CHAPTER 8- One with Fire
The fire trucks poured water onto the flaming car. They were putting it out as fast as they could. They knew there was no hop of anyone surviving that. When it was out, the sun was almost setting. A firefighter reached in and pulled out a man. Shockingly the man was not blackened and burned. You could still make out all his facial features and his hair was still in tact. He was Japanese the firefighter reported. Probably about 27. To the shock of the firefighter, the man woke up and coughed. The firefighter did nothing at first. He just froze there in shock. He was absolutely sure he saw thick flames in the front seat. He was sure nothing could have survived that fire. The man got up by himself and stumbled a few steps. A couple of firefighters had to hold him back so he wouldn't run away. But the man was not being cooperative.
"H-h-have to get to A-laska. Vision. Vivid. Need-to-get-to-ice-m-man. He need-s m-my help," the man gasped as he ran away from the firefighters. The firefighters grabbed him and tried to drag him to an ambulance. But the man wouldn't let them. He was determined to save the iceman. "Save the ice man and the key's path will become known. I can see it. I know it," the man said. He kept getting pulled back every step he took, and this was slowing down his mission too much. So with a little effort he lit himself on fire below the neck. All the firefighters' hands shot back just as quickly as they'd touched him. They gasped in shock and one of them ran to get an extinguisher. Before he could hose him down, the man took off as fast as he could. He ran until he was safely away from the firefighters and civilians, and then he flamed off. He wanted to rest, but he had to rescue the iceman. So he waved down a taxi after he found some ratty clothes in the alley, and told the man he needed to get to the airport now. Off they went, The Flamethrower was on his first mission. The quest to save the world was on.
CHAPTER 9- Mothers
“What is your problem? Scott? You best friend since the second grade. You just walk up to him, smack him, and make him bleed? Why on earth would you go and do something like that? You’re too good of a boy to do that. You’re too smart to put someone in a hospital. Too caring. What did he do that called for that kind of action? Tell me Seth! I need to know! NOW,” Seth’s mother yelled at the kitchen table to Seth who hadn’t said a word since the incident. “Stop ignoring me Seth! Tell me now! Right this instant!” Seth looked down without saying a thing. “THAT IS IT! Go to your room and don’t bother coming out until you are ready to explain what you did,” his mother ordered. Seth grabbed his backpack and went to his room without a word of any kind. During the whole time his mom was yelling, he heard her say other things too. Things he didn’t think she had said. Private things. And poor little Seth was scared. Because all day he had heard things that he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to hear. He didn’t know what was going on, but he did not like it.
A woman continues to weep over a grave. It’s the grave of George Blocka. Her son. Her 32 year old son. Her son who hadn’t had a date in 5 years. Her son who lived alone in a little house on Brain street. The funeral was held over two hours ago. It was a short service. Nobody knew a lot to say about George. He always kept to himself. He died of a nasty fever. The doctors figured he was already in another world when he died. He probably hallucinated all night long and was sicker than he’d ever been in his life. Neighbors thought he was having an argument with his girlfriend, he was shouting so loud. They didn’t know George at all. They didn’t know he was a hopeless romantic without any friends. But his mother did. And now here she was. Crying over her son’s grave. Crying over her little boy. The fever boy.
Somewhere a phone rang. No one was there to answer it. But the answering machine picked up the message. It was a lady in her 60’s. “Alice? How ya holding up? I was just calling to tell you, I’d like it of you could take some time off from your ranch down in Texas and come visit me again soon. It’s lonely here in Chicago. Yeah I know how ridiculous it sounds. 6 Million people in one old city and none of them have any interesting to say. Well give me a call when ya get this sweetheart. I love you Alice.” Click. And Alice’s lonely little house is really lonely tonight. Dinner should be sitting piping hot on the table right now. But instead Alice is in danger. She’s in danger over 10 miles away from her home.
CHAPTER 10- Alice and the Hawk
Alice ducked to the left just as the hawk’s talons swooped down low for the kill. The hawk quickly turned around and made a second attempt. Alice ducked to the left again, this time just barely missing by an inch. She stopped long enough to wonder why this hawk had gone so feral. What was causing it this great blood lust? A clap of thunder was heard in the distance and the hawk let out a fierce battle squawk as it came charging at her chest this time. Alice rolled to the right, dodging in plenty of time. She knew she couldn’t keep this up forever though. She looked around for a moment and saw a black robbed and hooded man standing maybe 10 feet away from her and the hawk. He was just standing there watching. His eyes or face were not visible. He looked menancing standing there. He looked evil.
The hawk came up behind Alice but she ran forward making the hawk miss in another of it’s swoops. She ran quickly and tackled the black hooded man to the sand. She saw hints of his eyes. They were red. He pushed her off of him and stood up. He motioned for the hawk to swoop at her again, and so the hawk did. Alice rolled frantically to the left, but not enough as the hawk snagged her leg a little. She yelled out in pain, as blood trickled into her pants and down her leg. The man motioned for another attack. This time when the hawk got close to Alice she kicked it in the body. It fell and then took flight again. The man yelled “ATTACK,” and the hawk came down at Alice yet again. This time she kicked it again, and that seemed to scare it off as it flew into the distance as another thunder clap was heard. Alice got up and ran from the man before he could make a move on her. The man put out his hand in a stop signal and she stopped. She tried to run but found she was helpless. That man had some kind of strange power over her, she knew. And not like regular male power. This was somehow more threatening. This man was more evil. He slowly walked over to her and said, “You have great powers, but you refuse to honor the source. You refuse to give thanks to Satan.”
“Are you crazy?” Alice managed to ask as she fought for control of herself again. She still could not move and she was getting more and more certain this man was going to murder her here. “Give thanks to Satan” the man said as he raised his hands. As he raised his hands thunder boomed and rain started pouring down in buckets. Alice’s sticky hot hair, stuck to her neck and forehead from the wetness. The robed man put his hand on her neck and pulled out a knife. “You are not one of the “Plankies”. You must die. You have light inside of you. Godly light. You must be prepared as a sacrifice to Satan. You are lucky. You will dine with the great one tonight,” the strange man said as he raised the knife.
Suddenly thunder boomed louder and Alice moved her legs. She zipped through the desert faster than she had come the first time. She headed for home. She did not know how she knew, but she knew she was in the right direction. She could feel it as she ran through the pouring rain. She turned her head back slightly but she could not see much. And she certainly couldn’t tell if that man was still there, waiting to kill her. She wasn’t about to find out either. Right now the only thing on her mind was getting home, fetching her money, and getting a plane to Chicago. Her mother and her could figure out what was going on together. Neither one was very smart alone, but when they put their minds together there was nothing they couldn’t accomplish. Something her mother was very fond of saying.
She reached her ranch in record time, and quickly ran around back to the old well. It would not be easy to get the money in this pouring rain, but Alice had already decided she would not stay here another night. She went in the well and came back with a wad of dry cash. She ran inside and locked the doors. She quickly went upstairs and packed. When she was finished she played her mother’s warm message. She could not agree more with her mother. She needed to get to Chicago. The thunder boomed louder outside. She dragged her money and luggage out to her old pick up truck and drove off, never once looking back. If she had maybe she would have seen the black clothed man waiting for her upstairs in her bedroom.
CHAPTER 11- Mind Kid runs away
Poor Seth was upstairs locked in his room, crying on his bed. He could hear all the nasty things his mother was saying about him downstairs. He could read her thoughts. And he could not control this. He could not choose not to see what she was saying. He was so helpless. He was only seventeen. He was a freak at 17. And when his dad got home he’d be in even deeper shit. He knew what he had to do. He had to get out of this house. He needed help. He was going crazy and his parents would never understand. He packed some clothes and his i-pod and he quietly sneaked out the front door. It wasn’t too bad out. They lived in the outskirts of St. Louis and it wasn’t cold in May. Seth ran down the street. He needed to get into town. There he could find a bus. He wanted to get into the city. There he could find a bench to sleep on.
He found the bus stop downtown and waited patiently there. Some old lady was waiting by him. He read her thoughts without even knowing him. He saw her whole depressing life flash before his eyes and he felt like crying. After waiting 20 minutes the old lady left. She was tired and e read her mind. She needed her pills and couldn’t wait any longer. Seth sat there another 3 hours. No bus ever came and now it was getting pitch black out. And chilly. It was getting chilly out. He was starting to get hungry too. Seth started to think this wasn’t such a great idea after all. As he started walking away two hooded black kids stepped out of the bushes and grabbed him. Seth screamed when he read their minds. He saw blood. Organs. Intestines. A whole shed of dead bodies. A tool shed in the backyard of JPS.He saw at least 20 kids dressed in black there slaughtering animals. Even small children. Seth threw up as the two dragged him towards JPS’s house. He was going to participate in the rituals tonight. JPS demanded it.
CHAPTER 12- Nightmares
Mark Greenkong made it home all right. He collapsed on his sofa. He’d most narrowly escaped one of the biggest lunatics he knew. He’d gone to school with Dathos and he witnessed him change first hand. He used to be a regular kid with regular hobbies. But then he claimed to develop abilities that rivaled God himself. And he said it was because of his new found faith in Satan. He started listening to dark music and starting writing black poems about death and sacrifices. Mark thought it was just a gothic phase. But then one day Darthos told Mark in confidence about how Satan allowed him to rape a girl they went to school with. He told him how much fun it was. Mark started to understand how insane Darthos really was. And although he’d never saw Darthos exhibit any powers he never doubted that possibility. And then after all thsese years he thought he’d lost Darthos. And just when he is in a state of depression and he’s discovered he can fly, Darthos comes back and tries to get him to worship with him.
Mark closes his eyes and drifts off to the dream world. Only he’s not having a dream. It’s a nightmare. A Familiar one that will haunt him for the rest of his life. He thinks back to 13 years ago. On the night when they had commited that horrible satanic ritual together. He’ll never stop remembering it. His screams echo back through the night. What he sees recounted before his eyes horrifies him all over again. These nightmares were bad. They were bad because what he saw did happen. He wakes up in a cold sweat and the thought of suicide comes and then quickly goes. He grabs a bottle of water and then goes to bed hoping Darthos does not discover where he lives. And he tries not to dwell upon that awful night so long ago. Tries to wipe the evil memory.
CHAPTER 13- Destinies on planes
The human flamethrower sits back in his first class seat. Paul waves down a flight attendant and asks for a drink. She gladly gets him one. He sits back and thinks about what he has to do. He has to get to a small town in Alaska called “Junepear”. There he has to unfreeze a guy. Some dude named Jake Snuka. This is his destiny. It’s one of the keys to unlocking the path to the person that can save them all. Save the world. He wonders for a moment if this is what it feels like to be a hero. Then he closes his eyes and prepares for a long flight. A flight to his destiny.
Alice is also on a plane. This plane is heading for Chicago. She doesn’t know it, but she too is heading for her destiny. It is a destiny she may not be prepared for, but one she will come out a much stronger woman. She’s going to see her mother. But in the end the trip will hold much more meaning than that.
On yet another plane a bald man looks out a window. Without anyone noticing the man changes into a gorilla. Then to a lady that looks like Jennifer Aniston. Then back to the bald man. Whatever this is, it smiles. It loves using it’s powers.
On another flight there is a whole group of 35 men on board. They are all wearing black robes and hoods. The flight attendants are under the impression they are all members of an exclusive church. What church they have no idea. There has been a lot of turbulence on this flight. And this was unexpected by the pilot. They didn’t expect to run into all of these strange thunderstorms. These men are on their way to something big. A big meeting in New Mexico. A meeting that will be the basis for a war. A war on the world. This war is the signaling of the second coming of their lord, Satan. The world is coming to an end. It will be re done be Satan. One black hooded man in back says two words and all the others nod in agreement. The words spoken were “Praise Satan!”
TO BE CONTINUED…