by Roy Bright
The Agent grins; evil, disturbing and unwelcoming. It is a foul and rank smile that taints the air and very essence of the room causing a wave of nausea to sweep over Paul, dizzying him, and he has to steady himself. The agent is about to say something when a gunshot reverberates around the precinct snapping him out his daze.
Every cop in the precinct draws their weapon and turns their attention to the shot.
Paul points at the FBI Agent and commands, “You, stay here, stay put!”
Agent Jones grins once again and places a hand on Paul’s shoulder as the detective turns to walk away from him. “Detective Keenan, I really need to speak with that man you have in there.”
Paul turns his head and glares at him. “Take your hand off me, Age-”
He grips Paul’s shoulder with a crushing ferocity that cuts him off mid-sentence, making him scream. He feels his shoulder blade snap under the power of the grip; bone cracking.
Upon hearing Paul’s scream, John turns and raises his firearm to the Agent and the man moves his hand from Paul’s shoulder to his throat.
“Let him go!” he orders, “Let him go right now and get on the ground, hands behind your head.”
“Oh I think not, mister-man, I won’t be doing that. You know, I just wanted to speak with that fucking Iscariot pig you have back there. Just wanted to speak with him and then take the little girl, but nooooo, you people always have to get in the way.”
The cool calm attitude displayed by the Agent was dissipating fast and in its place… a maniacal and twisted look that contorts his face as it takes on a sickening grotesqueness that turns and shifts, changing his features. His eyes grow wide and burn yellow, his slicked-back hair sprouts and frizzes, his ears grow to a point and his mouth and jaw stretch, elongating beyond that of the appearance of any human. Yellow, sharp and crooked teeth replace pristine ones and a red tongue licks its way over them. The smile that had existed not thirty seconds ago is now a vile, saliva-dripping grimace and as John looks on in horror at the unbelievable creature transforming before his eyes; it grows to an immense size, hulking, muscular and pulsating, its body twisting into a vulgar and violent display of power. Two horns, uneven and crooked work their way out of his forehead and Paul now looks much smaller in its grip as his feet lift off the floor, the height of the creature increasing.
John, speechless and paralyzed with fear, lowers his weapon, unaware that he is doing it as more officers turn and see what he is seeing.
They rush to his side, firearms drawn, pointing at the grotesque beast in front of them.
John makes the sign of the cross; an act which causes the beast to laugh, a deep and demonic guttural laugh.
It speaks.
“He cannot help you. The only one who can help you is in the back of this building and he fucking killed the one you mark yourself with.” It laughs again.
John shakes his head. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what in the name of God are you?”
The demon bursts into a rage.
“I am not in the name of that fucker. I am in the name of the one true God, who is about to claim you pathetic monkeys for his own. A God who will make you suffer, who will burn you in agonizing horror for all time, that is who I am in the name of, you worthless fool. Now bring me Iscariot and the girl or I will crush this one and end his pitiful existence.”
Paul groans in agonizing pain as the demon lifts him up further, displaying him to the other police officers like a trophy.
He knows he is going to die and he can’t believe it is like this. Of all the ways Paul Keenan imagined his death to be, this would be the furthest from that thought. Though he is struggling to breathe, he manages one coherent word: “Don’t!”
The demon flicks him up and turns him around like a rag doll, catching him by and enclosing its huge hand around the top of his head. It brings him closer to its face and snarls. “Don’t… what?”
Its breath is worse than anything he had ever known in his life. It smelled of death itself. This was it; it was over.
The demon cackles, closes its hand into a fist and crushes his head. Blood and matter spurt and flow out between its fingers as though it were a crushed tomato. It drops him to the floor.
John screams and unloads his weapon into the creature. It rocks back and forth as bullets penetrate its skin; a black oily substance pumping out of each entry hole.
It shrieks with laughter as each wound repairs itself as fast as they appeared.
Other officers join him in the gunfight and all empty their magazines into the demon. The entire station explodes into deafening gunfire and the screams of the police officers as they fire hundreds of rounds, trying to bring it down. Its very presence is terrifying and all feel as though they are in a nightmare from which they cannot wake. The gunfire comes to a slow halt and smoke fills the room making it difficult to see. Coughing spikes out all over the room and people call out asking if everyone is okay, could they see anything, where is it?
A terrifying laugh drifts through the smoke. “Is that it, you filthy monkeys? Okay then. I want to say something to Judas before I kill you all.”
Breaking glass shatters as the demon strikes the front windows to the station, allowing in air to clear the firearm fog that hides him.
He bellows into the station. “Iscariot! Iscariot, I know you are here. Come out and face me and I will end this curse on you once and for all.” It laughs, “Come out, Iscariot, this is your time to die and join us.”
Thirty
Everyone’s attention in Interrogation Room Two snaps to the door as a man’s scream pierces the air and shots ring out from the front of the station. More gunfire follows, adding to the thunderous sound as the whole building echoes and the smell of gunpowder wafts through.
Captain Banks, Gary and Pete bring their weapons back up and away from Judas as they file through the door into the corridor and head towards the incident room, performing a cover and move routine.
Martin glances at Judas, his silent stare serving only to remind him that he is still holding his weapon.
He looks down at the firearm, acknowledges and hands it to him. Receiving it with an innocuous smile, Martin runs into the corridor to join his colleagues.
Judas follows to find all four men stacked up by the doorway leading to the incident room. He calls out to Gary, “Hey! I need my swords.”
Captain Banks snaps at him, “No way! We are not arming you.” Annoyed with his lack of understand of the graveness of the situation,
Judas argues with him. “Look, whatever your guys are firing upon out there is here for me and Charlotte and I need those swords to protect everyone in this building.”
Gary looks at his Captain. “He’s right, Sir, please, you have to trust him.”
The gunfire at the front of the station ceases and the station becomes silent. The silence is then broken by officers calling out to one another, checking on everyone’s status.
A demonic voice cuts through everything, piercing the rooms, striking fear into the hearts of everyone who hears it, even those who are not able to see what has manifested itself at the front of the station. “Iscariot! Iscariot, I know you are here. Come out and face me and I will end this curse on you once and for all.” A laugh follows; terrible and sickening. “Come out, Iscariot, this is your time to die and join us.”
Judas intensifies his protest.
“I need those weapons. We are all totally fucked if you don’t help me, because that sounds like Balthazar and he is one nasty bastard.” He stops. Fear grips him. “Where’s Charlotte?”
Gary now displays the same anxiety as Judas and he looks through the door into the incident room. The sofa chair that the girls were on when he left them is now empty and, realizing that he cannot pinpoint their location, turns to Judas and shrugs.
The voice roars out from the front of the station once again. “Iscariot! Make this easy on these pathetic fools, save their lives and come out now, or I will kill each and every last fucking on
e of them. Their lives are in your hands.”
Judas grows angrier. He repeats his request.
“Swords, fucking, now!”
Gary pleads with his Captain, who in turn nods to him, surrendering his objection to putting weapons into the hands of his prisoner. Gary breaks off from the group and sprints back down the corridor, past Judas towards the holding cells. He stops just before the door to the cells and turns to his right into a small alcove that houses an electronically sealed door, pulls out a key card from his inside right jacket pocket and swipes it into the card reader. The device makes a low-pitched buzzing and displays a red light to the side of the slot. He curses, rubs the card against his trousers and tries again. The same buzz, the same red light. He takes a deep breath, wipes the electronic stripe of the card with his thumb and then runs it through the reader slot again at a much slower speed. This time the buzz is of a higher pitch and a green light signals that the door has been unlocked.
Back at the door into the main room, Judas has taken up position next to Captain Banks. His eyes dart back and forth, searching the room for signs of Charlotte and Abi. He knows he must make a move out into the station and that it must be now if he is to save the lives of every person in this building. At last! He sees them as Abi’s head pops up for a second from a desk at the head of the incident room, just to the left of the wall covered in theories and pictures of suspects. He knows she will have Charlotte with her, protecting her and so moves into action. He cannot wait for Gary any longer. Facing Balthazar unarmed will be a challenge but he has run out of time. He walks out into the incident room, towards the front desk.
Abi spots him and offers him a wide-eyed look.
He indicates for her to return to her hiding position with a quick flick his right hand, taking great care not to let Balthazar notice his warning.
Abi complies with the secretive gesture and hides back under the table.
He continues through into the main room. “Balthazar, is that you? It’s been a while. What’s a damn ugly bastard like you doing out after his bedtime?” he says, smiling.
Balthazar laughs, “Don’t try to garner a reaction from me with your pathetic taunts, Iscariot; I deserve more respect than that. Where is the child?”
He smirks responding, “Oh, Balthazar, if I were to tell you tha—”
Balthazar rushes him with devastating pace, covering twenty feet in no time at all, catching him off guard. He raises a massive clawed right hand and strikes Judas across his body sending him crashing into the wall to the man’s right, creating a hefty hole in the plasterboard.
Cops open fire once again and this time Balthazar reacts.
He weaves through the room grabbing them one by one in his massive hands, smashing them into the ground and crushing the life out of them. Blood sprays out from split skulls and bodies. Others he punches into walls, the sheer force killing them outright.
Judas pulls himself from out of the wall, his neck in the process of healing, hanging to the left, broken. It creaks and cracks as muscle and bone realign. Suddenly, he feels a surge of power course through his body. He starts to shake and scream; so primal in nature it catches the demon’s attention and it ceases slaying police officers to look at him.
Judas closes his eyes, his screaming reaching new heights.
Captain Banks and the other detectives had joined him in the incident room and begun to open fire on Balthazar, but now stop and stare at him; as worried about what he is doing as they are about the terrible creature devastating the station.
Captain Banks calls to him in an attempt to snap him out of his savage war cry.
He opens his eyes and they glow pure white for a moment, then fade back to their natural brown however, an intense force of retribution seems to emanate from him.
The three men standing next to him can feel an energy pouring out that seems to oppress the air around them as though gravity had gone mad, trying to force them to the ground.
Abi looks at Charlotte, her breathing heavy. The child’s eyes are closed and a glow has enveloped her, a glow that radiates into Abi making her feel peculiar, warm, content. She has never felt anything like this before.
Judas snaps out of the power surge. It is now his turn to attack. He runs at the demon and it laughs, inviting him in.
“Yes, Iscariot, let’s dance!”
The demon braces to meet him but is unprepared for the sheer brute force and strength the man now possesses.
He powers into Balthazar, lifting him clean into the air and smashing him against the side of the front desk. The desk gives way under the force of the impact and he drops down on top of the demon, pinning him, staring into its stunned face.
“I don’t dance, fucker, but I fight pretty well.” He head-butts Balthazar and an oily black liquid erupts from a gash in his face and onto the floor.
The gash closes with almost the same speed as it appeared but this has rocked the demon and Balthazar roars once again, bringing his massive legs up and kicking out hard sending Judas hurtling backwards into the incident room.
This time however, his increased agility takes control and he back-flips out of the counterattack, landing on both feet, sliding backwards to a halt. His right hand acts as a steadying oar as he stops just in front of the desk beneath which Abi and Charlotte cower.
Balthazar wastes no time in following up the attack and thunders towards him, each massive foot pounding into the floor, shaking the ground.
Abi has shifted her attention from Charlotte to a tiny slit between the surface of the desk and the back panel concealing both her and the child. Her eyes widen in horror as she sees Judas stood in front of them and the enormous demon powering down on him, aware that they are in an area soon to be devastated. She grabs hold of the child and pulls her out from under the desk. “Move!” she screams in terror.
Judas hears her plea and fires into action, launching himself at Balthazar in an attempt to curtail his velocity and avoid them both smashing into the desk.
They meet with a crunch and tumble out of control into the desk due to Balthazar’s momentum being the greater of the two forces.
Thankfully, Abi had managed to pull Charlotte and herself from under the desk milliseconds before the warring pair smashed into it, obliterating the piece of furniture.
As the tumbling pair continues through the desk, they hit the wall behind causing it to split and explode plasterboard dust outwards.
The jarring relocation has snapped Charlotte out of her trance and she calls out to Judas.
Balthazar sees her.
“There you are, bitch, just the one I was looking for!” He scrambles to his feet and makes a lunge for her but Abi is too quick, and pulls Charlotte away from his grasp. He roars at the woman.
She wraps her arms around her, pulling her tight into her stomach and backs away.
Gary has returned from the contraband locker and is holding Judas’ swords. He calls out to Judas, who is pulling himself to his feet out of the broken wall as fast as possible.
Balthazar snarls at the detective.
Pete, Martin and Captain Banks take the opportunity fire upon the beast once more and the massive demon rocks from side to side as multiple bullets hit him in the face. Their actions may be futile but they are granting vital seconds to the superhuman now getting back to his feet across from them, beyond the hulking demon.
Balthazar is furious.
“I will fucking destroy you all you pathetic monkeys! I am going to crush you and feast upon your festering carcasses!”
Having gotten back to his feet, Judas launches himself at the demon and, as he nears Balthazar, sidesteps, lifts his right leg and powers it down onto a chair, then with great force, catapults himself into the air bringing his right arm up, exposing a pointed elbow at the demon’s back. He crashes down into him, bringing a devastating hammer blow that sends the demon crunching into the ground. He follows up with vicious left and right hand combinations, pounding the demon further into th
e ground.
Balthazar screams and retaliates against the attack by swiping out his left hand, knocking Judas backwards, but only a little. The two-thousand-year old man has grown beyond measure in power and the force of the demon’s attack does not bear the same verve as before.
He steps forward and returns to raining in blows onto the demon.
Balthazar roars and rears up with might; forcing himself to his feet and trades blows with him.
The demon delivers a devastating punch into Judas’ solar plexus and he screams out in agony as his entire chest cavity caves in whilst at the same time crushing his heart.
This buys the demon valuable seconds as Judas’ body reacts and starts its repair process, one that is much faster due to the proximity of Charlotte.
The cops once again raise their weapons, many of them reloading, having spent every round in the magazines trying to bring the demon down.
Balthazar seizes the moment whilst an incapacitated Judas battles with fixing himself, and reaches out for Charlotte who screams.
Abi tries to stop him but he grabs her by the head and tosses her aside. She lands with a thump against what remains of the front desk and slips into unconsciousness.
He turns to the cops and holds Charlotte out in front of him with his left hand. “Ah, Ah, Ah,” he calls, ticking his right index finger at them. “You wouldn’t want to hit the child now would you, police officers?”
The hissing cockiness of his voice irritates Gary and he scowls. “Let her go, let her go right now!”
Balthazar rages back at him, “Or what? What will you do, pig?”
He looks at Balthazar for a second and then calls out to Judas who is trying to get to his feet.
Balthazar turns and roars at him. “Stay down, Iscariot! I have no time to play with you anymore. My Master wants this bitch and I intend to deliver her to him where others have failed.” He turns his attention back to the other cops. “He has begun to walk amongst you pitiful creatures and soon your world will be filled with my kind and we will devour you all. Lucifer will hide no more from today. A reckoning is coming and war has begun, a war you have no chance of winning.”