And Then There Was Darkness

by Greg Dragon

  “He attacked me,” she said. “And his eyes were glowing just like the demons.”

  “Damn, this is getting more messed up as we go along. You okay? Did he get you?”

  “No, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. I fought for my life while you were inside getting cute,” she joked, and he couldn’t help but smile at her bravery.

  “So, you mean to tell me that she can possess us, too?” he asked and Tracy merely shrugged.

  “I don’t know, Jimmy; this is all new to me. All I know is that I just had one hell of a fight against a man whose only former offense was undressing me with his eyes.”

  James knelt down to examine the body of the medic, whose skin had become gray and flaky. It was as if he was slowly turning into ashes before their eyes and he found it quite fascinating.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said. “And I’ve seen death in just about every way imaginable.”

  “I bet you have,” Tracy said. “You won’t give me any details, but I know you’ve been through some stuff, that’s for sure.”

  “You don’t want to hear the stuff I’ve been through,” James said. “You know there are things that I would rather forget than bring it back up to you. But this right here is getting close, and if it keeps up, you won’t need my stories. You’ll be having your own share of nightmares.”

  Tracy found that she couldn’t look at the body any longer and she stared at her bloody hand with the long knife still gripped tight within it. The knuckles on her hand were hard and white and she was still shaking from the adrenaline.

  “Jimmy, can we go?” she said, and he looked up at her and saw that she was going through a hard time. He decided to delay his investigation of the doctor and stood up, then put his hand on her shoulder.

  “I got you, Tracy. You know this, right? I got your six, just like I know you got mine.”

  “I’m gonna hold you to that one.” She tried to joke, but he could see that she needed more time.

  They moved on to the cul-de-sac where Alysia, Jaime, and Debdan lived and James knocked on the door of his daughter’s room. He was hoping to hear that she had followed instructions and locked herself inside but something told him not to get his hopes up. There was no answer and he cursed himself for going against his instincts. She would’ve gone out to try and save people, he thought, and he looked under the doors to see if any lights were on. The only one that seemed to be on was Jaime’s so he knocked on his door and again there was no answer. He could hear the boy moving around inside so he shouted his name angrily for him to open the door.

  “You think he’s in there with your daughter?” Tracy asked with a little smile on her face.

  “Don’t joke about that,” James said, and he shouted his name again.

  Tracy felt like something was off, so she ran towards the door and kicked it open with her boot. The door flew open, knocking someone down and when she moved to apologize, she noticed the demon on the floor. It looked very much like the red and black ones that were scattered all about the forest but there was something about it.

  “What is one of these doing here, Jimmy?” she asked as she looked at the demon who looked back at her. His appearance was very familiar. There was something about his gait and mannerisms that gave them pause, but they didn’t have much time to ponder, as it made to rush at them. James saw what it was trying to do and brought up his knife and cut the air in front of it. He held it up in front of his face, hoping that it would buy them some time to get the demon back inside the room.

  “It would be good to have one of them captured so we can figure out what it is that is going on,” he said. “We could just shut the door an—”

  His words were cut short by the demon, who swung at Tracy’s face with his fist. James countered by stabbing him in the bicep and twisted the blade as he pulled it out. The demon backed into the room screaming and James dashed forward and kicked him in the abdomen. The force of the kick caused the demon to fall back onto the bed and James wiped the blood from the blade onto his pants. Always wipe your blade when the final cut is made, he remembered telling Alysia. One of many lessons that stuck with her, and the vision of her training made him smile to himself.

  He pulled the door and tried to lock it, but Tracy’s kick had almost taken it off the hinges. There was no way they would be locking the demon in, so they pondered what to do next.

  “If I had a proper blade, I could just take his legs out,” James said, but Tracy wasn’t listening as she walked over to hand him a length of electrical cord.

  “This was lying behind the building where it had been cut,” she said. “At least now we know what caused the system to go haywire.”

  James took the cord and tied the demon’s arms and legs, then pushed him into the bathroom, where he locked the door and wedged a piece of pipe beneath the handle.

  “Do you think that’s gonna hold him?” Tracy asked.

  “It better,” James said, “because if he comes at me one more time, you can forget about all this ‘saving him for experimentation’ business. I’m gonna snatch the life out his body.”

  He then walked over to Debdan’s house and pushed the door wide open. As he suspected, there was no one inside.

  “Do you think that the boy somehow turned?” James asked. He was worried—now that he knew what was going on—that Alysia was vulnerable and out in the underground city, looking for the demon.

  “Yeah, seems to be that way,” Tracy said. “They seem to go through phases, too if you think about it. We are used to the red and black demons, who I’m thinking used to be people.”

  “Even if you’re right,” James said, “I hope it’s a complicated process to get us to turn into one of them. Because if that isn’t the case, then I don’t know how to feel. It would mean that all the demons we’ve been shooting up are actually people possessed by whatever the hell we fought in the woods.”

  Tracy thought about his words and felt a wave of sadness come over her. “This sucks,” she said.

  “We can’t dwell on it,” James said. “Let’s stick to the plan and not obsess over guessing at what they are. We have a demon queen to find and we had better do it fast.”

  “Hey, I have an idea,” Tracy said and James looked at her to see if she was making an ill-timed joke again. She took his arm and led him up towards the entrance rather than deeper into the bunker to look for the demon. “They store weapons up here, remember? All we have are these knives and they just aren’t going to cut it. No pun intended. We need to get some real weapons.”

  “Good thinking,” James said and they headed up towards the entrance together.

  Chapter Four

  Alysia and Jaime had been darting in and out of the alleys in between the buildings, looking for the demon huntress. They couldn’t find her and Alysia was beginning to wonder if the cold and the possessions were coming from something else. As they tried their best to avoid the soldiers and the demon people wandering about, it became increasingly difficult to continue searching.

  “It’s a bust, CeeCee, we have to do something else. Either one of those guys is going to accidentally shoot us, or we’re going to get jumped by those demons,” Jaime said.

  Alysia had been running when he said this, and she pulled up and stopped to talk to him. “You’re right, it’s a wild goose chase. But I know she’s out here, hurting people, and I need to find her to put a stop to it.”

  “With what, that old sword?” He laughed. “Have you even considered that you got lucky the first time? She had two other people shooting at her when you fought her, right? Now it’s just us, and she has the element of surprise. What’s to stop her from—?”

  Alysia put her hand up to stop him when she saw a body lying in the street. She recognized the red dress and the black tuft of hair below the blinking lights, but she couldn’t remember whom it was that dressed like that. She ran over to the person and flipped her over, and Angelica’s f
ace revealed itself beneath the mass of hair. “Oh, no…” Alysia whispered, and she checked her vitals to see if she was dead. There was a weak pulse, and she thanked God as she motioned for Jaime to help get her up.

  “Knock on one of those doors. She needs help!” she ordered him and he knocked on the door of the nearest house. It took some time before he got an answer, but he had to curse and make a few threats before a woman inside opened up to see who he was.

  “This woman is hurt, and she cannot be out here,” he said to her, and the dark-skinned woman cursed at him, and took Angelica in before slamming the door in his face. Jaime tried to apologize, but the woman was not trying to hear it. He turned back to Alysia, looking tired and extremely annoyed.

  “That was Angelica, you remember her, right?” she asked him when he came back over to her side.

  “Yeah, she has a little girl,” he said.

  “Yes, she does. I hope she’s fine!” Alysia said, looking around frantically to see if she could find Maria.

  Jaime shrugged and took a deep breath. “Maybe she made her sleep and locked her in the house,” he said to her, and as soon as he said this he felt the cold.

  Three large men slid from behind one of the bunker houses and surrounded them. Jaime couldn’t finish his thought as he pulled his pistol free and held it low, examining them intently as he did this. They had the glowing eyes and the chill, and he backed up into Alysia as the demons inched closer towards them. The cold was becoming unbearable and Alysia pulled her sword free and slashed the hand of the nearest one that tried to touch her. His hand came off easily from the blow—almost too easily—and he retreated, holding it as she lifted the blade above her head.

  “Oh no,” she said to Jaime. “I can’t believe I just did that. I only meant to scare him off. When he wakes up, I’ll be responsible for hurting him so badly.”

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” he asked her as he raised his gun threateningly at the remaining two. “These guys aren’t possessed or coming back. CeeCee, they’re just like Debdan. Don’t you feel the cold? They’re like that thing you told me about. They’re gone, and you need to get serious with them.”

  He glanced at her and then shot one right between the eyes.

  “JAIME!” Alysia screamed, and another demon ran up to join the rest. She was a pretty blonde with long hair that hung loosely over her shoulders. She was wearing heels but seemed to have no problem maneuvering in them. Outside of her red eyes, she was every bit the super model, but her skin was outlined in red veins, and she was even colder than the rest.

  “See her? That’s the progression, Alysia. You haven’t been paying attention but I have. Whatever is getting these people is taking them over completely. We can’t save them. We have to think about our friends, like Angelica and her baby.”

  The one-handed demon rushed in to claw at Alysia, and she cut him in the legs and spun quickly into a sidekick that knocked him off his feet. He reminded her of her Uncle Ronnie. He was a shade of brown lighter than her mother, and his hair was in a fade—immaculate in its care—with a little beard, just like her uncle. Jaime had killed one of them, and she didn’t know what to think, but what if he was right, and she was putting them at risk by playing nice?

  “I’ve never killed anything before,” she said to Jaime. “These are—were—people, and I can’t do it.”

  “You’re gonna have to learn to get past that,” was all he said, and he shot the blonde in her arm. “Damn, this gun is overheated,” he said, and as if on cue the group of demons charged in.

  Alysia was not expecting the sudden rush, and before she could think to do anything else, her instincts kicked in and she stuck the blade into the stomach of the nearest one. She pulled it free, spun and cut him again, but this time the cut caught his throat and was ultimately fatal. The demon fell back into a bloody mess, retching on the ground while she stood stunned, not believing what she had just done.

  Jamie hit the blonde with the butt of his gun, and she stumbled away from him as he pulled the trigger, forgetting that is wasn’t functional. He didn’t give her any time to retreat, and he charged at her, pushing her down. He then proceeded to stomp on her face, over and over until he heard bones crunching.

  “Jaime, stop!” Alysia said. “Lord, forgive me. I can’t believe I’m a murderer now.” She turned to face the last wounded demon and closed both her hands on the hilt. She looked over at Jaime, who was staring at her. He was still breathing hard and ready to take on anything.

  “So, what are you waiting for?” he said to her, and before she could answer they heard the “BANG” from a high-powered weapon. The demon went down with a gaping wound in its chest and Alysia spun to see her father with his rifle pointed at it. He was dressed in all black, along with Tracy, and the two of them had a similar look of no nonsense.

  “Dad, you’re up!” Alysia exclaimed and James sighed and lowered his gun as he looked around to make sure there were no more demons.

  “The soldiers have been briefed on what to do when they see the main demon,” he said to them, and he stepped in and hugged Alysia before slipping back in between the buildings. Tracy came over and looked at the carnage, then glanced at their weapons and shook her head.

  “She turned a lot of people in a short period of time,” she said to them. “We saw your friend, Jaime. I’m so sorry. We tied him up so he couldn’t escape, but I can’t lie, he don’t look so good.”

  “What do you mean?” Jaime asked as he walked up to her, glancing at his pistol to see if it had cooled down.

  “You plan to use that on me if I say something you don’t like?” Tracy asked, and Jaime quickly shook his head at her.

  “No, I’m overheated so I was checking the gauge.”

  “Those pistols are crap. You should grab one of the more advanced Glocks,” she said to him.

  “Tracy,” Alysia interrupted her, and took her to the side away from Jaime. “Tracy, we found Angelica—”

  “YOU FOUND HER OUT HERE?” She screamed the question, shocked and frightened at what Alysia said.

  “Yeah, just over there before they attacked.”

  “Where is she, and where is Maria?” Tracy asked. She knew the answer would be grim, but she needed to hear it and she didn’t want to wait for an answer.

  “Angelica is being taken care of by the lady in this house. We haven’t seen Maria, but we were thinking that Angelica left her in the house.”

  “You don’t know Angelica; she takes her baby everywhere. If she’s out here then she would have either been looking for Maria or the little one escaped when her mother was attacked.”

  Tracy knocked on the door rapidly to get the woman to open up, and Alysia went back over to Jaime, who was being questioned by a patrolling soldier.

  “You all can’t be out here,” he said to them, and Alysia fanned him off as if he was a mere bug.

  “We’re with my father who you know as Lieutenant James Knight,” she said.

  “Oh, you’re the daughter of The Stunner?” he asked with a smile.

  “The Stunner?” Alysia repeated with a puzzled look on her face. “I guess, but we’re hunting that thing alongside him.”

  “Alright, I’ll let the team know, but you can’t be staying still. Those things like to crowd you if they feel that they can get the drop on you.”

  Alysia thanked him as he took off, and Jaime checked his pistol again then looked at her and nodded. “Looks like we’re back in business,” he said and then he pulled it out and kept it ready.

  The woman in the house had let Tracy in and they could hear her talking loudly, trying to get answers from Angelica.

  “Let her worry about finding the kid and all of that,” Jaime said to Alysia. “We need to rejoin your father in hunting the demon. He went up that road, so what say we take this one over here?”

  They ran up the road without attempting to hide between the buildings like they had done for their few hours of s
earching. Then the lights cut out completely, and Alysia stopped in her tracks, her hand finding Jaime’s as they backed into a wall. There were screams and the temperature all around them dropped as people went into a panic over the loss of lights. A few floodlights came on, but they were low and red, so the houses became mere silhouettes against a backdrop of crimson.

  All around them were glowing eyes, and the sounds of gunshots picked back up.

  “LET’S SEE THEM TRY AND HIDE NOW!” a loud voice yelled, followed by a fit of maniacal laughter. Then there came a chorus of cheers as the soldiers began to track the eyes down to kill them.

  “I can’t believe someone killed the lights on purpose,” Jaime said as Alysia held her sword up, paranoid that a set of those glowing eyes would pop up on them and beat them to death.

  “Oh, no you don’t!” Jimmy said suddenly, and fired two shots into the back of a figure that ran in front of them. The demon he shot was using the body of a soldier, so he was dressed in the armor they wore. Jimmy’s shots didn’t do much damage but the impact of the bullets caused the demon to stumble and Alysia leapt forward and brought her sword down, removing his head.

  “Whoa, ninja!” Jaime said, his voice a mixture of admiration and surprise at Alysia’s speed. The blood splattered on them and all over the street, and Alysia looked down at the head with a look of disgust across her face.

  “It’s not funny or amusing that we have to do this,” she said, facing him. She pulled out a piece of cloth from her waist and wiped the blood from off her sword.

  “See, we make a good team,” Jaime said, and Alysia looked at him as if she couldn’t believe it.

  “I figured that out since the beginning,” she finally said. “Why do you think I always come and get you when there’s trouble?” Jaime laughed when he thought about how she said it. Her tone reminded him of people who were caught red-handed but still acted as if they were innocent.