by Roy Bright
Abi calls out in panic as Charlotte collapses and the light goes out.
The tunnel does not fall into total darkness, however as the flashing of car headlights and indicators illuminate it sufficiently enough to see.
Judas screams for the group to get to their feet, a command made all the more difficult over the sound of car alarms.
Gary attempts to pick Charlotte up but Abi shouts and waves him away. “You need to protect us. I can carry her. Go… Go!”
Gary gets to his feet and raises his guns out in front of him. Abi stands and picks up the unconscious child.
All three turn to look behind them as another scream overpowers the already deafening noise of the car alarms. More of the demons have appeared and are perched atop the roofs of cars.
Gary quickly counts six.
The creatures shriek in unison.
The noise of the screaming and the car alarms bites into everyone’s minds, disorientating them. Shadows dance around in the tunnel as the flashing lights from the cars set the scene like a twisted nightclub in hell. The screaming stops and the lead creature cackles.
Judas commands to Gary and Abi, “Run! Get as far away as you can. Now!”
They both jolt into life and race off to the exit.
Abi slings Charlotte over her shoulder and moves with impressive speed, much to Gary’s surprise and, in her he sees the determination of a mother, unwilling to let anything happen to her child, a look that suits her and, in another life a look she would possess for her very own.
Judas watches as they run away then turns his attention back to his enemies as the car alarms subside, leaving only a few sounding along with their flashing lights.
The lead creature addresses him. “Our Master will devour the bitch’s soul and we will rule this world. They cannot escape us, Iscariot, we are too fast for them.”
He laughs, “Well, that’s impossible, because I am going to kill each and every last fucking one of you and Lucifer, so you see you pricks; your plan is flawed to shit.” He draws his swords then jumps over the barrier. Stumbling as he lands on the concrete, he falls into the side of one of the cars.
The demons laugh like a pack of hyenas and the leader challenges his statement. “You, Iscariot? You will defeat the Morning Star? You will defeat Lucifer? Dear child, you are nothing to him, you are but a mere a fly for him to swat. You can’t defeat the oldest one, he will destroy you in a heartbeat.”
He shakes his head, “I am so sick of you stupid bastards and your bullshit. You think you are so undefeatable as you have very few rules to stick to, but that’s what makes me a good choice to fuck your shit up as I have a bit of the renegade in me.” He winks at them. He is stalling and engaging them in pointless conversation to buy as much time as possible.
“You can talk all you want, Iscariot,” the leader says, edging forwards, “but it doesn’t change the fact that the Master will smash you into a bloody pulp and discard your worthless form like a raggedy doll.”
He looks behind him. Gary and Abi have now cleared his range of vision. He turns back to them. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s big and scary and will devour me, blah fucking blah fucking blah. I’ll deal with him when the time comes, but you stupid fuckers won’t be around to see it.”
The creatures laugh again.
He reaches into the back pocket of his jeans and pulls out an almost flat packet of cigarettes given to him by one of the officers at the precinct, before the man had hurried home to be with his family. He takes one out, replaces the pack from where it came and then draws out his lighter from his front right jeans pocket. He stares at the demons for a moment as he brings the cigarette to his mouth and, flicking his Zippo into life, lights it, inhales a deep and satisfying breath then releases it, taking his time to ease the smoke out of his mouth. He can’t help but think to himself, that must’ve looked so bad ass, Clint Eastwood style. He chuckles as the car alarms finally die down and the flashing lights stop, once again plunging the tunnel into darkness; save for the small light radiating from his lighter.
“What’s so funny, Iscariot?” the lead creature hisses.
“Funny?” He says, continuing to laugh. “What’s funny is that before you showed up, I noticed we probably had around eight hundred meters left to get out of this tunnel. I also noticed that the blockage in the tunnel was caused by a few cars about five hundred meters ahead, which means that the last three hundred or so will be clear. I am also assuming that, at the pace my friends set off, they are now probably just about past that blockade and are getting close to clearing the tunnel. What is even more laughable is that you, dumb fucks haven’t noticed me emptying the contents of this car’s tank all over the floor by piercing it with one of my trusties here,” he acknowledges his swords, “and I have basically just created a huge fucking bomb underneath you all.”
The demons now realize that stumbling into the car had been no accident and that all this time, he had been stalling. They look down as fuel trickles underneath the vehicles they are perched upon.
Judas dances the flame from the lighter in front of his face, “Tell me, you, demon pricks, are you immortal on earth?” he smiles, “Because I fucking am!”
With that, he drops his lighter into the fuel.
Gary and Abi are breathing hard but they refuse to drop the pace.
She spurs him on, grunting at him, “Come on, move faster, we need to get out of here.”
As they pass the start of the blockade, he stops. She runs past him then in turn, stops, adjusting Charlotte’s position on her shoulder.
He runs over to the car at the head of the blockade, jack-knifed in the road, facing the direction from where they have just come. He pulls open the passenger door.
She screams at him, “What are you doing? Come on, keep going!”
“Abi, the keys are still in the car,” he says, his eyes wide, “I bet it stalled when it crashed. I guarantee it will start.” Could they be so lucky? Would it go their way for once? He hopes so as he dives into the car and shuffles into the driver’s seat and turns the key. The car starts.
She squeals with excitement, then laughs and runs over to him. Opening the rear passenger door and about to place Charlotte into the vehicle, she stops and screams in horror as the body of a small boy lies on the back seat. His eyes wide open and staring, his tiny bloodied face locked in a grimace of fear. She puts a hand to her mouth as her eyes flood with tears.
Gary turns and looks into the back. His face grows sullen and a deep sadness washes over him at the sight of the poor child lying on the back seat. He opens his door and rushes out of the car. Opening the door behind his, he reaches over and, taking great care, slides the small boy’s body over and picks him up. “I’m sorry, little man, but I have to put you somewhere else, my friend.” A small tear rolls down his left cheek as he walks around the car and past Abi. He places the little boy onto the walkway under the railings and makes the sign of the cross, then takes off his suit jacket, and lays it over him.
Abi calls out to him through her tears, “Gary, come on, we have to go.” He turns and runs to the car as she places Charlotte into the back seat, gets in next to her, shuts the door and holds tightly onto her.
He jumps into the driver’s seat then turns and looks at her, “Should we wait for Judas?”
She shakes her head, “Just get out of here, he always has a plan and he wanted us out of this tunnel. We have wasted enough time so go, now!”
He hesitates for a second, staring into the direction in which he is standing off against the demons. He is just about to put the car into gear as the first explosion rips through the tunnel. “Shit!” He shouts, and slams the car into reverse, flooring the accelerator. More cars explode and he sees a fireball making its way towards them. More explosions add to its growing size as it passes over vehicles, engulfing them in its fevered rush to the tunnels exit. For the briefest of moments, he cannot help but think about the body of the child in the fireball’s path then dismisses t
he thought, concerning himself with the protection of the living rather than the dead. As the car reaches the very peak of its reverse speed, the vehicles at the front of the blockade erupt into fiery balls of light. He calls out as he jerks the steering wheel to the right and stamps the footbrake, whilst at the same time shifting into drive and the car screams around to face forwards.
He releases the brake and smashes down on the accelerator, completing the whole maneuver in one fluid movement, powering out of the tunnel just as the fireball threatens to engulf them.
As they clear around one hundred yards from the tunnel’s exit, he hammers onto the brakes bringing it to a skidding halt, the front of the car pulling to the left.
Abi screams at him, “What the hell are you doing? Drive!”
He turns and looks behind, past her, “What about Judas? We need him.”
She shakes her head, “He meant to do that, Gary. He meant to blow up the tunnel. He knew we would be clear somehow and he did that on purpose so he has a plan. We have to get to the church, that’s all that matters.”
He looks at her for a moment, frowns and nods, “Yeah, you’re right,” then takes his foot off the brake and drives away towards Father Keel’s church. “Is Charlotte alright?” he asks.
“She seems to be. I just think whatever she did to burst into light like that must have taken too much out of her. I think I’m beginning to understand, Gary.”
“Understand what? What do you mean?”
“Well, every time she has done something amazing it has been because either she has been terrified or we are losing hope. Take Judas’ fall for instance. I think Judas had this all figured out already and he knew they would survive because together they are so strong, especially when she is at the peak of terror or anxiety.”
He shakes his head, “I dunno, Abi; there are a lot more variables to consider before I can accept if that is true, but I agree there is definitely some sort of trigger for her behavior. Let’s just get to the priest and see what he has to say. Judas is pretty convinced he has all the answers.”
She nods, “Yeah, okay, it’s just a theory anyway but I dunno, when she last touched me in the tunnel before she went all Edison on us, I just had this feeling.” She sighs. “I can’t explain it.”
He smirks and looks at her in the rear-view mirror. “Edison, eh? I didn’t figure you for the knowledgeable scholar type.”
She shoots him a sarcastic look, “I’m a hooker, Gary, not fucking stupid.”
They both laugh.
The Holland Tunnel is a fiery blaze of hell. The heat and intensity has started to melt the asphalt and tiles from the walls and roof fall to the floor as they crack and split. A lone figure drags himself through the soft, sticky and blistering tar, a sword in each hand. His progress is slow and he screams in agony. The whole process takes thirty-five long, incinerating and pain-driven minutes. He comes to a halt outside the tunnel, seventy yards from its exit on the boundary of the heat and screams in agony as he turns over onto his back. In his two-thousand-year span on earth, this has been the most pain that Judas has ever experienced. He has felt the horror of fire on his body before but never for so long. Throughout his torturing and slow crawl, his body had been in a constant battle of regeneration, which in turn, had kept his nerve endings alive throughout the entire experience and it had been beyond agonizing. Having worked his way through the inferno, he knows the others have escaped unharmed and that thought makes him feel better. He can sense Charlotte’s energy, her aura, as her reach and connection to him grows stronger and stronger as the hour’s tick by. At first, he needed to be within a few feet of her but as she draws closer to her moment of full Awakening, he can feel her almost wherever she is and he knows she can feel his presence too.
As his naked body enters the final stages of repair, he sits upright then stands holding his swords out in front of him, admiring them. In all the time since he had the spear worked into the blades of the swords, he had never truly realized what such a good idea it had been to do so until today. The swords were still in pristine condition. They had survived the insane fall and now, not a solitary sign of fire damage abounds them. He laughs as he realizes that he cannot say the same for his apparel, aware that he needs to find some new clothes, and fast. Can’t go saving the world butt naked, he thinks to himself. Although it feels sick and twisted, and pains him to think so, he knows it won’t be difficult finding something to wear.
Even if he couldn’t find a store nearby, there were enough people lying dead on the streets for him to pick and choose from. He closes his eyes, shakes his head and mutters, I hate myself right now.
Thirty-Eight
St Augustine’s Church in Jersey City is a scene of total devastation with clear evidence of a high amount of Taken activity in and around it from some time ago, and Gary stands at the foot of the steps leading up to it, mouth agape.
Across the street another, older church stands, but since this is boarded up and surrounded by fencing with ‘KEEP OUT - CONSTRUCTION SITE’ notices posted all along the perimeter, he dismisses it as being the location, opting instead for the newer looking building.
He walks up to the doors and surveys the damage to the church itself. One of the large wooden doors leading into the building half dangles from its hinges with the other ajar and a thin beam of light draws itself out from the doorway with shadows flickering inside it as small fires still burn inside. He is unable to see all the way in, but he can tell that the building has been the subject of a great siege and the likelihood of finding survivors inside was zero. He turns to Abi, who is now out of the car and looking at him.
She refuses to let Charlotte out of her sight but is intrigued to find out what has him frozen in his tracks. “Gary, what is it? What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head and shrugs, “This is a dead end, Abi, literally. The church is gone. There can’t be any survivors here; it’s total devastation inside. We need a new plan.”
She walks towards him. “What do you mean a new plan? Judas is the one with all the plans. What the hell are we supposed to do now?”
He looks around, running his right hand over his mouth and turns to look at the church once more, trying to figure out what to do. “Right, well, I guess we just have to keep moving around until he finds us.”
She flaps her arms, “What? That’s a stupid plan; he won’t know where we are, where we are going or anything.” She turns to head back to the car and almost jumps out of her skin to find Charlotte stood right behind her. “Holy sh—, Charlotte, sweetie, you have to stop doing that.”
Gary spins around upon hearing Abi’s distress and jogs back down the stairs towards them both.
Charlotte doesn’t acknowledge Abi; she merely turns and points to a building across the street, “Over there, someone’s signaling.”
She traces the direction of her pointing finger and notices a small light shining on and off, from one of the second floor windows in the building next to the abandoned church.
Gary walks past them, towards the source of the light and stops just next to the bonnet of their car. “She’s right, Abi; someone is definitely trying to grab our attention. That looks like a small torch being turned on and off.”
“Do you think it’s Judas?” She says, taking hold of Charlotte’s hand and moving them closer to him.
“Not likely, he would just outright come and get us.”
“Well, do we trust whoever it is and go over?”
He shrugs, “I can’t see it being one of the Taken; they seem more feral than intelligent so my guess is it’s someone from the church, perhaps even Father Keel himself, so yeah, I think we check it out. Besides, we can’t stay out here on the street that’s for sure; it may be quiet now but that will change and I don’t wanna be here when they come. So, let’s go.”
She nods in agreement and squeezes Charlotte’s hand, “Okay, come on, sweetie. Stick close to me; we are going over to the other side of the street.”
The t
rio breaks into a light jog as they head on over to whoever is signaling them from the building.
Trepidation grips him as they near the location of the signal. Tonight is not the night to trust anyone in blind faith and he is very aware that he has but a handful of bullets left in both of his guns. He observes the chain link fence surrounding the derelict building. It doesn’t seem to have a noticeable gap or entry point. He looks up and down the sidewalk, “The entrance or break in the fence must be on the other side. No time to walk around. We will have to climb over.”
“Oh great,” Abi moans, “Like I’m good at climbing.”
He chuckles, “Don’t worry, my sweet; I’ll help you over with a little… push.” He smiles at her; a suggestive smile.
“I bet you will, mister policeman,” she giggles, returning one of her own.
Charlotte flicks her attention between the two flirting adults and sighs. Then with the dexterity almost all children at her age possess, scurries up the chain link fence, swings her legs over the top and drops to the floor without much effort at all. She turns and taunts the pair. “Come on, slowcoach grown-ups, we haven’t got all day.”
They laugh at her wonderful grip of sarcasm and follow her lead, Gary with a little more agility than Abi.
At last, and after much puffing and panting, Abi drops drown, falling onto her backside in the process. “This is the worst day ever,” she moans, shaking her head and wiping dirt from her hands.
He holds out his hand and helps her to her feet.
“Thank you, kind Sir,” she says, smiling at him.
He smiles back. “Okay, ladies; let’s find a way inside this building.”
They walk towards a small porch entrance at the side of the older church. It has an angled white painted eave with the faded words Bergen Community Hall printed in blue.
“Must be the hall associated with the old church here,” he surmises. “Maybe we had the wrong place after all?” A noise grabs his attention and he draws his guns, shifting his body into a defensive position, both guns pointing towards the porch as the door to the community hall opens a little. He challenges through the opened door. “Who’s there? Show yourself.”