“Where are we goin’?” Lara asked as fear crept into her voice.
Michael could hardly understand her over the clatter of rain above them and the echoing roar of the truck. He tipped sideways as the truck revved forward. The steel floor shook. “To that light, I guess, maybe the red one out on the town.” The two braced themselves as the truck turned out of the parking lot.
Lara’s sparked faint blue flicks in the pitch black as she thought about Denver. She knelt down and gripped his arm. He still had a pulse. Her nervousness subsided. “You think that man tryin’ to take us to the army base?” she asked, holding Denver’s hand.
“He knows the base is destroyed.” Michael said, “There’s nowhere we really could go but that light.”
The two heard something knocking on the front of the truck. Lara shuttered. Michael jumped, nearly knocking the box he sat on. The thud came again. It was inside the truck’s body—with them. It came behind the wall of boxes. Knock.
— — —
“Where we headed!” Al asked Harvey.
Harvey titled an unlit cigarette between his fingers and put it to the scruff of his chin, “There’s one thing I gotta see real quick, go left.” Without questing, Al turned the truck towards a dark, flooded farmland. Al popped a tape into the cassette deck, the words ‘GD 6/24/72’ were handwritten one side. A loose guitar solo came through the speakers as they drove past flooded hillsides and forgotten houses.
Al tapped his thumb to the rhythm of a piano, “Where we headed?”
“Back at the army base, I need to check how things are going.”
“The base, Jesus, the things done flooded as shit. I stole a ton of gas before I ran outta there.”
He was right… Harvey thought to himself. “Turn around then. We’re headed straight for that light.”
Al groaned as he spun the truck towards a small side road off East Broadway.
— — —
Michael and Lara felt the truck swing into a corner. Lara fell on Denver. The boxes gathered at the front of the truck slid forward as the semi braked to reverse. A door from the back of the truck. Michael tried to wrap his head around why a door would be there. Orange light poured from the back, giving the roof a reflective glow. Lara squeezed Denver’s hand tighter.
“Fantastic, a dead end,” a woman said.
“No, we can push through,” a second voice said, a voice that Michael recognized perfectly. Jude spoke again. “ight’ look, we shimmy over the side and see where he is.”
“The guys dead in some closet, can we just let him be?” Lilith said.
“Tag along now!” Jude chimed as he made a path through the boxes. Cassiel jumped out of Michael’s body and hovered in in front of them. His shone down the crack Jude crawled through. “Michael, is that you?!” Jude said. He pushed a box out of the way, his long pale purple hand stretched out of the crack. “Michael, thank-god damn it!” Jude’s tone snapped as he saw Cassiel. For a moment, his flat blur of a face peered beyond the boxes, then hid as he saw Cassiel, “What are you doing here?!”
“I am the protector of Michael, and I’d like to ask the same.”
There was another faint collection of whispers before Jude spoke, “I am Jude, wayfarer of the underworld!” He stood proud in front of the angel. “Me and my leader came here to support Michael.”
Cassiel’s glow softened, “This isn’t a war. It’s a mess that we all need to clean. Together.” There was a tense silence in the truck before Cassiel spoke again. “I know this is my mistake.”
“Hell yeah, it is!” Lilith scoffed, “Do you know how many lives were poured into your mistake?”
“I know,” Cassiel waved a glowing arm towards Lara. “Something else I know it that if this woman is tied to the start, then she’s essential to the end. I suggest we don’t banter about this and instead close both gates.”
Jude turned his featureless face towards Lilith then turned to the three in the truck hull. Lara looked frighted and bewildered at the same time. Michael smiled. “Ight,” Jude nodded, “I’m doing this for them. Because they’re what we care about. Our actions will be centered on what’s fair for them. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Good!” Jude slapped his hands together, “By the way, a Elder One appeared and is now roaming the streets.”
“You let an Elder One slip!? How does-” Cassiel was cut short as the truck violently shook, then tipped sideways.
— — —
“I used to kill em things,” Al said, pointing towards a shadow as they passed back towards Walling's.
“You were an exterminator?” Harvey asked.
“Hell yeah!” A grin grew across Al’s face, “Funniest shit I ever did. I’d pop off those things I found along the way. The government gave me this electric gun that zaps the shit outta em’.”
“Why don’t you still do it?”
“Gun broke. Government lost care.” Al paused as he gawked at the sight ahead of them. Steam rose from the center of town, a red light pulsed, outlining the shadows that paraded down the streets. Two or three of the beings ran towards the car but were easily crushed as they slipped under the wheels. “You see that out there?” Al pointed to the pillar of light that rose like a glowing string towards the sky.
“Yup,” Harvey said as he saw winged beings fly out of a hole at the top of the light. They remained silent, in awe of the land spread out before them. The once dead town was now lively with war. A guitar and a piano intertwined with each other as the music from the cassette deck quieted. The rain died down the more they drove towards the light. The semi jostled as pavement worsened.
A low roar echoed through the center of town—an earth tearing wail.
Harvey leaned forward, swearing he saw a glint in the road. Then it all clicked together—the pavement split like broken glass. Al turned the semi away from a wide crack. In between the rifts was a harsh red light.
The street cracked apart.
A chunk of road crumbled up and rose in front of them, making a wavelike movement across the concrete sea. Al tried to swerve the truck, but it was too late. The left side of the semi surfed along the wave of pavement. Sending the truck teetering over. The glowing red splits of pavement made the semis side reflect a rippling red glow.
Harvey grabbed a handle above the door as he watched the pavement rush towards his window.
Track Mix down
Ever last pt.2
Cassiel shielded the group as the semi tumbled onto the ground. Lara heard a gruesome snap between the ruffle of feathers. Someone’s bone broke in the fall. The body of the semi-truck slid a dozen feet before finally stopping.
There was a juxtaposition of calm as the truck came to a rest. Lara could hear the ground popping and splitting apart behind the truck’s wall. Cassiel’s wings emitted a dim glow on Michael and Denver. They were unscathed. She looked towards the front of the truck. Jude’s pastel purple hand stuck out of a pile of boxes like a flower blooming out of the ground. The fingers twitched. Lilith picked herself up and tossed the boxes off him. Jude crawled out. His wrist was bent in an impossible angle, making his arms look even more stick-like.
“Are you alright?” Michael asked.
“It’s fine, really,” Jude said. “Just a side effect of coming on to your world.” He gritted his teeth as he snapped his arm back into place.
Cassiel wrapped Denver in his wings and stood up. Humid air flushed thought the trailer, as Michael opened the back door. Red cracks sprayed across the ground. Far down East Broadway was a red light encased in fog. Michael squinted to make out what was in the center of the glow—some form shook within.
Michael crept on the cracked pavement, lightly tapping his foot as if he were testing the temperature of a hot tub. The ground was solid. Split, and a little shaky but solid.
Lilith looked at Cassiel before stepping out of the truck’s chamber, “I hope to hell that this is the last time we work together.”
Cassiel nodded
, “Amen to that.”
Harvey stood with Al on top of the semi’s beached body, “Michael, when did those things get in there?!”
Michael looked up at Harvey and shrugged. A thunderous roar echoed from the light.
The noise surrounded Lara as if she were standing right next to it. She could feel the reverberations within her body. It was calling her. The rain slurred to a fine mist. Lara walked forward, Cassiel, Lilith, Jude, Al, Harvey, and Michael, trailed behind. Cassiel held Denver’s body in his arms like a sleeping child.
Cassiel tried to telepathically relay the message of peace. The angels nearby would stop, then circle in the sky around the group. The angels who did not take the message swooped down like hawks towards the shadows in the street, piercing through their bodies with blades of light, shattering them into an ink black spray. One angel and a shadow fought it out on the newspaper building’s rooftop. The shadow won.
Lilith tried to signal away the dead; but they wouldn't listen, and the ones who listened hardly followed, instead they walked ahead towards the red-white light.
Al nudged Harvey, “I’m surprised it didn’t blow up.”
Harvey turned with confused concern, “What?”
“My truck, with all that gas I stole in the back. Ya know how much money I saved by takin’ what’s around?” Harvey looked back at the semi, expecting it to snap at any second. The semi lay like roadkill, 5 of the 10 wheels limped. Its silver chamber glinted the red ball of light in front of them.
They were one-fourth of the way there, the white string of light on their right and the hole Michael fell down on their left. Lara felt a numbing fear as she saw the parade of shadows behind them. Their glowing eyes bobbed as they walked. The object in the ball of light form rippled like a flag in the wind. The Beaumont lodge came into view on their left, its top corner on fire. Flames flicked and danced out of a couple broken front windows.
Sparks ran up Lara’s arms as she stepped closer towards the being. The cracks in the ground worsened. The terrain grew warped around them. Whatever was in the ball of light spoke to Lara, at least tried to, its voice lulled as a constant whisper.
Around three-fourths of the way, Lara heard it loud and clear, “This was for you… my present for you.”
Lara jumped at its soft voice. She turned around to see if anyone else heard it. No one seemed to notice. Michael cocked his head. “I heard it,” She told him. “Whatever is inside that light is talkin’ to me.”
“What did it say?” Jude asked.
“It’s sayin’ this was for me, this light is a gift for me.”
“It was a gift for you.” The body in the light seemed to take its final shape, a mammoth, human-like form. “You let it go to waste.” Michael and Lara could see its contour. Cassiel and Lilith recognized it perfectly.
“Stand back!” Cassiel commanded. The group stumbled to a stop. The loose Shadows walked towards the light and gave structure to the Elder One. They could see bits of arms and glowing eyes pasted across its body. A smiling mask popped out of the smoke. The masks grinning mouth spewed bone-white smog across the ground. Its head swayed like a tree caught in a breeze. Lilith tried to call the beings around the Elder One back. They kept on walking, fading into the fog. It lowered its enormous head and knelt before them.
“You tossed me in!” the Elder One said, its voice reaching the entire group. “That sacrifice was for you.” Lara recognized the voice, “They told me, the ones below… I knew about you… They spoke of your misfortune… They spoke of the future… They promised that if I had your body sacrificed, we could resurrect you. I always knew you had to die.” Lara’s heart sank as she realized who they were standing in front of. She turned to Michael and could tell from his face that he knew too. It was Lucy’s voice bellowing from the gigantic being, “I wanted you to live on in a new form. To keep your legacy in the infinite life of the Elder Ones.” Lara stepped forward and stared at the hollow eyes of its glossy white mask. The wind spun the fog around her feet. “Give up while you can. This town is going nowhere, and the people inside will die. This is beyond heaven and hell—we’re in the nowhere now.”
Lara trembled closer towards the mountainous being, “You’re right Lucy.”
“I’m Right?”
Michael snapped at Lara, “Lara, you can’t give up, not now!”
Lara turned towards him, “No, no. She has a point.” She pointed towards Lilith, “You, uh, black wings. Close the gate to the heavens. And Cassiel, you close the hole to hell.”
Harvey saw through her act. “Understood,” he said, giving Lara a brief salute. “Cassiel before you Head out, can you fly me, Michael, Al and that man you got back to Walling’s. We’ll take my car down to the hospital.”
“Lara what, why-” Michael tried to piece his thoughts together. She hugged him. Then he understood.
“She’s right. I’m lettin’ them wrap this world up before it breaks apart.” The group dispersed, leaving Lara with the Elder One.
Jude waved towards Michael as he split off, “Hope to see ya around… or not, depending on what you believe.”
“Thanks,” Michael said with a pained smile. An odd out of body feeling swept him as he watched her. He knew this might be the last time he would see her, that this image would echo through his mind for years on end.
Denver slumped in the back seat as Cassiel lowered him in to Harveys BMW. Michael kept his eyes on the rain streaming down the front window. He was confused as to why Al didn’t ride with them. He whispered something to Cassiel before they left. Cassiel nodded and flew off. Michael wondered why Al couldn’t tell him to flip the semi back on its wheel and drive away.
Al leaned on the door and surveyed the surrounding street, “I’m quitin’ my job, I’ll hide out figure out things from there.”
“You sure?” Harvey asked.
“What am I gonna drive?” Al motioned towards the semi-truck. The once magnificent silver chamber now lopsided and dented on one side like a forgotten can of food. Two of its tires sagged on their rods “You all take care,” Al flashed a peace sign and bounded towards an abandoned office building.
Harvey drove on. The road rose, then waned. Michael wondered if Cassiel would leave without saying goodbye. He didn't doubt it. Less than a minute into their drive, a booming thud echoed behind them. Michael turned around to look but only saw an orange flicker and black smoke rise as they descended further downhill.
Lara’s face was lit a bright pale as she stood in front of the ball of light. The air smelt like ash and hot tar. Her body shook for a second as Cassiel entered her.
Cassiel managed to take a small space in her mind, “Lara, you need to run to a safe space, we are landing our last blow.”
What are you all doing? She thought back.
“Just go!” Cassiel slipped out of her body and faded into the smoke. Lara bounded back down the cracked street, smoke whisked in the air as she picked up her feet. The Elder One slithered out of the light, its arms and legs kept hidden in the perpetual fog. Her head swiveled back and forth as she searched for a secure place to hide. City hall came into view on her left. She stopped ruining and squinted down the road. It looked as though the semi was hurtling down the road. Then it jumped. No, not jumped, it flew over the pavement, its metallic shine glinted in the glass of forgotten buildings. Cassiel gripped the semi, then heaved it like a javelin towards the mountainous being.
Lara bounded up the city hall stairs, her head constantly checking back as the semi drove through the air.
The Elder One had only a second to scamper back—but it was no use.
The front of the truck smacked against its chest with an echoing thwack. Its arms shot forward as it flew back in a flash of smoke and light.
Lara grasped the front door. It was locked. She banged on the front window. A deafening clap reverberated behind her. Brilliant orange light bloomed as she shook the front doorknob. A hush of heat blew on the backside of her arms. The semi had burst into flames
. Lara hopped off the stairs and searched of side entrance. She walked through the herd of trees along the building’s side. The path would have been pitch black if not for the orange sun of flames.
Lara found a pair of metal doors to the side. The knob was kicked in. The doors led to a staircase to the city hall’s basement. A dim orange light lit thought the windows lining the ceiling. Boxes and assorted items formed a maze within the room.
A new tinge of fear settled into her; why was the doorknob knocked off? Lara tried to let it go. However, as she slid between a crevice of ceiling-high newspaper boxes and reflective road signs, it returned. Someone, or something, had to come in, or had franticly broken out.
Along a path nearby a window, she saw droplets of blood. Lara couldn’t tell if they were crimson or black in the orange light. The same blood trail went up the side of a box. All she had to defend herself against this unknown entity was as a scrawny 3-inch blade still stained black. She slid the knife out and compared it with the color of the blood drops along the ground. It wasn't a shadow.
Lara hid behind a filing cabinet as she heard a faint whisper in front of her. The whisper continued. She contemplated on greeting them. I could just teleport away if they try to attack me. Why didn’t I think of that before, I could just flick to place where the basement was clean and well lit. The whispering grew louder. Someone was in pain.
“Hello?” Lara called.
“Who’s there?” A masculine voice called back.
“I was just tryin’ to find a secure place upstairs,” Lara lurked towards the voice. There were two people huddled under the diminishing light outside the window.
Out There: A Rural Horror Story Page 31
