by James Master
“He even left the bullets in, strange huh? Most people think that Lucifer and Satan are synonymous, but they would be wrong on that account. The fallen star is just a red herring. There are in fact five lords of Hell. They are named the Soul Eaters. Velius is titled the Eater of the Impure. His weapons are pestilence and disease. Hence the outbreak of the undead.”
Roland noticed that the zombies weren't moaning anymore. He turned to the north side of the stadium and saw that they were just standing there, watching them as if they were waiting for something. Someone. He turned back to Tim, “How the hell do you know so much about It?” Tim smiled thinly and bowed to Roland.
“Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Brother Timothy Quicksilver, of the Monks of the Heavenly Order. We are tasked with keeping the five Soul Eaters from rising out of Hell.” Roland and Ashley looked at each other and was about to ask similar questions, coincidentally at the same time, when the loudspeakers of the stadium filled the air with Jessica's voice.
“Roland, Ashley, and Brother Timothy: Allow me to welcome you to the event of a lifetime. You three have been chosen specially for my arrival. Please, don't disappoint. You will find weapons on the side of the lift as well as ammunition. If you should survive this event, which I think none of you will, then you will go free.”
Roland yelled at the empty air, “What if we don't want to play your little game? You'll kill us?” Silence dominated the air for a minute. Tim jumped off the lift and headed towards the weapons cache and appeared later with an electric guitar. He strummed the strings of the instrument and found it in tune.
“I do love a sold out concert.” Ashley rolled her eyes at the monk and turned to Roland. “You think Velius would let us go even if we played its game?” Tim answered for him, “The demons, fallen angels, maybe tricksters and manipulators, but if they say something they are bound by their words. It's one of those tricky laws the divine species are ruled by.” Ashley considered this for a moment.
“Who makes sure they play by their rules?” Brother Timothy looked shocked at this question. “Why God the Father of course. At least, that's what I believe. If I go by what I've believed so far, then I'm batting a thousand.”
The booming voice over the intercom came on again. “Ah Brother Timothy, you are wrong again. GOD is not with us today, nor has he ever. Roland, if you don't play my game and my minions just devour you three, then you'll never be there for our child.”
Roland turned his eyes to the announcer's booth and saw Jessica standing there in a red dress. He noticed, even from the middle of the stadium, her eyes glowed white.
Velius laughed, “Roland, let's be honest with one another, just you and me. You want to kill me and save the girl right? In order to do that, you must kill my undead servants. There are exactly 57,999 zombies in this building. It goes over the maximum seating capacity, but if you don't tell the fire marshal, then I won't. If you and your companions manage to kill all of them, I will willingly go back to Hell leaving the unborn child and its mother undamaged. If not, then when the child is born I will possess it and be born into an innocent body. Brother Timothy cannot let that happen because that would defy his GOD's divine laws. Now without any further ado, let's start the show!”
*** 6 ***
Tim was kneeling on both knees whispering a prayer as Roland and Ashley rifled through the cache of weapons and ammo. Roland dug through them till he found what he was looking for: Eddie's revolver, the brother to Roland's. He also found the gun belt that went along with it and strapped it to the opposite side of his waist. The two gun belts now crisscrossed each other. Roland practiced drawing them and he felt that when he drew Eddie's, he felt his brother's spirit with him. He turned to Ashley and found that she had a sniper rifle, bolt action, in her hands.
“Ashley, I want you to get as far up on the lift as you can and start firing at the zombies. I want you to shoot them in the head, no body shots okay? Don't get down from that lift. Tim and I will keep them off you.” He nudged Tim with his boot. “Ready Tim?” Tim finished whispering and crossed the air. Standing up from the ground he turned to face Roland. He saw that Timothy was serene and calm, almost stoic.
“Roland, there is another way to defeat this demon.” The zombies, shambling down the steps of the seats, started their slow assault towards the three. He watched as Ashley situate herself at the top of the lift. She sighted her scope and began shooting. Roland turned back to the brother.
“I am not going to kill Jessica. She might still be in there and besides, she is pregnant. That is not an option.” Timothy shook his head. “That is not what I'm considering either. I am not allowed to kill an innocent. I am sworn to protect them against this evil. No, there is an artifact that Velius is using as an anchor. If we destroy that, this plague will end. The undead will become the dead and Jessica will become....”
Roland finished the sentence, “Jessica.” Timothy nodded, “All we need to do is find that artifact and destroy it.” Ashley called from the lift between shots, “How do you know so much about this?” A shot turned the question into a statement when the bark of the rifle ending another undead's life. Timothy picked up the guitar and strummed the strings again.
“My brotherhood sent me to watch your father and brother. If they were to come upon the relic, then I was to intercept them and destroy it, but Father Waverly was not expected. I never thought that a fellow believer would have ever released such evil into our world.”
The zombies had shambled onto the edge of the field as Roland drew his M1 Garand from his back. Aiming at one of them he said, “Ya, Starke was a real asshole.” Timothy suddenly turned away from the advancing undead horde to look at Roland. “Father Waverly is dead?” Roland nodded, “I killed him less than an hour ago.” Timothy crossed his chest and whispered a small prayer.
“That was ill advised. He was only doing what he did in order to save his child from eternal damnation.” Roland shot two zombies and reloaded the rifle. “You’re excusing what he did? I killed him because he killed Eddie.” Timothy shook his head sadly as he started playing the Blue Oyster Cult's “Don't Fear the Reaper”.
“An eye for an eye. I fear that you may have ended the life of the only one that knew the relic's hiding spot. This bad situation may have gotten worse.”
The undead horde was advancing around the three forming a tight circle. They were on the forty line yard on each side. Bodies of the dead that littered the ground were proving as an advantage. The zombies had to get over them in order to get to their meal. Roland put his rifle on top of the lift and drew each revolver. The distance had gotten to a decent range for pistol shooting and Roland did just that. Fire erupted from the Brothers’ gun as zombies dropped to the ground. Twelve dead bodies were added to the count as Roland quickly reloaded. Soon, there were twelve more. The zombies that Roland laid back to rest resembled sandbags during a time of major flooding. The new waves of undead had to literally climb over the bodies, giving Roland more time to reload between waves. He spent some of this time looking over his shoulder to see how Brother Timothy was faring.
Timothy had quit playing his tunes to grip the guitar like a club. As he swung, he shouted a battle cry Roland had heard from an old zombie movie he once saw, “BELIEVE IN ROCK AND ROLL, MOTHERFUCKER!” The guitar connected with the undead head and crushed the brain, dropping the zombie to the ground. Tim looked at the guitar and threw it aside, drawing his katana in one hand and a 9mm in the other, said in a quiet voice than his last cry, “Lord, guide my hand as I shepherd these lost souls back to their final resting place. In your name I pray.” Roland turned just in time to see twenty more zombies approaching from his left. Pulling the brother's triggers six times each, two undead remained. Both closer to Roland than he had wanted.
He stepped back so that the lift was at his back and reloaded just in time to put a bullet in each of their heads. Both dropped simultaneously to the ground a foot from his feet. Roland breathed a sigh of relief and
turned to view how many were left.
Due to the lift, Ashley stood about ten feet higher off the ground than Roland and Timothy and knew that they were far outnumbered even though most of the zombies were hindered by their advanced decaying muscles. She counted how many bullets she had left and grimaced. She had one hundred rounds left before she was faced with two options. One was to run from her spot to get more from the weapons cache, the other option was to switch to her pistols and stand by Roland’s side for what looked like a final battle. She shook her head in frustration and stopped thinking. She reloaded and looked through the scope of the rifle, putting a head in the sights. She didn't even notice the zombie that crawled up the steps of the lift.
Tim sliced the head of one zombie and shot one in the brain at the same time. He let the momentum of the swing carry him to the next zombie. Decapitating that one, he fired a shot sending another undead into peace. After ten minutes of doing this Tim found that he had been taken away from the safety of the lift. He spared a glance to notice that he was on the sidelines of the field, a trail of bodies marking where he had been. Another ten minutes and he realized that he was in the stands. Besieged by undead from every side, Brother Timothy spoke another small prayer asking for protection against the evils he faced. It seemed to be working because at the half hour mark of continuous zombie slayer, Timothy did not tire. By that time, he had traveled higher into the stands. His goal, the announcer’s booth, stood within his reach.
Ashley stopped shooting for a minute to watch Tim in action. He was more graceful than he had been the last time they met. She watched him decapitate five zombies in a single maneuver. In another, he had simply chopped off their legs. She then saw him unload his one pistol into a crowd of ten, but more were quickly pushing their way around the dead trying to get at the warrior monk. She heard a scraping sound and felt a pair of hands grasp her ankle. She was pulled from her spot and fell hard on the floor of the lift, her rifle falling to the soft false grass.
A zombie had crawled over to her location and was preparing to bite down on her ankle when Roland stuck one of the brothers through the bars of the railing and poked it next to the undead's head.
“Eat this instead, deadhead.” The gun roared and brain matter splattered Ashley's leg. She kicked the remaining body away from her and stood. Roland battled his way to the steps of the lift and looked at her. “Have you seen Tim?” Ashley pointed at the top of the stands, near the announcer's box. “He was there when I last saw him.” Roland nodded and looked at the controls of the lift. “I wonder if this thing still works.”
*** 7 ***
Velius, the Lord of the Pit, watched the game unfold in the announcer's box. Roland had dispatched 132 of his minions alone while the monk had killed 150 and incapacitated almost twice as many. The bitch trailed both of them at 50 killed and 30 incapacitated. Soon, the blood debt would be paid and he’d be able to finalize the ritual that will release him from the relic. None will stop him then. If the Soul Eater had understood the human concept of jinxing oneself, it might not have entertained the idea that all was going according to plan. A door opened at the back and Brother Timothy entered the box. “Velius, we meet at last.” He closed the door and locked it. Velius laughed through Jessica's voice.
“Tis the monk who tried his best at thwarting my ascension, but it seems your brotherhood sent the wrong monk. Soon I will be free to corrupt the entire human race. Your God will be unable to stop my ascension then. I will finally be more powerful than my siblings ever dreamed of becoming.”
Timothy lifted his blood soaked blade and assumed a fighter's stance. Velius smiled at him with Jessica's lips. “Tsk, tsk, monk. You know that you can't truly hurt me. This body is just a vessel. The child inside of it is an innocent. Your order does not allow their monks to hurt innocents. Besides, even if you killed Jessica and her unborn child, I would just travel back into my relic.” Velius sneered at Timothy. “You don't even know where the relic is located.”
Timothy sneered back at the demon. “If I were you, I would hide something in plain sight. Like that compact mirror, you have chained around your neck. When you so blatantly challenged Roland, I saw it swinging around your neck. I also know that demons use mirrors to travel through the physical world. Say your prayers demon. And tell your brothers and sisters hello for me.”
Brother Timothy charged Jessica/Velius swinging his katana at the mirror.
*** 8 ***
Roland and Ashley traveled five feet in the air, putting them fifteen feet above the tallest zombie. “Keep them from getting too close to the base of the lift. We don't want them rocking it and knocking us over. It’d mean game over for us.” Ashley looked worried and Roland felt pity for the teenager. Her life had veered off course that day in the supermarket in Walkerton. Instead of what her life should have been: college, marriage, children, had been replaced by a shorter life filled with death and despair. He kissed her then right there surrounded by tens of thousands of zombies in the middle of the stadium. They parted and Ashley wiped away her tears. Picking up Roland's M1 Garand, she spoke with a sudden eagerness. “Let's end this.” Roland nodded, blinking back a tear as well.
Ashley leaned out from one side firing the rifle while Roland leaned over the over side emptying the brothers into the undead. After ten minutes the bodies of the dead became a three-foot floor that the new wave of undead used. Another ten minutes produced yet another addition to the floor. The undead were ten feet off the AstroTurf and Roland realized that after another hour or so the zombies would be at their height and then it would be game over. His ammunition supply was depleting quickly and he knew that Ashley should be running out of ammo as well. He heard the difference in the shots and knew that she had switched from the Garand to the nine-millimeter.
The end was soon, he thought. He reloaded the brothers and leaned over again.
*** 9 ***
Roland had guessed that an hour would go by and then they would be done. The pile of bodies had turned into a mountain of meat. They had killed over two hundred Roland would guess. Ashley had given up firing until they stepped into the lift. She had one clip left. Roland took inventory of the number of bullets he had and found out he could fit them into one of his hands. He put two into his pocket and the rest he loaded in the brothers. Ashley looked at him questioningly and Roland spoke in an exhausted way, “One for you and one for me. I won't give the bastard the satisfaction of controlling either of our corpses.” Ashley nodded not saying anything. She didn't want to start crying, not in the end. The first zombie to enter the lift was a fat bastard and Roland put him down. The next was an otherwise attractive female to which Ashley laid to rest. The next was an oriental boy of nine. Roland sent a bullet into the kids’ brain. Ashley shot a middle age soccer mom as Roland ended the life of an undead Donald Trump lookalike. Three entered next at the same time. Roland took out the man in the business suit while Ashley took down the grandma and the undead girl. Roland spent the last of his bullets lying to rest four college students that most likely had attended Indiana University Bloomington, Roland’s alma mater. A zombie with a comb over peeped his head onto the lift and was met by Ashley's last bullet.
Roland weakly pulled out the two bullets he had saved. Using Eddie's old gun, he loaded them in and snapped the chamber shut. He waited for the inevitable zombie to climb the mountain of corpses before he ended Ashley's life. He looked into the eyes of the person that he had spent the last week with and saw that she had started to cry. He lifted the weapon and placed it up against her forehead. “Goodbye, Ashley. I love you.” He thumbed the hammer back on the revolver and pulled the trigger.
At the last second, Roland turned the gun to the left and missed her head by a couple inches. “I can't do it, Ashley, I just can't.” Ashley, partially deafened on her right ear, smiled and hugged Roland. “I know Roland. I know you can't. Let's go out there and face them. It’s better to die fighting as long as I have you by my side.” He nodded grimly and togeth
er they climbed out onto the pile of bodies they had created. They stood on top of the bodies and witnessed something that completely dumbfounded both of them: The stadium was empty with exception to them and the bodies the three had killed. There weren’t any zombies left inside the stadium.
Ashley looked at Roland, “Where did they all go? That couldn't have been all of them.” Roland shrugged and laughed. “Well I for one will not complain about the lack of zombies. Let's go find that demon before he escapes.” They climbed down the mountain and started climbing the stands towards the announcer's box when Jessica's voice came through the speakers.
“Congratulations Roland and Ashley! You have made it into the second round. Unfortunately, it is also sudden death. Please divert your eyes to the screen.”
The screen flickered on to show Tim strapped to a table. Jessica/Velius stepped into view and smiled. “It's fortunate that you two played my little game. Between the three of you, five hundred and fifty-five bodies spilled blood. That blood was paid so that I can move from my anchor into the child that is growing inside of Jessica's belly. That child will be born and I will be able to dominate the physical world with my army of the undead. All that's left is to take care of the three of you. The monk will be by my own hand and as for you two, well, Hank will take care of you. Goodbye.” The screen turned off, leaving Roland and Ashley confused.
“Did we just help free that bastard?” Roland asked. Ashley nodded. “Shit. Let's get to Tim before Velius kills him. Maybe we can still stop him.” Roland was running up to the box when a gunshot erupted from behind them. Roland turned with his revolvers lifted to see an enormous man standing seven feet from them. Smoke wisped from the barrel of the Desert Eagle he held in his fat hands. Roland's legs gave out on him sending him tumbling down the stairs, past the man all the way to the base. Ashley lifted her hands to her face and yelled, “ROLAND, NO!” She chased down the steps after him as he fell down the stairs.
