by Dave Ferraro
***
The world dropped from view and Rachel found herself sitting up in the infirmary. She felt sore and stiff as she pushed the sheets off of her and yanked an IV out of her arm. She found herself bound to Serene by rubber hose, and the siren was quickly working to untie them.
The Sandman stood before them, clearly disoriented as it looked about them in a frenzy.
“Oh, shit,” Rachel cried. She looked around and saw no one else in the infirmary behind the creature. “Where the hell is everybody? Shanna?” She looked past Serene, but didn’t see Shanna. Brett was blocking her view as he sat up, groggy, hands on his face. “Brett, snap out of it!”
“Huh?” His head shot up and he took in the situation quickly before stumbling to his feet. He launched himself at The Sandman, grabbing it by the front of its cloak and punching it in the face. But it seemed that his fist went through its face and buried itself in the sand. The smile stretched across its face as it grabbed ahold of Brett by the shoulders and forced him to his knees. Then it was like another arm grew out from the front of its cloak, as a living limb of sand forced its way into Brett’s mouth, chocking him.
“No!” Rachel cried. Serene finally managed to untie the rubber hose that bound them together, and Rachel flew from her bed to land on the creature’s back. It stood up straight and a punch like a sandbag came from its back, where another arm appeared, sending her onto her butt unceremoniously.
Rachel winced as she pushed herself up, suddenly gasping as she saw Hunter and Jade unconscious on the floor. She stumbled to her feet, inadvertently breaking Hunter’s glasses with a snap as she stepped on them. “What is…?”
The door to the infirmary flew open and Amelia rushed in. Her hand was glowing pink and something rolled off of her tongue, something that sounded ancient and powerful, and it was as if the words themselves hit the Sandman. It was suddenly flying across the room, hitting the opposite wall with a crash that sent handfuls of sand across the room.
As it drew the sand back into itself, Brett gasped for air, choking as sand exited his lungs. His face was purple, but quickly looking healthier as he wobbled on his arms over the tile floor.
Amelia hit the demon with a blast of air, a gust that sent sand particles flying from it, but it seemed to brace itself for this attack, and was able to hold its shape better this time.
Natalia suddenly rushed up behind Amelia and grabbed something big from the table, cradling it in her arms and aiming it in the creature’s general direction.
Amelia held out a hand and flicked a lighter in front of the weapon, a flame springing to life in what looked like a barrel. A flamethrower.
The sandman seemed to see the weapon come to life at the same time as Rachel did, but it had hardly any time to react in wake of the recent attacks Amelia had made against it. Rachel gasped and turned away as Natalia set the flamethrower on the creature.
The room was filled with The Sandman’s screams as its robe caught fire, and angry yellow lights flickered over the walls and the hunters’ anxious faces.
Smoke started to pour out from the creature, sending with it the horrible stench of rotten meat and mold. Rachel began to gag and threw her hands over her mouth.
“God, the smell!” Brett cried.
Natalia was obviously struggling with the stench herself and finally put the flamethrower down to cough as the diseased air was expunged from her lungs.
When Rachel was able to get a good look at the demon again, its robe was in rags, hanging from various parts of its body. The sand had been blackened as it was transformed to glass by the flame’s heat. But its face and one of its hands were still free. It was gazing at Amelia with a mixture of pain and rage.
Quinn and Valor rushed into the room at that moment and surveyed the damage, in awe of the scene before them.
Rachel got up and made her way to the fallen flamethrower, which she hefted over her shoulder and took over to the mostly-glass form of their enemy.
In the meantime, Amelia had somehow managed to get the air clear of the pungent smell with a little spell. She breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“Rachel...” Natalia murmured as Rachel aimed the flamethrower at the sandman’s face.
“You haven’t won,” the creature croaked. “Your lives will remain short, so long as you stay on this path.”
“And we’re not scared,” Rachel told it.
“The black fire...consumes all in its path.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Rachel said as she caused the fire to leap from the flamethrower.
The demon didn’t even scream this time as the rest of its body was transformed into glass and was rendered immobile, trapped within itself.
Rachel shut off the flamethrower and handed it back to Natalia as she walked over to Quinn and Valor, who were helping up Hunter and Jade, who were coming to.
“It’s nice to have you back,” Valor told Rachel, with a smile.
“It’s nice to be back,” Rachel retuned the smile.
“Definitely,” Brett concurred.
“I think I’m going to have this kink in my neck for quite a while though,” Rachel added, rubbing her neck. She winced at the knot she felt there, then smirked as she approached Serene’s bed.
Serene looked up at her warily and was surprised when Rachel held out a hand to help her up. When the siren was on her feet, Rachel hugged her and whispered “thank you” into her ear.
Looking a little awkward, Serene nodded as the other hunters entered the room and they basked in their victory.
Quinn glanced around, his smile slowly fading. “Has anybody seen Shanna?”