“So what you’re saying
is?”
From a folding metal
chair that he was sitting on in a room in an abandoned hanger building, Colonel
Marcus Powell looked at Allison Hoffman, who was also sitting on one of these ragtag
chairs, and he said, “You didn’t kill Ralph Richards.”
“But I threw out all of
the light energy that I could at that prick. I literally saw it going out of my
body and toward the spirit. I lost two of my friends as a result of the
explosion.”
“I know. You’re not a bull
shitter. That’s why you’re here, working with all of us to solve our mutual
problems.”
“You just watched the
video feed of me doing it again, out there in the desert of wherever the hell
we are.”
“I know.”
“You saw me incinerate
the test site.”
“I know.”
“So how didn’t I kill
him if I blew the hell out of that area?”
“Your weapon is like a
nuclear bomb, but smaller, and it doesn’t emit nuclear radiation, though it
does have a concentrated blast source and a lot of thermal heat, plus a lot of
light. It also has a special substance seen only in paranormal explosions.”
“How do you know that?”
“We’ve been working on
this stuff for a while.”
“I see.”
“Essentially, our
scientists were able to determine that you only put off a fair bit of contained
energy at the site in the form of thermal heat and blast strength, plus that
extreme light.”
“You’re telling me what
I already know.”
“It all came back to a
simple thing really: the windows.”
“Yeah?”
“We speculated that
this was the case, but we had to be sure.”
“So how about you tell
me how this is.”
“The windows were still
standing. From where you unleashed your mind power, a blast that would have
been big enough to neutralize a developed and aggressive poltergeist would be something
in the neighborhood of 500 pounds of TNT. That would have taken the building to
dust or at least necessitated screen windows.”
“And you know this
because of?
“Tests we did with
other people who have these powers and who have used them on angry ghosts.”
“So I’m not the only
one you’re studying like a lab rat?”
“Of course not. We
don’t place all of our eggs in one basket.”
“But if I didn’t do it,
then who did?”
“Kaldac.”
“Why would he kill
Ralph?”
“Well, he didn’t do it
alone. You helped him. Neither one of you were strong enough alone, but you
could do it together, so when he saw you getting ready to do it, he jumped in
the game to help out.”
“What did he use?”
“We’re assuming
something that got inside of Richards’ mind. It crushed his will to resist and
made him more susceptible. Simply put, Kaldac crushed his inner strength while
you tore through his outer frame.”
“That’s quite a one-two
punch.”
“Yes, especially since
we know that Kaldac can forcefully speak to people who cause problems for him.”
“But why would he kill his faithful servant?”
“The curse punished
them to walk this ground together. If they weren’t together anymore, then the
curse didn’t work. It’s kind of a supernatural loophole.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither did we, but
apparently, Kaldac’s gamble worked so right now, we have the brother of
Bsoashavic looking to regain contact with his demonic family in an effort to
control the souls of these two sacrificed children’s spirits.”
“You’ll have to bring
me up to speed.”
“All in due time.”
NNNN
Melissa Silver looked
back into the burning brothel that once housed her livelihood. Even before the
boards of the saloon turned into a raging inferno, she knew that she should
have never conspired with Bob Clifford, the head of the Ford Silver Mine, and
Leon Durham, the town sheriff, in order to bring Ralph Richards to justice.
Even with a posse of company men and law enforcement types, Richards had that
demon on his side. She knew the beast’s power because she once found herself in
allegiance with it, too. Now, the witch knew that she had to get away from this
destruction forever. However, before she could follow her destiny, she had to
lay a curse to both Richards and Kaldac, which would imprison them to this land
together for all time’s sake.
“As long as you both
shall walk this earth, you will be bound to these grounds of Eureka, Nevada.
Your forms will stay with these ashes, and you will be trapped here,” she said,
betraying her former master and his extreme demands to chain it and his
henchman to the desert nothing.
Melissa knew there were
always ways for curses to be broken, but in 1879, she would take her chances
that nobody who had those powers would come there to do this for a long time.
Sure, there were other witches. She herself was one. There were also men who
would willingly choose to serve Satan and his minions. She led Ralph to become
one. Nevertheless, there were degrees of allegiance to the darkness, and there
were some things that she just couldn’t do. Ralph had no filter for what he
wouldn’t do. This scared her, and she never spooked.
She just had to get
away from these things, but where and how? Then she remembered their discussion
of the twins in Blackrock Canyon. They too were cursed by time, but maybe she
could use her powers to break that curse or to find someone else who could help
her.
Until then, she had
other places that she had to go in order to get away from the duo. Right now,
she had a date with another miner named Franklin Urban, who was going to help
her escape from the town and start anew in Utah. She would be close enough, but
far away from the twins when the time came. Franklin would assist her in being
ready to fulfill this endeavor. In return, she would have to give him a place
at the table and a share of the wealth and her “love,” but with help, all
things were possible. Until then, she would be rid of Ralph Richards and
Kaldac.
She hoped.
NNNN
“So how much power do I
have?”
“Well, based on the
strength of your actions in the desert this morning, I’m thinking about the
equivalent of a hundred pounds of TNT, but it’s all concentrated in that the
blast is contained around your target and about a ten-yard circle surrounding
him.”
“I don’t understand how
it couldn’t be strong enough.”
“That’s what we need
you and the others to confer on. How can you pack more of a punch with your
mind energy? I don’t need an answer now, but I need you to think about it.”
“Either way, I’m not
sure. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“That’s why you’ll have
others to talk to. We have one woman who set off what was the equivalent of a
kiloton nuke in the astral world while all the while protecting herself from so
much as a scratch.”
“I assume that’s really
good.”
“She never did it
before. It would seem she’s a natural.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, that’s also what
I said.”
“So where is Kaldac?”
“He’s free, and he’s
already in southeastern Utah.”
“But how did he get
there?”
“It seems Tim Wesley
gave him a ride when the curse ended.”
“Where’s Tim now?”
“He was disposed of
permanently. I think we all knew that it would come to this when he went
missing, but we didn’t think he’d be found so closely to Blackrock Canyon. That
means that Kaldac is planning for the next stage of this war.”
“What’s that?”
“The end of the world.”
NNNN
The beat-up old 1976
mint green Chevy Nova pulled off the side of Hovenweep Road. Looking at his
companion, the driver, a nearly sixty-year old Native American, informed his
wife it was time for a bathroom break. She looked at him with annoyance that he
couldn’t wait to get back to their house, but he informed her that nature was
calling, and he was answering, even if it was here on a roadside in the middle
of nowhere.
As the man walked away
from the road, he spied what seemed like a person lying down in the desert
brush. The body was about thirty feet away, so he tried to ascertain what it
was in the morning heat. As he did, instantly, his thoughts transferred from
needing to water the weeds to seeing what this was.
“What the hell are you
doing, John? Hurry up. I want to go home and watch The Steve Wilkos Show.”
“Shut
up, will you? I think I see something?”
“Well, what is it?”
“I think it’s a person
sleeping, but that can’t be. Who the hell is sleeping out in the open on a hot
July day?”
“Sleeping or passed
out?”
“Well,” he said moving
to what he clearly saw was a person. “I’m not sure. Hey, mister?”
The body didn’t move,
so the man put his boot on the body’s shoulder and shook the man’s body hard
enough that he would wake up, but not too hard in that he would hurt him. The man
still didn’t move, so John knelt at the body’s side.
“Be careful with these
drunks, John.”
John rolled the body
over, and saw the hollow expression of death on the body’s face.
“Linda, I think we need
to call your brother. This guy is dead.”
Calling a local
policeman was all they could do since no amount of medical treatment was going
to save this man. However, the authorities of the Navajo Nation would be able
to at least find out who this misplaced guy with his flashy West Coast style
suit was. Even if they couldn’t do that without American police, they would at
least be able to take care of his corpse before the buzzards did.
For all that they
didn’t know, two things were certain: this man definitely wasn’t from around
here and he didn’t appear to be murdered, if the lack of blood meant anything
to all of this.
NNNN
“Are you familiar with
a woman by the name of Anne Kline?”
“Annie?” Allison asked.
“Yes, she’s the one.
She’s here with us, too.”
“But she has to be
about seventy-five now. What can she do to help with this?”
“She can teach you, and
she can also confer with you on other issues.”
“Issues like what?”
“She taught a woman by
the name of Susan Heilman a little over a decade ago. Are you familiar with
her?”
“I’m sorry, Marcus. I
don’t know her.”
“That’s OK. We do.
We’ve been keeping an eye on her for a while. She’s in Moab, which isn’t far
from the ultimate destination of where you’re going.”
“Where’s that?”
“Blackrock Canyon. Did
you ever hear of it?”
“Isn’t that the
archaeological place in southeastern Utah?”
“One and the same. You
know your news. That’s more than I can say for Ernie.”
“The cliff dwellings
never were his thing.”
“Well they’re this gal
Suzie’s thing, and seeing as she sets off mind bombs in the astral world, we’d
like to know more about her.”
“So why didn’t you
bring her in to talk about them and protect her from whatever is out there?”
“We need her to stay
hidden from the demonic forces and the men who are working with them.”
“But isn’t she in
danger?”
“Not really. In fact,
she’s safer there. Besides, astral bombs, remember?”
“I’d think that because
those things are after her, they would be a little bit more than the average
astral realms evil spirit. Am I right?”
“Apparently not. Annie
can help you understand.”
“The last time I saw
her, she couldn’t even help herself.”
“She does have her
issues. A lot of people in your profession do, no offense.”
“None taken, dickhead.”
He laughed at her, and
then said, “With all of the hucksters and freaks, we ruled out a lot of people
quickly. How did you ever end up with a pair of con artists like Lee and
Maggie?”
“Opportunity to be in
active spots and to get paid. They did their game, and I gave them what I
could. I also got real experience. Most of my stuff was subtle and not fit for
television, but it was real.”
“We know. Annie told us
so.”
“So then she’s doing
better than the drugs and abusive relationships that she was in.”
“No, not at all.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s been
ingesting some serious new drugs.”
“Heroin?”
“Hallucinogenic drugs
now. Well, that and pot. Our main interest is something weird out of Mexico.
It’s called Our Lady of Guadalupe.”
“You want to keep her
clean?”
“Actually, we want to
monitor her while she uses it. There are some really wild effects in it. When
it comes to psychic abilities, this stuff accentuates the hell out of them.”
“Is this some CIA LSD experiment?”
“Not at all.”
“And you’re saying
these psychic and hallucinogenic properties are real? I mean Nostradamus had an
apothecary background going into his clairvoyant days. I’m sure I can see some
pretty wild stuff on those substances, too, but that doesn’t make them real. If
you’re this worried about fakers, how do you know Annie is real?”
“I assure you, her
psychic ability is on the up and up. She may be a mess of a woman when it comes
to relationships and issues with chemicals, but she’s already predicting things
we can confirm.”
“Like what?”
“Above top secret.
Sorry.”
Allison looked at him
with anger.
“You’re not going to
get more out of me than I want to tell you.”
“Can you at least tell
me where I am?”
“You’re in Nevada.”
“Is this Area 51?”
Powell smiled, and then
he spoke again.
“We’ve been keeping
close tabs on Annie. She’s off the charts with her memories of what she dreams
and daydreams.”
“That’s something, but is
she safe? How bad is this stuff?”
“She is safe now, and
we can’t be sure how safe the stuff is. When we brought her in, we made the
decision that she would do Our Lady of Guadalupe with or without our blessing.
We wanted the data, so if we can get as much as we can… then we had to
greenlight it.”
“Fair enough, I guess.
As for this Suzie, how are you watching her? Does she know?”
“She is not aware, at
least in the fact she hasn’t let on regarding preventative measures at avoiding
us. As for the surveillance, we have insiders in the police department in Moab.
There is one in particular who can make what we need to happen occur.”
“And he’s who?”
“Right now, that’s on a
need to know basis, too, and while you will eventually need to know, you don’t
need to know now.”
“I don’t understand
that either.”
“It could be days
before that need to know happens. If someone finds you and captures you, you
could divulge his secrecy. We’ll tell you when you shake hands with him.”
“But what if I’m
captured after that? I could still give away details.”
“Trust me; you won’t be
captured.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Think about it,
Allison. The demons who are interested in all of us will be destroying the
world when we rendezvous with the police in Moab. They won’t need information
because they’ll be strong enough to kill everyone, you and me included.”
“Shit.”
“That’s what I said.”
“So what do we do to
make sure that doesn’t happen?”
“A good place to start
is working with Annie about what the two of you know and what Suzie knew or
could know as based on her training with Annie.”
“But that was ages ago.
She could have met many teachers since then.”
“I know because she
has; however, this will at least give us a baseline reading to go on. We’ll
just run some fancy regression analysis on our computers, and then we can
estimate.”
“Even military
paranormal investigators use statistics. I guess I should have taken my class
more seriously.”
“You should have,”
Powell said smiling. “But then you wouldn’t be helping us now.”
“So it’s us three real
women against the world with Gilly and Ernie backing us up with Atomic 2000
Squirt Blasters.”
“Not really. The two of
them are being trained with real weapons.”
“Are they here, too?
Can I see them?”
“No and no. There’s a
reason that we split you up. Different people need different training in
different places. You’ll be together really soon. I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“And I will bring you
all together, really,” he replied. “But right now, we have other things to do.”
“So tell me how do
bullets work against things that aren’t living? That’s why we went with the
holy water guns.”
“We’ll have holy water
for some things, but they’ll use specialty bullets against the demons.”
“I know there are
rounds for guns, like Hydra-Shok for pistol ammunition, but what can that do
against demons?”
“What does an aging
hippie psychic know about that kind of ammunition?”
“Strangely, I seem to
attract a lot of men who want to hunt monsters, so I hear these things when
they try to recruit me?”
“You don’t let them?”
“That would be a
deathwish.”
“Probably a valid
point. All the same, we won’t be using those. Let’s just say there are certain
holy relics, which can be cut down and melted into the tips of ammunition.”
“But isn’t that
desecration?”
“Maybe, but we have
Vatican approval to do what we need to do. Besides, the church is about the
power of God. These things are best used to eliminate Satan’s power on earth.
We’re doing what we have to do with the limited resources we have available.”
Allison sat in stunned
silence
“I
know. That’s what I said, too.”
“With
all our similar expressions, you’d think we came from the same mother.”
He
laughed.
“Maybe.”
“But
those holy relic things; I can only imagine they’re one of a kind and priceless,”
Allison added.
“Allison,
life on earth is more priceless and valuable than anything we’ve recovered.
Without these things, we don’t stand a chance.”
She
gulped.
“That
was my remark, too.”
NNNN
Raymond Stoltzfus
looked at Gilly and Ernie, and he smiled.
“I’m glad to see you’re
a natural with the guns.”
“Thanks, but what’s an
Amish guy doing training people for combat with demons?”
“What’s a British guy
doing in America pretending to look for ghosts?” the man said back at Ernie.
“Good point, but we
weren’t pretending.”
“That’s not what I
heard, though I did hear that pretending for the camera pays well. Maybe you
can train me when we’re done with this mission. I’d rather make bank that risk
my neck day in and day out.”
“We were looking, but
we did elaborate things from time to time. However, we can hold our own when
the chips are down. That’s for sure,” Gilly said.
“That’s why you’re
here. You were looking, and you did deal with a certain particularly nasty
being. You almost beat him.”
“So that says we can
take care of ourselves when the game is on the line,” Ernie said.
“No, it means that you
got lucky, but we figured it was easier to train you and offer you a shot at
revenge than just kill you outright and have to dig a hole.”
“So what does the
training consist of?” Gilly asked.
“Handguns, sniper
rifles, shotguns, and hand to hand combat briefly. That and you get to work out
in the gym to stay fit while avoiding the legal entanglements of what’s going
on back in Eureka.”
“Why only brief hand to
hand combat training?” Ernie asked.
“Well, gentlemen, this
is where I give you the bad news. If you go hand to hand with a demon, you will
die. We try to stay far enough away that we can take carefully placed shots at
them. All hand to hand will do is give you a chance to keep them away from us
while we run like hell in the other direction.”
“That’s messed up,”
Ernie replied.
“I’m going to say this
the hip way, gentlemen. I’m all about keeping it real. There’s no point lying
to you. You’d find out soon enough anyway.”
“Is there any way to
refuse this job offer now that we accepted?” Gilly asked.
“You know the answer to
that.”
“That’s what I
thought,” Gilly laughed.
“So what’s a regular
guy like you doing here?” Ernie asked.
“I made the mistake of
helping to rescue a downed UFO a few years ago. We got it out of the woods, and
a man named Bart Doherty recruited me and some of the other guys for this
little circus sideshow. It was kind of hard to go back to farming in Big Valley
when I saw dead alien bodies being carted out of the Pennsylvania mountains in
pickup trucks.”
The two men looked at
him.
“Are you for real?”
Gilly asked.
“As real as you are
with fighting demons in close quarters with squirt rifles filled with holy
water.”
“Awesome!” Gilly
replied and slapped the man with a big high five.
“You’re a unique bloke,”
Ernie added. “Now can you tell me when we get to use those M-16s.”
“I thought you’d never
ask.”
