by Scott Shoyer
“Hello,” Damien said as he smiled to the two females as they approached.
“Uh, honey,” Daniel said, but he never finished his thought. A loud crack echoed in the woods, and the next second Daniel’s head exploded from a gunshot.
The others stood there for a second, covered in brains and blood, until Judith broke the silence with a scream.
“Everyone get down,” Damien shouted as he pushed everyone into the stone structure in front of them. “Everyone keep your heads down.”
Judith and her kids were screaming and crying at the sudden burst of violence. When they all looked through one of the stone windows, they saw six men walking towards them, two with weapons.
“What the hell is going on?” Judith screamed. She went silent as she watched the man next to her remove a pistol from his waistband. “Please don’t hurt us,” she pleaded. “Please don’t hurt my kids.”
“Lady,” Damien said. “I’m not here to hurt you or your family. Those men out there killed my wife and are now after us.”
“Why?” Judith answered. “What did you do?”
“We made the mistake of stopping in this fucking town,” Damien said.
Judith looked at him and who she assumed was his son. “How can we get out of here?”
“We make a run for your car,” Damien said as he watched the men getting closer.
“I don’t have the keys,” Judith said. Judith and Damien both looked at the corpse of the man with half his head missing on the ground. “My husband has the keys,” she said as she turned her head away and started crying again.
31
“Nice shot, Sheriff,” Howard said after the man’s head exploded. “That’ll slow them down a bit.”
Howard and the others heard Damien and the new woman talking, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“I can’t hear a word they’re saying,” Michael said.
“We don’t need to hear what they are saying,” Sheriff Landry said. “They only have one option—make a run to the car.”
“We can’t let them get to the car,” George said. “They’ve seen all our faces.”
“Would you shut the fuck up, George,” Howard said. “When are you going to realize that what is happening here goes beyond us? Hell, it goes beyond the laws of this world.”
George looked as if Howard had actually slapped him. “We don’t need to worry about any of that shit anymore, George. When will you get it? There is no more morality, right and wrong, good and evil. There is only N’Xabez, and we must perform the last ceremony to help bring the Ancient One completely into this world.”
“And then what happens?” George asked.
Howard’s only response was a sinister grin.
*****
As the other’s wiped the blood and brain matter from their faces and clothes, Damien bent down and fished around in the dead man’s pockets. The man’s two kids cried into their mother’s shoulders.
Damien stood with the keys in his hand. He looked at the woman and her two kids. “Lady, I’m really sorry about what happened to your husband. My name is Damien, and this is my son, Brandon. We both watched as those bastards killed my wife right in front of us.”
The woman stopped crying long enough to introduce herself and her two kids.
“I know how upset you all are,” Damien said, “but if we don’t move, we’re going to end up like your husband and my wife.”
Judith whispered something in her kids’ ears and stood. “What can I do to help?” she asked.
“Our only chance of surviving is to get to your car,” Damien said. “I’ve got the keys, but I need everyone to be focused one-hundred percent.”
Before Brandon or the others could say anything, a voice from one of the men made them all jump. “Damien!” Howard yelled. “Come on, Damien! I know you can hear me!”
Damien looked at his son and the others and before answering, motioned them to crouch down behind a fallen tree. “What the hell do you want from us?” Damian yelled back.
“In all fairness, we only want you and your son,” Howard said. “The other family with you is just in the wrong tourist trap at the wrong time.”
Judith looked at Damien and then at her kids and started to stand.
“Don’t be stupid,” Damien said to her. “You think they’re going to let the three of you out of here?”
Judith looked down at the ground.
Damien looked over to where the car was parked. He guessed it was about fifteen to twenty yards away. It may as well have been ten miles away.
“What the hell do you want us for?” Damien yelled back.
“It isn’t us,” Howard said. “For some reason, the Ancient One has chosen you. It wants you, and we’re just here to make sure It gets what it wants.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Judith asked Damien.
“Do you realize how batshit crazy you sound?” Damien yelled. “If you’d like, I’ll call for some nice people to come and take you and your friends away?”
“Jesus Christ, Damien,” Judith said. “Don’t taunt them.”
“We don’t need any help, Damien!” Howard shouted. “But I bet you thought you did after what you saw on that mountain pass!”
Damien’s head turned to the men by the tree line. He was about to say something back, but was at a loss for words.
“Yeah,” Howard continued. “I thought that would get your attention.”
“How the hell can you possibly know about that?” Damien finally asked.
“The Ancient One told me you witnessed It,” Howard said. “N’Xabez doesn’t reveal Itself to just anybody. You should feel honored.”
Damien mouthed the name ’N’Xabez’ to Judith and shrugged questioningly. Then, to the other men, said: “I have no idea what the hell you are talking about. What I saw was the result of some fast-moving clouds and me being exhausted from driving all day.”
“Now Damien,” Howard reasoned, “you and I both know that isn’t true. ‘The One in the Clouds’ has chosen you for something wonderful, and we are here to make sure It gets what It wants.” Howard paused, then continued. “We know you have the Sheriff’s gun. We don’t want any more deaths here today.”
“What?” Damien yelled back. “You want to wait until later to kill us?”
“Enough of this, Damien!” Howard yelled with a renewed ferocity. “The Ancient One has chosen you, and we will take you.”
At the end of Howard’s rant, Damien and the others cowered down as Judith’s car, their only means of escape, exploded into a fireball. Damien saw the Sheriff run back to the other men.
“There you go, Damien,” Howard laughed. “You’ve got no escape now. It’s your move, but just know that one way or the other we will take you.”
*****
Damien put his hands up in the air and yelled, “I’m coming out”
Howard smiled. “Nice work, Sheriff. Sometimes you just need to eliminate all hope.” Then to Damien and the others: “I want you all to come out. No one stays behind.”
Howard watched as Brandon stood next to his father and stepped out from the large structure. Howard stared at the boy and realized he’d been wrong. The Ancient One didn’t want Damien after all. To Damien’s left, a woman stood with her two children. “That’s it, everyone. I need all of you to come to us.”
When Damien and the others stood a few feet away from the High One, Howard raised the shotgun and shot the young boy who stood next to his mother square in the chest. They all flinched at the noise, and the woman fell to the ground as she cradled the boy’s lifeless body.
“You son of a bitch!” Damien yelled. “Why the hell did you kill him?”
“He is of no use to the Ancient One,” Howard said.
Damien instinctively pulled Brandon behind him.
“Oh, don’t worry about your boy, Damien,” Howard said. “The One in the Clouds has plans for him.”
“You are stark-raving mad, you fucking psy
cho!” Damien yelled. Then he turned to meet the Sheriff’s gaze. “And what the hell is wrong with you? Are you even a real Sheriff?”
Just as the Sheriff was about to answer, Howard spoke for him. “I can assure you that he is indeed the law in Derleth. His bloodline has faithfully served the Ancient One for centuries.”
“I can’t believe we’re going to be killed by a bunch of Satan worshippers,” Brandon said under his breath.
“Satan worshippers?” Howard repeated. “Oh dear boy, Satan himself would bow down to and fear the Ancient One.” Before there were any more questions, the other men produced zip ties and fastened their prisoner’s hands before pulling hoods down over their eyes.
Just as the Sheriff was about to tie Damien’s hands behind his back, Damien spun, grabbed the Sheriff’s head with both hands, and slammed his knee into the Sheriff’s nose. As Howard fumbled with his shotgun, Damien took advantage and ran off into the dense woods.
Levi Hargrove turned to run after the man, but Howard placed his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about him for now,” Howard said. “We’ve got the one N’Xabez wants,” he said as he looked at Brandon.
“How can you be sure?” Levi asked.
Howard just looked at the man with his steely, cold eyes. “Help the Sheriff up,” he finally said. “Let’s get to the sacred ground and get prepared.”
“Prepared for what?” Thomas asked. “You still haven’t told us the exact plan.”
“We are preparing for N’Xabez’s arrival,” Howard said as he walked back into the woods to return to their car.
32
The Ancient One watched from Its position, stuck between two worlds as the patriarchs took the families. N’Xabez fed Itself various mortals from Yuggoth’s surface as It prepared for and anticipated the upcoming ceremony that would forever bring It to the realm called Earth.
N’Xabez dreamed of an endless, uninterrupted reign in that realm. The Ancient One knew there was nothing and no one that could challenge Its domination of Earth. It knew of the weapons and defenses Earth had from invading the dreams of various mortals, and there was nothing to stop The One in the Cloud’s rule. Even lobbing a nuclear weapon at N’Xabez would be the equivalent of a fly slamming into the side of an aircraft carrier.
N’Xabez swelled with excitement as the ceremony drew closer. Its plan to scare the High One to serve N’Xabez with even more fervor worked. The mortals were collecting the Effulgent One and preparing him for the final step. It knew the High One believed that by aiding N’Xabez, he would be spared the fate that was destined for all of humanity. It let the High One believe whatever he wanted. Soon he and the rest of the world would serve N’Xabez, and inevitably, N’Xabez would figure out how to rule both realms.
*****
Damien ran through the woods faster than he had ever run before. He knew Judith would think he’d abandoned them to save his own skin, but at least Brandon would know that his father would never leave him.
As Damien neared a thin tree, he wrapped his arm around it to stop his momentum. He breathed hard and felt his heart pounding in his chest, but most importantly, he didn’t hear anyone following him. He crouched down behind some tall bushes and waited several minutes as he listened to the woods.
Nothing.
Nobody was tracking him down, and he didn’t know if this relieved him or made him even more scared.
After twenty minutes of hiding behind the bush, Damien stood and slowly made his way back to the spot where he’d escaped by the tree line. As he slowly approached the area, he saw no trace of Brandon or of Judith and her daughter. Even the body of Judith’s young son and husband, as well as all traces of blood, were gone.
Damien carefully walked toward the large structure that he, not long ago, had surrendered from. That had been a difficult decision, and he knew it could’ve ended with all of them meeting the same fate as Judith’s son. But the one named Howard apparently had other plans for them.
As he entered the large stone structure, he walked toward the back wall. About a foot up from the ground was a crevasse in the stone. He reached in and pulled out the Sheriff’s pistol that he’d hidden before surrendering. Relief washed over him that his plan had worked, but his small victory was tarnished by the fact that he had no idea where Howard and the others had taken his son.
Feeling defeated, Damien sat down, leaned against the cool stone wall, and tried to come up with a plan. “I could go back into town to find out where they took my son,” he said. “No. I’m sure everyone in town would be looking for me. I could… what? What could I do? Fuck!” he yelled. “I’m not a cop or a soldier. I have no idea how to find my son!” he screamed.
Just as Damien stood, he heard a vehicle pull into the parking area. He ducked down when he saw it was a tow truck. Probably here to get rid of Judith’s destroyed car before any more tourists show up, he thought.
When the driver of the truck got out of the cab, Damien recognized the bearded, overalled man.
“Son of a bitch,” Damien said out loud. “It’s that old bastard from the car cemetery. He’s their clean up man.” Damien’s excitement at catching a break was tarnished with the thought of all those cars he saw in the car cemetery.
Were those cars all that remained of the tourists—the families—that were killed in Derleth? he thought. Then out loud he said; “There had to be hundreds of cars in that place.”
Any mercy he was going to show the old man disappeared. Either that old bastard would tell him where they’d taken his son, or he would kill the old man.
Damien felt better. He had a plan.
33
Howard and Sheriff Landry led Brandon, Judith, and Kristin through the woods. Landry’s nose had been broken during Damien’s escape, and if not for the situation, Brandon would have thought the whistling noise from the Sheriff’s nose would have been funny.
“Where the hell are you taking us?” Judith timidly asked, but was met only with silence. “You can’t do this to us,” she continued. “People will miss us and track us back to this town.”
This last comment made Howard chuckle. “And what, pray tell, is going to happen when your last whereabouts are traced back to Derleth? What then, huh?”
“You’ll be arrested.”
Howard stopped walking and yanked the back of Judith’s hair. “I appreciate your concern,” he said, “but by the time you are tracked back to Derleth, the world will no longer exist as you, or any of us, know it.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Brandon asked.
“Don’t play dumb, boy,” Howard said. “You’ve seen the new world to come. You know what is going to happen.”
“I… that… that was a dream,” Brandon said.
“No,” Howard said as he got right up into Brandon’s face. “That was a vision—a vision put there by the Ancient One.” Howard stared into Brandon’s eyes. “Your eyes give you away, boy.” Howard then pushed Brandon and continued the trek to the sacred grounds.
As he walked, Brandon thought back to that dream and the tenebrous world he’d seen. A world full of madness and darkness.
And death.
*****
The old man’s back was turned to Damien as he hooked the chains to the car’s frame. The flatbed truck was lowered and Damien figured he had about ten minutes before the old man was finished.
“Don’t turn around,” Damien said as he approached the old man bent over the burned-out car.
“Well, well,” the old man said without turning around. “You must be Damien? The Sheriff warned me you might show up here again. Didn’t say nothing ‘bout no gun, though.”
“Just shut up and tell me where they are taking my son,” Damien said.
“Well, you know I ain’t going to do that,” the old man said. “Everyone in Derleth has a role to play, and my role ain’t being no turncoat.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Damien asked.
“There… got it!” the old man said
as he fastened the chain around a section of the frame. The man slowly turned to face Damien. “Do you know that over ninety percent of the people living in Derleth can trace their bloodlines back to one of the founding families? Not many towns can claim that.”
“So what?” asked Damien. “Is it inbreeding? Is that what’s wrong with everyone in this fucking town? Too much of brothers fucking sisters?”
“No son, and you best watch your tongue,” the old man said as his eyes narrowed. “We’ve got long bloodlines here, and every family was chosen a long time ago to perform a certain function in this town.” The old man turned his head and spit into the dirt. “Some people play a more important role than others. Some just procreate to feed the Ancient One. Others to worship it. The Sheriff’s bloodline is to protect, Howard Montaigne’s bloodline is to guide. My bloodline is to clean up the mess.”
Damien took a step closer and pulled the hammer back on the gun. Damien noticed the thick, white cataracts he saw in the old man’s eyes the other day were gone. “You aren’t making any sense, and I don’t have the time to listen to the ramblings of a madman. Where the hell are those freaks taking my son?”
“If you was smart,” the old man said, “you’d take heed of what I was saying. Times are about to get mighty dark.”
“Dark?” Damien asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Very dark,” the bearded man repeated. “Dark until the end of time.”
As he spoke the last word, the old man threw the wrench he held at Damien. Damien ducked and the old man charged him. Damien was surprised at how fast and agile the man was and braced himself for the impact.
The old man slammed into Damien and the two fell back. The wind was knocked out of Damien’s lungs as his back slammed against the hard dirt ground and the gun fell from his hand. The old man reached to the left and wrapped his hand around the wrench that moments ago he’d thrown at Damien.
Damien’s eyes went wide as he saw the old man swing the tool toward his head. Damien rolled over enough so the wrench hit the ground, and while the old man was off center, pushed him off his chest.
