What the Hand: A Novel About the End of the World and Beyond

by Stockwell, Todd

  And finally, the onslaught—the familiar alien starships returning, but also joined by unfamiliar craft, filling the skies and doing battle with each over the rights to the last abductees; legions of the fallen angels, in hideous forms, roaming the land and skies, attacking and devouring humans with gleeful abandon; and the Antichrist backed by his armies, knowing his time was short, turning on his own masses, to rain on them a genocidal bloodbath, securing their places in the pit.

  ***

  Before this, we had been hiding and praying and reading our Bibles, protected from the demons by our faith. But the good Lord had well begun his slow retreat from the evil of the Old Earth, and that protection had been shrinking by the day.

  ***

  And Roger, unbeknownst to us, had been doing his own bit of praying and reading, but from an altogether different book—a book he treasured and managed to hide for so long from the rest of us: LaVey’s Satanic Bible. Shattered by the loss of Joe, his mentor and his last link to God and sanity, Roger decided the God of Moses was not providing enough comfort and protection, and began to fervently call on the dark forces to fill the gap. He got his wish.

  ***

  One of the last truly beautiful things I remember about the Old Earth, before Christ’s return, was the dream I had had that night. My daughter Sophie appeared to me in a great field of orange grass. I ran to her and she ran to me. I lifted her and swung her around, while she laughed and laughed as she once had.

  But that was the end of it. The laughter faded, and I heard the ominous whispers of something sinister grow loud, and I awoke that early morning to a horror show, and the beginning of a series of events that to this day I pray to forget.

  ***

  It was still dark when I woke, but I could see because the moon was full, reflecting off a white mist floating in a single layer two feet off the ground. I heard Danny screaming from somewhere and strange voices shouting obscenities, which seemed to bounce off the trees in every direction.

  ***

  Roger was standing in the middle of the camp, his knees just above the blanket of fog, staring again in Private Pyle mode. His shirt was off, blood on his chest, arms and hands, some around his mouth, as if he had wiped a bloody arm across his upper lip.

  He was holding my axe in his right hand high above his shoulder. His left hand, dangling below his thigh, clutched a red mass of yarn, which I follow downward to where the yarn ended and became a thick pair of swaying eyeglasses. That’s when I spotted the damaged ear and realized it was the severed head of the poor and gentle Speckle.

  ***

  Now Howard was screaming, too. Between the voices of the demons, the screaming, and the grunting sound coming from somewhere deep inside Roger, the area sounded like a British madhouse.

  The shadows of the trees began to shrink and move, dark figures, stalking, only visible from the corners of my eyes.

  I heard Howard shout, “Stop him, George!” And I ran for my Bible because I figured Roger was possessed, that we were surrounded by demons, and our only chance would be the Word of God.

  I opened the Book blindly, shouting out the first words I spotted on the page: “Behold, the Lamb of God!” Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, I was knocked to the ground. Roger had come for me, swinging the axe wildly at my head, but he missed, catching my shoulder with the dull, flat side of the blade.

  He stood over me, preparing another swing, this one to split my skull. I still held the Bible. It was closed, so I could only use it as a shield, while I improvised from the many exorcism movies I’d seen. “Demon, leave him now!”

  It didn’t happen. Instead he swung hard, and I lifted the Bible to block the blow, which somehow caused the sharp blade to bounce sideways, putting Roger off-balance for a moment, giving me just enough time to roll over and slip away before his next attack.

  ***

  By this time, Danny had stopped screaming and began to confront her crazy son. “Roger, stop it! Put that down!”

  Howard took a thick branch from the fire pit, circling to the back of Roger. It was only then that I realized Billy was missing. I had no time to worry about him. I stayed to one side, continuing to spurt bad movie lines. “Name yourself, demon!”

  ***

  This was actually the correct step to take in an official exorcism. Once demons state their names, they can be ordered out of a person’s body much more easily. The problem was there was nothing really to compel them to give up their name in the first place. What I didn’t do that Catholic exorcists did, was to keep hammering the possessing demons with scripture until their anger got the best of them, and the demons shouted out their names out of spite or a challenge to their egos, which were often quite inflated. Demons, for the most part, were highly intelligent, but were often at a loss when it came to controlling their anger and vanity.

  ***

  But I was much too panicked to use psychology on Roger’s demon, even if I’d known how. So I just kept repeating myself like an idiot, “Name yourself, demon!”

  Howard wasn’t impressed. “What are you doing, George? Where the hell are the guns?”

  I hadn’t thought about the guns, stuffed under my poncho twelve feet from where I was standing. It hadn’t occurred to me to use them on Roger, and even after Howard asked about them, I hesitated.

  “Nobody’s getting any gun!” said Danny.

  “Are you kidding me, Danny? He’s got Speckle’s head!” said Howard.

  That’s when I noticed Roger hadn’t let go of Speckle’s head. He had been swinging the axe one-handed the whole time, which was probably why I was still alive. Well, that and the Bible, which I had used to block some of the blows and might have been the thing holding him at bay because he just stood in the middle of the fire pit, groaning and swinging the axe wildly in the air.

  “No guns!” said Danny.

  “He killed Speckle!” said Howard.

  “Where is Billy?” I said.

  “He was already gone when that nut woke me up!” said Howard.

  “I don’t know either,” said Danny, and she continued to plead with her son, “Roger, please stop. Put the axe down.”

  “Get the shotgun, George!” said Howard.

  I knew Howard was right. No matter how I felt about Danny or Roger, he was going to kill someone else if I didn’t do something. The cave-in, which crushed the sisters, left us with one rifle, a shotgun, a twenty-two caliber pistol, and not much ammunition, so feeling extra-protective over the weapons, I had collected them, rolled them in a poncho, and stuffed them under my blanket before I went to sleep.

  Now I would probably have to use one of them to take down Roger. Howard was right—the shotgun would be most effective. I darted for the bundle, sliding and grabbing a loose corner of the poncho, but when I pulled it off, the shotgun and pistol were gone. I didn’t have time to worry about it. I took the rifle and aimed it at the crazed young man’s head. “Put the axe down, Roger, or I’ll shoot you.”

  But this only seemed to excite the demon in Roger. He began cackling, a frightening, unconcerned laugh.

  “Don’t hurt him George! Can’t you see it’s not him?” said Danny, and she moved closer to her son.

  “Stay back, Danny!” I said.

  “Shoot him, George!” urged Howard.

  “Shut your mouth, Howard!” said Danny.

  “Danielle, stay back!” I said.

  ***

  The whole scene was a bit odd—Roger waving the axe, the demon in him laughing hysterically; Danny positioning for an opportunity to get the axe away from him, all the while shouting at me to put the gun away; Howard dancing around Roger, waving his branch around; and I, holding a rifle aimed at Roger’s head, threatening to shoot him, the demon, or anyone else that might be residing in his body. And on it went for some time—we argued and circled and dodged, while the demon in Roger laughed and flailed the air with the axe. It might have been comical were it not for Speckle missing his head.

  ***


  And with all the commotion, we were too distracted to detect Billy, who had been hiding in the trees, waiting for an opportunity to pounce on the unsuspecting Roger. Billy wasn’t at all deterred by the axe. He’d grown up around gangs and had punched his way out of more than a few prison scrapes. It was Billy who had taken the shotgun and the pistol and could have easily taken Roger out, except he had no intention of killing him. He knew he could subdue the big lad even if Roger did have a nasty old demon in him.

  ***

  One myth about exorcisms was that the priests had to tie the possessed individual down because the demons gave them superhuman strength. This wasn’t true at all. Demons had to work within the limits of the body they’d infiltrated. When little Linda Blair was smacking those priests around like a couple of balloons in the movie The Exorcist it was all fiction. It was true the priests would often tie the victims down, but only so they wouldn’t hurt themselves. Demons had no manners when it came to protecting their hosts; on the contrary, they loved to scratch, claw, hit, stab, gouge, and otherwise cause as much damage as possible to the bodies they occupied because they never planned on sticking around all that long anyway.

  ***

  So, as soon as he saw his chance, Billy was upon him. He took Roger to the ground by hurling his body against the back of his knees, quickly rolling over, jumping to his feet and pouncing on the downed young man. It took us all by surprise. I thought he must have taken kung fu lessons or something, but when I asked him about it later, he told me he’d seen the move on some television show.

  ***

  After Billy took him down, Howard and I jumped in to help. While Billy straddled his chest, Howard pinned his thrashing legs. I got hold of the axe, flinging it across the camp before prying Speckle’s head from Roger’s grip, sending that flying a good distance as well.

  By this time, Danny was screaming again, not in horror, but at us—to leave her son alone. Meanwhile, Roger’s demon continued his creepy laugh, so I started in again with the “name yourself” demon business and whatnot. Then Billy joined in, repeating everything I was saying. And all the while, Howard kept begging us to shoot him already.

  ***

  That’s when I heard it. It was a sound almost like helicopters in the distance, or a bee’s nest, only much louder, like my head was stuck in a hive or something.

  Danny stopped screaming at us. I looked over at her then. She was staring at the sky. Everyone got quiet—even the Roger-demon stopped his cackle. They were all looking at the sky. “My God,” said Danny.

  The buzzing was getting louder, and the light seemed to be fading when it should have been growing with daybreak. I hesitated because the looks on their faces frightened me, and when I did finally look up, I wished I hadn’t.

  ***

  They filled half the visible sky, these creatures—abominations, really, and so many they blocked most of the morning light. They did not resemble men with wings, or angels, even dark angels, by any means, though they possessed a certain human quality about the head. They were much more insect-like than anything, having thin wings, bodies almost like a scorpion’s, and stingers, not unlike that of a wasp, protruding menacingly from their sterns.

  ***

  I think we all knew what we were seeing that morning, had read about them over and over again in Revelation, but the reality of those creatures was something else altogether, and nothing could have prepared us. If you had ever come across a potato bug, you’d have a reference point. Potato bugs are grotesque-looking things about thumb size, with roughly the body of a bumblebee and the head of a baby—so disgusting you wouldn’t even step on one of them. Imagine that creature being the size of a large man, with great wings, and a sharp barb on its butt. Then imagine thousands of them buzzing over your head, and you might begin to appreciate what we saw.

  ***

  Were we not too petrified to think straight, we might have remembered from our readings these fiendish beings could only sting those who had accepted the Mark of the Beast. But in our state, we had no doubt we were about to be slaughtered in some horrible fashion. And when a few dozen or so took notice of us, broke from the flock, and descended like pelicans to fish, we ran for cover, except for the Roger-demon, who remained flat where we had pinned him, frozen and staring up at his brethren.

  I was already to the tree line when I saw Danny, from the corner of my eye, abruptly stop and turn back toward her possessed son. I dove behind a tree to watch. Standing a few feet in front of the Roger-demon, stone still, the terror gone from her face, Danny prepared to face the diving beasts.

  21

  Even before the scorpion-demons began their merciless stinging of the Mark-bearers, the good times for the followers of Satan were coming to an end. The last of the fallen angels had been released to wreak their havoc across the globe.

  It had not rained in many places for quite some time, and the ensuing droughts and famines killed thousands by the day. The only creatures thriving in these environments were the flies, mosquitoes, ants, locusts, roaches, and all manner of insect, biting and swarming and infesting and multiplying. Animals, both wild and domestic, turned on humans in unprovoked and random attacks, leaving them bleeding, ravaged, or dead. When the clouds came back, they brought not rain, but giant hail that dented cars and crushed heads. A large meteor landed in the Baltic Sea, turning the sea red with the blood of sea creatures, and devastating the surrounding cities and villages with earthquakes, floods, and fires.

  The Antichrist began losing his grip on the people. Riots and rebellions broke out in every major city. China and its league of Asian countries were posturing to attack the countries of the New World Order. Under those pressures, Victor Talley, began gathering his forces to New Babel to prepare for the great battle in the Valley of Armageddon.

  ***

  The Apostle John witnessed this battle in his vision. He saw an eastern army of two hundred million attacking the forces of the Antichrist in a valley near Jerusalem. At the time John penned Revelation, there were less than 200 million people on the whole planet, and John couldn’t have been aware of even that population, let alone contemplating an army anywhere near that size. But in the 1960s, the world’s population surpassed three billion, and China’s Chairman Mao bragged he could produce an army of exactly 200 million men. And later, in the Valley of Armageddon, China would do just that. The Battle would be so thoroughly destructive Christ would return early to avoid the annihilation of the entire planet’s population.

  ***

  But His return was still more than a year away, and though we had once remained relatively sheltered in the mountains of Northern California, we were of late experiencing our share of the nightmare. We had already faced persecution, hunger, fires, floods, earthquakes, and the deaths of our good friends—and now the demons were upon us. An unknown entity was in full possession of Roger, and a flock of hideous, flying bug-men were heading straight for Danny.

  ***

  Where was I? Hiding behind a tree. All I could remember was the part in John’s vision about the sting of these things causing the victims five months of serious pain, so horrible it made them wish they were dead. I had forgotten we were protected because we didn’t have the Mark. But if I thought Danny was in danger, why wasn’t I out there trying to save her? Well, it’s pretty simple: I was scared to death.

  And Billy and Howard must have forgotten, too, because they were also hiding in the trees.

  ***

  I did manage to yell for her to run. Billy and Howard yelled, too. But she wasn’t listening. She just continued her hard stare until the beasts were within thirty feet of where she stood.

  The Roger-demon had gotten to his feet by then and was staring up at them, too, only his look was sort of idiotic, while Danny’s remained fearless. Then she spoke. “Jesus, help,” was all she said.

  But as soon as she said it, the bug-men pulled up, hovering menacingly above the defiant woman and her possessed son. The Roger-
demon opened his mouth, emitting a strange and deep groan. Then, what looked to be black smoke shot out of Roger’s mouth, forming a ball next to the hovering beasts. The ball expanded and reformed, until it became one of the bug-men. Roger fell to the ground, while the flock of demons departed, their new member buzzing beside them.

  ***

  We came out from behind the trees to see if Roger was still breathing. Danny was already kneeling over her son. She looked up at me, but I was too ashamed to look her in the eye. It didn’t matter—she wasn’t judging anyone; she was well on her way to grace. “Please get some water,” she said.

  ***

  Roger, looking like he’d just wrestled a baboon, couldn’t remember much, but seemed otherwise fine. Exhausted, and figuring the worst was over, we decided to stay put for the night. We gathered the head and body of Speckle, said some prayers, and buried another friend.

  ***

  Still a bit shaken from the ordeal and fearful of more demons, we made a fire and dragged our blankets and sleeping bags together for the night. But before we retired, I had one bit of business to finish. “Where’s that book, Roger?” I said.

  He played dumb. “What book?” he said.

  “How many books do you have, Roger?” I said.

  “Get the book, Roger,” said Danny.

  Roger didn’t bother to protest any longer. He shuffled over to his backpack to remove the foul literature, which he placed in my hand. He’d mentioned the book early on, but kept it hidden from us until the night before, and I didn’t put it together till he went nuts. Danny must have figured it out, too. I showed it to the others and promptly tossed it in the fire. “Hey!” he said.

  It was then I realized he hadn’t asked about Speckle’s death, and I wondered if he did remember something. “Do you even know how Speckle died? You didn’t ask,” I said.

  “Don’t!” said Danny.

  I backed off. After what she had done in the face of those demons, I wasn’t about to give her any grief.

  Billy wasn’t saying anything either, but Howard jumped all over it.