Judas (The Iscariot Warrior Series Book 1)

by Roy Bright

  He looks back at his Master, then at Judas and annoyed, shakes his head. He changes direction and races towards the front door of the church. He is unstoppable as he smashes into it, exploding the barricade and tumbling inside.

  Everyone jumps and turns to face the crashing beast.

  Abi screams, as does Charlotte.

  Gary grabs hold of the child’s hand and, shouting, orders, “Outside, get street side, now!”

  Zenaku topples and the skids along the floor. He scrambles around on his back, attempting to right himself, lashing out like a demented beetle trying to regain its footing as the consecrated ground burns him; but not enough to stop him. He roars as he sends pews crashing throughout the church with each outward strike; hurled in every direction, smashing to splinters as each massive appendage connects with the furniture.

  Abi stares at the hulking, thrashing mass in front of her; transfixed, trapped in a state of shock.

  He has almost righted himself as Father Keel raises the shotgun and blasts the beast’s head with two rapid shots causing it to snap back as a multitude of high velocity steel pellets rip through its skin, tearing out chunks.

  Zenaku screams, “You’ll die for that, priest. That hurt, that hurt like hell.”

  He seizes the moment to grab hold of Abi and shake her arm, “Snap out of it, child, we must leave, we must leave now!”

  She looks at the priest and understanding floods into her eyes. Outside, a loud scream pierces the night and she recognizes it as Judas’ voice; this in turn causes her to scream, and run towards the gaping hole made by Zenaku’s attack, following Gary and Charlotte through it.

  The Taken see their prey exposed and they wail and screech in excitement. Scrambling back over the roof, they flood down the walls like a macabre living blanket of grotesque flesh as the fleeing group race down the stairs leading up to the church.

  Gary hooks one arm under Charlotte and lifts her up and into his body enabling them to cover more ground with greater speed, just as a massive explosion erupts to his left. He pulls Charlotte in tighter and increases his running speed.

  Abi has gained new energy to her fleeing, and she sprints ahead of Father Keel forgetting, in her terror about the man’s age and ability to maintain the same speed as her.

  The old man digs deep and tries to find a sliver of youthful vigor long forgotten by his body, but he has no chance of outrunning either the Taken or Zenaku, and the demon knows it as he powers through the entrance to the church and down the steps after the priest.

  It lashes out at the Taken in its way, between it and its prey, between the man who had just shot into its head. It growls as it leaps at him, claws outstretched and a smile on its face; it has him, and will rip him to pieces.

  Zenaku takes a fierce and heavy blow to the left side of his neck as one of Judas’ swords rockets into him causing a sudden loss of momentum and balance, and he crashes into a vehicle to the right of Father Keel. The priest does not look back; he has enough sense to know that Judas has intervened and completes the sixty-yard dash to the other side of the street into the high-rise building that Gary has just shattered the glass front to by shooting it.

  They run into the compact lobby and locate the door leading to the stairs to the right-hand side of a lift.

  Abi begins to make her way towards the lift door when Gary stops her, “No, not the lift, we are not getting trapped in that box, get up the stairs, now!”

  She moans and changes direction towards him.

  Father Keel peels away from them and heads towards a door leading to the front security desk of the office building. Gary stops and looks back, “Father?”

  Out of breath and struggling to respond, he just about manages to shoo him away, “There is no way I will be able to climb up those stairs without slowing you down, my boy. Go, go on, protect the child, and give yourselves time. Judas will deal with the outside threat and be here to help you very soon, of that I am sure. I’ll buy you some time down here.”

  He wastes no time arguing with the man, he does not bother getting into a debate of heroics by stating, I won’t leave you, Father, he just nods and smiles at him, a smile that says thank you, a smile that says farewell. He ushers the girls into the stairwell and up the stairs.

  Father Keel slumps down behind the desk as the first Taken bursts into the lobby.

  Judas sees Zenaku change direction and head off towards the church. “No!” he screams and sets off after him. The second demon from the portal raises its head and opens its mouth; the sound of air rushing in coupled with electrical arcing grabs his attention and he knows something is very wrong. He turns to look at the demon just as it snaps its head forwards and unleashes a mass of molten fire from within its huge mouth. He checks his run and spins to his right but his raised and exposed left arm takes the full brunt of the fiery attack. His arm incinerates and molten skin drips to the ground. He screams, as horrific pain streams through his body. His indestructible sword drops to the floor, clanking as it rolls over the asphalt. The pain is blinding and staggers him for a second. He hates fire, and twice in one day is more than enough for him.

  He sees the demon lift its head once more, preparing for another attack; this he cannot allow. He draws back his right arm and launches his remaining sword at the demon like a spear.

  The blade whistles through the air and rips through its throat, protruding out of the other side causing the beast to fall backwards, gurgling, as molten fire sprays upwards into the air and showers the ground all around it.

  A large portion of fire lands on a nearby car covering its rear half. The vehicle’s gas tank ignites as the molten liquid burns through the chassis and it explodes.

  The pressure from the blast tears into the demon’s body and although it causes no damage to its dense thick body armor, the damage caused by the sword has created a large tear, a weak spot that fails to bear the force of the blast. It rips the demon’s throat open further and more liquid fire spews out of the wound. Its head remains attached to its body by the smallest amount of flesh only and the beast falls to the ground.

  The force of the blast also knocks Judas down and glass pieces from the car windows rip into his skin, lacerating him. Dazed, he pushes himself to his feet and, looking up, spies the group fleeing the church. He is grateful that his burnt and severed arm is already in the final stages of repair enabling him to clamber to his feet faster and he puts all of his strength into it. Ahead, he sees Zenaku bound out of the church door after them and he knows that Father Keel is not going to make it. The old man is struggling to maintain enough speed to outrun it as the beast powers through a horde of Taken, sending them sprawling in all directions.

  As Zenaku closes in on the priest, Judas rises to his feet and sprints towards them as fast as he can. Shards of glass fall to the ground, ejected by his body’s repair mechanism and they break into smaller slivers as he crunches over devastated ground. Zenaku is almost at the priest, almost on top of the man, claws outstretched waiting to sink into his head, his neck and his back as Judas scoops up the sword that had fallen to the ground from his melted arm, and with every ounce of skill and precision he possesses, hurls the blade at Zenaku. Once again, a second blade sleeks through the wet night air, slicing it in two as it speeds along like a missile.

  Zenaku roars as he leaps and reaches out to grasp the priest just as the blade slam into his neck. The force of the blow is so intense, it spins him off balance and he crashes into a car to the right-hand side of Father Keel and can only howl in pain as the old man hobbles away from him and into the building.

  Judas turns and runs to the downed fire demon as it thrashes around, clawing at the life force ejecting from its neck. He reaches down into the fiery liquid encasing his sword, the intense heat and corrosiveness having no effect on one of the holiest artefacts on earth, and winces as he flicks the sword up and out of the fire. Scorched and dripping fingers reform as he holds the blade in the palm of his hand.

  He raises his
head and looks towards Lucifer who smiles; the smile then turning to a grimace as his eyes roll backwards and he once again, raises his head upwards, chanting.

  Judas knows Lucifer is unable to get involved himself, but he will be summoning more who can. He looks down at the fire demon as it continues to writhe around, the molten liquid having now ceased to erupt from its mouth and throat. He raises his right foot and smashes it into its skull; it screeches. He raises it a second time and smashes its head once more and it screams again, a third time, a fourth, a fifth, stomp after stomp, after stomp all the while staring at Lucifer until it is nothing more than a mangled and broken soggy mess. He turns his attention away from The Devil and walks towards Zenaku. Upon reaching him, he looks down at the beast as it gurgles and retches and, reaching down, he grasps the hilt of the sword protruding from its neck and pulls it out. As the fallen demon begins its transformation back into human form, he shakes his head. “You know what; I really thought this was going to be more difficult. You’re a fucking joke, Zenaku.”

  Zenaku chuckles, a croaky, liquid filled one. “You just don’t get it, do you, Iscariot? You think all this time he has been admiring the view?” he says, motioning towards Lucifer with his eyes. “Of course not. He has been preparing; building energy from the violence of the battle, storing it inside himself like a battery so that he may call upon his great one.” He laughs once more. “We always knew we were a distraction for his really big toy, we were all sacrifices. Don’t you get it, Judas? You are the one who has made this happen.” He is now in fits of hysterical laughter as the ground shakes hard, more so than when the fire demon portal opened.

  The street tears and splits, and the quake throws Judas backwards, towards the bottom of the stairs leading up to the church. He regains his footing just in time to see Zenaku’s laughing form slide into a chasm, the ground beneath the demon opening up as it continues to shake and yaw.

  Parts of the church front falls away, as huge chunks of masonry dislodge and crumble their way to the ground, smashing into pieces on the church steps. Windows shatter in the buildings around the quake’s epicenter; car alarms burst into life and fire hydrants dislodge, jetting water into the air adding a silvery water wall to the already dense rain. More car alarms sound as they roll downwards into the vast, gaping hole now expanding its way outwards from where the initial portal started. They burst into flames and explode as they descend into hell. All at once, the disturbance stops and all that remains, is the sound of water and car alarms.

  A loud low-pitched groaning overpowers those sounds. It is huge, foreboding, and Judas knows he must move towards the office building right now, before the source of that groan comes out of the hole. He looks down the street towards Lucifer who stands motionless, eyes wide open, a lunatic grin wide across his face, his body soaked head to toe. His hands are straight down by his side, his long slender razor-sharp fingers outstretched.

  He opens his mouth to reveal a vast army of razor-sharp teeth, his lips red and wide like that of an evil clown. “It’s the dawn of the new age, Judas,” he says, raising his arms out to his sides. “Bid welcome to my… Destructor.”

  As he stares at Lucifer, he jolts forwards and crashes into the road as the ground receives an enormous shunt from below, thrusting asphalt and dirt upwards leaving a gigantic mound. He loses grip of one of his swords and it slides to the edge of the stretch of chasm. He scrambles after it and just manages to wrap a couple of fingers around the hilt before it slips over and out of his hand for good. Scrambling to his feet, he jumps across the chasm to the other side of the street and upon landing, jolts forwards once more as the ground takes another gigantic shunt. Yet another follows it and then one final crunch as dirt, asphalt, water and vehicles explode into the air.

  A gargantuan head pushes its way through the ground and out into the open. The area takes another immense thump from underground and the surrounding buildings display the effect of the subsidence as their structures weaken, crack and tear. Some of the buildings further down the street topple and crumble to the ground, the pattern repeating itself, charting its way towards his position.

  He looks to the office block, “Charlotte!”

  The ground finally gives way and the Destructor Demon erupts from the earth, slamming its huge arms, hands and feet down into the ground as it pulls itself upwards, out of the portal to hell. It rises behind its Master, shaking dirt and rubble from its torso and head; roaring as it raises its arms to its side accentuating its devastating fifty feet size.

  Judas can only stare at the humanoid creature in disbelief; a demon that resembles a man in every aspect save for tusks protruding from its cheekbones, pale stone-like skin and eyes that burn and crackle like lightning. “Where the fuck did you get one of those from, you, crazy bastard?” he says, shaking his head.

  Lucifer points to the office building containing the others, and commands, “Bring it down with as much care as you can and get one of the lower ones to bring me the girl; we have enjoyed enough playtime.”

  It grunts and strides over to the building, kicking into the base of it, destroying the ground floor, causing it to list towards him; and he holds out both hands to catch it.

  Judas closes his eyes and prays this works as he calls out to Charlotte with his mind, ‘get to a window, sweetie; get to a window that’s on the opposite side to the way the building is falling.’ He draws in a deep breath and then inserts both swords into his skin at the back of his body, above his kidneys. He resists the urge to scream as he drives them into position and sets off at high speed, climbing rubble. Charging upwards with immense force and power, he reaches the edge of the building, leaps over to the side now facing uppermost with the building leaning away from him and runs up it.

  Forty-Two

  Abi looks at Gary as he enters the stairwell, the door closing behind him. “Where’s Father Keel?”

  He shakes his head, ushering the girls towards the stairs with urgency, “He’s not coming; he wouldn’t make a climb like this without slowing us down. We must keep moving and quickly. Running into this building might have been our only option but not the smartest of moves so we need to do all we can to find a way out of here as soon as possible.”

  Abi is holding Charlotte’s hand and the child pulls at her, “Come on, we need to go.” They begin to climb the stairs leading to the offices above.

  Gary tells himself that if they can just get onto the first floor, and head to the far side of the building, there might be an escape route that will lead them back down to street level. As they round the turning of the first flight of stairs, he encourages them along. “As soon as we get to a doorway on the first floor we will take it and see if we can get across the building, down and out the other side. If we can get to street level once again, we may be able to find somewhere to hunker down whilst Judas does his thing.”

  Abi puffs and pants as she climbs the stairs, still out of breath from the sprint she endured from the church to the building. “Okay but if we can’t get out that way, what next?”

  “Just keep going, we will find a way out of here, I’m sure of it.”

  From below, the sound of gunfire from Father Keel’s shotgun echoes up.

  Gary intervenes as the girl’s lean over the rail to look down, “Don’t stop, it’s okay, just keep going, he’s buying us time.”

  They continue to spiral upwards taking two steps at a time, desperate to put as much distance between themselves and the Taken below.

  Abi feel growing emotion within her for the fate of Father Keel. She wells up, as tears make their way down her cheeks and is unable to shift the notion that they have abandoned him, exasperating the emotion further.

  The group stops, presented with the door to the first floor offices. A small vertical rectangular window sits in the middle of the light brown wooden door offering an insight into the offices ahead. An elegant plaque sits on the wall to the right of the door that reads, FINANCE.

  Gary tries the handle; it
’s locked.

  Abi sighs with disappointment, “I guess that means up again?”

  He is about to push them forward when the ground beneath the building shakes with great force.

  Abi wraps an arm around Charlotte and uses her free hand to steady them both against the wall next to the door.

  After a few seconds the shaking stops and a low-pitched but loud groaning comes from outside, emanating from the ground.

  She grabs a hold of Charlotte tighter and looks at Gary, shaking her head. “That cannot be good.”

  He nods in agreement, “That definitely is not good at all. Come on, keep moving up.”

  Another volley of gunfire bursts out from below causing them to stop.

  The gunfire ceases and then there is silence.

  Gary peers over the rail to the floor below searching, hoping and praying that if the door were to open it would be Father Keel.

  Abi and Charlotte join him in scanning the area below. All three jump as the door leading into the stairwell bursts opens, smashing against the wall and Taken flood in.

  He grabs the girls and pushes them forward, “Move! Run! Keep going up!”

  As they set off in panic, the ground beneath the building heaves again causing everyone to stagger.

  Gary collects the girls in his arms a second time and urges them forward. “Keep going, guys, we cannot stop even for a second.”

  Below them, the feral gnashing and wailings of Taken reverberates up the stairwell, their frenzied pursuit of their prey in ascent. Gary hurries them with more verve, encouraging and urging them onwards every step of the way. They reach the door to the next floor. It is identical to the one below with an identical plaque sitting in the same position however, this one reads PLANNING. He tries the door; also locked and repeats the process of pushing the girls forward. Abi has now begun to breathe heavy and Gary has to keep a firm hand on her back to ensure that she continues at the pace that he needs her to.