Revenge of the Three (Hand of God) (13 page)

Chapter 37

     Maria stood atop the Tower of the Americas watching the destruction the thing inside
her was causing. It was killing her to see the gnats, frogs and flies swarming throughout the city. People had to have been hurt or even killed, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Not only that, but she was part of it; even against her will, she could not deny her culpability. She didn’t know if Charlie had heard her cry earlier, or even if he was still alive. Was he killed in the desert or by the plagues? She had no way to know.

    
Maria…

     The voice cried out, but not from inside her head but from outside of her. Someone was actually speaking to her.

     Charlie? Where are you? Please help me! I’m trapped, the thing is inside me, he’s killing everything.

     Yes, I know,
she heard Charlie say.
I’m with some people who can help. We can destroy it.

     How will you do that? I don’t know what it’s going to do. I know it will kill me when it’s done with me.

     No. I won’t let that happen. I need to know where you are.

     The
Tower. I’m at the top of the Tower of the Americas. I can see everything from here.
Before she could say anymore, there was a sharp, dizzying pain in her head. It was as if a thunderbolt shot through her brain, almost causing her to black out.

    
You stupid cunt!
The thing said.
You think your boyfriend can save you? I let him reach you so you can watch him die. Him and his group of freak show friends. They are all unnatural creatures.
It hesitated while scanning her mind.
Ooooh. You don’t know what he is! Oh my dear. Your boyfriend is something special indeed. His genes are corrupt. The angels who fell from Heaven came to earth many generations ago, and they took human women as their wives. As a result their children were monstrous freaks, with all sorts of bizarre powers. Charlie is descended from these creatures. You should see the horrible things he can do, or already has done. Your boyfriend is a murderer!

    
Maria didn’t know how to respond. She wasn’t even sure what the voice was talking about. Something about Charlie being part fallen angel and being a murderer. The cops told her he was a murderer too. She didn’t want it to be true, but didn’t know what to think at this point. He’d always been so kind and gentle with her, though there was a lot she didn’t know about him. She didn’t have time think on it further as the sky turned a darker shade of red.

     As the color changed, she could hear people crying from within the city. She shuttered as she began to feel the suffering occurring down below. Another plague was about to begin. She had no idea what,
but figured it would be horrible. She didn’t know all of the plagues, but knew they would continue to get worse. Charlie’s voice still echoed inside her head, and she hoped he would get there soon.

Chapter 38

     I broke contact with Shadoe and stepped away from her. I wasn’t sure if she could see or hear anything that had been said. As I looked around, the rest of the group was staring at me as if I was about to spout some shocking new revelation. They all began to scratch themselves as large, painful boils began to appear. This was the next plague. It must have started while I was talking to Maria.  I began to itch as
well; I saw the boils on my hands and could feel them all over my chest and back.

     “The
Tower,” I said. “She’s on top of the Tower of the Americas.”

     “So you talked to her?” Majors asked.

     “He did. I could hear,” Shadoe said. “It was creepy. That thing is powerful, I could feel it.” She acted as if she didn’t notice the boils. Tough girl. “So what’s the plan?” She asked while turning to me.

     “We go to the tower and fuck that thing up,” I said.

     “And just how do you propose we do that?” Majors asked.

     “With all of us, we can do something.”

     “I’m not getting killed saving your girlfriend, dude!” Rico said as he walked up to me. His pock-marked face looked even worse covered in boils. Even though he was twice my size, I didn’t back away.

     “Then stay here and scratch your ass. I don’t care,” I said.

     “Well maybe you should care,” he stuck his finger less than an inch from my face.

     “You might wanna get out of my face, slick.”

     “Okay, that’s it. Knock it off!” Majors yelled. “We’re on the same team. And Rico, you’re coming along or you’re out, got it?”

     “Whatever dude,” he said as he backed away.

     “I say we just get up there and hit that thing hard and fast; but we have to do it without hurting Maria,” I said.

     “And how do you expect us to do that
?” Shadoe asked. “She’s already dead, you know. You can’t save her. That thing won’t let us.”

     “She’s not dead! I will go up there and take that thing on myself if I have to! So you all can come with me, or stay the fuck here. Anyone tries to mess with me, I will make you wish you were dead. I’ll show you more pain than you ever knew existed!”

     They stood around me wide eyed as I turned and began walking toward the Tower. It wasn’t too far from where we were. I’d reach it in about ten minutes on foot. As I headed toward the Tower, I heard the others walking up behind me. I guess they’d made up their minds but I wasn’t going to wait.

     When I reached the base of the
Tower, I looked up at the huge structure. It was much taller than I’d imagined. The main doors to the lobby were open, so I was able to enter with no problem. The elevator was also working, so I pushed the up button and waited for it to arrive. The rest of the Bastards filed in as I waited.

     “Glad you all decided to join me.”

     “We figured, may as well go out fighting,” Majors said. “Can’t let you have all the fun.” 

     The elevator dinged as we stepped on board. It sped upward and we reached the observation deck in a matter of minutes. We followed Majors out of the elevator who led us to what looked like a maintenance door that led to the roof. It was locked however.

     “You have a key?” I asked.

     “Nope, better.” Majors said. “Rico!” Rico walked up, grabbed the door knob and squeezed. In seconds, it glowed
red-hot. The heat was so intense, I could feel it five feet away. The knob finally fell off and the door swung open to reveal a stairwell.

     “Ok
ay kids,” Majors began. “This is it.”

     We walked up the two flights of stairs and reached the door to the roof. I took a deep breath as I glanced at everyone’s eyes. Fear showed on each of their faces. They were about to go head to head with God in battle, and
they were horrified. I was nervous, but this wasn’t my first tangle with one of the Three. My biggest concern was Maria, which upset me more than anything. In any other circumstance, she would just be collateral damage, like the 70,000 people I had to kill in the Alamodome. Yet because I’d allowed myself to feel something for her, I wanted to beat the Ghost without hurting her. That may not be possible.

     I liked things better when I had no feelings. A year ago I could have killed Maria just as easily as anyone else. While I had no qualms about killing a stadium full of people, I couldn’t stand the idea of hurting her. Whatever I was about to face on that roof, I had no doubt it would change me forever.

Chapter 39

     When we stepped onto the roof, the first thing we saw were antennas, lots of them. There were small and medium sized devices all around the top of the tower, with one huge one in the center. They operated the various communications and entertainment devices in the restaurant, bar and other facilities the Tower housed. I looked around and didn’t see anything other than a magnificent view of the city. The wind was much stronger at this height as well. I would have to watch my step. It would be a quick battle if I got blown off the Tower after my first few steps.

     “Where is she?” Majors asked.

     “I don’t see her. We’ll have to try and walk around,” I answered. The roof went downward at a sharp slant, then there was a railing that went around the edge. I walked carefully down toward the railing. When I felt myself losing my balance, I fell to my butt and scooted myself carefully to the railing. The rest of the Bastards did the same as I did, except for Eli. For some reason he decided to stay on his feet the whole way. Some of them weren’t all the way to the rail yet when he went racing by, almost at a dead run. The roof was too steep for him to slow himself down.

     “Eli! Stop!” Majors yelled. “Fall down to stop yourself, you’re going too fast!”
Eli didn’t listen, and kept moving down the roof, headed right toward me. Since I wasn’t here to be his hero, I stepped aside. He was way too big and moving far too fast for me to even try to stop him. He hit the railing full speed and toppled right over. Shadoe screamed as he plummeted to the ground. Oddly enough, he didn’t yell or scream. Maybe he was a mute, since he’d never spoken a word since I’d been around him. He sure wouldn’t be talking anymore.

     “You asshole! You could have saved him!” Shadoe screamed at me.

     “Are you kidding? That kid was a moose. He’d have taken me right over with him.”

     “Fuck you. I hope your bitch girlfriend dies!”

      I felt like I should have been angry with her, but that would have been counterproductive at this point. We worked our way along the railing. I hadn’t gone far when I saw Maria. She was standing on the edge of the railing looking out at the city. Black smoke was surrounding her and drifting upward toward the sky. She turned in my direction, her face contorted into a twisted smile.

     “Wel
l, Charlie,” She said in that awful, guttural voice. “Glad you could make it.” She looked around at the rest of the group. “Aww, how cute. You brought your little friends too.”

     Michael and Rico ran around me, heading right for her. They both reached her, grabbing each of her arms. Rico put his hand on her face as if he was going to burn her too. Before I could move, she had flung them both off the roof as if they were rag dolls. Gina, who was behind me and Shadoe, and had also been silent so far, had circled round us
and was up along the top of the roof.

     “Is that what you brought to fight me Charlie? These weaklings? I’m insulted.” Maria said.

     Gina fired a lightning bolt from the palm of her hand, striking Maria square in the back. The blast caused Maria to stumble toward the railing but that was it. Gina looked stunned, but went to fire another one. Before she could get it off, Maria had returned fire, shooting her own bolt of lightning. Gina never stood a chance. The bolt hit her in the chest and she instantly burst into flames. She screamed and fell on her face, rolling down the roof and sliding under the railing, then falling to the ground below. That left Majors and me.

     “I got an idea,” he said. “You talk to her, distract her while I try to get close. All I have to do is touch her for a second and she’s a pile of salt. Over and done.”

     “You are not turning her into salt. There has to be another way.”

     “That isn’t your girl no more man. She’s gone. That thing took her a long time ago. She just wasted my entire crew as if they were ants. We’ll be dead too if we don’t do this!”

     “You’re not going to touch her.”

     “I’ll turn your ass into salt
, too, if you don’t get out of my way—” before he could finish, I punched him in the face. I must have got him right on the button since he collapsed, out cold. I thought of throwing him over the railing. Instead I just helped him down and placed him flat on his back.

     “Well
, Charlie, looky there. We’re all alone now. How romantic,” the thing inside Maria said. “Now we can really have some fun.”

Chapter 40

     Maria couldn’t believe she was looking Charlie dead in the eyes. He was a mere thirty feet from her, yet she felt like he was a million miles away. She wanted to run to him, to reach out and grab him. Yet she couldn’t. She remained a prisoner in her own body, held hostage by the Ghost. She watched in horror as
it easily destroyed each of Charlie’s friends, with no regard for the special powers they all seemed to have. She wasn’t sure what Charlie could do, but she hoped that whatever it was, it was enough to would save her.

    
He even killed one of his own friends trying to save her. She’d wished one of them would kill her. Just destroy her body so she would no longer be a part of the Ghost’s destruction. Death would be a welcome release.

    
How touching. Your half-breed boyfriend cares about you. That freak has never cared about anything,
the creature said to her.
Too bad he can’t save you. I will let you watch while I skin him alive.

    
A shiver ran through her as the thing spoke. She had never seen Charlie fight, so she had no idea what he was capable of. Perhaps he really was a killer. If so, that would do him good in this case.

    
Charlie will kill you
, she told the thing.

    
Oh really? Take a look at this.
In an instant, Maria was transported back thousands of years. She saw the beginning of earth and the formation of the planets. Then she saw wars and battles. There was a race of people being held captive in Egypt. She saw the same plagues she’d witnessed earlier. At the end of the plagues, she felt herself floating, drifting high above Egypt. The same black cloud that had been following her was still there, surrounding her. As the cloud spread throughout the land, people began to scream as their first born sons all die before their eyes. She went through other parts of history, all the way through the crucifixion of Christ and to the formation of the early church. There were few instances where she wasn’t striking someone dead, or watching someone die. In the same instant, she was back on the tower.

    
So, now you know who I am. Your pal Charlie doesn’t stand a chance. He is a half-bred abomination. His friends were too. Now, he is all that is left of his kind, and I shall eradicate him for good.

    
Before Maria could respond, the thing began pushing her back within herself. Things around her grew dark and blurry as the world around her began to fade away. It was putting her back to sleep while it carried on its work. She wished it would just kill her, but knew that wouldn’t happen until it was finished.

     If for just one moment
there was a way that she could take control of her body, she would fling herself over the railing and to her death. The thing wouldn’t die, but she would be free. She knew it was totally selfish. One way or another, the thing would destroy Charlie, the entire city, and maybe even more. She didn’t see how Charlie stood a chance. She wouldn’t be able to watch the fight, though. She faded back into the dark as she saw Charlie quickly running toward her.