Count to Ten

by Mark Ayre

  Terrified but determined not to let it show, he took a step forward, then another. A third brought him in contact with the gun. It pressed into the centre of his chest as he reached for Xyla. If she pulled the trigger, he would almost certainly die. His daughter would witness her mother murder her father.

  It took everything he had not to abandon Xyla, grab his daughter, and flee.

  “Don’t make me do this,” whispered Gina.

  Fighting his base impulse to run, he said, “The choice is yours.”

  His hands closed around Xyla. At first, Gina resisted, but when he applied a little pressure, she loosened her grip. The crying baby came free.

  Will turned fast from the madwoman that had once been his wife. He dropped to his knees and pressed Xyla into Edie’s arms. His daughter clung to the baby who immediately soothed in the teen's arms. Xyla’s father was gone. By the end of tonight, her mother would likely be dead. Will wondered if Edie might be in the opposite boat.

  Despite all he had thought, he was unable to surrender Gina. He needed to give her one last chance.

  He stood, turned, and watched his wife pull the trigger.

  Fifty-Six

  “Hold her,” said Heidi, throwing Mercury to Quincy. “Do not kill her. I want her to meet our supreme leader. I want her to suffer.”

  As Quincy threw a beefy arm around Heidi and held her tight to his chest, Heidi moved towards Amira. She didn’t say what she planned to do upon catching Mercury’s friend. She didn’t need to.

  The winds whipped harder and harder, though they were quiet. Kayla seemed to glow. Typical rituals were quick. Mercury had no idea how long this grander variety might last.

  Amira, sensing the danger, disappeared into the ranks, moving towards the centre circle. When it was over, as Amira had the demon-killing blade, she would be in the best position to destroy this new demon. She had only to avoid Heidi long enough to get her shot. That would be near impossible. Even if it worked, what were her chances of putting the blade through the demon master’s heart? Despair subdued Mercury.

  If only they had been quicker.

  Too late for such concerns. The ritual was underway. Quincy had a gun, but even if Mercury took it, made it to the centre of the circles and shot Kayla dead, the ritual would revive her. If there was a body, it could continue.

  The answer hit her like a tonne of bricks. Potential answer, anyway. She had no way of knowing if it would work. It was worth a shot. If she could pull it off, could she thwart Heidi’s plan before the ultimate evil could arise?

  First, she had to escape Quincy. Asking politely wouldn’t work. She needed brute force.

  Maybe…

  His arm around her throat was tight, but he used only one. His infected blood imbued him with strength beyond that of an average human, but not much beyond. Still, without Heidi’s possession, he believed Mercury a weak, feeble woman, and therefore no trouble.

  Had he forgotten, or did he not know, when the demon departs the host, she leaves behind residue strength and speed. Nothing like what Mercury had when Heidi resided within. More than a member of the infected? Certainly possible.

  She had struggled a little when first Quincy had grabbed her—stopped when she got to thinking. She was still tense. With a quiet but deep breath, she allowed her body to go limp, her head to loll.

  Staring after his master, Quincy at first didn’t realise what had happened. When he looked down to see her, she felt the panic rush through his body.

  “No, no.”

  He hadn’t been squeezing hard but thought he didn’t know his strength. After all, it was new to him. He believed he might have killed Mercury. Disobeying Heidi, even by accident, was unacceptable.

  In a hurry, he spun her around, clutching her shoulders as he faced her to him, preparing to shake as though he could rattle the life back into her.

  Once they were face to face, she put a hand on the outside of either of his arms and used them like monkey bars. Lifting both feet, she smashed his stomach, ejecting the air through his mouth, propelling herself backwards.

  Doubling over, he collapsed to one knee, putting his palm to the ground to stop from collapsing.

  She did fall over but rolled fast and sprung. As she faced him, the cop used the hand not in the grass to draw his gun and point it at her chest.

  But he had overplayed his hand. Mercury had seen the fear when he believed he might have killed her. He dared not risk pulling the trigger.

  With a wink, needing to further incite his anger, she turned and raced through two chanters into the outermost circle.

  Fifty-Seven

  The howling winds swept around Amira. The chanters stared towards the centre circle, speaking faster and faster, paying her no heed. Kayla’s toes were a couple of inches from the ground.

  With the noise of the wind and the chanting, Amira had little chance of hearing the approaching footsteps of either Pogo or Heidi. Keeping low, knife in hand, she swept between the first and second rows and circled. Forty-five people was not so many. Somehow, within their ranks, they seemed to cover several miles.

  Outside, the sun had been climbing higher and higher in the sky. It had burned through the white of the marquee, lighting the rows of evil.

  Within the circles, all was dark, gloomy. Though Amira could see the marquee top above, it was shrouded in mist. Time crawled.

  She rotated as she moved, trying to cover all angles. If Pogo and Heidi were here, they would split. Amira had to be ready.

  Before long, the wind and the chanting blurred into background noise. She achieved a state which might almost be called calm. Time slowed again. She took deep breaths. The inhale-exhale pounded in her ears. She sensed the oncoming attack before it arrived.

  If the sense of almost serenity was as available to Pogo as it had been Amira, the infected woman had disregarded its power. Through two chanters, she burst. As Amira spun, Pogo screamed a war cry and swung her foot.

  In her state of calm, the foot seemed to approach Amira through thick air. With ease, she ducked. As she slipped beneath, she nicked the leg with her blade.

  To a human, the cut would have been an irritation. Nothing more. For Pogo it spelt agony.

  From the tiny wound, blood began to run down her leg. As it did more skin peeled free, disintegrating.

  Knowing she might soon be disabled, Pogo threw caution to the wind and launched once more. This blow was even easier to dodge. This time the blade found not Pogo’s leg but her stomach; was not a nick but a slash.

  Blood poured down Pogo’s front. Outside of the circle, it would probably have been fatal. Inside, they would never find out.

  Like a shark in water, the wind seemed to sense the blood. Speckled with black particles, it raced at Pogo, circled her. As the infected woman screamed, the black particles flood into the wound.

  Pogo tried to launch one more attack on Amira. Before she could move a pace, the stomach hole shredded outwards. As Amira watched, the black particles poured out, bringing with them blood, covering Pogo. Screaming, she disintegrated, turning to dust and disappearing into the wind.

  For a few seconds, Amira stared at nothing. Then realised she’d become distracted.

  When she turned, she saw Heidi, inches away.

  “Uh oh,” said the demon.

  Amira raised the knife. Heidi grabbed her wrist and punched her stomach. As Amira doubled over the knife was snatched from her hand. As she went to her knees, she watched Heidi plunge the blade into a chanting follower.

  Mercury’s blade had been an ordinary kitchen knife. Amira’s infused with a concoction that gave it the power to destroy a demon.

  They disintegrated just the same.

  There was nothing to be done. They had not another blade. When the mega demon rose, Amira would be killed.

  She might not last that long.

  Heidi hoisted her from the ground. Turned her to face the centre. Pointed over her shoulder and chuckled. She planned to say something gloating and
victorious. Before she could, they caught sight of Mercury, running towards Kayla, Quincy hot on her tail, gun drawn but unused.

  Mercury didn’t see Amira, but Amira saw her friend’s eyes. Unable to prevent herself, she laughed.

  Heidi might kill her this second. Whether she did or didn’t, hope filled Amira once again. She knew that look.

  Mercury had a plan.

  Fifty-Eight

  Against the tree, Edie sat, eyes bowed to the baby, tears staining her cheeks, singing. She was not a singer, but the limited tune seemed to soothe the baby. As best she could, for Xyla, she tried to smile.

  “Rockabye baby, on the treetops, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock.”

  The gun was still smoking. The shot had left a ringing in her ears which was nothing to the hollowness in her heart. She wanted to scream. For Xyla, who might have lost her mother, she sang on.

  “When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all.”

  From the ground, over her mother, Edie’s father rose. Pale, shaking, on the verge of being sick, he came to his daughter. Falling to his knees, he leaned over her. He placed a comforting hand on Xyla’s back and kissed Edie’s head. She pressed against him. Alll three held their tears.

  “We need to go,” said Will, trying not to look at Gina. “Get you to hospital.”

  “But mum,” said Edie. “We can’t leave her.”

  She tried to rise. Will had to hold her down. Intentionally, he had positioned himself so Edie couldn’t see Gina.

  Had a human put the barrel of a gun to their head and pulled the trigger, her chances of survival would have been minuscule. The resulting mess would be something Will would not have wanted his daughter to see, even if the victim was a stranger.

  Due to her blood, Gina’s head was fast disintegrating into pulp. Already, insanity had made Gina’s personality hard to recognise. The shot to her head had the same effect on her appearance. When Will closed his eyes, he saw their wedding day. Bliss. Her indescribable beauty as she smiled at him and said, I do. They’d shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

  If not for Edie, he might have taken the gun and made it a double suicide. Life without Gina would be near unbearable.

  Blood splatter from the shot had hit her chest and arms. Her arms were melting into the grass. Any second, her chest would collapse in on itself. By the time Will returned to the woods, he wasn’t sure anything of his wife would remain.

  “We’ll come back for you mother,” Will said, meaning he would. “First, we have to get you to hospital. We have to make sure Xyla is looked after.”

  “Is Kayla okay?”

  “I don’t know, honey.”

  He thought he did, but it was a conversation for later. Edie seemed okay physically. If there was any serious damage from her collision, he was determined to get her help. He would not lose her as he had lost Gina. She was all he had left.

  Helping her to her feet, Will offered to take Xyla. Edie clutched the baby tighter. Will tried to believe Mercury and Amira had saved Kayla. Couldn’t make it stick.

  If not for him, she would never have been taken.

  That, too, had to be held for another day.

  Through the woods, they made their for the carpark. When they arrived, the car was alone. Previously, they had shared the space.

  Will got in behind the wheel. Edie in back, cradling the sleeping baby. It was not safe to drive such a small child without a car seat. As no car seat was available, and the hospital was too far to walk when Edie might at any moment collapse, they had to take the risk.

  As they pulled onto the road, drove to the T-Junction, Will tried not to contemplate his failure, his loss. Almost fifteen years of love. The anniversary was ready to go. The tears threatened to come. He would be unable to hold them forever, even for long. He would for now. All he needed was his strength. He found it upon trailing his hand into the car’s back and feeling Edie squeeze.

  “I love you with all of my heart, Edie.”

  “Love you too, daddy.”

  At the T-Junction, Will stopped.

  This wasn’t the plan. The hospital was right. The road clear.

  “Oh my God,” whispered Edie.

  To the left, on the horizon, a funnel of twisting air rose into the sky. It looked like a hurricane. Will suspected something different. There was no way of telling from where it originated, but Chalfont Common was that way. Despite his anxiety to get Edie to hospital, he sat for several seconds, staring.

  “That’s them,” said Edie. It wasn’t a question. Like Will, she was sure.

  “Yes,” he said.

  Regaining his senses, he took the turn, keeping a good speed but not racing. He had an unseated baby on board.

  “Dad,” said Edie, her voice rising a little. “You’re going the wrong way.”

  “I’m going to the hospital.”

  “No, dad we have—”

  “Mercury and Amira can look after themselves,” he said, resolute. “I have to look after you. That’s my job. My job alone now. We’re going to the hospital. That’s final.”

  “Dad,” Edie whispered. “Xyla’s mum is there.”

  Will closed his eyes, clutched the wheel, and carried on driving.

  Fifty-Nine

  Being based on a hunch, there was every chance Mercury’s plan was doomed to failure.

  Assuming the hunch was correct, that she could stop the mega demon rising, ti Timing was everything.

  En route to her goal, she had received a warning. Ahead and to her right, she had seen Amira slice the stomach of an infected. The ritual was powerful. Rarely if ever did all three chanters survive an ordinary possession. Though no one was yet lost, Mercury expected several of the forty-five to be dead before the mega demon rose.

  She hadn’t been aware it could also kill those not involved in its casting. When Amira spilt the tall woman’s blood she had disintegrated. For Mercury’s plan to work, Quincy had to stay whole long enough to reach the centre circle. Once there, if she cut him, the ritual might still tear him apart. In the epicentre, she prayed he would avoid that fate.

  Perhaps this was wishful thinking.

  Losing sight of Amira, she ran on. Between entering the outermost circle and Kayla should only have been five or six metres. It should have taken her seconds, yet she seemed to have been running a couple of minutes.

  Still, she was getting close. She had passed the third line and approached the innermost. Quincy was on her tail. Podgy as he was, he struggled to keep pace. She had to move a little slower than she might to keep in sight.

  At last, she reached the final three chanters and broke through.

  Blinding light attacked. As well as acting as daggers in her eyes, it possessed a physical force, throwing her into the air and bringing her fast to the ground.

  As the blank white screen caused by the initial flash of light began to fade, she could see the centre circle, a metre ahead. The symbol upon which Kayla glowed.

  From further back, Kayla was all she had seen. As the white screen broke, departed, there was something else. A hulking, folding shadow which draped itself around Kayla’s shoulders, seeping through her pores. There were no features, nothing to identify this beast as either human or any monster she might have imagined.

  It reeked of evil.

  It could see her.

  A couple of tendrils of pure black spun from it, became shapes in the sky. The shapes came together and formed into Dom, her lost lover; Fran, her lost mother. These two figures, once possessed, both killed by Mercury, danced with each other, twirling round and round. Beaming smiles split their faces. Mercury had never seen either so happy.

  A podgy hand appeared around her throat, yanked, spun her through the air.

  From light to black particle speckled darkness, she flew, crashing to the dirt. Back in the centre circle, Kayla appeared alone once more.

  Quincy loomed, gun drawn to make her cower and comply. He had shown hims
elf afraid to pull the trigger. Fear of displeasing his Deity made the weapon as useful as a film set prop.

  With as much dignity as the howling wind allowed, Mercury rose. Dusting herself, she faced Quincy. How she would achieve her aim, she still did not know. Undoubtedly, Amira would have made it work.

  “Come with me,” said Quincy.

  On the horizon of her imagination, no plan was rising. In its absence, she went for shock and surprise.

  Using speed earned in her divorce from Heidi, she shot at Quincy. Before he had figured what was happening, she had punched his stomach and smacked his hand. Into the sky sailed his gun and around his throat went her arm. Hunched in half, he struggled for breath.

  Slowly, one step at a time, she dragged him to the border of the innermost circle. Once there, she would need to finish what she’d started. That might be difficult.

  “What are you doing?”

  The voice, which came from some distance, was more bemused than frightened. Heidi watched, rather than approached. In her clutches, struggling futilely, was Amira.

  Sighting her friend in peril stole Mercury’s concentration, allowing Quincy to slip from her grasp, grab, lift, and bring her to the ground. Red-faced, looming, he snarled.

  Then his head disappeared.

  From half a metre, the bullet had left the gun. Mercury rolled from the spraying blood as the black particles descended, sweeping into his body.

  Seconds later, as with the other follower, they appeared again. Torn to shreds, Quincy’s disintegrated and disappeared on the breeze.

  “No,” shouted Mercury.

  “I’m sorry, were you the best of friends?”

  Liz lowered her arm, still clutching the gun. Until she saw that look of horror was no joke, she smiled.

  “I saved you,” she said.

  From a little distance, Heidi had stopped commenting. By this turn of events, she was confused. Worry was prevented from forming by her Ace card. Amira.