The Creator

by Neil Carstairs

  She didn’t see the dark shape that dropped onto her. Talons drove through Natalie and pinned her to the ground. She saw sky and clouds before the jaws of the demon dipped to taste her flesh.

  ***

  Delta One realised straight away that getting to Delta Six would be more difficult than he’d thought. The best route would take him round the back of some houses and out of sight of the resurrected. But he had no idea of how long it would take. So he stuck to the front of the properties. He garden hopped as best he could until he arrived at a road junction that he couldn’t avoid.

  A quick look showed him that Delta Six still survived and was giving as good as he got with help from Delta Five’s rifle. One settled back as he scanned the road. No new jihadists appeared, which gave him some hope. He noticed a couple of villagers as they stood near a red telephone box like they were waiting for a call. Both were elderly, a man and a woman. Delta One dismissed them. He intended to take a straight line to the church and run like hell while doing it. The old folks wouldn’t be able to keep up.

  He made a final check on Delta Six’s position and came out of the cottage garden. He heard a shout above the sound of gunfire and realised there were two more civilians he hadn’t seen. A teenage boy and his bottle blonde mother. The mother carried a carving knife and the son a cricket bat. One changed direction. He angled closer to the old folks as the boy lunged towards him. He shot the teenager with a three round burst to the stomach. The mother screamed.

  A ball of light expanded in Delta One’s vision. He slid to a halt on the tarmac road and stared in horror at what emerged. He guessed dinosaurs only because he’d seen them on the big screen. What were they called? He had no idea because right then he had brain freeze. Not complete brain freeze. His training came through to blast the first creature back to whatever Jurassic hell it had come from.

  Velociraptor! That’s what they’re called. Delta One was quite pleased with himself that he’d remembered their names The second dinosaur scuttled round, spooked by the sound of gunfire and smell of its mate’s blood. It fixed one dark eye on Delta One and attacked.

  Delta One stepped back and squeezed the trigger of his MP5. A couple of rounds spat out and then the gun clacked empty.

  ‘Fuck!’ One dropped the MP5 and drew his side-arm in a smooth movement. He let the velociraptor have all twelve rounds in the face and neck but it came on like an unstoppable force.

  The weight of the beast drove Delta One from his feet. Hind claws stripped flesh from his thighs as jaws tried to close in his upper body. Delta One twisted. He still had the MP5 strapped to his shoulder and he shoved the weapon into the ‘raptor’s mouth. The dinosaur reared back, spat the metal out, and came for him again.

  Delta One pulled a grenade from his webbing and thrust his hand between the jaws of the dinosaur. The velociraptor wrenched back and One screamed as the jaws tore his arm from his body. The smell of blood filled the air as the ‘raptor chewed and swallowed Delta One’s limb in a couple of seconds. The grenade went down its throat as well. One saw the velociraptor’s eye gleam in delight at the taste before its chest and throat ruptured to the detonation of the grenade. Chunks of flesh and bone sprayed out as the decapitated body toppled to the road.

  Delta One knew he was in trouble. Blood ran from the ragged stump like water from a tap. He rolled to his feet and saw the bottle blonde come for him with her knife. He turned to run and found the old man in front of him holding a samurai sword. Heat seared through Delta One’s gut and into his chest. He stared down in horror at the blade that had impaled him. The old man twisted the sword, slicing open Delta One’s stomach before he pulled it out.

  Delta One dropped to his knees and then fell onto his side. His breath came in ragged gasps as he looked up. The old man and the bottle blonde seemed to be in conversation about who would kill him. Neither got a chance. They died in a hail of bullets. Delta One saw their bodies fall in slow motion as blood filled his mouth. Kramer came into view and he didn’t need the look on her face to tell him what he already knew. She knelt in his blood and took hold of his good hand. Delta One wanted to thank her for that. He couldn’t. No words came out of his mouth, only more blood.

  At least he didn’t die alone.

  ***

  Jane caught up with Emily as her daughter climbed onto the wall that separated graveyard from pasture. She pulled Emily down and crouched before her daughter. ‘What are you doing? You’ll get yourself killed.’

  Emily twisted in Jane’s grasp and pulled free. ‘Let me go, Mommy. I need to be on the wall.’

  ‘What?’ Jane flinched as masonry tumbled from the church tower.

  ‘I need to be on the wall.’

  Jane stared into her daughter’s eyes. She saw the kind of resolution that had been there ever since Emily began having visions. Jane heard more gunfire. A rising crescendo that made her heart beat faster as Emily scrambled up onto the wall. Bullets whined past. Jane swallowed her fear and pulled herself up alongside Emily.

  The girl looked so small and frail against a backdrop of a field full of nightmare creatures. Jane tried to see what attracted all the demons into the field. They swirled around a central spot like Native Americans attacking a waggon train. Emily took her hand. Jane gave her daughter a weak smile of encouragement as the stones in the wall shifted. Jane put her arms out to keep her balance. The whole world seemed to be shaking. More debris fell from the church and the pasture rippled like the surface of the ocean. ‘What’s happening?’ she shouted above a monstrous roar.

  ‘We need one more link.’ Emily’s voice sounded thin against the riot of noise around them.

  Jane didn’t understand her daughter. Link? Demons flew overhead. They ignored the adult and child and headed for the swarm that massed in the centre of the field.

  Emily said, ‘Connor is down there.’

  ‘Connor?’ Jane put a hand to her mouth. There was no way for the boy to escape. Jane’s eyes filled with tears. She wished Pete was there with them. He’d know what to do. Even if he said run.

  She heard a burst of gunfire and looked left to see Delta Six duck behind the thick bole of a horse chestnut tree. Resurrected jihadists skipped from gravestone to gravestone hunting the British soldier. She saw the bright muzzle flash of gunfire. Stray bullets buzzed past them like angry hornets. The ground shifted once more and loose stones fell out of the wall. Jane put a hand on Emily’s shoulder and said, ‘We need to get down.’

  ‘No,’ Emily said.

  ‘Emily...’

  Jane lay on her back. She frowned, staring up at her daughter who remained standing on the wall. Not quite sure how she had ended up here. Stupid, she thought, I must have fallen. Someone knelt beside her. He seemed to glow with some kind of hidden energy and his eyes shone a bright silver. He put his hand on Jane’s shoulder and said, ‘Stay here. You’ll be safe.’

  ‘But Emily needs me,’ Jane said.

  ‘We can protect her better if you are here.’

  Jane looked at her daughter. ‘She’s my baby,’ she said.

  ‘I know.’ The man had a good smile. He stood and said, ‘Just lie there, we will look after her for you.’

  He rose into the air and Jane saw his wings open as he glided into place beside Emily. He wrapped the wings around the girl’s body. Jane could still see her daughter silhouetted through the golden haze. More angels appeared. They formed a guard around Emily as demons began to attack.

  ***

  Ben wanted to be anywhere but near the church tower. Scieppend fought the confines of the bell tower as he grew in size. The lead roof splintered and fell. The walls that supported it tumbled over the edge. Now the Creator stood in sunlight and began to change shape.

  Ben?

  The voice took him by surprise. It seemed to be a part of him as well as apart from him.

  Ben?

  A woman’s voice, familiar and yet forgotten. Ben walked forward. He ignored the masonry that cascaded to the ground and the demonic
swarm that filled the air. He almost fell when he saw his parents. They waited beside the boundary wall. They held hands like they always used to in the way that had embarrassed the teenage Ben all those years ago. ‘Mom? Dad?’

  Hello, Ben. Come here. Let us see you.

  Ben stood in front of them, the battle around him forgotten. His mom wore a beaming smile and she reached out to brush dust from his face.

  We’re so proud of you and Chrissie, she said. All the things you’ve been through and all the successes you’ve achieved.

  ‘Why are you here?’ Ben’s lungs emptied. He wanted to cry.

  We need you to do something, his dad said. You need to stand on this wall.

  ‘Why?’

  To form the third point of a triangle, his dad said.

  Ben wiped tears from his eyes. ‘I miss you,’ he said.

  His mother put her hands around him holding him close. Ben didn’t want her to let him go. When she released him she stepped back and said, Tell Chrissie we love her.

  ‘I will,’ Ben whispered.

  He climbed onto the wall. His parents smiled up at him. Ben saw Jane and Emily further up. He saw the swarm and at its centre Connor and Devon. Ben waited. His mom reached up and touched his leg.

  That’s where the warmth started. A faint tingle that grew in strength and moved up to his loins. The world began to move. Earth and soil rolled like an earthquake. Ben saw that Emily stood on her own. The heat expanded into his chest. Bright sparkles began to dance before his eyes. Tiny motes that moved to the rhythm of his heart. They merged, brightened and when they faded Ben looked out over woodland.

  He no longer stood on a dry stone wall but floated a few feet above an earth ridge. His mom and dad were still there but the stone church had gone, replaced by a smaller, wooden structure. The road through the village was a mud track and the cottages no longer lined it. In their place were a couple of dozen timber buildings. Smoke drifted from fires and the stench of dung filled his nose.

  This is Scieppend’s time, Ben’s dad said. He roamed free. He fed off the souls of dead and the living. The people either worshipped him or died.

  ‘How did he end up in the well?’ Ben asked.

  Christian priests trapped him and imprisoned him. First in the well and then beneath the church. Each time the church was re-built the bars of the prison strengthened. But it’s been a thousand or more years since this time. The chains that bind him have weakened enough for him to break free. We cannot imprison him any longer. We must destroy him. Only when he is separated from his physical form can we defeat him.

  The wall re-appeared beneath Ben’s feet and the pasture before his eyes. The heat in his body radiated out. He saw the lights surrounding him become a line that linked him with Connor and Emily. The ground shook and the pasture fell away as it formed a giant sinkhole. At its centre stood a narrow column of earth that supported Connor and Devon. The earth began to turn. It revolved around that central column like some enormous mixing machine. Demons fell into the pit and the earth ground them to a bloody powder as others tried to flee.

  Above him, Ben heard Scieppend howl in rage.

  ***

  Kramer released Delta One’s hand. Somewhere a little girl waited for a daddy who would never come home. Kramer’s anger at the monster that had caused this grew as she stood and looked at the church. Scieppend’s bloated, arachnid form absorbed all light. Delta Five still popped round after round into the beast but with no effect. Kramer walked into the church grounds. She saw Scarrett up on a wall. He made a great target and she changed direction towards him. The idiot was going to get himself killed exposed like that.

  A man appeared before her. He stepped into existence and Kramer stopped in disbelief when she saw him. ‘Daddy?’

  Hello, Jo-Jo.

  Her dad took Kramer in his arms and held her close. She could feel his warmth. Tears filled her eyes. Her dad pulled back a little and cupped her face as he smiled down at her. She felt his thumbs wipe tears from her cheeks as he said, My little girl. All grown up now.

  ‘It’s been almost twenty years,’ Kramer said.

  I know. I’ve been with you every step of the way.

  ‘Really?’

  Yes.

  ‘I miss you,’ she said.

  I know. And I’ve missed being with you.

  The ground trembled beneath her feet, reminding Kramer where she stood.

  Her dad said, I need you to do something for me.

  ‘What?’

  I need you to go to the top of the tower. Scieppend has taken on his physical form. We can’t defeat him like that. We need you to destroy his physical form so that we can defeat his spirit form.

  ‘We?’ Kramer asked.

  Look up.

  The sky swarmed with the golden forms of angels. They fought demons and, when they could, hurled them to the ground. But none approached Scieppend and the demon knew this as it stood atop the church tower. Her eyes returned to her dad and she said, ‘How?’

  You’ll find a way. He tilted her face and kissed her on the forehead. I love you Jo-Jo.

  ‘I love you, Daddy,’ Kramer whispered. She closed her eyes hand hugged him tight.

  A moment later he’d gone. She wiped the last tears from her eyes and looked up at Scieppend. The beast danced as if nothing could defeat it. She thought about what her dad had said.

  Destroy his physical form.

  Kramer reached down and touched the spare magazines and grenades on her webbing. She took a step towards the church and her hand dropped to the sat-phone on her belt. She lifted it, speed-dialled one of the contacts, and waited for the call to be answered.

  ***

  Douglas Congrave looked like an oasis of calm. Inside tension shredded his nerves beyond description. Across the office, Pete and Reuben took calls and relayed messages. None of which gave Congrave any of the information he wanted.

  Reuben got his attention and said, ‘Local police are asking again why we didn’t inform them of the operation.’

  ‘Tell them we had no time.’

  ‘They want to go in,’ Reuben said.

  Congrave gave a short, barked laugh. ‘If they want to die they can. Get our reaction team in place on a two-mile exclusion zone. Hold first responders at marshalling points. Then our people can take them in when we know it’s safe.’

  Reuben turned back to his phone. Congrave avoided Pete’s enquiring gaze. That’s when the telephone on his desk rang. He reached out, lifted it and said, ‘Congrave.’

  ‘Kramer. If you don’t hear from me in thirty minutes initiate Operation Catalyst.’

  Congrave’s mouth went dry. ‘Authentication?’

  ‘Whiskey Mike Six Zero. Initiate Operation Catalyst in thirty, three-zero, minutes if no abort received.’

  ‘Understood.’ Congrave replaced the phone.

  ‘What?’ Pete asked.

  Congrave ignored him. He picked the phone up and made a call. ‘This is Bravo One Actual. Authentication Echo Five Five Alpha. Initiate Operate Catalyst in three zero minutes if no abort received.’

  He replaced the phone and put his head in his hands.

  Twenty miles off the North Devon coast the aircrews of two Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons received the go code. As they dropped altitude they armed the GBU-16 Paveway ordnance slung beneath their fighters. At the same time air traffic controllers at Bristol and Cardiff airports began to re-route civilian flights away from the Typhoons’ approach run.

  ***

  Delta Six made it to the safety of cover behind a metre-wide horse chestnut tree trunk unscathed. The gun battle across the graveyard had taken most of his ammunition and if he’d been a cat most of his nine lives as well. He slid down to ground level, hiding in the long grass. He counted five bad guys left. These were the clever ones. They had enough about them to keep low and use gravestones as cover. The rest were just cannon fodder and the litter of bodies Delta Six had left across the graveyard proved this.

&nb
sp; Six wiped sweat from his eyes. He could hear thunderous sounds and tremors through the earth. It made him think of earthquakes. Most of the church had collapsed and he could see a hideous black thing prancing about on top of the bell tower. He guessed that was the creature all this shit was about. Movement at ground level caught his eye. Two resurrected jihadists popped up and opened fire. They gave cover to three others who ran forward from one line of gravestones to another. Six ignored the bullets whining above his head. He put a three round burst into the stomach of one of the runners and saw the others dive for cover. Another one bites the dust, he grinned.

  Six rolled behind the tree and checked his ammo state. Two and a half clips. Fuck all given the scheme of things. Then he remembered his grenades. Three flash-bangs and one hand grenade. He picked one of the stun grenades and flipped it out towards the gunmen. The blast lost some effect in the open. Delta Six dodged out. He saw one man claw at his face and shot him in the chest. Six ducked back as a volley of fire swept into and around the tree. He heard them then, shouting to their god and knew they were coming. He went low to the left and slid through grass and moss. He threw the hand grenade as bullets stitched the ground past him. The blast took the legs off one of the jihadists. Two left and one of those ran straight into Six’s next shots and went down like a sack of spuds.

  Six got kicked in the hip and flipped onto his side. Sunlight speckled through the leaves of the tree. He ignored the pain and twisted in time to see the final gunman stalk towards him like he was cock of the walk. Not anymore. Six emptied the rest of his magazine into the gunman’s chest. The guy went down with a look of surprise on his face. Six used handfuls of grass to pull himself to the tree. He got upright by crawling up the rippled bark of the trunk until he rested on his good leg. On the tower, he saw Scieppend rise.

  The scream that came from the beast made the air tremble.