by mike Evans
The words hit like an uppercut. He stumbled back a few feet losing his breath and falling onto the steps and sat down taking a second. “Did you know them, Billy?” Joan asked, concern in her voice. The idea that someone might one day come to her doorstep to deliver bad news like this wasn’t something she let herself think about regularly, but enough that she had lost sleep because of it.
“Yes, Father Nathaniel was only a few years older than us, he was one of two in charge of exorcisms in that region. We didn’t deal with Father Edwards all that much. What about Father Carter, did he make it?”
“Other than some kids and ex-alcoholics there weren’t any survivors. I don’t have any reports on him, but didn’t have any reason to check. I’m sure that the rest of the parish had been accounted for.”
“I can check with James when we get to the church. You said you were parking the car, you good with giving us a ride, Dursky?”
“Sure, I say the sooner we make sure the two of you are safe the better. Do you know why anyone might have done that, why he might have been killed?”
“I don’t have a clue why, people are weird, some are just evil, they never found the way into church. Other than a few times when we went out to California to teach them, we didn’t really know them, never really had a lot of reasons to go talk to them. We helped train them and supplied them with some of our tools of the trade. The kind of things they didn’t have back before the two of us got taken on to do this work. We had Father Michaels and he was our biggest supporter. No idea was too small or big if it would help. As we got going when we started, we got more and more things out and…none of this matters it won’t change anything. Let’s just hope that they found their way to heaven.”
“We need to get to the church. I can only assume that you guys are the only ones doing this in Chicago, right?” Dursky asked.
“Yes, sir, we take care of most of the Midwest and anywhere that needs any help.”
“How many other priests are there that we need to worry about?”
“I’d have to count, but I’d say sixteen, twenty tops? Some are still in training. This doesn’t happen overnight. Becoming a priest isn’t a quick thing, sir.”
“Does someone you know have a list?”
“Father Michaels oversees everyone. He spends a great deal of time travelling, more when things are acting up. When we get to the church he’ll have numbers and we can reach anyone on that list. You obviously feel this guy is going to be coming after us, those priests with a specialized mission in life?”
Tony said, “You guys do realize that this is all shit we could be saying in the car, you know on the way there? Like where the church is, and where we could be verifying all this stuff and seeing if the California guys were the first on the list or if you guys are the last of it. Maybe he made more things look like accidents, or big things that…”
“We need to leave then,” Joan said. When no one moved, she screamed, “Now, we need to get to James!”
Billy smiled, Tony and himself were by far her favorite things on earth but if he had a third it would be James. She knew all the times when her husband was still around and food was scarce that Billy would pass on his portions to Tony and would find his food elsewhere. James had been the one who helped make sure his best friend didn’t starve. James of course and his family. The last thing they could do was let that pass.
The four of them left through the front. When they opened the door, a crowd was filling the street. They were blocking the exit to the car, blocking their exit to anywhere. Dursky held his shield in one hand, and his revolver in the other. Billy took his wrist gently and lowered it. “You don’t have enough bullets, put it down.”
“We can’t quit!” Dursky yelled, the veins in his forehead were visibly pulsating from the circumstances.
Billy said it as slowly and as calmly as if he was asking to pass the salt. “Look at their eyes, you could put up every round you have in one of them and they are just gonna keep coming, smiling and running.”
“You don’t have a prayer, something you can do to get those things out of them?”
“I don’t think you understand what a priest has got to do, what they go through to be able to save a life from one of these. It is as much mental as it is physical,” Tony tried to explain.
“So, you can’t Jesus our way out and I can’t shoot them? You aren’t leaving too many options here that are overly desirable,” Dursky yelled punching the door in frustration.
Billy, who was already frustrated by about everything he’d had to face throughout his day yelled, “I can’t Jesus my way out of this, good God Almighty, please save me from this… this-”
“Watch what you say priest, I'm a bad catholic, and I’d think even God would give me a pass right now,” Dursky said as he puffed up his chest.
Billy looked to Dursky thinking it had been a long time since he was ready to deck someone, even if it was someone who had come for a good reason. He knew that he wasn’t necessarily trying to save James’ and his lives so much as catch the guy who is taking all of them. When he saw Tony’s lip quivering, he was unsure what to expect that he would see. Billy gasped when he made eye contact, or at least what he could only call eye contact since he could see through the thing in front of them. Dursky and Joan could not see it and Billy was fine with that because it’d just be one more thing to waste time about. Tony took Billy’s shoulder trying not to sound insane. “You…you see it too, right, Billy? You see it, tell me you do, please, I feel like after today I'm starting to lose my damn mind.”
Billy nodded and it didn’t take long to see the young man in front of him or who the young spirit of the ghost had been. “Father Joseph, is that you? Is that really you?”
Joseph hovered forward. “You can put the holy water away, Billy, I'm on your side. The powers that be thought that you might need a push tonight to help you make it through the evening. It is good to see you again, it has been too long.”
“You look; you look so much different, what in the world happened after you died?”
“Not everyone keeps their form, some of us are resulted back to how we were better remembered. I just happened to be in my thirties, probably not too much older than you are now.”
Tony, who had not realized who he was until he began speaking said, “You said you were sent? Who sent you, are you going to be able to help us?”
“I don’t think we need to answer that,” Joseph replied quietly.
Dursky and Joan both exchanged glances seeing if either of them could see what it was in front of them. When they both concluded that they couldn’t see whatever it was they just looked at Tony and Billy, who were having a conversation as plain as day. “You want to let us know what the plan is, Billy, since you obviously aren’t going to tell your mother any of the important information.”
“We don’t know yet, mom,” Billy replied.
She nodded her head slowly watching as the front door began to rattle. Tony said, “Doesn’t look like we get to be privy to what is happening as well. You think he’s going to be able to do it?” Tony asked.
“If not, I can’t think of anything else that he has up there that is going to be able to help us,” Billy replied.
The four walked to the window prying it open. The heavy wooden door opened and stayed open after he left. Tony said, “I think he wants us to go with him.”
“Why do you say that?” Joan said after hearing the two of them.
“Because he’s sitting out there waving after us, I don’t know where he is going, but I think he wants us to follow,” Tony replied.
Billy took his mom by the hand and Tony walked out side by side with Dursky. When they made it outside there was a path that was opening. The demons that had taken over the humans seemed to know what was happening or at least what the consequences were if they crossed the path. When the four of them were close to the inner circle the two boys watched as Joseph quit moving forward. A light that Billy and his mother had
only experienced once before slowly started to grow, no larger than the size of a softball. The two of them watched it, remembering it almost knocking down the house when they had seen it before.
Billy pulled her close, holding her hand and saying prayers beneath his breath. Tony heard what he was saying and needed no help recollecting what he was reciting. He took his mother’s other hand and Dursky who tried to pull him away at first but Tony only gripped tighter. The blue light practically exploded onto the ground and across the streets until it disappeared from sight. They squinted their eyes shut, not wanting to worry about going blind. When they opened their eyes, the demons were no longer in control of the bodies. People now no longer possessed were tossed everywhere like rag dolls. Joan saw it and pulled both of her sons off balance, making Tony let go of Dursky and squeezed the two of them. Billy was looking everywhere for Joseph but he could be found nowhere. He looked to the sky just in time to see the bluest blue he’d ever seen before it disappeared into a twinkle.
Dursky cleared his throat, looking around at the people now. “What in the hell just happened?”
The two brothers both shrugged. “I don’t think they wanted anyone else to know this time.”
“Oh, of course, because it has happened before?” Dursky inquired jokingly.
“Pretty much,” Tony said, not wasting any time and began to walk toward the squad car. “These things look free right now but who knows how long it's going to last like this. These people might only be safe for so long. We need to secure the vehicle, get out of here and to James and Father Michaels.”
Billy held his mother tight knowing at this time they could not be more vulnerable. That someone above had saved them and for that he was thankful. Tony revved the engine and they peeled out, leaving a trail of smoke and the newly saved in their wake.
Dursky was trying his best to light a smoke but couldn’t do it. Tony motioned for the lighter using it on a smoke which he passed to Dursky and then one for himself. His mother cleared her throat never being a big fan of smokers or the waste of money on the habit. Tony looked in the rearview shaking his head. “A city full of the dead and the possessed and you still gotta bust me down for trying to smoke, MA?”
“I'm your mother, Anthony, and I can do and say as I please! You don’t forget that.”
Billy snickered in the backseat and his mother gave him a bump with her elbow. “Even God won’t save you from me if you don’t show a little respect, William Parker.”
Billy knew better than to talk back to her and they sped toward the church. The graveyards they passed by in the city could just barely be seen but they could tell there was a presence in them and they were beginning to be overrun by the dead. Billy said, “I hope there’s a plan to take care of these things, we can’t be greedy but there’s only so much we can handle.”
Dursky had the smoke hanging only by dried spit and the red ember of the end was only a finger width away from burning his chin. Tony looked over at him laughing, “You said that you’d seen about everything, right? Well, this is probably something new to you, huh?”
Dursky grabbed at his smoke when he could feel the heat on his chin. He looked back to Billy and yelled, “What in the hell do you plan on doing with all those things? How the hell are they out of the ground?”
“You ever hear how God works in mysterious ways? Well, so does the devil, apparently. As far as what we are going to do we need to get these two to the church and make sure that James and Father Michaels are all right. After that we will regroup and come up with a-”
“Shit!” Tony screamed. He slammed down hard on the brakes with no worry for anyone’s safety as he spun the wheel around the corner. “I forgot that Alecia was working. We got to go get her, like now!”
“We don’t have time to go get your girlfriend, Tony,” Dursky said.
“Would you go after your family? I bet that you would. She doesn’t have much and I'm not going to have her in the streets on a night like this one. Who knows what she is dealing with or what is going on over on that side of town.”
Dursky wanted to say something but he didn’t know anyone here well enough to say anything. When they made it to the restaurant they could see that there had to be a serious graveyard near them because the dead populated everything. Tony was grateful for the dead versus the possessed. In his mindset he thought they were better off because he wasn’t sure that he could allow himself to run into someone knowing the damned might leap out of them in time to let them absorb the pain.
He wanted to stop out front but could see already that there were too many of the dead to do so. He went racing around the corner, down the street picking off the dead that were in his way. Brittle bones smashed from the impact covering the hood with limbs and skulls still snapping their jaws. The two both tossed their smokes when the clicking noise got even louder. Tony raced down the alley hoping that they would not have made it there yet. When they saw it empty they both felt there was something at work here looking out for him.
When Tony slid to a stop in front of the back door, he left the car going and he and Billy both slid out of the car not having to ask him to go with to save Alecia. When they headed into the kitchen Alecia was there standing on a table along with a cook and a bus boy, each of them holding brooms and mops trying to keep the dead at bay. When Tony entered the room, he could see there was no shortage of the dead that had made their way in. Tony looked to Billy, who was trying to figure out how to deal with this.
“Alecia, hey baby, we are going to save you, you just stay there!” Tony asked.
Alecia looked at him with hope which immediately turned to annoyance at the fact that he had to tell the three of them to stay there, as if there was a choice. The young cook was kicking at them, not paying attention to his surroundings and knocked over a cup of water. When he lifted his right foot to kick at one of the dead, he lost his balance and slipped hard onto his back grunting when he did. The dead, wasted no time gripping him by the white shirt and pants and dragged him from the table to the ground.
The man screamed as the first of ten mouths took hold onto his legs and arms and began tearing viciously, painfully, and fatally at his body. Alecia bent to try and do something but was pulled back up by the young bus boy. Tears were streaming freely from Alecia, the visual she had was an up close and personal horror show.
Billy wouldn’t allow another soul to be taken, but knew his supplies were low and there were too many of the dead for him to be able to handle on his own. He patted at his pockets, there were only three balls left filled with holy water. He ran into the back where they’d entered to the sink. Tony watched, baffled that he’d just abandoned him to figure out a way on his own to get Alecia. He looked around the diner trying to see what he could use for a weapon but was thinking there wasn’t anything to use. He looked behind the counter, smiling when he saw a sawed-off shotgun. Tony checked to see what was in it, and barely had any idea how to use it. Firing it off toward his girlfriend didn’t seem like a very intelligent idea.
He turned it around ready to use it as a baseball bat as his brother came running back with a bucket of water in each hand. He broke the two pieces of glass together over the buckets trying to let as much of the water spill as possible into the already full buckets. Billy smiled at Tony doing the sign of the cross and wincing as he picked the bucket up. Billy brought it back and then spun with it launching the water from the bucket into the air in an arc. He stood there not worried about the second bucket until he could see the effects of the first. They held their breath as they watched the water make contact with the dead. Smoke rose from their bones, and on some who had not been in the ground for long and only had a pale complexion with minimal holes in their skin from the bugs, it began to sizzle. The smell was already horrific, but when it made its way through it made everything smell fifty times worse.
Tony saw that it worked and bent down looking like a running back, a sport he’d only ever had time to admire and ran, not wait
ing for Billy. Billy looked at Tony watching him race toward the dead that were now dripping wet with makeshift holy water. He kept his arms up in front of him, knocking the dead out of the way with each step, the muscles in his legs burned as he pushed them from his path, stopping for nothing. Alecia looked even more worried and the dead gripped onto his arms when he made it up to them. A mouth was coming straight for his neck, the teeth clicking as it got closer and closer. He tried to pull his arm free from its grip but couldn’t free himself. Tony head-butted it before it could bite him but it could not feel pain and all he did was bruise his forehead. He was thinking of his favorite prayer, waiting for the pain to come. When it didn’t he opened his eyes to see that the bus boy had jammed his broom handle into its mouth. Tony smiled, only temporarily relieved as another of the dead was ready to finish what the other had begun. When the mouth was only inches away he screamed in rage, frustrated with the circumstances; that was when a bath of water splashed across the back of his neck and hair drenching him and the dead in front of him.
Billy ran up holding out a hand to help Alecia and the boy down off the table. Billy elbowed him yelling, “Come on and get them to the back, we gotta go!”
