Reign Of Darkness

by E R Landron

  I walk. It seems that some images of what I'm seeing get to a certain point then fade completely. The grass on my feet becomes wood little by little, and now the rain is pouring all over. I'm on a boat. It's rocking back and forth as winds and waves are hitting hard the ship. Kokolite is running up and down trying to tie some ropes that are flying away from him. He has all his hair in his face yet I can see his desperation to try to take control of the situation. Other people are going back and forth pulling ropes here and there. The rain keeps pouring down, and a sudden calm comes from the waves, the scream of every man comes to a halt and is accompanied by a face of absolute fear. I run to one of the sides of the boat. The boat is getting suck under a huge wave that is developing and is going to cover the whole ship. Oh, shit! The shadow of the huge wave is above the boat. I grab a rope that is dangling and hold on to the edge of the boat. The wave slams itself which so much force that the boat tilted over and some men flew out of it. I'm underwater, but I don't need to swim. I can still breathe. Kokolite is under water as well and is struggling to open a door of the cabin. I walk, like if underwater had its own path, towards him and see a little glass, and I see the same woman and kid hitting the door with blood on her forehead from a deep cut. Water is filling the room quickly. He is running out of air. He lost his wife and son! That’s why he evaded the talk about family. Kokolite is almost choking and swims upwards. He gasps for a deep breath above water and decides to dive again. Everything is fading again, I walk again and see some indigenous people dragging Kokolite from the beach. I continue walking and see Kokolite motionless, as a man who lost his world. They bring him to their village. Mountainous area with little vegetation. The indigenous people are preparing a ritual, drums start to play they are painting his face with white and red marks as he keeps unfazed. The men are dancing singing as a huge moon accompanies the fire. They start dancing around Kokolite and drink something and spit at him and repeat various times. Kokolite starts to tremble, and his eyes are going blank completely as they roll up. Somehow I understand what's going on. That language I never heard of I understand it. They are linking him with nature. They are linking him with the world, the spirit world and everything that surrounds him so that his sorrows are gone, and his family is always with him. One of the elder looking men takes a totem and circles Kokolite's head as tears come from his eyes. The moon shines bright a howl from a wolf feels the atmosphere. It is all fading again.

  I walk again and see a Kokolite with more muscles and cut than before. His facial hair is the same as I saw him a few days ago. He has a bow and arrow, probably he's going to hunt. I walk next to him as if I was his shadow, not interacting as it is pointless. A few falcons are circling at far, and one flies away towards Kokolite. He prepares his bow and arrow as it is coming straight forward him and he shoots one of the arrows. The falcon dodges with grace and stops close to him. "Come to me!", the falcon says. Kokolite stops. “Come to me!” repeats the falcon. Kokolite confused but without question follows the falcon and it is heading back were the others keep circling in the air. "Come to me." the voice keeps repeating. Kokolite gets to the exact place where the falcons are above and notices lots and lots of animal bones. A few are human bones. He climbs a few rocks to get to a little path surrounded by more rocks all over. The stench is repulsive. Something is pinned to a boulder close to where the major concentration of bones lies. This area does not get any sun at all. There's a corpse of a white longed haired man. His upper body is above the boulder. "Come to me" the voice comes up again. Kokolite is weird out of it and with his bow and arrow ready to shoot as he gets closer to the corpse. The smell is nauseating. He lowers his bow as he continues to walk forward. He notices something shiny on his hands. The corpse is full of gold rings, one has a ruby, another and emerald, sapphire between other precious stones. Kokolite's mouth waters to see that and goes to the hands to take them off. As he is struggling to get them off, the corpse comes to life and bites him. It is sucking his neck. Kokolite panics and takes a stone made knife and stabs the corpse. It doesn't budge, it continues to suck the blood of Kokolite, and he is answering back with more rapid cuts to him until he pulls away from it and slashes its throat. Kokolite has blood from the corpse and his all over including his mouth. Kokolite stabs multiple times the corpse to make sure it doesn't move again. He’s panting, he’s scared. The falcons fly away with haste but stay close by. Kokolite licks his lips and quickly is getting dizzy. Beads of sweat start to form on his forehead. Everything in sight is going round and round and spinning even quicker. He feels vertigo. He starts to vomit and screams. Blood is coming out of his nose although he can't tell because he's already covered in blood. Kokolite screams in agony and the falcons come back and spread out and fly away. Kokolite turns to me. I move to the left, and he follows. I move to the right, and he follows again. "Can you see me Kokolite?". He stares at me as his teeth are getting a little bit pointier and with haste jumps in front of me and screams: "Get out! Get out!". He pushes me, and I fly backward all the sceneries I just witnessed. The indigenous people doing the chant, the crashed boat, the beautiful prairie were Kokolite played with his kid, my dad pointing at the number twenty-eight on the elevator, all the whispers, the voices, "I'm sorry I did it!" comes back again and everything went dark completely again.

  I open my eyes. Oliver is next to me covering his ears. The shriek still buzzes in my ears. The floor is moving. Just, vertigo! I gather my strength and with a wall push myself. I squint in pain as I extend my hand to Oliver.

  “What the hell was that?”, he asks while he uses my hand to get up.

  I stood silent. I heard Kokolite's voice. That puts me at ease. Why the scream? What all I saw what happened to him? At least he is alive. We got to hurry! I remember the vision of dad pointing out. Kokolite is on the 28th floor in some kind of surgeon's room. That's super weird. Did Oliver see this as well? Did Hannah and Ezequiel? Either way, we can skip all the other floors.

  “It was like a weird shriek in my head. Building alarm? Security system?”, Oliver continues.

  I shake my head. For now, I’m going keep the information to myself. We walk with guns in hand to the elevator and push the up button. We both look tense. Ollie’s breathing is more profound. I look at him a couple of times see if I could read anything. Something. He looks like he was on the same page. Confused. Ready for a fight turning each corner. We're facing something else, but I've seen Oliver faced big mobs, drug dealers and two years ago we were on a street war between two gangs, and he relentlessly did everything to survive. Cuts and bruises don't bother him until the mission is finished. That puts me at ease.

  “What if we encountered weird people?”, I ask.

  Oliver was weird out by the question while he saw the number of the elevator raise closely to the twelve.

  “I'm not going out in a body bag. We'll give them a bullet sandwich.”, he says.

  He smiles finishing the sentence. We raise our guns. I don't want to go out on a body bag either. I have to get home. I know there's a piece of pie waiting for me there. Also, Diane.

  The number on the elevator says eleven. Twelve. We stare at each other and nod. The doors open. It looks empty. We start to lower our guns when two heads pop out from both sides of the elevator and quickly hid. I hold my breath. We raise our guns again. A knot formed on my throat and the tension rose again. Shit! Not again!

  “That you pig?”, Hannah asks.

  A weight drops from my shoulder as I recognize her voice. I wave to Oliver. He looks confused. I nod. Oliver lowers his gun.

  “I prefer detective.”, I say.

  Hannah comes out first with her hoodie all dirty and her curly hair sticking out. She’s chewing gum. Ezequiel comes out looking like an ancient Egyptian. Looks unease under their presence. Oliver whispers: "Is this what you meant by weird?" Before I can answer a beep sounds from the elevator, announcing it is about to close. Oliver keeps starring at both Ezequiel and Hannah vice versa. I hit the twenty
-eighth floor.

  “Who's your boyfriend? Another pig? Hannah asks.

  Oliver forces a smile as Hannah kept chewing loudly.

  “Used to work together. He's with the FBI investigating the crash on the harbor.”, I say.

  “The one with the ships?”, Hannah asks.

  Oliver nods.

  “Maybe is there... you look kinda familiar.”, Hannah says.

  “Oliver is my name. How about yours?”

  “They call me Hannah. We call him Zeek.”

  Ezequiel looks at Hannah confuse, but she just responds with a big smile to him. Oliver continues to stare at Ezequiel.

  “What about you guys?”, he asks.

  “We were at the party undercover. Verifying there were no bad hombres there.”, Hannah answers.

  “What party?”, Oliver asks.

  “I think she meant that our investigation led us here.”, I say.

  “That’s right, what she said.”, Hannah smiles again.

  Hannah's chewing fills the room every time it goes silent.

  “Anyways, we were on the stairs, and a huge shriek ran through it, and we decided to go back to the elevator. How about you guys? You look like you had a party.”, Hannah says.

  “Had a little trouble on the way up. Oliver saved me.”, I say.

  “Awww. How romantic.”, she mocks.

  I frown, and Oliver turns to raise his eyebrow.

  “Why we're going to the twenty-eight floor again?”, Oliver asks.

  “Just a hunch.”, I say.

  Oliver turns to Hannah and Ezequiel again.

  “And where are your guns?”

  “Got damaged. Don't worry, we know how to fight.”, Hannah says.

  I hand her a mini machine gun. She took it almost in a mocking way and forces a smile.

  “Thanks, detective.”, she raises her eyebrows.

  This seems like the longest elevator ride in my life. I feel like I was caught hanging out with my ex and some family members or friends that are just judging me to what I'm doing. The truth is that we have another arm to cover us or help us to be safer at this time. At the moment it feels like it has been easy getting up here. My ribs still hurt yet I don't see the whole buzz of Ripa being this powerful. Just too many resources. I bet an army of well-trained military soldiers could have taken him out. Although the word vampire just exists on TV and movies. Not in real life. So that takes out why humans haven't done anything to them. I think.

  “By the way. You look like a cow chewing.”, I say to Hannah.

  Oliver smiles, Hannah raises her eyebrow and Ezequiel brakes a hard laugh that everybody stares at him.

  “Like a cow!”, he continues laughing.

  The laugh catches with us except Oliver who keeps an awkward smile. The laughter continues until the twenty-seventh floor were everybody postures up waiting to see what is out when the doors open.

  Night - Ripa’s Building 28th Floor, 2:15 AM

  The elevator doors open and it looks different from all the floors. We stay alert at anything and everything. A couple of feet to the front was a cracked drywall covering the path with huge signs that state: "Sorry, We're under construction." "DO NOT ENTER without a helmet." "If lost, call security or head back to lobby." Weird. Why so many signs? Why do I keep imagining that something will be normal at this point? Dust, ladders, tools, cinder blocks, paint trays, brushes, PVC tubes and other materials that are parts of remodeling or construction lay around.

  “It doesn’t look like he's here.”, Hannah says.

  “Who's here?”, Oliver asks.

  “Ergh, another undercover agent. He said he'll be here.”, I say.

  I open my eyes wide to Hannah. She squints and forces a smile. Everyone is walking around. Not much to see. It doesn’t make sense. I go to the wall in front and touch it. It seems to move, but it's too heavy. I call for Ezequiel. He’s the strongest here. He gets to my side. I put my hands on the front, and he follows. We move it back until it stops. Ezequiel tries using force, but it would not budge. I try to slide it. It moves again. He slides it to the left, but it doesn’t move. Both proceed to slide it to the right. It moves completely, and the group is mesmerized seeing the whole floor that looks spotless. Lots of glass rooms with their lights off except one almost at the end. Oliver and Hannah notice and all started walking forward with precaution. Guns in hand except for Ezequiel and Hannah. I know she’s uncomfortable with hers, but she will play the theatrics part for a while. Some rooms look like experiment labs, others look like weapon design, manufacturing of drugs are being created and packaged. On most of the rooms, there are some different types of hazmat suits. The security locks on them were high-tech. Iris, fingerprint and a card key lock. Some other rooms have photos of people; others machines attach through. A couple of rooms just look like they have a couple of freezers on them. All locked on these probably bulletproof walls that are a little cracked. What the hell is all this?

  “With a huge bust like this, you could become a god with your peers.”, Oliver says.

  This could explain the part of this Ripa having lots of resources. Doing so many things to profit, underground, illegally plus the club as an upfront. And if I'm not mistaken this building was said to be one of the city's leaders in property management and mortgage. So there are ways to move money easier and not get caught.

  We continue walking forward. A light flickering sounds as we get closer and closer to the room that was lit. We’re looking amazed at everything. Ezequiel doesn't understand much of what we see. He was going with it, waiting for the next fight in order to complete his mission. Some flashes spark at the very end of what looks like a wall. We get to the room that was lit. It's all damaged, equipment was thrown to the ground. Two guards are unconscious or dead on the floor with dry blood on their ears, nose, and mouth. Kokolite is on the floor too. I hold my breath. Hannah and me rush to pick him up while Oliver explores the room. We turn Kokolite face-up. He is a mess. Bruise eye. Clothing with multiple puncture holes. He’s breathing. He is not responding though. What happened to you K?

  “What the hell happened?”, Oliver asks.

  Ezequiel continues to pass the room until the end, were flashes keep popping from time to time. I ignore him and continue checking Kokolite. “Kokolite is out.”, says Hannah. I took some laces to tie the guards just in case they wake up.

  “Is that the undercover agent?”, Oliver asks.

  “Yes twenty questions, he is.”, Hannah answers.

  “I get your emo look, ergh Zeek's theatric Egyptian thing, and this guy...”, says Oliver.

  “Look out for the hobo outside! No one expects the hobo. What's hard to understand?”, Hannah snaps.

  “It is just weird the parts you all play out, considering it is all luxurious club and building.”

  “Hey man, we don’t tell you how to do your stuff!”

  Oliver shakes his head, while I go back verifying Kokolite. “He is stable, just very weak.” I place his head on my lap.

  “Check if there’s any water here!”, I say.

  Hannah nods and opens some of the dented cabinets. “Something exploded here,” she says while she keeps looking. She opens another cabinet, and she finds a bag of saline water.

  “Will this do?”, she asks.

  “Sure! Throw it to me. We need to clean him up.”, I say.

  Hannah throws the bag. I catch it. I get a scalpel nearby and stab it. I pour the water into Kokolite’s face trying to wash off the blood on him. Oliver seems unease. I turn my back. Ezequiel gets to the end on what looks like a wall but is a thick glass with very dark tint. Everything looks much darker outside. Ezequiel is concentrating on some flashes. Maybe a storm is forming. Ezequiel turns and rushes our way. What now? I signal Hannah to help me raise Kokolite. Each put his arms around our necks. Hannah also put on Kokolite's trench coat his staff. His hair was all the way back wet.

  “We should give him another pouch as soon
as possible to see if he wakes up.”, I say.