by Justin Sloan
Beverly, meanwhile, climbed out of the back of the pickup truck and was holding her wrist, shouting and cursing.
“Hey, hey!” Rohan stumbled out of the truck after her. “What is it?”
“My wrist,” she said, holding it up for him to see. “I braced myself for the impact. I think it’s broken.”
Rohan assessed the wrist—the swelling had already started.
“Getting to a hospital’s not an option right now,” he said.
A loud thud came from the van that had hit them, and a moment later a side door slid open and Rohan recognized the shadow of a man jumping out.
“Hey, why don’t you watch where you’re going?” Rohan shouted, but then he pulled back at the wild look in the man’s eyes.
The man leapt out, eyes darting left and then right, before focusing on Rohan. The guy was humongous. His long hair flowed around his head like a lion’s mane.
“Step away, slowly,” Nora whispered. She and Tess had exited the vehicle and went to stand behind Rohan.
“He’s not an animal,” Beverly said, hopeful. By the look in his eyes, he didn’t seem to know that.
And then he charged.
The bridge seemed to thud with each of his steps, as if a rhino were barreling toward them.
“Run,” Rohan shouted and looked for any sort of weapon he could find. The closest was a busted off side-mirror that was hanging from a nearby sedan. He threw it and cringed as it thumped against the man’s head. But the blow only caused the man to stagger momentarily.
Luckily, it was enough to give Beverly the time she needed to get out of harm’s way.
Rohan turned to run, but the large man tackled his legs and Rohan wanted to scream as his knees slammed into the asphalt.
Nora dashed forward and tried to kick the man off Rohan, but each kick just seemed to make him angrier.
Then Rohan saw it—the flash of red in the man’s eyes.
“We’re coming for you, Rohan,” a voice said, deep and guttural, as if from another dimension, even though it was coming from the man’s mouth. “The Six don’t let souls escape so easily.”
“Ain’t gonna happen,” Rohan said as he brought down both elbows on the possessed man’s head.
The blow didn’t faze the man, but it gave Rohan the distraction he’d needed. Nora came at the man with a tire iron and whacked him on the head, putting the man into a daze. Rohan wriggled out from beneath him. Tess brought a pair of jumper cables and the women tied the man’s hands and left him in a slump on the road.
Rohan took the tire iron from where Nora had dropped it, then gave one more good swing.
Thud!
The man slumped over, out cold.
“That should do it,” Nora said, a bit of sarcasm in her voice.
“Guys,” Tess said, pointing behind them. “Time to go.”
Dozens of people were running in their direction, piling over the wall of cars that led to the freeway. Some staggered as they ran, but others moved fast, some on all fours. Beastly screams filled the night as they came directly toward Rohan and the group, baring their teeth.
Nothing about them looked right.
Rohan staggered back at the realization. “They’re all possessed,” he said, gripping the tire iron tightly.
“What do we do?” Beverly said.
With a quick glance around, Rohan could tell they were screwed. The pickup truck was totaled, and the van was done for. The other cars were piled in one, big, chaotic mess.
“We have to fight.”
“You want us to fight?” Beverly said, with a scoff. She massaged her swollen wrist and looked at the other two. “With what?”
They didn’t have time for bickering, so Rohan just shrugged and took a defensive stance.
A shriek rose from the would-be attackers, but it was followed by another noise. From behind and to their right, just past the wreckage.
“Over here,” someone whispered.
They turned to see a woman with a red bandana around her head, a jacket around her waist, and a pistol in her hands. She looked to be in her late thirties, maybe early forties.
“Wait,” Rohan said, holding up a hand as he glanced between her and the wackos charging them.
“I say we take our chances with her,” Nora said, and ran over to the woman. The other two followed, with a shrug from Beverly.
One glance back at the wackos showed him that yeah, he’d better go too, so Rohan sprinted after them. When he reached them, the woman was ushering them down a steep bank that led to a forest. They had just reached the tree line when the first of the wackos came vaulting over the side of the road—he was met with a blast from the woman’s pistol that sent him to the ground, writhing.
“Run!” the woman shouted. She took off into the trees with the others close behind.
Everything in Rohan screamed to not run into the woods with a pistol-wielding stranger, but the alternative seemed worse, so he pushed on.
“Your car got smashed up back there too?” he asked between breaths.
“I was on my way back,” the woman said, casting him an annoyed glance. “Don’t worry, we’re close.”
A shriek sounded and they spun to see one of the wackos had Beverly by the leg.
Out of nowhere, more possessed people appeared in the forest. They ran in a mad dash out of the shadows from all directions.
WHACK! Tess knocked a man out with a large stick, then spun and slammed the stick across the face of a woman attacker. The possessed people, seeing her sudden burst of strength, backed away momentarily.
“Women’s softball,” Tess said.
“Very impressive,” the stranger said. “But let’s keep moving.”
As they ran, Rohan could tell his sister was shaken up, but he figured they’d have time to talk about it when they reached a safe spot. He had to focus on protecting her for now, considering the condition of her wrist.
“There!” the woman said, as they came out of the trees and found a road. To the right, a few yards down the road was a church that looked like a log cabin. It had a steeple with a large golden cross, and in the moonlight it looked like something from a Halloween film. A shiver went down Rohan’s back, but he forced himself to keep running.
“A church?” Beverly asked.
“This is the only place people felt safe after everything went to Hell,” the woman said. “A dozen or so of us have set up in there, and I was trying to check on Sammie’s wife at the local hospital, but….”
“You didn’t make it,” Rohan guessed. “You can’t blame yourself for that. We all saw what’s out there.”
“We saw. Doesn’t help Sammie’s wife none though. Come on.” She led them onto the road, this time walking fast but not sprinting. The pistol never left her side. “Name’s Petra, by the way.”
Rohan and the other three introduced themselves, and he told her about the more recent part of their journey—the downed plane. But he left out the part about the spirits looking for him.
A rustling came from their left and Petra spun, pistol raised. Tess stepped forward with her stick like a baseball bat.
“Whoa, whoa!” a man said as he appeared with a woman and young boy at his side. “It’s us, just us!”
Petra lowered the gun and motioned for them to join. “This is little Jacob, then?”
“We found him,” the dad said, an arm wrapped around the boy.
“It was a miracle,” the woman said.
“I told you to stay put,” Petra said, shaking her head. “But I gotta give it to you. Come on. Tell us inside. This is Rohan, Tess, Beverly, and Norma.”
“Nora,” Nora said with a slight irritation.
“Yeah, Nora, like I said.” Petra didn’t even glance back.
“She did say ‘Norma,’ right?” Nora whispered to Rohan.
He nodded, but added, “Does it really matter, given everything else going on?”
Her eyes narrowed and she looked away, but didn’t make anything of it. Roha
n realized that might not have been the right response, but it was true—all of this romance stuff that had been going through his head seemed kind of stupid considering the gravity of the situation. Things like whether someone got your name right? Not high on the big deal scale.
They reached the church and Petra opened the door. Instead of entering, she froze there. Her breathing came loud and strained. Rohan was about to ask what was wrong, when she turned back and slammed the door behind her.
“Run,” she said, the color leaving her cheeks.
“What?” Tess was the first to step forward and reach for the door.
But Petra pushed her back and yelled, “Run!” before grabbing Tess by the wrist and pulling her from the doorway.
The door exploded a moment later, splintering out across the parking lot. Rohan covered his face to avoid getting hit, and when he looked up again, he saw a priest in the doorway—or what had once been a priest. The man’s robes hung from bloodied limbs, and half of his face looked like it had been eaten off. His remaining eye glowed a fierce red, and it locked on Rohan.
“You,” the priest said as he charged.
Chapter 3: More Demons
Selfishly, Rohan hoped the possessed priest was talking to someone else. But sure enough, the bloodied, red-eyed bastard was running straight for him.
“A little help, guys?” Rohan said as he focused his energy to see if there were nearby spirits he could use for power. A rush of energy flew into him—oh yeah, there were plenty of dead around here.
Petra was frozen, pistol raised but hands shaking. She must have known this man.
That likely meant Rohan couldn’t count on her. He called out to spirits of the dead, and he heard Nora doing the same. A silver light burst from the church and circled the priest before slamming into him. With a sickening crunch, the priest landed with a thud on the road. Then the light dissipated into a dozen spirits that flew around the battle scene at Rohan and Nora’s command.
That didn’t stop the priest from standing again, even with bones now protruding from his arms.
And this time the possessed corpse moved fast, catching Rohan off guard. A double punch threw Rohan back and into a tree, then a swipe of the arm and one of those jagged bones caught him across the face, drawing a line of blood.
Rohan concentrated and the spirits became a burst of flames, just like the very first time he’d accidentally called upon a spirit’s power.
The priest fell back, but then simply smiled at him with a half-face now in flames.
“Rohan,” the voice said as flames surged. “You’re going to have to do a lot better than this if you hope to stand against all of us.”
Rohan’s eyes darted to the little boy, who was standing behind the church, cowering behind his father.
“Get the boy out of here!” Rohan yelled, and that finally snapped Petra out of it. She ran to the family and led them behind the trees, while Tess and Beverly slowly followed them, unsure of what to do.
“Once I’m done with you, hiding won’t save them,” the priest said, stepping forward. Fire crackled around his entire body, consuming his flesh.
Rohan glanced between the flaming priest and Nora. He gave a slight nod and then the two of them focused the spirits on encircling the priest, before moving in until he was bound by the spirits, like a flowing rope of spiritual energy.
“Tess, we might need you right about now!” Rohan shouted.
“Ah, right,” she said meekly, then ran to them and hesitated before making the sign of a cross and closing her eyes.
The priest shouted and pushed back against the spiritual power, leaping for Tess.
Rohan dove, knocking the priest’s outstretched hand aside only to find himself grappling with the burning man as Tess chanted. The flames scorched his hands and the stink of burning flesh and hair was overwhelming.
He instinctively let go and fell to the ground. The priest raised his fists to strike him, but Tess finished her chant and the demon writhed in pain at the last word.
Rohan seized the moment, pushed the burnt, dead corpse from him, doing his best to ignore the pain coursing through his hands.
“Nora!” he shouted.
Nora responded and he knew she was safe. He directed the spirits to tighten around the priest, and she did the same. The only thing Rohan could think about was expelling this thing from the Earth. Though he had never seen this demon before, he filled with hatred and wanted to do whatever he could to eradicate it.
From the look on Nora’s face, he could tell she was thinking the same thing.
The energy from the spirits grew brighter and stronger, and it drained Rohan and Nora. But they kept pushing, concentrating on expelling this thing from the priest’s body. And after a few moments, the priest raised his head, opened his mouth and let out a bone-crunching scream, collapsing as a wisp of light escaped from its mouth.
The wisp floated through the air like a feather at first, but then Rohan and Nora focused on it, and the spirits surrounded it, choking it out of the sky. It vanished in a puff of smoke, and then the spirits followed.
The brightness in the area faded. All was silent but for the whimpering of the boy in the tree line.
“Holy crap,” Beverly said, rushing forward to check on her brother’s hands. They had bright red burns on them. “This is serious, we have to—”
“What, get me to a hospital?” Rohan laughed, in spite of the pain. “Me and you both, right? Not likely.”
“There’s a first aid kit,” Petra said. She’d emerged from the tree line but stared at the ground, unable to bring herself to look at the carnage. “Find the office to the left, up above the desk.”
Tess nodded and moved to go for it, but Nora held up a hand and said, “Let me,” then disappeared into the building.
When she returned, her face was ashen, but she was carrying the first aid kit.
“It’s a good thing Petra didn’t go in there,” she said as she helped Beverly to wrap Rohan’s hands in gauze after treating them with ointment. He felt like he was being prepared for mummification.
“That bad?” he asked.
She simply nodded, and he could tell by the look in her eyes that he was glad he hadn’t witnessed whatever had happened in that small church.
The dad had reappeared too, and helped Rohan stand.
“Thank you,” the dad said. “Name’s Clyde. You kept us alive just now, and we owe you for that. I don’t know how you all did what you did….” He looked between Nora and Rohan and shook his head. “But right now all I care about is that you all seem to be the best bet for keeping our Jacob alive.”
“You have a plan, Clyde?” Rohan said, appreciating the praise but feeling pretty crappy right about now. In addition to the pain in his hands, he was feeling extremely drained and his brain felt like it was swimming in acid.
“Actually,” Clyde paused for a look back at his wife and child next to Petra, “we spotted something when we were looking for Jacob. It was the youth worship group for our church. They had a couple vehicles with them. A van included.”
“They might have room for us,” Nora said.
She was rubbing the side of her head, eyes closed, and Rohan realized he hadn’t been spending enough time asking how she was doing, checking in on her. He’d have to fix that, once they adjusted the plan.
That was, if he could get a moment alone with her without worrying about some crazy people, or a demon, attacking.
“Let’s get moving,” Rohan said. He didn’t want to say the next part of what he felt—that they needed to get out of there, because in his current state, another attack on them would probably be their last.
They needed a ride, and they needed help. Fast.
Chapter 4: A Moment's Rest
The group followed Clyde and his family, Rohan taking up the rear. At first Nora walked with him. They wanted to be together. But it was hard to walk side-by-side in these woods, and they figured that the group needed someone with powe
rs at both ends as lookouts, so Nora ran to the front and led the way.
Rohan was glad his sister was here with him, at least, so he wouldn’t have to worry about her. Who knew what was going on in the rest of the world? Hoping that the mayhem was concentrated in the states surrounding D.C. might be wishful thinking. It wasn’t that Rohan had any other friends out there, really, but he thought about the family in the Uzbek village he’d met, and the driver Mahkmuhd in Russia, and he hoped they were all safe.
“I never knew you had this side to you,” Beverly said to Tess, the two walking arm-in-arm.
Tess glanced back at Rohan over her shoulder. Then she said, “You mean the prayers? It wasn’t something I’d ever really thought would be useful, you know?”
“Turns out you and my brother have more in common than we thought.”
“Bev,” Rohan said, with a shake of his head when she looked back.
“I don’t mean anything by it.” Beverly slowed, and whispered, “Nora’s great and all. It’s just a shame you didn’t hit it off with my friend.”
“You and Nora can become friends too,” he said.
Nora glanced back at them from about twenty feet ahead, and Rohan noticed her scratch her ears. Yeah, he was pretty sure she knew they were talking about her.
“Listen,” Rohan said, authority in his voice, “can we just, not? None of this matters if we’re all dead tomorrow.”
Clyde looked back with a ‘what-the-hell’ look and wrapped an arm around his son. “Luckily for us, you’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen, right?”
“Yeah,” Rohan said, feeling the heavy burden. “Of course that’s right.”
The mom shook her head, but it wasn’t clear if it was at him, as she’d been shaking her head and muttering to herself the whole way.
“There!” Clyde said, suddenly stopping and waving the others over.
They were at the edge of a clearing that smelled of fresh rain, blackberries, and the smoke of burning wood. Sure enough, a black smoke column rose not far off, and now that they were all quiet, there was clearly a low chatter of people talking over there.
“They were legit?” Beverly asked. “I mean, you saw them.”