So that last part was really starting to work up some emotions but, I’m…doing a bit better now. I’ll try my best to get through this last part of it, but be warned it gets really bad here, so no one with a weak heart continue on. Some gore and…and..well, you’ll see.
Xavier banged on the doors, yelling for Ryan, until I quickly pulled him back. “Listen he can deal with them for now, he’s the biggest m**********r out of all of us, I’m sure he’ll be fine. We, however, have to find the others!”, I yelled as I shook him.
“Ok, ok..I..I’m good.”, He said, shaking his own head trying to calm himself. “Let’s go to wherever they are and kick those cultists’ a*s.”
“Hell yeah!” I shot back, doing my best to force a smile. We turned around to see the rest of the room that we had been forced into. It was, for lack of a better word, purified. It appeared to be sterile, no grime, no dust. It was eye bleedingly white, except for the four evenly placed tables that sat in the middle of the room. We were pretty stunned by the sudden change, seeing as the house and temple were clearly rundown to at least some degree. It had the feel of a waiting room but, not for before an examination. We were confused, to say the least, this was very much not following the tone of the rest of the building. We suddenly realized the yelling and scuffling, from behind the door we’d come from, Ryan was fighting a losing battle. We ran down the hall towards a second pair of double doors. We put our ears up and heard Tom and the members laughing, slowly getting closer and closer. I looked at Xavier and whispered “One..Two…Three!” We threw open the door just in time to smack Tom straight in the face, blood starting to gush out of his nose. “What the…” was all he got out before I charged him and cracked my fist against his temple, sending him quickly crumpling to the ground.
The other three cultists, who at the very least seemed closer to our age, leaped at us. Raising their bloodied knives above their heads, bearing down on us. Xavier took a knife to the shoulder, grunting as fell to a knee. He took a second as the cultist laughed at him, and to all of our amazement, kicked back up from his knee and slammed the cultist right in the gut. They both went toppling onto the ground. While this was going on, the other two cultists had decided on me as their prey. The first one took a clumsy step towards me, making it easy to just sidestep the stab. I stepped in close, shoving him back hard, and sending him right over the top of Xavier and his cultist. He fell back hard, slamming his head into the ground and reduced to quiet moaning. I started to smile when a sharp pain shot through my side. I turned to see the other cultist sticking the knife in my side and brandishing a wicked smile, at least I think he was, across his mutilated face. I grabbed his arm and ripped away as I turned my body away. Which ended up not being a good move. The knife felt like it tore even more, but the cultist was now without a blade. I leaned back the other way hard, falling down on him and sending us to the ground as well. As we wrestled, I peeked a look at Xavier and saw him mutilating his cultist’s face worse than it already was. Mine decided to knee me while I was distracted, and sent me off him and onto the ground. I yelped in pain as the knife, dug further into my side. I heard a clang come from next to me, and my eyes shot open at my own stupidity, my knife from earlier. I had completely forgotten about the knives we took from the cultists in the other room.
I reached out for the knife and tried to grab its hilt, but it was just out of reach. The one on top of me rolled me on my back and started to strangle me to death. Closer…closer..closer..and there my fingertips pulled it back to me and grabbed it by the hilt fully. I shot the knife out, planting it firmly in his throat. I nearly puked when I pulled it out, blood squirted across my face, covering my eyes. I quickly wiped it off and jumped to my feet to see Xavier still pounding in his guy’s face, it was pretty disturbing since the guy was no longer moving and probably hadn’t been for a while. I stepped up to him yelling, “Xavier, chill out he’s dead already.” I pulled him off and threw him back on the ground. He was breathing hard; a crazy look sewn in his eyes. I picked him up off the ground and held him steady. He assured me he was back in with reality and we walked over to the third cultist to see if he was going to get back up. I knelt down to check his pulse. His pulse is fine, I thought, his breathing isn’t even shal… The previously incapacitated cultist, snatched me by my ankle; his eyes wild with anger. I screamed and tried to pry his hand off as his nails cut into me. Xavier quickly hopped into the air and planted his heels firmly in his face. That was even worse than the blood from earlier, it was as if his head were a pumpkin. It smashed in deep, spraying blood and bone fragments up onto Xavier pants and his boots. He stood a good 4 inches taller than me, easily giving off a menacing picture as he stood on the cultist’s head. I went to stand up and he turned with a slight grin on his face; hope in his eyes.
That’s when it…happened, the last straw. The crack of a gun was the last thing he heard. I tried not to heave. I couldn’t believe it, Xavier now stood with the smile gone and his eyes staring into the abyss…I was beyond horrified. He dropped to his knees…then to his face. On the back , a gaping hole now existed. He collapsed to his knees and fell on to his face revealing, the b*****d Tom, laying up with his gun. He was shaking and his face was pale, blood covered his lower face from the nosebleed and the cut on his head wasn’t doing him any favors. He dropped the gun and fell back to the ground. I charged him, taking my knife as I went, jumping down on top of him and going to town on him. The things I did to his face were horrifying…I’d lost it, I hit my breaking point. I tore his face apart screaming; crying.
After I was done his face resembled that of…well, it didn’t really resemble much of anything. My fists were bleeding, pretty bad too. The knife blade had snapped off, so I.resorted to fists. I ripped off part of his cloak, seeing as he didn’t really need it now, and used it to wrap up my still shaking fists. I looked up to see two more doors with “Sheep” written across in red paint. “That must be where they are!”, I yelled hopingly. How was I to know that the small hope I had, was soon to be crushed once again. I ran for the doors throwing them open only to see…nothing. Of course, I thought, why would they leave the lights on? The room I entered felt so large and cavernous and confirmed what I thought that horrid smell was. This darkness felt as if it were pushing down on me from all around. I think I was going crazy as I began to monologue out loud, “There has to be a way to better see in here, perhaps there’s something on the walls, if I can find them. It’s got to be he…OH, here’s the walls. Hm, feels warm and…soft? Strange..well at least it’s better than nothing. Now, if I could find a switch that would be nice. Come on, come on, where is..AH! There it is. Alright well I’ll just turn on the light and…Voila, let there be light. Now let’s see where…they..are…oh God, that’s disgusting.” I’m going to vomit, oh no..that’s just…ugh I can feel it in my gut, I thought. That was it I lost it all over the floor. It was too much this time.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, “What the hell is wrong with these people!” That’s when I saw what was left of John and Austin. John’s skull had been split in half; Austin’s mouth was practically gone, leaving deep fissure like scars all across his face. They had tribal markings where there was space left and scattered scorch marks all over. Wait, why is there blood on my hand..does that mean… what did I touch?!, My mind raced, Oh here comes the puke again, I just rubbed my hand across another man’s ripped open body and…all those entrails. Alright calm down it’s fine, it’s…footsteps? No, no, no, NO, just stop crying..no…God no. I couldn’t help it yet, I stood up and charged the door, tears streaming once again blasting right through it and into…Ryan.
Ryan was standing there, holding Tom’s gun. “Ryan I’m so glad to see you!” I yelled as I embraced him. “Yeah same to you, buddy.” He, for once, grinned. “Listen I threw them for a loop back there, took out three or four of theirs but, there’s a lot of them. However, with this gun I might be able to clear a path for you.”
“Why just me?” I questioned.
“Well I’m not as good at running as I am with shooting, so I’ll cover your back and meet up with you later.” He explained.
“But what if you don’t make it?” I asked.
“Dude, I’ve made it here with just a knife but, now with this gun I’ve got a way better chance. Wait…where’s the others and that piece of s**t traitor?” He said as he looked behind me. I frowned, the tears coming back, and quietly said “John and Austin are…dead. I was too late. Xavier is behind you, he’s the one with his face on the ground. Tom shot him with the gun you’re holding, and he doesn’t exactly have a face anymore.”
“Woah that was you who did that..remind me not to mess with you.” He said trying to lighten the mood. “I’m sorry though for what happened to the others man.”
I looked up and said “It’s okay, we both lost friends tonight. Let’s make sure though, that what happened here, won’t happen again. I still have my phone but, no reception. All we need to do is get up to the main floor and I should be good.”
He looked at me and smiled “That’s all? Man you make it sound easy.”
We flew down the hall with Ryan in the lead. The thin metal doors were just being opened as we came at them. Ryan let off a few shots sending the cultists for the floor, in hopes of dodging the bullets. A couple of them caught some on the way down. We flew through the doors and made a run for the way we originally came in from, shoving as many of them down as we could. When we got close Ryan spun around and slowly backed up towards the door, whilst attempting to keep them off of us. I ran for the door, threw it open and kept running through the passageway all the way back to the bookcase. Except, when I got there, it was of course closed back up. I ran my hand down the walls as I listened to the gunshots come to a stop and heavy footsteps bound down the hallway after me. I whipped out my phone using that as a small light, found the switch, flipped it and shoved myself out the hole the second I could. I started to run back out to the foyer while I dialed 911. As I put my phone up to my ear, I could hear Ryan getting closer, but he wasn’t shooting. “Damn!” I said to myself as I continued to run, “He must be out of bullets.”
The operator finally picked up, “Hello, please state…” was all she got out before I yelled back “Me and my friend are stuck in a house with psychopaths chasing me, I need help now!”
“Understood sir, where are you located.” she responded.
“I’m out in the forest near Wyoming State University. Driving down the road you’ll see a small dirt path on the right, head up that and you’ll be here at the house soon after.”
“We are sending out squad cars to your location, we will also alert your college’s on-campus police as well. They should be there in five to ten minutes.” She hurriedly said. I hung up and ran for the front door to try and open it again but, to no avail. I heard Ryan backing up, pointing his empty gun at them threatening them. They must have caught on, cause he quickly ran out, flipping the switch as he jumped out. He threw the gun down the hallway, with a dull thud and groan as a response. The bookcase closed and I ran back in as he slid down to the ground. “Run…hide, somewhere…fast.” He said in between gasps. I refused to leave him, but he shoved me off, screaming at me to run. Reluctantly, I did what he asked and ran back to the foyer looking for windows only to discover why we couldn’t see inside earlier. All of them had been boarded up tight and, as much as I tried, there was no getting them off. I heard the bookcase opening back up. I wanted to help but, a glance back saw that Ryan was picking up a tall candlestick from the mantle, getting ready for the swarm. A group of cultists jumped out from behind the bookcase and ran at him, as he walked back away from the stairs I was hiding on.
Then my last domino fell, my final pillar of support crumbled. He thrust out too far and stepped too close. The cultist out front side-stepped the thrust, grabbing the stick and pulling himself in close. A harsh arc of his knife ended in Ryan’s gut, sending a large gasp out from Ryan. His eyes, tired and desperate, now full of dread and realization. Realization that he wouldn’t live. He fell to his knees as the killer ripped out the knife, a dastardly smile forming as he cocked back his arm. Time seemed to slow, the knife hurtling in a decisively final swing, seeking for blood. Ryan began to cry, tears rolling down his cheeks. He sobs were cut short…the blade had..the blade had found its mark. His neck was torn open, blood spew. The cultist laughed, Ryan gargled and I tried not to scream. My tears were cascading as I got up and tried my hardest to run up the stairs. I tripped as I went up, caring little of staying quiet at this point. I found a room at the end of the hall, ran inside, shutting the door and sliding down. I began to sob uncontrollably.
Trying to recover, for at least a little while, I pushed some boxes in front of the door in case they made it here. That’s when the sound of car sirens approached the house and all I thought was, yes I’m saved. Loud thumping came from the front door and began to resonate throughout the house. I continued to sob as I heard footsteps and wood being splintered. Gunshots and yelling erupted from downstairs. The door flew open as a large cultist member stood there. My tears were blinding me but, I still tried to get up and get ready to fight. He laughed, his face contorting horrifically from the mutilations. He slowly walked up to me, clear cuts and bruises showing, smiling with pure malice in his one good eye. I swung and was caught mid swing, he twisted my arm hard. I fell to my knees screaming. He picked me up and slammed me hard against the wall, silencing my mix of sobbing and screaming. He now had no humor as he raised his knife. We had toppled the cult and he would kill me for it, he knew he was already dead as it was. The barking of a gun, the dropping of a knife and a body, revealed my salvation. The anger left his face as the cold abyss took him into its embrace. He had been shot in the chest from behind by a cop. I tried to walk but, collapsed, the adrenaline began to disappear..
In the minutes that followed I was escorted outside in time to see the remaining cultists being packed into separate cops cars. I sat there in the back of an ambulance with a blanket on. That’s when I noticed a window on the side of the house was smashed with glass laying in the yard. Then a cop walked up out of the crowd and practically beelined for me. He began to cough as he got close. The man spoke with a familiar voice as he checked out the inside of the ambulance, “You are no sheep, and neither were your friends, but you can’t be one of my wolves.”
“What did you just say?!” I yelped, my heart dropping. He chuckled, a smile forming under the brim of his hat. It had to have been Mirg, he didn’t look up at me but, there was no mistaking that voice. He patted me on the back and walked back into the crowd without saying another word, leaving me frozen, as the paramedic came back around in response. It was a cold, sleepless night and it wouldn’t be the last.