by Tim Miller
“Shit,” he said.
“What?”
“There’s been another church killing. This one completely imploded. Everyone’s dead.”
“Where at?”
“In San Antonio. Guess that’s where we’re headed.”
“Great.”
The drive was several hours long. O’Brien tried to make small talk, but all he wanted to talk about was NASCAR and the Dallas Cowboys. I could tell I made him uncomfortable. I had that effect on people, especially after they just watched me kill a man with my fingertips. By the time we reached San Antonio he had given up on the chatter. The church was on the southwest side of the city. It had been a large Catholic Church, but now it looked like it got blasted by a hurricane. It was nothing but a pile of rubble.
“God Almighty!” O’Brien said as we pulled up.
“Unfortunately,” I replied.
“Huh?”
“Long story.”
“You know what this is about?’
“Kind of. We find Maria, we’ll solve this mess.”
“She did this?”
“No. Well yes, but no. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. I don’t even know what to tell you so you’ll believe me.” As I spoke, a strange feeling of déjà vu came over me. It made me think of the last time I was involved in this mess, a San Antonio cop named Jim Stanton came after me. After seeing some of the things the Three could do, he decided to help me after I explained it. He died rather early in the process of his involvement. I had no doubt O’Brien wouldn’t fare much better, Texas Ranger or not.
“Well, try to enlighten me.”
“Later. Let’s see what is going on out here. Trust me, you aren’t going to believe a word I tell you when I do explain.”
“Shit, I’d believe just about anything at this point.”
We climbed out of the truck and walked toward the rubble. There were still fire and ambulance crews around. As we approached, a police officer approached us.
“This is a crime scene. You folks can’t be here.”
O’Brien flashed his Texas Ranger star and the officer stepped aside.
“Who is this?” The officer asked, pointing at me.
“A pain in my ass,” O’Brien said as we kept moving.
“You’re such a sweetheart.” I said.
“Go fuck yourself. You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you back in Del Rio. Hell, I still might.”
“You’ll be dead before you can skin leather.”
“Well aren’t you just he cowboy.”
“Try me.”
“Okay, look asshole. I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you. But as it is, we are in the middle of some multi-pronged shit storm and you seem to have some hand in it not to mention, if you’re right about the Feds, then I need to watch my own ass. So let’s find your psycho girlfriend, deal with her, then I can take care of this shit with the Feds and cartel.”
He turned away from me and walked toward the rubble, I followed behind him. I wasn’t even sure why we were there. It wasn’t like we were going to find anything. When we got closer, I saw that crews were sifting through the rubble. I couldn’t see any bodies, but they could have been buried.
“So how did that little girl do all this?” O’Brien asked.
“I tried to tell you before, it’s not her, or she’s not herself.” I was going to have to explain. He was already involved, and keeping him in the dark wouldn’t help him at this point. So I told him everything. He kept a straight enough face during most of my explanation. I started with the Bishop, even told him what happened at the Alamodome, except I blamed all the dead people on the Bishop. Then I explained to him about the Ghost, Lucifer and everything else that had happened that I could think of; leaving out the part about me cutting people up and dissolving them in lye of course.
He stared blankly at me for several minutes, took off his hat, wiped his brow then replaced the hat.
“So let me get this straight. You’re telling me that Jesus came back as some crazy old man preacher, did miracles, but was gonna destroy the world. Then he turned a bunch of people at the Alamodome into zombies and you somehow killed him and the zombies. Now the Holy Spirit is back and is possessing your girlfriend and destroying churches. Oh yeah, and the devil who is really a good guy, was helping you until the Holy Spirit got hold of him? Did I get all that right?”
“A bit of an over simplification and she’s not my girlfriend. But yeah, something like that.”
“You are seriously out of your fuckin’ mind son. Now I know I should have shot you back there.”
“Look! You saw what I did to Jenkins and didn’t even break a sweat. You should see what I can do when I’m really pissed. And this shit with the churches is just the beginning.”
“So let’s just say this is all true. How are you gonna stop the thing? Oh and by the way, I’m Southern Baptist, so never mind you just told me my whole belief system I was raised on is complete and utter horse shit. You’re lucky we’re not in Lubbock. They’d draw and quarter your ass up there.”
“Yeah, I don’t doubt that. And I was a Pentecostal preacher for Christ’s sake. So yes, it is a bit jarring when you learn the truth. But it is what it is. I’d rather know the truth and deal with its ugliness than keep living a lie.”
Before he could say anything, automatic gunfire went off from behind us. We both dove to the ground as a Dodge Charger raced by; a man leaning out the back window with an AK-47 was firing in our direction. O’Brien remained on his stomach, but returned fire with his side arm. The Charger was already gone by the time he got a shot off. He stood and looked down at me. I slowly got to my feet as he holstered his weapon.
“Shit son,” he said. “Looks like someone wants you dead, multiple choice.”
Chapter 29
Maria wanted to scream. As her body walked around, everything was a haze, as if she was caught in some bizarre dream. Watching people in the church die was more than she could handle. Every time she tried to scream, the Ghost stifled her voice deep within herself. If she could have controlled her own body long enough to walk into oncoming traffic she would have done so. At least then, she’d be free. As long as the Ghost remained inside her, she’d remain its prisoner.
She thought of Charlie and wondered if he was still alive. For some reason, she felt like Charlie could help her. Whenever her thoughts turned to Charlie, the Ghost would become angry, she could feel it. At one point, it rumbled so hard against her, she lost consciousness. She feared Charlie may be dead, but held on to hope that he’d come for her. Maria sensed it was more than just anger the thing felt toward Charlie. It was fear.
Currently, she found herself on the roof of a tall building. Night was beginning to fall on San Antonio, and she could see all over the city. She hoped Charlie was out there somewhere. Last she’d heard, the Ghost told her Charlie would be dead soon. He’d gotten away from the FBI somehow, but someone was trying to kill him. He couldn’t be dead, though. She had always sensed something about Charlie, something different. While he was always so quiet and unassuming, he had this heaviness about him. Something told her he was a fighter. As she observed the city, the smoke that had surrounded her started to drift upward, filling the night sky.
Over the next several hours, she watched the sky turn red and overcast. If Charlie were in the city, she didn’t know what he could do to help her. The Ghost seemed so powerful, it had no limits. She made a desperate attempt to reach out to Charlie with her mind, hoping he could somehow feel or sense her. She felt the thing push back at her, but she kept pressing. After a couple minutes, she felt herself fading deeper within herself. She had no more fight left as she watched the city skyline drifting further away. She made an attempted to throw herself off the building, to plummet to her death, but failed to move a single muscle. If she couldn’t be free, she hoped to never wake up again.
Chapter 30
I watched O’Brien sort through the shell casings after the shooting. Fortunately no one
was hit. After the Dodge took off, a few patrol cars want after it.
“So, was that the cartel?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Drive bys aren’t usually their style. But no telling. If they saw you do any of that shit I saw you do, you probably scared the hell out of them. Didn’t seem like they were trying that hard to hit us though. Might have just been sending a message.”
“That’s some message. How’d they know we were here?”
“How the hell should I know? You think I’m dirty too?”
“I don’t know. Are you? There’s one way for me to find out,” I said, holding up my right hand.
“The fuck there is. Don’t make me cut your hand off.”
“Right. I think Maria is close by.”
“She’s here in the city?”
“Yeah, somewhere.” I wasn’t sure how I knew she was close. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was trying to reach out to me in some way. It was only for a second, but I still had no doubt she was near, and she was terrified. Something horrible was about to happen. I had no idea what, but it wouldn’t be pretty whatever it was. “I think we should go.”
“Go where?
“Anywhere but here,” I said.
We got back to O’Brien’s truck and drove off. The sun was starting to set as we drove through downtown San Antonio. The sky was taking on a strange, reddish hue. As we got closer to the river, there were people screaming and running up to the bridges that cross the river all throughout downtown San Antonio. .
“What the hell is going on there?” O’Brien said as he pulled over. We got out and walked toward the river. We reached one of the bridges and walked down the steps to reach the Riverwalk. As we headed down the steps a man came running past me. I grabbed him to get his attention.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Blood!” He said.
“Blood? What blood?’
“The river! The river is blood!”
“What? How?”
“I don’t know. We were just walking around and suddenly it just turned red, as if something huge died in there. But it’s all over. It’s not dye, it’s thick, red blood. You can smell it. It’s awful.”
“Jesus Christ.” I said.
“What is going on here, preacher man?” O’Brien asked.
“It’s the plagues. The ten plagues of Egypt. The Ghost is launching them onto the city.”
“Ten plagues of Egypt?”
“I thought you were Southern Baptist. You didn’t learn about Moses in Sunday School? The Ten Commandments? Charlton Heston? Anything?”
“Funny, smart ass. You mean like all the locusts and shit?”
“Yes,” I said. “Locusts and shit. He’s doing it, and there’s more coming.”
“What for? He trying to release slaves or something?”
“I don’t know. To fuck with us, or teach us a lesson. That or to soften us up for the big kill.”
“Well, that’s not encouraging at all.”
“Sorry.”
“I think I liked it better when I thought God was some nice old man in the sky who wanted to save us all.”
“Yeah well, Santa isn’t real either and Lance Armstrong was doped to the hilt. Sucks having our illusions shattered, but it is what it is.”
“God, you’re jaded for a preacher.”
“Guess so.” We reached the river and the man had been right. The coppery stench of blood made me want to gag; and I’d been around lots of blood before. O’Brien didn’t look much better. I thought he was going to puke by the looks of him. As far as we could see, the river was flowing with thick, pure blood.
“What a disgusting mess,” O’Brien said. He was holding a handkerchief over his face. “How many plagues are there?”
“Ten total. This is the first. He’s just getting started.”
Chapter 31
We went to the Texas Ranger’s field office in San Antonio. It was late, but O’Brien said he needed to call his superiors. By the time we’d left the river, there were fire trucks and other city workers showing up. I wasn’t sure what they thought they could do, but they were there nonetheless. The office was south of the downtown a ways. There was a Department of Public Safety branch in there as well. The Ranger’s office was hidden in the back.
O’Brien grabbed the phone and dialed one of his bosses. I sat in a chair while he explained the situation to his lieutenant over the phone. Hearing only one side of the conversation was actually pretty comical.
“Yes sir. It was blood. What? No, the whole river. No there isn’t blood in the river. The river turned into blood. No, sir I’m not bullshitting you. The whole thing is like the old Bible story about Moses. I got a preacher guy here who explained it. Yeah, he said it’s like the ten plagues. I don’t know what they all are. Yes sir, yes sir, I’ll keep looking into it.” He looked at me as he hung up.
“I feel like a damn idiot,” he said.
“What’d he say?”
“Said to find out what in the hell is going on and if it’s some kinda bible plague shit, I better hope the four horsemen come by and lop off my head if I don’t get this straightened out.”
“Wow, that’s quite an ultimatum.”
“Eh, it’s the Texas Rangers. We don’t bullshit around. Speaking of which, how long is this mess supposed to last? And what will be next?”
“Frogs.”
“Frogs?”
“Yeah, frogs, tens of thousands of them. They’ll come out of the river and be all over the place.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah, I don’t like amphibians, they’re slimy.”
“Are you shittin’ me? Mr. Fry=people’s-brains-with-his-bare-hands is scared of frogs?”
“I didn’t say I was scared, just that I didn’t like them.”
“So where we gonna find your girl. She’s in the city like you said. She’s probably the one doing this shit.”
“I have no idea where to start. And like I said, she’s not herself—” a sharp pain seared through my head. It only hurt for a few seconds then let up. Just as I was about to finish my sentence, the pain hit again. This time I heard something.
Charlie!
It was Maria. She was trying to reach out to me again. This time she left no doubt, practically screaming inside my head. O’Brien was looking at me as if I’d lost my mind.
Charlie! Help me!
“Where are you?” I said out loud.
“Where is who? Who are you talking to? What is the matter with you?” O’Brien asked. The pain subsided and I calmed down.
“It was her,” I said.
“Her who? Maria?”
“Yeah, it was like she was trying to contact me. She said ‘Charlie, help me.’ But then was gone.”
“What, is she psychic or something?”
“Not that I know of. The Ghost is controlling her. Maybe she was able to use that to reach out to me. Whatever it was, it was quick and then gone.”
“Well it woulda been nice if she told you where she was.”
“I know, not much I could do. So now what?”
“For now, we’re gonna get some sleep. There’s some cots in the back. I’ll set them up and we can get a fresh start in the morning.”
“All right.”
“Oh, and just because we’re spending the night in the same room, don’t mean we’re gonna be spooning in the wee hours of the morning.”
“Got it,” I said. Fine by me.
Chapter 32
By morning there were news crews and fire trucks all over the city. The bloody water was all over the city, and had made its way into the city’s water supply as well. When I went to the bathroom, blood filled the toilet bowl as I flushed. It had to be the most bizarre thing I’d ever seen. When I turned on the faucet, blood came out as well. Guess I wouldn’t be taking a shower unless I wanted something like a scene out of Psycho. O’Brien was still asleep. I figured he’d be up before me, but he was still out cold on one of the couch
es. Part of me wanted to sneak off and leave him on his own. But I had a feeling if I did that, he’d get himself killed before noon.
When I went back into the main office, he’d finally woken up and was sitting up. He stood and put his shirt on, then his cowboy hat. I was amazed he actually took it off to sleep.
“Mornin’ kid,” he said. “I see we’re all still here. At least the world didn’t end.”
“There’s blood in the toilet,” I said.
“What? You start your period or something?”
“Classy. No. I mean, the running water, all of it, is blood. The toilet, the sink, all blood. It’s not just the river.”
“Christ. We need to find your girl before she wrecks the whole state.”
“I don’t think she’s limiting herself to the state, but I get your drift.”
“No, I don’t think you do,” a voice said from the doorway. We turned and saw another man in a cowboy hat standing there. He was short and looked to be in his fifties but the wrinkles around his eyes showed that he’d been around the block a few times. Not sure if he’d ever been around this particular block.
“Lt. Majors. Good morning. This is the preacher guy I was telling you about.”
“Yes, I know who he is. What the hell do you think you are doing O’Brien?”
“Trying to get to the bottom of this shit,” O’Brien said.
“By running around with a federal fugitive who is wanted on about twenty-thousand counts of murder? You out of your fucking mind? I should arrest both of your asses.”
“Look, Lieutenant, I know it sounds crazy but he’s got some good idea what’s going on.”
“Oh, that’s right. You know all about the end of the world apocalyptic bullshit. The CDC is gonna be here today and the governor is already crawling up our asses. And you’re running around with this asshole who should be locked up. Of all the preachers in this town you could have talked to, you picked this prick?”