by Jake Bible
“Which will be in even shorter supply when you sacrifice those around us,” Roan said.
“My two comrades and I will always have a place in the hierarchy. We will displace the lesser from their vessels,” Valac said. “And before you ask, yes, it will be disappointing to lose the numbers of vessels, but war is about loss.”
“Yes, it is,” Roan replied.
“What’s the call here?” Antoine asked.
“We stop the truck,” Olivia said as the vehicle grew ever closer. “Follow my lead.”
“No,” Roan said as Olivia and Antoine started past him. “Get inside. Secure the wards the best you can.” He nodded at the horde that still filled the grounds. “They want you to step outside the barrier. See the black glinting in the torchlight? They will swarm and destroy you in seconds.”
Olivia glowed blue with power. “No, they will not.”
“Yes, they will,” Roan said. “You will kill some, but there are too many. Even for you. Get back inside and protect the wards. Save all of your energy for that.”
Olivia began to argue again, but Antoine took her elbow and pulled her back to the doorway.
“He’s right,” Antoine said. He gave the dragon a pat on the flank as he passed. “Good luck, Roan.”
“And to you,” Roan said.
The grotesques were gone from sight, leaving Roan by himself on the crushed steps of the cathedral.
“You sent them to their deaths,” Valac said.
“I see it differently,” Roan said.
The truck kept coming. Its engine screeched as the driver refused to shift gears, keeping it in low in order to get up the incline of the grounds and to the cathedral as fast as possible. The sound of metal shearing filled the air as the truck’s transmission began to come apart.
“You will lose,” Roan said. “My friends will defeat you.”
“Your friends?” Valac asked. “The ones driving to the quarry? No, I think not. They encountered some resistance, which I have been told they managed fine, but that was far from the worst of what we have in store for them. Goodbye, Roan.”
“Goodbye, Valac,” Roan said as the truck reached the barrier.
The explosion sent fire ten stories high into the night sky. The barrier was down before the flames hit half that height.
18
“WHY ARE WE stopping?” Morty asked as the truck slowly rolled to a halt, its shocks protesting over one last heavy bounce.
Before anyone could respond, the sound of a massive explosion reached them, loud enough to make almost everyone inside the truck jump.
“The cathedral,” Hannah said.
“Shut up about the cathedral and pay attention,” Highlander snapped, his hands working on the wound in his thigh. “Hold that light still while the truck is not moving!”
“Can you do it?” Morty asked.
“Yes,” Highlander replied. “Yes, I can. Shut up.”
There was a knock on the wall between the cab and the cargo area.
“Check it out,” Morty said to Coins.
Coins hefted his Thompson and nodded. “Got an extra stogie?”
“No,” Morty said, rolling the one between his lips to the other side of his mouth. It had gone out about three miles back. When Coins arched a stone eyebrow, Morty said, “I don’t. Honest.”
“That’s a shame,” Coins said and jumped down from the back of the truck.
“What happened at the cathedral?” Hannah asked. “Did the possessed get in?”
“There is no way to know that,” Tom said.
“But aren’t you Gs connected somehow? Can’t you feel what is happening to the others?” Hannah asked.
“No,” Morty said. “Not like that. Not now.”
Coins came running back to the rear of the truck and smacked the deck. “You’d better come see this.”
“What is it?” Morty asked.
“Come look,” Coins said. “It ain’t good, bub. Ain’t good at all.”
Morty looked at Tom. The large grotesque nodded.
“Go,” Tom said. “I will watch the back for any sneak attack.”
Morty nodded in return then hurried and hopped out of the truck. He was barely to the cab when he saw the problem. Certainly not a sneak attack.
“How many would you say?” Elisa asked from the driver’s window, her elbow leaning on the edge, her chin in her hand. “I’d say that looks like, what, all of them?”
“All who aren’t at the cathedral,” Morty said, staring at the horde of what had to be at least a few thousand possessed standing in the road. “If it’s still there.”
“That explosion?” Elisa asked.
Morty nodded.
“Shit.”
“What’s the call, boss?” Geffe asked, leaning over Elisa and out the window. “Take them head on?”
“Dude? Outta my face,” Elisa said and pushed him back.
“I don’t know how we could,” Morty said, answering Geffe’s question.
“The quarry is half a mile off,” Elisa said. “Then it’s another mile down the winding road to the bottom. We have to get her to the bottom, right? Put her in touch with the bedrock?”
“Yes,” Morty said. “But that won’t happen if we have to go through these vessels.”
Elisa revved the engine. None of the possessed even flinched.
“I could get us maybe a quarter mile before they stop us,” Elisa said. “I’m surprised they haven’t shot out the tires.”
“Or the engine,” Scythia said from inside the cab.
“They want something,” Morty said. “Let’s find out what it is.”
Morty walked forward, Coins and Elisa hissing for him to stay back. Morty ignored them and held his .50 cal up against his shoulder. He adjusted his burnt-out cigar again as he approached the new horde.
“Who’s in charge here?” Morty asked.
“Who do you think?” a man replied.
“Valac,” Morty said. “I figured you’d be back at the cathedral.”
“I go where I am needed,” Valac said, smiling. “I am no longer needed there. Not anymore.”
“Are they all dead?” Morty asked.
Valac shrugged.
“Nice way to avoid an answer,” Morty said. “So, Valac, what do you want?”
“We want the last three humans you have inside the truck,” Valac said. “And we want the Stonecutter. Hand them over and I let you and your stone friends go free.”
“I wouldn’t call letting Hell win exactly going free,” Morty said and plucked the cigar from his mouth. “Hey, you got a light? I left mine back in the truck.”
“No, unfortunately, I do not,” Valac said. “Haborym could have accommodated you with his firebrands, but he is back at the cathedral tying up some loose strings.”
“Loose strings?” Morty repeated. “Good to know.”
“Why is that?” Valac asked.
“That means you didn’t take down all of my friends,” Morty said.
Valac shrugged once more.
“Oh, well, too bad you didn’t have a light,” Morty said. “I would have loved to finish this cigar before I send all you assholes back to Hell.”
“You can’t get through us,” Valac said. “Even if your truck was still operational.”
Valac gave a slight nod and gunfire erupted. Bullets ripped into the front grill of the truck and steam and fire erupted from the hood. The gunfire stopped and Valac’s cocky smile grew.
“Elisa?” Morty shouted.
“I’m good,” she shouted back.
“Nice chat,” Morty said to Valac. He turned and walked back to the truck, ignoring Valac’s shouts for him to come back.
Elisa, Geffe, and
Scythia were scrambling out of the cab when he reached the truck.
“That’s that,” Elisa said.
“Not really,” Morty said. “Come on.”
They followed him to the back of the truck.
“Highlander?” Morty asked as he climbed up inside.
“I’ll live,” Highlander said quietly.
“You closed it up?” Morty asked.
“I did,” Highlander said. “But I’d best not move around.”
“I was going to say the same thing,” Morty said. “In fact, I want all of you to stay here and not move around. The truck’s dead and that horde is too big to fight. I’ll have to do this on my own.”
“Do what on your own?” Tom asked, glaring at Morty. “I said before that I will not leave her side. I will be with her to the end.”
“Tom, you can’t fly, man,” Morty said. “I still can. Not very far, but I won’t be going far. I’ll actually be going down more than up. All I have to do is get her there alive.”
“And kill me,” Desiree said, her voice so tiny, so weak.
Everyone was silent, waiting for her to speak again. But she didn’t.
“Yes,” Morty said. “Then kill you.”
“I will not—” Tom began to roar then stopped as Desiree’s ashy gray hand grabbed his broken arm. He shook with rage, but the touch of the girl seemed to keep him restrained. After a second, he sighed. “They will shoot at you. They will try to stop you.”
“I know,” Morty said. “That’s why I need your help. You’ll have to do your best to distract them.”
Coins ejected his empty drum and searched the equipment duffels for a new one. He found it, slapped it in, and held up his Thompson. “Not a problem, bub.”
“I will shred them down to their very molecules,” Tom snarled as he stood up to his full height.
“I’ll, uh, shoot them with these,” Geffe said as he waved his pistols around.
“Try not to shoot us too,” Elisa said as she pushed the barrels of Geffe’s pistols down.
“I can shred with Tom,” Scythia said.
“Good,” Morty said. “Wards, stay inside here. Gs, go kill some possessed.”
Morty looked at the little girl and she looked right back.
“My wings are damaged, so the flight won’t be smooth,” he said.
“I know,” Desiree whispered.
“It’s going to hurt,” Morty said.
“I know,” Desiree said. “Life hurts.”
The words nearly broke his stone heart. He’d heard many similar sentiments from a hundred wards over the years, but Desiree was the first to truly reach him inside. It could have been because she was a Stonecutter. Or it could have been that some of the cold in Morty’s stone had warmed as they reached the end of their journey. Whatever that end might hold.
“Tom?” Morty said.
Tom turned and lifted Desiree from the bed. He gently handed her to Morty.
“Show her love at the end,” Tom said.
“I will,” Morty responded.
Tom leaned down and kissed the girl’s forehead. She smiled up at him.
“Go before I change my mind,” Tom growled.
Morty hopped down from the truck. Once free of the cargo area, he spread his wings. The pain was intense. More intense than he would have thought possible. He looked at Desiree, but the girl had her eyes closed.
“Hold on,” he said and leapt into the air.
The Gs who remained jumped from the deck and turned to race at the horde that had already started to open fire.
19
EVEN IN THE darkness of night, Morty could see the possessed below. They were like a blanket of bodies that filled the dirt road winding down to the bottom of the quarry. The truck would never have gotten through. There were so many that some only had to shift an inch before they ended up in open air, tumbling over the side of the road and down into the quarry.
The bottom was also filled with possessed.
“They knew this could happen,” Morty said as he circled his way around the quarry, hunting in the dark for some clear area to set down. None could be found. “They’ve been waiting.”
“Does not . . . matter,” Desiree said.
“It kind of does,” Morty replied.
Several gunshots sent him swerving to the right.
“Take me down into them,” Desiree said. “It will be best if they are present.”
“Why?” Morty asked.
“You will . . . see,” Desiree replied before her eyes slid shut.
Her face was slack, but Morty still felt her heart beating. Although it was dangerously slow.
“If you say so,” Morty said, eyeing the horde-filled quarry. “You’re the Stonecutter.”
Morty spotted an area that was less dense with bodies than other parts. He aimed for it and dove, ignoring the pain that erupted throughout his wings. He made it halfway down before he felt the tearing and cracking.
His wings began to crumble.
“Hold on!” Morty said and wrapped the girl tighter in his arms. “We’re crashing! Again!”
He knew what to do. Immediately before his wings fully disintegrated, he twisted his body so his back would absorb most of the impact. He was in luck; his back only had to absorb a fraction of the force of the impact. The bodies of possessed took the real brunt.
Hands tore at him, grabbing for the girl, but Morty managed to flip himself over so the hands only found his newly wingless back. Lying directly under him, staring right into his eyes, was a woman, her ribcage caved in. Blood poured from between her lips then was coughed into his face as the eyes shifted and narrowed.
“This will not work, Mordecai,” Valac said. “The child is too weak. You are too weak.”
“I’m doing just fine, dickhead,” Morty said and threw a headbutt into the woman’s face, crushing her head.
“The ground,” Desiree whispered.
“I know,” Morty replied.
He screamed as he felt the blade enter his lower back. He couldn’t help it and looked back over his shoulder to see a grinning man with a very long hunk of obsidian in his hand.
“Mordecai, Mordecai, Mordecai,” Gaap said. “You’re done for, son.”
Morty stared at the obsidian then his focus shifted to a spot past Gaap’s shoulder.
“What?” Gaap asked. “Is something behind me? You know a demon invented that trick, right?”
“If you say so,” Morty said and smiled. “But I’m pretty sure a G invented this one.”
“What one?” Gaap asked as Tom’s huge body collided with him, crushing the body into nothing but pulp.
“I cannot fly, but I can fall,” Tom said as he struggled to his feet. “Here. Take it and fight.”
He handed Morty his last obsidian blade and shoved the G away from Desiree.
“She is my duty,” Tom said.
The horde moved in as Morty leapt up and began slashing away, trying to keep some space around Tom and Desiree as the larger G dug through crushed bodies to get to exposed earth.
“Hurry up,” Morty cried as he took several blows with various weapons to his torso. “There’re too many for me to handle!”
A shape fell and crushed more possessed.
The shape popped up and became two shapes. Coins and Geffe nodded to Morty then opened fire on the possessed. Another shape fell from the sky and was ripping into vessels before even hitting the ground. Scythia’s talons tore through the horde as she leapt from spot to spot, creating a circle of space delineated by shredded corpses.
“Tom,” Morty shouted as he impaled three possessed with one stab. “Now is the time!”
There was a distinct shout then a sob behind Morty, but he didn’t t
urn around. The two deserved their privacy in the last moments.
Tom roared with all the anguish of the world then went silent.
The ground beneath them shook violently. It rocked and rolled, sending everyone and everything falling to the dirt-covered bedrock. The jagged, towering walls of the quarry lit up like a football stadium as every single one of the possessed began to glow, their fire-bright light reflecting off the white limestone. Morty shielded his eyes from the glare.
Thousands of voices joined together into a wail of surprise, anger, and defeat rolled into one sound.
Then the possessed were still, and the light was sucked down into the ground, pulled like a blanket through a crack.
Morty got to his feet. He looked about as Geffe, Coins, and Scythia got to theirs as well. They were the only ones standing. The possessed were down. Not one of them was moving so much as a pinky finger.
“It worked,” Coins said. “Holy shit, it worked.”
“Yes, it did,” Morty said. “See, Tom? It worked.”
There was no answer and Morty turned around to face the G. He gasped.
“What the hell?” he exclaimed.
Tom was solid. A statue of stone wrapped around Desiree’s body.
“Tom?” Morty asked. He moved closer, reached out, and touched the G’s shoulder. Cold as ice. “Tom?”
“What’s wrong with him?” Scythia asked, climbing over bodies to get a closer look. “Why did he go . . . ?”
Her voice trailed off as her body stiffened then went as solid as Tom’s.
Morty whirled around and saw Coins giving him a sad look.
“What’s happening?” Morty asked.
“What was supposed to happen,” Coins said. “The end of Hell on Earth.”
“Now, hold on a cotton-picking minute,” Geffe said as he pointed at Tom and Scythia. “Are you saying that . . . ?”
His question was left unfinished as he became solid.
“You knew?” Morty asked Coins.
“Yep,” Coins said. “That’s why I wanted one last cigar.” He tipped his hat at Morty. “See you on the other side, bub.”