“Well, he sure didn’t prove shit out there other than the fact he knows how to pray,” David said. “And if he does indeed know how to ‘cure’ everyone, he’s sure willing to let an innocent girl die to hide it. And let’s pretend for a moment that all this is real... what makes you think he can stop it?”
“Trent, one of the men who took you to the hospital, in case you don’t remember, has known Samuel for a long time. Not friends, but the preacher grew up with Trent’s wife. Trent said that the preacher has been talking about this shit for years. He even overheard him a few days before all this shit happened. Samuel was down the street at the truck stop goin’ on and on about the end of the world and the ‘demons’. So, when all this stuff happened, one of the first things we did was go find Samuel.”
Clint smiled. “In time, David. You’ll see. We have plenty more sacrifices in line. Eventually, his guilt will get to him, and he will at least try to perform an exorcism.”
“And what if it doesn’t work?”
Clint shrugged. “Then I guess we won’t need the preacher anymore.” He looked down at his watch. “In thirty minutes, we’ll go get him. The bitch should be turned by then. We’ll see how he feels once he sees what he’s done.”
***
Dylan
The door swung open and Cindy almost literally tossed Dylan into his room. He was small, but he was still surprised by the woman’s strength, her being able to nearly throw a squirming eleven year old boy.
As he lay on his stomach, gripping the carpet, the door slammed behind him and he heard the deadbolt turn into the lock from the outside. Cindy’s feet stomped across the floor, but then his ears turned to something else. It was a noise inside the room. Shuddering and heavy breathing. Dylan got up onto his knees and looked over to the wall, and his eyes widened.
“Mary Beth.”
The girl was curled up in the corner of the room on her bed. Dylan rose to his feet and hurried over to her. When he got closer, he could see that she was shaking, almost as if she were cold. He moved onto the center of the bed on his knees and reached out toward her.
“Mary Beth, are you—”
“Don’t touch me!”
Dylan jumped back. Her tone was sharp and demanding. It threw him off-guard. He moved to the edge of the bed, clasping his hands together.
“M-Mary Beth, what’s wrong?”
“They’re going to kill me.”
Dylan narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? Who’s going to kill you?”
“Them,” Mary Beth replied. She was nearly inarticulate through her crying. “The bad people downstairs.”
“What? Why do you think they’re gonna kill you?”
“They’re gonna turn me into one of them.”
“Them what?” Dylan didn’t understand.
A gunshot rang from outside, startling both of the children. Dylan looked over toward the window, then back down at Mary Beth. She was now pointing at the window.
“One of them.”
Dylan hopped off the bed and hurried over to the window.
A man in a hat with long hair pumped a shotgun. Dylan recognized him as Danny as he hollered, and then he aimed the gun in front of him. The branches of a tree hid what he was aiming at. Another shot went off, and Dylan saw a body fall out from the shadow of the trees. It was an Empty. Dylan looked back over toward Mary Beth.
“You think they’re gonna turn you into an Empty?”
Mary Beth finally looked up from hugging herself. “A what?”
“Sorry. That’s what we called those monsters in the group I was with before. Empties.”
“Oh,” she replied, wiping tears from her eyes. “Those two little boys who are here in the house, they told me that the bad people were going to take me out there and turn me into one of those things. They said something about a table and how they have one of the creatures—an Empty, you called it—locked up.”
Dylan had to look away from the girl. He thought about everything he’d just witnessed outside and knew he wouldn’t be able to keep what he’d seen to himself if she started asking questions. He’d never been one to successfully keep a secret. Any time one of his friends or classmates told him a secret, the kid wouldn’t even have to have their back turned before Dylan was already telling someone else. But in this case, he didn’t want the girl to be anymore frightened than she already was.
“I don’t want them to bite me, Dylan. I don’t want them to hurt me.”
Dylan went back to the bed. He thought back to when Holly had been upset and how Will had wrapped his arm around her to try and comfort her. Worth a shot.
The young boy reluctantly put his arm around the frightened girl, and she nestled into his chest. It was strange. He’d never held a girl before who wasn’t his mom.
“Please, Dylan. Don’t let them hurt me.”
“I won’t.”
Now Dylan just had to figure out how he could keep that promise if someone did come to grab her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
David
For the past twenty minutes, David had been flipping through the Book of Revelation in a New King James Bible that he’d found in the drawer of the table next to his bed. Even though Clint had claimed that it was a lost book that prophesied demons would come to Earth and possess the human race, he scanned each verse, looking for any kind of hint that any of this could be true. Even if that proclamation was in a lost book, he thought there might still be a chance that some of the story could be tied into Revelation. After a time searching the text for clues, he closed the book and put it down.
“This is bullshit.”
A knock came at the door.
“Come in.”
The large burly man known as Horace stepped into the doorway. Under the bright light in the room, the man was even uglier than David had thought, as he hadn’t really looked at him carefully until now. Horace nodded his head toward the front door.
“He’s going out there now?” David asked, speaking of Clint.
Horace nodded.
Opening the drawer of the side table, David shoved the Bible back inside. I’ll come back to these fairytales later.
***
Clouds moved in, creating an overcast sky above the farm. Blocking the sun, they also made the already nice Fall day a little bit cooler. Clint greeted David on the spacious front porch and threw him a long-sleeve plaid shirt.
“Here ya go, partner.”
“Thanks,” David said. The shirt reeked of tobacco, but he put it on anyway to keep warm.
The front patio stretched the length of the long house and had a floor made of old, wooden slats. A row of what looked to be homemade rocking chairs lined the porch, and two of them squeaked as the two young, shirtless boys rocked back and forth in them. They both stared at David, stoic expressions masking their faces. A hand clasped onto David’s shoulder and he turned.
“Come on,” Clint said. “Let’s go check on that bitch.” He pointed sternly at the two boys. “You two pricks stay right here and keep your mouths shut, you hear me?”
“Yes, Pop,” one of the boys said.
David and Clint headed down the porch steps and started toward the table under the tree. David turned his head when he saw Danny racing up the driveway toward them.
“Woo, I killed me four of those bastards!” Danny said.
“Have you been over here to check on the girl yet?” Clint asked.
“Shit nah, man. Been havin’ me too much fun.”
Clint shook his head and then looked back at David. “See the kinda shit I gotta put up with?”
“What?” Danny said, his arms out quizzically.
“Just take your dumb ass over to the barn. I think we’re gonna have a live one here and I’m gonna signal you when I want you to let the preacher out.”
Danny scoffed. “Yes, sir.” He slung the shotgun over his shoulder and headed for the barn.
The sun peeked out from one of the clouds, and David used his hand as a visor
to look toward the table where they’d left the girl. She still squirmed, just like when they had left her there, but even over his footsteps through the tall grass, he could hear the snarls.
The girl on the table was Empty.
The gag had been removed so that Samuel could hear the girl scream as she died, and her mouth was agape as she hissed and tried to break free from the straps holding her down. Ten yards away from the table, David could see the veins protruding from her now pale skin, and she looked to him with inhuman eyes. Clint patted David on the back, a smile covering his face.
“Woohoo, boys! We got us a live one!”
After he yelled, the resident biter inside the shack started to bang against the metal structure. Clint waved toward Danny, who stood in front of the barn.
“Go on, Danny-boy! Bring that bastard out here to see what he done! I bet he can’t wait to hear her scream!”
Danny gave Clint a thumbs up, then swung the large barn door open. When he re-appeared a couple of minutes later, he tossed Samuel onto the ground in front of him, pointing the shotgun at the preacher and demanding that he stand. Samuel stumbled to his feet and walked with his hands in the air, just like a prisoner of war.
Once the preacher walked far enough to where he could see the thing wrestling on the table, he crumbled to the ground.
“Get that piece of trash on his fuckin’ feet,” Clint demanded.
Danny reared his foot back and kicked Samuel square in his backside. The preacher hit the dirt face-first and coughed. Danny pumped the shotgun and pointed it down at the preacher’s lower body.
“Get the fuck up or I’m gonna blow one of them chicken legs right off!”
“I want you to get your ass over here and see what you allowed to happen to this poor girl, Samuel,” Clint said.
As Samuel rose to his feet, his eyes were closed and he prayed. Legs shaking, he walked toward the Empty lying on the table. Clint grabbed him and leaned him down toward it.
“Open your eyes, Samuel,” Clint demanded.
The preacher continued to pray, his eyes remaining shut.
Clint reared his fist back and punched Samuel across his cheek. The preacher’s eyes remained shut, and he never saw the punch coming. He fell onto the ground and grabbed at his face. Clint then reached down and took hold of the preacher by his collar, bringing him back to his feet. He led Samuel back over to the table and unsheathed a knife from his side.
“If you don’t look down at her, I’ll cut off your fucking eyelids so you don’t have any other choice.”
Tears dripped from the preacher’s still closed eyes. David could see that Clint was losing his patience. Clint jerked the knife up toward Samuel’s face, and the preacher finally gave in and opened his eyes.
The Empty glared at him with pale, bloodshot eyes. Samuel kept looking at it, just as Clint had asked, but his lips moved as he prayed for the creature. It snarled at him, spitting in his face. Samuel reached into his pocket and grabbed a handkerchief, wiping away the saliva dripping from his nose. Clint leaned down right next to the preacher’s ear.
“You did this. This is your fault. You could have saved her, but you didn’t. And why? To protect some ancient, holy secret?”
“Please, I don’t know—”
“The hell you don’t,” Clint said, cutting him off. “I know you know how to do it. Just before all this happened, you were babblin’ off at a truck stop and my friend Trent heard you. Said you were talkin’ bout how only a ‘pure soul could cure the wicked’ and that you could do it.”
The priest didn’t respond. Clint scoffed.
“Well, we’ll see if you can let another one die.” Clint looked up to Danny. “Go tell Horace to come on.”
***
Dylan
A light rain began to patter on the roof. The clinking of precipitation against the window drew young Dylan’s attention away. He was still cuddled up with Mary Beth, working to soothe her. It’d worked, as the girl was now asleep against his chest. With the rain now coming down and clouds hiding the sun, Dylan found his own eyes beginning to get heavy, and he leaned the back of his head against the wall behind him.
His eyes weren’t even shut for a minute before the deadbolt clicked over and the door was thrown open. Dylan opened his eyes wide, but Mary Beth didn’t wake up until the door slammed against the wall behind it.
The large man they’d called Horace stood in the doorway, breathing heavy.
As he started toward the children, Mary Beth shuddered again. Dylan held her tight, hiding her face from the burly man.
“Stay away from her!” Dylan yelled.
Horace ignored him and reached down to grab the girl. Dylan punched at his arm. The look on Horace’s face showed that he was surprised the boy was trying to fight back, but simply pushed Dylan aside and grabbed the girl. Mary Beth screamed.
In a last ditch effort to try and get the man away, Dylan leaned down and bit into his arm. Horace yelled out and stumbled back, clutching his arm, and Dylan saw his chance.
“Come on,” he urged Mary Beth, and they stumbled off the bed and darted past Horace, out the door.
Dylan led Mary Beth, holding her hand. The hallway was vacant, and he saw a clear path to the front door.
Then, just as they were about to reach the stairs, Dylan tripped on something and went stumbling forward onto the wood floor. In the process, he dragged down Mary Beth, who cried out as she hit the ground just after him. When Dylan turned around to see what he’d tripped on, his eyes widened.
The two young boys who he’d seen at the table during breakfast stood over them. One of them held a hunting knife, the other a pistol. The kid with the hunting knife pointed it down at Dylan, smiling.
“Where you think you’re going, squirt?” the kid asked.
Beyond the two boys, Horace came stammering out of the bedroom, still holding onto his arm where Dylan had bit him. He parted the two boys, pushing them against either wall, and grabbed Dylan, throwing him over his shoulder.
Still fighting, Dylan punched the man’s broad backside, but it was no use.
When they reached the room, Horace drew Dylan off his shoulder and, without a care, flung the boy onto the floor from almost seven feet up. Dylan landed on his back on the wooden floor and winced. He flopped on the floor like a fish, never having felt this amount of pain before. The boy fought to catch his breath.
Dylan heard a slurping sound, and then he felt the man’s spittle hit his cheek, only adding insult to injury. Horace slammed the door and set the deadbolt before he marched back down the hallway toward a weeping young girl. Crying more than he had since all this began, even more than he had from the plane crash, Dylan could only manage two words as he rolled around on the floor, wanting desperately for the sting in his back to disappear.
“Mary Beth!”
***
David
The oncoming storm didn’t seem like it was going to faze Clint or put a stop to his torturous antics. The preacher continued to babble next to the Empty and Clint still laughed.
David turned when he heard the screen door open from the front porch and heard the screams of a young girl.
“Now, here we go!” Clint hollered. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Horace, bring that sweet thing over here!”
Whoever the girl was, Horace had her in one hand, and from where David stood, it looked like her feet might not have even been touching the ground. The closer she got, the more David was able to see how young she was. Surely, he’s not really going to kill a child. That seemed a little much for even a man as cold as David Ellis.
“Danny,” Clint said.
Danny looked and Clint just nodded.
The man must’ve understood what the leader of the group wanted, because he unsheathed a knife and walked to the side of the table. The creature looked up and hissed at him, and Danny stabbed it in the side of the head. The Empty lay still. Danny put the knife away and unstrapped the beast, rolling it off th
e table and onto the dirt below. Samuel continued to cry, praying for the thing that had once been a girl. Danny grabbed it by its legs and dragged it thirty yards off on the other side of a bush. David wondered if they had other bodies over there.
Behind him, the screams of the girl got louder as she and Horace approached. Danny arrived back from moving the creature’s body, and wiped his hands with a towel before grabbing the new young girl’s other arm. They held her in front of David, Samuel, and a smiling Clint.
“Well, hello, Miss Mary Beth,” Clint said. “So nice of you to join us.”
“Please, don’t hurt me,” Mary Beth said with a quake in her voice.
“What are you doing, Clint?” David asked.
Clint smiled. “Just wait and see.”
David clinched his fists. It was one thing to witness what had happened with the woman on the table earlier, but a child? The abuse brought back memories of his childhood and his alcoholic father.
Clint clicked his tongue and shrugged. “Unfortunately, that’s not up to me, darlin’.” He put his hand on Samuel’s shoulder. “The good ole preacher here is gonna have to decide if he wants to keep playin’ games and let you die, or if he is gonna quit bullshittin’ and show us that he has the answer.”
“The answer? What do you mean?” Mary Beth asked. “Please, just let me go!”
“I don’t know what you want me to do!” Samuel cried. “Please, don’t hurt this child.”
Clint turned and pointed at the preacher. “Ya know, I’m running out of patience with you, Samuel,” Clint said. He then looked over to Danny and Horace, and slapped his hand twice on the table.
The two men lifted the screaming girl up and lay her down on the table on her back. As might have been predicted, she screamed and fought them the entire time.
“Hold her down while I strap her in!” Danny said, looking at the mute man, Horace.
The oversized man only had to use a small amount of leverage to hold the young girl down. She still tried to fight loose, but it was pointless. Danny was easily able to secure her wrists with the leather straps, and then he repeated the same process with her ankles. Danny pulled a sock out of his pocket and went to stuff her mouth, but Clint grabbed his arm to stop him.
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