by Greg Ballan
He quickly retrieved his weapon, and again looked at his inhuman adversaries. The creature stared at him long and hard, Erik felt hostility and hatred directed solely at him. This battle just became personal. His opponent was bigger than him, stronger than he was, and nearly unstoppable. Erik knew that he should be afraid, but for some reason, as he looked into himself, he found no fear. He'd meet these things again. Somehow, he was a part of something much older than himself or his species.
With a sudden icy gale, the two creatures dissipated into nothingness, absorbed by the blackness that brought them to the park. The police closed in on the area, weapons drawn. Erik quickly holstered his gun. He turned and saw Shanda and Brianna. The child was huddling inside her arms. Erik could see the tear streaks running down her face, ruining her makeup. She ran into her father's arms, weeping. Erik caught her, ignoring the pain in his leg while he held his daughter tight.
"It's okay, Munchkin, it's okay. They're gone now," he whispered into his daughter's ear as he held her tight, rocking her body as she continued to cry.
Erik looked over at Shanda, he could feel the tears flowing from his eyes, and could see her crying as well. Erik gently lifted Brianna, again ignoring the pain in his leg and walked over to Shanda. He gave the child one more hug, grateful they all pulled through unscathed. Shanda looked up at him, her own eyes wet with tears.
"You were absolutely incredible." She wrapped her arms around them both. "I've never been so scared in all my life," she whispered.
Before Shanda could say another word, grateful parents and children surrounded them. Erik accepted all the platitudes from the mothers and children, but wanted to get out of the park and to the relative security of his small apartment.
"Hey, hero! We need a statement," a familiar voice called out.
Erik turned and saw Steve making his way past the party guests. "Let's say that this was round two," Erik replied moodily as he shifted his daughter's weight to his other arm.
"Same thing as yesterday?" Steve asked.
"Yeah," Erik replied.
"How can you be so sure?" Steve pressed.
"One was tall, black armored flesh, bad attitude. The other was big, cat-like with green eyes," he replied. "I think that you've met the pair." Erik stared at the officer.
Steve nodded as he wrote things down in his notepad. "I just had to follow procedure, no need to get huffy."
"Those fucking things came for my daughter!" he swore angrily. "You'll excuse me if I take it a little personal and get a little pissed off!" Erik shot back in a voice seething with anger.
Shanda gently rubbed Erik's back, while he and the Hopedale officer continued to stare at each other.
"I'm sorry, Steve," Erik apologized. "I shouldn't be snapping at you. This one just hit a little too close to home."
"There's no need for an apology, my poor attempt at humor notwithstanding," Steve replied. "There's more to this, isn't there, Erik?" Steve probed. "They're not confining themselves simply to the woodlands. You were speculating earlier. I'm betting that you already have a working theory."
Erik wasn't in the mood for questions. "Breakfast tomorrow at Madame's; you buy for all of us, and maybe we'll talk. Nelson will be back from New York in a day or two and we can plan our next step. I'd really like to know what they saw." Erik gestured toward the other mothers and children talking to the police.
"We've gotten several different stories, but they all have the same things in common: Darkness, a large cat-like dragon, and you fighting another man shrouded in black clothing." Steve paused. "The children, however, added something totally different, and their stories are all the same. They saw two monsters, with glowing eyes coming out of the darkness, coming to take them, and then you and one of the monsters squaring off in a fistfight and you shooting the larger thing." Steve paused. "With the exception of the feelings regarding abduction, the parents and children generally all say the same thing. It gives them a great deal of credibility."
"And what did you see?" Erik pressed the officer.
"Dissipating darkness, with two dark forms in the center. I'm afraid we arrived too late. Thank God one of the mothers had a cell phone. We were right on the next block."
"Amen to that," Erik replied. "There wasn't much more I could have done, Steve. You got here just in time."
"Don't sell yourself short, Erik. You saved a lot of people today, including your own daughter. We're a team. Nobody I know is keeping score, that's not why we both do what we do."
Erik gently put his daughter down. "You're right about that. We'll talk tomorrow. Right now, we're going home," Erik said as he put his arms around his daughter and Shanda, and painfully limped toward his truck.
Chapter 7
Friday evening, 7:15 p.m.
Erik, Brianna, and Shanda sat quietly in his booth at Madame's. Brianna sat between the two adults. There were lingering traces of fear in her eyes. Shanda could see that Erik was also disturbed. She sensed he wanted to talk, but not in front of Brianna. The young waitress that had brought her to Erik's apartment the other night was carefully watching them from behind the cash counter. Shanda met her stare, and the young girl simply smiled and turned back to her job at the counter.
She looked back over at Erik. He was slowly flexing his left hand. She noticed the big blister that had formed on his palm.
"Are you all right?" she whispered to Erik.
"Yeah, I'm just in some pain. I'm in no condition to go back into those woods. I personally don't think that anyone should go there anymore until we know what we're up against," he said moodily as he sipped a glass of water.
"I think you're right."
"The ironic thing is that the answers are up there. Eventually, one has to go where the answers are. We can't keep floundering around, reacting to these things. A way must be found to stop them." He rubbed the glass of ice water against the burn on his hand.
The dish of ice cream in front of Brianna had turned into a soupy mess. She had been very quiet since the events of the party. She continually leaned against her father's shoulder, and Erik would give her an assuring pat or hug.
"Erik, why don't we go back to your apartment? You look like you need to unwind."
Erik nodded as he and Brianna slid out of the booth. Erik was limping badly and Shanda could see blood soaking through his shirt. She knew that he had reopened his other wounds during his confrontation. As they headed out the door to his apartment, Shanda noticed that the young waitress was again watching Erik as he made his way out the door.
* * *
Erik sat on his couch, Brianna next to him. Shanda sat on the remaining small chair directly across from them. Brianna began asking her father several questions concerning the things she had seen. Erik was having a great deal of difficulty answering his daughter's questions.
"I really don't know, Munchkin," he began. "I really can't say what they were. I do think they live up on the mountain somewhere. I'm sure the authorities will take care of it. I don't think that they'll be popping up in the park anymore."
"Especially after the beating you gave it, Daddy." Her innocent voice beamed with pride.
"Nobody monkeys around with Daddy's little girl." He lightly kissed the top of her head. However, the look he gave Shanda was not nearly as convincing as his voice.
The three spent the evening playing several board games while watching Erik's small television. By the time the evening had come to a close and Erik had put Brianna to sleep in his room, she seemed to have recovered from her ordeal. It was very important for her to keep repeating that her father stopped the monsters.
"I hope she doesn't have any nightmares about that party, I know that I will," Erik said as he closed the door to his bedroom and sat back down on the couch.
"I still can't believe things such as that actually exist." Shanda moved over to the couch next to him. She gently lifted his shirt off his body to examine the cuts on his chest.
"We have to clean and redress these w
ounds before you get an infection." She helped him up and escorted him into the bathroom. She gathered some body wrap that Erik had in his medicine cabinet and some alcohol. "Run yourself a hot tub and soak for a while. You need to stretch your muscles."
Erik started the tub and grabbed a clean pair of sweat pants from a laundry bin. He walked back into the bathroom, which was filling with steam. Shanda had gathered bandages and burn cream and placed them on the small counter. Erik walked in behind her and kissed her gently on the cheek. She melted against him, resting her head back on his shoulder.
"I have never been so scared in all my life," she whispered as she held his arms tighter.
Erik looked down at her and smiled. "I'll let you in on a little secret, so was I."
"Yes, but you fought it to a stand-still and saved ten children including your own. You saved my life as well. I don't know how I can repay you for that. That's the second time you've saved my bacon from the frying pan."
"You're here with me now, that's all the payment I need," he whispered as he kissed her deeply.
* * *
Shanda sat in Erik's small living room watching television. Erik had been soaking in the tub for almost twenty minutes. She knew that soaking in the hot water was the best thing for him. She too was tired, emotionally drained from the afternoon. She had seen something truly horrible and her mind was having difficulty accepting it. She recalled how calm Erik had seemed. She remembered him addressing the darkness in a defiant tone.
You can't have my daughter!
She remembered Brianna whispering a continuous mantra as she held her.
It wants me, it wants me, it wants me.
She had repeated those words over and over, while her body convulsed with tremors of stark terror.
Erik emerged from the bathroom looking refreshed. He had re-wrapped his chest, and had another wrap around his right arm covering the large burn on his palm.
"Well." Erik seated himself on the sofa. "I almost feel human again." He looked at Shanda and adopted a serious expression. "Now you know what we faced up on the mountainside." He adjusted the tie on his black sweatpants.
"I'm still trying to get over the creepies," she responded with an involuntary shudder. "I don't know what to say, or even think. I've heard some of my customers talk about things like that existing ages ago, but I thought they were reading too many fairy tales."
"What worries me," Erik responded, "are there any more of these creatures up there? We can barely deal with the two we have now; say there were four, or six of those things running around up there. What if there are more of these things scattered around the countryside? We could be facing some real danger to the general populace." Erik leaned forward and reached inside a drawer on the small table at his side. He produced a small topographic map and unfolded it on the table surface. He was intently studying the Hopedale Mountain and surrounding areas.
"What are you looking for?" Shanda asked as she studied the map's details alongside him.
"A pattern, a clue – anything that might give me some rhyme or reason as to what triggered these things. I'm convinced that something happened high up on the mountain. Something had to change to draw these things down. The questions are what, why, and how? Anybody foolish enough to attempt going back up there will need the answers to those questions."
Before Shanda could reply, the telephone rang. Erik walked over to the phone in his kitchen and answered. Shanda tried not to eavesdrop, but it was impossible not to overhear the conversation in his small apartment. She could tell by his half of the dialogue that the caller was his ex-wife. Shanda knew that word of what had occurred must have made its way to her. She could imagine the woman's panic over not seeing her daughter, not knowing that she was safe.
"No, Margaret, that's not necessary. She's fast asleep now," Erik answered.
"Tell Richard not to come over here," Erik said forcefully.
"I'm not angry, I'm just tired. Look, she's sleeping. Picking her up now is crazy. Sleep is the best thing for her. I'm not going to wake her up." Erik paused.
"I don't know what they were. I'm working on that with the police. No, I'm not mad at you for suggesting the party. It's not your fault, Margaret, so don't go there. No one could possibly foresee something like this." Erik was silent for a few moments, grunting in agreement periodically. He looked over at Shanda and shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, I'll see you in the morning, about nine-thirty is fine. Good enough, goodbye." Erik hung up the phone and walked back to the couch and the map he had been studying.
"She just heard from one of the mothers at the party," Erik explained.
"I'm sure she was probably freaking out," Shanda replied.
"She blames herself for not being there," Erik said, studying the map intently.
"What could she have done if she had been there?"
Erik’s eyes burned with intensity. "Probably die, along with everyone else, but I couldn't tell her that. I can't tell her this thing wanted our daughter for God only knows what. I've been lucky, twice, so far dealing with those things. If the police hadn't shown up when they did, we'd probably all be dead." Erik looked up at her, a flash of fear in his expression. "I can't watch over her twenty-four hours a day. If they come for her again, and I'm not there…" Erik hedged. "I don't know if lady luck will smile upon the same fool three times."
"What are you saying?" Shanda asked. "You came out on top out there. You saved all those people."
"This time, perhaps," he added moodily as he flexed the bicep in his right arm. "I got lucky. Even with my enhanced strength, it would have walked through me, given enough time."
"Erik, people make their own luck. Your skill and ability have been a counter for its super strength and rage. You were handicapped earlier. Would you have fought them the same way if Brianna and the other children weren't there?" Shanda asked.
Erik was silent, considering her words. He straightened up. His eyes opened wider. "No! I could have ducked that pole, and I would have emptied the other clip into the big thing, possibly killing it, but there were too many bystanders. I couldn't risk a full assault." He was silent again, and then smiled a half smile at her. "You're amazing, you know that? I never would have looked at it that way."
"That's because you're a male. Men think differently than women do. You're always so pessimistic," she added lightly as she kissed him. "You have a self-esteem problem, Mr. Knight. You need me more than you think." She giggled as she playfully tapped the side of his head.
"I guess I can live with that," he answered as he kissed her again.
* * *
Erik and Shanda said their goodnights at his door. Normally, he would walk her to her car, but the thought of leaving his sleeping daughter alone, even for a second, was unthinkable. He made his way back into his bedroom to check on Brianna. She was sleeping soundly. Erik quietly stepped out the door, leaving it wide open, should she awaken. He slowly eased his battered body down on his couch and quickly fell asleep.
* * *
He was floating in a purple mist, surrounded by dozens of strange beings. He knew he was on a battlefield. He could see beings fighting all around and above him. They were not human. The group he was with had shiny metallic skin, with blue pupiless eyes. The beings they were fighting were charcoal in color. He saw one approach where he was standing, and attack.
He raised his weapon to defend himself, and was stunned to see that he, too, had the silvery flesh of those around him. He fought almost without thought, as if his body were being controlled by something outside of himself. He was a passive observer, only watching his body perform as some other power controlled his every move. He fought with extreme skill and confidence of purpose, performing feats of skill and strength that he knew were humanly impossible.
His weapon was a long silvery staff. It seemed to be alive, knowing his every thought and intention. The weapon seemed to purr and moan during the combat, almost relishing the feel and heat of battle.
Then, the
battle was over. Hundreds of dead on both sides littered the battlefield beneath the great mountain. The dark-skinned warriors were defeated. The survivors of their race were gathered and herded together like cattle.
He saw himself guarding one of the prisoners. He could experience the conflicting emotions that the creature he shared a body with was experiencing: Pain, sorrow, regret, and grim determination. The emotion was something so pure, so intense, that he knew it was beyond human capability.
The remnants of the defeated army were being forced into a large cave, they were shrieking in terror. He caught a glimpse of something already inside the cave, he could sense the thing was not happy being where it was. It wanted desperately to escape. The captives pleaded with their captors for mercy, the fear and dread so powerful that it registered overwhelmingly on his heightened senses.
As the last of the losing army was marshaled into the cave, he heard the screams grow louder, then the thundering boom of a gigantic door closing. As he walked away with the others, he felt the concussion of a cave in. The defeated army was entombed, alive, with some unspeakable horror that terrified them greatly.
* * *
He stood on the edge of a great cliff, overlooking a large newly-forged canyon, with others of his kind. The smell of the air was different to him, sweeter, less tainted. He was one among a sparse handful, the last of his race, he knew. They were all saddened by what they had done, and even sadder by what they must now do. They arrived to this world filled with hope, only to pollute it with their very existence. They did not belong. This world had made its own race. They were interfering in the natural progression. It could not be allowed.
