Divine Punishment - 12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

When one imagines a “beast”, more often than not, fur, claws and large teeth spring to mind. But that’s only because we tend to overlook the animalistic part of human nature. We ARE animals. Evolved animals, but beasts at heart. Yes, I knew it as soon as the door burst open. The beast was a man. Quite a few men, actually. Though, to be fair, applying that term might be overstating facts a bit. Sullied souls, rotten to the core, resurrected and driven by an insatiable hunger and an uncompromising will that is not their own. Puppets of a twisted toy maker. The Necromancer, Azarian.

I looked around me. In layman’s terms, we were shit out of luck. Only one entry point into the room and we’d be overwhelmed fast, unless I did something and quick. “Take cover. It’s about to get REAL hot in here.” And as the first, well…zombie, entered the room, sporting a shredded early-30’s suit(damn good tailoring) and, I kid you not, a fedora, I summoned fire. A wall of it right in the doorway. “That should stop ‘em.” I said. Of course I couldn’t be more wrong. The thing just kept going, walking right through the flames, even as its clothes caught fire and dried-up flesh started flaking away. Four of his buddies were right behind him.

“They don’t feel pain, Xander. People are afraid of fire because it burns. That thing’s mainly bones and even if it were freshly dead…” He shook his head. “On these things, it has no effect.”

“But THEY’re on fucking fire! I mean…come on!”

“By the time the flames consume what’s left of them, we’ll be dead”.

It only took two seconds for this exchange between me and Terry, but it seemed like two seconds too long, as the Necromancer’s marionettes advanced on us. I needed to get out of there. The quarters were too close for comfort when it comes to a battle. I turned and hurled a mini-vortex at the window, shattering it. “Out! Everyone!” I screamed and thanked God we were on the first floor. No one hesitated to obey and I was hot on their heels. But just as I was about to literally hurl myself out the window, something grabbed my ankle. I didn’t even think about it. I simply turned and grabbed the zombie’s wrist, called up whatever native strength I had, and drew from Terry to add to it. The bones splintered. I felt them crack and break into hundreds of pieces. Then I twisted and the hand came apart from the rest of the zombie’s arm. It fell back in surprise and I seized the opportunity to get the hell out of there.

“What the hell’s going on?” Mr. Hutchins was screaming. I ignored him. We were now in the driveway, but nowhere near safety.

“Take cover.” I said and tried for fire again. But this time, I used the same trick I had unconsciously come up with during the confrontation with Willis. A ball of fire, the size of a golf ball flickered into existence in front of me. I closed my eyes and concentrated harder. Two, then three, then four more incandescent orbs appeared. I thrust my hand forward and sent them flying into the first zombie, a fairly fresh-looking woman with long dirty blond hair(made even dirtier by the…actual dirt in it) wearing a long, flowing, purple dress. The spheres pierced her body and came out the other side. Terry was right, they didn’t feel pain. But if I tore their bodies to pieces, then it didn’t matter. Tendons, muscles and bone were destroyed by the blazing globes and the smell of burnt meat was sickening, but the Necromancer’s will was still driving these restless souls forward. I was thankful that these were the slow-moving type of zombies, and not the “28 Days Later” variety.

The woman collapsed, an indistinct shape, a glob of flesh, my fire finally having cut through her enough to stop her for good. But there were four more. Closing in a semi-circle around me and those I protected behind me.

“Dammit, this is taking too long!”

“Maybe if we make the fire so hot and try that vortex thing you did with Willis…”

“They’d still be coming for us even as the flesh melted off their bones. We need something to freeze them in their tracks…” And a thought abruptly hit me. I reached around me, feeling for what I needed. The entire house started shaking and creaking as pipes split open and water came rushing out and started coalescing into a single mass, which I threw at the four remaining zombies, preparing for my next step as I did so.

What I was about to do was, quite possibly, retarded. It was nothing more than an assumption. And you know what they say about making assumptions. Especially when your life is on the line. I cursed the fact that I didn’t push myself more in my training sessions with Christopher. But it had to work. The logic was sound. If I could create fire, which is essentially heat taken form, then perhaps I could take that heat away. As the water surrounded the zombies, I reached in and drew all the warmth from it, while simultaneously hitting it with the coldest blast of wind I could manage. In an instant, it froze, creating a giant block of ice, encasing the zombies.

I dropped to my knees, gasping. It felt like my insides were on fire. Hell, maybe they were. Perhaps the heat I took out of the environment got transferred. Maybe it was far simpler than that, and I was merely exhausted from the effort of doing so much. Whatever the reason, I was finding it hard to catch my breath, let alone get back to my feet, even if Terry was urging me to do so. I could barely hear him whispering, but I felt the urgency in his actions. I turned my head to look down the driveway and saw two more zombies coming towards us.

“Is that…?” I squealed.

“A fucking Rottweiler. He can control dead animals too?” Terry whined. “Now that’s just not fucking fair.”

The human zombie, dressed in Navy Blues, medal on his chest, his skin sickly green, but otherwise not showing sign of decay, smiled wickedly and raised his right arm, pointing one bony finger toward me. His animal companion, who had been slowly pacing around him started growling menacingly, then took off at a blistering pace. In a matter of seconds, it was less than 3 feet from me. A loping jump and it’d be on me. I was screaming at myself to get the hell up, to do something, anything, but my body just wouldn’t cooperate. All I could manage was to send a weak gust of air that stopped the dog in its tracks for a couple of seconds, as it shook itself, confused as to what had happened. It bared its teeth once more, an evil version of a canine grin and moved in for the kill. And then a bull hit it in its side with all the strength and momentum of a freight train. The dog went flying and landed in a heap several yards away, as the bull straightened itself up and I realized it was Justin’s dad.

“Mr. Hutchins…” I said weakly, staggering to my feet.

“Call me Aaron.” He said, grasping my arm to steady me. And then he went running in the direction of the fallen dog. When he got there, he brought his heel down hard on the dog’s head. I could hear its skull breaking from where I stood, but Aaron kept stomping on it until the monstrous animal stopped twitching altogether. I guess the whole headshot thing actually works. Should’ve thought of that myself - instead of shooting holes through the woman’s whole body, I should’ve just blown her head off.

A strangled cry came from a few yards down the driveway and I remembered the dog’s master. He was snarling in pure hatred but, as he started advancing, a dark SUV came whirling through the open gate and smashed right into the undead sailor. It hit him around the midsection and he fell forward and under the car, its wheels making short work of his head. God bless Jordan and his big-ass car.

He came to a screeching halt right in front of me and he jumped out of the car and he came rushing forward, grabbing me in a bear hug. “You alright?” he asked, looking me over.

“Yeah. How in the hell did you get here so fast?”

“My house is less than five miles from here, Xander. But you need to take a dirt road to cover the distance in a straight line. Which I did. After you hung up, I ran out to my car. I was already on my way here when I…felt something. You. In danger. I floored it and, well…” he gestured behind him, at the driveway, splattered in copious amounts of road-kill zombie.

I could only groan in acknowledgement and gratitude.

“Xander, is that a hand on your ankle?” Jordan asked. I looked down. Damn thing still had my leg in a death grip, despite not being connected to the rest of the undead body. I shuddered in revulsion and wrenched the fingers apart, straining to use that supernatural strength again.

“Everyone okay?” Mr. Hutchins asked us as we all started huddling together.

“Physically? Yeah.” Said Gabe. “But fucking zombies just attacked us. That’s…” he shivered and I’m sure it wasn’t because of the cold.

“Fucked up.” Supplied Zach.

“Yet unbelievingly awesome!” said Justin, cheering, pumping his fist in the air and giving out a loud whoop. “That was amazing! Dude, you rock!” he told me. Great, I guess he really is my #1 fan.

“Okay. Mind telling me exactly what the fuck happened?” Mr. Hutchins enquired in a polite, yet threatening tone of voice.

“Not here.” I shook my head for emphasis. “I don’t know why they attacked now or here. How they even knew I was here. Why the hell they went after Willis. I’m…I’m out of my depth. I need help.”

“Christopher?” Terry asked.

“Christopher.” I answered, nodding.

“Oh. Obi-Wan?”

“Yeah, Jordan, the very same.” I pulled out my wallet and took out the piece of paper with Christopher’s number on it. He had said to only ever use it in case of emergencies, but something told me this constituted a fucking emergency.

“Kid, I don’t know what just happened, but I’m gonna want an explanation. For now, though, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, seeing as you saved all our lives and all.”

“Thank you, Aaron.”

“But what about this mess?” he asked, pointing towards the giant ice sculpture I had created.

“No idea.” I replied, shrugging. “I don’t know if the cold killed them for good or if they’ll pick up right where they left off once they thaw, but that’s gonna take a while in any case.

“What if you…shatter it? Wouldn’t they break into a million pieces?” Zach asked, his curiosity evident.

“Hell if I know. Besides, I doubt I could even shatter a cup right now. I need to rest. And we need to get out of here before the cops show up.”

“Cops?” asked Justin.

“Yeah. I made a lot of noise. Surely someone must’ve heard.”

“All the more reason to get rid of all this mess.” Terry said.

“What?”

“Pretty much destroying the house by tearing up the plumbing and flooding the area is one thing. But there are dead bodies all over the place. Best case scenario, the Hutchins get accused of desecrating a dead body. Worst case…”

“They get accused of murder.” I said, cursing.

“Murder?” asked both Gabe and Justin.

“Who the hell’s he talking to?” demanded Aaron.

“His guardian ghost” answered Jordan and Zach in unison.

“Besides, if those things snap back to life once they thaw, it would raise some very interesting questions from authorities. I don’t think we want that.”

“You’re right. So, what do we do?”

“Christopher said that you can control the elements. ALL of them. You’ve used air, fire and water, but you haven’t exerted control over the earth yet.”

“Are you crazy? I can’t do that!”

“You have to. And we can, together. Just…focus.”

I thought it over for a few seconds. It was crazy. So, pretty much par for the course, considering the events of the past couple of days. I inhaled and tried to center myself, karate kid style. “Everyone, get in the car.”

“What are you gonna do?” asked Jordan, concerned.

“Bury our tracks.” I winked at him and attempted to give him a heartening smile. He smiled faintly in return, but it was enough for me to feel the warmth of his affection for me. It gave me strength. Jordan got behind the wheel of his car, with Aaron on his right, while Zach, Gabe and Justin climbed into the back, all throwing me questioning glances.

“It’ll be alright.” I said. Once they were secure inside the car, I closed my eyes and extended my hand in front of me, palm down. I steadied my breathing and slowly felt my heartbeat slowing as my senses became more and more acute. I felt the grass, growing as it fed on the water I had just unleashed, still flowing freely from the house. I felt earth worms digging their way through the dirt, feeding. I felt the cold hardness of rock. I felt the paced driveway. I reached deep into the earth and imagined it was clay for me to mold into shape. The ground started shaking, bits of it actually being hurled into the air as the soil was reshaped and Jordan’s car began rolling backwards, downhill, before he applied his breaks. I instinctively felt all this, without opening my eyes.

I infused the earth beneath the ice trap with the water still in liquid form and turned it into mud. Softer and softer, more malleable it became, until the whole ice sculpture started sinking into the ground. As it did, I introduced heat into it once again and more water seeped into the ground, the zombies being swallowed up. In a matter of seconds, it was all gone.

Eyes still closed, not moving, I turned my thoughts toward the fallen woman and crushed man and his pet. I repeated the process, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain concentration. I tightened my jaw and forced myself to keep going. Once that was done, I swept my hand over the earth as I pirouetted in place and the water washed over everything, sweeping away any remaining evidence, such as blood.

I opened my eyes and dropped my arm limply by my side. I looked at the car’s occupants and saw their amazed expressions, smiled feebly and then sank to the ground, once again fainting.

“You’re all lucky to be alive. What a foolish child! I should have put him on a leash”

“Hey, back off. You didn’t see what he did. He was astonishing! The things he did were…mind-boggling.” That sounded like Justin. And I don’t just mean his voice, but the way he spoke about me, almost reverently. He’s such a fanboy! I kept my eyes shut and realized I was lying on a cot.

“The point is that he wouldn’t have needed to do ANYTHING if he’d behaved and not used his powers like that against the Willis boy.”

“What do you mean?” I said, trying to get up, then promptly getting dizzy and flopping back down on the cot.

“Stay still, Xander.” Came Terry’s weary voice. “You need to rest.”

“Yes, listen to him, if you’re not going to listen to me!” Christopher said, annoyed.

I ignored the remark and pressed on. “What do you mean?”

Christopher sighed, but answered anyway. “Necromancers…They…well, smell I suppose is a proper word for it. They smell power and its use. Something small, like moving a desk around the room will not attract their attention, but a large demonstration of power, such as the one you put on at the school, as young Justin here was quick to point out, will have unquestionably drawn Azarian.”

“But what about our training sessions? I use my power. So do you.”

“Well, I did pick up a few tricks along the way. This place has been blessed. It is, in essence, holy ground. Power is contained either within or on the outside. There is no bleeding through. No one can sense what we do in here.”

“Fuck! I didn’t know! And that’s why he went after Willis. He had my…smell on him.”

“The smell of your power, yes.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. It just…happened. I saw Jordan in danger, and…”

“Yes. I told you, emotion plays a large key in all of this. That’s why I even told you to go and have sex. Lust is powerful and distracting. And love is incredibly strong and can cause instinctive reactions far beyond what we would do if we were completely in control.”

“Speaking of which…” began Jordan and I knew exactly what he wanted to say. He wished to talk about what we felt when we kissed. But something told me that this was better kept to ourselves, for the time being, anyway.

“Speaking of which…” I cut in. “I need a hug from my boyfriend”. Jordan obliged and as he did, I whispered in his ear. “Don’t say anything about the kiss.” As we broke apart, Jordan looked questioningly at me, but gave an almost imperceptible nod. I looked at Terry and healso nodded, signaling he had understood as well.

“So, you’re wizards, conduits, whatever…” Aaron said as silence descended upon us.

“Yes, I explained it to you as best I could without going into details.” Said Christopher. “I don’t like involving mere mortals, but for the time being, the safest place for you is with me and, I’m sorry to say it, Xander. He’s young and inexperienced, but incredibly powerful. He’ll attract all the nasties, but he’s also in the best position to fight them off. And you’re already involved. The mark of his power surrounds everyone that was there on Friday and again today. For a while, anyway. But Azarian now knows who you are. Even if you break contact with Xander, he’ll still come after you. Best course of action is to stick together and lay low for a while. Truth be told, I don’t know what to do exactly. I wasn’t expecting him to act so soon. I hoped he even left town altogether. So, for now, we go into hiding, as it were.”

“What, HERE?!” asked Zach. “Not that an abandoned garage isn’t nice and all, but…”

“No, of course not here.” Answered Christopher, rolling his eyes, exasperated. “We need some place big enough for all of us. Then I’ll bless it and we should be safe. IF we move fast enough. Azarian can’t pin-point us, but if we move slowly, the scent of your power, Xander, will pretty much create a trail.”

Jordan spoke then. “We can go to my place.”

“No way!” I objected. “I’m not putting your uncles in danger too. Besides, I need to keep an eye on my own family. We’re going to my place.”

“That is actually a sound suggestion, my boy.” Christopher said, rubbing at his chin pensively. “Your home is strongly linked to you, through memories. You can draw power far easier and in larger quantities there, while experiencing far less physical strain. Again, emotions… I just need to get a few things together, in order to consecrate it once we get there. And, while I’m out, I guess I can pick up dinner.”

“You bet your ass you can. I still remember you from the restaurant, you old cheating bastard!” Jordan said, smiling. “You owe Xander and me a dinner anyway, the way I see it.”

“Hmm…I’d have thought training your boyfriend, teaching him how to stay alive in the face of unspeakable horrors would have been payment enough and we would be, at the very least, on even terms by now.”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Jordan mumbled, his eyes firmly locked on his shoes.

“Quite. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

“WAIT!” Justin shouted. “I just thought of something. Oh, God, how didn’t I think about it sooner? I’m such an idiot!” he wailed.

“What is it?” Aaron asked, clearly concerned. Apparently he had come a long way in a short period of time. I guess almost getting killed by undead monsters puts things into perspective and having a gay son or two really isn’t all that bad anymore.

“Ryan!” Justin cried. “God, you said EVERYONE that was there on Friday night is associated with Xander’s power. Ryan, Xander!”

“Take a deep breath, bro.” Gabe said, rushing to his brother’s side and hugging him. “Willis’ goons were there too, but only Willis himself got attacked. We can’t assume the worst.”

“And we can’t assume that he’s fine either, I need to go!” Justin shouted, as he struggled to break free of his brother’s grip.

“No, it’s my responsibility. Everything’s my fault. I’ll go.” I said, getting up and stretching.

“You’re still too weak. If you go and run into Azarian’s puppets again or worse, Azarian himself…Things wouldn’t end well.”

“The moment you told me what I am, I realized there’s a very big chance things wouldn’t end well. You did as well. But that doesn’t change anything.” I looked Christopher in the eye, unwavering. “I’m going!”

“Not alone you’re not!” Jordan put in.

“This…Ryan. Is HE Justin’s boyfriend?” Aaron asked.

“Not yet.” I replied, smiling.

Aaron heaved a big sigh. “Alright, then. I guess I’m going too.” Justin looked at his father in amazement. “What? I told you I’d really try, didn’t I? That means I want to meet you REAL love interest.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll stay back. Guard the home base, you know?” said Zach.

“You’re damn right. So’s your boyfriend and his brother.” Aaron said, putting his foot down both figuratively and literally.

“Dad, I’m not really gay.” Said Gabe.

“Figured as much when I saw you kissing Zach. I’ve seen more passion in grade school plays.”

“HEY! I take offense to that. There’s only so much any one actor can do if the rest of the cast is horrible.” Zach protested .

“Okay. So, a stupid, unnecessary side-trip that could put us all in danger, just to save an obnoxious, loud-mouthed, drunken asshole. Huge risk, small benefit, great potential for a painful death, all in the name of love. What’s not to like about the idea? To the Batmobile!” I exclaimed, raising my fist.