"Let me GO! THERESA!"
What had been Theresa - Linda's best friend since childhood - swayed unsteadily on her feet and lifted her head enough to watch them pass. Linda inhaled sharply and pulled against her captors, but they wouldn't give an inch.
"Stop fighting," Audrey warned. "There's nothing left of her. You're only seeing a projection... or a ghost if that's easier to understand."
"What the fuck are you talking about? She's right there!" Only she wasn't. Theresa was gone.
"Things are different here," Al said. "The mind has a way of inserting images in the place of reality. Theresa is dead and gone. No more than a trail of blood in the queen's wake."
"I saw her... she was right there."
"It's best you put her out of your mind, dear," Audrey said. "That was your previous life. You no longer have any need to hold on to your past."
Linda wasn't listening. She knew what she'd seen, just as she knew the naked torso perched atop a rusted wheelbarrow was Christian.
"Christian," she said. "You were at the hospital. I saw you!"
"Look what they did to me! It's all your fault, but you know that, don't you?"
Linda looked away in disgust and shame. Was she responsible for all this?
"Don't worry about him," Audrey said. "He was coming to hurt you. We couldn't allow that to happen."
"We made sure he'd never hurt anyone again," Al added.
"LOOK AT ME!" Christian shouted. "Look what they did."
Linda kept her eyes closed. She'd seen more than enough.
When Christian's angry shouts became piercing screams, she pinched her eyes tighter, afraid to see what was happening to him. When he stopped, Linda forced a glance in his direction, only to see one of the scaly monsters holding a piece of his face in its bloody jaws. It chewed loudly as they continued the climb to their destination.
Linda felt nothing. Not for herself and certainly not for the man who had made her life hell for so long. She wouldn't wish such an end on her worst enemy, but now that it was done, she felt a strange, disturbing peace come over her.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked.
"Home," Al said. "The Blackridge. It's time to meet the queen."
"Then will you let me go?"
"Why would you go?" Audrey asked. "Everything you need will be at your fingertips. Besides, the baby will need its mother."
"It's not MY BABY!" she cried. "It's a demon... or worse!"
"Eventually you'll realize this is where you belong," Audrey said. "The child will need you. The queen can't build her army and still be bothered with the mundane task of raising a newborn. Don't be selfish."
"I will not take care of a monster," Linda said through clenched teeth. "I'll kill it the second I get a chance. I'll drown it in the tub..."
Al slapped her in the side of the face and grabbed her waist to keep her from falling. Linda was beginning to feel like a human punching bag.
"You'll do no such thing," he growled. "You will do exactly what we tell you to do. Refusal means punishment, and I think you've seen enough to know that we take it very seriously. You won't take a piss without asking permission first."
"THEN KILL ME! Anything is better than being a fucking slave!"
"That's a bit harsh," Audrey said.
Linda turned and spit in Audrey's face. "I'll kill you, too. I'll kill all of you."
Audrey raised a hand to strike, but Al grabbed her wrist and shook his head. Long, sharp talons retracted into the nail beds of Audrey's gnarled fingers as she reached up and wiped Linda's spittle from her cheek.
"If you do anything like that again, I'll rip open your throat," she said.
"No you won't," Linda said defiantly. "You can't. What would your so-called-queen do to you if you hurt me?"
"Do you think you're special? Is that was this is about? You have some belief that you can't be harmed? Once the baby is born, your existence only depends on us. If you cross me, I'll open you like a suitcase and pull out what's inside. The queen understands that my tolerance for entitled little bitches has worn very thin over the years. You're only a number, Linda, one of thousands, and that number grows by the day."
"Then do it. Slit my throat. Feed me to one of your dogs. Let's see what happens."
Audrey tensed, grabbed Linda's hand, and bit off the tip of her index finger. She spit the bloody morsel on the street and laughed at Linda's shocked expression.
"You don't have to die quickly," Audrey said. "I can take you apart piece by piece. One way or another, we'll take the baby from your womb and the queen will have what's hers."
Linda stared at the ragged tip of her finger and blinked, as if the simple act could make her missing digit reappear. There was no pain, only a warm tingle. It stopped bleeding almost immediately as new flesh grew over the wound.
"You see?" Audrey asked. "I could keep you alive for years while every day I make you disappear one scrap at a time."
"Why?" she cried. "What's in it for you? What do you get out of torturing and killing innocent people?"
"When you've lived as long as I have, you'll do just about anything to pass the time. There's no such thing as an innocent person. You're all guilty of something. Killers, rapists, thieves..."
"You're an evil bitch," Linda cried.
"Enough! Both of you," Al said. "We're here."
Linda had been so distracted by her hate for Audrey that she didn't notice they'd reached the top of the hill. When she saw the building that waited there, her heart skipped a beat and she held her breath. Her apartment building stood out against the sky like an Irish castle; beyond the building was nothing but a blasted crater and a jagged ridge of scorched, black rocks.
"The Blackridge," Linda whispered.
"See where we came up with the name?" Audrey asked. "Clever, isn't it?"
"I'm not going in there."
"That's not your choice," Al replied.
Linda prepared a reply, but the words escaped in a scream. Her stomach clenched and her knees buckled, and if not for Al Sterling, she would've fallen on her face right in the center of the street. The creatures lining the road jumped and cheered and moved closer as Linda's water broke and splashed over her feet. Her brain was filled with searing white light and her body trembled uncontrollably as Al and Audrey pulled her toward the Blackridge.
She prayed for the pain to stop.
She prayed for death.
At that moment, as the cheers reached a cacophonous peak, she felt like a gladiator entering the Coliseum - scared to death but ready to fight. The pain made it impossible. She wasn't a gladiator, not a hero. She was a lamb being led to slaughter and there was no way out. The baby was coming. The creature. The devil.
They'd gotten what they wanted. All Linda could do now was see what fate had in store and if God could hear her prayers in this desolate, forgotten place.
***
The lobby of the Blackridge was unrecognizable.
Garbage and twisted corpses lined the walls, piled several feet high in places. The room reeked of blood and excrement. Candles flickered and bathed the room in an orange glow. In the center of the room was a large bed covered in bloody sheets. Always another bed. In her dreams, in her visions, in the cellar where Al had raped her and planted his seed. All these demons did was sleep, eat, and fuck. Linda felt sorry for their tortured existence until she realized it wasn't any different from her own. Are humans really so much better?
Stars exploded in her eyes as another contraction forced her to her knees. Al and Audrey continued forward, pulling her across the filthy floor, ever closer to the stinking mattress at the foot of the staircase. Reptilian abominations and humans alike piled in behind her, filling the room with their chatter, their grunts, and their heat. They formed rows the length and width of the room, jostling to be near the action. A woman reached out to touch Linda's arm as Al grabbed her and broke her neck in one motion, dumping her on the floor where she was trodden beneath heavy feet.
&nbs
p; When they reached the bed, they dumped Linda onto the crusty sheets and turned her over to face them. They beamed like expecting grandparents. Linda could tell by the bulge in Al's pants that he had an erection, and she turned her head in disgust. She threw her head back and gritted her teeth as another contraction twisted her guts and doubled her vision. Childbirth was nothing like she saw on television. This felt like someone was tearing her open with the jaws of life and throwing salt in the wound. Perhaps giving birth to a demon was somewhat different.
"Relax," Audrey said while removing Linda's wet pajama bottoms. "It'll all be over before you know it."
"GET AWAY FROM ME! Don't you TOUCH ME!"
Audrey removed Linda's panties and tossed them on the floor where they were quickly scooped up by a half-human beast with leaking ulcers up and down its legs. It raised the panties to its face, sniffed them, and bounded into a corner where it could safely enjoy its prize.
Al positioned himself between Linda's legs and forced her knees apart, exposing her vagina to the throng of curious onlookers. As much as she fought against him, Al was too strong. She groaned and bucked but his hands remained steady. The coppery stench of the sheets mixed with the smell of her own sweat made her nauseous. As she tensed for another contraction, she vomited over the edge of the bed, spilling chunks of half-digested pizza onto the floor.
The pizza Mort had shared with her just hours ago. It felt like another life.
"I can see his head!" Al exclaimed to raucous cheers.
"Don't you worry about pushing," Audrey said. "He'll find his own way into the light."
"No! You can't let it be born. It has to DIE!"
"It'll take but a minute," Audrey said. "He wants out just as much as you do."
"OUR QUEEN!" Al bellowed. "Your child is almost here. We are not worthy to look upon his face. The prince of all armies!"
Those gathered dropped to their knees and bowed their heads in reverence as the room quieted. Al reached between Linda's legs and grabbed the newborn by the shoulders, slowly pulling him from Linda's body one inch at a time. She wailed and bit her tongue, feeling warm blood trickle over her lip. With one last effort, Al tore the baby from her body and raised it above his head like a sacrificial offering. Audrey produced a rusty pair of scissors from beside the bed and cut the umbilical cord with a triumphant cry. No one looked up to see the child; many looked away as if seeing him was strictly forbidden.
Bathed in sweat and weak from blood loss, Linda looked up at the baby with trepidation, afraid to see what evil had been birthed from her womb, but all she saw was a normal newborn child. No claws, no teeth, no glowing eyes or tail. It was just like any other baby, but she knew different.
"He's beautiful!" Audrey cried.
He's a demon, Linda thought. A devil from the depths of Hell.
"Look upon him," Al shouted. "See the future of everything."
Once ordered, everyone turned their heads to the child in awe. Al slowly walked around the room with the baby in his arms, showing it off like a carnival prize. Tears spilled down his cheeks as he blubbered like a fool. Audrey led the way like a dutiful wife, clearing a path so they could parade the baby around the room like a pageant winner.
"As promised, we have given you a son," Al said. "He will sit with your other children as you plan the war to end all wars. We will serve him as we've served you."
Linda sat up as the room spun around her, but all eyes were on Al and Audrey.
Where is this queen of yours? Linda thought. Something as important as this, Linda figured the queen would have made an appearance. Maybe she didn't want to bother with this motley crew of broken humans and reptilian horrors. Maybe she didn't exist at all outside the delusional minds of Al and his tenants.
"Of all the beings that scrabble for purchase in the dark corners of the universe, you are the most mighty, the most beautiful, the one true ruler of all the cosmos. The gods tremble at your feet; the Shadowking bows to your majesty."
What is he talking about? Linda thought. The Shadowking? The gods?
Al continued his monologue as he wept openly over the squirming body in his arms. Audrey had gotten on her knees with the others and began speaking in a language Linda couldn't understand. The crowd joined in the barbaric chant as the floor began shaking beneath her. The air crackled with electricity and sizzled with unseen fire, but only Linda was paying any attention.
I have to get out of here.
Linda placed her feet on the floor and tested her legs. She was woozy but thought she could hold her own weight. If drinking had taught her anything, it was how to remain standing even when the odds of doing so were against her. She stood, fell back, and stood again, this time remaining on her feet. Her legs were slick with blood. She was naked from the waist down. She was nauseous and dizzy and exhausted... but none of that mattered now. With Al turned away from her and Audrey in some sort of trance, Linda took several steps toward the door.
Once she knew she could walk, she jogged, and once she knew she could jog, she ran.
Past those kneeling in prayer.
Past Audrey.
Past the heaps of moldering corpses.
Past Al as he praised his queen, oblivious to the sound of Linda's feet beating the dirty marble floor of the Blackridge's lobby.
She ran into the choking smoke and thin air of a dead world without any concept of where to go. Her vision was fading, and it had become harder to stand without holding onto something. She stumbled down the front steps, waiting for someone inside to notice that she'd escaped. She ran up the street, constantly looking over her shoulder, expecting to see Al or his horde of psycho minions hot on her trail. There was no one. The blasted buildings hovered over her, windows and doors empty, sidewalks clear.
Where is everyone?
She turned down a narrow alley that was choked with filth and dismembered limbs. A door burst open and a nasty reptilian creature loped toward her with a crooked grin.
"Where do you think you're going?" It asked. "There's no way out of here... not for you, not for any of us."
Linda turned and ran between two buildings, feeling less and less capable of staying upright. The stench was unbearable. The slick cobblestones beneath her feet were drenched in blood. Smoke burned her eyes and made it difficult to see where she was going. As she rounded another corner, a hand reached out and pulled her to the sidewalk.
"Let me go," she huffed. "Please... I just want to go home."
Through the smoke, Linda saw a familiar face. She cried out and tried to back away, but the girl had a strong grip on her shirt.
"Take me with you," the girl begged. "Get me out of here. They're always watching... always chasing me."
An orange spark glowed in the shadows.
"Melissa?" Linda said.
The chain-smoking cashier from the Dollar General sat in a pile of rotten meat, surrounded by flies and still wearing her identifying name tag. Her clothes had been ripped to tatters and half of her face had been burned to the bone.
"You have to take me with you," Melissa pleaded. "Take me to the Blackridge. Anything is better than being here."
"I can't... I don't know how..."
"They took your baby," she cried. "They took mine too. Ripped it from my body and gave it away. You have to help me."
Linda struggled to her feet and swatted Melissa's hand aside. "Why didn't you warn me? Why didn't you tell me what was going to happen?"
"You couldn't have changed it," she said, inhaling another deep drag off her cigarette. "All they do is take. Where's my baby?"
Linda stumbled away as heavy footfalls pounded towards them.
"I couldn't feel the baby moving," Melissa yelled. "Still, they took it and gave it away."
"I'm sorry," Linda moaned. "I can't help you."
"Those things tore it apart. They played with it like dogs with an old shoe. THEY ATE IT!"
One of the lizard-men rounded the corner and slid on the wet ground. It went down on all four
s and crept closer to Melissa as she pressed herself against the building.
"When will you ever learn?" The creature hovered over her, dripping saliva from its crooked muzzle. "The baby was never yours in the first place."
Melissa's screams broke the silence as she was torn apart. Her name tag clattered to the street. It would be the only evidence left behind that she'd ever existed at all.
Linda left the sound of wet chewing behind as she stumbled deeper into the maze of broken buildings. She knew there was no way out... not for her, not for Melissa, not for an infinite number of others who'd crossed paths with Al Sterling. This was the last stop on the road to complete insanity.
The very threshold of Hell itself.
As the road gave way to a larger boulevard, Linda heard the telltale sound of claws clicking on the street behind her. She had no energy to run. Her breath hitched painfully in her chest as smoke clogged her lungs. Clear snot dribbled from her nose and tears cut lines through the soot that had collected on her cheeks. When she looked up, the road was gone.
She stood at the edge of a cliff that bordered a deep, steaming chasm of the dead. Hundreds of feet below, Al Sterling's victims lay piled in a crater of bubbling human stew. Linda's stomach ached. Her head throbbed. Blood leaked from between her legs and formed a small puddle between her feet. When she turned, she saw Al and Audrey exit the Blackridge and stand on the stoop with their trophy cradled in Al's arms. They made no attempt to follow. A wall of scaly, scowling monsters stood between her and any means of escape.
"You've given us a great gift," Audrey said.
"Take it and throw it on the fire," Linda shouted with a voice thin from weariness.
"We can give you everything," Al said. "Eternal life. Power. You're one of us now, whether you like it or not."
"I'll never be one of you. You took everything from me: my friends, my father, my life!" Linda swayed and nearly fell before regaining her balance.
"You can have it all back," Audrey said. "All of it."
"There's no going back..."
The baby began crying. Her baby. Part of her felt relief at having it out of her, and another felt immense emptiness from having it torn from her so suddenly.
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