Ancient Awakening (The Ancient) by Matthew Bryan Laube
*****
Ann and Mike had seen the men battling the demon. It appeared to be an entire SWAT team. Vanessa had been about to toss something at them but had been struck by machine gun fire. The guns did not seem terribly effective against the giant demon woman but she did drop whatever she had been carrying and step back.
Ann had told Mike that the main exit of the hospital was straight ahead, right beyond the huge angry demon lady, who had demonstrated a strong dislike for Mike's traveling companion. They had been about to turn and try another exit when the gunfire caught their attention.
“Sounds like back-up has finally arrived,” Mike muttered from his hiding place around the corner.
“About time,” Ann agreed.
The bodies of the wolves were everywhere. Most were missing their heads, while some were still attached, but split like ripe pumpkins.
“Damn, Miller did all this with an axe?” Mike whispered, clearly impressed.
“The man loves his work,” Ann whispered back.
Some distance in front of them, Vanessa backed away from the machine gun fire, covering her face. She picked up something and began to drag it behind her. It was the demon Mary, looking quite the worse for wear. Her face and chest had been torn apart by gunfire. Miller's work? Maybe the SWAT team’s? Impossible to tell. Vanessa squatted down and then jumped straight up, smashing through the ceiling and disappearing onto the floor above. The police officers were driven back as the ceiling caved in.
“Now!” They ran forward, before the dust had even begun to settle. In front of him, Mike could see the afternoon sunlight streaming in through what was left of the front lobby.
As he ran to the exit, one of the bodies on the ground moved. It was Miller! Mike skidded to a halt next to him. “Ann! Wait!” Miller looked terrible. His face was covered in blood, and his neck seemed to be at an odd angle. He was alive though, his strong blue eyes focusing on Mike as he moved closer.
Miller tried to raise an arm, as if saying hello, but it flopped limply back to his side.
“Miller, are you alright?” Stupid question. Mike noticed the blood coming from his ears. “Can you hear me?” Miller shook his head slowly. “Ann, help me drag him out of here.”
The ground shook again. Mike had a feeling their time was running short. He wasn’t sure why, but it was clear in his mind that he had to get Ann away from here.
“God, is he still alive?” Ann asked.
“Yep. He’s supposed to heal fast right? Isn’t that what he was bragging about when I first met him?”
“Maybe.” Ann glanced back nervously the way they had come. She grabbed an arm and began to pull Miller’s body towards the exit. Mike followed suit, stopping for a second to recover Miller’s bloody axe from the floor in front of them.
They dragged Miller forward as fast as they could manage. Wreckage and bodies were everywhere. There had been a hell of a fight. After the carnage, the sunlight might have been the most beautiful thing Mike had ever seen. They approached the front doors.
At the doors were several members of the SWAT team, who raised their weapons the moment they saw them.
“Freeze!” one man shouted, the edge of panic in his voice clear to Mike’s ears.
“Do as they say, Ann,” Mike whispered, “I imagine these guys are a bit jumpy.”
“And we aren’t?” Ann shot back, raising her hands. Mike laid Miller down on the floor and followed. Two men approached, assault rifles raised.
“Officer Mike Samson,” Mike said, “If you let me reach into my pocket I can show you my badge.” At the sound of Mike’s voice, the men seemed to relax a bit.
“You look human.”
“Thanks,” Ann quipped, “we try.”
“We are not…” How should he put it? “Infected,” Mike tried. “We’re survivors. There may be a few more back there. We could only carry our friend here.” Mike pointed to Miller’s still body. One of the men, a tag on his chest reading “Johnson,” gave Miller a quick once-over.
“This man needs a hospital…” he said, catching himself and then lamely adding, “Another hospital…medical attention.”
“Yes, but I believe this man and this young lady may have information as to what’s going on in this building,” Mike responded. He glanced back at Ann, trying to look reassuring. “Of course, I don’t think the lady is at any fault. We just need to get them someplace safe away from here, where maybe we can work out some answers.”
Johnson looked at Mike and the other two in his party. “Ok, we can bring them over to the precinct. Do you think this is a containment issue? Biohazard, I mean?” Johnson asked.
“I don’t think so.” If he was wrong he would be really screwed by now. “I’m not sure…There’s another group of survivors downstairs. If you can get a team of men together, well-armed, I can lead you to them.”
“Mike, no!” Ann cried. “You can’t go back there. Come with us. You can’t go back down there with those…things.”
Mike again turned to face her. He could tell she was breaking. Whatever last bit of strength had been holding her together was dwindling.
“I can’t, Ann. You were right earlier. I can’t just leave. It’s my duty to help those people down there, to work out the truth, to see what’s going on here. I might be the only one that can now.” Mike glanced over at Miller. His eyes were still open but the sharp focus from before was gone.
“No, I was wrong,” Ann sobbed, “Sometimes,” she fell to her knees, “Sometimes the truth is so much worse. Come with us. You’ve done enough. Please,” she pleaded. It was tempting.
Mike bent down to look at her eye-to-eye. It was funny, he had only known Ann for a few hours but they already had a tight bond. They had been through hell together.
“I can’t do that Ann. Look,” Mike reached into his back pocket and dug a business card out of his wallet. “This is my contact info. When we get through this, I’m going to come looking for you. We’ll work out what’s really going on. Me and you. I promise, OK?” Ann sniffled and tried to put on the sarcastic smile she used when she wanted to sound tough. She couldn’t quite pull it off, but managed a weak “OK” and took the card. She looked paler and was shaking quite a bit.
They were separated then. Mike and the man named Johnson went to find his superior. Ann, with the help of two other SWAT members, brought Miller out to a squad car. Mike didn’t pay attention to the car or where it went. He was focused on getting up the nerve to go back into the hospital and rescue those people. It was no small task.
Captain Habermathy was the man in charge. Mike knew the face, but had never spoken to him. The Captain nodded to him as Mike approached.
“You Samson?” he asked.
“Yes sir.”
“You called this in?”
“I did, although I’m still not sure what to call it.”
“Any idea what the hell is going on here?”
Mike ran it over possible answers in his mind. You see, sir, there are these demons that are reborn every couple hundred years that take over people’s bodies, and, oh yeah, eat people. Mike didn’t think it was the way to go.
“Not sure sir. People inside seem to be infected with some sort of disease. Makes them extremely violent.” That was a start. Was it lying if the truth was this crazy? “There are people down in the basement that are not infected, but guarded by,” Mike paused, “some extremely dangerous people.”
Habermathy gave Mike a strong look. It was clear the Captain wasn’t completely sure what to make of Mike’s story.
“I can believe the dangerous part. I’ve lost contact with almost every officer that’s stepped through the front door. What can you tell me about the inside?”
“It’s a madhouse sir. Bodies everywhere. We searched the first and second floors ourselves and didn’t find any other survivors, but the group in the
“Are these other survivors hostages? What do these ‘extremely dangerous people’ want with them?”
Mike didn’t hesitate. “Food, sir. They plan to eat them.”
The captain just stopped, stunned. Mike didn’t blame him. But while he had the guy on the ropes, he might as well finish him off.
“Captain, there is one other thing. There are things inside that I can only describe as monsters. I don’t know if that’s how this infection works or what. I know they used to be people, doctors and nurses, but they aren’t anymore. I know it’s hard to believe…”
The captain seemed to recover. “Less hard to believe than you might think. You’re not the first person to talk to me about monsters today.”
Mike let out a little sigh of relief. He had expected to be called crazy. Johnson reappeared by Mike’s side, passing him a bulletproof vest.
“Here, this might help,” he said.
“Thanks.”
“OK, you and Johnson here will push a second wave into the building. Get to those survivors and then get out. I’ve already called the National Guard in on this and the FBI. At some point very soon, things are going to get out of our control. Until then we need to save as…”
He was cut off by sudden screams from the front door. Three officers dashed out in a full run. The last one out the door only made it a few feet before bursting into white flames. The noise that came from the burning man was drained of humanity. It only lasted seconds before the man stopped running, crumbling into a pile of charred bone.
Everyone seemed to freeze in place, horrified.
“Good God!” someone said. It may even have been Mike. He wasn’t sure. Then, the front doors to the hospital exploded, sending glass and metal flying in all directions. Something large, black, and snake-like was suddenly in front of them. It had a huge head like that of an alligator and the body of a snake. Two thick arms jutted out at its sides. It coiled and leapt into the air, unfolding massive red wings. Mike was sure that it was another of the Fallen, and based on the two large bleeding gaps in its trunk, it was Keith. Mike’s shotgun had left its mark after all.
For a moment, it hovered above them all like a dragonfly on steroids, and then spit a trail of clear fluid from its mouth, which splashed out in an arc through the officers.
Mike was one of the first to recover. “Don’t let it touch you!” He grabbed Johnson’s arm as the spray covered a car in front of them. Several drops hit the captain’s back as he jumped aside. There was a long pause as nothing happened.
“Did it just piss on us?” Johnson asked.
Suddenly, flames burst from everything that the fluid had touched. The car, less than ten feet away from Mike, exploded into a ball of fire, tossing the three men into the air.
For several moments there was mass confusion. People were screaming and running. Some were on fire and others had been thrown to the ground by the explosion. Someone had the good sense to shoot at the demon. Mike, for his part, was winded. His ears rang from the explosion and he could feel new burns on his arms. Johnson was trying to help him up. The nearby screams made any sort of communication between the two men impossible. Johnson had him and was pulling him away from something. Getting to his feet, Mike managed to glance over and see the captain, completely engulfed in flames. Thrashing about blindly, his flesh was dissolving.
“Jesus,” Mike stammered. He had thought Vanessa’s transformation was the most terrifying sight a man could see! Turned out there was always room for improvement.
Above, the demon darted forward with impressive speed, ignoring the chaos below. Apparently, it had someplace to be. Mike had one good guess where that was. It still wanted Ann. But why?
Pandemonium swarmed as Mike watched the form of the monster disappear from sight. Someone was attempting to extinguish the flaming car behind him. Several officers were firing guns at where the demon had been. Johnson was trying to say something.
“What?” Mike asked.
“That thing will light up the city. We have to stop it.”
Mike didn’t answer for a long moment. The truth of what he was going to have to do dawned on him slowly.
“No. You need to go rescue the hostages. They’re down in the basement. First stairwell, make a right, big storage area. You can’t miss it.” Mike began to walk forward. He stopped at a nearby police car that was still in one piece. Someone had left a shotgun on the hood.
“What are you going to do?” Johnson asked.
“I know where that thing is going and I think I know the one man who might be able to stop it. Besides, there are more of those things in the hospital.” Mike eyed a motorcycle a few yards away. It was far enough from the fray that he could get it out of here quickly. He dashed over to it and found the key still in the ignition. The bike came alive with a growl. He gave Johnson one last look over his shoulder. “Good luck, Johnson.”
“You too,” Johnson said. “You’re going to need it.”