Infernal Revelation : Collected Episodes 1-4 (9781311980007)

by Coorlim, Michael

"Sorry," Delilah said. "It's hot in here... and you kinda freak me out."

  "We can go outside if you want."

  She nodded and he helped her back out into the sun. It was brighter here, but the air was cooler, and there was a nice breeze.

  "Better?"

  In the bright light of day, Melchizedek looked almost ordinary, if you discounted the eyes and the pale skin.

  "Shouldn't you cover up?" she asked. "You're so pale."

  "I don't burn," he said. "Why are you here?"

  Delilah unclipped the plastic water-bottle from her bike and took a long sip. "Questions."

  "That's brave of you."

  "They're important questions."

  "Okay." He nodded. "I'll tell you what I can, but I only know what Marianne told me."

  "I understand," Delilah said, moving into the shade behind the shed. It was still hot, but with the breeze it was bearable. "You said our father wasn't human?"

  "That's right."

  "What was he? What does that make us?"

  "I don't know exactly. Marianne spoke of him with such reverence... like he was a god. He might have been an angel. Or a demon."

  "Neither of those things are real," Delilah said. "They're just stories."

  "And yet, here I am, looking like this and wrapping shadows around things."

  The girl bit her lip. She liked to consider herself a skeptic, a staunch rationalist, but part of that was accepting what she saw and experienced. Science was about letting go of paradigms that no longer proved to be true.

  "You're proof of something. Something different and maybe even supernatural. I don't know what, but that doesn't mean that you're part angel."

  "I can't argue," Melchizedek said. "Marianne was a very religious woman. The way she talked about life in Polvorin, about our father, I think they might have been some kind of a cult."

  "What was his name?" Delilah asked. "Our father?"

  "Nicholas Kantor."

  Delilah looked down at her water bottle. "A Cantor is a church singer."

  "Maybe it's coincidence, maybe it's a made-up name. But she said he could perform miracles. Water into wine. Healing the sick. All kinds of things."

  "What did she think he was? A prophet?"

  "I asked once if he looked like me," Melchizedek said. "She said he could look like whatever he wanted to."

  Delilah took another sip of her water. "What do you think he was? An angel or a demon?"

  Melchizedek smiled. "Who says there's any difference?"

  ***

  Each pound of Lily's feet on the asphalt shook loose more of her worries and insecurities. They fell away as she ran the track behind the school. There was nothing that cleared her mind so completely as the raw physicality of running. When she was in motion she could let everything else go, all her worries, all her concerns, all of the stress she had been carrying, and just exist in a state of quietude.

  She didn't even feel bad about sneaking out down the tree outside her room to avoid lunch with her family. That guilt, the loss of her friends, the conflict with Derek, even the strangeness of the dark-clad Melchizedek faded with each step until there was nothing left but running, the function of a well-maintained organic machine. Hips moved, knees bent, arms pumped, lungs breathed, and Lily ran.

  It was moving meditation. It was the next best thing to flying.

  She wasn't alone at the track. There were always a few kids hanging out behind the school, even on weekends, simply because there wasn't much to do or many places to actually go in Laton. Sometimes, when it wasn't too hot out, the entire track team would show up to get some practice in, leading to some impromptu races. There were only two of Lily's teammates present; Sally Dee and Kimberly Hudson, jogging on the outside track, but she didn't spare them more than a nod.

  Harder to ignore was the football team running scrimmage on the field that the track ran around. It wasn't the noise of their collisions, which she could block out, but the presence of Derek and Barny. Her boyfriend wasn't a real problem -- if she didn't feel like talking to him, she could always skip out before their practice ended, and he respected her need for solitude. Barny, on the other hand, still irritated her. She could feel herself growing angrier every time she passed the point where he was standing.

  As she lapped Kimberly and Sally again, the sudden awareness that both girls were staring at her broke through her runner's trance. She realized that a few of the players and other kids hanging out had taken notice as well.

  She didn't know why.

  She didn't really want to know why.

  As Lily rounded the bend where the field was closest to the road, she slowed herself to a jog and left the track.

  Why wouldn't everyone just leave her alone?

  ***

  Barny watched in a state of dawning shock as Lily Baker left the athletic field.

  He'd made a note of her when she'd arrived, of course. He still owed her for laying him out the way that she had on Friday. He wasn't going to do anything to her directly -- not yet -- but she was obviously unstable, and when she had a complete break-down he wanted to be there to take as much advantage of it as possible.

  She hadn't said anything to Derek about their altercation yet, at least not as far as Barny had been able to discern through careful probing and bro-talk. He didn't think Derek was clever or restrained enough to keep something like that quiet. He'd take it upon himself to avenge Lily most chivalrously. At this point, Barny's nose had yet remained un-punched.

  He'd been preoccupied, of course, with the other stuff. The "hand wreathed in flames" stuff. When he'd come to terms with it, when he'd verified that, yes, there was a scorch mark in the brambles, Barny had accepted the simple truth that he could self-immolate without hurting himself at will.

  It was hard to believe, but why fight against obvious truths? He'd always known that he was a superior being, and now it appeared that he had somehow become a full-blown Nietzschean superman.

  He could roll with that. The questions of 'why' and 'how' were elusive, but less important than the simple fact that he was.

  Barny had spent the rest of Friday and much of Saturday in the desert 'practicing' to mixed success. With great concentration he found that he could raise the temperature of his skin enough to turn sand to glass, which was, incidentally, more than sufficient to ignite the clothes on his back.

  Barny didn't care. He was too giddy with the potential implications to mind a nude stroll back into town, and nobody saw him anyway.

  But this -- seeing Lily tear around the track as a blur, faster than anyone had any right to run -- Barny realized that he was not alone in his superiority.

  It was a disappointment. It was a relief.

  And it made sense. Lily was a physically and intellectually superior girl. Not as strong or smart as he was, perhaps, but good enough that if he were to spontaneously develop superior gifts, she might receive lesser ones. And fire was definitely more impressive than speed.

  "So that's why," he muttered, football in hand, watching her leave the track.

  "Heads up!" Kyle took opportunity of his momentary distraction to launch himself at Barny. The defensive tackle, who easily doubled Barny's own weight, slammed into the center and bounced right off again.

  Barny scarcely took notice, dropping the ball onto his stunned teammate's lap and starting off after Lily at a jog. There was much to discuss.

  ***

  Gideon coasted along on his bike, arms crossed. He didn't have anywhere in particular to go, and was mostly just putting off going home when he saw Lily leaving the athletic field. He'd been trying to get in touch with her since Friday night, calling her cell, texting her, and even dropping by her house. She wasn't interested in talking to him. She wasn't interested in talking to anyone, apparently -- he'd stopped by Saturday evening to see her boyfriend being turned away at the door.

  It was bad, and it concerned him. She seemed to have withdrawn even more completely into herself. He didn't expect her to
be overjoyed at Melchizedek's bizarre revelations, but they at least meant that she wasn't at fault. Instead of being relieved, she seemed to have just withdrawn further into herself.

  He really needed to talk to her, see what was wrong, see if he could help. She'd stormed off, and he didn't want to abandon Delilah with their visitor to go chasing after her. He wanted to find her, help her confront what she'd seen and heard, help her come to terms with it somehow.

  He'd talked to Delilah, of course. Right after Melchizedek left they'd had a long conversation, about the shadow-cloaked figure, about whether or not he was full of shit. She'd been skeptical but open-minded, but Gideon had been full on ready to believe everything the stranger had said. It made sense. Gideon had, you know, always felt like he was special. Like he was unique. Like he was destined for, you know, more.

  He'd told her so. Delilah had stared at him and then changed the subject.

  But really, what Gideon was concerned with now was Lily. Delilah said she needed time. Gideon knew Lily needed a shoulder to lean on.

  He would be that shoulder.

  He wheeled his bike around and headed towards Lily. As he did so, he spotted Barny walking towards her with an intense determination.

  "Shit."

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lily heard Barny as he approached, but didn't slow down for him.

  "Lily, wait." He jogged up alongside her.

  "I'm in a hurry."

  Barny jogged ahead of her, turned around, and continued backwards. "This is important."

  Her only response was a glower.

  "I saw you at the track. You were going pretty fast."

  "Good. I'd hate to give all the trophies back."

  A grin quirked across Barny's face. "No, I mean really fast. Really fast."

  "Thanks?" She tried to jog past him.

  He matched her pace, glancing over his shoulder. "Conspicuously fast."

  She stopped, arms folded. "Cut the shit, Barny. What do you want?"

  He stopped, leaning forward and speaking in a lower tone. "People were noticing, Lily."

  "Noticing what?"

  Barny's eyes narrowed, but he was cut off as Gideon appeared out of nowhere, skidding his bike to a stop between them.

  "Lily! You okay?" he asked.

  "I'm fine." She didn't know who to glare at, so settled for alternating between the two of them.

  "Fuck off, Cermak," Barny said. "This doesn't involve your fat ass."

  "You fuck off," Gideon said. "I'm not afraid of you."

  "You fucking should be." Barny grabbed Gideon's handlebars.

  "Boys," Lily muttered, jogging off and leaving them behind.

  ***

  Barny let go of Gideon's handlebars and started after Lily. The redhead wheeled around and blocked his path again.

  "You really don't want this, fat boy," the football player said.

  "Neither does Lily," Gideon said. "Leave her alone."

  Barny glanced after the jogging girl. "Who are you, her fat stalwart defender?"

  "Maybe I just think you're an asshole," Gideon said. "Who isn't so tough without, like, five other dudes backing him up."

  Barny closed his hands on the bike's handlebars. "Oh, this is going to be good. A field test. Give you a lesson in respect, you fat fuck."

  "The fuck are you talking about?"

  "Don't worry." The metal bar he was holding began to glow. "I won't kill you."

  "What the fuck!" Gideon slipped backwards, off of his seat and away from the tremendous heat.

  "I'm just going to ruin your fucking day."

  With a single swipe of his arm, Barny hurled the bicycle a dozen yards down the street.

  "What the fuck--"

  Barny grabbed Gideon, lifting him up by the collar and waistband, hefting him overhead like he was a bag of leaves. The sudden movement stole the breath from Gideon's lungs, and it was all he could do to grasp weakly at the arms lifting him.

  "Let's see how far I can trust you."

  "Barny, wait--"

  There was a wrenching sensation, and Gideon was flying headfirst through the air. He didn't know what to think, how to respond, so he went limp and let himself go, slowly turning as he went, feet flipping over his head before he landed, flat on his back, on the lawn across the street. He was more stunned than hurt, but found it hard to draw breath, hard to even believe what had happened.

  "Not so far." Barny was walking towards him. "Need to lose weight if you want to make it as a Frisbee, you fat fuck."

  Gideon scrambled to his feet, numb with terror, and started to run towards the house's back yard. He was too scared to think rationally, too scared to plan, acting on instinct. His only hope lay in the unconscious knowing of where Laton's best short-cuts were.

  "You had your chance to run," Barny called after him. "But I'll give you a head-start. Ten. Nine..."

  Roberts. Gideon was in the Roberts back yard. Their west fence was low enough for him to vault with a run, so he made for it.

  He hit the Roberts' chain-link fence, hands on the smooth rail as he hauled himself over it, adrenaline giving him the strength to move quickly. His landing was more of a jar than he expected, though that could have been because Barny had just thrown him like ten fucking feet.

  His fear slowly melted into horror as he ran across the Ross's yard. Barny had melted his bike. Barny's strength was superhuman. Was he an orphan? Gideon didn't know, he couldn't remember. But it made a horrible sort of sense.

  Barny was one of them. Only somehow, Barny had already manifested the unnatural heritage of whatever their father was.

  Why, of all people, a sadistic fuck like Barny Carter?

  "Ten!"

  Gideon heard the shout only moments before Barny barreled into him, knocking him off of his feet to sprawl on the Ross's lawn. His shoulder hit the ground first, and he felt something separate, followed by a wave of agony. He couldn't help but scream.

  "Oh, relax," Barny said. "I said I wasn't going to kill you."

  He took two swift steps, then kicked Gideon sharply in the ribs. Pain exploded through the redhead's body as the force of the blow lifted him and sent him crashing through the Ross's sheet-metal garden shed.

  ***

  Barny stopped, the grin slowly fading from his face. He hadn't meant to actually kill the little bitch. He had to get a handle on this newfound strength. Power without control was meaningless.

  "Hey, Gid. Gideon." He started a brisk walk towards the ruins of the shed. "Shit."

  Barny stopped as Gideon slowly stood, panels of metal siding falling from his back.

  ***

  Gideon felt... different.

  He'd been in some serious pain when he'd hit the shed. When Barny had kicked him in the ribs, it had felt like a bright white star-burst of pain had exploded inside him, and he'd blacked out for a second.

  When he'd recovered, the shed had collapsed on top of him, but he felt fine. He found he could stand up without pain, without effort, and his shoulder -- which he was sure he'd dislocated -- wasn't even hurting.

  He felt better than fine. His blood felt like it was positively vibrating in his veins. His arms and legs felt strong, powerful. He felt charged.

  "Shit."

  Gideon looked up, eyes focusing with unnatural acuity on a dismayed Barny Carter.

  "Why you?" Barny ran a hand through his hair. "Baker I get. But you?"

  "Sorry." Gideon felt almost weightless as he picked up a sledge-hammer from the wreckage.

  "This doesn't make any sense." Barny glanced behind him. "I thought I had it, but now I don't know what the fuck."

  "Get used to it." It wasn't much of a battle-cry, but Gideon wasn't feeling very clever.

  All his life he'd been picked on. By his father. By other kids. He got in fights often enough to be able to stand his ground, but bullies never fought fair. They brought friends. They jumped you. They had an alibi if you complained, but Gideon wasn't a snitch. The school faculty, his dad and the dep
uties, they were just another scale of bully. The asshole fractal.

  So Gideon dealt. He could take more shit than the redneck asshole fucks of Laton could think up, and it made him strong. Not strong enough to stop it, but he could give the bullies a more obvious target than Juan or Hugh or some younger kid. It was all he could do to help them.

  Before now, that was.

  Barny was fast -- Gideon had seen that -- but he didn't anticipate how fast Gideon had become.

  He crossed the distance between them in a blink, thrusting the hammer into Barny's gut like a pool cue. The football player crumpled.

  Without dithering, without pausing to consider how much he could be hurting him, without concern for accidentally killing the bully, Gideon swung the hammer as hard as he could in an underhand arc.

  The flat head connected solidly with the side of Barny's face, sending him up in an arc of his own, to land and roll a few feet away.

  Gideon stormed up to him. "Take it, you fuck!"

  Barny had recovered enough sense to roll out of the way as Gideon slammed his hammer down. The impact dug an impressive divot out of the Ross's back lawn.

  "That's how you want to play it?" Barny lashed out with a punch that hit Gideon between the eyes.

  It wasn't painful, but Gideon staggered. Barny grabbed the head of his hammer.

  Gideon shook his head and gave a roar, pulling the hammer back out of Barny's hands. "No!"

  He brought the handle up, cracking it against Barny's jaw. The bully clutched his face, staggering back.

  "No, fuck you, no!" Gideon screamed. "You don't get this! This is mine! Fucker! Mine!"

  Barny took a few steps back, still holding his face. "What the fuck are you talking about, you psycho?"

  Gideon didn't know. The moment? His revenge? Momentum? Didn't matter. Thinking was a waste. He just wanted to grab Barny, to make him pay for years of torment, to crush him, to smash him, to make him stop.