The Dark Horde

by Brewin

  Then from their midst, stepped a hooded man in matching robes.

  There you are, you bastard.

  Brian planted his foot, driving straight at the man in front.

  One of the two of us is gunna die. Maybe both.

  The robed demons easily leapt clear of Brian’s oncoming vehicle, but the man in robes was slower... He hit the bumper bar on the driver’s side and rolled across the bonnet to Brian’s right.

  Brian spun the wheel, sending the car sliding sideways into the wall of demonic spectators to his left. The beasts at the front fell backwards onto the ranks behind like a wave, but the elastic wall held and bounced back, cushioning Brian’s car from the kerb. Brian took his foot off the brake and floored the accelerator...

  As the windows down the left side of the car smashed, and the creatures there began to get a grip.

  Brian’s car lurched forward towards his purple-robed enemy that crawled on two broken legs twenty metres away. The demons surrounding him held onto his car, despite the broken glass that lacerated their hands and threatened to sever their digits. Two demons crashed into the bonnet, as others tore open his tyres.

  Just a couple more seconds.

  The car stopped moving, but near his target, Brian flung open the door and leapt out, shotgun drawn even as he landed.

  The hooded man laughed back at him. A surreal moment passed when even the Dark Horde didn’t seem to move.

  Rushing in for the kill, Brian fired both barrels of his twelve-gauge pump-action shotgun from close quarters. A terrific blast erupted through his victim’s chest, shredding robes, flesh and vital organs. The body slumped lifelessly in a pool of blood that shone purple in the car headlights...

  Please let that be the end of it.

  But the Dark Horde around him only laughed.

  With shaking hands, Brian pulled back the hood of the man he’d just shot...

  It wasn’t Henry at all. It was Douglas McDougall. His death mask smiled back at him.

  Brian stared down incredulous.

  Why won’t you fucking die?

  Then a massive red pincer grabbed his throat and lifted him.

  He craned his head to look into the alien arachnoid face of the scorpioid monstrosity looming six metres tall... Two large impenetrable green eyes sat either side of two rows of smaller eyes. Its slavering mandibles gibbering furiously and its crimson-coloured tail curled forward over its head towards him, ending in a barbed stinger, stained black with venom, the size of his head.

  Without hesitation, Brian shoved the barrel of his shotgun into its cavernous mouth and pulled the trigger...

  The top of its chitinous cranium exploded skyward as the lead spray tore through its head. Brian dropped to his feet as the almighty beast relaxed its grip and crashed backwards like a felled tree.

  Shit, hey?

  Pumping his shotgun to reload, he looked at the countless Dark Horde surrounding him... Growling.

  Yeah, shit.

  “BLASPHEMY!” bellowed one of the robed Dark Horde as it thundered into him from behind. One claw wrapped around his neck and another wrenched the shotgun from his grasp.

  It’s over. I failed.

  The beast roared in fury as it raised Brian by his neck and slam-dunked him onto the spiked obelisk. Brian managed to pull his head down to miss one ebony spike a metre long, but another went through his right shoulder, ripping flesh and forcing the wound wide open. Pinned, his feet barely touching the ground, he could only scream in agony. His blood mingled with that of the butchered corpses at his feet and those impaled around him.

  In the murk, he imagined he recognised some of them.

  The pillar began to beat faster, aroused by the blood of new life.

  Brian looked into the dead face of Jason, the twenty-something year-old he’d rescued this morning. His still body hung next to him, staked to the pillar by two spikes going through his torso, leaving dripping intestines spilling down his waist. A nauseating stench assaulted him.

  Jason’s eyes flicked open. He smiled as he returned Brian’s gaze.

  Do you know what it’s like, Brian, to live in a world without death?

  Brian pulled back in panic, wincing at the pain in his impaled shoulder, but could not escape.

  His demonic attacker reared over him, red eyes flashing with malice as it flexed its terrible claws. Then it was crash-tackled from the side by another of the robed demons. Before it hit the ground, its attacker’s savagely fanged teeth had torn out its throat.

  The victorious demon now stood over the crumpled body of the other, purple ichor smeared across its maw and chest. It curled its lips at Brian and made a low, threatening growl. Are they fighting over the right to kill me now?

  “JUST DO IT!” Brian shouted.

  The demon stepped forward and grabbed Brian’s head by the chin. Its sharp claws punctured his cheeks and drew blood as its rotten breath bore down on him...

  “Ifff ooonly,” it answered.

  The robed beast turned towards another man-sized figure in gold-trimmed purple robes emerging from the demonic crowds. Brian followed its gaze...

  The man-sized figure pulled back the hood of his robes. Cold, angular features behind an evil smile stared back at Brian.

  The familiar face of Henry Anthony Wilcox.

  “Glad you could make it,” Henry said.

  “Fuck you Henry, and your Dark Horde.”

  “Oh, come now, Brian – they’re not that bad once you get used to them. And besides, why bat for the losing team?”

  “Where’s my family, you arsehole?”

  Henry grimaced. “They’re a little busy right now, I’m afraid. But once they’re finished, you’ll be able to speak to them... Though they may be a little, how shall I say?” Henry licked his lips. “Buggered.”

  “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!”

  “I know all too well, Brian, that you’d kill me if I gave you the chance. That’s why I had your good friend Douglas McDougall pose in my place when you arrived. But now of course, you pose no threat,” he paused to kick Brian’s shotgun away, “so we can talk like the civil human beings that we are.”

  “YOU FUCKING SPINELESS COWARD!”

  “Now, now, name-calling isn’t being very civil, Brian.”

  “You can do what like with me. Just leave my family alone and let them go.”

  Henry shared a hearty laugh with his demonic audience, before turning to back to Brian. “Do you really think that you’re in a position to negotiate? Hahahaha. Look at you now. You’re impaled with no weapon and surrounded by an army of Dark Horde. There’s no one here to save you, and you have no chance or way of victory.”

  “I’ll fight you until my last breath.”

  Henry smiled as he shook his head gently. “Brian, Brian, Brian. You never give up... That’s what I like about you.”

  “As long as I’m alive, I won’t surrender to a worm like you.”

  “No Brian, you will, because you have no choice... But I’m not going to kill you, you’re actually a lot more valuable alive. You are to become another channel, you see, which is only possible if you’re still alive and have the chosen blood. All you have to do is submit to the will of the Dark Horde and be inseminated by the Venomed One.”

  “Go fuck yourself. I’ll never become a sodomy slave of the Dark Horde like you.”

  “Submit and join us, Brian, and you’ll be free to do whatever you wish with your beloved family. If you do not, I will torture, rape and butcher each and every one of them, right now before your very eyes.”

  Not if I kill you first.

  Brian screamed in pain as he pulled himself up on the spike piercing his right shoulder. Bringing his feet up against the wet, fleshy side of the column, he tried to launch himself off the spike...

  But the robed demon standing next to him was quicker. It dug its claw into his good shoulder, drawing fresh blood, and held him fast. The obelisk beat faster, spurred into new throes of arousal.

&
nbsp; “STAAAY!” it commanded.

  Henry clenched his fists. “Okay, enough of civility.” He pointed to a couple of his robed demonic accomplices. “Bring out his family.”

  In a frenzy of anger, Brian struggled against the massive bulk of the robed demon immobilising him, in vain. Helpless, he watched as his parents Marilyn and Herbert, his partner Sasha, his ex-wife Julie, and his children Samantha and Howard were brought before him: bound, gagged and naked. He saw with horror their red bleeding bodies, their tormented expressions...

  He went limp, falling back on the spike through his shoulder. Sobs racked his body.

  Death would be better.

  Henry put his hands together and smiled. “Okay Brian, your pick. Who’s the first to die?”

  “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!”

  “Evolution does not have a purpose Brian, only an outcome. The Dark Horde are the new superior species. Their time has come.”

  “WHY ME?”

  “You are chosen because you carry the channelling gene, rare among your kind and sought-after by the Dark Horde. But unlike other carriers, only you have shown the qualities that will make you a great leader in the fight ahead.”

  “WHAT, AND DESTROY EVERYTHING? NEVER!”

  “Okay, I’ll pick for you.” Henry paced along the shaking line of Brian’s family, held firm by demonic abductors. Henry stopped before the youngest: nine year-old Howard.

  “You’re it, Howard,” he said.

  Howard squealed in terror, desperately trying to shield himself behind his mother, but to no avail. Two demons held his arms and dragged him out before Brian.

  “OKAY, I’LL DO WHAT YOU WANT! JUST LET MY FAMILY GO!”

  Henry smiled. “I knew you’d see reason eventually.”

  “LET THEM GO!”

  Henry stroked Howard’s hair. “Yes, yes. Once you’ve made the pact, they are yours.”

  Brian cried as he looked at the mirror of his despair on the faces of his loved ones. “What else can I do?”

  “Do you accept the Dark Horde into your heart and pledge your soul to them for eternity?”

  Brian sobbed. “Yeees.”

  Henry swept his arm over the bleeding pillar of spikes soaring over them. “THEN BEHOLD THE ESSENCE OF ETERNAL RE-CREATION! OF LIFE EVERLASTING!”

  The Dark Horde disgorged a thundering roar as the pulsing obelisk became brighter, its beats faster. The illuminated clouds above began to spin, pulsing with electricity in time with the pillar.

  Bathed in the infernal red light, the many thousands of watchers began to sway to the beat, chanting:

  We are as one, as many are we. Become one, once more be.

  A maelstrom of wind and flickering comets of energy formed around the beating pillar, spiralling skywards into the whirlpool of clouds directly above. As the demonic chorus raised their chant above the rising tornado, the clouds at the centre of the whirlpool dissolved, revealing a starless void wherein lurked countless watching eyes...

  The domain of the Infinite Ones.

  The monolith erupted into a frenzy of ejaculation, showering dark purple ichor over the assembled mass. The ichor sizzled on contact with flesh and dripped down the pillar, hardening like hot wax.

  Stupefied, Brian watched as the burning ichor that landed on him began to move like amoebae, seeking and penetrating every opening into his body.

  His horrified screams were drowned by the universe of other screaming voices of pain and pleasure.

  When is this fucking going to end?

  Soooon, Brian. Soon you will be one with uuusss.

  Brian felt the sentient ichor probing the inner regions of his body. He felt his impaled arm tingle and opened his eyes to see smooth purple flesh forming around the wound... And he looked around to see the sizzling ichor re-forming the butchered bodies about him.

  Ouuurs soon but not yet. You still liiiveee.

  His mind broken, Brian could only laugh at the sheer insanity of it all.

  He watched as the ichor made that scorpioid monstrosity’s head unnaturally whole again. Like time-lapse photography, its head was re-created in seconds. It swivelled its fearsome arachnoid visage towards him as it rose on two massive, taloned stumps for legs.

  Bugger.

  Gnashing its mandibles, the Venomed One stood before the demonic pillar, its mighty bulk towering over Brian staked at its feet.

  It spoke with a voice like thunder, “WE ARE THE DARK HORDE!”

  The audience answers, an avalanche of sound, “WE ARE AS ONE! AS MANY ARE WE!”

  The Venomed One gripped Brian’s wounded arm in one of its crushing pincers and tore him from the spiked obelisk. Its booming voice crashed through his pain, “JOIN US IN BLOOD!”

  Again the audience echoes, “BECOME ONE! ONCE MORE BE!”

  The Venomed One stabbed its barbed stinger into Brian’s wound and injected its venomous ichor. Brian fell limply to the ground, unmoving.

  Beyond pain, Brian felt only the world spinning as the fluid seeded new life. Consciousness of who he was began to fade...

  Henry, holding Howard racked with tears, smiled back at Brian.

  “So this is how it ends, is it?” Brian said.

  “No, Brian. This is how it begins.”

  Henry grabbed Howard’s hair in one hand and dragged a long serrated knife across Howard’s neck with the other. Howard screamed as red blood splashed down his chest and over his slayer’s arms.

  With legs like jelly, Brian struggled to his feet. His head a cocktail of confused thoughts, he saw his son flop to the ground, his screams becoming gurgles as his life drained away...

  And he felt anger.

  “I’m sorry I lied, Brian,” Henry said. “It had to be done. Otherwise there’d be too much competition. He also carried the channelling gene, you see, but he was just backup in case you got killed. Now that you’ve joined, he’s just a risk to have around.”

  Burning anger... Overwhelming.

  Henry shrugged. “Don’t worry, we can always re-animate him.”

  In an explosive instant, Brian launched himself at Henry, catching Henry in a headlock as he landed. “DIE!” he screamed as he rammed Henry’s head into one of the barbed and bloody spikes.

  The spike spilt the crown of Henry’s skull like a watermelon, unleashing a red spray of blood and brains.

  Killing never felt so good.

  A frenzy of blows followed as Brian hammered Henry’s head repeatedly into the spike, reducing it to splintered pulp.

  Dressed in the flesh and blood of his victim, Brian turned to his captivated audience, raised his fists and roared with fury.

  Overhead, in the nebulous space between the stars, there was an answer. A singular voice, expressed through countless different mouths, resonating in the ears, hearts and minds of all present:

  Congratulations... Unmaker. Your initiation is complete. We are family now, united in blood. May your rage never die.

  DAY FIVE

  13th April, 1989

  THURSDAY 2:26 PM

  The gallery waited...

  Stroking his moustache, a tall and gaunt police officer sat at one end of a long rectangular table before a packed media conference. Clearing his throat, he spoke into the microphones before him, “Thank you all for coming at short notice. I am Senior Sergeant Douglas McDougall and I’m here to update you on the investigation into the murders of Barney and Frank Weston on the 9th of April.”

  The entire gathering now had their attention on him. Observing this, Douglas continued.

  “As I mentioned earlier, Detective Superintendent Warren Bailey from the homicide division of the Criminal Investigation Branch had to cancel his attendance at this briefing. So I will say what I can about the investigation and then field your questions.

  “I won’t go into operational details that could jeopardise the investigation, but I can say that we have made substantial progress on this case in the last twenty-four hours. We now have a suspect remanded in custody for questioning and wh
ilst we haven’t ruled out the possibility of others being involved, the evidence is consistent with a lone operation. This is good news for the community of Howqua Hills, whom I must say have been fantastic in coming forward with information to help us solve this case. However, having said that, please keep the information coming, as any little bit can help.”

  Douglas paused to take a breath. “The motive for the murders is as yet unclear, but there have been no related incidents.”

  A reporter heckled, “Can you confirm or deny that the suspect is Henry Wilcox?”

  Douglas smiled.

  Let them think they’re learning something.

  “I cannot reveal that yet. Only when charges are formally laid, will the name of the accused be released to the public.”

  “It’s all bullshit anyway,” said Vincent, looking at the wide television screen at the Royal Hotel in Howqua Hills.

  Jason laughed as he turned to the other two, Aaron and Bruce, before turning back to Vincent. “No shit, Sherlock. You were pretty quick to figure that one out, shit-for-brains.”

  Aaron sculled the rest of his beer and smiled. “Least we can still get blind!”

  Bruce laughed. “And you’re getting more sex now, Aaron, than you’ve ever had!”

  Vincent stared at his half-empty pint of beer. “I s’pose Henry wasn’t that bad after all.”

  “Yeah, he’s alright,” Bruce said.

  Laughing, they all answered: “For a dumb cunt!”

  ALSO BY BREWIN:

  Evermore: An Introduction

  Gamebook Adventures: Infinite Universe*

  *Available on iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad through Tin Man Games