Anointed

by Sara B Gauldin

  Azalea reached up to take the wrench from her hands, but could not support its weight.

  “She came anyway!” Korin pointed at the screen from the walkway of the second section of seats.

  “You knew she would,” Azalea pointed out.

  “I did. That girl has a talent for self-destruction,”

  “Yet she continues on,” Azalea observed.

  “How do you know her?” Xavier pointed at one of the monitors hanging in the walkway. Terra struggled against something unseen. Brendan, who looked like Liam, was at her side. The football team was at their feet, and occasionally some of them would begin to writhe as though something was pushing an electric current through them.

  “I never said she wasn’t stubborn!” Korin agreed. She pushed Azalea’s wheelchair out of the pathway and onto the ramp leading to the main stadium.

  “They're going to kill your friend, Korin. Look at all of them.” Xavier pointed to the field as they passed the next monitor.

  Korin paused, slightly out of breath from pushing the chair. “We had better head down there. Terra needs our help.”

  Azalea nodded. “Do what you feel you need to.”

  “All right, we have a ways to go to get down there with no steps.” Korin pushed the chair faster down the ramp, praying that she would be able to get them all the way onto the field safely without attracting more scourge. She had already had to spray more than she could count with a bottle she kept in a bag hanging on the back of the chair.

  “I expect the sprinkler system to trigger their flush cycle any time now. Are you ready for this?”

  “I guess this is it, my chance to change things.” Korin agreed.

  A hissing sound from above announced the fruition of Azalea’s plan. Water, sour from years of waiting in pipes coughed through the lines that once held them, prisoner.

  “Eww, this is nasty water!” Xavier said.

  “Who knows how long it has been in there. It will run through pretty quick and that little of extra formula will be right behind it,” Azalea said.

  “I am really amazed at your knowledge of plumbing,” Korin panted as she rounded the next loop of the ramp, moving toward the field.

  Azalea pulled out a tiny umbrella and put it up over her head. “Years of living with a plumber, he was a good man, my Earl, but he never did believe in what I could do. It was a good thing I believed in his talents. It kept the bills paid!”

  Korin tried to take a deep breath to answer, but before she could, the sound of commotion in the stadium changed. The sounds of terror became a fever pitch. The sounds of the struggle were strangely muted.

  “Something’s happening!” Xavier said. The water from the sprinkler dripped down his face as his short legs ran to keep pace with Korin.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Terra heard the change in the crowd. She tried to look around her despite the constant attacks. Everywhere she looked entities were writhing as they dissolved into nothing in the stands. The sprinklers gave off a steady stream of water throughout the stadium, but the area on the field was not affected. “It’s destroying them all, even the regular people who were being attacked!” she shouted to Brendan over the noise.

  “How can we stop it?” Brendan asked. His voice came between pants as he struggled for his life.

  “I don’t know!” Terra gasped out, as she glanced around for options. Instead, her view was blocked by writhing shadows that had been clear of the toxic spray. As they tried to escape the liquid, they rushed toward Terra and Brendan hoping to secure a human body to save themselves.

  “There are still too many of them!” Brendan said.

  Terra didn’t bother to reply. It was all she could do to eliminate one Scourge at a time while the others attempted to rip her soul from her body.

  Should I let them have this body? I can defend myself better without it. But the formula is everywhere. I would be trapped here! She closed her eyes and focused on breaching the memories of the scourge she managed to grab by the wrist. As she searched for the one spark of original purpose within the corruption, the things suddenly shuddered and dissolved in her grip. “What in the world?”

  “Couldn’t stay away, could you?” Korin answered from behind Terra.

  Terra turned to see her old friend, looking uncomfortable in her aging body, holding a child’s purple squirt gun at the ready.

  “Korin!”

  “I knew you would come,” Korin said. She sprayed a few more entities that dared to come within range. “It feels strange, me stopping the Scourge from attacking you.”

  As she was speaking, Don from the football team came running toward Terra, waving his arms to get her attention. Korin saw Don at the same moment. She took aim.

  “No!” Terra dived to block the liquid from the innocent soul. The spray was mostly blocked, soaking her blouse, but a small amount still reached its target. As Terra and Korin watched Don dissolved into nothing. The scourge that had stolen his body sat up on the field laughing at the sight.

  “He wasn’t a Scourge. Look around, half of these entities are innocent people, just like you. They were attached and pulled from their bodies, and now they are being destroyed while many of the things that attacked them are sheltered within the bodies they stole!”

  Brendan went to Don’s stolen body and removed the Scourge. As its energy particles scattered on the ground, Don’s lifeless body lay limp on the ground.

  “He’s really dead, Terra,” Korin said.

  “No, it’s worse than that. He no longer exists. If what Azalea said is true about your formula, none of these people are returning to the Tweens to complete their journey. They are just gone.”

  Brendan bent down and helped Terra, somewhat unsteadily to her feet. “There are no winners today. Many Scourges were destroyed, but how many innocent ones went with them?”

  Korin looked at Azalea, holding her umbrella over her grandson at the edge of the field. “I didn’t realize... Did she know?”

  “I don’t know,” Terra said. “Right now, I have a whole stadium full of people to sort out to make sure no family has a Scourge instead of a family member.”

  “We will work together. I can feel the loss; there is too much silence here.” Brendan said.

  “This could be a long night. We need Christopher and the others here.” Terra said.

  “Wait, you mean the other guides? They are all outside the stadium. Korin said.

  “You mean Elise? Brendan asked.

  “No, there are at least one-hundred guides, maybe more,” Korin said. “I thought you knew.”

  “Get Azalea to shut off the sprinklers, we will go find out!” Brendan said.

  Korin stood stunned as she looked at the place where the football player stood a moment before with an expression of sheer panic. “That could have been me. I was attacked, and I could have been destroyed, just like that man.”

  “Yes, I… I tried to tell you. This isn’t the way.” Terra said. She managed to stand unsteadily and pushed her disheveled hair back away from her face. “Go, turn off the water while I try to sort this out.”

  Korin nodded. Her face was noticeably more pale than it had been. “I will.” She turned and jogged with a stiff and stilted pace toward Azalea.

  Chapter 45

  Terra turned to Brendan. “We need to let the others in when the water is shut off. They'll have to be very cautious. I wish they could wear some kind of suit to keep them safe.”

  Brendan looked around the stadium for some sort of solution. The sorrow for the surrounding loss was etched on his face. “I don’t know. All I see is a few stragglers and too many dead and stolen bodies. It's terrible; I never imagined things would get to this point.”

  “Neither did I,” Terra said. “What was it you said about the bodies?”

  “That many of them are dead or stolen.”

  “That’s genius, Brendan,” Terra rushed toward the football team. Many of them lay in a heap. Some were attempting to crawl away disorien
ted from the body switch. Terra grabbed the closest one that was still living. The huge man’s hands gripped her shoulders as she neared him. Rather than struggle, Terra let his grip be the link she needed to reach his thoughts. “Perfect, this one would make an excellent choice!” Terra gave a wry smile.

  “Choice for what?” Brendan asked. He looked at Terra like she had three heads. Terra propelled the football player away from her as she explained. “The man who had this body is no longer here. I don’t know where he is, or even if he made it when the formula fell. But I'm sure that whatever befell him, he would have gladly loaned a guide his body to come in and try to sort some of this out.”

  “You can’t be serious, Terra. You want to drag Scourge out of the stadium so that guides can have the body they stole.”

  “It would just be a loan. It’s exactly what you’re doing right now.”

  “You have a point, but how do we get them to the entrance?’ Brendan asked.

  Terra looked around for options. On the sidelines, she spotted a golf cart. “Look, we can take them out in that cart.” She pointed.

  Brendan shook his head. “Do you think they will just hop on board?”

  “A lot of them are really disoriented. I think if we tell them that Orthos commands them to go, some of them will just go.

  “I guess it’s worth a try.” Brendan headed toward the cart hovering an inch or so above the ground to compensate for the broken leg.

  Terra turned to the football player nearest her. He was trying to sit up and looked more drunk than damaged. “Let’s see if you are who you’re supposed to be,” she said, more to herself than to the hulking athlete at her feet. She bent down and connected with his thoughts with a light touch to his exposed arm. The swirl of corruption and malice assaulted her senses with an intensity that did not match the average Scourge. Terra battled through the images of hate and depravity that came at her like so many nightmares of the psychotic mind. The fragment of purpose was well hidden. As she searched a singular memory caught her attention.

  The scourge creature was holding a hooded figure to one side. Another creature held the man’s other arm as they dug their deformed claws into him.

  The man called out as he thrashed, trying to free himself: “You won’t get away with this. I’ll destroy you myself! You won’t need to wait for Terra. You should hope I destroy you before she gets here. I think you will find me more merciful than her!”

  “Liam, what did you do to him, you monster!” Terra spoke aloud. She tightened her grip on the thing as squirmed against her intrusion into its memory.

  “Shut up, you're our prisoner now!” the Scourge laughed at Liam. “This one’s got an attitude. I bet we can fix that!”

  “Liam!” Terra recognized Carol’s voice. She watched helplessly as the Scourge and his partner savagely beat Liam...

  “No!” Carol screamed. “Leave him alone, let him go! Take me instead. Please let him go!”

  “I’ll destroy you!” Terra spoke through clenched teeth.

  The memory continued: “Well, this is interesting!” the smaller henchman said.

  “Mo… Umm Carol?” Liam asked.

  “It’s me; I'm right here!” Carol tried to scoot toward the sound of Liam’s voice but only succeeded in writhing on the floor where she lay.

  “How did you?" Liam started to ask.

  “Enough of that,” the larger henchman bellowed. “We need to take this one directly to the Master. Leave her here; she’s not going anywhere!” The scourge laughed with unveiled contempt.

  “I’ll be back, don’t worry. Terra will find us!” Liam said.

  Terra looked around the room desperately for clues as the thing’s memory began to fade from her grip. In one fleeting moment, Terra spotted it: on the side of a crate, she read I.P.S, followed by an address. The memory went black a moment later.

  “You were there!” Terra screamed, pulling the massive football player’s body to its feet. She held him nose to nose, as she dangled him from the ground.

  “Yeah, and where were you?” he smirked.

  Terra ripped the Scourge from the man’s body and reduced it to particles in a matter of seconds.

  Brendan drove the cart next to Terra as she dropped the now-empty body at her feet. “Whoa, I thought we were trying to get them to the exit with the body still alive?”

  “Yeah, not that one. We have to hurry and load up some of these Scourges while they are still stunned and get out of here!”

  “I thought we were staying to set things right?” Brendan asked as he dragged a mumbling coach to the cart.

  “We're going to get the guides in, but then we have to go. I know how to find Liam, and if I’m right, we will find Orthos as well!”

  Chapter 46

  The neighborhood was unusually quiet. The houses were small and quaint but squeezed close together as the urban sprawl had outpaced the incomes of the residents. The neighborhood had never seen the type of visitor now walking the streets, silent and invisible to the residents.

  Bartus’ long, exaggerated steps were confident and direct. He had walked this street many times before. Collecting Korin had seemed like a simple enough task until he realized that even without Terra, she was well protected by the old woman who was staying in the house and by a gathering of spirits that had been taken from their bodies but somehow resisted the allure of the scourge. His plan to collect Korin to bribe his brother had led him, quite accidentally to a discovery that was much more interesting: Azalea’s formula. Already he had witnessed her using it to disintegrate a scourge entity. He was sure she was using it now at the ball field where his brother hoped to destroy Terra and her little following.

  Bartus made no attempt at concealing his presence. The mortal eyes could not perceive him unless he chose to show himself. And the grandmother was not home. He could be sure of this. His brother has sent the legion of his converts to battle on his behalf. And the old woman went willingly to answer his call, taking on an entire stadium of the Scourge with no hesitation.

  Fools, they all rush to face each other head-on, but who is left to take care of their homes, and their lives. Bartus grinned to himself, baring teeth that were stretched wider than his elongated face would seem to fit. He did not waste time concealing his progress toward the familiar house. He had been watching the place for some time. Today he could be sure that the guards who normally patrolled the area were busy with his fool brother’s show at the stadium downtown. Whatever the result of that clash, it would take some time to clean up the damage. The old woman was gone for the day, taking her sensitive grandson with her.

  That much is a shame. That kid has potential, and he is young enough to be guided toward other pursuits. He would make a powerful addition to my collection.

  Bartus strode by a few boys playing basketball on a small paved driveway near the street. Intrigued, he walked toward the children. When he realized Xavier was not among them, he shook his head in disappointment.

  “Is it getting cold out here?” one of the kids asked.

  “Nah, it’s hot. You’re nuts,” another taunted. The playful response led to an immediate intense round of one on one between the two boys. Bartus continued to the house next door.

  The small home was built in exactly the same cookie-cutter style as every other house on the block, but Bartus was drawn to it as though it were a shining beacon on a hill. Xavier had never been the object of his hunt. Instead, he desired something much more valuable to Orthos: Azalea’s formula. Bartus was aware of the carnage it could cause. That kind of ability would lend whoever possessed its power to manipulate the existence of others. If Terra’s guides and friends could destroy an entity, then he should also be able to.

  The door was no obstacle to Bartus. He slipped through it without a sound. The TV blared as some infomercial pushed its case for buying the latest cleaning product. Xavier’s momma lay upon the couch, oblivious to the channel or the visitor. She had arrived home from a double shift, picked up
her daughter from the babysitter, and fell asleep waiting up for her missing mother and son. They had left a note that they had gotten tickets to the big game, and that was enough to satisfy her.

  Bartus leaned over the sleeping woman. “Don’t mind me, I’ll just help myself.” He stood up to his full stretched height. His head stooped to avoid the ceiling. He walked through the doorway to the kitchen and began searching for the formula. It did not take him long to find what he came for. Above the stove, Bartus found two Mason jars. The liquid within them was clear until he held it to the light. Then an oily sheen of color actively swirled through the formula.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” he mumbled as he carefully tucked both jars into pockets within his long cloak. As each item was tucked in, the imprint of the jar’s shape melted away into the folds of the fabric. He quickly searched for more formula but finding none, he retraced his path through the living room, ducking under the doorway out of habit. “Thanks again, perhaps I can drop by another day for a visit with Xavier,” he said to Xavier’s momma as he made his retreat.

  She did not respond as she slept.

  What will Orthos be willing to give for this? Oh, I bet there is nothing I could not take from him for this piece of satisfaction. It should be interesting to see how he uses the formula.

  Chapter 47

  I.P.S was not hard to find. The address and Terra's phone took them directly to the site. It looked open and exposed to Terra after years of hunting for the originator. Elise and instantly agreed to go with Terra and Brendan. Many other guides had offered to follow, but Terra had asked them to try to set right what had happened at the stadium and then to clean up the influx of Scourge invading every community.

  The three guides entered the abandoned factory through a broken window. They moved along the darkened corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly through the moldering building.

  Terra turned as a click announced the door opening. She braced herself for an attack; nothing she had encountered in the retired, industrial maze had been friendly. Her breathing sounded too loud in the space. Her heart drummed in her head. She cast a glance in Elise’s direction; she was fully focused on the door. It opened with a creak befitting a horror movie.