Monday, 18th March 1996, 11:03pm
“Mind your head…”
One of the guys with the balaclavas pushed
Jason roughly into the back of the car. It stank of cigarettes and old, greasy
food. As soon as Jason had gotten in, the other guy jumped into the car next to
him, poking the barrel of a pistol into his ribs. Two more masked guys entered
the front of the car. As the driver was about to pull out, another car swerved
and pulled into the driveway, boxing them in.
Jude.
He jumped out of the car, gun raised, aiming at the two
people in the front.
“Just fucking ram him, Klaus”, the guy next to Jason said.
Klaus, behind the wheel didn’t say anything.
He could see Knight walk up to Jude, clearly trying to
explain something, while showing his hands. It took a few second, but Jude stood
down, nodding to Knight. With a final look at the car, Jude got back behind the
wheel and removed his own vehicle.
As the dark blue sedan pulled out of the driveway of 1206
Spooner Avenue, the three men removed their balaclavas. Jason didn’t pay them
much attention. He sat slumped, staring at his blood and gore crusted hands.
They were shaking. Strange… that had never happened to him before.
The guy behind the wheel looked in the rear-view mirror
“It’s going to be ok, Agent Jason”
He looked to be in his
40s, a lean face with blue eyes.
“Just sit back and enjoy the ride, old-timer. And avoid
sudden movements, they make me nervous…”
Jason turned his head sideways to have a look at the guy who
was holding the gun that was painfully jabbing his ribs. Big guy, bearded, probably early to
mid-thirties. Jason caught a glimpse of the guy’s eyes as they passed a petrol station.
He had seen that look before. When he looked in the mirror…
The third guy, sitting in the passenger seat up front,
shoved a bag in between them.
“Donut?”
Jason looked down at his hands, folded in his lap. Blood and
tissue was crusted on them. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was
just so tired…
Monday, 18th March
1996, 08:25pm
They had opened the
door and headed straight forward. Jude and Knight, back-up sent by A-cell, were
waiting at the garage to bring the guy in. Jason had told them to stay outside,
as it had been clear before that the house did play tricks on anyone entered it,
enough to drive one insane and kill himself. That’s why they both had plugged
their ears and left any weapons behind. Last thing he needed was Jasper getting
spooked and shoot him in the back.
They had made it about
4 meters into the house when he felt, rather than heard, a loud thump, and saw the
beam of Jasper’s flashlight go wild, swaying wildly back and forth, and then
spinning. He turned just in time to see Jasper hit the ground on one knee,
clawing at his back. In the blink of an eye, Jason saw the large fresh
bloodstains sprayed around Jasper’s feet. In the fraction of a second that it
took him to take it all in, his light reflected on the head of a log-splitter
that came down, this time hitting his cell mate in the shoulder, right next to
his head.
Time stopped. The
first thing he thought of, as Jasper’s body slowly tipped sideways and hit the
floorboards, was that he couldn’t do this without him. The ritual clearly
stated two had to invoke and summon the Black Man. Second, he realized he was
unarmed against something wielding a large log-splitter with ease. Then his
flashlight lit up the one wielding it. Yarrow… Fucking Yarrow!
Time returned to
normal and Jason bodyslammed the Friendly (…) to the ground. They both went
down, and rolled into furniture, pulling down sheets and boxes around them. His
flashlight was gone, and it was hard to see what was going on, as the only
light came from two flashlights that were rolling across the floor now. He got
back up, as quick as he could, but Yarrow was quicker. The axe hit the wood
only inches from Jason’s head. He kicked at Yarrow’s leg, resulting in a grunt,
while he grabbed the handle of Yarrow’s weapon. They both pulled at it,
wrestling for control of the only weapon in reach. Jason took it, only to lose
his grip on the blood-slick handle. They rolled away from each other, and got
up, Yarrow moving too fast for a guy his size.
Jason felt a massive
blow hitting his side and could feel at least two ribs cracking. Yarrow had hit
him, but his aim had been bad, and the weapon had connected with the side,
rather than with the sharp edge. Jason dropped down, pulling Yarrow off
balance, forcing him down on the ground with him.
The fight turned into
a vicious brawl. Jason was gouging Yarrow’s eyes, while he tried to strangle
Jason by the throat, clawing at the skin. He could feel one of Yarrow’s eyes pop
and pressed his thumb deeper. It was clear this wasn’t going to be enough to
stop the academic. Jason had seen the man’s eyes a few seconds before as the beam
lit him up. This wasn’t Yarrow anymore. Something else was in control of him
now.
He kneed him hard in
the groin and reached out for the log-splitter. This time he had the drop on
the madman, and he was able to swing the weapon hard, making it crash into the
bulk of the man’s torso. This would have killed any man, but as he pulled
himself up on the edge of the counter, he could see the body move again. He pulled
the axe out of Yarrows chest, making a sucking sound as it left a gaping wound
that exposed crushed organs, and he swung it at the things head. Jason felt the
slick handle slip again as the back of the axe-head crashed into Yarrow’s face,
shattering teeth and cartilage. The weapon spun away, coming to a standstill
under a sideboard.
Jason dropped himself
onto Yarrow, straddling him as he landed blow after blow onto the man’s
battered head. He could feel his fists sinking into the pulped face, shattered bone
cutting his knuckles, but he kept going, pounding his fists deeper and deeper
Suddenly light fell
into the room. As he looked sideways he saw Jude, weapon drawn, and Knight, scanning the room over the barrel of a shotgun. Only then he realized he had been calling for Jude all
along. He reached up, fumbling to remove one of the earplugs with blood and
gore covered fingertips. He wiped the blood out of his eyes, looking at Knight
and pointed at Jasper.
“Do you have medical
training?”
Knight shook his head, scanning for other movement in the room.
“Jude, patch him up. I
need him alive for another two hours.”
Monday, 18th March 1996, 11:54pm
“Wake up”
Jason felt a sharp pain as the barrel of the gun was rammed
into his broken ribs and let out a groan.
“Ease up, Krobar. Help him into the barn.” Klaus turned the
engine off and got out of the car, heading towards the door of the abandoned
barn.
The big bearded guy got out and walked around the car,
opening Jason’s door.
“Fuck this, Klaus. Let me just put a bullet into Agent Jerry
Atric’s skull and we can all go home.” He grinned at Jason “Need a hand getting
out, old man?”
Jason ignored him and gritted his teeth as he pulled himself
out of the car. He followed Klaus into the barn and sat down on wooden crate.
Krobar and the other guy were making noise outside, removing items from the
boot of the car. The shabby and overweight agent with the greasy hair,
addressed by Krobar as Kodiak, came in with 2 large collapsible water
containers. Krobar dragged a few go-bags in, as well as a couple of six packs.
He dumped it all on the floor and dragged a few chairs out of the shadows
towards the centre of the barn, where Klaus lit a couple of camping lanterns.
“Take a seat, Agent Jason. Kodiak, bring some water so he
can clean himself up.”
Jason slowly scrubbed his hands, which were still shaking,
then washed his face, still covered in blood from his fight with Yarrow.
He got up and took his shirt off.
“I’ll need a first aid kit”.
Klaus nodded to Krobar, who left the building, returning a
few minutes later with a kit. Without saying anything, he got to work on Jason,
bandaging his ribs, and cleaning the deep scratches on his throat. When he
finished, Jason sat down and looked at Klaus.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning, Jason?”
Jason told him in broad lines about the issue with the
house, the effect it had on people and how he had found the diary, and what it
contained. He discussed the fact that from what his cell had investigated, only
the performance of this ritual seemed like a permanent way to stop the threat.
HE told them he had called A-Cell, and given them that information, and that
they had called back and told him to eliminate the threat.
At that stage, Agent Knight stepped through the door,
joining the other. Jason continued, telling them Friendlies had been involved who
were at that stage sent away, leaving only himself and Agent Jasper. He had
called for back-up, which was sent in the form of Jude and, nodding at the
Agent, Knight.
“A-cell had given me 48 hours to finish the Op, so I sent
Jude and Knight out to arrange a body, as the ritual required a human
sacrifice.” He stopped for a second and looked at the Agent.
“I left them with strict instructions not to disturb me, as
I needed the rest to prepare for studying the ritual. The next morning, I
contacted them and was informed they had done their part. I started to go
through the text and study it, which was harder than expected.”
Jason lit a cigarette
“It just didn’t make sense. There was no way this would work,
it was just …” He shook his head “Gibberish…”
He took a deep breath. “I took a break and started all over, and somehow, slowly things seemed to make more sense. I can’t explain it. It’s like a puzzle. You look at it and can’t make out what piece should go where, and all of the sudden, you see what you didn’t see before. Anyway. I finished studying the ritual, gathered the necessary equipment, and told the others to get ready by nightfall.”
Knight handed a small parcel over to Klaus. He opened it,
and pulled out a bloodied bronze knife and bowl.
Jason nodded. “That’s it, those items were needed for the
dismissal.”
“We went back and I instructed Jude and Knight to stay
outside, Jasper and myself would go in and open the garage to get the body
inside. We had witnessed the effect on people who went inside, and I needed
them to be a clear-minded as possible. When we went in, there were…
complications. A friendly involved in the Op had gone back inside and was taken
over by whatever force present there. Jasper was wounded, the threat
neutralized.”
Knight leaned over to Klaus, whispering something. Jason ignored
it and continued.
“Time was of the essence. I told Jude to get the body
inside, before more damage was done. Jasper was patched up, as I needed his assistance
in the ritual. It clearly stated two people had to do it and pay ‘the price’.”
He stopped for a moment.
“We dragged the body to the bedroom. I started the
preparation, drawing the circle and marking the symbols. Jasper lit the
candles. There was an attempt of the Force to stop us, but that didn’t work. I
recited the words, over and over again, Jasper repeating them as instructed. It
didn’t work. We started over again and noticed a marked difference. It became
colder inside, and there were faint noises. At the right moment, I made the
sacrifice. And that’s when He appeared.”
He lit another cigarette.
He looked at the other Agents.
“That’s when you burst in. I take it you removed all traces
and bodies. I started to erase the patterns on the floor, but you interrupted
me. The house might need observation, or you can try and burn it down, it didn’t
work before. Perhaps, if this Presence is gone now, it will burn?”
“So… I feel… like a grapefruit, after it’s been juiced.
There’s something missing. Something’s gone inside. You do what you need to do.
I don’t give a shit.”
Klaus looked at his notes, leaning against a wall. He left
after a while, pulling a mobile out of one of his pockets.
Jason nodded to Kodiak
“Think I could get one of those beers?”
With a sigh, the guy got up and walked over to the six-packs,
handing a beer to Krobar and Jason, taking two for himself. They drank in
silence, until Klaus returned a few minutes later.
“We’re keeping you under observation for a few days. I’ll
leave tomorrow, but Krobar and Kodiak will stay here to make sure there are no issues
with you.”
“Fucking hell, Klaus, I’m not doing baby-sit duty again! Christ,
you always saddle me up with this shit!”
“48 hours, Krobar, then you let him go and make yourself
scarce”
Jason sat on the chair, shoulders sagged. Thinking about
what had happened. What had been sacrificed. All he could see what his ex-wife,
Sam’s face.
Krobar came back into view, a Mossberg on his shoulder, smoking
a fat joint, which he passed to Kodiak, and turned towards Jason, pointing the
barrel at him.
Jason ignored him, lowered himself onto the floor and curled
up in foetal position, and closed his eyes.
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