Among the Fallen: Resurrection

by Ross Shortall

  There was a sudden clunk of metal as the axe hit the marble floor, splashing in the blood at her feet as Alex simply stared at the mess, breathing and panting uncontrollably. Her hands shook and her bottom lip trembled, the adrenalin gradually calming as she glared at the bloody heap on the floor, almost frightened by what she had become as she gazed at her blood soaked hands. Suddenly, an orb of red light floated up from the body, glowing intensely as Alex merely watched, beautiful and mesmerizing it flickered like a candle light and hovered above the corpse. She stood gazing into it almost hypnotized as its glow lit up her black eyes, glistening on her sweat soaked face and she could feel warmth coming from it that felt humane. She reached out and touched it and watched as it vanished into her hand and her suit rippled like water, its markings altering and her suit changing slightly. Suddenly, her muscles tightened and she could feel the warmth rushing through her body, her suit purring as she stepped back calm and feeling a new person entirely. It was hard for her to pinpoint, but something within her felt like it had changed, more powerful and she actually felt physically fitter, stronger maybe, but whatever it was and whatever it did, it felt good; and she loved every second.

  Chapter Fourteen: A New Strength

  Alex looked down at the bleeding corpse as it emptied out onto the floor, its grey rancid flesh devoid of life and just lay as lifeless as everything else. As the final lungful of air escaped from its headless throat with a squeal, she stepped back shivering as she held her bloody hands before her in shame.

  Suddenly, the temperature dropped and a mild darkness fell over the main hall, the lights exploded and a strange red light beamed from within all the shops around her. In the toy shop, all the teddy bears and dolls suddenly turned and faced her, their creepy frozen expressions glaring out over the mall with frightening stares. Tiles fell from the ceiling and the red clouds through the skylight paused, her frozen breath blowing steam as the window frames glistened with frost. Glass shattered and market stands blew their contents into the air, the remaining lights faltering as the paint stripped from the walls, peeling and floating into the air around her as the mall swiftly slipped into the underworld. The fountain suddenly paused, the water frozen within time itself and the three figures of Gagged, Bound and Blind slowly emerged from the shadows around her; their leather clad and tortured bodies stepping into the red light that violated every surface.

  Alex fearfully turned, watching them nervously as they approached from all sides before suddenly stopping; waiting patiently for their master to emerge from the shadows. The Gagged tilted his head to one side as he chewed the strap in his mouth, drooling down his chest as his suffering nerves twitched sadistically. The Bound watched her is it wandered in and out of the support pillars; the marble glimmering with its twisted reflection as he passed; his stained and rusted halo tightening with tiny pulleys and gears, pulling at his face with agonizing barbarity. Alex took a few paces back and froze as she stepped on something; she turned and gasped as the blind female pushed her away, her cold death like white skin glowing in the light as her leather and bondage creaked with every advancing step. Alex stumbled and regained her posture fearfully as the Demons seemed to surround her, yet strangely, they appeared to keep some form of distance.

  “What the hell are you?” she said bitterly as the tortured souls stood silently around her, struggling with their afflictions and grief-stricken cores, their frightful appearances casting long ghostly shadows across the marble floor.

  “Outcasts; exiles; pariahs, again, whatever tags you wish to choose to help you understand; but ultimately, we are Fallen, Alexandra. As is the creature bleeding at your feet!” a dark voice calmly said from behind her. The caped creature from the graveyard suddenly appeared, the lights above him faltering and eventually burning out. She stepped back startled as its vile bone eye sockets peered over its scorched leather collar, glaring at her profoundly as his disciples watched from the shadows. “That was the first of five, and for a human, it was very impressive!” the creature hissed.

  “That‘s one of them?” she asked fearfully. “It nearly fucking killed me!”

  “Doubtful, you confronted it and you still stand” the creature grumbled confidently and clearly proud. Alex frowned defiantly, her head spinning in confusion. She watched as the Bound picked up a doll from the mess and examined it peculiarly, fascinated as to why we would use or have need of a fake new-born. Alex looked back towards the caped creature, her mind suddenly filled with a hundred questions.

  “Are they all the same?” she asked fearfully.

  The wraith looked over the mall at the weirdness of his surroundings, almost repulsed by the human’s penchant for consumerism and trading with each other like the animals they were.

  “No, the Fallen here in your realm are just spirits in borrowed vessels, they change and adapt those vessels to make them more comfortable, as it were. They were born in a world of pain and are in areas where the history is corrupt, so when you strike; you must strike to disable and kill!”

  “The voices?” she said unnervingly, almost a question but more of a plea for answers as the voices in her head deafened her.

  “Those voices you hear in your head are from the suit you’re wearing, its armour that the Fallen wear in battle and it took us a very long time to find one that was willing to bond with a human!”

  “It made me cut my own hand off!” she said sulking.

  “You and the suit now coexist, it is you and you are it, they do not take kindly to hosts that try to remove or antagonize them, without it, your body would just decompose and fall away” it said gruffly, watching his minions as they amused themselves in the wreckage.

  “I‘ve never killed anything in my life!” she said scowling down at thirty-stone corpse that bled under her feet, the creature staring at the suit as it purred and rippled across the contours of her body. “I actually feel sick!”

  The creature merely gazed upon her saying nothing, his cold stare causing her to look away unsettled. It turned and looked at the Blind and she slowly nodded at him as if she actually saw him looking at her, obedient and loyal. Alex stepped out of the blood and strolled across the mall to the hardware shop. The creature stood looking at the dead Butcher for a few moments, its eyes glowing sternly as the light around them shined on its bone face. It looked up as Alex returned from the hardware shop carrying a towel and her trainers, watching patiently as she washed her feet in the fountain, drying them until finally slipping back into her trainers.

  “What was that ball of light?!” she said hard-heartedly. The creature stood staring down at her as she lit up a cigarette.

  “A trophy!” the creature grumbled.

  Alex puffed on her cigarette and lifted her feet up from the ground as the Butchers blood slowly crept past. She stood up on the wall and stared blankly at her ghostly advisor.

  “What kind of trophy?!” she asked inquisitively. “I touched it, and the markings, on this suit armour thing, they changed?” she said purely baffled by a flood of questions she needed to ask quickly before he vanished again.

  “Your suit contains the instructions given to it of what you can do, the new markings are our scriptures upgrading your abilities, telling the living Earth what is allowed of you and it adjusts your realms physics around you!” it said shallowly. “When you bring a Fallen down, the suit leaves behind a seed, a spawn, a gift to the victor!”

  “A gift of what?” she asked as she picked at the suits stitching, the minions gazing at her with an emotionless stare as they waited in the shadows.

  “It could be anything, it could be nothing!” he promptly replied.

  “Tells me a lot, thanks!” she mumbled with irritation.

  “I’m here to lead you and guide you only, Alexandra. I don’t expect you to understand anything I myself say. I’m not here to answer your questions, so be thankful if I do!” it said morosely.

  “What have I gotta do then?” she asked bitterly.

  “Find and
destroy the other four Judges, Alexandra! Find them and the human’s plan to cross the realms will fail. In exchange, we will allow you to put right certain moments in your past!” The creature said ghostly. Alex threw the towel on the floor and stretched out her arm, her white skin tightened and her fist clenched firmly.

  “That thing, nearly took my head off, I’m not sure I can do what you ask!” she said with a frown, her tormented soul tainted as it wept from within. The creature looked at her blankly as she sat picking coins out of the fountain like a child, sulking as her confidence slowly slipped away.

  “The Fallen are merely humans possessed by us. We can’t completely walk your Earth until our kind complete the crossover. That’s why you stand a good and fair chance. The human body is easily executed.” the creature mumbled with a hint of superiority. Alex sat flicking coins into the fountain, hanging onto the creatures every word. It was good news in a sense, these Fallen had a weaknesses just as everything else, but finding those weaknesses was another story.

  “What do you look like? I mean really?” she asked blankly. The creature turned and looked at her bizarrely; her question was clearly unexpected but just as amusing.

  “Prey to your chosen God you’ll never have to see, Alexandra!” it hissed aggressively. Alex sat rocking for a while as the creature lifted the Butcher’s rancid corpse into the air and sniffed it like an animal. She turned away visibly sickened by the sight before her, the corpses blood slowly creeping down its hanging limbs and splashing her trainers. Suddenly, the creature threw the corpse to the ground as Alex sat looking at her hands. They felt strong, her grip was dominant and she felt powerful.

  “I feel different!” she said as the ghost stepped away from her.

  She gave a grumble and then jumped up and walked lightly towards a market stand and paused as the suit rambled something in her head. The Gagged stepped away and stood patiently in the shadows, the other minions turning and watching her tolerantly. Alex twitched and gave off a smug smile, the voices finally coming together into something she obviously understood. She knelt down and grabbed the stalls legs, watching as the metal buckled in her grip, suddenly lifting it into the air.

  She stood with a smile with at least a ton of metal, wood and produce and held it conceitedly in the air in front of her as if it were as light as a feather. As the market stand broke up and fell apart, its metal framework buckled under its weight and she abruptly threw what was left across the mall, watching it crash through a shop window much to her delight. The Fallen merely stood watching her emotionless as she walked back towards them arrogantly, her stolen strength obviously pleasing her and overwhelming her with confidence.

  “When you consume the soul of a Fallen you steal what it has to offer!” her advisor said unemotionally, almost as if it were some everyday occurrence. “Make sure you feed it blood regularly, Alexandra! There’s plenty of blood about but the less tainted the better. If you find a pure blood then you will feel power beyond the limits of your imagination!”

  “A pure blood?” she asked.

  “A living, breathing and unscathed human!” it answered with a strange tone of seduction in its voice.

  “There are survivors?” she said shocked and with a hint of relief.

  “Of course, some humans are better trained than others, to some survival comes naturally. These are what the Fallen crave, these are what you must sacrifice to accomplish the strength you need!”

  “I aint killing nobody! Forget that! With him it’s different!” she said trying to justify herself. “Well he aint human is he… I’m not hurting anyone normal!”

  “Your power is very limited and there is only so much damage you can take, you need to start collecting the blood or next time you might not have the power to regenerate, and believe my words, Alexandra; you do not want to be stuck in the limbo between realms.”

  “I take it that’s bad then?!” She said almost sarcastically. “Coming from something that looks like you do, that’s one hell of a statement!” she joked as the creatures walked off and started to disappear into the darkness. Her advisor stopped suddenly before turning its head back towards her.

  “Exactly!” it barked grumpily as it swiftly vanished back into the shadows without a trace.

  As the darkness lifted and the red glow from the shops dimmed back to normal, Alex stood staring at the corpse as it lay slumped on the ground. She felt sad and regretful, yet at the same time glad it was him and not her, selfish and pleased to be alive. She looked at its twisted and deformed body and tried to imagine what the other four would look like; but her imagination was never that good at the best of times; the night before her was a blank and most unsettling. Anything her mind thought of simply unsettled her further and decided just to forget about it and make her way on to the next target, wherever that may be.

  Alex sighed and made her way upstairs, climbing the dead escalators as she tried to calm her nerves.

  She was about to leave when she looked towards the rubble in the newsagents. She walked over and picked up a few boxes of cigarettes and some spare lighters. Alex felt a bit more confident with her extra strength, but that didn’t stop her feeling sickened and saddened by the whole affair. The Butcher had left a nasty taste of blood in her mouth that was just taste bud overkill, rancid and iron-like, and the worst part was the fact it wasn’t even her blood. She searched through the rubble and picked up a packet of sweets and quickly rammed a few in her mouth in an attempt to get rid of the tang, it sort of worked; well at least it took the edge off it. She stood silently chewing away for a few moments and then knelt down picking up a map from the mess. She knew Blackwater very well, but that was by car, the streets were in no fit state to drive and were full of blockades; her journey was going to have to be on foot and she needed to find the quickest route possible to the island.

  She opened the map on the counter and spat the sweet out, lighting a cigarette and tugging away as she simply examined the map with almost no map reading skills at all. As the revelation of there actually being no quick route at all sunk in, she stood up straight and sighed, blowing thick smoke into the air. She grabbed a few more boxes of cigarettes and left the newsagents through the big gaping hole in front of the shop, kicking away debris and rubbish as she went. She took one last look down the now ruined mall, trashed and wrecked as if there had been a hurricane pass through it.

  She looked up at the clock and soon realized the night was rapidly slipping away, the lights in the mall suddenly falling into an eerie darkness and Alex grumbled impatiently, staring into the war-torn streets with a glare of resentment. She kneeled before the hole and sighed, zipping up her coat and preparing for the worst; and with a grudge, left the mall.

  Chapter Fifteen: A Survivor

  “you gave through your servants the prophets when you said: ‘The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other.” Ezra 9:11

  Alex stepped into the dark deserted streets as the perverse landscape of dishevelled buildings and slain bodies once again haunted the red skyline. The cars and debris slowly burned themselves out and the crows continued to scavenge at the rotting cadavers; but strangely, something was different. In the distance, among the crows and screeching car alarms, she heard the sound of moans and groans, tired and painful cries that seemed to rise from the city streets. Hundreds or maybe even thousands of separate tortured souls, all crying into the night; ghostly mumbles and whimpers of silent words that seemed to vanish over one another.

  She stood still and just listened as the creepy noise echoed all around her, but bizarrely, the streets were as empty of life as they were before. News-stands stood alone as their newspapers and magazines blew open in the wind and the florists across the road were silent; the ground before it covered in dead petals and weeping flowers. Burger-stands laid abandoned, their grills covered with charcoaled meat and buzzing with ver
min as their supplies wasted away.

  Alex walked further down the desolate road as more strangeness bared itself, the city that never slept now lying departed and long gone. The once uplifting Parker Brothers Tram stood still and buried within the wreckage of cars, its windows smashed and hiding the dead from sight, its front splashed with blood and side panels scorched with flames. She walked past the tram bewildered and saddened, it’s iconic and almost nostalgic place in her childhood now poisoned. As the mysterious metal cages and walkways from above cast her in a passing darkness, Alex solely edged her way through the withering streets from one ghastly sight to the next, her haunted memories of her once proud home fading rapidly. She wandered the disheartening streets as the cold wind howled around her, trying her hardest to replace the morbid sights with happier memories; but sadly as try as she might, hiding away from it was next to impossible. She walked for ages as if time stood still, climbing barricades and stepping over corpses as if they were trash; peering into dark windows and striding through pools of thick blood, disturbing the thin skin that had congealed over them.

  Alex looked down and frowned as she peeled the nasty layer of soggy blood from her trainers and flicked it to the ground in disgust. She exhaled belligerently and glared up at the vast skyscrapers that loomed over her in ruins, their foundations creaking behind the rusting cages; the wind snatching paper and trash from their exposed offices, raining rubbish down like leaves from a dead tree. She pulled out a cigarette and lit it, tugging on it desperately as she wiped the blood from her hand on her jacket.

  Where was that noise coming from? Was it miles away? Was it in the next street?

  Eventually, she ventured further into the grim streets and turned into Candy Avenue, a specially built strip of street just for toy and sweet shops, adventure playgrounds and where nearly every child in Blackwater spent at least one birthday at one point. She stared down the street at the once colourful cartoon themed land of fun with a tear in her eye at its new bleakness. Giant cartoon statues stood smiling with lossless glee, their faces covered with blood and organs as the colossal parade balloons hovered high above her, gently bouncing off each other with infinite endurance.