Cain’s eyes flew open wide when he realized what Curt was doing.
The huge Bird materialized almost instantly, and Cain was forced to let go. Its girth extended out beyond the shadows into the sunlight. The creature rose into the air with a mighty swoop of its wings. Curt was thrown back into the water by the force of the downdraft. Likewise, Cain was knocked backward, landing beyond the Tree in a layer of dead fruit. The Bird flew from the island toward the collapsed tunnel. Curt watched as Cody appeared from behind a bush. To Curt’s horror, the Bird spotted him and was on him in an instant. With its talons, it picked up the small boy. At first, he thought the creature was going to rip Cody to shreds. Instead, the Bird zipped back to the edge of the island and softly set Cody down. Curt scurried up on land and grabbed the boy. On the other side of the creature, Tina remained on the ground unmoving.
The Bird hovered in the air several feet off the ground. With an ear-splitting squawk, it spun toward the Tree of Life where Cain had just risen to his feet and grabbed the Staff from the ground. Curt realized that the animal was intervening, offering protection.
The feeling of safety was shattered when Cain pointed the Staff, and the Bird was hit by an invisible force. The creature shook in mid-air and was thrust backward where it landed heavily on the island, its wing partially falling across Curt’s legs. The ground shook from the force of the impact. To the side, Cody had remained clear of the falling Bird.
With fluttering eyes, the creature appeared near death. Curt tried to pry himself free, but it was much too heavy to move.
Curt saw Cain over the still body of the Bird. He held the Staff high in the air victoriously. Then, with an angry smirk, he aimed the tip at Curt.
Cody waved his arms and shouted, “Me! Get me!”
“Cody, no!” Curt yelled.
A pulse of invisible energy rocketed Cody off the island. Curt heard a splash.
Cain turned and seemed to appraise the damage to the Tree of Life. He dropped the Staff not far from the motionless body of Tina.
Curt watched, unable to pull himself free from the weight of the Bird’s wing. Cain made his way over the growing pile of dead fruit to the trunk of the Tree and began pushing on it with his newfound strength. The great Tree had been listing before but now seemed to have lost all of its will to resist Cain’s efforts. Black and decaying, its branches had withered to the point where leaves were raining to the ground. With loud cracks and sharp snaps, the Tree of Life began to give way.
Tina stirred, pushing herself up groggily. Positioned behind Cain, she moved unnoticed, but Curt could tell she was battered and bruised, and his heart ached for her. If she tried to stop Cain, he would no doubt kill her.
Curt looked into the Bird’s eyes. Its pain was evident. In desperation, he spoke to the creature, “I know you don’t owe me, but I need one favor. Please lift your wing and let me go.”
He didn’t expect the creature to understand, yet the mighty Bird grimaced and, with great effort, leaned to its other side, partially lifting its wing off the ground and off Curt. Curt pulled his legs out and crawled free. He stood and, to his surprise, saw that Tina wasn’t moving toward Cain. Instead, she ambled to the side and picked up the Staff at the midpoint.
The Tool expanded, transforming immediately into the large, terrifying Serpent.
The beast bowed up and faced Tina, its menacing red and green eyes targeting her. Tina stood in place, trembling, staring up at the beast with tears in her eyes. The creature opened its maw revealing fiery insides.
“God, please no,” Curt whispered.
Cain saw the Serpent but kept his attention on the Tree of Life. Glowing yellow with the energy he was absorbing, he made one final push on the trunk. With a tortured groan, it gave way. The colossal Tree slowly toppled over, thick branches snapping like brittle twigs. When it landed on its side, only the smallest strip of bark strained to connect the base of the trunk to the rest of the Tree, which spilled over the back edge of the island.
CHAPTER 51
Three hospital rooms down from Tolen’s, three orderlies pushed a gurney with a body concealed underneath a sheet into the hallway. When one of the men—a burly man with shaggy blond hair—spotted Johnsten, he pulled out a pistol and fired. The shot whizzed by Johnsten’s left ear. The report from the weapon echoed harshly in the tight corridor. The agent knelt into a shooter’s stance and was about to return fire when he realized he might hit the patient. Just as he stopped himself, a burn gripped his chest that quickly spread to the rest of his body. The paralyzing pain caused Johnsten to drop to the ground face first. With every ounce of energy he had, he raised his head to see the three orderlies by the gurney had also collapsed to the floor. Other hospital personnel were also lying on the floor in agony. His head clouded, and he fought to remain conscious as the corridor filled with voices crying out in anguish. Through blurred vision, Johnsten saw that his gun had skipped several feet away to the side.
It might as well have been a mile. His body was too cramped to move. He struggled to focus on the shooter sprawled on the ground ahead. While the shooter was also incapacitated, his gun had landed much closer to him. The man stretched out his hand, attempting to reach the weapon.
Through the horrific pain, Johnsten tried to crawl his way to his pistol. It was no use.
The distant moans and groans of suffering began to evaporate. The hallway quieted until all he could hear was his own heart rate, and even that was slowing.
Johnsten’s vision disappeared, and his world evaporated.
****
A stab of pain struck Bar like nothing she had ever experienced. Her first thought was that she had been shot by Laval. Yet the pain wasn’t localized. Every muscle in her body felt like it was being torn apart.
Beside her, in the dark, she could hear Fawn also moaning in agony.
Then a horrid thought occurred: had the Cult been successful in destroying the Tree of Life?
Bar doubled over in pain, her broken leg a mere afterthought now. She could feel life draining from her body.
****
Tina stared at the Serpent, slowly raised a shaking hand, and pointed at Cain. Acting on command, the beast recoiled and struck. Cain was consumed in a single bite.
He was gone.
Elation welled up in Curt, until the Serpent released a series of bizarre guttural clicks that brought a flood of bad memories for Curt. This time, however, the creature’s sounds seemed stressed rather than imposing. The Serpent lifted its large maw and raised the front half of its body. Incredibly, Curt saw the form of a man glowing through the Serpent’s dark underbelly.
It was Cain. He was far from dead.
The Serpent bellowed as the yellow figure of Cain stirred inside the translucent skin of the creature’s stomach.
Cain’s hand pushed outward, stretching the Serpent’s skin, revealing five fingers thrusting from within, threatening to tear through the inner membrane of the beast.
From within, Cain laughed. “It’s too late. I have the power of the Tree of Life; far more power than any of these Godly creations. Humankind is finished, and when I get out of here, you—Mr. Deliverer—will die a most excruciating death by my hand.”
Tina watched in terror, slowly backing away.
Cain punctured a small hole in the Serpent’s belly with his finger. The inside glowed and pulsed more vibrantly, outlining the form of Cain. The creature clicked a sickly cadence as Cain slowly pushed through with a second finger, ripping the creature’s skin apart. Then Cain’s entire hand popped out, visible against a backdrop of glowing, translucent skin as the creature continued to click in agony. Cain squirmed theatrically, as if gloating about his pending escape. In mere seconds, he would burst through the underbelly of the Serpent and wreak havoc. His laughter was the sign of his dominance, his victory.
Curt suddenly recalled something Father N had told him on the point. “You’ve seen the power of the Fish, witnessed the Serpent. These Tools were forged by God. T
he transformation of each of these Tools from their creature form to their tool form, or vice versa, is the greatest power on Earth. Nothing compares.”
Curt dashed around the fallen Bird. He saw Cain’s arm push out further and split the flesh of the Serpent like rotted cloth. Curt dove for the Serpent’s tail, and latched on. He waited for it to transform into the Staff.
Nothing happened.
Cain wedged his entire arm and his shoulder through. Next, his head emerged, dripping with fiery ooze from the Serpent’s insides. Cain saw Curt and realized what he was trying to do. His urgency to escape the confines of the Serpent intensified.
Curt yelled to Tina, who was standing nearby. “Grab its tail!”
Tina rushed over and grabbed the Serpent’s tail.
A look of mortification smeared Cain’s face. “God damn y—!”
Cain’s profanity was cut off. The Serpent shrank in an instant like a black hole collapsing in on itself. Tina found herself holding the Staff of Moses, complete with the head, shoulder, and arm of Cain flailing frantically from the long branch of wood. He had fused with the Staff. Tina dropped the Staff to the ground and screamed. The partial body of Cain seized, spewing blood from his mouth. With the arm, Cain attempted to push himself up, but the Staff teetered over. The tortured face of Cain stared up at Curt and Tina. His lips curled up in a freakish smile as his face dripped with blood. He stretched his hand out and reached back toward the Staff. Before he could grab the mid-point, Curt stomped on his hand, and pinned it to the ground. The Staff began to glow a bright yellow.
“No,” Cain yelled, “you can’t take what is mine!”
“He’s lost his power. The Staff has absorbed it,” Tina commented.
Cody was suddenly standing beside them, dripping wet and watching the scene curiously.
“Are you okay?” Curt asked.
The little boy nodded.
Cain continued to rant and curse in agony. His fingers stretched and curled, trying to get free of Curt’s foot.
“Any ideas what to do with him? If I let go, he’s going to turn the Staff back into the Serpent.”
Without a word, Tina took Cody’s hand and they walked over to the Bird. The creature’s breathing had become slow and erratic. They each placed their free hand on the body of the winged being. An effervescent glow passed over the Bird. The creature lifted its beak as if to acknowledge the children. Cody and Tina pointed to the other side of the small island.
The Bird rose and hopped into the shadows where it immediately converted back into the Sword of Michael. Cody picked up the Sword with both hands. Because of the weight, he dragged it back to where Curt stood in the shade.
Curt recalled Father N’s final words to him: “You must use all three God Tools in order to defeat Cain.”
Curt knew what he had to do. He took the Sword from Cody. The two children stepped back to give him room. Curt looked down at Cain and used his other foot to pin the Staff back to the ground. Now, with one foot on his hand, and the other on the Staff, Cain was powerless to move.
Through bloodied, slimy eyes, Cain could only watch as Curt lifted the Sword of Michael over his head. His expression hardened as he sniffled then spat more blood. He spoke in a malevolent, gurgling voice, “You don’t have the balls, Deliverer.”
“True,” Curt said, “but I do have some pretty big Tools.”
Curt swung the Sword down with force. Instead of aiming at the man’s head, the Sword struck Cain’s wrist, severing the hand. Curt kicked it away as Cain screamed in pain.
“You bastard!”
Blood squirted from the wrist as Cain shook his stump of an arm.
“It’s going to be difficult for you to grab the Staff and turn it into the Serpent now,” Curt said. He picked up the Staff and dragged it across the island with the children in tow. Cain’s chest, arm, and head were upside down, sliding over the ground, but it didn’t stop Cain from writhing, twisting, and spitting curses. “Damn you!” Cain screamed, just as his teeth burrowed in a mouthful of grass and dirt. “Where are you taking me?”
Curt reached the edge of the island and the stream. “Cody, how did you—?”
“The creatures obey our commands here. They won’t hurt us, just as it didn’t harm you,” Cody said.
“But they will eliminate any threat,” Tina chimed in.
Curt lifted the end of the Staff with both hands, holding the Tool out over the stream. The partial body and face of Cain was upside down, staring at him arrogantly.
Curt spoke, “Any threat, huh? Oh, it’s not your day, Cain.”
“I’ll see your soul in hell, Deliverer!” Cain managed as blood dripped from his mouth into the water.
Curt released the Staff into the water. The commotion that ensued was unlike anything Curt had witnessed with the Fish. The creature ripped the body parts along the edge of the Staff, splitting the shoulder, head, and arm of Cain away. Then it circled back, dicing the head and skull into fragments. The blood-tinted water concealed the rest of the activity, but the churning went on below the surface for some time before the stream quieted. When the water cleared, the Fish shot away, following the ringed stream in a counterclockwise motion. It lapped once, and kept going, increasing speed. Faster and faster the Fish swam, lap after lap, until it was nothing more than a blur, and the stream had become a whirlpool of moving water. The swirling water turned blue. A sharp lightning crack caused Curt and the children to wince, then everything went quiet. When Curt looked again, the water had cleared, and the surface was perfectly calm.
Curt saw the Staff on the white sand bottom next to a few fragments of bone. The Fish swam up leisurely, passively staring at the threesome on the bank.
“Cain’s soul is gone. It will never return,” Tina said.
Even though the Fish had allowed him to live earlier, given what he had just witnessed, Curt was somewhat hesitant about entering the water. “Can you ask him to move off while I get the Staff?”
Tina nodded. The two children pointed, directing the Fish to the other side of the island. The Fish swam out of sight.
Curt leapt down into the water, grabbed the Staff, and climbed back onto the island.
“Tina, are there others here with Cain?”
“There was the big man, but when he killed the Guard of the Tree of Life, he fell into the water, and the Fish consumed him.”
The Guard is dead. The words resonated with Curt. He glanced back at the downed Tree of Life. He felt tremendous sadness. “Humanity has been abolished.”
CHAPTER 52
Cody held out his hand to Curt.
Curt started to take the boy’s small hand in his.
“No, the Staff,” Cody said.
Curt handed Cody the Staff without question. The two children approached the Tree of Life. The base of the majestic tree still clung to the toppled upper section by a thread of bark. Both children grasped the Staff and touched it to this thin strip. To Curt’s dismay, the Tree began to lift. Dark leaves flew up from the ground and reattached themselves. With a groan, the trunk pivoted upward, hoisting the mighty limbs, turning the branches and leaves from black to bright green. Once in its upright position, the base, trunk, and upper portion fused together before their eyes. The fruit, once decaying, was again bright red.
The Staff had mended the Tree of Life, and it once again flourished.
Tina explained, “Since the Staff obtained the power Cain had absorbed, that power has now been restored to the Tree of Life. All life’s energy has been returned. While it’s true many people have perished on Earth, many, many more have survived.”
****
Slowly, the fuzzy corners of Link Johnsten’s mind cleared. Ahead, the three men stirred on the ground beside the gurney. A sheet lay nearby them. A stocky man reached for something on the floor, and glared at Johnsten. Sounds began to fill the air as people stirred, chattering excitedly.
With a start, Johnsten remembered where he was and what had happened. The incapacitating
pain which had struck him and everyone else with such force was gone. For the first time, he realized the person on the gurney was Sherri Falco. He sprang to his feet and dove for his pistol, landing hard on the floor. The next moment, a bullet struck his left bicep. Ahead, the burly man stood by the gurney still holding the pistol after firing it.
Johnsten went to push himself up but tumbled over, losing his grip on his gun once again. There was clamoring and screaming as the three men pushed the gurney up the hallway. By the time he got to his feet, they were gone. He picked up his weapon and headed to the stairwell. His bicep burned and bled as he flew down the stairs, holding the pistol in his right hand. When he reached the first floor, he prayed he had guessed their destination correctly.
He had.
The three men were ahead, pushing the gurney down the long, wide hallway at breakneck speed, shoving people aside. Johnsten raised his weapon, but the hallway had swelled with frantic people and there was no way he could get a clear shot. He bolted after them, hoping they wouldn’t notice his presence. They continued down the corridor toward the Emergency Room wing.
Johnsten watched as a hospital security guard bristled at their approach and came at the three men. In the next instant, he was down. One of the men had stabbed him. A woman screamed, and several people shouted. More chaos ensued. The man with the gun fired several rounds into the air and yelled, “Everybody down and out of our way!”
Johnsten stopped, turned, and ran in the other direction.
****
Footman, Lyle, and Frank nearly fell over themselves pushing the gurney with Sherri past the ER receptionist.
That goddamn Bennie better be out here waiting for us. If he drove off in the van, I’ll choke the life out of him with my own hands.
They pushed out through the ER doors with the gurney clanking and rattling. To Footman’s relief, the van was running and waiting in the ER’s circular drive. They reached the van, and Footman ripped opened the driver’s door, shoving Bennie to the passenger seat. “Move over, moron!”
End in the Beginning (The God Tools Book 3) Page 26