Brent wanted the wasps to take her, but his master wouldn’t allow it.
Leave her.
Brent laughed and dragged her down the steps to the first floor. He found the cellar door, and after kissing Sam’s bloody lips, he let her tumble to the concrete floor below.
He closed the door and waited.
An hour later, Sam’s mother came home from work, made a sandwich, and sat at the small dinner table, when she heard a muffled cry below her. She put her sandwich down and stood.
“Sam? Is that you down there?” she called.
“Sorry, mom. Sam’s not here,” Brent replied.
She spun on her heels and saw Brent standing a few feet away, naked and covered in blood and festering sores. He grinned and lunged at her before she had a chance to scream. He dug his thumbs into her throat and smiled as her windpipe collapsed beneath his hands.
When she stopped moving, Brent grabbed a large steak knife from the kitchen cabinet and removed her head. He propped it on the kitchen table and laughed as the wasps descended from the second floor and covered every inch of her horrified face.
“A gift to you,” Brent chuckled.
His mother had always told him not to bring his toys to the dinner table, but this was too good to pass up.
Besides, his mother would never bitch at him again about anything.
She’d already become a hive.
Brent stomped away and returned to the cellar door. Sam was in the same place he’d left her. Her eyes fluttered open, and she stared up at him, cradling her broken arm and weeping in the darkness.
“I know you’re mad, honey,” Brent said, “but we can work it out. Brent’s going to make it all better.”
Sam shrieked as Brent stepped forward and closed the door.
***
Everything was falling into place.
The Skryel saw the path clearly. It smiled as the remaining strips of its false face sloughed from its skull; it shed its skin like a molting snake, becoming something new, becoming its true self.
The frozen void amid the stars brimmed with soul energy.
The Skryel hovered in the abyss, feeding on tortured souls and licking their essence from its clawed fingers.
Earth was in its grasp.
The creature gorged until it was sated, and then continued eating, growing fat from its bounty.
Victory was within its grasp.
***
Danny and Eric sat on a park bench near the train station and waited for Sam to arrive, watching as people went about their lives. Danny understood why she hadn’t wanted to come along to Ben’s with them. It was too much to ask of anyone.
“No one sees what’s happening,” Eric said.
“It’s part of the game,” Danny replied. “We’re being isolated.”
Eric sighed and gazed into the dim sky. The Darkening was getting stronger, and just like Ben had said, the Earth would begin to die. They stood on the precipice.
“Where the hell is Sam?” Danny asked. “She should have been here by now.”
“She’s pretty shaken up. It’s a lot to comprehend.”
“She’s not the only one who’s shaken up.”
“Yeah, but she’s a girl. She’s not tough like us.” Eric smirked and saw Danny smiling back.
“She’d kick your ass.”
“I can’t deny that.”
Danny laughed and watched traffic pass on the highway. There were people on their lunch hour, families on vacation, little faces and hands pressed against car windows, watching as the world sped by. Danny envied them. He’d forgotten what it was like to be normal.
Eric was lost in thought when he was startled by a muffled thud in the overgrown grass in front of the station. A black cat lay there twitching, its neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Eric looked to the roof and back to the unfortunate animal.
“What the hell?” he muttered.
“Huh?”
“That cat,” he pointed. “It must have fallen from the roof.”
Ten feet away, a second animal thumped to the ground. It may have been a Dachshund, but it was nearly impossible to tell since most of its body was covered in sores and its head was missing. A parrot landed several feet away; its wings had been torn free and little white worms wiggled in its empty eye sockets.
“Christ, get out of the way,” Danny shouted.
He grabbed Eric by the arm and pulled him under the overhanging roof. All around them, animals rained from above: cats, dogs, birds, ferrets, hamsters, turtles, fish, gerbils. It was as if the Skryel had broken open a pet store and shook it violently above the thick, dark clouds.
Across the highway, a severed giraffe head fell onto a parked car. A rotting horse carcass landed in the center of the road and dumped maggot-blown intestines into the gutter. Smaller animals bounced off rooftops and cars like hail. Blood ran into rain gutters and pooled in the street.
“What do you think they see?” Eric asked, pointing at the passing cars. “Is it just like any other day for them?
Danny shrugged.
“The endgame is near,” a voice said from behind. “Reality is beginning to collapse. Worlds are merging.”
“Would you announce yourself when you show up?” Danny shouted. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry, it’s a bad habit of mine.” His laughter sounded forced and tired.
“Is this it?” Eric asked. “Is this the end?”
“Not yet, there’s still time,” Ben replied.
“What do we do?” Danny asked.
“Prepare your mind for what’s coming. This little display is only the beginning, it’s going to get much worse, and if you’re not ready, it’ll drive you insane.”
“Are you going to help us?” Eric asked.
“I can only do so much. I have something you might need. Come see me soon.”
Ben disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived. Corpses rained down for several more minutes, followed by a brief shower of warm blood. It coated the streets and trees in a congealed, gelatinous slime that reeked like burning wires.
Elmview looked and smelled like the killing floor of an abattoir.
Shortly after the rain stopped, they made their way over the hill to Ben’s house. He said nothing, wringing his hands as he looked out over the town. It was only a little after two in the afternoon, but already the sun had begun a quick descent to the horizon.
Danny was worried about Sam. He should never have left her alone. Her absence was marked by a dull ache in his chest. Ben could sense his fear, and if he could, so could the Skryel. He wanted to comfort Danny but couldn’t find the words. Ben could no longer feel Sam’s energy… she was being hidden from them.
The air had grown thick, making it uncomfortable to breathe. People stumbled around town as if in a dream, walking slowly and aimlessly like zombies. Children played in the park without laughter. An anesthetic fog hung over Elmview, numbing everyone to the real world around them.
The sun disappeared just before three, painting the sky a sickly shade of orange. It remained that way for the rest of the afternoon.
“It’s going to dark soon,” Ben said. The old man put a gnarled hand on Danny’s shoulder and held it there. “What you need to understand is that you have all the tools you need to defeat the beast. There’s a power inside you unlike anything the world has seen in two centuries. You might not know what it is right now, but I know you can feel it. It will come to the surface when the time is right, and if you can harness that energy, there’s a chance to beat this thing.”
Ben blinked his eyes hard to clear them and re-focus. He bent and reached under his chair, pulling out a small, plain cedar box. The wood was flawless and unadorned, the lid held on by three brass hinges tarnished with age.
“Take this box and open it whenever you like,” Ben said. Danny took it and placed it in his lap, rubbing his fingers over the worn wood. “When you and I are through, you may never see me again, but rest assured I will be there
for the final battle. I’ll be the ground beneath your feet and the air in your lungs. As long as you believe I’m with you, I can lend you my strength. The rest is up to you.”
Eric and Ben shared a look as Eric’s fear was replaced by the icy chill of hate. Ben knew from that moment the boy would never be the same.
“We’re going to kill it,” Eric said. “No matter what it takes.” Ben nodded and turned to Danny.
“This is your last resort,” Ben said. “If all else fails, you know what has to be done. It’s your choice and your choice alone. Do you understand?”
Danny slid the latch aside and peeked into the box. The sky’s orange glow glinted on what lay inside, something he didn’t need to examine to recognize. He closed the box and nodded.
“I understand.”
Chapter 14
It was impossible to tell the time in the orange glow of eternal dusk. Every watch and clock in town had stopped working the second the sun dipped below the horizon. The animal corpses that had rained upon Elmview still remained, their stinking, bloated bodies covered in thick clouds of hungry flies. Traffic had come to a standstill as drivers left their vehicles and wandered into the street. The air crackled with unseen energy.
An entire block of houses on Carter Street was engulfed in flames.
On Madison Street, a man chased his three daughters into the woods behind their house and slew them with a pickaxe.
Chemicals from the sewage treatment plant leaked from their containment tanks and spewed into the river.
A woman boiled a large stewpot of water and tossed in her four-month-old son, watching as his skin peeled. When he stopped moving, she upended the pot and drank deeply, dying in agony.
The Elmview High School sank into the ground like a ship at sea. Parts of the building collapsed before plunging into the depths.
A man’s prize-winning English Bulldog writhed on the living room floor and died seconds after growing a second head in the middle of its back. This head barked for ten minutes before joining its body in death.
A murder of crows descended on a group of teenagers at the Little League field, clawing and pecking as the kids fell to the bloody grass.
Old man Moyer sat in front of his bedroom window, gazing down at the Rimmel factory, a shotgun resting beside him on the bed. He’d been uneasy all day.
Starting as a low rumble and building in intensity, his house shook violently, nearly knocking him to the floor. He grabbed the gun and peered out the window just as the factory’s smokestack crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust and soot. He took three steps and collapsed, dead before he hit the carpet.
All around Elmview, people committed random acts of torture and violent murder.
The sky darkened to crimson.
***
“We have to find Sam,” Danny said.
“I’m sure she’s fine. Maybe she has to fight this battle on her own.”
“If something happens to her…”
“Don’t think about that. No one else is going to die.”
They sat on the picnic bench overlooking the downtown, the same one where Eric had met Ben for the first time. It seemed like it was a million years ago. The small cedar box rested between them. Danny had shown Eric what was inside before quickly closing it without another word. Danny saw Eric’s eyes drop, understanding the significance immediately.
It was the same gun his father had used to end his own life.
The weapon didn’t have supernatural powers, it was just like any other. Danny had seen it in his first vision in Mr. Donovan’s classroom. He was no longer afraid of dying, but he was afraid of failure. The fate of the world rested heavily on his shoulders.
On Broad Street, a man stabbed a teenage girl in the chest with a large butcher knife before turning the blade on himself and opening his neck in a spray of blood. This would have horrified Danny a month ago, but now he barely noticed.
“Do you really think we have a chance?” Eric asked.
“I don’t know, but if we don’t try, we lose. It’s that simple.”
The bells at the First Presbyterian Church rang loudly, chiming an ugly, discordant tune that hurt their ears. The hollow notes ceased as their echo reverberated over town.
“I keep thinking how ridiculous this is,” Eric said sadly. “I want so badly for this to be a terrible dream. I’ll roll out of bed and my dad will be making scrambled eggs for me and Jacky. My mom will be dancing around to some silly song on the radio and we’ll all laugh when my dad smacks her butt and calls her Ginger Rogers. I want that more than anything, but I know it’ll never happen. This is real.”
“This is real,” Danny repeated.
“My father wasn’t strong enough. I used to think he was the toughest man in the world, but in the end, he was scared just like us.”
“Maybe,” Danny said, “but he did what he needed to. He gave us all a chance.”
“Then we’d better do everything we possibly can. If not, he died for nothing.”
Eric stared into the crimson sky and wept. He felt like a character in a comic book, trapped on the page and unable to change what happens next. Everything spiraled to some unknown fate he couldn’t control.
“I miss our old life,” Danny said. “I miss Charlie and Brent. I miss the sound of crickets in the yard and the smell of fresh brownies in the kitchen. How did we get here?”
A skinned vulture circled overhead, watching them. Its loud chatter sounded like human speech.
Die. Die. Die.
Danny felt a swirling pit of emptiness growing inside him, threatening to consume him. His failure would mean the end of everything. Everyone would die, the light would die, love would die.
The Skryel would win and plunge the world into darkness forever.
***
Sam dragged herself across the basement floor before collapsing. Her face was battered and bruised, her eyes swollen shut, and her lips split open and bleeding. Several of her teeth had been knocked out and her nose was badly broken. Lumps and bumps bulged from beneath her shirt where her bones had been broken and twisted out of place.
The awful things Brent had done to her were just blurry images. She’d slipped in and out of consciousness as he beat her, yanked out clumps of her hair, raped her with every object he could lay his hands on. Eventually, she’d gone numb, feeling like she’d left her body, only screaming back to reality when she heard her bones snapping beneath his vicious blows.
After an eternity, Brent stopped. The air had changed, thickened, and Brent walked into the swirling cloud that had appeared at the cellar bulkhead. He turned one last time and waved, smiling through a mouthful of bloody teeth. Wasps covered his rotting flesh like a suit of clothes.
“We’ll meet again,” Brent said. “Either in this world or the next.” Then he was gone.
All Sam thought about was Danny. Was he okay? Was he alive? Sam pulled herself closer to the door, but her body betrayed her. The pain flooded in as she faded out. A sickly red light streamed in through the cellar windows.
With all the concentration and energy she could muster, Sam sent a message to Danny and Eric, praying they were still alive to hear it.
She was still waiting for a response when she lost consciousness.
***
Brent hung suspended in the darkness.
He gazed out over all creation, billions and billions of flickering pinpricks of brilliant light. For a second, his resolve weakened as he looked at the beauty of existence.
Why would anyone want to destroy this?
“Because I can,” the Skryel replied, “and because it was our agreement, one for which you’ll be handsomely rewarded.”
Yes. Eternal life. Ascension to godhood.
“What now?” Brent asked.
“We wait and we feed. Soon the dance begins.”
Brent closed his eyes in ecstasy as he drained the soul energy from countless victims. The Skryel had saved the best for last, offering Charlie’s essence like a
n after-dinner mint. As Brent fed, he felt Charlie struggling, fighting him, begging him to stop. Brent could see his friend’s memories, his experiences, his love for his family, and his love of life.
The sweetness of the essence turned bitter and Brent wavered. What am I doing? How can I hurt Danny and Eric?
“Focus,” the Skryel purred. “You’re on your way to becoming a king.”
Brent shook his head and cleared his mind. He drained Charlie, tossed away the empty husk, and moved on to the next.
What are any of these people to me? Why should I feel anything for these sad parasites?
Brent absorbed the Skryel's energy, basking in it. He longed for that kind of ultimate power. It was that hunger that would allow him to see this through to the end.
When it was over, he’d be one of the most powerful beings in the universe. With that thought, Brent went back to feeding, being swept further into his delusions.
The Skryel felt the shift and grinned.
***
Ben sat trembling on his sofa.
The Skryel’s influence over Elmview was strongly affecting his ability to think clearly.
He felt Danny and Eric in his head, but Sam and Brent were hidden. In his experience, that could only mean two things: the Skryel was hiding them for some unknown purpose, or they were already dead.
Ben stood, his knees popping loudly in the stillness of his living room. He went to the front porch, lit a cigarette, and sighed. Full dark would arrive any second.
The battle was about to begin.
Ben flinched as his neighbor burst through the front door two houses over and pumped a shotgun blast into his wife’s back. He turned, waved to Ben, and went back inside to finish off his children.
The hills to the southwest were being consumed by raging wildfire. A teenage girl ran past the house wearing her gutted pet cat on her head like a coon-skin cap. A loud shriek sounded overhead as a 767 passenger jet skimmed the treetops; one wing burned furiously as the jet rolled over on its side and plummeted to the earth in a massive explosion. The ensuing fire made Elmview inescapable from the west.
Ben carefully undressed and folded his clothes neatly on the porch glider. White light gleamed in his eyes. His human form shimmered and dissolved, rising into the air as an opaque mist.
The Darkening (A Coming of Age Horror Novel) (The Great Rift Book 1) Page 21
