Chadpocalypse - 2:10 The Unforgiven

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2:10 The Unforgiven

From behind the bar, Joe watched the scene unfold with apprehension, holding the cross tightly in his palm and feeling it begin to glow red hot with reticence. Death stood to face them, shaking off the chandelier as if it were nothing more than rain drops. They were out of options. His head buzzed with madness and he thought to himself: Fuck it, had to happen sometime. “Madeline, you need to get them out of here.” Joe’s voice was low.

     She looked at him, surprised.

     He fingered the rosary wrapped around the cross and snapped it in half. Wooden beads clattered to the floor, rolling in all directions and Joe’s eyes rolled back in his head, showing pure white. An unearthly whisper dripped out of him like a leaky faucet.  

     “Joe,” she started, nervously. “What have you got in there?”

     “What?” his voice took on an otherworldly echo. “I wasn’t going to let them damn that poor girl to Hell.” He let the last of the rosary fall and felt a wild energy surge through him as two additional consciousnesses blended with his own. “Unfortunately, as you know, we couldn’t get the demon out.” His voice lowered to a growl at the last word.

     Madeline opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself. “Welcome back to The Order, Joe.”

     “Thanks,” Joe’s voice rose again. “But like I said, I think it’s going to be a short stay.”

     “What the hell are you doing?” asked James, trying to grab Joe’s arm, but he was pushed back by an invisible force.

     “You’re not the only one with a few secrets.” Joe turned to him and winked.

     There was someone else behind Joe’s eyes, James was sure of it. He watched as differing expressions flashed across the old man’s face like a thunderstorm. “Joe, whatever you’re doing, there’s got to be another way.”

     “For what it’s worth.” Joe unbuttoned his shirt and pressed the wooden cross to his bare skin. It seared and stuck, branding the flesh. “It’s been fun.” He stepped out from behind the bar as Death was rounding on Chad for his second attack. “Well, you’ve been asking for me to let you out for ten years, here’s your chance.”

     Joe’s body jerked as if pulled by marionet strings. “Oh boy, new toys for me to play with.” The voice came from his mouth but was not his. It was that of a little girl, not more than six or seven, amplified by the dimensions it called through.

     “Hell, Joe, what have you done to this body?” came another, darker voice. “I’m from Hell, but this is agony.”

     Sweat beaded on Joe’s brow. “If you’re both going to bitch so much about it, I can put you back.”

     “Unlikely,” growled the lower voice. “Once we’re out, we’re out.” The demon laughed, a horrible, grating sound that echoed off the lobby’s walls.

     Death cocked his head to the side, watching the conversation with great interest. “My, my, priest.” His attention wavered from Chad momentarily. “Just how many people do you have in there?”

     Joe’s body jerked again. “Enough to give you a run for your money.” Joe’s mouth tightened into an unnatural grin.  

     “A soldier demon?”

     “Yes,” he licked his lips, “and one that’s got a bone to pick with the,” he paused, looking for the right word, “establishment.”

     Death made a clucking sound from somewhere deep in his skull. “I’m afraid it won’t make a difference. I’m not sure they tell the little grunts in Hell, but there’s a certain hierarchy of power among celestial beings. If you were curious, pissants like you are at the bottom.” White fire flared in a halo around Death, turning all it touched to ash and cinders.

     “I’ve had enough of this chatter.” It was Joe’s voice again, but full of pain. It was clear maintaining whatever was happening inside him was no small feat.

     “Alright, Joe, if you say so,” came the sing-song voice of the little girl again. Joe walked toward Death, his head held high, never breaking eye contact - well, socket contact - with the horseman.

     Chad was staring, mouth agape at the spectacle before him. Death was a forgotten dream in the distracting aberrance of the situation. “Joe, you sure about this?”

     “He definitely wasn’t,” replied the lazy voice of the demon. “But it’s a bit late for that now.”

     A sinking sensation gripped Chad as he realized the act was done. Joe was still alive and breathing, but the second he broke the rosary, the sacrifice was complete. Holding back what he thought might be tears, Chad simply said: “Thank you, Joe.” There was nothing else to say. He backed away from Death before he could invalidate Joe’s gesture by dying.  

     Death let out a tired sigh. “Don’t go too far, Chad. I’ll be with you in a minute.” He took a step toward Joe and with no preamble, swung his glinting scythe through the air, trailing a fine white flame behind it.

     Joe reacted on instinct, taking a step closer. In the second before the blade hit him, he reached out a hand and grabbed the handle of the scythe, stopping it mid swing. Smoke rose from his fingers as he wrapped them around the wooden handle and the demon screamed. “Just what the hell have you gotten us into?” it whined.

     “You wanted out,” grunted Joe, and with his other hand, drove a fist into Death’s bony sternum.

     The fire in Death’s eyes waned in momentary surprise as he was pushed back by a cataclysmic force. There was a loud crack as Joe’s fist struck bone. He let go of the scythe as Death was catapulted backward toward the mess of chandelier Chad had dropped on him. His feet skidded across the floor as he struggled to maintain his balance, but he did not fall.

     “Alright, we hit the bad man, can we go now?” asked the little girl’s voice.

     “Unfortunately no, my dear.” A tear rolled down Joe’s cheek. There was blood in it. “This is a fight we must stay in until the very end.”

     Death regained his footing and moved towards Joe with lightning speed, spinning the scythe like a helicopter blade. “That was a cheap shot and you know it,” he shouted. The floor boomed with each step as advanced.

     “Let me handle this one,” growled the demon. Joe’s body shone with red light and a wave of force spilled out of him in tangled, glowing lines. The scythe struck his arm, drawing a black line across it, but the red hit Death at the same time, ensnaring him. Joe recoiled in pain, watching as rot spread down his arm from where the scythe had struck. “I’m not a doctor, but that’s not good,” remarked the demon, sounding genuinely worried.

     Chad was watching from in front of the bar and was about to run in to help when a hand grabbed him from behind. It clamped over his mouth before he could utter what was sure to have been a curse-laden protest.

     Madeline spoke quickly and quietly. “There’s a back door, but we’re not going to have much of a head start. He doesn’t have long left.” There was no sadness to the matter-of-fact tone in her voice. “So, let’s make sure he didn’t waste this.”

     Chad reached out toward Joe, watching as Death shook off the tendrils of red power and took another swing. The scythe fully hit its mark, severing Joe’s arm at the shoulder. All three voices cried out in pain. There was a sickening thud as the arm hit the floor, and Joe’s entire body glowed red.

     Chad’s eyes were wide, unable to look away from the sight before him.

     Another set of hands pulled him back. “Chad, trust me, we don’t want to see this.” James’s voice shook. “I’ve been there before, and I have no desire to do it again. Let’s get moving.”

     Reluctantly, Chad turned away. Even as they ran behind the bar, he could feel the room growing hot.

     “I like to think all deaths have a purpose.” Death laughed, and the whirring sound of his scythe carried through the room, warbling like a Theremin. “But yours could have easily been avoided, for now at least. You should have stayed in your church, priest.”

     The sound of Joe, the demon, and the little girl laughing at once resonated off the lobby walls, filling the chamber. “Well, if this is the end, I might as well make it worth a damn. I’m not sure if you can still feel, but I hope this hurts.”

     Chad, Madeline, and James were running through the portrait hallway when there was a loud crash from the lobby, followed by a thunderous rumble. Madeline pulled a torch on one of the walls, revealing a secret passage just as heat blasted down the hallway in a wave. Chad had a moment to look and see hellfire pushing its way through the cramped space before he was pulled into the passage and the door was shut behind him.