The Warrior's Beckoning (11 page)

The next monitor displayed the entrance to the checkpoint room in which I now stood. I watched as shadows moved into the room, and the scene on the display vanished. I scanned the room, watching as all the loose papers and overturned furniture returned to their original places. Personnel faded in, moving about the room. Two security guards stood over me, watching the monitors as if they did not see me. One leaned over, moving through me. Security guards moved swiftly through each room, gathering all the people they could. They skirmished with the shadow creatures but remained intent on evacuating the survivors.

A scream echoed from the connecting corridor, and a man burst into the room. “Something’s coming!” he cried out. A dark tendril pierced his chest. He shrieked, trembling as his skin turned gray. Soon, his body fell lifeless. The guards drew their pistols, firing into the dark mass. It reached for each of them, draining them of their lives…their souls. Throughout the struggle, the room returned to the state in which I had found it, with overturned chairs and scattered files, but now it also included the bodies and the dark mass looming over them. It was there with me.

I stood quickly, my gaze fixed on the dark mass. A thousand whispers emerged from it, followed by an echoing laughter. My EMF meter beeped rapidly in my pocket, and my heart began to beat erratically. My breathing followed the same pattern. The dark mass moved to me, stretching its tendrils to wrap around my body. I felt its cold touch as it encircled me. The tormented memories of its victims flooded my mind as it pulled me into the air. A rush of sorrow, anger, hatred, and rage all swept over me.

What followed was a feeling I had never felt, not even in my worst nightmare. It was a coldness…so cold I felt my spirit begin to slip as it pierced deeper and deeper into me. Closing my eyes, I focused
my energy, strengthening my aura. In response, the hair on my body stood straight out and a surge of energy flowed through me.

The darkness weakened its grip on me, and I focused more intently on the love I had had and the love that I knew. Slowly, bit by bit, the dark mass faded, as if erased by the energy I channeled into it.

The screams became whispers, and the whispers became echoes, until there was only the sound of my heart. I fell to the floor, bracing my forward fall with my hands. Though I tried, I could not push myself back up. I could hardly move. The battle had exacted a toll—one I could scarcely afford. Trembling, I tried to push myself up once more, only to fall forward again.

The girl—I had to save her. I had to get up. But my energy was spent. I gave up the fight and passed out on the floor.

Though my eyes closed into darkness, they opened to a bright light. I watched as the victims of the dark mass approached me, forming a circle around me. “Thank you,” they said, leaning over to place their hands upon my shoulders. A sensation of comfort cleansed me as they released their touch. They turned toward the light and walked to it. Soon they all vanished, save for one.

She turned to me, smiling. “Warrior, there is another in need. She awaits you,” she said, pointing to the monitor in the center. As I looked up, the light vanished. The room returned to its former chaotic state, though the bodies still remained. The monitor showed a small office with a woman crying in the corner. The door was barricaded, but it shook and trembled. Something was trying to break in.

I stood quickly to read the label on the monitor. It was the administrative assistant’s office. Using my flashlight, I studied a map posted beside the desk. A quick run and I would be there within minutes. I darted out the door, running to the right and through the lobby. I switched my head lamp on, navigating with ease through the dark rooms. Another right and straight down a hall.

Waiting rooms lined the hallway. There was a maintenance closet to the left. The door opened before I passed it, and a metal pipe fell out, about the size of a staff. A useful weapon. I picked it up and ran forward.

I broke into a large room, with three offices lining the far wall. I stopped, scanning the area. My EMF reader beeped, just after a tingle crawled across my neck, and two shadow creatures lunged from the darkness, circling me slowly. Holding the pipe tightly, I braced myself, awaiting their attack. The closest one lunged forward. Spinning quickly, I swung the pipe toward the creature, focusing the entire force on one end. The creature screeched, knocked to the ground.

The other creature charged. Throwing the pipe into the air with a spin, I rolled past the creature, catching the pipe before it hit the floor. I swung hard at the creature’s knees and sent it forward, shrieking. Both creatures retreated into the darkness. I stood, looking at the office door in the center, approaching it slowly.

I read the nameplate in the door and called out to the woman. “Christina? Are you in there? You’re safe now,” I said reassuringly. A moment later, the door opened a crack.

“Who are you?” the woman asked timidly.

“Someone who cares,” I said, smiling. She opened the door wider, motioning for me to enter as she stepped back. She sat at her desk, and I entered her office.

“She said you would come,” the woman said.

“Do you know where she is?” I asked, standing beside the desk.

“No. She hasn’t been seen since the attack,” said the woman, looking up at me.

“Do you know what’s going on here?” I asked, motioning to the darkness outside.

“We were researching night terrors and schizophrenia. We found that such subjects typically have some telepathic capabilities, though most go untrained,” she said as she turned her
attention from her computer to me. “When we ran tests to find subjects with the strongest telepathic abilities, we found her. Our researchers developed a means of channeling dark forces into her mind. This allowed them to project the symptoms linked to both disorders.”

“I’m guessing this was done for its tactical applications?” I said.

“Yes. We thought the chance to debilitate an enemy leader without incurring a single casualty on our side was worth the risk, but we underestimated the cost.” She looked at the door.

“What cost is that?” I asked, following her gaze.

“No one anticipated that the dark mass we tapped into would manifest in a semicorporeal form.”

“And start slaughtering everyone?” I asked quietly.

She nodded. “Now, I’m caught in the middle of this, fighting things I thought existed only in people’s minds.” She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”

“Well, I’m kind of glad. I’ve always wanted to do something like this, at least once,” I said with a soft chuckle.

She smiled shyly.

“I need to get you out of here. I found another survivor, a woman. She’s resting in my car. You two need to get to the nearest hospital. Another hospital, not this place,” I ordered, turning to the door.

“I will.” She followed me to the door.

“Stay close to me,” I said as I opened the door slowly. Shining my flashlight around the dark room, I stepped beyond the doorway. She reached for my hand, and I took it gently and held it for a moment. We ran down the winding halls and corridors. The hair on my body stood straight up, though I saw nothing amiss. I knew, though, that we were being watched. Something was near.

I stopped as we neared the side entrance. The woman continued toward the door. Unhooking my keys from my belt, I tossed them to her. “
Go
! Take my car, and get her and yourself to a hospital,” I said.

A rush of cold air pushed from behind me, and the woman turned. Her eyes widened, and her skin turned pale. I felt a cold presence looming just over my shoulder. Without a shudder or hint of fear, I looked into her eyes, my eyes pleading. “
Now
!” I yelled as I spun backward, driving my elbow into whatever loomed behind me.

The blow struck a cold mass. With a shriek, the creature responded, charging forward. It lashed out for Christina as she opened the door, but she slipped through. The creature grabbed the handle and began to pull back on the door. Screaming, she resisted, and she got away.

I charged the creature, ramming my shoulder into its back. It fell forward against the door. The creature itself was a bit taller than I, a little over six feet tall. It was massive, but not as strong as it appeared. Placing my hand on the back of its head, I pushed forward with all my might and repeatedly drove its head into the door, harder and harder with each blow, denting the metal door.

The creature dissipated, but the sensation of something looming nearby did not. Turning quickly, I locked stares with several more creatures. At first I counted five of them, but the numbers grew so quickly that I soon lost count…it seemed endless. I heard my car engine crank and the sound of gravel kicking up as the women drove off quickly.

They were safe. All I had to worry about now was the battle at hand.

I turned to face the creatures at an angle, folding the tips of my fingers. I placed my right hand level with my waist and my left hand close to my left breast. This was my natural battle stance.

Flow. Flow as a poem, each move preparing for the next, leading to victory
. The first creature charged. The second followed. They did not all move at once but came at me singly or in pairs, toying with me. I remained expressionless, without conscious intent. Reflexes are not voluntarily activated. They cannot be controlled. They bring action without thought, without concentration. When the first creature
drew within a few inches of me, I spun quickly, grabbing its wrist and turning its arm hard. The creature shrieked as I pulled it to the floor snapping its arm back and stomping its neck. The second creature lashed out at my back. Crouching, pushing back against the creature, I grabbed its wrist and pulled it forward. It landed on top of the other creature, and I kicked its neck.

Standing, I turned to the other creatures. They remained still, watching me.

I was still heavily outnumbered. I bowed my head.
May the Lord be my strength
. I raised my head once more. Focusing all of my energy throughout my body, I roared and charged them. In a blur, I plowed into the creatures. One was knocked to the floor, bringing down those behind it.

Those on the side turned to me as I spun bringing the side of my hand into one creature’s neck. Ducking as the creature on my left reached for me, I slammed an open palm into its gut, rising quickly to wrap my arm around its neck, pulling up and snapping its neck. The creatures in front of me recovered, and I spun around again, raising my leg in a side kick and striking its chest. Pausing, I studied the creatures that now surrounded me.

Now I wasn’t merely outnumbered, but I had no ground in which to maneuver. As one, the creatures lashed out at me, sinking their cold claws into my flesh…tearing into my soul. I felt myself collapsing, my sight beginning to fade. I began to fade. It felt as if I’d slipped into a dream, a dream that grew dimmer and dimmer.

I heard a voice cry out in the distance, followed by gunfire. “Move in!”

The creatures shrieked as they were struck with heavy gunfire. But it was all happening so far away from me, so distant…or was it I who was distant? Where was I?

I was on the floor, and a man in Kevlar armor and a white uniform knelt over me. “Can you hear me?” he said, placing two fingers against my neck.

I answered with a blank stare, my gaze falling to his side, where three other men in the same uniform approached. They picked me up, and I blacked out.

I slipped into a nightmare in which I stood in a decimated field. Shadows crept all around me, and the cold air took on a life of its own. Cries echoed from every direction. In the center of the field was a hole filled with darkness. Shadows emerged from it, spanning in every direction. The hole grew…slowly, but it grew. Laughter emerged from the hole, sinister and filled with a cold timbre.

Then the scene before me went black.

I awakened on a small table in an operating room. A man, perhaps the one I had seen before, stood beyond a heavy glass door. I sat up, sliding off the bed and onto my feet. My flashlight still hung from my hip.

Approaching the door, I called out to the guard. Turning, he opened the door. “That was close,” he said, standing to the side to allow me passage.

“Thank you,” I said as I walked past him.

“I’d ask how you’re feeling, but we have no time to chat. I’ll take you to the chief,” he said, stepping in front of me. We proceeded to the next room. The doors were barricaded, and four guards sat in the center. It seemed to be a prep room for the OR. We moved through the room and down the hallway. Four rooms lined the hallway, with an injured guard lying in each one on rows of chairs lined up into makeshift beds.

Down the hall and into the next room, we entered an armory. A stern middle-aged man immediately met my gaze. Motioning me to approach, he began to speak. “So you’re the one she called,” he said in a voice that demanded respect.

“I don’t even know who
she
is,” I said, looking at the folders scattered on the table before me.

“You will. I’ve collected all the information I could about her. You’ll find everything about her, down to her shoe size, in these folders.”

I pulled a picture from the first folder. It was
her
…

“We need to get down to business,” he said sharply, placing his hands on the table and leaning forward.

“Of course,” I said, setting the picture down and looking into his eyes.

“I’m sure you know what we were doing here, so, I’ll skip the unnecessary details. We had a massive containment breach shortly after the dark energy was channeled into her. Soon after that, we lost control over the main lab. We managed to evacuate the lab personnel, but the guard assigned to extract her was killed when he touched her. After that, dark creatures began to appear all over the place. Behind this room is an emergency bunker where we placed nonsecurity personnel.” He motioned behind him. Then he looked at a door to my left.

“Why do I get the feeling there’s something bad about that room?” I asked, following his gaze.

“That’s where the dark mass was kept,” he said, bowing his head. “I’ve held up here with a containment team to ensure that it doesn’t get out.”