New Title 15

by Douglas, P. A.

  “Yeah, I saw that one.” As much as he liked the surface level chitchat, his mind was still wrapped around what Becca had been saying before he struck her. “You didn’t find anything about that a little odd?”

  “Of course, I did. Who in the world would marry a horse?”

  “No… Not that, Sarah.” Kyle kicked the couch forward leaning toward her. “I’m talking about what Becca said before I freaking killed her! You didn’t think that was crazy? What if what she said is real? What if they are on their way to us?”

  “Who would they even be?” Sarah asked.

  “Watchers,” Ben said, shutting his computer.

  He stood up, and then walked into the bathroom. Kyle and Sarah heard the toilet lid lift, followed by the rushing waves of water splashing into the toilet bowl. They waited in silence for him to return. He flushed the toilet and washed his hands. Without saying a word, he walked past the others into the kitchen.

  “Got any clean cups?”

  “Man, what the hell do you mean… watchers?”

  He didn’t reply, returning after a moment with an ice cold can of beer.

  “Is this really all you have to drink in this entire house, Kyle?” Ben lifted the beer up high.

  “Yes it is, now quit stalling us,” Kyle said. “What the hell do you know that we don’t? Sarah mentioned something earlier to me about someone sending in a cleanup crew or something. What the hell was that about?”

  Ben made his way across the filth in Kyle’s living room and sat beside Sarah on the floor. He looked nervous, tense. Whatever had him spooked, Kyle didn’t want to have any part of. Nevertheless, he knew he was about to find out. As if, he had any choice at this point.

  “You remember that Mobil plant I was talking about? The one I was keeping up with online through those forums?”

  “Yeah, I remember,” Kyle nodded.

  Ben shook his head, took off his glasses, and polished them on his shirt. He cleared his throat, and then put his glasses back on.

  “Well, from what I have read, there are two sides to the story.”

  “What do you mean, two sides?” Sarah asked.

  “You have the side of things that the world is being fed by the media, and the possible side of things being pushed under the rug.”

  “Well, between the two… what the hell do you think is going on?” Kyle got up, and went into the kitchen for a beer.

  “With what the news is saying, I was right.” Ben puffed out his chest. “The Mobil plant near us in Beaumont definitely blew the hell up. And that humming noise we were hearing was for sure the pressurized aftermath of the explosions back draft.”

  “Wow,” Sarah said. “That must have been one big boom.”

  “It was,” Ben confirmed. “That cloud that came through was chemical debris from the blast. They already have coverage of the entire thing on CNN and some regional news stations. Unfortunately, not a single one of them had said a single thing about the clouds killing people or melting skin or anything like that.”

  “What do you mean? They aren’t covering any of this shit?” Kyle sipped on his Blue Ribbon beer.

  “That’s the thing,” Ben continued, “What news feeds I have looked at online didn’t cover any of that, and I don’t think you are going to like what they did say.”

  “Well, what the hell did they say then?”

  “The news is saying that we are all dead!”

  “What?” Sarah’s arms slumped down in her lap.

  “CNN has already issued a statement that says everyone and everything within a one hundred mile radius of the blast was killed moments after the plant erupted.”

  “They can’t do that!” Kyle said. “We aren’t dead, yet!”

  “Looks like they already did, man.” Ben scratched his mustache. “That's what leads me to believe they will be sending in cleanup crews pretty soon.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If they are saying everyone is already dead, it’s clearly a cover up for what’s actually happening.”

  “What is actually happening?” Sarah asked, shifting in place, obviously uneasy about the details of Ben’s story.

  “What the hell do you mean? You know exactly what’s happening here.” Kyle scoffed. “You were right there with us, weren’t you, Sarah?”

  “Yeah, but I…”

  Ben cut her off. “After reading all that I could take of that CNN bull crap, I went back to that forum I was telling you about.”

  “And…”

  “You wouldn’t believe what the most current thread was about.”

  Both Sarah and Kyle listened with anticipation.

  “Heroes of old!”

  “That’s what that Hispanic girl said before I hit her with the crowbar,” Kyle said. “What do you think it meant?”

  “Her name was Becca.” Sarah glared at Kyle.

  He shrugged.

  “I followed a few links from the online forum. They all talked about Heroes of the old and I don’t think I can even believe half of what I read.”

  “Well, what did it say? Sarah asked.

  “Everything I found kept going back to the same place,” Ben said. “I doubt either of you have heard about a book called The Book of Enoch. It’s one of the old books of the Bible that never actually made it into today’s manuscripts. The book talks about the fallen angels from heaven. They were called Watchers. The Devil’s helpers! They are referred to as the heroes of old in that book and in quite a few other books like Genesis.”

  Kyle wasn’t feeling too hot about any of it. There was no way the government could let this kind of thing happen. Power plants blew up all the time. Gas companies had on the job accidents on the news a few times a year. He had heard that when that type of thing happened, many people died or they were injured, but a hundred miles of desolation. That was unheard of. That was preposterous. He had even heard of conspiracy cover-ups. Hell, he even went so far as to consider alien life on other planets. But all of this, what Ben was suggesting, it just couldn’t be.

  “Demons, Ben? That’s just ridiculous.” Kyle got up and went to the kitchen for another beer.

  “Hey, man, I didn’t say I believe it either. I am just telling you what information is floating around on the web.”

  “Well, I think you need to get back on there and figure out what's really going on, because I think your little forum is total crap,” Kyle said, slamming the fridge, and then returning to his seat.

  “I wish I could, Kyle.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I was in the middle of reading a post about the Watchers. It said that the Watchers will be delivered into the hands of the wicked by men, scorching the flesh of the unjust. Basically, that man will do something stupid, like creating a new chemical weapon, unleashing the wrath of the Devil here on earth in physical form.”

  “What else did it say?”

  “That’s just it…” Ben said. “The internet disappeared. I tried a few times, but the signal was just gone. And I don’t think it’s going to be coming back anytime soon either. Something crazy like this Watchers stuff seems pretty bizarre, but it does give reason to the hundred mile cover up. What if that Mobil Plant was doing more than just manufacturing chemical weapons? What if they were up to something else?”

  “Like what… reading the Bible? That’s just silly.”

  “I don’t know. But what if… just, what if that Plant was doing experiments. Trying to tap into alternate realms of existence or something. Even worse… what if they opened up some type of door that let that cloud blow out all over town like in that movie The Fog?”

  “Christ, Ben! This isn’t the movies, and it isn’t one of your dumb little sci-fi fantasy tales like Star Trek!”

  Kyle stood up, about to storm off into his bedroom. He had heard enough of this ridiculous talk about government cover-ups, demons, and fallen angels, called the Watchers. They needed to get their heads out of the clouds and into reality. They needed to get some rest, a
nd as soon as the sun came up in the morning, get the hell out of town before they ended up like Becca, Mr. Hardy, and all of the others.

  “I never said we were in a fucking movie, either, Kyle!” Ben yelled back. “I’m just going off of what I’ve read in the last few hours. That’s all.”

  Kyle turned around, facing his two friends, just before reaching his bedroom door.

  “Well, if this Watchers crap is real, then where the hell all of these others that Becca said are were coming? Huh.? Where the hell are they?”

  Ben didn’t have time to answer. They did it for him. Moans filled the streets. Kyle, Ben and Sarah reached the window at the same time. Out in the streets, the mutilated and mangled, gathered together. Sheer number amplified their unified moans. From the safety of his apartment, Kyle and the others watched in disbelief as the horrifying creatures began to struggle up the complex steps to the second floor. They were headed toward Ben’s apartment.

  “You think I was making all of that up now?” Ben stepped away from the window.

  “Not now…” Kyle whispered.

  They watched in terror as over a dozen of the human monsters reached the second floor. Then Kyle heard the front door to Ben’s place give way. He didn’t see it, but he heard it all right. It was loud and sudden. The moans continued as the mangled things searched just one floor below. The street in front and beyond were filled with walking, shuffling bodies of melted flesh. If all of this Book of Enoch stuff was real, then what Becca had said was true. Somehow, she had subconsciously led the dead straight to the apartment complex.

  Watchers were on the hunt!

  CHAPTER SIX

  “What are we going to do? There’s so many of them!”

  “Shh…” Kyle said, while shoving his palm over her lips. “I think now's the time to make for the car and split,” he whispered to Ben.

  Ben nodded, pulling his car keys from his pocket.

  “How the hell are we going to get down there?” Ben asked. “If your place is anything like mine, which I know it is, then the only real way out is through the front door. And my car is parked out there!”

  “That’s not entirely true, Ben.” Kyle picked up his crowbar and pulled a smoke from the pack in his pocket. With the cigarette dangling from his lips, he said, “We do have the back patio. I sit out there sometimes.”

  “Not to rain on your parade,” Ben said. “But I have the exact same patio. As much as getting to the ground from the second floor seems slightly feasible, we’re on the third fucking floor. There is no possible way we are going to be able to climb down the side of the apartment complex.”

  “What if we just wait it out?” Sarah suggested. “You said so yourself, Ben. They can’t hear. So as long as we keep quiet, they will leave eventually.”

  Ben and Kyle pulled the blinds back again to assess the situation outside. The things packed the streets, and didn’t look like they had any intentions of leaving any time soon.

  “That’s a cute suggestion,” Kyle said. “But I am all for getting the hell out!”

  Sarah glared at Kyle. “I’m just trying to be realistic here. We have no way of getting to the car from here.”

  “She's right,” Ben agreed. “It is possible that if we keep quiet, they will move on. They can’t hear anything. It’s just the vibrations that we have to worry—”

  Just like that, Kyle dropped the heavy crowbar from his grip. Trying to balance lighting his cigarette, holding the crowbar, and shoving the pack of smokes into his pocket had been too much for a clumsy slob like him. The heavy steel hit the floor at his side with a loud thud.

  Sarah, Ben, and Kyle stared at one another wide-eyed and silent. Smoke drifted from Kyle’s cigarette as they quietly listened. For a brief moment, it seemed to go unnoticed. Kyle slowly started to bend over to pick up the crowbar. Before his fingers even reached it, their worst fear came true. The street and the second floor filled with impious moans and muffled cries from the battered and maimed.

  “Nice move, you freaking moron!”

  “I’m sorry!” Kyle protested. “It was an accident.”

  “I don’t care what it was. What the hell are we going to do?” Sarah started to panic.

  Ben glanced out the window. “It’s hard to tell, but it looks like they're making their way up here!”

  “Oh shit… oh shit…” Sarah began to pace back and forth, her steps only giving away the location even more.

  “Calm the hell down!” Kyle shouted, shaking Sarah still.

  The noise outside grew even louder as over a dozen mutilated ghouls shuffled up the complex stairs to the third floor. The ones still lingering in the streets grew restless and agitated. Their cries grew louder with excitement. Kyle could have sworn that among the persistent guttural calls that he could hear audible voices. The words were faint and garbled, but still they were there. The idea that maybe Ben was on to something made Kyle uneasy. Even more uneasy than the fact that these things were about to burst through his front door. What if this was more than just some government experiment gone wrong? What if this was the end of the world? Kyle wasn’t ready to die!

  The first of many pounding fists reached the door.

  “Oh, my God!” Sarah screamed. “What do we do? “We’re going to die! I just know it… oh, my God!”

  Kyle grabbed her by the shoulder again, and slapped her hard across the face.

  “Calm down. We don’t need you losing it right now!”

  “But they’re going to get in,” She cried.

  The window to Kyle’s apartment gave way without warning. The sound of shattered glass rang out across the room as fragments of glass and windowpane fell to the floor. The window curtain tore, as mangled arms reached in. These creatures were the same as all the rest, with skin peeled away from muscle like melting wax, revealing bone and tendons. Blood and chunks of gore fell to the floor inside the apartment, as shards of glass jutting from the window frame, bit into the grotesque limbs reaching in. The glass went in deep, but the aggressors were unfazed by the pain they no longer felt.

  “Oh, my God!” She screamed again.

  The door shook on its hinges. There was nothing they could do. Those things were going to get in for sure. There was just too many of them. Kyle let go of Sarah, giving up on the idea that she was going to calm down, and turned around and dashed to the bathroom.

  “Oh no… He’s leaving us here to die!”

  Ben picked up the crowbar from the floor and began batting at the dangling arms in the window. Blood gushed from the deformed limbs with each heavy blow. On the fourth swing, an arm from one of the things came free, falling to the floor.

  “What the hell are you doing, Kyle?” Ben shouted, while keeping the new arms that were reaching in at bay.

  Kyle didn’t reply.

  “Where the hell is it?” Kyle muttered to himself. “It’s got to be in here somewhere!”

  Kyle frantically dug through the clutter accumulated on his bathroom floor, ignoring the sounds of chaos in the living room. He tossed the pile of moldy towels into the bathtub, and rifled through the medicine cabinet, only to come up empty. He kicked a pile of clothes to the side in order to open the cabinet under the sink.

  “There you are,” he said with relief.

  Snatching up the hairspray that he used on his last date, which had been well over a year ago, he ran back into the living room.

  “Where the hell did you go?” Ben shouted.

  Ben was pinned against the door and it shook with each fist that pounded against it.

  “To get this!”

  Kyle waved the can of hairspray in the air. Pulling his lighter free from his pocket, he engulfed the protruding arms in his windowsill. The miniature torch singed what skin remained on the flailing arms and hands. The already burnt and blistered tissue ignited on impact with the condensed flame. The pieces and parts torn from the crowbar near the window lit up instantly. The soft cotton fabric of their clothing quickly ignited, dancing in flames
of reds and yellows. Mangled forms fell, blocking the window.

  “I can’t hold this door much longer!” Ben shouted.

  Kyle set the can down and put the lighter in his pocket.

  “Here… Sarah… Help me with this!”

  He ran over, grabbing his favorite chair. It took him screaming at Sarah a few more times, before she snapped out of her panicked stupor. Finally, with her help, they lifted the heavy piece of furniture and carried it across the living room to the door. Ben jumped aside helping them set the chair in place. The deadbolt on the door gave way, kicking it open a few inches. The chair started to slide across the floor.

  “It’s not going to hold!” Ben screamed. “We need something heavier!”

  Ben pushed against the Lazy Boy, Kyle and Sarah frantically gathered anything they could find to help block the door. In a matter of moments, they had an end table, and the Queen sized mattress and box springs from the bedroom, leaning against the door.

  “I honestly doubt this is going to hold for very long,” Sarah said.

  “I don’t intend for it too!” Kyle sneered. “You ever see a mattress go up in flames?”

  Both Ben and Sarah shook their heads, stepping away from the door. Kyle grabbed up the can of hairspray and lighter. The door skidded open nearly a foot. More than five hands and arms, all blistering with sores, instantly appeared. The moans on the other side of the door grew louder.

  “Trust me!” He shouted over the grunts and persistent banging. “They go up pretty quick!”

  Lighting the bed with a burst of compressed fumes, Kyle set fire to the mattress. Just as he had said, the mattress instantly caught with no problems. Fire eats through cotton and foam like no tomorrow. The room filled with light and heat.

  “What the hell did you do that for?” Sarah asked.

  “I don’t actually know!” Kyle shouted. “I guess I figured it might buy us some time! You got those car keys still?” He yelled to Ben over the sound of the rising flames.

  The fire popped and crackled with life. The flames grew higher. The three stepped away from the door. The living room was getting too hot to stand, and the smoke stung their eyes. The other furniture quickly caught fire.