Children of Cernunnos

by Matthew Fish

  “Not in her room,” Maddie said as she shrugged her shoulders. “I came here right after, figured we should look.”

  “The fuck is going on,” Mark said as he got back to his feet and marched the group down the spiral staircase.

  The group searched through the various rooms, stopping by the dining room, the ball room/training room. Mark led them down them down another hallway as he found Lily. She was seated in a chair beside the pool as she watched the storm through the window.

  “Lily…” Mark said as he let out a short sigh of relief. “Where is everyone?”

  “I’m sorry, Mark,” Lily said as she kept her gaze affixed to the storm outside.

  “Hotdogs,” Christopher said as he let out a short laugh. “Possibly our last meal and we’re sat out in front of this church eating hotdogs—and chips. Couldn’t we have at least gotten a deep dish pizza or something? This is Chicago…”

  “It won’t be too long until people start arriving,” William said as he took a bite of his food. “We needed to keep our energy up…and there was a hotdog place nearby—if there was a pizza place close, we’d be having that instead.”

  “I’ve never had a fondness for this meat shaped product,” Cain said as she dumped his hotdog into the container and chewed on some mustard covered bread. “In the old days, bread was treated with much more respect—artisans made it, and they made it rather skillfully. This tastes more like a…dish sponge.”

  “You eat many of those?” Bradley asked as he dug into his second hot dog.

  “No, I was just making a comparison based upon the consistency…”

  “I think he was joking with you,” Christopher said as he shook his head and tossed his empty wrapper into a bag. He looked out the window as a large line of people began to pile into the church. He quickly ducked down in his seat. “They’re here.”

  “Black tinted windows,” William said as he gently tapped against the glass. “They can’t see you.”

  “Oh, right,” Christopher said as he nodded. “Fuck, that’s a lot of people.”

  “A lot of our ungifted Perpetuals need work,” Cain said as he nodded.

  “With the salary listed on the pamphlet…” Bradley spoke as he quickly devoured his second hotdog. “I’d expect such a crowd.”

  They watched for a while as a huge crowd of Perpetuals filed into the church—despite the rain they marched on passing through the large wooden doors. Once the crowned thinned out and no more people were entering. William gave the signal for them to enter. They climbed out of the SUV and walked up the stairs as they pushed open the heavy wooden doors. There was a sign that pointed down to the basement that read ‘PJR.’

  “Perpetual Job Recruitment, not very subtle,” William said, as he led the group down the staircase. He stopped near the bottom and nodded to the others as he dropped a large black case. “Let’s get ready.”

  Bradley dropped a large black duffel bag to the ground and pulled out his assault rifle. He placed multiple clips of ammo into his belt and placed a twin pair of pistols into holster beneath his black suit jacket. William pulled out a large sniper rifle that was almost as tall as he was. He clicked in a large curved clip and slung the large rifle against his back. Christopher nervously placed his hand upon his silver Heart Sash as he nodded that he was ready. Cain wrapped a belt around his waist and pulled an old looking long sword form a leather sheath.

  “A sword…?” Bradley asked as he shook his head. “You brought a sword to a gunfight?”

  “I, personally—detest using guns,” Cain said as he held the blade out in front of him.

  “Let’s head in,” William said as they entered the large hall.

  “Make the first right here,” Cain said as he paused for a moment and saw nearly two hundred Perpetuals seated in chairs. The walls were bright white and the ceiling was curved. A stage with a red curtain was at the far end. A podium was set up with a microphone and a whiteboard stood a short distance behind it. “…there’s so many—more than I expected.”

  “Get in here,” Bradley said as he pulled Cain into the kitchen and locked the door behind him. He turned out the light as they all peeked over the large service counter.

  “At least no one is working the kitchen today,” William said as he kicked at a large metal shelf and reinforced it against the door.

  A clicking of heels could be heard just outside of the door as a woman passed by and headed down the center of all the lined up metal chairs. She had short, bleached white hair and was wearing an extremely short black dress with white dots. She carried a clipboard with her. She glanced back to the darkened room for a moment—she was wearing huge sunglasses. She turned her attention back to her destination as she climbed up a small staircase and stood in front of the podium.

  “That’s Lola,” William said as he shook his head. “Last time I saw her she was sandwiched beneath my old SUV. Wish she would have stayed that way.”

  “She is a particularly nasty woman,” Cain whispered. “She was once in my employment.”

  “Makes perfect sense,” Christopher said as he fingered his Heart Sash. “Got a date on her?”

  “1970,” Bradley said as he peeked over the counter.

  “My fellow Perpetuals,” Lola began to speak as she paced back and forth and looked out to the large crowd that grew silent when she began to speak. “You have all come here seeking employment—a break from your lives of poverty. I know how difficult it can be to live such meager existences as we live such long ones. That is why you are all here, is it not? To change your circumstances…?”

  The crowed gave out a resounding ‘yes’ as they fell silent once more.

  “I have come under the employment of a rather…unique individual. He seeks an army—you need not possess any talent or gift to join. You will be given guns, taught to shoot.”

  “I’m not here to join some kind of mafia!” A man shouted from the front of the room as the crowd grew disgruntled. “I was told this was for legal employment!”

  “This is something that is so much more—you will be rewarded with more wealth than you can possibly imagine. The alternative to this more than generous offer…is, of course, a swift death.”

  “They’ll send Conductors after us!” A woman shouted as she threw a shoe at Lola.

  Lola gracefully dodged the shoe and laughed. “We already have a force of a hundred—your participation matters very little. Either way—you join, or you die. Now, you have the next sixty seconds to decide whether you value your lives enough to join our cause. Those who are willing may simply ascend these stairs and be spared. The rest…none of you will make it out of this room alive.”

  “Bullshit!” A man yelled. As a group of about ten people got to their feet and climbed up the staircase to stand beside Lola.

  “She’s bluffing!”

  “Thank you for being smart,” Lola said as she bowed promptly to the Perpetuals that had decided to join. “Now just go behind that red curtain and head out through the exit to the back and join the others—you do not want to be here for what is about to happen.”

  The doors to the great room were barricaded shut from the outside as a series of loud thuds came against the metal doors. Lola disappeared behind the red curtain and emerged with her gun placed to an older man’s head.

  “That’s Francis Davidson,” Cain whispered. “He was a Conductor on my council.”

  Francis looked around nervously to the crowd as beads of sweat began to drip down from his forehead.

  A white figure emerged from the curtain and stood behind Francis. It was slightly taller than the Conductor. The creature had a strange muscular but small, sleek frame. Its face was beastlike with large teeth protruding from its deer-like large snout. It had a jet black nose that seemed to steam with each breath. Its eyes were an odd creepy blue glow—it had one singular grand antler that reached high into the air stretched out like the branches of a tree. It looked upon the crowd and growled a low rumbling tone that seemed t
o shake the entire room.

  “Say the words,” Lola commanded as she pressed the gun to Francis’s sweaty head.

  “For…for the cause,” Francis meekly said just as the Ankou brought up a large woodened handled scythe with a jagged white blade. The Ankou ran the blade down the length of the man as he fell lifeless to the floor.

  Perpetuals began to scream and run towards the barricaded door. They trampled each other down as the Ankou was swiftly upon them. The creature picked up a man and tossed him into the air and deftly swirled the white blade and split the Perpetual into two messy halves. The Ankou caught half of the man in its large clawed hand and sunk its mouth into the man’s chest—tearing free the heart and quickly devouring it.

  Lola began to pick up the remains of the Conductor just as a loud boom filled the air and a coin went flying towards her direction. She turned her attention just in time to end up nothing more than a pile of ash against the stage.

  “Eat lead you pale freak,” Bradley said as he unloaded his assault rifle into the creature that continued to slice away at Perpetuals, filling the air with blood and guts.

  The Ankou let out a loud cry as he dropped his scythe to the ground. Cain projected right behind the beast and fell down to the ground with his sword drawn as he pressed it deep into the Ankou’s flesh. He lodged the old blade so far, that he had to release it in order to project back to the safety of the kitchen. William took careful aim as the creature flailed about and fired a booming shot that erupted the side of the Ankou’s head with black blood. Christopher threw up a large pile of coins and made a sharp direct gesture with closed fingers as he launched a barrage of random quarters aimed at the chest of the Ankou. With this last blow it fell to the ground filling the air with a terrible screeching sound as it groveled in severe pain. Perpetuals began to attempt to knock down the barricade and escape.

  “It’s down,” William said as he kept his sight trained on the Ankou.

  “Keep me covered,” Cain said as he projected to the creature’s body and pressed his hand against the soft skin of the Ankou. He began to cause the creature to vibrate wildly as though it was having some kind of seizure. A wet, sickening sound erupted from the creature’s mouth as it flung its arm towards Cain and knocked him away.

  “Not dead,” Bradley muttered as he began to fire more bullets into the creature’s chest.

  The Ankou roared loudly as it slowly got back up to its feet and picked up its scythe. It staggered back a few times as it took heavy fire from Bradley’s gun. The Ankou began to emit a strange rainbow colored shimmer as a barrage of coins from Christopher disappeared just before they were about to strike.

  “The hell…?” Christopher said as the Ankou began to advance upon them.

  “I’ve got him,” William said as a thunderclap resounded through the room and the large caliber bullet rocketed out of the barrel of the rifle. Just as it was about to strike, it disappeared, doing no damage at all to the Ankou. The creature sliced his way through screaming Perpetuals, stopping once to feast upon the heart of another as he made his way to the group bunkered down in the kitchen.

  “Cain!” Bradley shouted over the loud screams and mass hysteria around. “We could use that exit right about now!”

  Half of a Perpetual was sent flying through the service window, knocking Christopher down to the ground. Bradley began to fire his rifle, accidentally clipping quite a few Perpetuals as he fired wildly in an attempt to track the Ankou.

  “It’s not getting through!” William shouted as he abandoned his rifle and helped Christopher get free of the bloody mess.

  Cain rose to his feet, regaining his bearings as he watched as the Ankou quickly cut a path to the kitchen. He projected just as the creature sent itself flying through the service window. With one clean slice the Ankou caught Bradley in the side as he let out a scream of pain and fell to the ground. Cain created a small field and projected the group out of the building and next to the SUV parked outside the church.

  “Shit!” Bradley screamed as he placed his hands upon the large open wound. His innards were visible as heavy gushes of blood raced out.

  “Get him into the back,” William commanded as he climbed into the driver’s seat. Cain grabbed a hold of Bradley and took him into his arms. He projected himself into the back of the SUV as Christopher jumped into the passenger seat. William floored it as the SUV left a large black streak as it screamed past the church. From an alley way a white Cadillac emerged and followed a distance behind.

  “Well,” William said as he took note of the vehicle. “At least we got that part right.”

  “Bradley does not look well,” Cain said as he gently stroked the man’s head. “Keep calm—push the pain from your mind. Try and think of a time that you were happy…be in that place. Live in that moment, not this one.”

  “That’s how he is killing Perpetuals,” Christopher said as he shook his head and bounced nervously in his seat. “He’s using his weapon…covered in the blood of a Conductor. That’s…shit man. I thought we had him and then we couldn’t even touch him.”

  “Only…Lily’s weapons can kill him,” Bradley attempted to speak as he coughed up blood. “She was right—we shouldn’t have come.”

  “We took out Lola, rather easily…” William said as he attempted to look upon the bright side. “Thought she’d be more of a fight…and we got the info we needed. You’ll sleep it off and be fine in the morning. Plus…we’re being tailed—it looks like Zampa’s car. I think the mission went rather well.”

  “This doesn’t feel well,” Bradley said as he squeezed his hands against his wound. It seared in a way that no injury had every burned before. It felt as though it was ripping him open slowly. He writhed in pain and let out another scream as his wound grew wider.

  “Be still,” Cain said in a whisper. “Be calm.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Bradley said as he coughed up more bright red blood.

  “They’ve been gone for far too long,” Maddie said as she paced back and forth in the entry room. “We don’t even know where they went—how could they be so selfish?”

  “It’s not late,” Mark said as he nodded and placed a hand to Maddie’s shoulder. “It’s early evening—it’s the storm. Makes it seem later than…it really is.”

  “Nothing ever goes right, don’t they know that?” Emily muttered as she sat on a chair at the glass table and rapped her fingertips nervously against the slick surface.

  “Their idea was a sound one,” Lily spoke as she stood in the hallway. “I was wrong to keep it from you—but we needed to draw the Ankou to us as soon as possible.”

  “I’m done arguing with you,” Mark said as he shook his head. “We’ve been over it for the past six hours now—I don’t like what you did. We are a team. We don’t go making decisions on our own. I do not know how much more clearly I could put it.”

  “I understand,” Lily spoke sadly as she nodded. “I have ruined our bond.”

  “I am just…pissed,” Mark said as he looked to Lily. “I understand that you felt it was the right move—but leaving me out of it is unacceptable. Even if they decided it was best that we all remained.”

  “We should have had a choice,” Emily added. “Choices…important things—you know.”

  “If Mark told you our story, then you should have more than known that,” Maddie spoke as she turned to Lily.

  “I made the decision on the spot—I had a plan,” Lily said as she pulled out a map of a nearby state park she found amongst Caesar’s many tourist maps of the area. “Justin said that he took you to a place now known as Matthiessen. In this time—it is a large canyon with a waterfall fed from a large nearby lake. A large manmade bridge sits just above the falls…it is the perfect place to trap him. So when I first overheard their plan…I thought first to tell you all. Then, I realized it would be an opportunity to bring him to us—that the Ankou would agree to meet me on the field of battle at an agreed spot. It is what the creature wants. Once
it has me out of the way, whatever its plan is…it can fulfill it.”

  “And if your plan failed—you just cut our force in half,” Mark added.

  Maddie took the map form Lilly and looked at it for a moment. There was a completely cut off area just past Giant’s Bathtub called Lake Falls. “And if the Ankou does not agree to meet you here?”

  “The Ankou will agree…it feels that it has the upper hand. The creature is only in this time to finish me off,” Lily said as she fell to her knees. “I’m sorry. I really am. I will never go behind your back and make plans without your approval.”

  “Well,” Emily said as she shrugged and left a sour look on her face. “There are an awful lot of ifs in your plans, shit-kitten. If you’re wrong, then that’s all on you.”

  “I understand,” Lily said as she nodded.

  “But we will be the ones paying for it,” Maddie said as she grew more and more impatient.

  “It weighs on my conscious very heavily,” Lily whispered. “Just…my being here—if they can spare us some trouble with their plan…then I hope that it will spare us more trouble later. That I will be less of a burden….”

  “Beating up on her anymore today is not going to do any of us good,” Mark said as he let out a heavy sigh. “We just have to wait.”

  “They’re here,” Lily whispered.

  Maddie threw the large door open just as William carried in Bradley’s body. They had wrapped large cloth tightly around a wound on the left side of his abdomen. Blood rushed out as Bradley screamed in pain as he was set to rest upon Caesar’s couch.

  Cain pulled his hood down as he entered the room. Christopher followed shortly after. Maddie walked up to Cain and slapped him forcibly upon the side of his face. He recoiled for a moment and placed his hand to the spot. Silently, he nodded to Maddie. He knew that he had done wrong.

  “Mark,” William said as he looked to the others as his hands were covered in thick black blood. “Get some whiskey to dull the pain, Emily—can you sew him shut?”

  “I can try,” Emily whispered as she ran off to get her embroidery materials. Mark nodded and left for the kitchen.