Demon Rock (8 page)

I returned to my cell just in time according to Warlock. Five more minutes and the guard would have regained consciousness. Warlock ordered the guard to put his clothes back on and resume his patrol. I explained to Warlock about what I found, he seemed to think it would be cool to have a variety of powers. I wasn't so sure, especially seeing as it was only a hypothesis and I could end up like patient zero for all I knew. I got into my bed and began to drift to sleep. My last night in this bed, my last night in this cell, my last night on this rock.

The next morning followed the same routine. Wake up call at six thirty, lined up and marched to the mess hall. The menu was back to the scrumptious porridge. The line moved slow as usual. The food went down like that one shot too many on a night out that instantly disagrees with your stomach. The Master never took his eyes off me for the entire meal. I went to stand to go to the yard when Warlock grabbed my arm.

"Where you going?"

"To the yard."

"Not today, every three days we get shower privileges. Can't have us inmates stinking up the joint."

"Sure, just don't drop the soap eh?" 

"Ha not that I've ever seen but I've only been here a few months."

Shadow stood atop his perch once more and barked out the order.

"Showers. Move!"

The other guards herded us out. We walked along a corridor I had never taken before to the east of the prison. At the end of the corridor a guard was handing out towels to each inmate and allocating them a shower room. There seemed to be three large shower rooms capable of showering about twenty inmates each at a time. I was near the back of the queue and so would have to wait a while. 

The inmates entered the various shower rooms for about three minutes each. When they emerged they queued against the other wall beside the inmates waiting to shower. Once this queue was large enough, a set of guards marched them back to their cells. Somehow in the movement and hustle from the mess hall, I had got separated from Warlock. I saw Warlock being moved back to our cell when I was about twenty men from the front of the queue. Only about eleven inmates remained behind me and so we would be the last batch to get washed. When it was my turn, one of the guards handed me a towel without even looking at me and pointed to shower room one. I turned left and entered the shower room. The room was square in shape with five shower heads per wall. Some inmates were already in the shower. I moved to a free shower on the far wall. On the wall was a soap dispenser which I pressed a couple of times and began to lather myself. The water was lukewarm but I was not complaining. It felt great to feel the sensation of a shower again. I pressed the dispenser again and put some of the soap in my hair, rubbing it until it formed a lathered moose. I began to rinse my hair, my eyes closed protecting them from the suds.

As I continued to wash myself I did not notice that the other inmates had left...as well as the guard. The Master walked in, the guard either fearing him or owing him. Either way he had left, the other inmates leaving because of what was to come. I did not even notice until it was too late, until the Master's hands were upon me. The Master rammed me forward smashing my face of the tiled wall. Blood smeared down the white tiles. With a monstrous roar the Master threw me across the room, my feet not touching the floor until my back slammed in the adjacent wall. Six ribs cracked upon impact and I coughed up some blood. My ability jump started and began to heal my ribs. I got to my feet slowly as the Master strode almost majestically towards me, cocking his shoulder back and extending his muscular arm in a straight jab to my nose. My nose exploded as my head whipped back. In an almost fluid motion my nose began to realign itself and was healed by the time the force brought my head back towards the Master. I used this momentum to lower myself and ram my shoulder into the Master in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. The Master did not move an inch. He instead looked down upon my hunched over back and brought his elbow down connecting on the spinal column. The pain was excruciating, nothing broke so my power was useless, I would have to endure the pain. He once again reached down, grabbing me by the back of the neck and threw me towards the shower I had been using just moments before. I hit the wall upside down, my hunched position coupled with the Master's strength had caused me to do a flipping motion. I landed on my head and back of neck and struggled to readjust myself on the slippery tiled floor. I finally managed to turn my body in a sitting upright position. The Master eyed me with an unparalleled intensity and began to walk towards me. Water trickled down my face turning the water on the floor red as the shower continued to cover me in water. I was in a tremendous amount of pain, my body ached all over and I could feel I was near slipping into unconsciousness. I opened my mouth and began to speak. 

"Bless this water." I coughed some more blood.

"God’s creature, water, I cast out the demon from you in the name of God and the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, his son, our Lord, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, may you be a purified water…." pain shot through my entire body.

"…empowered to drive afar all power of the enemy, in fact, to root out and banish the enemy itself, along with his fallen angels."

I fought off the approaching darkness as my body ached remaining in a conscious state.

"We ask this through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is coming to judge both the living and the dead and the world by fire."

The Master arrived at my feet and with a demonic look outstretched his hand as if to finish me. The Master's hand was going straight for my neck. His fingers passed through the water of my shower and he let out a pained roar. His skin sizzled and he stepped back. He looked even angrier than before and took another run at me, he forced his entire head through the shower's water exposing his fangs. He could not move any further and almost immediately recoiled back to a safe distance. His face sizzled, half it going almost black from the damage the water had done. The Master paced the shower room, he had been temporarily defeated, a first for the Master I guessed. The Master looked at me one last time, gave a wounded roar and left the shower, punching the wall as he did. My healing was more or less finished although my muscles ached. Two guards came in and lifted me to my feet to escort me back to my cell. Luckily they didn't notice I had almost all but healed. Maybe they assumed the Master hadn't done as much damage as they expected. Who would have knew that holy water would have worked? Guess there is some truth in the old tales. For me it was a shot in the dark but one that paid off. In a few hours it would be dinner time, and then back to our cells where I would begin my escape. 

Back at the cell Warlock seemed shocked to see me alive. 

"I heard from some inmates on the way back that the Master was making his move on you. How are you still walking?"

"Barely." I retorted.

"Why did he not kill you?"

"Oh believe me, he wanted to and near succeeded too."

"What stopped him?"

"I was brought up Catholic and was an altar boy for most of my childhood despite the fact I came not to believe in God. Good Old Catholic indoctrination for you. I recited the prayer to consecrate the water under my shower, turning the water into holy water, one of a vampire's weaknesses."

"Thought that was just some folklore, never thought it would actually work."

"You and I both." I laughed. The laugh sent a pain through my ribs.

"So what's the plan?"

"The plan is we sit tight. We get through dinner and after lights out we make our move. I need to stop by the Warden's office first. I can come for you on the way back or you can come with me. It’s up to you."

"I'll come with you."

"Okay, now I can shift into the guard but we need a way for you not to be seen. You any spell you can use now you're uninhibited?"

"Yeah, I know this one spell that basically turns me invisible. It tricks whoever looks upon me into seeing nothing but I'll be beside you the whole time."

"Excellent. Tonight, we leave." I said with a smile.

After an hour we were put back on labour duties. Once again I got the honour of the toilets. One guard smirked and said "You'll be promoted to office cleaning in no time."

Shows how little he knows; I'll be gone in five hours. When the guard wasn't looking I used an empty bottle to scoop up some toilet water as the taps were not working. I said the prayer turning it to holy water and slid the bottle into my overalls in case the Master attacked me at dinner. The labour concluded as normal and we went to the mess hall. Tonight's delicious meal was some version of chilli con carne. The Master remained in his normal position staring at me. His face was scarred pretty badly and you could tell that the other inmates were looking at him wondering what had happened to the all powerful Master. He did not make a move and the holy toilet water was not needed. Dinner ended and we were brought back to our cells. I made it; the Master had not killed me. All I had to do was make it to the Warden's office and back to the boat and I was free. I had managed to leave the prison the last two nights and did not foresee any complications. I smiled as I leant back in my bed biding my time until lights out.

Waiting on lights out seemed like eternity. Warlock and I did not even speak. We just waited patiently. When it finally came, we waited an hour and performed the normal routine. Calling the guard over; getting his overalls and hiding him in the bed. We had two hours to get off this rock. Warlock parted the bars and used his spell. He instantly disappeared from my vision although I knew it was all a trick of the mind and that he was actually still there. He tapped me on the shoulder as if to signal to move. We left the cell and headed towards the Warden's office. "He better be there." I thought to myself. I couldn't risk my chance to get off the island, if he wasn't I'd have to devise a new plan to get him but it would be much more difficult once I escaped as I would be hunted. 

We entered the back stairwell and crept up past the guards’ quarters and up to the office floor. We moved along the corridor, Warlock confirming with a touch that he was still there every so often. We reached the office door and opened it. There was nobody there! The Warden was not there. I cursed as I closed the door. Warlock removed his spell and became visible once more. 

"I'm sorry man." He said.

I walked to the desk to search for any more information. 

"Help me look." I said to Warlock who looked hesitant. He just wanted to leave. He shrugged his shoulders and also began to walk to the desk.

"Okay man, but we are out of here in one minute..."

His last word was cut short and he stood still gasping for air.

"Warlock? You okay?

A stain of blood appeared over Warlocks overalls. Shadow appeared as if from nowhere, he was holding a knife. A knife that Warlock had walked straight into.

"You bastard!" I shouted.

Shadow just smiled and laughed. 

"It's like looking into a mirror." he said. "You truly have a remarkable gift. Not too dissimilar to my own. You hide in plain sight, I hide out of sight."

"We are nothing alike." I replied.

"Take off my face; you dishonour me by wearing it. So that's what I would look like if I was smaller?"

He laughed once more, a deep throaty laugh. I picked up a miniature statue of the prison sitting atop the Warden's desk and threw it with all my force. Shadow dodged the bullet with ease, disappearing as he did so.  

I could no longer see Shadow, but he taunted me. He would whisper "Over here." before moving location and whispering once again "Here."

I swung towards the voice each time, all the time not hitting anything but air. He laughed and moved again.

"Boo!" He appeared in front of me sending his boot into my abdomen; the impact forced me back against the desk. I looked up again but he was gone.

"Why are you helping the Warden?" I asked. "Why are you doing this to your own kind?"

The voice spoke again but I could not tell where it was coming from. 

"It's not rocket science, I am a survivor. I picked the winning side. The Warden and I served together in the war; he was unaware of my supernatural ability but knew my abilities as a soldier. He realised I could be of use to him once he found out long as I kept quiet about my ability. It’s the survival of the fittest. Do you know how different the war zone will be once we perfect the elite soldier program? Our country will be unstoppable."

"The Warden will turn on you, sooner or later. People will find out about your ability and the government will force his hand or find someone to replace him. You can't win."

"Wrong." Shadow materialised in front of me once more lunging forward with another kick that caught me in the stomach and winded me. 

I caught my breath and decided to taunt him once more. Moving behind the desk I began to speak again.