Rick staggered backwards in shock, colliding with a shelfful of cleaning supplies behind him. “What’s wrong with me?”
Maddy came up behind and grabbed him. “Just sit down. On the floor, now.”
He allowed himself to be lowered and pulled his knees up while he sat there in stunned silence. Maddy rubbed at his back.
“What’s wrong with me?” he asked again, realising he was shivering.
“Shh, take deep breaths. Everything is okay.”
Rick realised his heart was thudding like a tambourine, but slowly, gradually, he calmed down. “Am I… Am I normal again?”
Maddy looked into his eyes. She nodded. “Yes.”
“I told you; he came back wrong,” said Keith.
Maddy glared at him. “Enough, Keith. Nothing’s changed. We’re all heading south to find safety.”
“You’re insane. He’s one of them now.”
“Can we stop fighting?” said Diane. “Let’s get what we need and go. I don’t like being stuck inside here. It’s too cramped. When I was twelve, I got locked in a cleaning cupboard at school for a whole hour. Tight spaces have freaked me out ever since.”
Keith ran a hand through his slicked-back hair and exhaled. “Fine, let’s get what we can in our packs and get back on the road. Let’s just forget about the facts Daniel is a demon and my brother is possessed. Nothing to worry about, I’m sure. Maybe that old man sweeping Rick saw was Jesus, come to whisk us all to safety. Everything is sodding hunky dory.”
“What did you just say?” Daniel struggled to lift himself up out of the wheelbarrow. “What was that you said?”
Keith didn’t even bother to look at him. “I’m not talking to you, demon. You’re a spy.”
“What did you say about a man sweeping?” The force in Daniel’s voice shocked them.
Frowning, Keith broke his own assertion and turned to Daniel. “It was a joke. Rick was seeing things. Thought he saw an old man sweeping. Not surprised, seeing as you supposedly knitted his brain back together.”
Daniel groaned. “The Caretaker. We need to leave here. Right now!”
“Wait, you mean he’s real?” said Rick. “I really saw him?”
Daniel gritted his teeth as he struggled to climb out of the wheelbarrow. He gained an inch before falling back down. “The Caretaker is very real. If you saw him, we are all in very serious danger.”
“Who is he?” Diane’s hands bunched up against her mouth.
“Hell is a place full of monsters,” said Daniel, “but even Hell has its bogeymen. They say the Caretaker was the slave who used to clean up the blood at the Roman Colosseum after Christians were put to death there. The Romans saw the blood as tainted and sent only the lowliest servants to deal with it. For decades, the slave watched while devout men were put to death, fed to lions, hanged, or stabbed. Over time, he became numb to their suffering—to all suffering. He became amoral. Near the end of the slave’s life, the gladiatorial combats stopped, and killing in the Colosseum ceased. The slave found himself without purpose. After a lifetime of cleaning up the blood of Martyrs, he had developed a need for its scent, for the tackiness against his fingers. For its taste.”
Diane groaned. “Oh God.”
Daniel continued, his strength returned as he told the story. Maybe it was fear giving him a boost. “Eventually, the slave could rest no longer. He needed to spill blood himself, to continue his life’s work. He started with his master, causing a minor slave revolt. First, he bathed in the blood, before cleansing it from his skin and from the floor. He left his former master on the dirt outside his home, mimicking the thousands of Christians who had perished on the sands of the arena. For another ten years, the slave continued his quest for blood, drinking from his victim’s necks as they bled out. It was the cleanest way to remove the liquid. No blood on the ground. It was his job to keep the ground clean. It had always been his job.”
“He sounds like a vampire,” said Maddy.
Daniel nodded. “Perhaps where the myth was born. Rome was deathly afraid of the old man who stalked its shadows, cleansing citizens of their blood. Roman Emperor Honorius promised a captured Gaul his freedom if the man hunted down the monster and slew it. The Gaul, once a druid of his clan, tracked the murderous slave down by butchering a dozen sows and draining their blood into a vat at the edge of the Rubicon River. The sickly scent drew the old man out of Rome, as desired, the very first night. The moon was full, and now, truly a monster, the murderous slave’s teeth were stained permanently red from the blood. The Gaulish druid ambushed the slave and drowned him in the great vat of blood, bringing a poetic end to the creature who had stalked the streets of Rome. The emperor decreed that the vat be sealed and buried with the old man’s corpse inside, forever to be soiled by the clotted blood of pigs.”
“How do you know all this?” asked Diane, still covering her mouth.
“I know nothing for sure,” Daniel admitted. “The Caretaker has become a myth throughout the hallways of Hell, his story whispered between the damned. The old slave has swept the burning halls for so long that I no longer remember when he first appeared. What I do know is that he wasn’t amongst the Fallen.”
“What does that mean?” asked Rick.
“I mean that the original inhabitants of Hell are the Fallen Angels. Lucifer created Hell to be his own kingdom and started claiming damned souls to serve him after that. In other words, aside from the original Fallen Angels, every single soul ever sent to Hell was once a man. The Caretaker walked this earth as a human being once. Then, one day, he ended up in the fiery abyss for his sins. For hundreds of years, he has swept the infernal hallways and kept them clean of blood. But blood is never ending in Hell. It flows like air. The Caretaker grew even more mad than he had been as a man. Eventually, just looking upon him as he went about his business would curse you to misery. To gaze upon the Caretaker is to invite him upon your soul. He will drain you of everything you are and leave madness in its place. He is feared, even by those in Hell. Even by Lucifer.”
“And I looked upon him,” said Rick.
Daniel nodded. “That is why we need to leave.”
But it was too late. The petrol station’s front window shattered, and something terrible came inside.
The windows burst in a hail-storm of glass. Rick grabbed Maddy and pulled her into the aisle. Diane and Keith scattered too, leaving Daniel stranded like an upturned terrapin in his wheelbarrow. The Fallen Angel was straining to get up.
Demons filled the petrol station—burnt monsters and ungodly primates. An infernal gang from the pits of hell. Who and what had they been in life?
Rick cursed himself as the demons came closer. He had left his poker next to the fridges when he’d grabbed a sausage roll. Now he was defenceless. At least Maddy still held her hockey stick. She had kept it the whole time inside the petrol station and also had hold of a knife. She handed the blade to Rick.
Rick took the knife silently, crouching low in the aisle and trying to see his attackers in the dark. They were spread out, moving to all corners of the room.
“There’s no way out,” he said, strangely numb to the fact they were probably all about to die.
“So we fight,” said Maddy.
“Hey,” Rick hissed after her as she broke into the aisle. “Get back.”
The sound of sweeping.
The pitter-patter of blood.
“Get back,” came a shaky voice. “Go back to Hell, you big shit!”
Rick frowned. Was that Daniel? What was he doing? Unable to leave his companion to face the enemy alone, he hurried after Maddy to face their possible deaths.
Out on the main floor, Daniel had stood, yet kept one hand on the wheelbarrow as though he might stumble back in. He had his other hand up in front of him, a fist clenched at the demons amassed before him. They were seemingly held in place, unable to close in on him.
They cowered.
Sweep!
Maddy moved up beside Daniel. Rick jo
ined her.
Sweep!
Daniel glanced sideways at them. “Thanks for abandoning me, buddies.”
“Sorry,” said Rick. “It happened so fast.”
“I forgive you. Any ideas on what to do now? I can hold these buggers in place for a few minutes, but I’m too weak to keep it up.”
Rick watched as the demons edged forwards. One of the primates began to hiss and spit. “How are you controlling them?”
“Because an Angel has dominion over Hell, but that only means so much on earth. They’ll resist me, eventually.”
Rick could see the truth of it. “We have to run.”
“Where?” asked Maddy. “They have the front door blocked.
“There’s a back door,” said Keith, shouting across the room. “Over here.”
Rick turned to see his brother standing beside a door. EMPLOYEES ONLY.
“Go,” said Daniel. “Get out of here!”
Sweep!
“He’s coming, isn’t he?” said Maddy. “I can hear him sweeping.”
Daniel looked at her. “He’s already here, luv. You just can’t see him yet.”
Rick grabbed Maddy and shoved her towards the back door. She resisted for a moment, but then got moving. Rick stayed where he was.
“Rick, what are you doing?” shouted Keith. Diane and Maddy had arrived by his side.
“I told you,” Rick shouted back. “I’m not leaving Daniel.”
“You’re a fool,” Daniel sweated as he continued to cast a spell over the enemy—a weakening spell, as the burnt men and their fellow monsters edged closer. “A damned fool.”
Keith shouted again. “Get away from there.”
“I’ll meet you down the road, Keith. Follow the road and you’ll come to a car dealership. I’ll meet you there.”
Keith wobbled on the spot, back and forth, towards the door, towards his brother. “Rick!”
“Just go! Get out of here.”
Maddy went to make a run back towards Rick, but Keith dragged her away.
Then they were out the door, all three of them. Gone.
“What do we do?” Rick asked Daniel.
“Use what I gave you.”
Rick frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the reason I’m so weak is that I transferred part of my essence into you when I brought you back. As long as you’re alive, I can do little. But if you help me.”
“Help you?”
One primate broke free of its thrall and leapt at Rick. Rick flinched and slashed with the knife Maddy had given him. The creature tumbled back, a thin line widening along its throat. Black blood sprayed out onto the floor.
The burnt men growled.
Sweep!
“Quickly,” said Daniel. “Concentrate and help me.”
“Concentrate on what?”
“On making this go away.”
Rick didn’t understand what Daniel was telling him to do, but he raised his hand and clenched his jaw with effort. He studied the demons in front of him, bore into them with his eyes. Imagined them being gone.
One of the creatures spoke. “You will rot where you stand. I will tear you limb from limb—”
Rick ground his teeth and squinted his eyes.
His head throbbed.
“I will track down the remaining children of this earth and… and…” The demon’s words trailed off. Its lidless eyes flickered, went wide.
Its fire-ravaged body began to smoke.
Rick trembled. “W-what’s happening?”
“Just go with it,” said Daniel.
Like a Plasticine sculpture beside a fire, the burnt man drooped, flesh sagging from its cheeks and pools of blood forming beneath its feet. It struggled and vibrated, but could not move from where it stood.
Then the other demons began to sag too. They thrashed madly, but it was like they were glued to the floor—a floor that was unbearably hot. Rick knew that the heat was not coming from the floor though. It was coming from him and Daniel.
The first creature suddenly popped. The sagging flesh of its cheeks burst open—like two giant zits—and blood and pus spattered everywhere. Rick fought back his revulsion and continued to concentrate. One by one, the demons burst open, and within moments, only pools of viscous material remained where they had stood.
Rick gasped, his arm dropping as if the bones had been removed. His body cried out, aching all over, but Daniel caught him as he fell. “Such power isn’t meant for a man,” he said.
“I… What did I do?”
“You just purged your first demons. Well done. Now, let’s get out of here. The Caretaker wants you.”
Sweep. Sweep. Sweep.
Rick pushed himself up out of Daniel’s arms and turned towards the staff door at the back. He took his first step towards it when something yanked him backwards.
He stared into the face of a monster.
Yet, it was a monster without a face. Beneath a thatch of clumped grey hair was a smooth, fleshy oval. Somehow, it still managed to stare into Rick’s soul, and he felt himself tremble, not on the outside, but on the inside. Something sharp held a fierce grip on his soul and was pulling, tearing, yanking.
Rick tried to scream, but his lungs turned to cough syrup, and he gargled. Inside his aching skull he heard words. Clean, clean, clean. You shall be clean.
“Let go of him. As a Lord of Hell I command you.”
Rick felt the grip on his soul loosen, but not completely. The abomination still had him. That empty, featureless face still looked down on him.
“I said let go!”
Rick felt himself being pulled savagely, but this time it was his body, not his mind. Daniel had him by the arm and was yanking him like a rag doll. They stumbled towards the back door.
The Caretaker produced a broom and swept up the messy puddles left by the demons. And he whistled.
Without a mouth, the abomination whistled.
It was a merry tune.
Daniel dragged Rick out the back door of the petrol station and into a small stockroom. The fire door at the back was hanging open, and they spilled through it into the awaiting night.
Daniel huffed and puffed, sweat pouring from his face. Despite being at death’s door only an hour ago, the Fallen Angel had once again been called upon to rescue Rick. How much longer could Daniel keep going?
“We need to find your brother.”
“D-down the road,” Rick muttered as he tried to move on his own steam. He took one step after the other, but each movement threatened to floor him. “H-he let me go, The Caretaker. You made him.”
“I did no such thing,” said Daniel wearily. “I surprised him, caught his interest, but he didn’t let you go. You’re a mouse, Rick. The Caretaker wants you, but first he wants to play. You have Angel blood inside of you, and he’s never cleansed an Angel before. He’ll be coming after you, Rick. No matter where we go.”
“Then what do we do?”
“For now, we find your brother.”
But when they made it to the car dealership, Keith was not there.
Daniel helped ease Rick onto the bonnet of an expensive saloon. The bodywork dented, but the time for worrying about property damage was over. Corpses lay everywhere—salesmen and customers alike. In the darkness, their silhouettes threatened to leap to life at any moment. It was only upon closer inspection that their caved in faces told the truth—that they were long dead.
Rick always thought dead bodies were supposed to reek enough to make a man gag, but so far his nose detected only a subtle meat smell—like old bacon.
“They didn’t wait for us,” Rick moaned. He could forgive his brother fleeing back at the petrol station, but to not even wait for him…
It didn’t feel right. Keith might have put his own safety first, but Maddy wouldn’t have. She’d been the first one of them to stand and fight back at the petrol station. In fact, she was the least afraid of them all. Rick supposed the death of her husband figured into that. Did she even
care if she died? Maybe she did, and that was why she, Keith, and Diane had reached the car dealership and kept on running.
Rick was alone.
And the Caretaker was coming.
“What exactly happened back there?” Rick asked Daniel. “What did I do to those demons?”
“You expunged a demon back to hell. An exorcism of sorts, but as the demons were inhabiting their own bodies, their souls departed and left their bodies as empty vessels. They’ll be stuck in Hell now, part of the essence of the place, unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless they possess a human being.”
“I thought demons couldn’t do that because of the iron in our blood?”
“The iron in a human being’s blood only prevents a Heavenly creature from possessing a human. It was a way for God to ensure that Angels could never abuse his creation or escape to earth. The lowliest inhabitants of hell, however—the peasants if you will—they can inhabit a human being because they were once human themselves.”
“What are you saying? That if the demons on earth don’t kill us, the souls still trapped in Hell will possess us?”
Daniel shook his head. “No. Possessing a human isn’t easy. To reach out from Hell... Let’s just say, it’s not something you’re in danger of right now. We should try to find the others. They must be near. They left only ten minutes before we did.”
“Yeah, but they were running, and we were limping.”
Daniel pulled a face. “Good point. Maybe we can use one of these cars.”
“You saw the roads. We wouldn’t get past a block.”
“Can you walk?”
Rick pressed his fingers against himself, probing for injury. It was conclusive—everywhere hurt. But he could move.
“I can manage. How about you, Daniel? You don’t look good.”
As if embarrassed, Daniel stood straighter. “This body won’t last forever, not with the strain I keep putting it under. If I don’t rest up and heal soon I won’t be able to help you anymore.”
“You said I took part of your… essence. Is there any way I can give it back?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“By dying.”
Hell On Earth Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 45
