Edge of End (29 page)

I just couldn’t leave her,
I hadn’t much strength to do that. The
town
forced its game over me all the
way here, but I was too close to give up. Right there–behind the
mist–maybe a half mile away the light was hitting the ground at
this very moment.

We unlocked our lips, and I took
another look at her pretty face; her eyes were closed, her red lips
moist–she was craving me, willing me to taste her some more, but
time was not on our side.

Suddenly, the sense of a huge wave of
danger assailed me, causing me to gasp and hold my breath in
anticipation. Spinning around with my pipe held above my head, I
was prepared.

A man with torn and scratched face
emerged from the mist. He had somehow been wounded, and blood
trickled down his neck, dripping onto his bare and hairy chest.
Half of his hair had been viciously ripped from his scalp; the
remaining half was a dirty blond color, and loose curls hung down
to his ear.

“
Who are you?” I spoke
first lowering my pipe.

Like a maniac, he looked me up and
down with beady eyes and then sprinted towards me. His steps were
heavy, and as he pounded along, the ground dust went flying into
the air.

I shoved Elizabeth out of the way and
screamed at her, “Stay away!”

I lifted my shield up in front of me
ready for his charge. Just like a rugby player, the man bashed into
the car door with his shoulder. He was incredibly strong, and I
could not repel his power. I ended up stumbling backwards and
falling to the ground.

“
Jonathan!” Elizabeth
yelled covering her mouth with her hands in fear.

Without thinking about it, I moved my
shield up as if he was standing before me. I was ready to strike
him directly in the face. Even though there were at least five
steps between us, I managed to hit him. For a split second shock
washed over me, I was completely dumbfounded. Somehow I had
acquired more strength and manipulating my superhuman powers to
allow me to strike any object from a distance.

I jumped back onto my feet and gave
Elizabeth a brief glance before I rushed back towards the ghastly
looking man. Raising his hand he enforced an invisible airy barrier
between us, and I slammed into it unable to smash my way through.
Becoming outraged, I stared at him, seething furiously.

I flexed and tightened my fingers too
hard around the pipe, so hard I dented the metal. I swung hard
through the air like a crazed man. This time my power was enough to
break his barrier and hit him in the face. The man yelled out in
pain and fell to the ground.

I jumped high and in one leap managed
to cover about ten steps in distance. As I landed on the ground
beside him, I stabbed the spear through his neck. He gasped and,
reaching for the pipe, he attempted to dislodge it from his throat,
but I did him a favor and pulled it out myself.

Elizabeth ran up to me, “Is he
dead?”

“
He was already dead,
darling,” I noted sarcastically then glanced around. “Malcolm
warned me that the residents will stand in our way. They envy us.
They will do anything to prevent us reaching the light.”

“
Yeah, that ugly smiling
woman told something like that,” Elizabeth said. “Somehow we will
get round them. Jonathan, I–” she trailed off losing her words as
there was nothing to say or assume anymore. We had to face them, we
had no other choice.

“
They are mightier because
they are the last residents,” I recalled Malcolm’s words. “We’re on
their turf.”

Elizabeth’s expression was
aghast, as if I was telling her a horror tale, but there was no
horror tale that could compare to that
town
. I ran my finger gently over
her cheek. Right then somebody or something yanked my leg, seizing
it and pulling me away from Elizabeth. Its nails dug into my
muscles. Crying out in agony, I looked down at the man whom I had
just stabbed through the throat with my spear.

“
He’s alive,” Elizabeth
shouted.

His whole body was covered in blood.
His eyes rolled back drunkenly, but he smiled a smug
smile.

I was momentarily perplexed, but then
I realized I could not kill a man who was already dead.

Elizabeth acted faster and more
determinedly than me. The next moment she snatched the spear from
my hands and remorselessly stabbed it into the man’s
eye.

He emitted a deep roar from his throat
and released my leg grabbing a hold of the pipe and trying to pull
it desperately out of his eye socket. His thunderous howls and
screaming voice shook my insides bringing me back to my
senses.

“
Get back,” I ordered
Elizabeth and she stepped aside obediently.

I pulled the spear from his eye and
kicked him away. His bones rattled as he flew into the mist,
disappearing from our sight.

“
He’ll return,” Elizabeth
murmured.

“
If he dares,” I replied
grimacing.

My eyes scanned our surroundings. We
were trapped, and they were circling us. They were lurking behind
the mist waiting for the right moment to strike and rip me apart.
“Stay close to me; I’ll try to defend you.”

“
I have nowhere else to
go,” she teased leaning her back against mine. “They are all around
us, aren’t they?”

“
Yes,” I
nodded.

“
I can take care of
myself,” she said balling her hands into fists.

“
Don’t be stupid,” I shot
back to her. “And don’t go into any of houses around us. I won’t
come after you again.”

“
Oh. That’s so kind of
you.” Elizabeth said sarcastically. I tried to see into the mist.
Whatever was in it narrowed the circle around us.

“
Jonathan, I’ve been
wondering–”

“
What about?” I asked
quickly.

“
What if you’re a woman in
the real life?” I looked at her immobilized. “Or you’re gay. We go
back and–”

“
Hey, I’m trying to
concentrate on the battle here,” I cut her off.

“
I know. But I mightn’t
have another chance to ask,” she raised her eyebrows at
me.

“
I hope you’re a guy on
Earth and I’ll beat the shit out of you for this,” I couldn’t help
grinning.

“
Chill out. I tried to
entertain you.”

“
Thanks, but the town is
entertaining enough.”

I gripped the pipe and held the car
door as close to my chest as possible, y breathing surprisingly
calm. My heart rate had slowed down, and my muscles had loosened up
a bit. I readied myself for the oncoming battle. The route to the
light was blocked. The enemy was standing between us and the
passage. I had to clear it.

From out of nowhere, several humans
appeared from the mist and together they charged towards us. With
great concentration I gathered all my strength and struck them with
my spear. A surge of unbelievable power streamed out of the pipe
tossing three men all over the place.

One of them, a thin woman dressed in a
rag dress, picked herself up off the ground and flew towards me
with great speed. Using my shield, I managed to defend myself
shoving her a few steps away from us.

“
Jonathan!” Elizabeth
cried out in panic.

I leaped back. A young plump man of
about twenty-five was just a step behind Elizabeth. Not hesitating
at all, I threw my spear at him, and I watched as it pierced his
face. Time stood still for a second and then, in slow motion, he
fell to his knees and collapsed in a heap.

A shrieking woman fell on me from
behind. I wheeled around and raised the shield between us. She
threw a punch at the car door which sent me flying back; I could
not battle her power. She jumped onto my shield, her weight making
my insides churn. With my free hand, I punched her in the shoulder
freeing myself from her hold. Within a second, I was back on my
feet again, staring hard at her, leaving a gap of four or five
steps between us. Like a rabid beast she bared her teeth, and
snarled hungrily; she wasn’t going to back down easily.

“
Get out,” I roared
throwing my shield at her face. In mid-air she grabbed onto it, but
the power I was emitting through the metal door was too great and
pushed her away.

I remained without weapons, barehanded
against the others, and there were a lot of them. Imagine an army
of freaks of nature–that was what I was battling.

I heard a roar and wheeled around. A
man came into the view swooping down on me. I had no time to react,
but Elizabeth was fast. She grabbed his foot in mid-air and slammed
him hard into the ground. She kicked him in the stomach. The
bastard tumbled over the ground towards me and with one last kick
into his face I shut him down.

“
You’re welcome,” she said
as I faced her.

“
I told you to stay
away–”

“
Watch out,” Elizabeth
jabbed her finger toward me.

I turned back rapidly balling my hands
into fists yet again. A canine-like animal was rushing towards me,
swiping with its paws, eager to stab its sharp claws into
me.

I leaped over it and spun around in
the air. The dog passed under me. Losing interest it stopped a few
feet away. I did not wait for it to turn on me; I ran up to it
grabbing its body and hoisted it high above my head. It barked
hysterically and tried desperately to free itself from my hold.
With one hand I slammed the dog hard onto the ground, so hard it
shook. Dust rose, covering the animal’s limp body in a dark
soot-like substance.

I was darting back and
forth to Elizabeth trying to ward off the monsters’ attacks.
Occasionally I flew over her; I was desperate to stay as close to
her as I could. The mist eventually began to clear creating a
larger fighting arena, but as I had already learned the hard way,
everything that the
town
had a purpose.

For a fleeting moment, I stood there
in my fighting stance next to Elizabeth. I watched as the grotesque
group of humans and monsters encircled us moving slowly, some of
them looking slightly dubious.

“
What do you want from
us?” I demanded of the humans. “Let us pass. We have no beef with
you.”

I say humans, but these
were just the remains of humans–faces ripped apart missing noses,
ears and limbs, and some of their necks had been broken. After such
a long time residing in the
town
they had become a part of it–they were freakish
looking monsters, similar to the ones I would expect in
hell.

“
You’ll have to earn your
pass first,” the closest one, a tall, muscular man, said with a
hoarse voice. As he exhaled, blood escaped his mouth, and I noticed
that his tongue was missing.

“
They are evil. Nothing
has remained from their human souls,” Elizabeth whispered. “They
won’t cooperate.”

“
Then the rest of them
will have to spend their remaining time living in this hell hole,”
I snarled. The corners of my mouth twitched with anger, I was
beyond furious.

I watched them closing in on us and
sniffed, my eyes darting back and forward.

My attention was distracted by a
suddenly appearance of the three-storied manor appeared in front of
us, still standing as high and as proud as when we had previously
seen it, when Malcolm had been beside us. I froze, staring in
disbelief at the somber looking statues that adorned the rooftop.
For a second, I could have sworn that I saw some of them
flinch.

I got Elizabeth’s attention. She
peered back, and her jaw dropped.

“
It has come after us,”
she said in horror. Her face was pale. “The rules have been broken
Jonathan. We should have reached the passage by now before the
house caught up with us.”

“
It’s already late,” I
mumbled under my breath. “We’ve got another problem
here.”

“
What is it?” She rolled
her eyes in search of the meaning of my words.

“
Your house.”

I pointed ahead at her house standing
right next to the black one, the palace of demons.

“
I’m dying back there,
faster than I expected” Elizabeth said. Her eyes dropped downwards
to her palms. “I feel charged, Jonathan.”

“
We still have time,” but
I felt the enemy approaching us.

They were screaming crazily–there were
too many of them. Humans, and dogs and a number of flying demons
that were hanging above us. Even my power wasn’t enough to save
both of us. What chance did I have? But I had to fight
on.

I took a fighting position while
Elizabeth stared at her hands. Abruptly a thought came to me. I
quickly turned back to her.

“
Your house is next to
you,” I cried like a mad. “This is your territory, you’ve been
possessed by a greater power. FIGHT!”

She understood me immediately. Her
eyes became harder. I guess she could feel that inhuman power
pulsating through her veins, too.

The man, who had been penetrated by my
pipe, lay next to her, his fingers twitching like a puppy in the
cold wind. She pulled the pipe out of his face and swung it about
in the air before hitting him with it. The man on the receiving end
of her wrath was thrown backwards; his head detaching from his
body.