by Paul Taylor
Neil's caught completely off guard by Ben's angry charge. At least, that's all Ben can surmise from the fact that Neil goes down so easily the first time, that Neil never expected Ben Reilly to actually stand up to him. Neil stands there, a kind of kitten-like look of surprise on his face as Ben leaps over the turnstile entrance at him, lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl.
Neil flies backwards, his arms in the air, and Ben lands a hell of a good punch right in his face and somersaults forward over him, already pivoting back towards him as he lands. Neil is readying for Ben's charge, and Ben can see he is recovering from his initial surprise and preparing to strike back.
His mind in over-drive from the adrenalin - and maybe, because of the changes going "shadow-less" have wrought in him - Ben has time to consider the changes the shadows have wrought in Neil. Neil's body humps and twists with shadows writhing beneath his skin, he's gaunt and emaciated but still looks strong and his eyes are all black.
Ben moves to strike him again and something else happens.
What Ben at first takes to be blood spills out from Neil's nose, mouth, eyes and ears and swirls in the air in between them. It's too dark to be blood, and Ben realises it's shadow, the shadows that flow in Neil's blood, forming up to attack him.
Ben steps backwards, uncertain, ready to lash out with his glow.
The shadows coalesce and form up into a giant man-like shape, tall and thick, and ready to attack Ben. Neil charges forward with a cry and the shadow runs ahead of him like some obscene kind of puppetry. Ben starts trying to force his glow out as Neil's shadows approach only to realise his glow is taking care of itself.
Ben watches in amazement as his glow forms up in front of him, a giant shape that more than matches Neil's shadow. A human shape, burning like a vision of an angel. And then Neil's shadow hits Ben's glow.
The impact staggers Ben, and although he knows the shadow hasn't actually hit him, only his glow, he still feels the blow and is staggered by it.
Ben lashes back, swinging a clumsy left fist out, and sees his glow making the same movement, striking at Neil's shadow. Okay, now he's getting the hang of this, it's literal shadow boxing.
As Neil and Ben swing at each other, driving back and forth along the head of the aisles behind the row of checkouts, their avatars begin to take the fight into their own hands. Ben's glow reaches up and grabs Neil's shadow, tugging it this way and that, and they wrestle. Ben feels the blows raining against his body as Neil's shadow fights back. The shadow twists about and flings the glow over its shoulder, pinning it on the floor and Ben is almost knocked flying as Neil lunges at him. They fight now alongside their avatars, trading blows and feeling their blows as well.
Neil catches Ben hard across the cheek and Ben's head rings like church bells at Christmas. Ben returns the favour and clouts Neil in the side of the head with a giant, roundhouse blow. It visibly staggers him and Ben's happy. From the corner of his eye, he sees Neil's shadow reeling as well.
Unfortunately, Ben is so busy being impressed by his singular punch, that he doesn't notice Neil's returning blow until it's connecting with his head. Ben's head reels, throwing him onto a seesawing platform on the middle of the ocean, as his legs become suddenly seaworthy. Neil slugs him again in the guts, and Ben feels his glow suffering similarly. Even as Ben doubles over, he tries to stop himself, knowing what comes next. Neil has hit him too hard though and he can't keep himself from doubling over in pain, Neil grabs the back of Ben's head and smashes a knee up into his face.
Although Ben's nose doesn't actually break, he feels it mashed all across his face like squashed grapes, and galaxies flare in front of his eyes.
Ben hunches forward, knowing he is in danger of losing this fight already. What a great ending the saviour of the world has come to, he thinks. Ben sees from the corner of his eye that Neil's shadow is wrapped over his glow, covering it completely save for one small spot still shining beneath it.
"Come on, Benny-boy," says Neil. "Giving up on me already? Allan told me you were some kind of super Lightbringer, but I guess even the strongest light is nothing compared to the shadows. No wonder Kath prefers me, I guess she wants a real man. That's probably why she's converted to being a Shadoweater, hey?"
Ben doesn't know if Neil's telling the truth, and he doesn't know what Neil's trying to do, whether he's gloating or goading. All Ben knows is that Neil has said the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time. At the mention of Kath's name a surge of anger pumps through Ben's veins and lights his head on fire. His glow follows suit.
"She'll never pick you, you wife-bashing mongrel," Ben says through gritted teeth, hauling himself to his feet.
Ben flexes that muscle he's been building in his head, the one connected to the glow, and his glow flexes. It pulses and flares up, brighter than Ben's seen it thus far. Neil's shadow reels back and shrieks in pain as Ben's glow pierces through it in a dozen places, like sunlight through tree leaves. Neil cries out in pain and staggers away, clutching at himself as the shadow rushes back to him, a puppy seeking the protection of its mother.
Neil cries out again miserably, with his arms wrapped about him as if hugging himself. The shadow pours back into him like a waterfall, too much at once it seems, for his body is swelling grotesquely. He shudders and slumps, falling to the floor and his shadow disappears entirely into himself. Ben's not sure whether Neil's dead or not but he doesn't have time to check, he needs to get to the back of the supermarket and find Rich.
The darkened hallways of the supermarket stretch away in front of him, writhing with shadows and seeming to twist in on themselves like a supermarket designed by M.C. Escher. The aisles are vaguely illuminated by some source. Emergency lighting, perhaps? It makes sense. The Shadoweaters wouldn't want the bright fluorescents, because they would play havoc with their shadows, but the dull glow of emergency lighting would be ideal.
The rank odour of spoiled goods hangs in the air, sour milk, off meat. Empty boxes and their contents litter the floor, and Ben almost goes flying on a tin of Heinz "Oops" Spaghetti. As he regains his balance and continues creeping down the aisle, he becomes aware of a shape towards the end. A bulky, slumped shape that detaches itself from the shelves as he gets nearer. Another Shadoweater.
Ben waits for him to come slithering down the aisle and strikes. His glow spikes out in a solid beam and pierces the Shadoweater straight through the middle of its chest. The Shadoweater screeches in pain and seems to practically explode on the lance of Ben's beam. Shadows tear outwards in all directions from it and fade away, and the host slumps to the floor.
Ben moves cautiously past the host, he has to think of them simply as hosts otherwise he might lose his nerve for killing people, and continues down the aisle. Although he tries not to look as he passes, details of the body still catch his eye. The giant, gaping hole in the centre of its chest and the surprised look on its face with the black, gaping eye sockets open in silent screams. That shrunken, dried fruit look.
Ben shudders and moves on. He can't hear any voices now. As a matter of fact he can't hear anything. Claustrophobia asserts itself and he feels completely cut off from the outside world. That's not right though. For if he's being honest with himself, mightn't he admit that he's felt cut off since this whole crazy thing began? He might. If he was being honest, which he's not. There's no sense letting the truth come out this far in.
Ahead of him, at the far end of the aisle, is the cold section. He can see the darkened rows of milk from here. If he's right, to the left of them, in the back corner, is the entrance into the storeroom where hopefully he'll find Kath and the others.
If he ever gets that far.
The attack is so swift and silent, that the first Ben knows about it is a hard, bony appendage, like an elbow or knee, slamming into the back of his head. He stumbles forward, and his first thought is Neil. But as he falls, he manages to turn slightly and see it is not. It's another of his good buddies, none other than his ex-neighbour from the S
ettlers, Allan.
"You should have stayed out of it," Allan says in a thin, papery voice that makes Ben want to clear his throat. Either that or watch Godfather.
"I didn't ask to be included," says Ben. Wanting to stall Allan long enough to get his head back together. But he's not going to get that chance, because as he lays there having this witty intellectual exchange with Allan, someone else hauls Ben to his feet. In the second between when they spin him around and when they throw him into the shelves, Ben sees that it is Allan's partner, Cecile. Ben crashes into the shelf and various tins of food crash down onto his head and shoulders. One whacks him square in the back of his already battered head.
"You might have at least taken our warning seriously," says the woman. "Your friend, Dwayne, saw too much and was shadowed. Now, unfortunately, we can't remove you that easily."
Sprawled on the floor of the aisle, Ben struggles, trying to get to his feet, but he keeps slipping on tins of food. He feels like some idiot in one of those old slapstick comedies. Allan grabs Ben's arm as he waves it about, and slings him back to his feet. Still holding the arm, Allan pulls Ben close to him until they are almost nose to nose. Allan's breath washes over Ben, fetid and decaying, and his eyes flicker like shadows in a time-lapse film. Shadows whip and twist across them until Ben feels dizzy. Whatever remained of his pupils is long gone, making Allan look like his eyeballs have been pulled right out.
"How quickly would you like to die, Benjamin?" Allan asks him.
"Come on," Ben says. "You don't really want to kill me, I mean, I'm not worth it. Shade's the real guy, let me go and I'll leave, you'll never hear from me again, I promise." Ben can hear the pleading note in his voice and hates himself for it, but there's nothing he can do about it now.
"You silly pup," says the woman. "Even now you don't know, do you? Compared to you, Shade is a candle, he's like a light bulb to the sun. Shade is nothing, but with you, with you, he could rid the world of our kind forever. Indeed, if you knew how, you could do it yourself. But, alas..."
Allan flings Ben to the floor and their shadows leap out at him. They face him, one either side, with their legs spread and arms held out from their sides and their whole bodies tensed forward. Their eyes seems to grow larger, and shadows spew forth from them, racing out like black waterfalls towards Ben, smothering him, covering him.
Ben's glow leaps forth instinctively, trying to protect him, but it is a kitten compared to those two ravening tigers. Ben screams out as their shadows poke dozens of holes in his glow and pierce his body, what feels like his very soul. He's done his best, Ben thinks. And this is it. This is as far as he goes. So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Blackness rears up within him, anger, hate, despair, overwhelming him. Images flash by his mind's eye, Jessica, storming out of his flat in a huff; Kim, spilling doll-like, out of the fridge with her puffed, blue face; Kath, her face bloodied and beaten raw by Neil's fists, Kath fucking Neil and loving every minute of it, riding him to orgasm, arching her back and screaming out loud. Ben opens his mouth in a scream, and in his head, his scream of anger mixes with Kath's imagined scream of pleasure.
Suddenly, Ben is aware of other people there with him. He hears voices and the blackness recedes. Only a little, but it's enough for him to be able to see what is happening through a thin gauze of black.
Rich and the others have arrived, at last. Ben sees Rich race forward, in the lead, still playing the big policeman, and Ben watches him effortlessly batted aside by the woman. Rich flies across the aisle and slams into the shelves with enough force to collapse them. Ben hears Kath's voice cry out in horror as Rich is covered by a mountain of tinned spaghetti, baked bean and pasta sauces.
And then there is Shade. The man on the white horse. His glow rears up and envelops the woman and suddenly, Ben feels lighter. He only has to contend with Allan's shadow now, and he might have a chance after all. Allan's strong, but if what he says is true, maybe Ben's stronger. Maybe even strong enough to, as Cecile says, rid the earth of them forever.
Ben lashes out at Allan's smothering shadow and feels his glow tear partway through it. Ben's ears are rewarded by, if not a scream, at least a pained grunt from Allan. But that grunt tells Ben all he needs to know. A similar blow to him would have made him squeal like a stuck pig and Allan's barely even acknowledged it. Ben doesn't have a chance.
Allan's shadow bears down on Ben with all its strength, crushing him. He pushes up with his glow with almost no effect. Ben grunts and sweats and pushes some more but all he can see is black, as Allan's shadow smothers his glow, and by extension, Ben.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE