by Tim Miller
“Oh my God.” Sharon said and turned to Bernard. “Can you find me a real exorcist? One who can actually make these things go away?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But what he’s the closest thing to it. I mean, I can find you an actual priest who can do a bunch of chants and read a bunch of Latin. It might make you feel better for a bit, but it won’t actually help. Father, er, Professor Harlan here is the real deal. If anything can be done to help your son, he will figure it out and make it happen. Trust me. He’s the only one I’d want on my side if it were a member of my family.”
Sharon looked at them both, as Dietrich looked back outside. He didn’t really care if she believed in him or not. The truth of the matter was, her son was in serious trouble, which happened to put everyone else in even more danger. No telling how many had died so far.
“I have an idea,” Dietrich said as he headed for the door. “Stay here.”
“Where are you going? Are you crazy?” Bernard asked.
“Probably, but I have to try something. You should be safe here. But I can’t just sit here.” Dietrich said as he stepped outside.
The streets were eerily quiet as he walked past the police cars and dead bodies while he tried to ignore the carnage all around him. It was almost two full block before he saw the first ones. It was two women who came charging toward him. Against his every instinct, he stood his ground. As they approached, he held up a hand and called out.
“In the name of Yeshto’th, I command you to stop!” He pinched his eyes shut as he called out the command, fully expecting them to pummel him into nothingness. Instead, he opened his eyes and they were standing there, staring at him, looking confused. “Ok. Thank you then.” He said as he walked past them. Perhaps he should have brought a change of underwear. He wasn’t sure if it was his command that had stopped them. Simon had ordered the others not to do any of their group harm, but no telling how far his reach was or if there were other spirits at work here.
He walked for another half block when a police car tore around the corner. He went to wave at it to signal, but quickly dropped to the ground as the driver opened fire at him. The car skidded to a halt and turned around coming back toward him. This would be just perfect, to have dealt with everything else today only to get killed by a trigger happy cop. He saw the car slowly roll up and a girl got out.
“Are you ok?” She asked.
“I think so,” Dietrich said. “Why were you shooting at me?”
“They thought you were one of them. I told them you weren’t. Why are you here? Who the hell are you?”
“I’m Dietrich Harlan, I’m a demonologist.”
“Are you serious?” She asked.
“I’m afraid so. Who might you be?”
“I’m Laura. So you think this thing is demons?”
“I’m sure it is.”
“Ok, well this isn’t the place to argue. Climb in I guess,” she said.
He got into the backseat of the car where there was a man a few years older than himself holding a little girl wrapped in duct tape. He looked toward Laura in the front seat who must have known what he was going to say.
“I know it looks weird. Long story. So what are you looking for Mr. Demonologist?”
“I’m trying to find a little boy named Simon. I believe he can stop this.”
The officer driving the car stopped and turned around.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Demons and a little boy and what the hell? Is the Omen or something?”
“I certainly hope not,” Dietrich said. “Look, it’s a lot to explain. I don’t even know where he may be. There are some people stuck in a house just a few blocks away. You can just go pick them up if you’d like and get them to safety. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“I want to see what he does. What if it is some demon shit or something?” Laura asked.
“You all watch too much TV. I’m surprised the kooks made it out here this fast. The psychics will be next.”
“This is Texas,” Dietrich said. “The government conspiracists will be the next ones out. Unless I can help out first. So you gonna help me or are we going to wise crack at each other?”
“Fine,” the officer said turning back around in his seat. “Not like I have anything better to do.”
Chapter 13
Ted looked on at Gilbert’s dead body. The DPS troopers had unloaded their rifles into him and were now aiming at Ted.
“Not gonna tell you again officer. I know this sucks, and I don’t wanna hurt you. But if you take another step in this direction, I will shoot yer ass. Do you understand?”
Ted tried to nod, but was shaking so badly he wasn’t sure it came across. He backed away and climbed back into Gilbert’s car and turned around heading back into town. As he drove, he tried to put what he had just witnessed out of his mind. Gilbert went nuts and cut off his own dick and ate it. The troopers then opened fire, hitting him in the face, body and all four limbs. By the time they ceased fire, all that was left of Gilbert was a bloody torso.
He turned down a side street to find a group of the afflicted walking toward him. Once they saw him, they broke into a dead run. He stopped and threw the car into reverse, stomping on the gas as he did so. It was difficult to see where he was going, but he tried to keep the car straight, though not straight enough. The car slammed into a utility pole, buckling the back end completely. He put it in drive and tried to go forward, but the rear axle had been damaged and the car barely lurched forward.
“Fuck me!” He yelled as he watched the mob charging toward him. He grabbed the shotgun from the rack next to his seat and climbed out, firing a few shots into the mob. He saw a few of the afflicted go down, but there were at least twenty of them. He wouldn’t have enough ammo for all of them. Lowering the shotgun he turned and ran. While speed was never one of his attributes, he was moving faster than he ever had before. Problem was, he couldn’t keep it up. Their footsteps and shouting got louder behind him as his legs began to burn along with his lungs. He gasped for each breath on every stride, literally running for his life. After a few blocks, his calf cramped up. The cramp hit so hard and so tight, he had no chance to react. He flew face first to the ground, crying out in pain as his chin bounced off the sidewalk.
He turned and looked up to see the afflicted surrounding him. Closing his eyes, waiting for them to rip him to pieces, he curled up in a ball. Yet instead, he began to feel weird. First it was a burning, splitting headache. After a minute the pain subsided and instead became a surge of adrenaline. He opened his eyes and saw the other afflicted standing around staring at him as the energy turned to a combination of sexual arousal and complete unadulterated rage.
One of the afflicted near him walked up and was about to speak, but Ted grabbed him, threw him to the ground and tore the man’s clothes off. He couldn’t figure out what he was doing. A second ago they were about to kill him, now he was overpowering one of them, but wasn’t even trying to. Once the man’s clothes were off, Ted slammed his penis into the man’s ass, raping him repeatedly. The realization of what he was doing horrified Ted, but his body was no longer under his control.
He finally stood and pulled is pants up. His cock was covered in blood as the man he’d just butt fucked stood as well and ran way, but with a limp. The other afflicted had stood around watching, but some of them had run off into other directions. “Oh shit. I’ve become one of them! What is wrong with me?” The thought terrified him as it hit. Especially since he was still aware of what was happening.
The anger burned inside of him, getting worse with each second. What the fuck was wrong? Where are those motherfuckers? He didn’t know who, but someone, somehow had to pay. Had to ease his rage. He took off running down one street; as he did he saw someone looking at him from a window. It was a child, a little girl. He stopped and made eye contact with her. Once she saw him, her eyes grew wide and she stepped away from the blinds letting them snap shut.
“You little cunt!” He screamed
and raced to the house. Without any hesitation he dove head first through the window. As he landed, he could see his own blood splattering into the floor and onto his hands, yet he never felt the glass cut his face. There were screams just feet away as the little girl and her mother were watching him. He looked them both over as the rage took over, his vision blurred as he screamed. “I’m going to rip your fucking hearts out, you bitches!”
Chapter 14
Laura sat in the front seat trying to figure out what this demonologist guy’s angle was. Derrick had launched into the guy right away, but the guy seemed to know what he was talking about. It was beginning to get dark outside and they had been driving around rather aimlessly.
“So you have any idea where this kid is at?” Derrick asked.
“I’m afraid I don’t. Last time I saw him, he was on foot with a group of those afflicted following him. I assume if we find a group of them, we’ll find Simon,” Dietrich explained.
“Right. Makes perfect sense.” Derrick looked at Laura and rolled his eyes.
“What’s gotten into you?” She asked. “You’re all attitude all of a sudden. Earlier you were scared of your own shadow.”
“Nothing has gotten into me. I just want to get the hell out of here.”
They drove by one house and Laura noticed several of the afflicted in the yard and hanging out on the porch.
“Look! I’ll bet that’s it.” Laura said. “They are all just hanging out there.”
“Great, so what? We just go knock on the door?”
“I will,” Dietrich said. “I’ve dealt with demons first hand before. I don’t think they’ll hurt me.”
“I’m sure that guy thought the same thing,” Derrick pointed at the remains of a dead body lying in the front yard. Several of the limbs had been pulled away and Laura noticed some of the afflicted were walking around the yard carrying arms and legs as if they were clubs.
“Well, if that happens, at least you’ll be rid of me,” Dietrich said. “You can stay in the car.”
Laura ignored his wishes and climbed out after him. Derrick and her dad all climbed out. Her dad left Cynthia on the backseat. Right away the afflicted looked at all of them. Dietrich held his hand up and said something to them that she couldn’t understand. Maybe it was another language or something. He looked straight at the thing closest to them.
“Let me speak to the boy, Simon,” he said. The thing turned and he and several others went inside the house. After several minutes the door opened and a little boy came walking out. Laura couldn’t’ believe it. The kid was so tiny. He could barely be four or five. Was he behind all this? The boy approached Dietrich and stopped.
“Is my mother safe?” The boy asked.
“Yes. She is fine,” Dietrich said.
“You shouldn’t have come here. I gave you safe passage to leave. I will not extend it again.”
“I understand. I need to know, Simon. What is going on? What are you trying to do?”
“I’m trying to do what He commands me. The god of chaos and mayhem.”
“Where is he? Is he inside of you?”
“Your exorcist’s ways won’t work on me, Dietrich. I won’t answer that.”
“Ok. Sorry. What do you want from us? How can we make the killing stop?”
“The killing won’t stop until everyone who is susceptible is under His control.”
“Everyone where? Here?”
“Everyone is everyone,” the boy said.
“And why does he want them under his control?”
“He’s the god of Chaos, why do you think?”
Laura couldn’t help but feel like the conversation would go nowhere. She saw Derrick walking behind some of the afflicted, he was apparently thinking the same thing, except he was getting his gun out and starting to draw on Simon. She wanted to scream and stop him, but one of the afflicted threw him to the ground and snapped his arm holding the gun. Derrick screamed as the other afflicted closed in around them.
“So you thought you could lure me out here to have me killed?” Simon asked.
“No! Not at all,” Dietrich said as he held his arms out. “I had no idea he’d do that. Please! I just came here to talk, I mean you no harm!”
Laura stood perfectly still as one of the afflicted walked up to her. She actually recognized him. He was Mr. Miller who owned the pharmacy. Though he barely looked like himself now. His face was twisted into an evil grin, his skin and face were dried and cracking. Even though she was sure Mr. Miller “wasn’t home,” the way he looked her up and down while licking his lips made her want to take an immediate shower.
“Simon, please. Let’s end this. How about you and I just have a talk,” Dietrich was saying. All of their attention was grabbed by another car pulling up. Its headlights nearly blinded all of them as it sped to the edge of the driveway and stopped. It just sat there a minute before a girl got out. Laura had a hard time seeing what she looked like in the dark after having just been blinded.
“Oh my God,” Dietrich said.
“Not quite,” the girl from the car responded.
Simon’s eyes grew large as he took a few steps backward.
“You!” He yelled to the woman and then looked at Dietrich. “Why did you bring her here?”
The girl walked up closer to Simon but both he and his afflicted moved away from her. Laura couldn’t look at Dietrich, but he was focused on the girl who was approaching Simon.
“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you Simon?” The girl said.
“I’m not afraid of you. Neither is he!” The boy yelled. “He’ll sodomize your ass until it’s inside out!”
“Now, that doesn’t sound like a little boy talking,” the girl said.
“Get away from me!” Simon yelled as he turned and ran into the house. The afflicted followed close behind him and the door swung shut. Cynthia even jumped awake and broke free of the duct tape restraining her. She looked around, and then followed Simon into the house.
“What the fuck was that?” Laura asked. “You just scared the shit out of those things.”
“I guess I did, didn’t I?” The girl said.
“Who are you?” Laura asked.
The girl turned and looked toward her. Her face was mostly shadow in the moonlight, so Laura couldn’t make out any of her features. Somehow, she could tell the girl was smiling.
“I’m Amanda Ross.”
Chapter 15
Skip Taylor new an opportunity when he saw one. If New Dublin wasn’t ripe for opportunity, then he didn’t know what was. Since his release from prison on burglary charges a few months earlier, he had pretty much kept his nose clean. Not because he’d turned over a new leaf, but he wanted to wait for the right moment. If he was going to risk going back inside, it wouldn’t be over petty bullshit. He’d make it worth his while.
Since his release, he’d been staying with a girlfriend, Anita Gomez. Well, she wasn’t really a girlfriend. She was more like a convenient piece of ass who happened to have her own place. The local TV had coverage of the goings on in New Dublin, which was only a few minutes from Anita’s place.
“’Nita!” He yelled from the living room. “Nita! Wake yer ass up!” He was sitting on the couch in a t-shirt and boxers. Finally Anita emerged from the bedroom in one of his Cannibal Corpse t-shirts.
“What Skip? Jesus Christ.”
“Don’t back talk me bitch. Where’s your cell phone?”
“I think it’s in my purse.”
“Well, go get it. I need to make some calls.”
“Why don’t you get your own phone man, quit using mine.”
He was wondering why he put up with her shit. For whatever reason, he had a thing for Latina women, even though they almost always had a mouth on them. Maybe he liked the challenge. They were also animals in bed. So he figured if he wanted the fun part, he had to put up with their shit too, but only so far.
“I told you why. I don’t want the cops tracking my ass.”
&nbs
p; “You watch too much fuckin’ TV. Let me get my fucking phone,” she mumbled something in Spanish as she walked back into the bedroom.
He got up and followed behind her. As she bent over the bed to go through her purse, he lifted her shirt and threw her onto the bed. Against her protests he slid his boxers down and entered her from behind. First she fought against him, but as he felt her pussy moisten around his cock, she began moving with him. He was always amazed at just how tight she was. He’d known her for years and she’d had dozens of boyfriends in that time. Yet, her snatch was just as wet and tight now as it was the first time he fucked her. He continued pounding into her as she grinded against him until they both came together.
“You fucking asshole. I haven’t even showered today,” she said.
“I like to fuck your stinky pussy. Makes my dick smell like tacos.”
“Yeah, fuck you.”
“I just fucked you, and you know you liked it.”
“Maybe a little. Here’s the fucking phone,” she said as she handed it to him. He took it from her and dialed a few numbers. After a few rings someone finally answered.
“Hey Dale. It’s Skip.”
“What’s up man?” Dale asked.
“You been watching the news?”
“No man, I don’t watch that shit.”
“Right. Stupid question. Look, some crazy shit is going down in New Dublin.”
“What kind of crazy shit?”
“I don’t know. Riots or something. But I know they got a bank up there and some pawn shops. All for the taking.”
“Well shit. You sure, man?”
“Sure as I can be. Get some of the guys together. Not too many, only need maybe three more besides you and me. Get in there, load up and get out with all the commotion.”
“Sounds awesome, man,” Dale said.
“I hope so. Then I can get out of this shithole.”