Demons Beware Read online

  “I’d have to think that they’d probably do more running if you came on out there. Get me that wrench would you… Earl, can you get me the half inch wrench, this socket ain’t ever going to fit in here, it’s too fat. Heaven have mercy on your soul, Earl, you got wax in your ears, or what?”

  He looked over to Earl who was staring off into the distance. He threw a dirty rag at him and whistled. Earl turned around slowly, holding out his hands in front of him stretching his fingers, and looking like it was the first time that he’d ever seen, or, for that matter, used his hands. Earl whispered, “This will have to do.”

  Al said, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Earl. You didn’t take anything, did you? Those damn hippies take the weird shit; you weren’t hanging out with the hippies, were you?”

  Earl knelt down, picking up a hammer and weighing it in his hands, nodding to himself. Al said, “You must got wax in your ears. I said that I needed a wrench—the half inch—not the damn hammer! Who the hell uses a hammer when they are fixing a damn truck. You must’ve gotten dropped on your head one too many times, Earl.”

  Earl walked slowly towards Al, who was looking around for anyone that might be able to help him. He knew that Earl smoked a bit of weed, but he didn’t ever know him to do anything that would make him hallucinate. The sun wasn’t out, and the man didn’t know how to be tired from a hard day’s work. “Earl, back off a little. Why don’t you put my hammer down?”

  “I have work to do.”

  Al actually laughed at this. “I'm sorry, did you just say that you were going to work? You must’ve hit your head on something. I'm going to put a size ten foot in your ass if you don’t take a few steps back. You know damn well, I ain’t like that.”

  Earl brought the hammer up quickly, and without stopping or thinking, swung it down as hard as he could into Al’s face. His head whipped to the side and with it a spray of saliva, teeth, and blood trailed in the arch following it. Al fell to the side, landing on his arm and shoulder hard. Blood filled his mouth and a pain shot throughout his jaw into the back of his head. Tears filled the man’s eyes, and he fought them off unsuccessfully. Earl bent over him, bringing up the hammer one more time, then halfway down, he stopped. “There are two of them, we need help. We need him.”

  Al yelled, “I ain’t helping you do shit, you son of a bitch, you just messed up my whole damn mouth. I ain’t never been anything but nice to you. What in the hell were you thinking, doing something like that? You got issues and when I get up, you’re a dead ma- “

  Earl bent down taking Al by the shoulder. He stopped speaking mid-sentence. A hot feeling ran throughout his shoulder and moved throughout his entire body. He tried to speak but was unable to. The longer he thought about it, he realized that everything was becoming fuzzy as well. He no longer felt the pain running through his body, and could not remember why there should have been pain in the first place.

  Earl motioned for him to rise and by the time he did, his eyes glowed the slightest tint of red. Earl waited for him to become one with the being. When he had been taken fully, he got up from the ground; the blood dripped down the front of his shirt, and no pain remained.

  The two walked out in front of the boys, startling both of them. Earl had an abandoned piece of two-by-four in his hand and Al was carrying a pipe. They were dragging them behind until they saw James and Billy.

  Billy put a hand on the back of James’s coat and pulled him back, almost off balance. “We don’t want to go that way, James. Those guys don’t look like they got good intentions.”

  James—who was not used to the ghetto was always worried about everyone, everywhere—pulled back and away. “Don’t be a spaz man. Just say something, would you? You don’t have to rip my coat, man.”

  “Relax, I didn’t rip your coat, just come on. Those guys are trouble.”

  Earl started to run, and when James saw his eyes glowing red, Billy didn’t need to say anything else. The overweight man sprinted faster than they could've possibly imagined. He leapt into the air ten feet, hitting the ground once and coming right back up, jumping off of the ground. The two boys tried to anticipate it, but only in comic books had they seen such things.

  Earl did not come down the second time. He hit the wall and propelled himself forward. James pushed Billy out of the way and leapt to the side himself. Earl crashed into the ground ripping his face apart. Billy could not help himself but care for another. “Are... are... are you okay?”

  James yelled, “What are you, stupid? Who cares if he is okay, let’s get out of here! Come on, let’s go.”

  When Earl looked up, they could see the red glowing in his eyes. When Earl spoke, he answered any questions left about whether he was possessed or not; he had been taken without a doubt. “You need to go back into the house. You need to come with us.”

  Billy got up, “No way, we aren’t going anywhere with you.”

  Earl held up the piece of wood. “I will stick this up your mother’s asshole if you don’t, and then he’ll use that pipe to smash her head in. Do you not love your mother?”

  James said, “Dude his eyes are red, are you going to trust him? He's a freak. We need to get out of here and do it now. Don’t you understand he’s just lying to you, he’s going to-”

  Spit and blood sprayed from his mouth as he growled, “Shut your mouth, boy, you do not know of what you speak. We are older than time and we do not make threats. We do not need the mother alive. If you cannot follow the simplest orders, then you will lose your father, Alex, and your mother, Stephanie.”

  Al came up behind them; sparks were coming from the pipe. The two boys looked at each other. James whispered, “My parents.”

  Billy looked at the open alleyway, unsure if they would be able to make it, but afraid for their lives if they went with these monsters. Billy looked at his friend with all the seriousness he’d ever seen before in his eyes. “We can’t trust them, we have to run.”

  The two boys nodded and at the same time, rolled away from Earl and sprinted down the alleyway like their lives depended on it… which they very much indeed did. The two men both began sprinting after them.

  The two by four whistled past Billy’s face, a splinter left in his cheek. He looked over his shoulder and gave the demon the finger. James yelled, “You just gave him the middle finger! We aren’t allowed to do that; you’re going to have to do penance for that.”

  “I don’t think the guy upstairs is going to care, James.”

  They ran blindly into the street, leaping across it when they saw a garbage truck coming straight for them. Earl was only inches from catching up to them at this point. He screamed something that neither boy understood. The garbage truck tried warning the man with his horn, but it was too late and he was moving too fast to stop at this point.

  The driver punched in the clutch and the brake at the same time, trying to bring the giant of a truck to a stop, but it did little good. He might as well have been on ice, for all the good that it did. Earl looked at the man with hate and no fear in his eyes. The garbage man collided into him, and with having his brakes locked up, lost control of the truck, sending it into a pickup parked in the street. He let off the air-brakes, jumping out of the truck and ran around to the front of the truck. He yelled, “What in the hell was you thinking?”

  The man looked at Earl lying there with blood dripping from the side of his mouth. The man asked but already knew his answer. “Hey… hey, mister, are you okay? Are you alive?”

  Earl’s spine had been destroyed. He looked up at the garbage man, giving him an expression of pure joy, “You’ve ruined my host.”

  “What’d you say, buddy...? God, I’m sorry, I am. I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “You will have to do, for I know this one does not have long left. I can feel it in his bones.”

  “What kind of crazy are you talking about, pal?”

  Earl did not answer. When the garbage man got within reaching distance, he clenched
onto his wrist, just shy of being tight enough to break it; he could have, if he’d have squeezed any harder and his life was not fading from his grasp. The man screamed at first, but then felt a warmth transfer up his forearm and spread throughout his entire body from there. Al ran past him yelling to the garbage man, “We need to go, why are you wasting time?”

  Billy and James had only stopped for a millisecond. When they saw Earl still talking after being rammed with a garbage truck, neither of them had any questions what… or who, might be the thing keeping him conscious. They ran another few blocks up before stopping again to try to catch their breath.

  James said, “Let’s… let’s go to my house. We can tell my dad what happened, and he can give us a ride to the church. I think we need to go to the church. I don’t know who else would be able to help us.”

  “I'm starting to wonder if we will even be safe there.”

  James threw up his hands in the air. “Well then where do you think we will go? Something tells me that we won’t be able to outrun these guys for long. There wasn’t anything making them tired before that garbage truck hit him. I think we’ll run out of energy before they do. I'm not going to lie, I didn’t think that getting out of there was actually going to happen. I’ve never seen anything like that before, Billy.”

  “Like I have! Come on, we can go to your house first. Maybe your dad or mom could give us a ride, like, right back to the church, then everyone will be safe. Maybe your dad would also take us by the Anderson’s place; I don’t want to think what they’ll do if Tony gets taken. I still don’t believe any of this is happening, I can’t get my head around it.”

  “Billy, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s like hell opened up under your house, and then they decided to come through your bedroom or something. There’s more than one in your house. How many people were there last night with your dad?”

  “I want to say there was only one, James. I can’t say for sure, I don’t even know what to look for. It took Tony over somehow, but all it did was throw me across the room. I think it has something to do with these crosses. We need to get something religious for Tony to wear. I know that my mom has something, but Tony doesn’t have anything. He asked for one, but they didn’t get him one because my mom was sure that they’d never see it after the first day that he wore it. There’s nothing to protect him. I feel so guilty if that is why they are taking him over. I’d give him my chain now, if I could; if it would leave him safe. You think it would work?”

  “Billy, I have absolutely no idea; you are asking the wrong guy. We need to get moving, come on.” The boys kept running until they were away from the two followers and out of their sight.

  Chapter 14

  A few hours before Billy and James left school

  Tony sat in the bay window of the row house playing with his cars. Mrs. Anderson had sat down to listen to her radio program and within ten minutes had fallen asleep in their bedroom. Tony tried to get interested in it, but the bible sermon they were preaching was of little interest to a boy his age. He bounced the wood knob that was attached to the string that brought the shades up and down off the window. He tried keeping track of how many times he could do it until he lost count.

  He pushed the shades up, looking outside. The rain was just barely drizzling and it made the day even darker than usual. He looked at his house, wishing he could go home to get some of his cars. He watched Mrs. Anderson for a few minutes before committing to it. He tiptoed out of the room, heading downstairs and to the mudroom where he slid on his shoes. He tried to tie them, but couldn’t remember what to do with the rabbit once it went in the hole. Tony gave up, sliding the laces into his shoes, and slid on his jacket and hat. He listened for one more moment before opening the door as quietly as he could. He walked out to the end of the sidewalk, looking both ways. When he determined that the coast was clear, he sprinted across the street, moving his little legs as fast as he could.

  He leapt onto the sidewalk, looking like a boxer he’d seen on TV, dancing around with his arms in the air. He went to the front door, trying it, and finding it locked. Tony stared at the door for a moment kicking at the mat. He smiled when a memory of his dad coming up the steps, staggering after they’d been at a baseball game, and he’d forgotten his key at home. His dad had reached above the door frame, finding a key and unlocking the door.

  Tony stared at the top of the frame, thinking he’d need a firefighter to bring one of their ladders if he was ever going to reach it. He walked back down the steps until he was near the bottom and leapt with blind faith off the step so that he could land halfway onto the concrete stoop, hitting with a yell and clinging onto it with his small pudgy fingers with all his strength. He kicked with his feet, climbing up the best that he could until he was near the top. He swung his leg up and over, and went up to the door frame on his hands and knees.

  The mail carrier Pete Lawson yelled from a few houses down. “Tony, what in the hell are you doing, son?”

  Tony almost fell off the side of it when he shouted. “I... I don’t have a key Mr. Lawson. I can't get my door open, sir.”

  “Well, where is your mother and father at?”

  “My mom is at the hospital sleeping and my dad... well, he got real mad yesterday and left. At least that’s what my momma said.”

  “Well, who is caring for you?”

  “There’s someone at the house who is looking out for me, sir. I just don’t think they know that I want in. There’s supposed to be a key up top there; at the top of the door.”

  “Well, you want some help with it? I don’t think you are going to reach all the way up there, unless you’re going to wait a few years.”

  Tony scratched his head and the mail carrier could see what he was saying was going over the young man’s head. “Would you like me to help you get in? I’ll make sure whoever is watching you is home before I go and leave you alone by yourself.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Mr. Lawson.”

  “I don’t have to do a lot of things, son, but I do them because I’m too old to just turn a blind eye. Now, you mind your elders, and just say thank you for someone caring about you. What is your momma going and doing in the hospital? She didn’t go have another baby, now, did she?”

  “No sir, we don’t have no babies coming to our home. At least I don’t think so… I didn’t see any storks on the way across the street.”

  “Storks?”

  “Yeah, you know, the mailman for babies. That’s where we come from, didn’t no one never teach you that? Poor Mr. Lawson. If you come back when my momma is home, she can tell you all about it. She knows everything about babies there is. She should have been a doctor or a nurse.”

  When he said the mailman for babies, Pete wasn’t sure if he could hold in the laughs. He searched for the key, not finding it, and checked under the matt. “Sonny, there ain’t any key here, buddy. I don’t think you’ll be getting in here. You want me to walk you back across the street? I’m surprised that they let a little guy like you cross the street all on your own in the first place. You know what would happen if a truck came down the street as you were stepping out?”

  “No, sir, I don’t know what would happen.”

  “You ever saw a pancake before?”

  “Yup, we get them once in a while.”

  “Well, that’s what you’d look like if a truck hit you. You make sure you are looking both ways all the time when you are crossing the street. You have any questions about that?”

  “Nope, if I don’t want to look like my breakfast, then I better not forget to look both ways.”

  The two turned to walk down the steps when the door opened. Pete spun around, ready to give an ear full to whoever was home and letting the boy go back and forth across the street. It swung all the way in, and there was nothing but the darkness of the house staring back at him. There were shades drawn, and not many windows in the home in the first place. Windows had been considered a rich man’s luxury that the poor
could not afford. The heat that escaped made housing even more expensive, and allowed burglars one additional way to enter the home.

  Pete said, “Hello, is anyone there?”

  Tony walked ahead of him but Pete placed a hand on his shoulder. “You let me go in first, Tony.”

  Tony obeyed letting the older man enter the last house that he ever would. A voice came from the top of the stairs that sounded like his mother’s. “Honey, go to your room, and do it now.”

  Tony looked to the man and said, “Well, it looks like everything is okay here.”

  “Your momma must have come home already. I’m surprised that she didn’t stop to get you, if you were being watched.”

  Tony shrugged and headed up the steps. He felt the cool air on the back of his neck and slowed for a moment looking back at the mail carrier. Pete yelled up the steps. “You need to make sure and keep this little guy out of the street ma’am or I’m going to have to let someone know about it. I don’t want to go and tell on you, but I can’t have kids on my street getting hit by cars. Do you hear me?”

  The door opened on its own this time, and the man walked out slowly when he heard no further words. He mumbled to himself, “I ain't going to lose any sleep over that kid getting splattered on the damn street.”

  He stood on the porch for a moment when he started to get the spins all at once. The feeling raced through his stomach until he could barely keep himself upright. The normal pain in his back and knees subsided momentarily; he felt better than he had in quite some time.

  Pete hopped down the steps. He saw Tony in the street, bouncing a ball. He couldn’t rationalize with the fact that he’d just dropped the kid off not more than two minutes ago. He looked down the street, seeing a cement truck coming and started screaming, “Tony! Tony Parker, you get your little ass out of that street now. Don’t you remember the pancakes?”