by Luke Valen
“Gah! If we had just gone straight there, maybe we could have—”
Jade stopped me. “You can’t do that. You can’t play the what ifs. It will kill you.”
“We shouldn’t have left her. We shouldn’t have left her all alone. She had no reason being here.” I paced back and forth on the wooden planks.
Jade reached out. “Dean, you know why she stayed.”
“We could have brought her with us and done all of this together,” I responded.
Bryon sat on one of the wooden pews with his head in his hands.
“We can’t keep going over this. We did what we did and that is that. We can’t change the past,” Bryon said with his head buried in his hands, rubbing his burning eyes.
“You want to just give up? Is that what you’re saying?” I moved toward Bryon with my hands on my hips.
Bryon raised his head from his hands, staring me right in the eyes. “All I’m saying is we can’t change the past. We need to rest now and start again in the morning. No one is benefiting from being angry and weak right now. If Abigail is still out there, she is going to need us at our best. If we go right now, we are not going to be of much help at all in our current state.”
“Oh yeah, like you’ve even been much help at all,” I muttered.
“What did you say?” Bryon stood up.
“Bryon, sit down,” Jade said, moving toward the two of us. “Just let it go.”
“No. No, I won’t let it go. If this ungrateful bastard thinks that we haven’t helped, then he needs to learn a thing or two,” Bryon yelled. “We risked our lives just like you did. Even more! We don’t have these awesome powers that you do! We put our necks on the line for you! I literally saved your life on that mountain in the desert! If it wasn’t for me, you would be dead right this second!”
“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place,” I responded, moving inches away from Byron’s face. “I would have just continued living my life. But no, someone wanted to jumpstart their boring lives and try to get more views on YouTube!”
“What’s all this commotion I am hearing?” Uncle Homer came out from his quarters behind the main stage. Good old J.C. loomed over us in his usual spot.
“Stay out of this, Uncle,” I said. Uncle slowly made his way to us.
“You think that’s why I did all this?” Bryon leaned in.
Jade moved to stand between us. “Okay, guys, just calm down. The smoke from the fire made us all a little crazy. Just take a breath.”
Uncle Homer came closer. “Listen to the lady, Dean. Try to breath. And what am I hearing about smoke?”
“You think I did this for views? I risked my life to try to help you learn who you really are and where you came from, you prick! I wanted to help you just like I helped you that day on the bike! Ha, you probably forgot all about that, huh?” Bryon shoved me back a step.
I stared at Bryon, my eyes beginning to swell with tears. Bryon sat back down on the pew, his hands clasped together supporting his chin and covering his mouth. “Gah!” I turned and stormed off into my makeshift bedroom. I am the whirlwind of emotion.
“What in the world was all that about?” Uncle Homer tried to ask me as I stormed by.
I ignored him but heard Jade answer for me.
“He is just hurt right now.” Jade sat next to Bryon. “Don’t take it personally.”
Bryon stood up and stormed off toward the front entrance.
I paced back and forth in my small, six-by-six room, no bigger than a large closet. Out of the open door, I could see Jade remained sitting on the pew.
The quiet room gently began to rattle, just ever so slightly that the water in the bowl for holy water formed small ripples. One after the other, hardly enough for anyone to notice. The rattling increased in measure, small pebbles on the wooden floor began to shake and move. Jade took notice first, looking up from where she was sitting. Then the pew shook once…then again a second later…and again…and again.
“Guys…” Bryon loudly whispered from the front door. “Guys…Dean?”
As I snapped out of my blinded anger to answer Bryon’s call, the ground shook so hard I nearly lost my footing. “What was that?” I asked just as another shake came. I started to walk toward the front entrance. Jade was holding onto the pews with both hands. Uncle next to her.
The entire building began to move with each groundbreaking shake. They came in close waves like miniature earthquakes, one after the other.
“I think you’re going to want to see this,” Bryon said, looking out the front door. The terror in his eyes was obvious. Uncle Homer, Jade, and I came running to where he was and peered out the door.
“What is that?” I asked.
CHAPTER 17
READY OR NOT, HERE I COME
The tree line shook in the darkening sky. Only the shadows of the pines could be seen wavering with each movement of the earth. The ground began to hop, bouncing our feet off the ground in intervals. We held on to whatever we could find, the doorpost and handrails of the rickety church.
A deep, rumbling voice came from the trees, shaking the ground just as the earthquakes themselves. “Oh, Deany-boy…ready or not…here I come.”
My eyes widened, searching the trees.
“Uncle, any clue as to what that is?” I asked.
“Its energy is unlike any I’ve sensed. It is dark. It is very dark,” he said, closing his eyes.
“Lucifer?” Bryon asked.
“No, not Lucifer. I know his energy anywhere. This is different. This is a new evil,” he said as his eyes opened wide.
The forest’s wildlife fled in terror. Birds screamed as they flapped their wings as fast as they could to get as far away as possible. The tall, strong trees began to wilt and shrivel as if delicate flowers under a fiery sun. Small fires began to sprout up left and right. A dark, black, dinosaur-like leg emerged from the tree line, landing hard on the ground and knocking us off our feet. Then another. Church windows broke under the violent vibrations spouted from each menacing step.
“I know you’re out there—come play with me.” The voice blew a strong wind against the church, my hair blasted back from the powerful hot air. There it stood like a modern-day Godzilla, black and tall, its eyes colorless, its fangs and tusks dripping a sticky, black tar. The spikes on its back were razor-sharp. Dragging its long, muscular, gorilla-like arms on the ground, it approached the church.
“Ah, there you are.” Shit.
“D-D-Dean,” Bryon stuttered. “Dean!”
“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” I yelled back.
“Dean, take your friends and get out of here. I will deal with this,” Uncle said, pushing us back as he took a step forward. He stood upright as if a young man, his muscles seeming to bulge.
“Ah. Hello, Homer. Don’t you remember me?” the creature said, taking another step closer to the church. Its leg crossed the road, the dino-demon torso moved closer breaking the transformer lines that followed the roadway. Sparks flew as the transformer exploded on contact.
“You know him?” Jade asked.
“Asorath?” Uncle Homer said.
“Pardon my appearance, I have put on a few pounds since the last time we met. Maybe you remember this?” The creature changed its eyes to a bright bloodred and pretended to whisper to a tree. The image from the party flashed in my mind. The demon who whispered to the jock. I remember.
“How?” I uttered.
“He must have absorbed the souls of the damned. The six have joined into one. We didn’t think it possible,” Uncle Homer said, pulling me up. “We need to get out of here. You aren’t ready for this. None of us are.”
“Homer remembers me too. How sweet.” With that, his enormous monkey arm came sweeping in like a bullet train.
“Get down!” Homer yelled, tackling my two friends and me, flattening us onto the ground. The monstrous hand whooshed by with incredible force, smashing into the pillars holding the awning over the
porch. The sound of exploding wood and concrete blasted throughout the quiet town.
“Move!” Homer yelled, pushing Bryon and Jade off the porch and rolling just as the overhanging roof came crashing down, narrowly avoiding our ant-like bodies.
Dirt and debris went flying in a cloud of dust rushing into the air.
Abruptly coughing up dirt, I yelled, “Jade! Bryon! Uncle!”
“We are okay,” they said, pushing broken pieces of wood off from on top of them. Everything seemed like slow motion. Jade struggled to lift off what looked like the remains of the large front door. A line of blood trickled down Bryon’s ear, his face covered in mud as he stood out of the glass shards. Uncle reaching his arms down to help lift Jade. I could not waste any more time. I am here. I am Dean Michael.
I ran over to them as fast as I could.
“Dean, get down!” Homer yelled as the other hand came flying in from the opposite direction. Jade pulled me down to the ground as fast as she could, just scraping past the punishing blow.
“You guys need to get out of here,” I said. “I’ll take care of this.”
“I already told you that you are not ready for this, Dean. Don’t you listen to me, boy? You’ll be killed!” Homer said, grabbing at my shoulders. Asorath took another seismic step forward.
“We are not going to leave you,” Bryon said, balling his fists and creasing his brow.
“Yeah. We are a team.” Jade tied up her hair.
“How sweet. The humans want to help,” the demonic voice bellowed.
“You are no good to me dead. Now get out of here!” I pushed Jade and Bryon as hard as I could, sending them flying a hundred yards away into a mound of fallen leaves. “Now, Homer what can we do?”
“Your sword—where is it?” Homer asked
“I didn’t…” I couldn’t finish.
“No.” Homer realized I didn’t have it. He stared at me. Strategizing. I looked at his eyes—I was more disappointed than he seemed to be. I let him down. I let everyone down. “Over here, you overgrown monkey!” Homer yelled, taunting the creature. “Save your friends. Find your sword,” Uncle said, grabbing my arm before quickly moving out of the debris and closer to the monster.
“Two on one. No fair.” Asorath’s hand came swooping in to crush the ground where Homer was. He rolled and avoided it. Nimble for an old man.
“Pick on someone your own size!” Uncle Homer began swinging his hands around in a choreographed rotation. I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying as he muttered something to himself. The ground began to shake, and the earth began to break and swirl around him. His body grew and grew, glowing a bright, white light, blindingly bright.
“Uncle?” I watched, shielding my eyes.
“Dean, go now,” Uncle Homer said as he reached a size nearly matching that of the beast. His body glowing a bright and pure white. The two must have been over fifty feet tall.
Asorath frowned a gummy frown. “I see you still have some tricks up your sleeve, old man. No matter.”
He rushed toward Uncle. The two clasped hands in a standstill of might. Asorath gnashed his teeth, trying to bite at Uncle’s face. Uncle’s eyes were strong and wise. The wrinkles around them seemed to be like fissures in the ground. His muscles pulsed, fighting against the creature. His arms the size of redwoods.
“You have broken the law,” Uncle roared, tossing the demon into the ground. “You have upset the balance. I sentence you to death beyond Oblivion!”
“You think you can defeat me? The souls of millions surge through my veins. I am DEATH!” He freed his arm and swung, knocking Uncle off his feet. Grabbing him in the air, he slammed Uncle down into the ground. Pounding him blow after punishing blow. The earth shook with each hit, the crater under his head made deeper and deeper.
“Uncle! No!” I screamed, running toward him.
“Dean. You must. Survive. You must. Live,” he spoke between blows.
His bright light beginging to fade. Blood sprayed from his face. Bones shattered from the pummeling. I couldn’t bear it.
“Enough! That’s enough!” I yelled.
“You’re right. That was too easy.” Asorath picked up Uncle’s limp body and tossed him into the air, so far I couldn’t see when or where he landed. Asorath’s focus shifted toward me.
“No!” I yelled. My mind went blank. My heart stopped. Heat. All I could feel was heat.
—§—
“Dean!” Bryon yelled from the distance. His voice could barely be heard over the siren of car alarms and terrified animals all swirled together by the rising winds. Dark clouds began to swirl overhead as if forming what looked like a hurricane above the building-sized demon. “We have to do something!” Bryon shouted at Jade, attempting to run toward me.
Jade grabbed his arm before he could move. “Dean is right. This battle is not ours. We need to find help.” Jade and Bryon ran toward a nearby street, finding the first car in sight. The windows had been blown out from the earthshaking stomps.
“Get in!” Jade ordered.
Bryon ran around to the passenger side and jumped in. Jade reached in through the broken window and unlocked the door, then leaned under the steering wheel.
“What are you doing?” Bryon asked, keeping an eye on me. I was standing facing the Demon, prepared. The mouse and the pit bull. The car’s engine roared. Jade sat up straight and revved the engine, and the two took off, peeling out from the street, tires screeching.
—§—
I looked over with a sense of joy, glad my friends got out safe. I did not wish them to return. Just as I looked back to the demon, its hand came flying in once again, this time catching me off guard.
The hand hit with such great impact, my body went tumbling through the air, crashing through tree after tree, knocking them down like a wrecking ball through stone. It felt as if every bone in my body had turned to dust. About four hundred yards away, my momentum gave way to gravity, bringing me sliding through the dirt.
“Ha ha ha ha ha, you are weak, boy! I was told you had regained your strength. What a pity,” Asorath said, turning his attention to where I had landed.
My body felt as if I had been hit by a train and reversed over and over and over again. By a tank. A heavy tank. Gathering my strength, I managed to rise up, digging one hand after the other into the dirt. I stood to my feet.
“Your father would be so very disappointed,” Asorath said in his deep rumbling voice.
I stood, staring at Asorath, my blood boiling.
I was not a disappointment—I was strong. I was the one chosen to fight for the people. To protect them from evil scum like this. I will kill him for what he did to Uncle. For what he would do if I don’t. My body began to heat, my mark glowing a deep red, running through my veins like neon strips of light.
“That’s it. Get mad!” Asorath said, beginning to run toward me. My feet moved quickly on their own account toward the abomination, head to head, my small body not even the size of the demon’s little finger. The moon lit our path through the tree-studded soil. The blizzard screaming all around us.
“Ahhh!” I yelled, inches away from one another. Only one instinct: kill. My body strengthened by rage, heat growing around in a visible aura.
WHACK.
Before I could get close enough, I was sent flying again by the truck-like hand, silencing me with ease. My face skidded in the earth, my body limp.
“You are weak, just like your mother,” Asorath prodded.
Mom. An image flashed in my mind, too quick to catch. Was that her?
After a few moments of semiconsciousness, I lifted my face from the ground slowly, spitting up a cocktail of blood and dirt.
“J.C., I could really use some help right about now,” I managed to say through busted lungs and a spinning head.
“Get up, you pathetic excuse for an Arch,” Asorath yelled, shaking the ground.
Hail began to fall as the clouds tore open with a thunderous streak of lightning. I crawled lik
e an army man under barbed wires through the muddy, snowy ground. Hiding under a large cliff-like rock, I took shelter from the frozen water and the ugly demon.
“Where, oh where did you go, angel?” Asorath said, searching from above.
I sat under the rock, rain tumbling in. My body weak and sprawled out, I attempted to catch my breath. Touching my tender ribs, I could feel some were broken. Groaning from the pain, a drip of blood trickled down my face. I had been cut just above the eye. Wiping the blood from my face, I bowed my head. “I’m not ready for this, Father. I’m sorry.”
“Ah, there you are,” Asorath said, pulling the boulder from the ground with simplicity, like a pebble from the beach, taking away my shelter from the rain. From pain.
I felt too weak to move. Asorath reached down picking me up in his gargantuan hand. He held me like a baby holding a doll, my head fell back, my arms trapped in the demon’s grasp, legs dangling. He raised me up high enough to reach eye level. The demon’s black eyes stared at my broken body, his mouth oozing tar and blood. Hot air blew on my face with each exhale of the creature, vapor filled the cold air.
“With your power, I will be unstoppable,” Asorath said, opening his ugly snout-like mouth as wide as could, revealing his hundreds multilayered razor teeth amongst his overgrown tusks. Bringing me in closer and closer, he held me by my shirt. I dangled, too weak to move.
“Abigail…” I managed to say with one last breath, just as I was lowered down into the mouth of the demon.
“DEAN!” Abigail’s voice screamed from the ground as she came running up, out of breath. Was I dreaming? I couldn’t tell. My sight was blurry and my head was throbbing. I tried to shake her out of my sight. She was still there.
Distracted, Asorath stopped. I hovered just inches above his mouth.
“The girl,” Asorath said, looking down at Abigail.
In a bright, hot flash of light something came flying out of the sky. Asorath’s hand was cut off at the wrist, causing his hand to fall to the ground with my body still in its grasp.
“DEAN! NO!” Abigail screamed, running to where the hand fell from the sky.