by Michael Todd
They’re not responding. They’re probably busy healing the guys.
But the guys aren’t healing!
Pandora could tell Katie was starting to get antsy. Take a deep breath. I’m sure there is something these doctors can do. I mean, one of them saved Juntto or at least was smart enough to know what to do with his sleeping body.
Katie shook her head. This isn’t the same. They don’t have tough-ass Leviathan bodies. They are human, and human bodies are fragile. Just look at them. They are broken and bruised. When I find that bitch, I am going to rip all eight legs off and shove them right up her ass.
Pandora grimaced. Ugh. Even I’m not into kinky shit like that.
Dr. Ozu walked into the room pushing a cart in front of him. He smiled and nodded at Katie as he positioned the device into the center of the floor. Katie looked down at it. “What is this?”
Dr. Ozu pushed some buttons and a screen lifted from the device. It was a cross between an x-ray and a radar screen. “This is a modified version of the sensor that you use to detect demonic incursions. Basically, what we are hoping is that it can detect the lifeforce of the demons inside these guys. Dr. Thorough and Dr. Cromwell have spent many hours working on this with me.”
Doctor Thorough pushed the glasses up his nose. “Yes, yes. You can think of this as a detector for demons.”
Katie nodded. “And how many times has it worked?”
The doctors looked at each other and Alice smirked. “In reality, they have never used it. It was supposed to go into testing next week, but with these injuries, they decided that they couldn’t wait. We really need to determine their status and figure out what to expect from their healing.”
Katie took a step back and lifted an eyebrow. “Please don’t melt or mutate or shrink-ray my team, okay?”
Alice chuckled but Dr. Thorough nodded, not seeing the humor in it. “Oh, this isn’t related to the shrink ray. Ozu, did we use any shrink ray parts?”
Katie? Is he joking? I can’t tell.
I don’t think so, Pan.
Katie was about to say something, but Alice waved her hand. “Best not to ask too many questions.”
Dr. Ozu pushed the device next to Turner and flipped it on. Dr. Thorough carefully handed him a long wand that resembled a three-hole punch. Katie watched nervously as the doctor ran the wand over Turner. The machine made a chorus of beeps and buzzes.
Dr. Thorough printed out the report, and they moved on to Sean. They repeated the process with him, pausing around the belly and moving all the way up his chest, then did the same with Eddie. Katie waited with bated breath as they moved to Brock. The doctor looked like he was getting more nervous by the second.
He ran the machine over Brock, his face firm. Dr. Ozu sighed and handed the wand back to Dr. Thorough. They were silent as the report printed.
Katie stepped forward. “Well?”
Dr. Ozu nodded at the soldiers and shook his head. “I have to admit I am not picking up any demonic activity in any of them. It looks as if their demons are no longer there.”
This nerd can’t be right.
Katie looked at Brock. “Could it be a mistake? You said yourself you have never tried it on a human before.”
Alice grabbed the machine and rolled it to Katie. She flipped it on and pulled out the wand. Katie stood perfectly still as she ran it over her body. As soon as the wand was inches from Katie’s skin, a low warbling sound rang out. Alice turned the screen toward Katie and showed her a fuzzy scan of her body.
She pointed at the swirling red inside of Katie. “This is your demon. See?”
Look at my fine-ass self.
Not now.
Alice brought up stills of Brock and the other guys for comparison. “If you look at the guys, there is just nothing there. You see? These guys are all alone now.”
Katie felt her voice waver. “So, what does this mean?”
The doctor looked at the guys. “Even without their demons, the guys are incredibly strong. Eddie, Turner, and Sean’s injuries are no longer life-threatening. I foresee them healing very slowly, but they will recover.”
Katie could feel a lump in her throat. “And Brock?”
They both turned toward Brock. Doctor Ozu sighed loudly. “Brock is in critical condition. He was beaten and drained worse than any of the others. His demon was most likely taken early on when she pulled the energy from him. Any injuries after that had to be dealt with without the help of his demon. All we can do at this point is stand by and hope he can pull himself through.”
The doctor put his hand on Katie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about this. It would take a demon infecting him and being willing to heal him for me to give you any kind of positive report. We’ll keep fighting for him. Don’t give up.”
The front door of the barracks shot open and slammed into the wall. Katie rushed outside and stopped in the open air, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She felt like she was having a panic attack. She could barely keep herself together.
Pandora tried to calm her. Just simmer down. You cannot control this, and I know that makes it hard for you. You can’t control everything.
Katie listened. She gritted her teeth. This is insane. Where are these crazy demons, or whatever she was, coming from? I don’t understand. Just when you thought you had seen the worst, something crazier comes at us.
Pandora breathed deeply. Why don’t we go for a walk in the desert? It’s a bright night, and the wind will do you some good.
Katie took off across the base and passed through the front gate. She walked down the gravel road a short way, then turned off and strode out into the desert. When the sand weighed down her feet, she slowed. She climbed to the top of a short dune and sat down. She pulled her knees to her chin and looked out over the landscape. The moon was bright in the sky, and the stars twinkled wildly.
Katie felt like nothing was within her control. What I want to know is how this thing managed to take the Special Force’s team’s demons? She left them alive, or at least alive enough, but exorcised them. But it really wasn’t an exorcism. At least I don’t think it was. I guess when they wake up we will be able to tell. Their minds should be reset if that was what happened. But with how Calvin’s is, I suspect they will remember everything.
Pandora listened to Katie, trying to remember anything she could about this. To be honest with you, until recently I thought that when a demon was ripped from a human they died. Calvin showed me differently, and Turner, Eddie, Sean, and Brock have confirmed that. I thought the only time humans stayed alive was during an exorcism.
Katie groaned, leaning back on her hands. What can we do? We don’t know where she is. We don’t know what she is. And we don’t know what other powers she may have.
What to do is not clear. When she was holding me, it felt like she was sucking the demon right out of me. I am not a human, though, so she couldn’t take me down. My angel prevented that.
Katie calmed herself. She couldn’t keep flailing. She needed a question she could answer. What about the guys? How do we help them? We can’t just let Brock die.
I could always go down to hell and grab some demons. We could re-infect all four of them, which would help them heal. I can put the fear of Lucifer into any pain-in-the-ass demon. It would be a quick swap.
Katie thought about that for a moment. I mean, that is an option, sure. But I’m not so certain that’s the right thing to do. The guys on that team didn’t make a conscious choice to be Damned in the first place. They were all Damned by force. Is it right for me to re-infect four human beings just because we need them?
Pandora grumbled. I’ve never been very good at answering tough questions like that. Morality was never my strong suit, even as an angel.
Katie shook her head and stood up. She walked down the hill and out into the sand. It had gotten cold since the sun went down, and clouds were starting to move in. She didn’t feel cold, though. In fact, Katie could only feel her anger and helplessness.
Pandora agreed. What would you do if you were them?
I don’t know. I don’t know how to be normal anymore. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want some random demon hitching a ride for all eternity.
Pandora chuckled. Yeah, having some rando after having the queen would be a bit of a letdown.
Katie scowled at the stars. I need someone to help me with this. What is the good of being an angel if you can’t call on the others for help?
She shook her head, feeling the lump in her throat again. She began to walk, but her knees felt weak. She stopped and turned in a circle, clenching her jaw tightly. When she stopped she looked at the sky and screamed in anger and desperation, “Gabriel, come down here!”
She was silent for a moment. She wondered if he would actually answer. Pandora sniffed. He’s not here, Katie, and I don’t think he’s coming.
Katie let her arms drop to her sides and expelled a deep breath from her lungs. Basically, it’s up to me to make a decision with both hands tied behind my back.
Pandora was silent for a moment. What about Brock? The doctor said the others will recover, so you don’t have to put a demon in them. They can make that choice when they wake up, but for Brock, it might be a matter of life and death. What do you think he would want?
Katie tilted her head back and looked at the stars. I wish I knew. I wish that I had gotten to know him as a person more so this decision would be simpler. He might have made the decision to become infected again on his own. At the same time, he had a hell of a life before this all. I’m not sure he wouldn’t want to go back to it.
General Brushwood walked into his office, took off his trench coat, and hung it on the back of his door. He tossed his hat on the coffee table. He walked to the bookcase, opened a hidden door, and pulled out a glass and a bottle of whiskey. He poured himself two fingers and went to his desk, sitting down and sighing.
He held his glass in the air. “To the success of the new team, and no more complications.”
It couldn’t be that easy. His secretary’s voice came over the speaker. “General, you have a call holding on line three. It’s the president of Romania.”
Brushwood groaned and picked up the phone, pressing line three. “President Dragos, it’s good to hear from you. What can I do for you?”
Dragos grumbled something and the general sat straight up in his chair. The last thing he needed right now was an angry world leader. Dragos coughed a lung out, then cleared his throat. “When the demons began spilling into that village, you told me to send American troops in because they knew how to handle them. You told me that I would lose too many of my own men because they were not trained to handle those monsters.”
“Yes, sir. And that was what we did.” The general gulped down some whiskey. This conversation was already going downhill.
Dragos snarled, “But that is not what happened. I do not know what they did out there. The town is covered with lava. Destroyed. There are reports of demons roaming the countryside, and this morning piles of bodies were found in the main chapel of the larger church. The number of survivors dwindled quickly, and I am left with an absolute mess on my hands.”
The general cleared his throat, bringing the troop numbers up on his screen. “President Dragos, I apologize if you were not satisfied with the protection our troops provided. I am not sure, even if we tripled the number of troops, that we could have stopped the lava flow. Many people were killed before we had time to react.”
Dragos snapped, “And once you got there, what did you do? You patrolled, you looked for lost soldiers, and you helped a few of your own survivors. There are still troops there from what I understand, but all they do is roam the lava streets looking for what? Ghosts? These people can’t go back to their homes; they can’t leave. They can’t even seek medical treatment in their own country. My people are suffering, General.”
Brushwood rubbed his face, trying to understand where this was coming from. Just two days before, the president had lauded them for their efforts. “I don’t know what I can do at this point. We only have so many troops, and they are already spread thin. Here in the States, we are having daily incursions just like yours. I don’t have any more men to send to you. We lost a lot of our noble troops in the Romanian battle.”
President Dragos scoffed. “That was not my fault. You made a promise, and I expect you to fulfill it. I could have done this my way from the beginning, but instead I trusted you.”
“President, I have tremendous sympathy for the people of your country. I promise I do. I just don’t know how to make things easier for you. I could recruit Katie again. I could send a team back over there to search for rogue demons. That would at least allow people to leave their homes and get medical attention.”
Dragos growled, “Your Katie is absolutely unreliable. She came here to find her team, and that was it. She got in some sort of battle in the church where a half a dozen soldiers were killed, then she left. This happened in my country, but I didn’t get that report until now. You should have informed me.”
The general nodded. “You are right, I should have contacted you immediately. I was trying to figure out what we were dealing with before we called. As far as Katie, she was not sent there on assignment. She went of her own accord to save our Special Forces team. She is one of the most reliable fighters and bravest people I have ever met. If you are not comfortable with her, I won’t send her. The problem then becomes, I have very few people to send.” The general hesitated, then stated, “There is Juntto, I suppose.”
Dragos barked bitter laughter. “I ask for help and you want to send me a monster? He is worse than Katie! No. There has to be something you can do. The major fight is over, but we are still being attacked. A child was killed yesterday by a rogue demon. She will not be the last, General. That is unacceptable on all counts.”
The general winced. “That is terrible news. I’m so sorry for that loss. It is inevitable that when you have a crisis of this magnitude you will lose people. Not everything will be simple.”
“I am not looking for simple, I am looking for effective.”
Brushwood pulled up his schedule and began making himself a note. “I may not have extra troops to send over, but that doesn’t mean we are out of ideas. Let me see if I can help the people of Romania in some other way. Give me a little bit of time to put the pieces together and I’ll send you a plan. I won’t leave you stranded, President Dragos. The American word, a least through me, is still worth something.”
Dragos calmed a bit. “Good. Call me when you have a plan. I will be waiting by the phone.”
The president slammed the phone down in the general’s ear. Brushwood grimaced and hung up. No big hitters, fine. He didn’t like the ungrateful tone in Dragos’s voice, but he couldn’t let innocent people go without defense. He leaned back in his chair and rocked, sipping his whiskey thoughtfully. After a moment, he sat up straight and grabbed his phone. He dialed Korbin’s number.
It rang a couple of times before it was answered. “This is Korbin. How can I help you, General?”
Brushwood was relieved to hear his voice. “It’s been a long time since the two of us have tackled a problem together.”
Korbin chuckled. “Is that what we are about to do?”
The general growled, “I sure as hell hope so.”
“Hold on.” There was a shuffling sound as Korbin walked into a quieter room. “What can I do for you, General?”
“I just got a call from the Romanian president. He is not happy with the way that things have gone. There are demons in the countryside, and survival rates are plummeting. There’s a lack of decent medical care, and he is pissed that we didn’t let him know about what happened in the church.”
Korbin was surprised. “Really? I just saw him
giving a rousing speech of thanks to the United States two days ago. What changed?”
“Stress. Pressure from the rest of the country. I’m not sure.”
Korbin was quiet for a minute. “Why don’t you send Katie back there on an actual hunt? She is great at smoothing people over, too. I think Pandora could have old Dragos eating out of her palm by the end of it.”
The general shook his head. “Apparently Dragos does not believe she did an adequate job of protecting them last time. He rejected my offer to send her, and there is nothing I can do about that. I am calling because I need your help designing fortifications. Weren’t you interested in designing modern castles? Fortifications for a new era?”
Korbin perked up. “I was, sure. We’ve only implemented my ideas at the base so far.”
“Well, if I can’t send any more troops, I need to do something else to help protect these people.”
“You want fortifications for the Romanian town?”
“In all honesty, we are going to need these all over the world. Right now, though, yes. Let’s set up a test facility outside the recently destroyed Romanian town. Hopefully we can make the president happy and repair our relationship.”
Korbin chuckled. “You can’t win for losing, can you, sir? I can fly out there and help them set up their defenses. While I’m there, I’ll check on those rogue demons. I just need to get a few things in order before I can leave. As you might imagine, it’s been a mess around here.”
The general rubbed his chin. “I heard. I’m sorry about the guys. They did their duty.”
Korbin looked out the door and down the hall. “They did. Now we’re all praying that Brock lives to see the end of the war.”
“In that, I will join you.”
9
Timothy swiveled in his chair and stretched his arms out, showing off the control room. “Do you like what I’ve done to the place? Figured it would be nice to have a comfortable area.”
