Edge of End (19 page)

“
Is the fog poisoned or
something?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“
No,” Malcolm replied
idly.

“
At least we know where to
go,” I said.

“
Shhh,” Malcolm hissed.
“Listen carefully for the sound of flapping wings.”

“
Wings?” that was
Elizabeth, who was leaning against me her hand resting on my
shoulder. “There are flying things in that mist?”

Malcolm didn’t have to answer with
words, his eye said yes.

“
Yeah, of course,” I
showed my displeasure. But then why was I surprised? I had lived my
life in a wrong way although I’d been told of the judgment awaiting
me afterlife, still I had gone on with pursuing my own whim, and
here I had winged demons, eerie dogs, one-eyed old man complaining
around on everything Elizabeth and I did, and a beautiful
red-haired woman whom I was supposed to save, not to mention the
storm-soul-suckers, the bitch from the café and the damned things
that the
town
hadn’t uncovered yet waiting for the right moment to let
loose.

Automatically Elizabeth and I peered
upwards expecting to see monstrous flying birds circling our heads,
but there was only a single floating cloud, and if I had stretched
up my hand, I would have been able to touch it with
ease.

Malcolm began moving again, this time
in silence. I continued to cradle Elizabeth’s hand in mine as we
trudged behind him, trying to keep a close step behind him. It felt
like we were stuck on replay, covering the same ground over and
over and seeing the same houses–all the time the light remained
hidden from our view.

“
You sure we go in the
right direction?” Elizabeth asked Malcolm.

The old man hummed.

“
Jonathan, shouldn’t we
take a break and hide until the mist has passed?” she
said.

“
It’s risky. The passage
could’ve closed up by then,” I said. “Besides your house is moving,
remember? It might overtake us while we’re waiting.”

“
We wait and something
worse will follow the mist,” Malcolm said. “In the ton like this
you can’t know what to expect.”

“
So we go on,” I finished
his sentence.

“
Okay,” she admitted
grudgingly, her voice barely audible.

We caught each other’s eye and all of
a sudden a wave of passionate desire washed over me rushing through
my body. I was desperate to bend down and take her into a warm
embrace and kiss her wildly. Instead, I managed to control myself
by clenching my teeth to stifle the urge. My emotions distracted
me, and I didn’t notice that Malcolm had halted right in front me.
I walked right into his back.

“
What’s the matter?” I
asked worriedly.

He stood statue-like in the middle of
the road gazing excitedly into the heart of the mist.

“
Malcolm, can you see
something out there?”

He didn’t answer, as if he hadn't
heard me. I narrowed my eyes and looked straight ahead. Straining
my ears, I tried to detect the slightest noise, but I was met with
absolute silence.

I knew that Malcolm’s sense of
perception worked much more effectively than mine or Elizabeth’s. A
glimpse of Malcolm was enough to tell me something was wrong
(everything was definitely wrong here, I mean something more wrong
in this already wrong place) or that something dangerous was
approaching.

The mist seemed calm, a strange kind
of calm as if absolute evil was dwelling inside it, crawling,
sneaking up on us slyly. It had been asleep, and now it’d woken
up.

“
They’re coming,” Malcolm
said abruptly.

What
they
? I thought, my eyes running to and
fro looking for that ‘
they
’. “Get ready,
Jonathan.”

“
Get ready for what?” I
asked aloud.

“
For everything your poor
mind can imagine you nosy son of a bitch,” he faced me and grinned
smugly. I frowned in response to his look–he was incredibly
rude.

“
What the?–” a moment of
anger suddenly seized me.

It was a game for him. He looked like
a child whose parents had just bought a new Monopoly game for his
birthday present, and it was time to unwrap the box and
play.

A gust of wind swept across my head
ruffling my hair again. Loud flapping echoes of wings could be
heard through the fog. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t very high
above us, much closer than I had expected, but my blinded eyes
failed to see it through the haze.

“
Jonathan, it sounds like
it’s just above us,” Elizabeth clung to me.

“
I know,” I replied warily
as my eyes sought the owner or owners of those pounding wings
amongst the mist. “Malcolm, should we wait and fight?”

“
We should run,” and
Malcolm broke into a run before he had even finished his
words.

“
What…?” I looked after
him. “You’ve got to be kidding me? Come on,” I tugged Elizabeth’s
hand urging her to move, and we ran.

A loud thunderous roar like a hungry
dinosaur’s growl echoed through the air. The unbearable sounds
burned the insides of my ears, and I screwed my eyes up in
discomfort, but it didn’t stop the pain, so I dragged Elizabeth
forcefully.

She screamed out loud, “Jonathan,
stop!”

“
No way,” I cried out
loudly, but my voice couldn’t drown out the agonizing moans of the
angered beast.

We ran fast, faster than ever before,
all the time my head ringing like a church bell as if a little monk
had slipped inside my head and was shaking my brain. The still
concealed demons, or whatever they were, which were flying through
the mist, were weakening their victims–us, before the final attack.
We couldn’t see them, but, I guessed, they could see us. We were
the prey, and they were the predators. They were hounding a blind
bear in a tiny cage.

As I ran I did a quick search of my
surroundings. Malcolm had vanished in the mist. He had just run
away leaving us alone. I had been right to doubt him.

I glanced up towards where the real
danger was coming from. I could feel it flying above us, pursuing
us and was using the fog as its cover.

“
Run, Elizabeth, come on,”
I shouted.

“
We can hide somewhere and
lay low for a bit,” she said panting, but I ignored her and just
then I felt something approaching quickly from behind.

I wheeled around with my fists
clenched. My heart thumped in my chest. Elizabeth stood right at my
side; her eyes stared into the fog in fear.

Right on cue the cloud retreated and a
big swooping animal, the size of a dog, came into my view. No, it
wasn’t an animal as such, but a demon, a ghastly looking creature
as black as coal with sticky skin, and two ripped wings protruded
from its back. Its demon-like face was decorated by two smoking
horns on its head. It wasn’t a dragon, and I doubted it breathed
flames, but it was the most grotesque animal I had ever seen, a
hideous creature that was beyond comprehension.

A chill ran down my spine. Elizabeth
cried out in shock and flung herself into my arms. Confused, I
staggered back. It had just appeared and within a matter of seconds
was blocking our path and ready to snap our heads.

I acted instinctively and pushed
Elizabeth aside. I wouldn’t have had much time to defend myself if
Malcolm hadn't appeared from nowhere grabbing the flying demon from
just in front of my face and slamming it hard into the dusty
ground. The demon’s body sent small puffs of dirt flying as it hit
terra.

Around and around they went, rolling
together locked in each other’s grasp. The beast was on top of
Malcolm, its mouth wide open baring its sharpened teeth ready for
the kill and to decapitate Malcolm, but the old man was
surprisingly agile. Grabbing it by its scraggly neck tightly, he
pushed it to the side with all his might.

Malcolm was on his feet again and
threw a heavy punch into the demons chest. Shrieking from the
unbearable pain, the demon fell back, its tattered wings flapping
frantically. Again it disappeared in the mist.

For a moment or two I
remained dead still, staring blankly at the old man I wasn’t
certain whether I should be glad that he hadn’t deserted us, but
one thing I knew for sure was he had just saved my
life
.

The repetitive groans and howls of the
flying demons echoed in the fog, and their invisible waves
ricocheted off my chest.

“
Run, idiot,” Malcolm
ordered gruffly.

I shook myself to my senses, grabbed
Elizabeth’s hand and darted ahead.

“
Did you see that?”
Elizabeth asked as we quickly ran.

“
Nothing to be surprised
by. This’s the hell darling,” I teased.

With eagle eyes, I scanned my
surroundings on the lookout for new demons. I knew they were up
there, gathering around us. They were trying to cut in front of us
and block our way to the light source. Malcolm fell a few steps
behind guarding our backs, but the real danger lay in
front.

I had to come up with a
quick plan to get us out of this situation. We were running into
the throes of the clawed demons barehanded.
My power
. Balling up my left hand
into a tight fist, I tried to summon the superhuman powers that
were circulating through my clenched fingers like an invisible
glove. I wasn’t going to give up. I would fight.

“
They are in front of us,
Malcolm,” I said over my shoulder.

“
I know,” he cried
back.

“
Any ideas?”

“
Nope! Just hit everything
you see.”

“
Good thinking,” I replied
grumpily.

From nowhere a minivan appeared,
parked only a few steps ahead of us. The dense fog had been
blanketing it, keeping it camouflaged. Dropping Elizabeth’s hand, I
moved closer to it and reached for the front door.

“
Where are you going?”
Elizabeth whined at me. “You want to drive through
them?”

“
The engine won’t start
Jonathan,” Malcolm said from behind. “Let it go.”

But I hadn’t intended to drive
it.

I swung the door open and with my two
hands I ripped it from its hinges. It was easy and gave up as if I
had been simply tearing a page from a notebook. I held the metal
door above my head using it as a shield.

My other hand tightened up even more,
ready to throw a punch or two. I threw a quick look back at
Elizabeth, my eyebrows arched in determination. I was
ready.

“
Stick close to me,” I
instructed as I took off running.

My power had multiplied again, a huge
rush of power pumping through my body, pulsating in my throbbing
veins. My power boost made me braver, more resolute.

“
Jonathan,” Malcolm called
to me. “They are right in front of us. Get ready.”

As if anyone could get ready for a big
pack of demons. He had caught up to me and was on my left. In our
short line, we made our way together into the hazy heart of the
mist, but Elizabeth, being more cautious, kept a step distance
behind. Malcolm and I exchanged a knowing glance one last time
before coming face to face with the demons. I gave him a nod
acknowledging my readiness.

I tore my eyes away from him and
peered ahead trying to make out what lay in front of us.

The first demon reared its ugly
head–its long sinewy wings fused with the fog. Our eyes met–its
eyes were jet black and shone like a puddle of oil.

Suddenly it set off rushing towards
me, and as it swung its disturbing looking wing, I dodged and took
a bow.

With an outstretched hand, I gripped
onto my makeshift shield. Protected, I strode towards the raging
beast with great confidence. The beast’s face met the side of the
car door and as the two collided the metal door cracked. The
monster was flung backwards and flew through the air like a
baseball.

I charged towards the other flying
demons coming in my direction. Two of them swooped down towards me.
My natural reaction was to lift my shield in front of my face, and
as I did, I threw myself against one of the beasts which was
frothing at the mouth. It landed on my shield managing to secure
itself with its legs. Out of the corner of my eye I saw its
angry-looking face appear directly above my head.

My hidden powers surged through my
veins again and rippled throughout my body. My fist grew more
powerful as I punched the demon directly in its face–its temples to
be exact. It unlatched its feet from my shield with a sudden heave
and threw it far into the distance.

Its body tumbled through the air, and
as it hurtled away from me, it writhed in pain and screeched an
unearthly sound. It dropped to the ground, and lay there with its
legs sprawled out. Again I used my power to give it one last kick.
As it rolled across the dusty road, I heard a voice rather like
bones break, and the sound of its body scraping along the ground
rang in my ears.