Devil's Nightmare (Devil's Nightmare, Book 1)

by Pruneda, Robert

  “Maria! Run!”

  I stepped towards the beast and fired two shotgun blasts at the lion head. It flinched and arched its head back, roaring as the blast ripped through one of the cat’s eyes, leaving a large gaping hole in its place. The other round hit the beast’s jaw, shattering it into a spray of flesh, fur, bone and blood. The dragon hissed and lifted its head back as it gulped in air.

  “Oh, no you don’t!”

  I fired two more rounds at the dragon, taking off one of its horns and a large chunk of the beast’s head. The dragon’s head went limp. “Go!” I yelled at Maria, keeping my focus on the chimera.

  I fired one more round at the chimera’s body, ripping a large hole into its chest. It screamed and took two steps backward. I also stepped back, reloaded the gun, and checked the west corridor.

  Maria backed out of the hallway with her hands lifted upwards.

  “That’ll be enough, Aaron!” A voice came from the hallway. Chief Hernandez stepped out, a pistol pointed at Maria’s head. He then smiled at the chimera and said, “Implete potestate Satanae ad priorem bestiam gloria!”

  “You son of a bitch!” I pointed my shotgun at Chief Hernandez. “What the hell are you doing?

  “Where’s Cody?” the chief demanded, pulling Maria close to him. “Or should I add this beautiful lady to the chimera’s menu?”

  “David, don’t do this,” I pleaded.

  “Where is he, Aaron? I can’t hold this thing off for long.”

  I glared at the chimera with my gun still pointed at the chief. The beast growled at me and took a step forward. I faced the chief again and said, “I don’t know where he is.” The chimera roared and inched forward. The chimera’s wounds regenerated at a slow and steady pace. “What the hell?” I gaped.

  “You can’t kill it, pendejo,” he laughed. “Now tell me where the boy is, so we can end this.”

  “End what? Why are you doing this?” I stepped away from the creature, still keeping the shotgun pointed at the chief’s head.

  “Oh, I think you know,” he said, forming a subtle smile. “Call it… survival.”

  “Survival? From what?” I jerked my thumb back at the chimera. “This thing? All this time and you knew about this… monster? And what, you have some type of control over it?”

  “Nothing controls the chimera, Aaron. It simply reacts. We have to stop this curse, and the only way to do that is with a proper sacrifice.”

  “Killing all these people? That’s your answer?” I stepped forward. “You said you saw the kids. Where are they, David?”

  “They’re safe.” He grinned and added, “Although, I can’t say the same about you and your beautiful compañera.”

  “So, you’re just going to kill us and be on your merry way? You can’t hide from this.”

  “Oh, I don’t plan too, Aaron. You just don’t seem to understand the extent of this… situation.”

  “And what is that?” I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder and lowered the shotgun. I gritted my teeth as the pain from my earlier injuries resurged and coursed through my body.

  “Problemas, amigo?”

  “You can’t possibly think you’re doing anything good here.”

  “Oh, actually I do. That little shit played with fire, and now we have this hellhound to deal with,” the chief said, nodding towards the chimera. “Piss off the Lord of the Storm and you have to suffer the consequences.”

  “Consequences? The devil’s nightmare? Is that what you’re talking about?”

  The chief nodded and curved his mouth downward. “You’ve done your homework. So, you have some understanding of what we’re dealing with here. This will only end after the chimera has satisfied its thirst for blood, or we break this curse by offering a proper sacrifice. And I wouldn’t count on the chimera quenching its appetite anytime soon.”

  “So, just kill an innocent kid. That’s your answer. What makes you think that’ll really solve anything? You’re naïve to think that this Lord of the Storm prick will give a damn what you do.” I raised my gun and said, “Why don’t you just sacrifice yourself? I’m sure your demon boss would appreciate it… maybe even give you a promotion in hell.”

  The chief laughed. “Think about it, Aaron. This formidable killing machine is a product of the devil’s nightmare curse. As long as the one cursed survives, this thing will continue to kill… indiscriminately.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a syringe. “A nice dose of this little cocktail will do the trick. The kid will go into a coma and then his little heart will just cook and explode. And then there’s the whole removal of the heart thing, of course. But don’t worry, Aaron. He’ll be dead long before that happens. He won’t feel a thing.”

  I glanced away for a second and took a deep breath. With narrowed eyes, I asked, “Is that what happened to Jackson? His psychotic dad injected him with that shit?”

  He shrugged. “Hugs can be deceiving. Bob couldn’t just let his son jeopardize our master’s plan. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the ones you love for the sake of the greater good.”

  “The greater good?” I tightened my grip on the shotgun. “You call this the greater good? What’s wrong with you, David? You act as if these people’s deaths don’t mean anything. What’s happened to you? We’ve been friends for so long, and now all of a sudden you’re locking arms with three-headed monsters and the devil?”

  “Satanism is so misunderstood, mi amigo.” He stepped closer to the chimera, pulling Maria with him. He brushed the barrel of his gun across the side of the ram head. “As long as I do Satan’s bidding, I’ll have eternal life. It’s really not much different than Christian beliefs, pero we don’t pretend to be something we’re not.”

  “Christians don’t go around murdering people just to—”

  “¿Enserio? What about the millions of people in history that Christians have murdered? More people have died in the name of God than—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. You’re nothing more than a demented murderous bastard using this mutated freak from hell as an excuse.” The cobra-tail hissed at me and flattened its neck. I glanced at it and continued, “Don’t think I won’t kill you, David. I’ll be more than happy to feed you to Puff, Simba, and Billy here, just for good measure.”

  “That won’t solve a damn thing, cabrón. You’d still have the chimera to deal with, whether you kill me or not.” The cobra-tail hissed again and struck at the air near me. The chief smiled. “I think it agrees with me.”

  I pointed the shotgun at the serpent head and pulled the trigger leaving only a bloody stub at the end of the chimera’s tail. I then aimed the weapon back at the chief and said, “You were saying?”

  The chimera roared with its lion head and moved forward, but it did not attack.

  “Enough chatting!” the chief said. “If you want to play heroic gladiator, be my guest.” The chief waved his gun at me and told the beast, “Occidere eum.”

  The chimera growled and stepped slowly towards me. The chief pushed Maria to the floor. Then the chimera turned towards her and sniffed the air with all three of its heads. The regenerated dragon head met my eyes and snorted. The beast stood on its hind legs, bellowed, and then turned around. The dragon head peered back at Chief Hernandez and snorted.

  “Occidere eum!” the chief yelled. “Que estas esperando? Matalo! Kill him!”

  The chimera slapped its bloody tail across the chief’s face, and then bounded outside into the rain. A clap of thunder vibrated against the windows and the chandelier above. The chimera cried out in its trio of voices and spread its wings. It leapt into the air, its cries soon fading into the distance. As if God himself turned the spigot, the rain stopped, leaving only a few drips of precipitation.

  The chief and I exchanged glares with guns pointed at each other. Neither of us said a word or made a move for several seconds. I could tell by the flush expression on the chief’s face that the chimera had just foiled his plans, or at least had hampered them to some de
gree.

  The double doors leading to Mr. Hadley’s chamber swung open. Cody stumbled out of the hallway and onto the floor near the body of the dead nurse.

  “Lookey what I found,” came a teenage boy’s voice. Joseph Michaels entered the dilapidated lobby and grabbed Cody by the collar of his shirt, pulling him to his feet. “Found him asleep in the basement under Mr. Hadley’s office.” Joseph laughed and bragged, “I kicked the little creep in the ribs to wake him up.”

  “You idiot!” the chief scolded.

  “What? I wasn’t going to drag his butt all the way over here.”

  “If you had just found me, then the… ugh! Maldito idiota!”

  “What are you talking about? I did what you said. I found Cody.”

  “Never mind.” The chief waved Joseph over toward him. “Bring him to me.”

  I frowned as Joseph pushed Cody forward. “Is that why you released this little shit?” I said. “To make him do your dirty work?”

  “No, Aaron,” the chief answered. “I would never make a child shed the blood of another human being. That I prefer to do myself.” He pointed at Joseph. “You have to hand it to him, though. He does have a strong right kick. Don’t you agree, Cody?”

  Cody frowned and glared at Chief Hernandez.

  “He cried like a baby too,” Joseph smirked. “So, you want me to take him to the chapel for you, Chief?”

  “No,” the chief grabbed Cody’s arm and pulled him close. “You’ve done well. Pero I think I’m done with you now.”

  “What?”

  Chief Hernandez pointed his gun at the boy and fired. Maria shrieked as Joseph’s head jerked backwards and his body collapsed to the floor. He hadn’t even had time to scream.

  “You sick son of a bitch!” I moved closer to the chief. “You didn’t have to kill him!”

  “Oh, yes I did.” The chief aimed his gun at my head and promised, “I’m afraid nobody is leaving this place alive.”

  “You murderous bastard!” I took a step forward with my finger poised over the trigger. “I’ll kill you.”

  “Now, now, Aaron. Think about this,” he advised. “You fire that weapon and the buckshot will also hit the boy.” He smiled and added, “That would kind of defeat the purpose of your heroic efforts, wouldn’t it?”

  Cody’s face reddened as tears dropped from his fear-filled eyes. I clenched my jaw and took slow heavy breaths. I kept a tight grip on the shotgun and kept my finger over the trigger. Cody looked at Joseph’s body and then at me. He whimpered, “I don’t want to die, Aaron.”

  Maria reached for a splinter of wood and then widened her eyes as if trying to communicate something to me. I then stepped to my right a few feet with my gun still pointed at the chief. The chief turned his body to face me, continuing to use Cody as a human shield.

  “You don’t have to do this, David.” I took a few more steps to my right. “We can figure something out. There’s got to be another way.”

  “There is no other way. I wish there was, pero there isn’t.”

  I kept my eyes glued to the chief, while Maria moved into the shadows with the piece of wood in her hand. I took another step toward the chief, and pleaded, “Come on, man. Think about this.”

  “Don’t you take another step,” the chief said, pointing to the floor with his weapon. “Now drop the gun! I promise to make your deaths quick and painless.”

  “That’s not very reassuring.”

  He fired a shot at the floor to my left and yelled, “Now, pendejo!”

  “All right, all right.” I lowered the barrel.

  Cody whimpered, “No. Don’t let him kill me.” The boy struggled to get free from his captor’s grip.

  “Drop the gun, Aaron! Or maybe I should just put a bullet in his head right now.” The chief pressed the barrel of his pistol against the top of the Cody’s head. “I will not ask you again.”

  I set the gun on the floor and stepped away from it. Cody screamed and kicked. Then he bit the chief’s hand.

  The chief yelled out in pain. “You little shit!” He swung the butt of the gun downward and struck the top of Cody’s head. Cody’s eyes rolled back, and his body went limp. The chief bent his knees as he kept his human shield from hitting the ground. He lifted him back up with his gun still aimed at me. “You should have—”

  Maria stepped up to the chief and hit him square in the back with the piece of wood. He fell forward and dropped Cody onto the floor. Maria swung at the chief again, but he ducked out of the away. I dove for the shotgun as Maria lifted the large splinter of wood again for another attack. Before she could swing at him again, the chief fired his pistol.

  Maria spun around and fell face first onto the floor. Her makeshift weapon bounced off the floor and slid towards the wall. Then the chief fired a shot at me. I rolled out of the way with the shotgun in my hand and pulled the trigger without aiming. I missed. The chief fired two more rounds as I dove behind the information desk, landing on Stephanie’s body. I peeked over the desk. Three shots immediately rang out; the bullets hit the counter. I waited several seconds before poking my head around the side of the desk again.

  The chief and Cody were gone.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Sacrifice

  “Maria I ran around the desk and rushed towards her body. A set of doors closed down the hall towards the chapel. Maria’s body rested in a small pool of blood. I set the shotgun on the floor, turned Maria’s body over, and checked for a pulse. She was alive, but her pulse was faint. The bullet hit her just below her left shoulder. A couple inches lower and it would have penetrated her heart.

  I heard voices coming from the chapel.

  Cody.

  I grabbed the shotgun and rushed towards the chapel down the west corridor. When I got to the doors, I pressed myself against the wall and listened, but I couldn’t hear anything. I cracked the door open and saw a flickering light. While crouching as low as possible, I snuck inside. Hundreds of candles lit the small chapel, an all too familiar scene. Father Henry Marwick, the Saint Hedwig priest, laid Cody on top of the ceremonial altar.

  It was then that I noticed Mr. Hadley, stripped of all clothing except for his undergarment, nailed to a large wooden cross on the right side of the platform. Barbed wire wrapped around his arms helped secure the man’s body to the cross. Blood trickled down his arms and feet.

  Marwick grabbed a curved dagger from the altar and cut open Cody’s shirt with it.

  “Drop the knife!” I ordered with the shotgun poised toward the priest. “Do it n—”

  Cold steel pressed against my left temple. “You’re persistent. I’ll give you that,” Chief Hernandez said into my ear. “But sometimes you need to learn when to quit and let go.” He seized the shotgun. “Place your hands behind your head.”

  “Am I under arrest?”

  The chief hit me in the gut with the handle of the shotgun and ordered again, “Hands behind your head. I don’t want to have to kill you.”

  “Why not? You already tried once.”

  The chief pressed his thumb into my right shoulder. The pain from the bullet wound resurfaced. I cried out and fell to my knees. The chief locked the steel restraint around my left wrist, pushed me forward against the back end of a pew on the last row, and pulled my other arm around my back. Another cold ring of steel slapped around my other wrist.

  “Aaron Sanders, I’m placing you under arrest for the murders of… Well, you get the point.” He pulled me to my feet and added, “You know how this works. Someone has to take the fall.”

  “Do you really think anybody will believe I killed all of these people?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he answered, pushing me forward. “You’ll never testify, after you commit suicide in your jail cell. Besides, even in the unlikely case that you do make it to trial, what are you going to say? A monster killed them?” The chief laughed, and Marwick displayed a satisfying smile. “Regardless of the truth, you’ll either get the death penalty or end up in a padd
ed room for the rest of your life. And I’ll make sure you’re so doped up you won’t even remember why you’re there in the first place.”

  At the front of the chapel, Chief Hernandez grabbed a chair and placed it on the platform near the altar. “Siéntese. I want you to have a front row seat. After we lift this curse, maybe you’ll finally appreciate what we’ve accomplished here. It’s nothing personal, Aaron. Just necessary.”

  “Killing an innocent kid is very personal to me. Nothing you say or do will make me believe this is anything other than coldblooded murder.”

  The chief tilted his head. “Technically, you’re right. However, Cody’s sacrifice will save countless others. So, frankly I really don’t give a shit what you think. Now sit down and enjoy the show.” He grabbed my arm and shoved me into the chair. He pulled a couple of tassels from one of the tapestries and wrapped them tight around my chest and the back of the chair. “I’m sorry to have you tied up again, but I can’t have you interrupting the ceremony.”

  As he secured me to the chair, I noticed an empty syringe next to Cody’s body. The boy’s stomach rose and lowered slightly. He was still alive. That gave me some relief, but if what the chief claimed was true, Cody wouldn’t be alive for much longer. Then again, even if the contents of the syringe didn’t kill him, the ritual would. There was nothing I could do for Cody, but pray. I wasn’t a religious man, but in light of the situation, I simply asked for God to somehow get us out of it alive.

  “Shall we begin?” Father Marwick said.

  “Yes, but I want to educate our captive audience while we do it.”

  “Very well,” answered the priest. “First, we need the eyes and lifeblood of a living virgin saint.”

  “You’re not a virgin, are you, Aaron?” Chief Hernandez jested, and then assured, “Don’t worry, amigo; he’s not talking about you. The good Dr. Hadley already volunteered to donate his eyes. I was going to use Joseph, but let’s face it… I don’t think he qualified as a saint.”