| continued from page
one.... Chapter 5
Kat and Rachel boarded off their airplane, and entered
the nearest
airport restaurant . They found Nick there already
drinking water, while
Alex entered from the other entrance. They all sat down
together and
ordered breakfast.
After the food arrived, a short, weasely man bumped
into Alex. "Oh, I'm
terribly sorry. I've lost my glasses, and I can't see
crap. My name is
Don. Donald MacAlister."
"It's okay." Alex replied as she picked the
egg bits that had fallen
into her lap.
"Maybe you could help me. You see, I'm looking
for a Dr. Tyler. We had a
meeting today about a mutual friend of ours, and I can't
seem to find
her. She's blonde, 37-ish, and has a daughter about 8 or
9. Maybe you
could tell me if she's in here…"The man
squinted at the four people.
"I'm Dr. Tyler," Rachel offered. "-And
how can my colleagues and I help
with our 'mutual friend'."
The man pulled up an empty chair, and straddled it.
"Well, you see it's
like this. Our 'friend' called my home, an told me to
meet him this
morning, only he never showed up. Fortunately, he saw
this possibility,
and instructed me to meet you here, in order to show you
to your hotel
rooms. He never showed, so here I am."
"How do we know if we can trust you?" Nick
asked, cautious of the stranger.
Don turned to the ex-SEAL. "Our 'friend' knew
you'd ask that, Roger. He
told me to say that it's either 'his way or the highway'.
Now does that
answer your question?"
Nick merely grunted.
"Okay then," Alex said, trying to diffuse
the situation. "Now tell up
what is going on?"
The man looked around the room suspiciously. "I'd
rather wait till we
get to a more secluded spot. They be anywhere." He
stood back up." Come,
follow me."
None of them moved, except Kat who was eating
pancakes. "Sir," Rachel
stated, "if we are to be going anywhere with you, we
will decide first.
As you mentioned, they could anywhere, and that they
could be you!"
Don frowned deeply, "Fine, you have five
minutes." He walked over to the
bar, as the five began to converse.
"Can we trust him?" Rachel asked as soon as
Donald was out of earshot.
"I don't know, he knew what Sloan said to me
privately, but that could
have been forced out. He's a little too suspicious."
Nick stated flatly.
Alex shook her head, while watching their subject
ordered a scotch and
whiskey. "That doesn't mean a thing. He could be the
only help we get-"
"Or our downfall." Nick interrupted. "I
say we go with him, but not
trust him, At the first sign of trouble, we ditch him,
grab Derek and
maybe Sloan, torch the House, and get the Hell out of
Dodge."
Don walked back to the table and downed the rest of
his drink. "Well,
have you made up your minds?"
"We'll go with you," Nick grumbled.
"But let's get one thing straight, I
don't trust."
"Nor I you, but we are going to have to work
together in order to
overcome whatever is out there."
"Excuse me, but do you make it a habit to drink
hard liquor before
lunch?" Rachel asked, wary of any excessive
drinkers.
The man ordered another one, downed it in one gulp,
then turned to the
psychiatrist. "Honey, it may be noon here, but its
midnight where I'm
from." He stood up suddenly and walked out the door.
The five people
looked at each other, threw some money on the table, and
followed him
out the door.
* * *
Nick watched the street fly by as Donald drove at a
frenzy pace. Donald
took one turn, then another. Finally, Nick gave up trying
to follow the
path. He looked down at Kat, who was watching the white
snow fall. She
sensed Nick, and gave a toothy grin. Nick grinned back in
turn and
started to tickle her. She laughed out loud, nudging him
back.
Nick quit finally quit suddenly, and looked outside
again. "Is it safe
to talk yet?" Nick asked.
Donald made eye contact with the ex-SEAL in the
rear-view mirror. "Yes,
perfectly. I had this car tested for bugs earlier. Early
last night, I
received a message from Sloan ordering me to meet him
here at the Kansas
City Library with another member at 10 AM. He never
showed, so I met you
at the lounge. That's all I know."
"That's it? You don't know anymore?" Nick
asked.
"Yes, that is all, Mr. Boyle. You must realize
that all we received was
a coded, one- minute message from Sloan. Nothing more.
When Sloan calls
our House, you follow instructions to the letter.
Questions only get in his way.
Donald reached over and opened the glove compartment.
He grabbed a
handful of keys and handed them to Alex. "These are
hotel room keys. You
are to stay in them until my assistant calls you. There
is to be no
communication. You will be dropped off at various
locations and then
take a cab to your hotels. No outside calls, no visitors,
and all food
must be inspected. Until more is known, you will be cut
off the entire
world. Any questions?"
Alex passed out the keys to everyone, then spoke up.
"I have one. What
happens if everyone has gone over completely?"
Donald returned his eyes to the road. "We'll deal
with that when we get
to it." He stated flatly.
Chapter 6
Derek woke up suddenly with a splitting headache. He
slowly got out of
his bed, and stumbled to the bathroom sink. He turned on
the sink
full-blast, bent over, and washed his hands and face.
When he stood
back, he noticed his reflection for the first time. A
haggard,
forty-four year old man with a day's worth of stubble
peered back at
him. He fell back, remembering the past night's event,
then repressed
it, keeping him sane albeit somewhat disturbed. He peeled
off the
clothes that he had worn for over a day, then stepped
into the shower.
Fifteen minutes later, he went out into the main hall,
and changed into
a soft, dark-grey sweater, and a pair of worn blue jeans.
The door knocked, startling Derek out of his revere. He
answered the
door, only to find an exhausted Philip on the other side.
"'Ello, Derek."
Derek took note of the priest's sluggishness.
"Hello, Philip. You don't
look well this morning. Are you all right?"
"As well as can be expected." Philip walked
into the room, and plopped
onto a chair. "I was just about to get some
breakfast, and decided t'
see ye first." Philip abruptly paled. "I- I
canna remember last night
too clearly. It's all a blur."
Derek looked quickly at his friend. "It's the
same for me, Philip. For
some reason, I can't recall any of last night. I did for
a minute, but
now it's gone." Derek's stomach growled loudly.
"However, right at the
moment, breakfast sounds really good. I haven't eaten
since, since…"
Derek swayed.
"Derek!! Are ye alright?" Philip grabbed his
precept's arm to steady
him.
Derek vision grew dim, then quickly reasserted itself.
" I'm fine; my
blood-sugar must be low. However, I feel that we should
visit Sloan
after breakfast. Our memory blocks disturb me, especially
in light of
Kat's Vision." Derek stated, a bit scared of the
implications.
* * *
'Welcome to the Legacy CumLink. Please type your name
and ID number
within thirty seconds. Failure to comply will result in a
computer virus
being injected into your computer, and any further
attempt to
communicate with this or any other Legacy related Links
will result in
instant termination.'
Alex read the stern warning on her computer, laughing
at the severity of
it all. She knew it was highly improbable that anyone
would be able to
hack into the link without some sort of alarm going off.
However, she
also knew that anything was possible, especially when it
came to
computer hackers.
The timer started to tick down into the single digits
when she finally
realized to log in.
'Welcome, Alexander Moreau. You have no new mail.
Please specify type of
inquiry that you wish to pursue.'
She moved her cursor over to the Houses icon, and
clicked on it. Two
more icons appeared one for the present, and one for the
past. She
choose the former, then clicked on the Kansas City icon.
Its duty
roster, recent history, and basic outline of its
blueprints files
appeared.
'THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!'
Startled, Alex looked up at the door. Someone knocked
on the door again.
Wary, she got went to the door, and peered through the
peephole. A
distorted face of Nick appeared back.
Relieved, Alex slid back the chain, and opened the
door. Nick stood
outside with Rachel and Kat in tow. "Can we come
in?" Nick asked.
"Uhh, sure," Alex said, "Sorry, but I'm
a little surprised to you three.
I thought Don told up to stay in our own rooms."
"He did." Nick smiled. "But I also said
that I didn't trust him." All
three entered the cramped room. Rachel sat in the only
chair, while Kat
and Alex sat on the bed beside Alex's laptop. Nick
remained standing.
"Well, what have you found out so far?" Nick
inquired.
Alex picked up her laptop and began to type. "Not
much yet. I was just
booting up when you guys appeared. " Alex replied.
" By the way, how did
you find me?"
"Simple, I followed you. As soon as I found you,
I went after Rachel. It
was pretty easy since Don booked us in the same
hotel." Nick smiled.
"Civilians," he whispered to himself.
Alex clicked on the recent history icon, and waited
for it to appear.
"It says here that the original Kansas City House
was destroyed in a
freak tornado about two years ago. Only half the members
survived, and
the bodies were never recovered." Alex reread the
article aloud, then
clicked on Daniel Cooper's history. "Hmm, it also
says here that Daniel
Cooper's wife and child both died in the accident, and
has shown some
erratic behavior afterwards."
"How old was the boy?" Kat asked softly.
All three adults turned to the ten-year-old. "How
did you know he was a
boy?" Alex asked.
Kat paled. "Because he's not dead." The girl
whispered.
Nick asked, "What else do you know?"
Instantly, there was a soft knock on the door. Nick
silently signaled
Rachel and Kat into the bathroom, as he unholstered his
gun. He motioned
Alex to answer it as he stood behind her.
"Who is it?"
"Ro-room Service, Miss." Alex looked out the
peephole again, and spied a
gangly, teen-age boy holding a tray and plate cover.
Nick mouthed to Alex, asking if she had ordered
anything. Alex merely
shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I didn't order
anything." Alex stated to
the boy outside the door.
"Isn'a this room 112B?" the boy replied.
"Yes, yes it is. But I'm telling you that I
didn't order anything." Alex
expressed with annoyance.
"B-but, I canna go back with a full plate."
The boy pleaded. "Miss Wilks
will fire me if I did that again. Please, just take th'
food, I'll even
pay for it, but I canna take it back full."
Alex looked at Nick who mouthed at her to open it
slowly. She nodded and
inched the door open.
The boy stood there, smiling nervously. He walked into
the room, and put
the tray on the table. Nick stepped behind him silently,
and grabbed the
boy's shoulder.
Startled, the boy turned, grabbed Nick's wrist, and
twisted, causing
Nick to drop his gun. The ex-SEAL pulled the boy forward,
and tried to
hit him with his fist. The boy feinted to the right,
taking a quick jab
with his left. Nick ducked, while tackling the boy in the
stomach. Both
fell struggling to the floor. Nick twisted to the top and
landed a solid
punch into the boy's jaw. He instantly went limp.
Nick got up off the boy, wiping blood off his mouth.
"It's okay now.
He's unconscious."
Kat ran out of the bathroom, followed by her mother.
They both tended to
Nick's wounds, while Alex searched the boy for
identification.
"Uhh, guys?" Alex stood up; "we seem to
have a problem." She stated as
she threw a leather wallet at Nick.
He opened it then read the name to himself.
"Ohh…Shit!"
"Nick!! My daughter's here," Rachel
declared, while Kat only smiled.
Smirking, Nick handed over the wallet to Rachel. She
opened it, then
read the name to herself. "Shi-oot!" Rachel
said, eyeing her daughter.
Kat beamed.
The by stirred and Alex went over to help him sit up.
"Ye know, I could have ma uncle throw ye out a'
th' Legacy." The boy
smiled painfully, "but since I don' know where he is
right at the
moment, I guess I need ye more than I need ma ego."
"I'm sorry, Connor, but you were so damn
secretive." Nick laughed. "How
was I to know that you were Donald's assistant? You were
only twelve the
last time I saw you."
"Yeah well, I'm 16 now. Didn'a ma trademark
'Monotone Sloan' personality
bubble up?" Connor smiled, finally getting to his
feet.
"No, you were too busy trying to fight
Nick." Alex grinned. "Anyway,
your hair turned red, you grew 6 inches, lost your
glasses, now have an
earring in your ear."
Connor sat on the bed, as Rachel started to check his
countenance. "I
know. I'm prayin' t' God ev'ry night that I don' end up
like ma uncle."
The boy suddenly got serious. "Speakin' a' which, he
didn'a show up t'
our appointment this mornin', an' we had a hell a' time
trackin' ye four
down. Donald's way too serious about this Legacy thin'.
If ye thought ma
uncle was bad…"
Rachel finished her examination. "Well, you don't
seem to have a
concussion…but I wouldn't recommend getting into
anymore fights with
Nick. If you have any complaints, dizziness, nausea,
faintness,
anything, just tell me. Don't be a tough 'Legacy Man',
who can be thrown
across a room, bounced off a brick wall, and then fight a
demon as if
nothing happened. We have too many of those as is."
Rachel kidded, while
Nick wore an innocent face.
"Didn't I specially say for you not to meet
directly??" Donald stormed
into the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Connor, you are a disgrace
to the Legacy, and your uncle. Look at you, bleeding and
hurt. How do
you expect to get anywhere if you cannot control your
temper!"
Connor merely looked down, closing his eyes.
"Hey!" Nick faced the irate man. "It
wasn't his fault. I'm the one who
initiated the fight. He was just defending himself."
"Not too well apparently." Don spat out,
"this fight should never have
happened. I specifically told Connor to get Alex and
bring her to me.
Then we would have gotten the rest of you. Instead, I
find Nicholas
bleeding, Connor also bleeding, and the door wide open.
How do you
expect to defeat Cooper if you can't follow simple
instructions!??"
Nick stood up angrily. "Who died and made you
Head Precept? You know,
you don't have any power over us. What if we decide to
ignore you? What
if we decide to leave you here and go after Cooper and
the others by
ourselves?"
"Then Sloan and the Legacy die. You cannot go off
on some cock-eyed
scheme in order to save your friends. This will take
careful planning
and preparation. Sloan would be the first to tell you
that." The older
man voiced. "I have been on surveillance all day. I
know who went in,
who came out, and other such details."
"We have to-t-t-to-t- st-op f-fighting. W-w-w-we
ha-have t-to he-help
D-d-d-Derek a-n-n-nd Ph-philip." Kat started to
convulse. "I-it's
be-beginning." She fell back, while her mother
caught her. All six
adults surrounded the girl.
"What's starting, Katherine?" Donald
demanded.
"Stay away from my daughter." Rachel spat
out. "Alex, call the
paramedics. She's going into a seizure. Nick, Connor,
hold her hands and
feet down." She ordered.
Alex came back, holding her cell-phone. "I called
them; they're on their way."
Donald backed away from the group. "We need to
go, whatever's going to
happen is going to happen soon."
"We canna just leave Kat here for th' ambulance
alone." Connor said.
"We're not. We're leaving you here. Rachel is too
valuable
to leave behind," Donald stated.
Rachel protested. "I'm staying here with my
daughter. Go, if you must,
but nothing you say or do is going to change my
mind."
Donald sighed. "Fine, but Connor is staying here.
He is too young, and
too inexperienced. I refuse to jeopardize the world over
a
sixteen-year-old. Come on, the issue is closed."
"Ma uncle sent for me. I'm goin', Donald
MacAlister, an' ye canna keep
me from goin'. Now we need t' leave. I'm sorry, Rachel,
Donald is right
about that." Connor left the room, while Nick and
Donald followed him
Alex stayed behind.
"Go Alex. Kat and I will be fine." Alex
stayed for a minute more, then
raced out to catch up with the others.
* * *
Sloan found himself in a dreamless void, floating in
nothingness.
Abruptly, countless giant rocks appeared from the
nothingness. On each,
he saw a single person fighting nothing. Almost
instantly, he recognized
most as the North American precepts and their assistants.
He tried
walking to the closest one, but he got nowhere. He
started going faster,
but the person was still as far away as before. Out of
breath and
annoyed, he began to slow, realizing that physical motion
was futile.
He finally came to a complete stop, wishing he knew
what was going on.
Sloan sat down on the rock he was on, and began to think.
As he watched,
one of the people fighting dropped from sheer exhaustion.
Instantly, the
man vanished, but a heartbeat later reappeared with
renewed strength and
conviction. The others ignored the scene, and continued
with their own
battles.
Sloan stared at his people for what seemed like ages
to the man. His
biggest musing was why he wasn't fighting an unseen foe
as well. He
watched the people at random, enraged at his own
helplessness to protect
those who trusted him most. In an instant, Sloan spotted
Derek fighting
on one of the rocks. His heart broke at seeing, but not
being able to
help his best friend, his confidant, his sparring partner
fight an
unseen force. Then Sloan did a remarkable thing…
something he hadn't
done since he was a child. He prayed to God. He wished
with all his
might to try to help his friend. In a flash, Sloan found
himself on the
same rock with Derek, mere meters away.
Sloan's heart burst with joy. "Derek! Are you all
right?"
Derek stopped for a second to see who called his name,
spotted Sloan,
then resumed fighting. "Sloan, help me fight. It
must be stopped at all
costs."
"Derek, what must be stopped?" Sloan asked,
concerned over the well
being of his friend.
"Don-don't you see it? It's hideous, it's as if a
thousand demons were
melded together to form one great big one. Where where's
Philip? Is he
alright? You're the first human I've seen here."
Derek stumbled
perilously close to the edge of the rock.
"I'll find him. Don't worry about that. I'll be
right back." Sloan
reassured him, while wishing to see Philip. In the back
of his mind, he
heard Derek whisper "Succes of Goede reis wensen,
William."
Somehow, William knew the meaning of the phrase, although
he not one
word in Dutch. God Speed, William.
"Philip," William appeared on the rock with
the Irish priest, who was
fighting another invisible opponent.
"Sloan! Thank God ye're here. Ye-ye have t' help
me destroy th' evil
thin'. It has t' die now!" Philip struggled hard
against the air, not
winning, but not losing at the same time. A draw.
"What? What must die?"
"This-this thin'." Philip replied,
exhausted. "It's evil t' th' core.
It's blasphemous in every way possible. It pretends t' be
one thin' but
is actually somethin' else. And it is evil, pure evil
incarnate."
"Who says it's evil?"
"I do. I just know it, I just feel it." The
priest cocked his head
toward Sloan suspiciously. "Why are ye questionin'
me? How do know that
ye're not some apparition sent from th' evil t' distract
me?"
Sloan suddenly had a bad feeling about where Philip's
thoughts were
going. "I'm not what you think I am. I really am
William Sloan, Head
Precept of the Legacy. Derek asked me to find you Philip;
he's worried
about you. I only want to help, you and everyone."
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!! I JUST WANT T' BE LEFT
ALONE!!!
I just want peace.," Philip yelled as he was thrown
against the ground
and started to slide toward the edge. Sloan cried out and
grabbed Philip's leg.
Philip stopped abruptly, got back up, and kept fighting
the invisible thing.
In a flash of inspiration, Sloan knew exactly where he
and everyone
trapped in the void was. "Philip, I want you to quit
fighting right now."
"What?! Have ye gone daft?"
William started to pace on the rock, while his mind
was running
full-blast. "It's consciousness you're fighting.
What is it they say?
Consciousness is the beginning of evil. It makes perfect
sense. I can't
move from place to place, I can only shift. That means
that this is a
dream, people don't literally move from place to place in
dreams, they
are either in one place or another. I can't see your or
anyone else's
demons, because only a person truly see and know their
own states of
consciousness, or demons if you will. No one else can see
them; no one
else can touch them. Stop fighting, Philip. Embrace your
demon. Animals
have no demons or self-awareness, only the state of life.
Humans are
the only one born with the self-awareness."
Philip faltered slightly in his battle. "Then why
does it feel so
hideous an' evil?" He whispered, praying for an
answer.
Sloan thought for a moment, trying to think of an
answer. "I'm not sure.
It must have something to do with Cooper's spell. It must
distort
perception and reality. In essence, you are as good as
that-thing is
evil. Of course, it could also be your darker side, but
now is not the
time to discuss philosophy about it. Think about it,
Father Callahan;
then embrace it. I have to try to help everyone else now,
but I'll be
back if you're still here." Sloan stated as he began
to shift.
Chapter 6
"Up 'r' down?" Connor asked, while they
boarded the elevator.
Nick replied 'down', while Donald simultaneously
replied 'up'. They
glared at each other for a second, then turned back to
Connor.
"We need to go down." Nick explained.
"Kat said she saw lots of kids in
on little cots. This place should be crawling with Legacy
members, but
the only person we've seen so far was the doorman, and
Connor took care
of him. We need to go down, to the basement. That's the
only logical
choice as to where everybody would be if they wanted to
hide."
"Once again, you astound me, Nicholas,"
Donald began, "your powers of
deduction and reasoning is impeccably flawed."
"Ok, that's enough." Alex declared,
frustrated at the fight. "People
could be dying, and you two are fighting over which way
to go. We need
to make a decision and stick with it, without bickering.
So I'm
choosing-"Her fingers hovered over the buttons, then
impulsively hit the
lower one. "Down, she finished."
The elevator started to rise, much to everyone's
surprise. Nick lunged
for the emergency stop button, but a steel shaft slid
down, enclosing
the entire control panel. Nick's fingers were nearly cut
off in the
process, but he pulled back at the last minute.
Cooper's voice piped through the intercom.
"Welcome, fellow Legacy
members, to a new chapter of the Legacy. No longer will
we try destroy,
to kill. Now we will witness the birth of a new era for
humanity. An
era of darkness that will rule forever. Join me, join us
in our new
crusade."
"Never," Nick swore loudly.
"You talk as if you have a choice, Mr. Boyle.
Believe me, you only have
one destiny now: to serve me and my lords eternally. You
don't believe
me; That's a pity, ah, well, we'll just have to convince
you, one way or
another."
"We?" Alex asked, suspicious of the
disembodied voice.
"Yes. We. I believe I have someone here who will
change your minds.
William, kindly tell them how 'wonderful' it is to
be…employed by me."
Daniel Cooper's voice dripped with sarcasm and
malevolence.
"Hello, Connor."
"Uncle!!!" Connor cried out loudly.
"Join us, nephew. It is so peaceful here. And you
know what? Your father
is here. He says that he misses you dearly and that he
sorry about what
he did to your mother. He wants to get to know you."
"Don't listen to him." Donald stated
angrily. "You were the product of a
one-night-stand gone horribly wrong. He believed that the
Legacy was
full of crap. He also hated your guts, and your mother's.
Don't believe
all that shit about him wanting to 'patch things up'.
Alex and Nick merely stared in shock at the balding
man. Connor only had
a pained expression on his face. He said quietly "If
ma father is there,
truly there with ye…" the boy suddenly grew
cold with fury. "Then he
must be in Hell."
"Fine, kid, have it your way. You have now
sentenced you and your
friends to death. Sorry about it, we could have had some
great times."
Cooper announced to the people.
"WAIT!!!" Connor pleaded. "I-I canna
let ye kill them."
"Then join us. It's either their lives or their
deaths." A small, black
pouch fell onto the floor near Connor's foot.
"Inside this pouch, you
will find dust. Just throw it on the others and they
live. Don't throw
it, and they die. It's a simple proposition. Throw it and
they will live
forever. Don't. and they become a red smear all over the
elevator.
Your choice, your decision."
"What'll happen t' them if I do?" Connor
asked, gingerly picking up the bag.
"That is none of your concern. It's completely up
to you. Their fate,
literally, lies in your hands."
Connor looked at the others, then back down to the
pouch. He opened it
slightly, and the dust twinkled back at him in the
fluorescent light. He
looked back at the others, then to the speaker. "Git
yer own damn
traitor." With that, he emptied the contents onto
himself.
The last thing Connor Sloan remembered was Nick and
Don catching him,
while the elevator plummeted toward the ground below.
* * *
"Connor."
After a minute, the voice spoke again. "Connor,
wake up."
The boy turned onto his stomach, ignoring the voice.
Chalky dust flew up
his nose, making him sneeze. "Donald?" He asked
groggily, finally
recognizing the voice.
"Get up, boy. It's time."
Completely woken up, Connor turned around to see
Donald in front of him.
"Where are we? How did we survive the fall?"
"None of that is important right at the moment. I
have something to tell
you. I am your father." Donald stated without
emotion.
"WHAT!?!?!" Connor stared at the man
claiming to be his father.
"You heard me. I am you father. Everybody knows
it, too. Well,
everybody, except you. You know, they all laugh at you.
Derek, Nick,
Alex, Sloan. Hell, even your mother laughed, well, before
she bit a
bullet. We *all* laughed at you. We know you won't make
it in the Legacy
'cause you couldn't even figure out your own parentage.
You disappoint
everyone. I don't even know how fate could have been so
kind as to give
you Sloan as a uncle. Who did you bribe before you were
born? There are
so many choices that would have made a better nephew. A
better person
than you."
"Nooo!!!!" Connor lunged in blind fury at
his elder." You
son-of-a-bitch! How could ye do that t'ma mother? To ME?!
I can do only
so much. I'm not Derek or Uncle William. I try ma best,
an' yet that's
still not good enough!"
Donald merely laughed as he stepped out of the boy's
way. "That's good,
Connor. Fight me, I dare you to. Prove to everybody how
weak and
pathetic you actually are. Feel your rage and anger
smolder inside you.
Your temper ALWAYS gets you into trouble, what's one more
time for one
who murders his own friends? That's right, Connor Sloan.
Nick and Alex
are dead. They are in Hell because of you!!"
Connor fell to his knees, tears streaming down his
face. Looked up
through the blurring tears, Connor saw Donald smiling
evilly over him.
"I-I didn'a betray them." He stated hoarsely.
"Self delusion is the sinner's first line of
defense." Look at you,
weeping as if you were a child whose fish had just died.
And you expect
to be a Legacy member? Donald shook his head in a
disproving manner.
Connor lunged again in red anger. Donald merely
tripped the boy.
Regaining his balance, the boy jumped onto his elder,
both going down in
a tangle. They fought for what seemed like days to
Connor, when William
Sloan appeared suddenly. "Connor?" He asked.
His nephew looked up, and saw him standing by him.
"Uncle, help me."
Somehow he stopped fighting Donald, and stood up.
"How did you get here?" Sloan asked, worried
over his nephew's
appearance in the void.
"We were on th' elevator. I-I didn'a mean t'- t'
kill them. I really
didn'a." Connor was on the verge of crying again.
Sloan's brow creased in puzzlement. "Who did you
kill?"
"Alex and Nick, I was givin' th' choice, an' now
they're in Hell. I put
them there. Cooper gave me th' pouch t' use on them, but
I used it on
maself. Th' elevator fell, an' then I ended up
here." The words spilled
out of the boy's mouth.
"That's right, kid. You killed 'em." Donald
agreed. "It's completely
your fault that They're dead, and that I left your
mother."
"WILL YOU SHUT UP???" Connor yelled back at
Donald.
"Who are you talking to?" Sloan asked.
"Don' ye see him? He's standin' right
there!" Connor pointed at Donald.
"It's Donald."
"Ask him, kid. Who's your old man? Go ahead, he's
been lying to you all
these years. How about the truth for a change?"
"Ask me what?" Sloan reassured his nephew.
"Connor, you know you can
come to me for anything."
"Is-" Connor paled.
"Go on. I'm here for you."
"Is Donald ma father?" He blurted out,
growing beet-red.
Sloan looked silently at the boy, shocked at the
question.
"See." Donald sneered. "He 's laughing
at you this very minute. He's
thinking, 'So the idiot finally figured out the secret.
Good, now I
don't have to deal with the little snot anymore."
Connor visibly shrunk
at the verbal abuse.
Sloan finally replied. "No, Connor, Donald
MacAlister is not your
father. We've always told you 'when you're older'. Well,
you're sixteen
now, and a full-fledged Legacy member. One of the
youngest, at that.
"The truth. The truth is, we don't know. No, your
mother wasn't anything
bad. In fact, she was studying to become a nun with the
help of Derek's
sister. It just happened that one night in 1980, she was
walking home
after studying at the London library. It was a hot and
humid June night,
so she decided to take a shortcut through a small park. A
man was
sitting on a bench, but she ignored him. As she walked
past him, he
pulled her into some nearby bushes. A jogger witnessed
this and tried to
intervene, but was stabbed by the rapist, dying
instantly. The next
morning, the police found the two in the bushes. A few
months later,
your mother found out that she was pregnant, with you
and-" Sloan looked
down at the ground, overwhelmed by his memories of his
sister.
"And?!?! Whaddye mean by 'and'?"
"You had a twin sister, Wendy. She died from
complications. Your mother
repressed all knowledge of her. Spiritually, physically,
and mentally,
your mother was a broken person. She left the convent to
raise you,
unable to give you up for adoption. She became severely
depressed, and
tried to commit suicide a couple times, until finally,
she went through
with it. They never did catch the bastard who did this to
Megan." Sloan
felt his temper rise as he relived the past two decades
in his mind.
Connor plopped onto the ground, overwhelmed by the
revelation form his
uncle. Sloan crouched next to his nephew, and held him in
his arms. "I
know it's hard to take in all at once. But everything
will be alright.
I've always taken care of you, and I'll always be there
for you. You know
the irony of it all is that the Raynes, Michaels, Boyles,
Coopers,
almost every Legacy member has had direct ancestors in
the Legacy.
Generation upon generation has taken up the fight against
metaphysical
evil, but humankind still fights amongst themselves. We
can only do so
much, but human beings have no comprehension of their
effects on
everything else. It's insane, but we fight so that they
may fight each
other." Sloan became quieter the longer he held the
boy. He soon forgot
everything. Derek, Philip, Cooper, the Legacy were all
but distant
memories that had faded into the nothingness.
Chapter 10
Derek thought long and hard about what Sloan had said.
Just to test
Sloan, Derek stopped fighting. The demon roared in anger,
and charged at
Derek. Derek just stood there, not twitching a muscle.
The demon hit
Derek head-on, but, instead of hitting full on, the demon
flew through
his body, and through the steel circular walls that
imprisoned him.
Slowly, the walls melted away, revealing the other
rocks and people.
Derek started to watch at the almost comical sight,
marveling at how the
people were throwing themselves around at nothing as if
they were drunk mimes.
Instantly, he saw Nick and Alex on their own rocks,
fighting just as
hard as everyone else. The Precept's heart broke at the
sight; he
finally knew what Sloan had felt when he first appeared
to Derek.
'Be with them'
Derek whirled around , trying to figure out where the
voice had come
from. "What?" He asked.
'Be with them'
"How can I?"
'BE…WITH…THEM…'
Derek's whole being shook form as the words
reverberated inside his
head. He fell to the ground, curling into the fetal
position. When the
words finally died away, Derek stood back up. His rock
had shifted
position, and Derek had frantically searched for his
friends.
They were gone.
Derek strained his eyes until they started to hurt. On
the farthest
rock, he could see the outline of Sloan's body holding
someone. Who,
Derek didn't know.
'Be with them'
Derek groaned "Not this again."
'Be with them'
"I'm trying, Lord knows I'm trying."
'BE…WITH…THEM…'
Derek throbbed in pain and agony, but he refused to
stop staring at the
two figures. The pain kept growing until Derek at last
gave out. He
closed his eyes, knowing full well that Sloan would not
be there when he
opened them again.
He looked back up after the pain had subsided, and saw
no one, save a
little boy.
'Be with them'
"Tell me how," Derek pleaded.
'Be with them'
"Give me a chance to think!" Derek yelled,
preparing his body for the
next attack.
'BE…WITH…THEM…'
Tears streamed down Derek's face, while his jaw locked
into place, and
knees threatened to buckle. "Alright," he said
through clenched teeth.
"I want to 'be with them'." Instantly, the pain
and pressure seeped from
his consciousness. He found himself on the boy's rock.
The little boy, Derek noted, was about 6, and was wearing
dirty
"Ghostbusters" pajamas. Derek knew the boy from
somewhere, but couldn't
place the boy. The boy started to back away from the
older man. "Please
leave me alone." He whispered scared and frightened
at Derek.
Alarmed, Derek held up his hands as if to make peace.
"You have nothing
to fear from me. I only want to help. What is your name?
"
"I'm, I'm Gabriel. Please, I just want my daddy.
Daddy!!!" The boy
yelled, as his eyes searched furtively for his father.
"Gabriel?" Derek finally remembered who the
boy was. "Gabriel Cooper?"
The boy nodded back quickly, afraid of something and
everything.
"Gabriel, it's me, Derek." The Dutchman said.
"Don't you remember me? I
gave you Mr. Truffles for your fourth birthday."
"Mr. Truffles is dead. He died with mommy."
The boy stated blandly.
"Yes, I know." Derek replied quietly.
"I attended yo- their funerals. I
promise, Gabriel, that I won't hurt you. Remember you
always called me
'Unca Dirt', and your parents and I would laugh. Then
you'd get mad and
start crying, but Mr. Truffles would appear and make you
laugh." Derek
watched as the boy's eyes shone with recognition. Gabriel
flew into
Derek's arms and wrapped his tiny arms around his waist,
knocking Derek
off-balance. They both fell back onto the ground,
laughing while Derek
tickled Gabriel's sides. Slowly, they stopped and got up,
brushing dirt
off themselves.
"Do you know who else is here?" Derek asked.
Gabriel only shook his
head. "'Unca Willie's' here too. Should we go and
try to tickle him too?"
Gabriel smiled mischievously while nodding. Derek
picked the boy up
onto his shoulders, then left Gabriel's prison.
Chapter 11
Rachel held her daughter's hand. Kat had slipped into
a coma shortly
after arriving at the hospital, despite repeated attempts
to revive her.
"You know, Kat, I'm sorry I got angry about the
school thing. I was just
mad that Derek did that. He had no right to interfere
like that. That
school was very good, and it was highly recommended by
all my friends.
All their girls went there, and-. That doesn't matter,
does it? I should
have realized that you were unhappy. You are very dear to
me, and I
can't bear losing you like I lost your brother." The
psychiatrist held
her daughter's hand tighter, afraid that if she let go of
it, Kat would
be lost forever.
"Excuse me, Dr. Corrigan," a thirty-ish
doctor stood at the door.
Startled, Rachel stood up, wiping her eyes. "Yes,
I'm sorry, Dr. Neuth.
Is there something you need?"
"No, I'm just here to do a check-up on your
daughter. I'll just be a
moment." The doctor walked to the unconscious girl
and started to check
the girl's reflexes. "You know, it's funny. Your
daughter is the fourth
person today coming in for an epileptic seizure, and then
going into a
coma. The only difference is that the rest were
adults."
Rachel looked up at the doctor. "Really? Is there
any reason for them?"
"Well, we're not sure. Over the past six months,
about a person a month
would go through the same symptoms of your daughter and
the other
people. A couple days later, they would wake up as if
nothing happened.
Normally, a seizure isn't too rare in a city this big,
but most of the
other patients didn't have any history with seizures, and
none of their
family members suffered from them either. The CAT scans
showed nothing,
no endocrine disorders, no brain damage, and no
discernible tumors or
cancer. This is the first time more than one person has
fallen victim to
this affliction."
Rachel grew silent as she studied the problem in her
head. Finally, she
spoke up again. "Can you tell me anything about the
other patients?"
"Not much, I'm afraid. Even without
doctor-patient privilege, there's
not much information I can tell you." The doctor
sighed tiredly.
"There is just nothing in common between them.
The first was a
psychotic, transferring to Menninger's Mental Health
Institute in Topeka
from Iowa. He claimed that he saw visions and could
predict the future.
Of course, that's utter nonsense. Anyway, the second was
a Wiccan witch.
Her 'coven' brought her in, claiming that she collapsed
during a
so-called spell. They also claimed that she was a
powerful psychic."
"Go on."
The doctor stood back from Kat's still form, and
turned to Rachel. "The
next one was a cop walking a beat near downtown. It was
during this one
that I started to become suspicious. The next two were a
free-lance
photographer and a businessman. The last one, before
today, was a
pediatrician." Dr. Neuth started to grow angry at
his helplessness.
"There was nothing to connect them. Nothing at all.
They all came from
different walks of life, no contact between them at
all."
"What about the four that collapsed today?"
Rachel inquired.
The doctor started to laugh slightly at the question,
then quickly
composed himself again. "The four today was an even
bigger surprise. The
first brought in was a Japanese tourist, the second was a
junkie
prostitute who had also OD'd on heroin. I thought she was
a goner for
sure, but she pulled through at the last minute. The
third was an
eighty-year-old nun, and the last was the psychotic
again." The doctor
began to get angry at his inability to help the people.
"There is just
no discernible pattern to the victims, they just come off
the street."
Rachel thought for another minute. "How about
psychic ability?" She
asked, praying that the doctor would not laugh.
Dr. Neuth merely grinned broadly as he eyed the
psychiatrist. "Surely,
you don't believe in the paranormal. Dr. Corrigan.
Besides, only three
claimed that dubious talent."
"Three? Who was the third?" She asked, a
little hopeful.
"The pediatrician, of all people. She claimed
that she had 'an eerie
dream' while in the coma." Dr. Neuth stated.
"She claimed that she saw a
little boy with an older man sitting on a rock."
"What did the man look like?"
"Well, he looked like- Wait, there's Vicky now.
She'll be able to tell
you more." The doctor said while motioning at a
diminutive woman at the
door. "Hey, Vick, Dr. Corrigan wants to know what
the man of your dreams
looks like." Dr. Neuth laughed.
The red-haired pediatrician swaggered in and promptly
hit Dr. Nueth on
the back, hard. "Ha ha, Steve, very funny. Now, Dr.
Corrigan, what would
you like to know?" She said laughing as Steve
stopped choking.
"Well, first off, what did he look like?"
Rachel inquired smiling at the
two doctors' joking manner.
Vicky closed her eyes, trying to picture the scene
again. "Well,
he-looked-like he was in his early-forties, he had a full
head of
greying hair, kind of tall, and muscular, although you
wouldn't know it
if you saw him. He didn't strike me as, as American. He
had an air of
Europe about him, although it was subtle." She
opened her eyes again,
and unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn. "Sorry, I
always become
exhausted when I try to picture the void again."
"I-I think I need to go now. I have to go check
up on a friend now," the
psychiatrist stood up hastily, recognizing the man's
description. "Call
me immediately at this number if something, anything
happens." She
handed the two doctors a card with her cell phone number
on it, then
quickly went through the doors and went to the waiting
elevators. She
punched the down button and the doors dinged open. She
entered, and hit
the first floor button. The doors started to slide close
when Vicky ran
full-blast to the elevator. She slid her arm through the
closing doors,
triggering the motion detectors seconds before it crushed
her arm. The
doors flew open, and the pediatrician staggered aboard.
"Wait!!" She
panted wheezily. "You-you're daughter. Sh- she just
sa-said something.
She-she said 'be wi-with them.' Does this mean anything
to you?"
Rachel shook her head. "No, but it might. Thank
you. Now I've really got
to go." Rachel smiled.
Vicky got off the elevator quickly. "Fine, I'll
call if there's any
change." She said, as the doors closed on her.
Rachel rode silently down
to the first floor, contemplating what had happened.
Chapter 12
Daniel Cooper slouched in an oak chair in front of a
roaring fireplace.
His eyes were mesmerized by a picture of a youngish
woman, smiling
brightly at the room. His fingers steepled loosely
against each other,
as the heat from the fire surged at him in waves. He
ignored it all
except for the picture.
"Oh, Anne. Soon, dear. Soon. Gabriel and I will
meet you, and we will be
a family again. This time, I swear. The Legacy will not
be a problem. I
was a fool for not seeing you as I see you now. They
promised me you.
Nothing bad will never happen again. No more fighting
demons, no more
battles, no more Legacy; just pure bliss for all
eternity." Daniel stood
up, adjusting his cape around his shoulders.
Still watching the fire flicker off his dead wife's
painting, he walked
to a small table and opened the drawer. Inside it was a
gold dagger upon
a blood-red, velvet pillow. Chanting slowly in Latin,
Daniel picked it
up carefully and kissed the handle. It glowed back in
red. Still holding
the dagger, he saw the painting of his beloved. He saw
its eyes grow
harsh and cold in the light. "Don't you dare do that
to me, Anne. I'm
doing all this for you. This is my penance for ignoring
you, and,
frankly, I can't believe that I didn't this years ago.
But no. There was
always you and then Gabriel holding me back. Not
realizing my, our full
potential. Well, no more, beloved. Tonight, we will be
joined and
reigned in a total harmonial ecstasy." He clenched
the dagger tightly in
his left hand, feeling the symbols on the dagger begin to
imprint itself
onto his hand.
"Derek, come. It's time for the Legacy to
die." Daniel stated, as Derek
walked out of the shadows. Cooper handed Derek the
dagger, and led him
into the main room.
Chapter 13
Rachel entered the main lobby of the Kansas City
Legacy House. The
stillness roared into her consciousness, making every
sound she heard
sound like it was as if it were amplified a thousand
times.
Her heart-beat pounded quickly in her ears, and she
felt like it was
going to explode.
A groan came from behind a couch, surprising Rachel.
She went over to
the source carefully, and saw the doorman lying on his
back. Rachel
noted that his right eye was swollen shut, and coagulated
blood stained
his face from his nose to his right ear red.
Rachel straightened herself, and walked toward the
elevators. She hit
the down button and waited. The doors slid open revealing
an empty room.
A hand grabbed her shoulder.
Scared, Rachel grabbed it, while simultaneously
turning to meet her attacker.
"Easy, child. I'm not here to harm you." The
old man stated, carefully.
"I'm Father Luke Alexi, precept of the Concord
House. I'm here to help.
Your friends are in trouble. We must get to them soon.
Now, this-" he
pointed to the open elevator. "-is not the right
way. When I was a small
boy in New York, I lived on the top floor of a five-story
apartment
building. We had no electricity, no hot water, and no
elevators. Cold as
the Artic in the winter, and hot as hell in the summer,
and I loved
every minute of it. No, the stairs will do quite nicely.
Follow me,
child. We must make haste." The priest led a
bewildered Rachel to the
fire stairs. They entered quietly, and started down the
flight.
When they got to the bottom, Elizabeth Michaels
stepped out of the
shadows. "I cannot allow you to enter."
Rachel noted that her eyes appeared dull in the
fluorescent light.
"You must," she pleaded, "for the sake
of the Legacy, let us enter."
"I repeat: you are not allowed to enter."
She stepped forward, slightly
menacing.
"Fine, fine, have it your way." The
psychiatrist shrugged. Suddenly,
Rachel stepped forward, and punched Elizabeth in mouth.
She staggered
back, falling onto the tile floor.
Rachel merely shook her hand, and began to rub it.
"Thanks a lot,
Father." She muttered under her breath.
The priest knitted his eyebrows together. "Child,
I have been a priest
for forty years, I have been in the Legacy for half of
that, and I am
dying. Let a tired, old man be."
"I'm…sorry, Father. I'm just tired and
angry. The past couple days have
been very hectic for me." She explained, opening the
door, and stepping
over the unconscious woman. Immediately, Elizabeth opened
her eyes, and
grabbed Rachel's ankle. Rachel cried out, and fell toward
the ground.,
while kicking at Elizabeth.
"Wh-where am I?" She asked, while sitting
up, and letting go of Rachel's
ankle.
Rachel stopped kicking and frowned. "You're in
the basement of the
Kansas City Legacy House. You attacked me."
"Where's Anne and Jose? Where's the fire?"
Her eyes lit up frantically.
"Come on, we have to save Gabe!"
"Calm down. Gabriel is fine. The fire is
over." Father Luke stated.
"However, we have a worse problem. Daniel is
trying to take control of
the Legacy, and we are the only conscious Legacy members
in this
building. We must stop him at all costs." He opened
the stairwell door
and entered into the basement.
Chapter 14
"In the name of the evil gods, we call to you.
Receive our gift and give
us your blessing. " Daniel stood in front of his
only son, lighting
candles and incense. He took his pouch out of his pocket,
and poured the
rest of the dust into two round spirals around the boy.
He began to
chant again. When he finished his prayer, he picked up
the dagger that had lain on
his son's bare chest. "Derek, come here."
Daniel said, motioning to his
friend. "It is time for your initiation." Derek
merely walked stiffly to
him and plucked the dagger out of Daniel's out-stretched
hands, the only
noise in the entire sequence was Derek's cloak rustling
on the cement
floor, which hung loosely around his shoulders.
Daniel bent down onto his knees, watching his son
breathe peacefully. He
breathed in the incense deeply, then closed his eyes.
Finally, his nerve
was built up to the point of no return. "Alright,
Derek. Proceed."
Derek started to chant slowly in Latin, growing quickly
to a crescendo.
"Through all things, we beseech you. Though we have
lived in the light,
we are now willing to kill it, to banish it to your own
palace of
torture and inprisonment. We will raise you to your own
rightful place in
the galaxy, and serve you for all time. Accept our humble
sacrifice in
order that you will grant us our wishes, as well as
yours." Derek
abruptly raised the dagger above his head
* * *
"Derek!!! NO!!!!" Rachel ran screaming into
the room, followed by
Elizabeth and Fr. Alexi.
"You're too late! The ritual has already started.
The Legacy is dead!"
Daniel yelled gleefully. "Derek, kill the boy! I
order you to."
The Dutchman started to draw the knife down in a sweeping
arc.
"No, Derek." Rachel pleaded. "Don't
give in. C'mon, fight, dammit,
fight!" Rachel started to run toward her friend.
Instantly, Philip and
Nick appeared out of nowhere, tackling Rachel to the
ground.
Elizabeth sprinted through the tangle and grabbed the
dagger out of
Derek's hand. Instantly, an unknown force slammed her to
the opposite
wall. The dagger wrenched itself out of her hands, and
flew back to
Daniel's own waiting hand.
"You see, you cannot possibly win. We shall
prevail." The precept
laughed harshly. He then handed Derek the dagger once
more, who, in
turn, took up his position by Gabriel.
Fr. Alexi calmly walked to the bed himself, and began
the Lord's Prayer.
"Our Father, who art in Heaven. Hallowed be His
name. Thy Kingdom come,
Thy Will be done. On Earth as it is in
Heaven…." After he had finished
the prayer, he whipped the dagger out of Derek's hand,
and imbedded it
into the cot beside the boy. Derek merely roared, then
collapsed onto
the ground below.
Fr. Alexi picked up the small boy, and turned to face
Gabriel's father.
"You bastard! How dare you interfere with
something that is not of your
concern?" Daniel screamed, hatred spewing from every
pore of his body.
He grabbed the dagger's handle, and began to pull on it
with all his
strength. It would not budge.
Daniel grabbed it with two hands. Slowly, the dagger
began to move out
of the bed. Halfway out, the blade split in two, and it
flew into
Daniel's left leg. He scream in pain as blood poured
through th e wound
and onto the dagger and his body. He pulled out the
blade, and began to
hobble to the priest. "Tu mordes, Pater" He
swung the blade in a wide
arc down toward Fr. Alexi's chest. It passed through boy
and priest.
Father Alexi merely smiled sadly, shaking his head in
fatherly manner
"You poor deluded man. You really think that you can
hurt me with that?
You have forgotten that God is more powerful than that
thing will ever
be. You are no match for Him, or me. You have condemned
yourself to
Hell, and you'll not drag anyone else with you. God will
not allow it."
The priest spoke quietly, as he didn't want to disturb
the sleeping boys
in his arms.
Instantly, one of the candelabras fell over and caught
the bed on fire.
The fire on the bed went up in a raging inferno. The
dagger twisted in
Daniel's hands and flew into his stomach. He lurched back
and fell onto
the burning bed, instantly catching on fire. The room
echoed his screams
of agony.
Abruptly, Daniel jumped out of the fire, his body
engulfed in flames. He
grabbed onto the melting dagger and pulled it out. He
fell to the floor,
writhing in pain. Everyone conscious watched in horror as
Daniel raised
the dagger to his neck and slit it open.
"One…last…sacrifice…" the man
rasped as blood gushed from his neck, dowsing some of the
fire, but the
fire quickly overtook the corpse.
The priest gave the unconscious boy to Elizabeth.
"I have to go now," he
explained. "It is my time. Actually, it's after my
time, but I knew I
had to come. Take care of Gabriel. Take his away from
this place of pain
and desecration. He's yours now." The priest finally
disappeared from
sight.
"Wait!!" She yelled. "What do I
do?"
'Do what is in your heart. That is all anybody can
do.' A voice
whispered in her ear.
Suddenly, the boy began to stir in her arms. Elizabeth
looked down at
the boy and began to comfort him. "Shh, Gabe. I'll
get you out of here;
we just have to find the others first." She walked
to a hidden door and
opened it. Inside, everyone saw the missing Legacy
members sitting up
and looking around. Confusion was clearly written on all
their faces.
All except for one.
Epilogue
Connor sat up, gasping for air. He looked up, trying
to figure out he
were he was. After a minute, he saw Nick checking cots.
He watched him
for a second, then called to him.
Nick saw him, and began hopping over cots.
"Connor, thank God I've found you."
"Where's Uncle William?"
A Chinese man yelled at the two that he had found
Sloan, still
unconscious. Connor ran to his uncle. "He's not
breathing!" The man
yelled, as he started chest compressions.
"I'll call for an ambulance!" Connor yelled,
running out of the room and
up the stairs. He got to the lobby, and made a beeline a
phone. He
picked it up and started to dial. It was dead. 'Bloody
Hell!' He
thought., running outside to the nearest pay-phone. He
started to dial,
then read the "911" sign. He pounded the side
of the phone, then dialed
the right number.
"911, please state your emergency."
"Yes, there's been a fire at th' Luna Foundation,
121 Massachusetts
Avenue. Its under control, but we need t' get an
ambulance here right
away. My uncle is not breathin'."
"Alright, son. The ambulance is on the way."
The operator comforted the
boy. "Do you see your uncle?"
"No, the phones died, an' I had t' go outside t'
a pay-phone. Dr. Lewong
was tryin' t' resuscitate him before I left. I-I've got
t' go." He hung
up the phone as a news van pulled up to the House.
"Who th' bloody hell called th' press?" He
asked to no one in
particular. "Can I help?" He asked to a man
stepping out of the van.
The reporter took one look at Connor, then blew him off.
"Beat it, kid.
I'm here for the story."
Derek suddenly appeared through the doors helping
other people out.
"Sir, sir." The reporter ran up to Derek.
"Do you know what happened at
the time of the fire?"
Derek took one look at the man by Connor and frowned.
"Any questions
will be answered by young Connor here. Now leave me and
my people alone;
we are trying to save lives here and we don't need any
noisy reporters
getting in our way."
Connor smiled smugly as the man turned to him and
began stumble over his
questions. After the reporter went away, the ambulance
showed up and took Sloan to
the hospital. Instantly, the House went up in ablaze.
Everyone poured
out and several bent over from smoke inhalation. Connor
just sat on the
curb opposite the House, watching it burn fiercely.
People started to
rush by, and after a while, Connor was completely
hypnotized by the fire.
"Connor, let's go to the hospital," a
disembodied voice echoed
distantly… "Connor…are you ok?" The
boy looked up slowly and saw Nick
covered in soot and ash. "C'mon, Connor. I'll take
you to the hospital."
Nick grabbed his arm. He shrugged of Nick's grip.
"I don' want t' go; I'm needed here."
"Connor, your uncle needs you at the
hospital." Derek loomed out of the crowd.
The boy closed his eyes tiredly. "Just give me a
minute" he stated
blandly. "Alright, let's go." He stood up and
was led to a parked car.
He got in and watched the House burn as the car pulled
away.
The End
Note: P:tL is owned lock,
stock and barrel by that Pen Densham (?), Richard B.
Lewis,
and John "The best straight man around" Watson.
Besides
P:tL, they also own "The Outer Limits" and
"The New Twilight Zone" from
the eighties. That's right, they own that too (check it
it you don't
believe me). Donald, Connor Sloan, and everyone else who
isn't found in
the show is my creations, fit to do with what I want
Second Note: If you've
made it this far, good for you :). The sequel
is going to be around shortly. I just have to type it.
It's not as long
as this one though, and it should only take 5 hours
instead of the ten
it took to read this one ;) (just kidding). The name is
"The Innocence
of Death", and it will explain the rest of this
fiasco.
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