being left out. What I’m wonderin’ is why I let these two nut-cakes talk me into coming.”

  “Because you want in on this paranormal gig just like us and don’t pretend you don’t,” Jerry reminded her, putting an arm around Janis’s shoulders as they walked.

  Janis sighed while leaning in closer to Jerry. “I’m a reality show slut. I admit it. There’s not a lot we can do though other than follow D around until he finds the little girl. I admit I’m pretty skeptical about our holy water squirt guns and salt.”

  “We’re D’s Scooby gang,” Stan replied. “Except for Mike. Mike’s Demon’s bitch.”

  “Arf!” Demon looked back to gauge Mike’s response when his friends laughed. Mike nodded at him.

  “Yep, no use in denying the obvious,” Mike admitted. The laughter eased the tension while seemingly lightening the shadows surrounding them. “We wouldn’t be here with an escort and an opportunity to help out if not for him.”

  “Amen to that,” Janis said.

  “Arf!”

  The oppressive intensity returned as the rangers and Demon led the way left at ‘Times Square’ toward D-Block where Kelly had disappeared. Demon continued his unnerving ritual of every few steps leaping left or right with gnashing teeth. His sudden snarling attacks did not fail to shock the rangers. They back-stepped in the opposite direction each time Demon jutted ahead to clear the way against unseen forces. The temperature wavered dramatically. At one point as the group neared the D-Block cells they could see their breath steaming. Drips of moisture beaded on the corridor walls, glinting eerily in the dull light. After one long bout of Demon ripping the air ahead of them, Cummings whirled around in obvious distress, her eyes blinking in disbelief, trying to perceive what Demon defended them against.

  “What is it? What the hell does he see! I’ve… we’ve never seen the place like this.” Cummings’ breath fogged from her mouth and she shivered. “It’s freezing in here.”

  “It’s like this because we’re close,” Mike replied. “Are we near where Kelly disappeared?”

  “We had just finished showing cell 14-D where a prisoner died after screaming something with glowing eyes was attacking him,” Haddington answered, shining the flashlight he carried at the closed up cell. “It’s a favorite on the tour. The cell is always a couple degrees colder than the one next to it. They kept solitary confinement prisoners in 14-D and five others. They’re called the hole. Usually some window light shines down on the cell door, but it’s so overcast and foggy outside, we’re not getting much.”

  The group followed Haddinton’s gaze upwar
ds behind them at the bank of windows opposite the line of cells where dense fog obscured the sky beyond. Demon padded over to 14-D. The outer solid metal door had been closed. He dropped his head, front paws outstretched, and issued a low noted rumbling, continuous growl. Mike approached him slowly from behind, stopping at Demon’s right flank.

  “I think Demon wants in the cell.”

  Demon turned sideways and confirmed Mike’s words. “Arf!”

  “From what I remember don’t you keep the cell doors open for the tour?” Stan asked the park rangers.

  “Every cell was closed as we searched for Kelly,” Cummings answered without taking her eyes off the cell front. “As each cell was cleared, it was locked. We should call for help.”

  Cummings reached for her com unit.

  “If you and Ranger Haddington will see to opening the cell, we’ll handle the rest of the search,” Mike offered. “If you call for help, this might get you both in trouble. I trust Demon, but he can’t talk. Wait… Demon… is the little girl in there.”

  Demon nodded, shocking even the teens who knew him.

  “Good Lord, I got that on hard disc,” Steve whispered, angling slowly for a better shot of cell 14-D.

  “She can’t be in there, damn it!” Cummings waved her hand at the solid metal door. “We checked the cell ourselves when Kelly’s parents noticed Kelly was gone.”

  “I’m sure you checked the corridor back there too and didn’t see the McCain Casper slinkin’ around with a shiv either,” Janis pointed out. “Best open it up and let D have a look.”

  “I’ll get the door, Al. You open the cell. ” Haddington walked over to the hinged metal door shutting off all light inside the cell with Demon pacing around him anxiously.

  Cummings hesitated, watching her partner open the outer door. As Haddington pulled the door around, Demon slammed against the inner cell bars, barking and growling in one continuous display of outrage. The bars making up the inner barricade turned white with frost. The air inside the shadowed cell opening shimmered. Demon stopped slamming into the bars and hunkered down like a panther ready to spring at its prey, suddenly silent. Mike peered in with his friends inching closer as Haddington saw Cummings frozen in place, her mouth agape. He ran for the cell bar door release. Tinny sobs of utter desolation echoed out from the cell as if from far away, the pathetic sounds mere whispers of insanity. The hazy shadowed hell beyond the bars cleared slightly into monstrous shape.

  Cummings screamed. Mike pitched backwards away from the hollow eyed visage hovering on the other side of the bars, mouth working in silent rage as if mocking Demon’s barks. The leering apparition filled the small dilapidated cell, its ghastly face floating along the inside bars with disdain. Long claws strummed the metal bars high up on the cell until Demon smashed into the closed cell door, his leap enabling a quick rending of what protruded from the cell. A wail of pained fury filled the cell block area with sound.

  “Get your guns out and fill your hands with salt!” Mike yelled, jettisoning his pack as the inner door release clicked. The teens scooped out handfuls of salt with their holy water squirt guns held in trembling hands.

  The inner door slid open with Haddington at the controls. Demon dove in at the monstrous presence, driving it howling up into the far right hand corner of the seven foot ceiling. Only then did the little girl’s shaking form emerge as if from another dimension. Curled against the wall, Kelly edged away from the battle, her piteous cries amplified by the small cell’s dank walls. Demon retreated to her side. Again the apparition’s form grew, flowing out from the ceiling.

  “Now!” Mike ran into the cell, firing his squirt gun and flinging salt with his friends arrayed at the cell bars firing nonstop into the creature. Sulfurous steam hissed and billowed outwards with pinpoint sparks of light where the salt barrage hit.

  Cummings collapsed near Steve, who knelt next to her while still filming the battle. Haddington joined them a split second later. The poltergeist flung itself back and forth within the cell’s confines, its earsplitting howls competing with Connie’s terrified shrieking as she fired at it. Mike snatched Kelly up into his arms, ducking out of the tiny cell. Corporeal claws shredded the back of his leather jacket. Demon latched onto the appendage, his body lifted from the cell floor momentarily. He ripped it free of its host with a ferocious rending toss of his head. Sound as if hell itself burst upwards through the floor filled the cellblock. Demon spit out the still curling clawed hand to the floor where it dissolved into vapor. Demon watched the thing flee through a crack at the dripping ceiling before following Mike.

  The already dim light flickered. Slate gray mist fogged the windows as the teens retreated to where Haddington held onto his partner. Gail’s Father filmed without stopping, all his concentration on keeping his hands steady. The floor beneath them began to vibrate as Mike put Kelly into Cummings’s arms. The dazed park ranger hugged the little girl to her, forgetting her own shock, rocking Kelly back and forth while Haddington held onto them both. Mike dug into his bag for salt to begin a protection circle but Stan shook his shoulder.

  “Too late, Mikey.” Stan pointed toward the section marked Library over the entrance, adjacent to 14-D. Three prison garbed men slouched through the darkening library toward them with makeshift lead pipes and clubs.

  Janis dragged Connie back closer to the park rangers. “Oh shit! Who the hell are these Caspers?”

  Stan, Jerry, and Gail passed one of the holy water bottles around, filling their empty squirt guns, watching the blurry figures approaching from the utility corridor on C-Block where they had died long ago on the other side of the library. Mike, Janis, and Connie shared the other holy water bottle, filling their squirt guns as fast as they could. Demon slunk low to the ground from side to side, facing the oncoming apparitions with bared teeth.

  “Oh my God, Al, it’s Bernard Coy, Joseph Cretzer and Marvin Hubbard,” Haddington gasped out, looking over his shoulder. “They’re the ones who died in the ‘Battle for Alcatraz’ back in 1946. They made their last stand in that utility corridor from C-Block.”

  Cummings hugged Kelly even tighter. “How… how can this be happening?”

  “Something must have triggered it,” Mike said, joining Jerry, Gail, and Stan behind where Demon had taken up his point position. The abstract thought it all had begun with Demon’s Halloween appearance flitted through his head. All four at the front carried a squirt gun and salt. Janis and Connie knelt behind, shielding Gail’s Dad, and the park rangers holding Kelly. “The floor’s still vibrating and it almost looks like night outside instead of midday.”

  “There… was one of those psychic guy’s doing a study surrounding the inmate’s death in 14-D last week. He received permission to stay overnight with his crew,” Haddington answered. “Nothing happened to them, but they got kind of rowdy.”

  “After they did the usual candles and eerie silence stuff, they kind of partied. It’s on YouTube,” Cummings added, pointing at ghostly Coy and his crew. Do…do you think that’s why this is happening?”

  “I don’t know for sure. It seems to fit the events,” Mike replied over his shoulder.

  “Why the hell are they stopping?” Haddington asked.

  “Which one’s Coy,” Connie asked, peering out at the gesturing ghosts from behind Janis, shivering as her words came out accompanied by a foggy emphasis. “How the hell’s this floor moving?”

  “He’s the one who just stepped forward with the hair parted in the middle and the sharp nosed face,” Haddington replied, wrapping the little girl in his jacket, as frost whitened the walls and darkness descended. “He doesn’t like your dog.”

  Bernard Paul Coy waved a lead pipe at Demon threateningly. In a blur of speed, Demon shot forward through the library entrance. His leap took him up into Coy’s startled face, driving the poltergeist onto its back, snapping teeth closing on Coy’s nose and ripping it off. Shrieks of agony filled the corridor while Demon raced around to take up his sentinel position agai
n. He haphazardly spit out Coy’s nose, which vaporized as it hit the floor to the cheering screams of his teenage fans. They leaped and hooted, pumping fists in glee. The Coy ghost struggled upright between his frozen comrades, both hands pressed against his mangled face.

  “Yeah, D!” Stan screamed, high fiving with Jerry while Mike crouched next to Demon, grimly keeping his squirt gun aimed at the ghostly trio.

  “Let’s not wait for these three to recover,” Mike said. “Grab salt and let’s attack.”

  Without waiting, Mike ran forward with Demon at his side, shooting holy water and flinging salt. Stan, Jerry, and Gail attacked as a second wave, with Janis and Connie bringing up the rear. Demon, holy water, and a barrage of salt arrived at nearly the same time. The assault proved too much for the ghosts. Fading instantly into a white vaporous mist, the supernatural cloud jetted into the ceiling cracks, disappearing from view. Light brightened, streaming through the overhead windows, while the floor stopped vibrating. The sudden silence was instantly broken by the celebrating teens.

  “We… we have Kelly,” Cummings reported through her com unit. “We’re in D-Block. Send in a med team… stat!”

  Demon approached Kelly. She looked at him through her tears for a moment before extending her small dirt encrusted right hand. Demon licked her hand and ducked his head under it. Everyone stopped to watch, with Steve still filming. Cummings released Kelly and the little girl wrapped her arms around Demon’s neck. The dog sat next to her until the paramedics arrived on scene with police, park authorities, and joyous parents. Only when grabbed up by her ecstatic Mom did Kelly release Demon.

  Shortly after the reunion, only Demon, the teens, Steve, Cummings, and Haddington remained on D-Block with the bewildered authorities. The two park rangers looked at each other as if seeking a revelation as to how they should explain the little girl’s rescue. Finally, after Cummings stammered a few initial tries at an explanation, Haddington pointed at Demon.