“Who are you to stand up to the might of Hell?” Malphas growled, its forked tongue slipping in and out.
“You’re not so fuckin’ mighty,” Scout said.
She pulled the trigger and Malphas’s head exploded, littering the room with the contents of its skull and soaking Scout in its blood.
Silence followed. Scout was frozen. Franco drifted into unconsciousness. The remaining group members were stunned.
Scout dropped her shotgun amid the snake and bat entrails. She grabbed her knife off the floor and quickly cut the ties binding Jess’s hands and feet together. Jess was as white as a ghost and trembling. Scout handed her the knife.
“Free the others,” Scout said.
Scout rushed over to France and whipped off her belt. She wrapped it around the stump below Franco’s left shoulder and pulled it as tight as she could manage, cutting off the blood flow.
Something stirred at the other end of the church, behind a table which had been thrown on its side.
A human hand grabbed at the side of the table. Scout pulled her handgun and covered it.
Tara’s head popped up from behind the desk. Her eyes were wide and horrified, but they were human. She was in shock. She stood and looked around the room. She had blood pouring from her mouth, but she could stand. She looked at the blended mush of bodies, human and inhuman alike, in complete disbelief.
“What is all this?” Tara said.
Scout lowered her weapon and stood and walked over to Tara.
Tara started to cry uncontrollably at the sight of Michael’s decapitated body and Franco’s severed arm and the shreds of what once was Dr Maddox.
“What’s going on?” Tara cried.
Scout embraced her. She held her tight.
“It’s OK, Tara,” Scout said. “You’re safe now. You’re safe. That’s all that matters. This is a safe place. You’re with friends.”
Scout stepped back and looked at her.
“This is crazy,” Tara said, with tears streaming down her face.
Scout started to laugh desperately.
She hugged Tara tight.
“We don’t use the C word in this room,” Scout said.
The End.
After The Exorcism: Book Two Page 5
