by Jason Davis
The thing in his mouth shook back and forth violently. It didn’t like to be held, wanting to get farther into him. It was vicious as it shook. Its body was hard, like he bit down on some kind of shell, but he could feel something underneath it pulsating against the pressure of his bite.
Out of mind. Force the thing of out of your mind. Don’t think about it. Get somewhere wider and just pull the damn thing out. Come on. You can do this.
Although he didn’t think he would ever truly be able to convince himself that he had anything under control.
Keep going. Keep go-
“Fear no evil, for you are with me.”
He heard the pastor’s voice, like a beacon in his thoughts. If there were room, he could write it off that somebody had just spoken in his ear, but he was cramped in a dark tunnel. It was hard not to take in the man’s words. Just...
He saw some kind of opening in front of him. He squirmed, focused, teeth clenched, as he moved as fast as he could. Then he was there, falling forward as the tunnel gave way to a drop. Thankfully, it wasn’t deep, only falling a foot onto the hard-packed earth.
Wasting no time, he pulled his feet from the hole. He didn’t know how large an area he was in or what was around him. He could be in a den of vipers for all he knew, but it didn’t matter. As soon as he could twist his way to the side and get his weight off his arms, he reached up and grabbed at whatever was in his mouth, pulling hard.
He heard the pastor again. “And the Lord said, ‘I am the light in the world.’”
He wasn’t sure what was going on. His head swam, different thoughts came and went, and it hurt to even think. He tried to push them all away, focusing on the thing in his mouth and getting it out. The thing was slimy and hard as he tried to grip it. It slithered out of his grasp each time. The legs… He thought those should help, but instead, he just felt them along his hand, keeping it from his grasp. It was like it danced through his hands.
The thing was long. Rob could feel its tail thrashing around his waist, like it wasn’t just happy with going down his throat. It also wanted to wrap around him. He fought as it curled up and wrapped around his neck. The mental image of the facehuggers from Alien tugged at the back of his mind, and there was no damn way he was going to have its damn love child. He’d shoot himself before having something burst through his stomach.
“Officer?” The kid had finally reached the end of the tunnel. He must have heard Rob fighting with the thing because he heard concern creeping into his voice. “Sir?”
Rob tried to answer, but his mouth was pulled tight around the pulsating thing, having to clench his jaw to keep it from getting farther inside him.
“What are you fighting?” he heard. It would be too dark down there for him to see anything, but could probably hear Rob thrashing in the dirt.
Rob tried to scream, but all he could get out was “hmm” as he screamed against clenched teeth and a full mouth. He repeated the sound over and over, trying to convey to the kid that he needed his help.
Having space, he was sure the kid could get his hands around whatever it was and yank it out of him. Then Rob would shoot the damn thing over and over again until there wasn’t enough of it to stick to his boots.
“What?”
“Hmmhmmhmmhmm,” Rob screamed, knowing the words were still in his mind. In there, he yelled, “Get this damn thing the hell out of me. Pull it out!”
“I don’t see anything!”
Of course you don’t see anything, you idiot. It’s pitch black in here. The only way Rob knew the kid was in there was by the voice. How was he ever going to get him to see he needed his help?
Damn flashlight. Dead or not, where the hell had the thing fallen to?
Well, there was one way. Rob wasn’t going to like it, but the kid was going to like it even less.
Rob rushed and slammed into him, forcing him back. There was no way the kid couldn’t feel the thing now. It would be writhing against them both.
“What the hell!?”
The kid grabbed at him, but didn’t reach for the thing. Instead, he fought against Rob, who concentrated all his strength into pushing the kid back. If he were lucky, maybe he could topple them over so Rob could be on top as the thing attacked them both.
Then he would have to help him.
The kid seemed to be trying to push him back. Rob couldn’t be sure, but he could feel his hands trying to find purchase. The kid was trying to spin away from him.
“Hmmhmmmm!” Rob screamed, the mucus from the creature coating his throat in slime. He hoped the kid could hear what sounded like, “Help me!”
He still felt his hands on him, trying to push away from Rob’s body. “What are you doing?”
Rob could almost imagine what this had to look like to the kid. Some crazed man coming after him for no apparent reason. If they had light, the kid would see the thing trying to crawl down Rob’s throat. It had to be the size of a large snake. If it didn’t have all the legs he could feel, he would have thought it was one.
It almost made Rob think of that incident last year when those things had attacked everyone. People became monsters, making it hard to tell who was infected until they started attacking one another.
He was sure that was how he now looked. Some crazed police officer trying to get this kid while they were hidden far from anyone ever seeing.
Did he have that dead look in his eyes like those things had? Was this how they felt? Something didn’t feel right. He wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something wrong. Something…
It hovered on the edge of his consciousness, like he was stuck in some dark and twisted dream. Something was there. He should be able to see it, but he just couldn’t. Like how the flashlight had just died on him, the light fading away, the thought just seemed to fade, as well.
A pain shot through him so intense, he collapsed to his knees. He could see stars in the darkness as every synapse fired through his head, the pain impossible to endure. He couldn’t think. His jaw clenched. He could feel fresh tears at the corner of his eyes. The top of his head felt like it started to peel away, his skin hot, like it was searing off. It was way too much.
And then it was gone. He was gone. His mind fell to the dark as he collapsed forward, crashing to the ground, unconscious.
CHAPTER 30
Rob was surprised to find himself standing in the entryway to a church similar to the Catholic one in Standard, but brighter. Every reflective surface glowed with the light filtering in through the large stained glass windows. The ceiling was far above him, and the windows rose high to greet it. The front of the church had a large scene that he recognized as what one would expect in a Christmas display. It was a depiction of the birth of Jesus with the barn, people gathered around a woman cradling a small child.
“We don’t have much time.”
Rob’s attention was pulled away from the display and the windows to see Father William sitting in the second-to-last pew, facing him, resting his arms on the back of it.
“Come, Rob. Have a seat.”
Is it ever real? Are you even real, or is this a dream? The last thing Rob remembered was being underground and fighting some creature that wanted to nest in his stomach.
“Rob, you’re still there. Right now, we’re in your head in what you consider a safe place. You need to listen to me. You should probably sit down.”
Rob took a step toward the last pew, finding himself sitting and facing the young priest. He looked around quickly, not knowing how he had gone from the back of the church to the pew.
“Think of this place like being in a dream. However, unlike most dreams, there is more reality here than I’d like to admit.”
“But it’s not real,” Rob said, hearing his voice echo around the cavernous church.
The priest nodded. “It’s not, just like that thing you think is in your throat.”
“What do you mean? I could feel it. I fought with it. I could feel the slime in my hands and throat.”
“You only thought you did.”
“Okay… If I didn’t, what the hell is going on then?”
The priest winced. Rob realized he had raised his voice and had started swearing. He leaned back in the pew.
“The darkness is real…and not real. It’s getting into your head. It is playing off your fears. For many people, the dark would be enough, but you’ve been through a lot. You have demons in there much worse than the dark.”
“Huh? Break it down for me.”
“I can’t.”
“You have to.”
Rob could somehow still feel himself and knew that outside this place, this mental church, he writhed on the ground. He could feel the creature’s grip as its tail moved up and wrapped around his arms and neck, squeezing him, suffocating him. He couldn’t breathe, knowing he would soon pass out, never to wake again.
He looked at the priest, who nodded in return.
“As long as you think it is real, the damage it does is real. You are doing it to yourself.”
“What is this thing? Will I be able to kill it?”
“It is a creature from before, back before time had begun and light had been created. It is a small part of something else, something that hides in the darkness. Will you be able to kill it? No. The best you will ever be able to do is stop it.”
“Just what does that mean? How does darkness…” Rob’s skepticism grew.
He could feel the creature gripping him tighter. The walls of the church shook, the light dimming around them. Rob looked around and noticed that while he couldn’t make out the images in the stained glass because of the sheer amount of light shining through them, he could tell they were writhing. Outside, he could see dark shapes flying around, smashing against the glass.
“Father, how does the dark do any of this? You’re not making any sense.”
The priest took a deep breath and looked at the windows. He must have sensed he was losing him. Rob knew the priest was trying to tell him something. He obviously wasn’t just a priest, or this representation of him wasn’t anyway. Why didn’t he just come out and tell Rob what he needed to know? Why dance around about it. Just spit it out. It was so damned frustrating.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light,” Father William said.
Rob sat there for a moment, just looking at him, not quite sure what to say. He didn’t want the answer to his next question, but felt himself asking before he could stop it.
“You’re saying the darkness was here…before God created light?” The priest nodded. “To say that, you would have to definitely say there is a God. That the Bible isn’t just some book.”
“I say that to a full church every week. How would what I say now be any different?”
“Because that’s what you just told me.”
“Is it?”
Rob was frustrated, but he had the sense there was some kind of understanding.
“So what about me? You always seem to be around, coming to me, even when I don’t go to your church. There was that thing a few years ago… You led me to finding it so I could stop it. You seem to just always be where I need you to be. There has to be a reason for that.”
“Do you remember what your mother once told you?”
“What? That I needed to go to church more? My wife says the same thing. My mother was such a devout Catholic, it kinda turned me off from the whole Catholic church thing.”
“No. What she said about angels watching over you.”
“Well, yeah. She said we all had guardian angels watching over us. They keep us from getting into trouble.”
“Does it make sense that each person would have their own angel? Think of how large the earth is, how many people there are.”
“Not only that, but it takes away the consequences of ones actions if they do bad things, and there are way too many people who do bad things.”
“Yes.”
“So what are you saying?”
“That some people are chosen. They are watched over by guardian angels because these people are meant to do great things in the world. Some do more than others, but these people have good hearts and are protectors of others. Guardian angels help guide them so they can help guide and protect others. It is a trickle-down effect that is meant to create more good in the world.”
“Does it work?”
“Not always.”
“So where does that leave me? You’re saying I’m one of these guardians? Because if that’s what you’re spreading, it stinks. I haven’t helped too many people. They always seem to die around me.”
“Do they?”
“There was a whole town massacred because I couldn’t save them.”
“You can’t save everyone, and not everyone is meant to be saved. You can only do what you can. You have to have faith in yourself or you will fall to the dark. It has crept deeper inside you. Unless you can free yourself from the bonds you have created, you will never be able to stop it.”
“But if I am this so-called guardian, shouldn’t I be able to save them?”
“You save whom you can. You save when you can. You run to the fire when others run away.”
“Yeah, it’s called doing my duty. It’s me being a cop, raised in a family of cops.”
“I’m sure that is part of it. It is more than that, though. Deep down, you feel it. There is more to you, Robert Raymond Alletto, than you are willing to admit.”
“Sure.”
The church shook again. A large black shape blocked much of the outside light and shook the window violently. Cracks formed in the glass. When Rob looked back at the priest, he saw concern in his glare. A hardness crossed his face, then left just as quickly as the man turned back to look at Rob.
“I wish I could just make you believe in yourself, but I can’t. I will ask one thing of you. Will you pray with me? Please.”
Rob nodded, feeling like it couldn’t hurt, maybe even helping a little. He needed something.
“Give me your hand.”
Rob did, the priest taking it in both of his. He bowed his head and Rob followed suit.
“Lord, we know you look over all your children, especially those who fight dark things. Rob has found himself having to fight one of the end darknesses, and he needs your strength and blessing as he is about to go into battle with this creature. Lord… Father… Please be here with us today and give us strength. Help Rob find his. Remind him for what he is fighting. Remind him from where his light comes. Let him shine bright.”
Rob had a hard time paying attention to the priest. His mind kept wandering, and as much as he tried to focus, he could only think of Robyn and Jake. He felt a tightness in his chest, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It made him feel okay as he thought about how much he loved his wife and how amazing she was. She had always been there for him. There to hose him down when he came home smelling of sewage. There to help him smile when he needed it, to hold him when he was ready to fall. Then there was his son. He had promised Jake he would always be there for him. When Robyn was pregnant, he would read to her growing stomach. The child they never thought they would have after years of trying. Their miracle son whom they upended their lives for in the hopes to keeping him safe.
Fresh tears fell as he heard the priest say, “Amen.”
Then the church was gone and Rob was back in the cave.
* * * *
Rob wasn’t sure what had changed, but he could feel something different around him. It didn’t take long for him to figure it out. He slammed hard against the wall of the cavern, then he landed on the ground. Light flashed all around him. He saw the shapes in the room, the kid shining some kind of object down at him while also holding his own flashlight, which was lit. More shapes were in the far corner, but he could barely see them on the edge of the illumination cast by the
two lights in the kid’s hands.
That was all he could see before unconsciousness took him.
CHAPTER 31
“Mister Alletto? Rob?”
Rob opened his eyes. It wasn’t as bright as the room he had just been in, but it was still brighter than what he thought it should be. When he tried to move his head, a stab of pain hit, reminding him he had hit a rock before he blacked out.
“Are you okay?”
He closed his eyes as he reached out to push himself up. Not seeing anything seemed to help shove away some of the pain pulsating through his skull and vibrating off his spinal column. He had been hit in the head before, and he was certain it had been worse than this. He wasn’t sure if he was thankful right then, but it seemed like a good thing he couldn’t remember when.
He couldn’t hide the groan that escaped him, but he made it to his knees before he stopped to steady himself.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Really? You don’t look it.”
He opened his eyes to glare at the kid, but he couldn’t hold it. He had to turn away and look at the far side of the room. The shadows were at the edge of the light, but what they were was unmistakable. It wasn’t the first time he had seen a dead body, even those of a kid.
“What?” the kid said as he turned to see what Rob looked at.
“Don’t...”
It was too late. The kid stumbled back, but Rob was still partially behind him. Legs tangling, he came down hard, falling on his ass. Rob’s flashlight fell onto him. As it did, he could see the other source of light had been a cell phone. It had one of those lights that could be used as a flashlight, even though it wasn’t that bright. In an area of pure darkness, even the smallest light was bright.
The jostling made another stab of pain streak through Rob’s temple like lightning. In a way, it felt good as it pushed back something else. Some fog he hadn’t known was there. He could suddenly clearly see more around him.