Empty Bodies (Book 5): Damnation
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DAMNATION
(Book Five of the Empty Bodies Series)
by Zach Bohannon
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DAMNATION
Zach Bohannon
Copyright
© 2016 by Zach Bohannon. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental. Reproduction of this publication in whole or in part without express written consent is strictly prohibited.
Edited and Proofread by:
Jennifer Collins
Cover design by Johnny Digges
For all the loyal followers of The Horror Writers Podcast:
Thank you.
CHAPTER ONE
The boy’s screams echoed off the surrounding trees. They’d muted the crack of the machete’s blade as it severed flesh, tissue, and bone on its way into the tree stump. The others cried out as well—most of all, Mary Beth. Through this, Will remained calm, controlling the situation. If he didn’t, Dylan’s intense pain would be for nothing, and the boy would die.
“Keep holding him down,” Will told Charlie and Holly. He put the t-shirt back into Dylan’s mouth and the boy sunk his teeth into it, trying to reduce the pain.
Dylan stared to the sky, eyes wide. His cheeks began to pale.
“He’s going into shock,” Charlie said.
Will would worry about that in a minute. For now, he just wanted to stop the bleeding. He had severed the arm just inches below the elbow. He’d wanted to take only the boy’s hand, amputating at the wrist, but he had been worried that the demon wouldn’t be vanquished unless he amputated farther up the arm. It still remained to be seen whether the amputation had fended off the possession or not.
Will wrapped the t-shirt around the boy’s arm, just above the elbow. He pulled the knot tight, applying intense pressure. Convulsing, Dylan kicked his legs and flayed his remaining arm.
“Hold him still,” Will commanded, speaking to both Charlie and Holly.
They pinned down Dylan’s shoulders, and Will finished tying off the knot. He now just had to hope that it would hold.
“Charlie, I need your shirt,” Will said.
Charlie removed his jacket, then his t-shirt. He gave it to Will, who turned to Holly.
“I need you to hold this against the wound and apply pressure. Charlie and I are gonna have to pick him up and carry him back to the cabins. You’ve gotta stay next to us and keep this pressed against his arm the entire time, okay?”
Eyes red from crying, Holly nodded.
Will turned to Mary Beth. The girl cowered a few feet away from the scene, sitting down on the ground with her head tucked to her knees. Will kneeled down next to her. The girl’s eyes were bloodshot from her having cried so much. Her body quaked, and she sniffled continuously.
“Sweetie,” Will said. “I’m gonna need you to stand up now. Dylan’s going to be fine, but we have to get him back to camp right away. Can you stand up and walk fast with us to get him back?”
Mary Beth didn’t move. She stared past Will, past the others, looking off to the gunmetal sky. Staring off into nothingness. When Will reached down and grabbed her arm, she screeched and moved back. Her eyes met his.
“We have to do this, Mary Beth. We have to go, now.”
Behind Will, Dylan cried out. He no longer clenched the t-shirt with his teeth, and the sound filled the air around them as he screamed. Mary Beth looked at Dylan, and she began to cry even more.
Growing impatient, Will said, “If we don’t go now, he’s going to be screaming a lot more. The only way that we can help him, that
you
can help him, is by getting onto your feet and going with us back to the cabins.”
She stared past him again, and Will grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Mary Beth.” He said it firmly, but not aggressively. “Please.”
They held each other’s gaze for a few moments before Mary Beth nodded. Will stood up, offering his hand to her. She accepted and he pulled her onto her feet.
“Stay with us,” Will told the girl. “Pay attention, and don’t get behind us, or ahead of us. Understand?”
“Yeah,” Mary Beth mumbled.
Will turned to Charlie. “We’re going to have to carry him. You get his legs, and I’ll grab under his arms.”
Dylan’s mouth was open, and slobber dripped down from the edges of it. His eyes were wide. He had stopped kicking his arm and legs, making it easier to pick him up. Charlie grabbed onto his ankles, and Will took the boy under the arms.
“Keep a lot of pressure on it,” Will told Holly, speaking of the wide open wound at the end of Dylan’s arm. Will then looked down to Dylan. “You’re going to be all right, buddy. I’ll be sure of it. This might just hurt a little.”
He placed his hands under Dylan’s arm pits, and the boy screamed. As Will choked back tears, he looked to Holly.
“Keep it together,” he told her. She nodded, and Will looked back to Charlie. “On three.”
They lifted the boy on the count and, again, Dylan cried out. Will closed his eyes tight, still fighting back tears.
“Come on,” Charlie said. “Let's move.”
As they moved through the trees, the rain came all at once. It didn’t drip for a few minutes, easing into a steady fall. Instead, it came crashing down.
Will picked up his gait, not wanting to have to carry Dylan through the mud.
With no Empties along the path in front of them, their biggest enemy now was time.
By the time they arrived back at the cabins, Will found himself thanking God for the rain. Smoke from the fires filled the air surrounding the area, even visible through the storm. But the rain had extinguished much of the fire, allowing them to safely walk onto the campgrounds.
The muscles in Will’s arms pulsated from his forearms all the way up to his shoulders. They hadn’t set Dylan down since picking him up. And even though all Will wanted to do was lay the eleven-year-old boy down and rub his arms, he continued to pace toward the cabins.
“Let’s set him down by the SUV,” Will said.
They hurried past the playground and arrived at the vehicle.
“Holly, grab the door,” Will said.
Holly directed Mary Beth to sit in a spot fifteen feet away from the SUV, and told her not to move. She opened the vehicle’s rear passenger side door.
“Easy,” Charlie said as they eased Dylan onto the back seat.
“Holly, grab a bottle of water.”
On the floor of the back seat lay a towel, and Will grabbed it.
“Keep pressure on his arm with this,” Will said.
Tipping the water into Dylan’s mouth, Holly shook her head. “It’s too dirty. We can’t risk him getting an infection.”
“We also can’t risk him bleeding out on us,” Charlie said.
“Charlie’s shirt wasn’t clean either. It’s going to have to work until we can find something else,” Will said. “We’ll have to take each scenario one at a time.”
Holly said, “But, Will, we can’t—”
“Just do it, Holly!”
Holly stopped arguing. She pressed the unwashed towel against the wound.
Inside the SUV, Will grabbed the first aid kit out of one of the duffel bags. He opened it and found bandages, scissors, Band-Aids, and cream to aid burns. But no clotting powder.
Will turned around to assess the cabins. The fire had taken out all but two of the units. A flame still rose from the bannister on the front porch of one of the cabins, but the rain made sure it wouldn’t spread.
“Stay here with them,” Will said to Charlie. “Holly’s got Dylan; just be here if she needs any help, and try to keep Mary Beth calm. And make sure Dylan drinks plenty of water. I’ll be right back.”
Will ran to the nearest cabin of the two that remained standing. Charlie had been staying there. He ran up the patio, and tapped the doorknob with his palm. When it wasn’t hot, he entered.
Though flames tickled the air outside, the inside of the cabin appeared to be untouched. Will hurried back to the bedroom. Charlie’s suitcase lay on the bed and Will flipped through it. He pulled out several shirts, as well as a belt.
He went to the kitchen and opened the pantry. On the second rack sat an array of spices. Will checked each one, tossing aside the spices he didn’t need.
“Bingo,” he said.
In his hand, he held a small bottle of cayenne pepper. Will had once read about how the spice could help to clot blood. He stuffed the canister into his pocket, then reached to the back of the shelf and grabbed a half-full container of iodized salt. The cayenne pepper supposedly stung far less than the salt upon hitting an open wound. The salt would be option B to stop the bleeding.
Will turned around and went to a cabinet above the sink. Inside, he found a bottle of aspirin, and stuffed it into his pocket. He checked the other bottles, but this was the only pain reliever, so he shut the cabinet and hurried to the door.
Will ran across the muddy courtyard. Charlie was inside the shaking SUV, helping Holly hold down a bucking Dylan.
“He’s coming in and out of shock,” Charlie said. “It’s becoming harder to hold him.”
“How’s the bleeding?” Will asked.
“It’s getting worse,” Holly said.
“All right, well, we’re gonna stop it.”
“How?” Holly asked.
Will set the first aid kit on the seat, then pulled the cayenne pepper out of his pocket.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Holly said.
“It’s the only way,” Will said. “If we don’t stop the bleeding soon…” Will didn’t finish the sentence. He opened the first aid kit and pulled out the bottle of aspirin. “We’ll give him this. Not sure if it’s going to do shit to help with the pain, but it’s all we’ve got.” Will opened the bottle, removing three of the capsules. “Open his mouth.”
Charlie held Dylan down while Holly reached to the boy’s face and peeled his lips apart.
“You have to take these,” Will said. He dropped the pills into Dylan’s mouth. “Make sure he doesn’t spit them out.”
