Midnight Squad: The Grim (56 page)

           
Alhambra and Katy were going to stay with Danika until
the attack started, and then they were going to make their way from the library
to the entrance. The hardest part was up to Janine, Penny, and me. Our job was
going to be to wait for the smoke bombs and pipe bombs to go off. Then Janine
would slip inside me and we’d make our way inside. Once inside we’d log into
the first computer we could find, and then slip a disk in that would let DD
have control of the computer system, and then we could shut down the clones. DD
said we’d be able to have them offline for five minutes. Then they had systems
in place to make them come back online. Danika, Katy, and Alhambra would join
us as we made our way up to the target. The rest would just be a question of
could we move fast enough? It wasn’t a great plan, it had its flaws, but it was
our best chance for a quick knockout.

           
We drove for hours until we made it into D.C. We drove
straight to the target locations. The city was in chaos. Rioting, looting, and
violence were everywhere. It looked like hell on earth. Bodies littered the
street. We finally had to quit driving around the bodies. It was like hitting
big fleshy speed bumps. We made it to the hotel, and thankfully, it was
completely empty. After dropping off DD and Niki, we made our way to the
library. Niki was carrying a deer rifle. DD had a shotgun just in case someone
uninvited walked in.

           
We kept an eye out for enemies. Thankfully, they were so
busy trying to control the city that we just slipped in without drawing any
attention. Danika found a good place to set up. We all had walkie-talkies to
communicate. Alhambra and Katy got ready in the lobby. Katy was carrying a
shotgun. Alhambra chose to remain unarmed. I breathed a lot easier when she
said she wouldn’t use a gun. Thank God Alhambra didn’t like getting her hands
dirty. They would be waiting for our signal to go. Penny, Janine, and I got
ready. Since all our enemies were clones, I felt comfortable handing Katy a
shotgun. The little witch never hesitated to put clones down.

           
Penny had the compound bow, I had two pistols, and some
spare clips. I gave Penny the signal, and she radioed that it was time to
start. Danika started lobbing out smoke bombes. In seconds, white smoke filled
the street. Then we heard the first boom as a pipe bomb exploded. That was our
cue to go.

           
Janine dove into me. My body was ice cold. The clones’
helmets could see heat signatures. With Janine inside me there was no heat
signature. Penny, being a vampire, was always room temperature. We ran towards
the opening of the science building. Moving through the smoke was a little
dangerous. We had to keep from running into any of the clones. Danika was
careful to lob the pipe bombs into prearranged areas so we wouldn’t have to
worry about them. Penny used her ability to echolocate to get us to the
entrance of the building. I strayed a few times and she had to come back and
find me. I kept feeling phantom pains in my arms and legs as a pipe bomb would
go off near one of the clones. With the smoke being so thick, and with us being
invisible to their heat visors, the clones started firing randomly in every
direction. It was hectic, but as long as we were walking down the middle, they
wouldn’t shoot us. Mortars fired in all directions, and a few of the clones
fired their bazookas wildly in the air. The whole outside security detail was
the Rhino model. I was glad we were able to sneak past them, or else they’d
have slaughtered us immediately. Twice I nearly ran right a clone, but we were
finally able to slip into the building without firing a single shot.

           
We got inside and two clones were standing with their
backs to us. It was a Scorpio model, and a Mosquito model. They were staring
out the window trying to look for something, or someone in the smoke. Penny
took careful aim at the Scorpion, and I slipped up behind the Mosquito. Penny
let fly an arrow and it passed through the body armor as if it was a knife
through butter. At the same time, I grabbed the Mosquito and broke it with a
quick, snapping jerk. I felt another phantom pain. It was like the arrow had
gone through me, and now my neck throbbed. I’d almost forgotten how horrible it
was to share the pain with these things, but I set my jaw and forced myself to
fight through it.

           
Janine slipped out of me and helped us look around for a
computer. When we finally found it, Penny slipped the disk in. A few minutes
later Niki’s voice came out on the radio, “Ok, DD says it’s done. The computer
in the clones is shut down. You have five minutes before they come back online.
We waited while the others joined us. It became a sprint from then on. Every
time we went through a door, I’d place one of the shotgun shell mines against
the door. Once it was stuck, we’d move on. We each took turns destroying the
incapacitated clones as we make our way up to the top floor. Once we cleared
the third floor, we stopped finding clones.

           
We kept setting up the mines and moving to the next room.
The five minutes must have ended because we were hearing the twelve gauge
shells discharging. I started feeling ripping pains in my body. The clones were
back online and making their way up to us, but they kept running into our
improvised mines. They’d open a door, the mine would hit the wall, and it would
fire the twelve-gauge shell. The pellets ripped through the door, and tore into
them. We moved the mines all around so that they couldn’t just avoid a portion
of the door. They were taking heavy casualties, and my body felt wrecked.

           
We reached the top floor. When we came out of the door, I
could see
Eisen,
and two Scorpio clones on each side.
I squeezed two rounds off and the bullets went through both clones’ helmets.
They fell to their knees, and then flopped down on their faces. General Eisen
looked pissed.

           
“I could make you all very rich and powerful.” He said,
but his face said that if we took the offer we’d be dead before we got a chance
to enjoy it. We all walked in closer. I raised my pistol. I was just about to
fire a round through his skull when I heard Elizabeth hiss, “Drop your weapon,
and move away from the Jinn.” Elizabeth had a submachine gun in her hands. I
wasn’t sure if she could fire it effectively, but I didn’t want to take the
chance. I didn’t drop the gun, but I did put it away. I clicked my
walkie-talkie on so that Niki and DD could hear that things weren’t going well.

           
Elizabeth gloated, “Well Alhambra, any last words before
I kill you?” My mouth tingled. It tasted like I’d touched my tongue to a
battery. It was a telltale sign that magic was about to be used. It meant
Alhambra was casting a spell. However, before she could use her magic the glass
behind Elizabeth shattered. Red mist exploded out of her chest, and Elizabeth
fell to the ground. “Thanks sis!” I said before unkeying the walkie-talkie.

           
“You better remember this when you’re getting my
Christmas present.” My sister responded. Determination filled her voice. All I
could think was that my family is awesome. I turned to Eisen. He held up his
hands, “No wait!” I lifted my gun and fired a round. It struck him right in the
center of his forehead. The General was dead before he ever struck the ground.
His flesh began withering away until he was nothing but dried skin and bones.

           
Alhambra started cackling, “Oh Joseph! I have to thank
you again. Not only have you killed my mate, the only creature that could
control me. You have given me the means to increase my power. You should have
taken my necklace when you had the chance.
 
I was just going to use you to keep myself on this earth. When you
refused, I split my necklace up. I will be using the pieces to steal all their
souls and use them to patch up the hole that you made by killing Eisen. I’ll
use any souls I don’t need to increase my power. The best part is that I
couldn’t have done it without you. You thought my mate was dangerous because he
wanted to control the world. You don’t know what dangerous is. I don’t want to
control the world, I want to see it burn. Then my lover and I will rule as he
was always meant to.”

           
Lover?
I wasn’t expecting that.
Once Eisen was nothing but dust, I saw Alhambra double over. The hole was
beginning to pull on her. It was trying to drag her down. She stood back up and
grinned,
“Now it begins.”

           
I reached into my pocket and pulled out her necklace,
“No! Now it ends!” I raised my weapon towards her, and walked up until the
barrel was inches from her face. Anger burned across her face, “No! I wanted
those extra souls. I may not be able to take the extra souls, but at least I’ll
get yours. How are you feeling Joseph?”

           
Almost immediately, the necklace began glowing. The
necklace began pulling something deep inside me. She was going to use me to
seal up the hole. As the power clawed at me and pulled me down my vision faded
in and out. Suddenly things just…changed. I was still in the same room, but it
was different. I could see so much more than I ever could before. I looked
around. I could see the terror on my friends’ faces, but I could also see their
souls. I could even see the guardian angels of my friends. They were focused on
protecting and saving my friends. I looked at myself. I could see all the smut
and grime that covered my soul, but I could also see underneath it, and I felt
myself cry. I could see that I was saved. I was the Lord’s, and there was
nothing anyone could do to change it. It was
strange,
I just knew things by looking at them. I turned to face Alhambra. A tall gaunt
man in black robes had his arms wrapped around her. He kissed her, and
whispered sweet nothings to her. I knew immediately when I looked at him who he
was. I was staring into the eyes of Death.

           
Death’s sunken eyes focused on me and he said, “He
thought you could take my place, but I’m not so easily removed.” I felt the
necklace pulling me down. Pain clawed up through me. I was about to be sucked
down. I whispered, “Help me.” I fell to one knee. “Help me please Lord!” I
groaned.

           
“I already have. I gave you a chance. Now are you the man
I think you are, or are you just going to lay down and die?” I looked to my
left. Jesus was sitting on the desk patiently. Death growled, “Stay out of
this! You thought you could replace me with this…monkey. Lucifer was right! I
see that now. You place too much faith in these humans. Now watch as one of
your chosen is crushed.”

I
couldn’t just fall. Too many people were counting on me. I forced myself to
stand. I raised the necklace until it dangled right in front of Alhambra’s
head. I could see the necklace glowing. All of the energy was moving to one
piece, and from there it was going off to seal the hole. I put the barrel of
the pistol against the necklace and forced it against the Jinn's head. She
looked shocked. Her mouth was moving as I pulled the trigger. The back of her
skull exploded. Whatever she was about to say died when she did. Her soul left
the necklace and I guess it sealed the hole, but then there was the backwash.
Energy rebounded and came back through the necklace. It started burning through
me.

Death
raged as his lover fell to the floor. He drew out a scythe and was about to
strike me down. I couldn’t move. It was as if I’d grabbed onto an electric
wire. Power just kept flowing through me. The scythe was inches from my face
when suddenly a sword came out and stopped it cold. Looking into Death’s eyes,
I realized that Death was afraid. Jesus stepped in front of me. His blade was a
thing of beauty. It was almost as long as he was tall, and it had etchings and
designs that covered everything. Death jumped back, “You can’t. I am Death. You
can’t replace me!” Jesus swung the sword across his shoulders and relaxed. He
just oozed confidence, “I can. You forgot who put you in your position. Your
job was to serve God, but instead you’ve started serving yourself. So I’m
taking your power and title, and I’m giving it to someone else.”

Death
roared and tried to strike Jesus down. Jesus slipped past the scythe and drove
his sword deep into Death’s stomach. Death fell onto all fours. He was beaten,
he was broken, and Jesus hadn’t even broken a sweat. I was just in awe.

I
felt Penny latch onto my neck. She was trying to suck out the extra energy from
my body. Janine and Katy were doing all they could to draw out all the power
before it destroyed me. I watched Penny’s hands burst into flames while she
held onto me. The power was about to overwhelm all three of them.

Jesus
lifted his sword and struck Death down. Power started flowing out of the body
and back into Jesus. Jesus looked to me, “Are you ready?” I nodded. Then
everything went white.

I was sitting out on that
same boat up in heaven. Jesus was leaned back with the sword on his lap. “I
have a job for you.” He started polishing his blade. I just sat in awe. Jesus
said, “I need a new horseman. Do you think you’re up for the job?”

           
“No.”

           
Jesus laughed, “That’s precisely why I’m giving it to
you. Death forgot the source of his power, and he quit listening to me for
guidance. Do you remember the story of King Saul?” I nodded and Jesus
continued, “Saul forgot about me, and started thinking he could do it himself.
When he did that, I gave his job to David. Death forgot about me and started
thinking he didn’t need me anymore, so I’m giving his position to you. Remember
I am your God, and remember that there was a Death before you. If you forget
where your power comes from then there will be a Death after you are gone.”