by L. A. Tafe
I hear his laugh before his teeth bite into my neck, coming out of nowhere amidst the attacking clowns. No numbness could dull the pain that follows. I could feel the blood gushing out, the venom quickly eating away at all the skin around the wound.
Lancifer picks me up as I hold the bite wound, the pain excruciating and spreading with the venom. “How do you like that, buddy boy? Kinda stings huh?” Lancifer says, yelling it into my face. He throws me away with ease, landing hard in the mud face first just a few feet away.
Knowing clowns will soon be upon me, I roll over quickly to face my attackers. Reacting just in time for a large clown with a chainsaw to bring the spinning blade down on my right leg. Moving just enough for him not to saw it right off. But it still got me, cutting and tearing right through the flesh and into the bone.
I scream out in pain, focusing all my agony and hatred upon the mad with the chainsaw. His body pulling itself apart from the inside, exploding in every direction in a bloody mess of entrails and flesh. I smile wide as the blood splatters my face. It feels so good.
I lay in the mud for a moment, relishing in what I just did. Lancifer appears out of nowhere just like before, grabbing me by my neck, dragging me through the mud while clowns on all sides attack me. Shooting me with their double barrels, hacking away at me with their butcher knives, beating me with their wooden planks.
Lancifer laughs as he drags me in circles letting his minions go to town on me. All the while I heal my life threatening wounds, focusing hard on the rain, changing it from acid to something a bit more flammable.
Lancifer finally stops and looks down on me, laughing and smiling at my beaten and bloody body.
I am bleeding from every point of my body, my right leg hanging on by a small strip of flesh. Puncture wounds, lacerations down to the bone, enough buckshot inside me to kill a dozen deer, and I am bleeding on the inside as much as the outside. But I feel nothing but warmth, no pain, just hatred.
The clowns circle around me, no longer attacking me, some of them looking up into the sky at the rain, no doubt realizing a change.
Lancifer rips two new wounds into my neck with his claws, causing me to yell out in pain, the venom in his claws and teeth seem to be the only things that can truly hurt me. I writhe in the mud, clawing at my neck trying to heal the wound and stop the venom from eating my flesh. All the while puddles begin to build up all around me.
Lancifer grabs a spiked bat from one of his minions and turns back to me. “So here we are at the end, Lance. You dead and me in control.” Lancifer says, kneeling down to whisper in my ear. “Without you around, me and my minions will kill Oliver and I’ll be free once again.”
Lancifer pauses for my response. But I give none. I just stare at him, waiting for him to strike.
He nods and puts the bat to my head, choosing his spot before raising his arms in the air. Lancifer’s smile spreads wide across his face as he looks upon me. I smile back.
I snap my last two fingers on my left hand and a small flame comes to life at my fingertips. I focus on the oil pouring down from the sky, making it pour down upon us like the harshest of storms. As the small flame at the tip of my finger touches the oil the world around me becomes an inferno, the roar of the flames drowning out any cries from the burning clowns. Not even Lancifer’s cackling can be heard over the raging flames.
As the inferno burns everything around I focus on nothing but my skin, healing it relentlessly against the blaze around me. The flames nick at my skin burning it to ash over and over again as I renew it with new flesh. Stop. I tell the sky, water now falling steadily from the sky.
Slowly the flames die, burning the oil to the last drop, the rain doing little to smother the flames.
I don’t stop healing myself till I can feel the rain hitting every bit of my body, drenching what’s left of my clothes and washing the blood from my wounds. By the time I stand I am completely unharmed. No pain, no bleeding, completely healed.
I take a look around at the carnage, every clown scorched, the rubble of my home burned to ash. A foot of ash coats the ground for two hundred yards in every direction. Even the metal of the carnival rides is melted down and mangled.
I walk to the only thing the inferno didn’t incinerate and pick Him up by the neck, hoisting his face to my own. Lancifer’s body is burnt to an arid husk of a person, his wheezing is the only thing telling me he is alive.
“Tell me where Oliver is.” I command. Lancifer’s eyes stare blankly at me, his charred eyelids not enough to cover up his eyes. “Where is Oliver?” I yell impatiently. White face paint begins to spread from Lancifer’s eyes, slowly creeping to every part of his face. Lancifer bursts into laughter as the red paint lines his lips. I “I’m just the jester!” he says through hysterical laughs. “Just the Jester!” he repeats over and over while he laughs. “Just the Jester!”
The white paint spreads up his forehead to his jester hat that materializes back upon his head, gold jangles and all. “WHERE IS HE?!” I scream, digging my fingers into Lancifer’s neck. Lancifer stops laughing for a moment stunned at my sudden outburst then bursts into a louder, crazier fit of cackles.
I let out a beastly growl, ripping into his neck with my fingers, tearing his head from his body in one ripping yank. The two pieces left of Lancifer fly through the air in opposite directions, turning to dust before they hit the ground, the jingle of the bell on Lancifer’s jester hat hangs in the silence.
I turn around, looking at the melted carnival rides from my hill. “OLIVER!” my voice roars, echoing throughout my entire dream. Silence answers my cry and I realize Oliver is. I close my eyes, opening them to a whole new hell.
Amy is sprawled upon my motel room floor, blood coming from her nose and running down the side of her mouth. Her arms lay limp, curved in ways that must mean they are broken. My mouth is agape, staring unbelievingly at the sight in front of me.
I can feel her blood on my hands and the sting of fresh cuts upon my face. Around the room there’s signs of a struggle, a toppled desk, the sheets have been pulled from the bed, a lamp lays on the floor casting shadows around the room.
“Amy.” I whisper, shocked at the sight before me. I reach out as I collapse to my knees. My hands hover over her body, unable to bring myself to touch her. “Amy?” I plead shakily. I hear police sirens close by.
Hot tears run down my face as I nudge Amy’s lifeless body with my hand. Her death beginning to sink in. “Amy, no. God, no.” I bury my head into her chest, tears turning into sobs. “Amy!” I cry out.
She’s dead. Its time to run. Oliver whispers inside my head. “You fucking killed her!” I scream. “She turned on you. Turned on us! Wake up you pathetic fuck.” Oliver responds, the words coming straight from my lips. Oliver grabs control of my legs and gets us to our feet, a shooting pain goes through my head. “NO!” I shriek, causing us to fall to the ground. I claw at the carpet trying to get back to Amy. Oliver fights back for control, pain shooting through my body as I lose all control.
Oliver stands and runs for the door, grabbing the car keys from the floor next without slowing. No! I can’t leave her! Oliver runs on without responding, he seems panicked. Outside I can see flashing lights of cop cars racing down the street, their tires screeching as they turn into the parking lot.
Oliver sprints for the car, hopping in and starting it up. Oliver screeches out of the parking lot with the cop cars right behind him, over their loud speakers they command him to pull over.
The cop cars stay right behind us as Oliver whips around turns and swerves through traffic. The sun isn’t up yet and the roads are pretty dead, giving plenty of space for Oliver to accelerate to ridiculous speeds.
Why? I ask Oliver, nothing but a whisper in his mind. “Because you loved her.” I know he is right. I just never told her. She was all I had to live for. And now she’s gone.
Oliver turns onto a windy two-lane road that goes into the canyon, the cops still in pursuit, backing off just a little on
the tiny road.
“I was your brother! Every night I protected you from your nightmares!” Oliver yells. “Night after night I defended you. Helping you lock up Lancifer for good!” Oliver speeds through the canyon, making the tires squeal at every turn. “And when you no longer needed me anymore, you left me to rot. Forgetting that I ever existed.” Oliver’s knuckles are white from gripping the steering wheel so hard around the tight turns.
“But I didn’t just wither away like you thought. After years of wandering around your subconscious, I realized I could take over your body while you slept, making it my own. Becoming much more than just a dream. I could be alive.”
A helicopter shines a spotlight on us and I can hear muffled voices on a loud speaker telling us to stop and pull over.
“That’s when I let Lancifer out of his prison. Let him create a world of your deepest fears, a world that you would be to weak to win.” But you didn’t win. I have killed everything you have thrown at me. Chester, Jezebeth, Lancifer, all ceasing to exist at my hand. Oliver sneers and yanks the wheel into another turn. “This is my body now. You no longer have anything to live for. Give up, lance!”
The truth of what Oliver just said hits me. I'm so tired of fighting. Amy is dead. My father is dead. And with their murders my life is gone. What do I have to live for anymore?
Up in the distance I can see a turn with no railing around the outside edge, nothing but a steep hill down into the canyon. I watch as the trees whip by on our right and I know what I'm going to do. Ill see you soon Amy. “What?” Oliver says not understanding that I’ve found something to live for, something deep within me responds by sending warmth through my body and giving me control of everything. I’m going to kill you. That’s what I have to live for.
I push the gas pedal to the floor, gaining speed as we come in to the turn. At such high speeds it doesn’t take much to turn a car, just a quick flick to the right throws us off the cliff and flying down the hill at uncontrollable speeds.
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Oliver shrieks as we plummet into the canyon. I wrestle back control to our whole body and try to relax, knowing I am about to die. The uneven ground jerks me around in my seat as the car careens down the hill, trees flying by as nothing but blurs. Amy, sweet Amy, here I come.
I let go of the wheel and lay my head back against the headrest, knowing that at any moment the car will hit a tree causing my neck and most of the bones in my body to snap in half. Oliver roars inside my head, shooting pain thought my entire body. I don’t need any more pain. I give up control to him. What does it matter, we are going to die and he can’t do anything about it.
Through Oliver’s eyes I see a large sequoia tree in our path, just thirty yards away. There is our death. Oliver slams on the breaks and tries to turn the wheel. I just laugh inside his head.
I look at the tree just before we hit, in my mind I plead with it. Just kill me. The front of my car hits and I black out.
I wake up for a second, a cop is saying something to me then hollers to someone else. His voice is kind of familiar, it sounded like he said, “Why couldn’t you just die?”
I wake up again with the sun peaking over the hills, illuminating the canyon and two men carrying me on a stretcher. Every bit of my body is in anguish, I try to moan in agony but nothing comes out. Thankfully the pain doesn’t last for long, I black out again as I am put in the back of a big red and white car. “You’re going to be alright.” One of the men sitting next to me says.
Right then I begin to agree with the cop that chewed me out back at the police station, the same one that just pulled me out of the car. Why couldn’t I just die?
CHAPTER TWELVE.
I smell the scorched ground before I see it, the stale odor of burnt flesh and smelted metal. I open my eyes and find myself on top of the rubble my house left, sitting in my favorite rickety chair. Everything is lit up as if the sun is shining from somewhere. The carnival lights are all off, the neon red and yellows of the carnival rides looking dull in the pale light. I sigh and wait for Oliver to reveal himself. Annoyed with the fact that the fight goes on and I didn’t die in a car crash that should have left me looking like ground meat. But the thrill of Oliver’s death drives me forward.
“Oliver,” I say evenly to the air around me, “Lets just end this.” Oliver appears at the edge of the ash circle, walking out from behind melted carnival rides. “Just you an me now.” Oliver says, walking casually through the ash field.
I come to my feet with my chair falling apart at my thought, breaking into a dozen spear like pieces. With my silent command the wooden spears fly through the air at Oliver, fast enough to make an ear-shattering whistle.
Just before the wooden spears crash into Oliver, I command them to explode, shattering them into thousands of small splinters, piercing through Oliver before he can make a move. Blood seeps from thousands of microscopic wounds in Oliver’s body, drenching him with his own blood in seconds.
Oliver doesn’t even flinch. Just stands and looks up at me with indifference. Blood pours down Oliver’s body, forming a nice round puddle at his feet.
Oliver steps forward, all of the tiny splinters fall out as he heals his wounds. Behind him, something raises form the blood puddle, a bloody blob at first, slowly forming into something bigger. As the thing grows, it forms a body, shoulders and chest, a head, until finally I see what it is. A clone of Oliver, a twin.
The twin steps forward to stand next to his creator, both of them smile up at me. That’s how Lancifer created all of this.
“Cute trick.” I yell to Oliver. He grins and rushes me, his twin right behind him. Oliver’s twin lunges first, reaching for my chest with his hand, as he reaches for me it turns into a massive claw and tears into my skin. Blood pours from the wound onto his claw, with a thought I make my blood boil his skin and he shrieks in pain, pulling back allowing me to heal the gash in my chest.
Oliver takes the chance to attack me, grabbing me by the neck, digging in his newly formed claws, and slamming me hard to the ground.
I strike out at him, grabbing him by the elbow, shattering it with one hard grip. Oliver heals the bone almost instantly but it isn’t fast enough.
I pull him to the ground and get to my feet. The sound of his cracking jaw echoes through my ears as my foot hits his face just right, shattering his jaw. Oliver’s twin grabs me from behind before I can finish Oliver off, putting his arms around me and squeezing till my backbone snaps in half. He tosses me clear across the field of ash into a merry go round, crying out in pain as I crash.
My impact takes out two metal horses, leaving me with several bones sticking out of my limbs. The pain is immense but I continue on, healing and dulling the pain as best I can. I snap a metal prop from one of the horses, one of the tips coming off jagged. This will work nicely. I look around for Oliver and his twin, waiting for him to show himself.
An arm wraps around my neck from behind, putting me into a headlock, cutting off my air by crushing my windpipe. Two Oliver’s appear around in front, coming around a carnival game, seeing me and charging.
I struggle in the grasp of the third Oliver, wondering how I will kill three of them now. Realizing I now have no idea, which is the real Oliver.
I stab behind me with the metal prop, stabbing my attacker in the gut, quickly puling the rod out of the him, blood sticking to the metal like syrup. The other two Oliver’s rush me at the same time. Reacting as quick as I can, I strike one across the face with the metal prop and stab the other through the chest, forcing the rigid end out the other side. He crashes to the ground. Limp. Dead.
I turn around to see the Oliver that had me in the headlock, now fully healed with two more Oliver’s right behind him, all of them snickering. I can’t win like this.
I run at the closest Oliver and cave in his skull with the metal rod, hitting him so hard the rod cracks in half, leaving him twitching on the ground.
Before I can turn around, an Oliver grabs me by the hair a
nd yanks me back. Two Olivers bite into my neck with fangs that grow as they bite down, piercing me deeper and deeper.
I lash out at them with my arms, hitting them in the face and breaking free of their hold. I heal my shoulders immediately, already feeling a chill from the blood loss. I turn around and see five Olivers, all of them sneering at me, all looking just the same. I know there’s no way I can beat them head on and I spot the answer above their heads off in the distance. The train.
Without a second thought I charge them, burying my shoulder into one of them and barreling right through him, knocking him to the ground. I continue running, not looking back, knowing they are right behind me.
Deeper and deeper into the carnival I go, weaving in and out of attractions to escape Oliver and his doubles. Hearing their feet pounding on the ground in pursuit like wolves chasing their pray.
I round a giant carousel and then I see the massive old fashion train, the tracks swirl into the sky above it, only a football field away. I start running even faster. Just got to get there.
An explosion erupts from behind me and my shoulder jerks forward with a sharp pain. Shit! More guns. Another explosion and the ground next to my right foot kicks up. I heal my wound quickly and throw back the buckshot without looking, hoping it peppers someone in the face.
Again and again shots ring out from behind me, a few hitting me while the rest miss just by inches. Almost to the train. Another shot fires and I fall to my knees before popping back up, franticly limping to the train. As I get up a single step into the passenger train, a claw rips into me from behind, shredding skin and bone. I immediately turn on the Oliver who’s caught me, grabbing him by the neck and shaking him violently till his neck snaps, pulling the flesh from his neck allowing his lifeless body to bleed out rapidly.
Looking back I can see the Other Olivers are just thirty feet away, rabid looks upon their faces. I grab the dead Oliver’s shotgun and take aim, firing both shots of the sawed-off, each shot maiming an Oliver, leaving just two left.
