Prey

by Carlos King

  Upset, Zandor growls to vent. The growling sound grows so loud that for a split-second Jade actually thinks Zandor is right behind her, but she doesn’t let that dissuade her. She knows that she’s too close to give up now. As soon as she’s close enough, she leaps through the window and begins her high-speed plunge to the jagged ground below.

  Jade’s young life is flashing before her very eyes. The images that appear the most are ones of her and Alex. Jade is just about to land head-first into the pavement when something suddenly snags her, bringing her fall to a hasty end. Her hair dangles over her face as she hangs upside down—her head suspended only inches over the concrete. Jade angles her head up to see what has snagged her foot. She’s appalled by what she sees. Holding her by the ankle with a single hand is Zandor, staring down at her with a horrifying grin.

  “You weren’t going to leave without saying goodbye, were you, Jade?” Zandor releases Jade’s ankle, allowing her to fall the remainder of the distance.

  “God, please, help me. Please.” Jade cried to herself.

  Zandor squats near Jade. “God can’t do a thing for you, child. He hasn’t dirtied his hands in a very long time. Between me and you, I think he’s lost his nerve. Either that or he just doesn’t care about the human race as much as he use to. It’s kind of like having a new puppy. Yeah, you love the damn thing unconditionally in the beginning, but when the bitch keeps crapping all over your house and you’re the only one cleaning it all up, you tend to lose some of that love you once had and develop a sense of regret in its place.”

  Tired of crying, Jade lashes out, “You’re the ones God regretted. You’re the ones He cast out of Heaven. You’re the ones that were so jealous of his love towards us that it made you revolt. God doesn’t regret or hate the human race…It’s your kind that he’s embarrassed of.”

  “I see another human’s been brainwashed by that fictional book you call The Bible. An overstuffed book that was written by man—for man, recounting stories of God speaking to ordinary men and telling them the dos and don’ts of the world. Whenever one of you humans are in trouble you turn to your precious bible like it’s the cure for all ailments. You never ask yourselves the most obvious question…If God spoke to man so frequently way back then, why doesn’t He speak to your kind now-a-days? To me, it seems these days the human race needs His words of wisdom now more than ever.”

  “Like I would ever believe anything you say. You’re a liar by nature, and a bad one at that. If the bible is a fake, then how did it know Heaven and a Hell really existed? What, was it a lucky guess?”

  ”You humans aren’t total fools. You know that God created you…Well, at least most of you do. Your great, great ancestors knew that and they made sure that knowledge was passed down through the generations. But as they generations went on, the human mind grew more and more diabolical. They began placing monetary values on material things, worshipping the all mighty dollar more than they did their All Mighty God. People weren’t growing foods or making clothes to provide for their own families anymore. They began doing it for profit. The sins began to snowball after that. Greed led to lust, lust led to vanity, vanity led to envy, so on and so forth.

  “Truth of the matter is man wanted order in a growing world of chaos. So the deceitful juices of the human brain began to flow and eventually came up with a perfect notion. What better way to get order than to make a book of rules and mythical tales and tell everyone that these are the words of God’s Will—taken into notation by men he specially selected, who would later be called prophets. Quite the ingenious plan, I must admit.”

  “I still don’t believe you,” said Jade. “You’d say anything to corrupt my faith. That’s exactly what your kind does.”

  “I could care less if you believe me, child. Your soul already belongs to Hell, so there’s really no need for me to lie to you. I just wanted you to know the truth about your deceptive world and the lies you’ve been taught.” Zandor leans in close to Jade, staring her straight in the eyes. “God doesn’t speak to man, Jade. He never has, and He never will. Everything you’ve ever read or heard someone talking about that deals with God having a one-on-one conversation with a human being is a lie. God turned his back on the human race just like he turned his back on us. That’s why he hasn’t sent anyone to save you. And that’s why you’re going to spend the next seven months in a well-heated dungeon…”

  Zandor’s train of thought is suddenly interrupted when he catches wind of something he doesn’t like. He releases a frightening growl, exposing his carnivorous teeth.

  Zandor turns to Jade, his red eyes illuminating brightly in the darkness of night. “We have visitors.”

  CHAPTER 33

  Drake blurs into vision, coming to an abrupt stop a short number of miles away from the abandoned factory. No more than a second later, Alex comes into view just as swiftly and stops right beside Drake.

  “We close?” Alex asked.

  Drake points straight ahead to the St. Louis’ industrial zone. Alex follows the direction of Drake’s finger with his determined hazel eyes.

  Alex asks Drake, “Do you know which building they’re in yet?”

  “Yeah, I know where they are.”

  “Good. So why’ve we stopped?”

  Drake answers, “Zandor knows we’re here. He’s there now waiting for us.”

  Alex narrows his eyes on the shadowy factory. “Then let’s not keep him waiting.”

  “As you wish.”

  Drake takes off running and once again, Alex follows closely behind. Blazing through the dimness of the oncoming night, Drake and Alex zip through the one mile of terrain in a matter seconds. At the end of their journey they find themselves being cut off by a large security gate that protected the private property from trespassers. The rusted gate was about ten feet tall, barbwire lined across its top.

  Staring past the fence and looking at the factory behind it, Drake says, “This is the place. They’re on the other side.”

  “I know. I can feel him now.”

  “You ready to turn back?”

  Alex stares at Drake with a solemn gap. Alex proceeds to jump over the steel fencing and Drake reluctantly does the same. They both clear the top of the gate with ease. Once they land on the other side they get back to running. Another seconds or so passes by before Drakes comes to another stop.

  Following Drake’s lead, Alex stops beside him. “What is it now?” Alex questioned.

  “You don’t smell that?”

  Alex sniffs the air and catches whiff of a familiar scent. “It’s Jade. I can smell her,” Alex excitedly stated. “I can actually smell her scent.”

  “A little louder, Alex,” said Drake, sarcastically. “Zandor may not have heard you.”

  “She’s over here!” Alex exclaimed, running towards a dark corridor.

  Drake shouts out to Alex, “What the hell are you doing?! It’s a trap, Alex!”

  Alex hurries through the dark corridors, using his newly heightened sense of smell to track down Jade’s scent. The scent leads Alex out of the dark hallways and into a dimly lit opening. He steps through the opening and finds himself on the railing of a rickety catwalk. Alex is oblivious to the fact that his nose has led him to the fourth floor of the industrial unit. He quickly becomes aware of this, though, when he realizes he has a bird’s eye view of the gigantic production area.

  Jade’s scent is at its strongest point now. Alex thoroughly scans over the large area in search of Jade. After scanning through all the obsolete and rusted equipment of the factory, he spots Jade in the shadows of a far-off corner, tied to a steel beam.

  “Jade!” Alex shouted.

  “Alex.”

  Alex looks around for a nearby stairwell, but the closest one is too far away for his liking. He decides to take the fastest route and jump over the railing.

  “Alex, no! It’s a trap!”

  Sadly, Jade’s warning comes a little late. Alex has already committed to his jump and is now falling
to the factory’s ground floor. Alex comes to a sound landing on the molded floors. As he stands erect, a fast-moving force runs into him, carrying him away.

  “ALEX!” Jade screamed.

  Alex is carried to the opposite side of the production area and slammed into a large, rusted container. It’s at this point where things slow down enough for Alex to see his assaulter’s face. Staring back at him was the horrendous face of Zandor. Zandor has his forearm buried underneath Alex’s chin, keeping him firmly pressed against the container.

  “Welcome to the party, Alex. I had a feeling you’d show up.”

  Alex tries to free himself from Zandor’s clutches, but he can’t overpower the superior demon. Nonetheless, Alex persistently tries to break free. He even throws a desperation punch, catching Zandor on the side of the head. Sadly the hit doesn’t faze Zandor in the least. With his air supply being cut off, Alex starts to fade out.

  “No, no, sweetheart,” Zandor grinned. “I want you alive for a little bit longer.”

  Zandor removes his forearm from Alex’s throat and tosses him across the production area, throwing him into a steel beam; a loud smacking sound reverberates throughout the production area. His body bounces off the beam and falls helplessly to the cold concrete.

  “I see your cowardly partner decided to not to participate. Very smart on his part.”

  Winded, Alex slowly stumbles back to his feet. With the aid of the incoming moonlight and Zandor’s red eyes, Alex is able to pinpoint the demon’s exact location. He’s standing right in front of him.

  Alex throws a number of punches that Zandor easily avoids. Zandor lands a rapid sequence of crushing shots to the side of Alex’s ribcage and then finishes up with a head shot, knocking Alex through a nearby wall.

  This one-sided battle continues for several minutes. Zandor is taking great pleasure in beating Alex to within inches of his life. Alex, who is showing severe signs of abuse, hasn’t thrown a punch since the fight started. Zandor’s high octane, merciless offense continues to keep Alex reeling.

  Jade is forced to listen to the brutal onslaught, her heart taking as much punishment as Alex’s body. She keeps her eyes tightly shut to prevent herself from seeing the beating, but the quiet atmosphere of the factory allows her to hear every thudding blow. As the tears roll freely from the tightly sealed corners of her eyes, a bright red light and accompanying heat causes her to reopen her eyes and investigate.

  The bright red light is originating from a stairwell that leads to the downstairs basement. Zandor, who is holding Alex up with one hand, also catches a glimpse of the light from the corner of his eye and turns to examine it. Once he realizes what it is, a smile stretches across his repulsive face.

  Turning back to Alex, Zandor says, “It’s been fun, Alex, but that’s our cue to go. Thanks for helping me pass the time. Me and Jade have a date with destiny.” Zandor takes hold of Alex with both hands and throws him back up to the catwalks above. Alex comes to a painful landing on the unforgiving steel of the second floor.

  “Jade, honey…It’s time to go,” Zandor gleefully declared.

  When Zandor enters her sights, Jade begins screaming, trying her best to scramble out of the securely bound ropes. Jade’s last attempt for escape has failed. Zandor has already reached her and snatches her restraints off effortlessly. He grabs her by the arm and escorts her to stairwell where the blinding red light continues to pulsate. Jade tries to pull away from him, but his grip is unyielding.

  “ZANDOR!” a raspy voice powerfully yelled.

  Zandor turns back to where the voice came from and sees Alex standing on the catwalk, staring back at him with fiery-red eyes.

  “Well, well, well…Look at what we have here,” Zandor smirked.

  Jade looks up and is disturbed by the vision she perceives. “Alex?”

  Zandor releases Jade’s arm. “Come on, demon,” he gestured to Alex with the wave of his monstrous hand. “Show me what you’re made of.”

  “Demon?” Jade repeated to herself, her confusion evident.

  CHAPTER 34

  Alex jumps over the railing and nimbly lands in a few meters away from Zandor. “No. You show me.”

  Zandor smiles. Obliging Alex’s request, he throws a lightning-quick punch that Alex catches with no trouble. Zandor grunts in anguish as a sharp pain flows through his arm as Alex squeezes his fist. Once he feels he has Zandor’s attention, Alex lets him go.

  “Okay,” Zandor started. “You’re a little faster, maybe even stronger…But you’re still not me.”

  Zandor goes on an all-out assault. He throws as many punches as he possibly can, and amazingly, Alex successfully avoids them all. Once Zandor’s furious pace of punches slows, Alex uses this opening to go on an attack of his own. Alex’s punches are sharp, precise, and extremely jarring. Every time Zandor avoids one punch, he gets caught by two others. The tide of the fight has unquestionably turned in Alex’s favor, but Zandor still has a trick or two up his deceitful sleeve.

  After dishing out a dizzying combination to Zandor’s head, Alex finishes the series of blows with a straight right to Zandor’s chest, propelling him halfway across the cluttered production room. Alex rushes toward Zandor to continue the non-stop pressure tactic, but as he nears, Zandor wallops him with a thick iron rod. The cheap shot lifts Alex off his feet and catapults in the opposite direction. He smashes into the steel railings on the second floor’s catwalks before crashing back down to the main level. Zandor hurries over to Alex and thrashes him repeatedly with the iron rod. Zandor continues to strike Alex in the back with the iron rod until it’s bent out of shape. In spite of the brutal onslaught, Alex refuses to stay down.

  Growing impatient with Alex’s resilience, Zandor grabs him by the back of his shirt and hurtles him to an area cluttered with sharp, serrated materials. Alex feels a sharp pain that starts at his upper back and quickly rips through his shoulder. He looks down at the source of the pain and observes a sharp piece of steel protruding from his shoulder. He tries to remove the object, but the slightest movement causes him to feel an unbearable amount of pain.

  Jade runs to Alex’s side. Once she reaches him, she tries her best to help free him, but everything she tries only causes him more pain.

  “Run, Jade. Get out of here.” Alex told her in a weakened. “Go while you still can.”

  “I’m not leaving you like this, Alex.”

  “Yes you are,” Zandor interrupted, forcibly grabbing Jade by her hair. “Sorry we can’t stick around, Alex. I’m working on a fixed timeframe here. But we’ll meet up in Hell soon enough…We’ll settle our business then.”

  Zandor aggressively drags Jade back towards the gateway that’ll transport them to Hell. Kicking and screaming the entire way, Jade’s cries give Alex all the incentive and motivation he needs. His eyes reignite and burn brighter than they ever have before. He pushes through the pain of freeing his shoulder and lifts up until he has cleared himself of the sharp object. Just after the object was removed, the gaping hole in his shoulder heals completely.

  Zandor and Jade are feet away from entering the gateway. Two hands tightly grab Zandor’s shoulders and compress them. The force of the compression forces Zandor to release Jade’s hair. The instant Jade’s set free, the two hands lob Zandor in the opposite direction of the gateway. Zandor soars across the room, hits the floor soundly and slides to a stop.

  Before Zandor has a chance to rise back to his feet, Alex is already on top of him, dropping a series of powerful right hands on his head. Alex is exhibiting a vicious nature unlike anything before. After ten right hand power punches, Alex puts an end to the brawl by placing his hands on what’s left of Zavior’s head, and twists Zandor’s head more than halfway around, killing him definitively.

  Alex gets up and stands over Zandor’s dead body, breathing heavily. His eyes return to their natural color and his aggression subsides. Hearing Jade walk up behind him, he turns to face her.

  “Are you okay,” he asked her.
<
br />   “I am. Are you?”

  Alex looks at his healed shoulder. “I’m alright.”

  Jade and Alex silently stare at each other before they both burst out into smiles that soon evolve into laughs of relief. They embrace each other in a loving hug as they celebrate their victory.

  “I can’t believe we actually did it.”

  “Thank you, Alex,” said Jade, holding Alex tightly. “Thank you.”

  The two advance from an embracing hug to a passionate kiss. Unfortunately, Alex and Jade’s celebration is short-lived. Footsteps and savage growls reach their ears. They know without ever looking away from each other that something is dreadfully wrong.

  They slowly turn the heads toward the brilliant red light and discover that three entities, all of whom possess the same characteristics as Zandor, have just crossed through the gateway’s opening. As the three demons close in, Alex steps in front of Jade. The demonic forces prepare to attack.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice from above warned.

  Every eye in the room searches for the owner of the mysterious voice. Walking down the narrow stairwell is Gabriel, the Archangel who visited Alex and Jade at her parent’s home.

  When Gabriel reaches the main floor he walks over to Alex and Jade and stands in front of them, shielding them from the three demons. The demonic entities stop dead in their tracks.

  “This isn’t your fight, Gabriel,” one of the demons snarled.

  “I’m making it my fight,” Gabriel smiled.

  Not wanting to try Gabriel’s hand, the demons hesitantly backpedal towards the gateway. As the demons leave, Gabriel turns around to face Alex and Jade.

  “I see you crazy kids made it through the first battle okay. Alex, I must admit, you impressed me today. I didn’t think you had what it took to put Zandor away.”