Road Trip To Hell

Little Shop of Horrors

Cover: An antique, floor length-mirror sitting in the middle of a dark room. Sebastian, Ashley, and Jason are trapped inside the mirror, banging on the glass with their fists trying to get out.

arilyn Dobbs didn't particularly care for the zoo.   She'd seen enough wild animals of the two-legged variety to not be impressed by their four-legged cousins, but her daughter Alexis wasn't quite so jaded.   At the very mention of the word 'zoo,'  Alexis went into such fits of squealing and begging that Dobbs had no choice but to load her daughter into the car and drive across town.

It wasn't like Dobbs had anything else better to do.

She thought that after calling her off of suspension to help with the whole Velazquez/Sharpe/Brooks incident that Captain Gavin would have wanted her back on duty full time.  But no.   Before the dust could even begin to settle, the Captain had sent her back home to serve out the rest of her indefinite suspension.

Indefinite... as in "don't call us, we'll call you."

Sure, half the force was either dead, in the hospital, or undergoing psychiatric treatment.... sure, Brooks was still on the loose.    Sure, there were cases that were nowhere NEAR being solved...    but none of that was enough to require her services.   Not yet, anyway.   Once the city slid a couple more notches down the slippery slope to total chaos, then... THEN maybe they'd call her back in... when it was too late to do anything but watch the bodies pile up.    But that probably wasn't going to happen for a few weeks at least.   Henry Sharpe was under heavy sedation in a mental hospital far, far away, and no one has seen so much as a hair of Jason Brook, Ashley Ricks, or the kid with the sword that had simultaneously kicked AND saved the asses of the entire police force.

Yeah, it was gonna be a while.

And so Marilyn found herself standing in front of the monkey cage at the Rock Springs Zoological Society, trying to discern which particular species was making that God-awful screeching sound that Alexis found so amusing.

"Mommy, can we go see the giraffes now?"

"Honey, they don't have giraffes here,"  said Marilyn.

"Why?"

"Because the zoo can't afford them.  Giraffes are expensive."

"Why?"

"Because they have to ship them all the way from Africa."

"Why?"

"Because there aren't any that live here."

"Why?"

"Because mommy shot them all."

"Ohhhhh....    Why?"

"How about we go see the fish, okay?"

Fish were quiet.   Fish were very far away from the howler monkeys.  Yes, they would go and see the fish now.

"Fish?"  Alexis wrinkled her nose and made an unpleasant face.

They weren't going to see the fish.    That was unfortunate.... especially for the howler monkeys who were about ten seconds away from being extinct.

"How about the... uhhh..."   Marilyn was looking around at the other animals, trying to find something nice and quiet that wouldn't throw feces at them.   She found something... and then she found something else.   "Come on, honey... let's go this way."

Marilyn started walking, with Alexis' hand firmly clasped in hers.

"Where are we going?"

"To the petting zoo.   Don't you want to see the rabbits?"

"OOOooo!"

Marilyn stopped in front a line of tall bushes that were so meticulously landscaped that they looked artificial.  Actually, they WERE artificial.   There was a water-fountain next to them, and she took a long drink.

Predictably, Alexis wanted a drink too.   As she leaned over the smaller, kid-sized fountain, Marilyn took two big steps to her left...right into the bushes.

Her right hand clamped around the neck of the man who was hiding there as her left hand snatched his camera away-

"Hey-"  he began.   That was about all he got before Marilyn's grasp cut off his air supply.

"Who.  The Hell.   Are You,"  she said through clenched teeth.    She loosened her grip just enough for him to reply.

"Hey, I'm just-ACK!"

"Name and reason you're taking pictures of us.   Now."

"Ph-Phillips!   I'm work for a detective agency!  Your husband-"

"EX-husband!"

"He wanted me to take pictures of the girl, that's all!"

"This is about the custody hearing, isn't it."

"Hey, all I do is take the pictures, lady!  Please don't hurt me!"

"Fine.   You wanna take pictures...  take 'em from far away,  because if I see you around my daughter again I'm gonna mistake you for a pedophile and turn your testicles into tomato paste.   You got that?"

"Y-Yeah!  Yes, ma'am!"

Marilyn let the man go and, without giving him a second glanced stepped out of the bushes to rejoin Alexis.

"Why were you in the bushes, mommy?"

"...thought I saw a giraffe,"  said Marilyn as they headed toward the petting zoo.

"Heeyy!"  came a shout from behind them.    It was the man from the bushes.   "Hey!  You've got my camera!"

"Oh?"   Marilyn still had the detective's camera in her hand.   "So I do.   Here..."

She snatched the film out of the camera, then tossed the camera back to the man.   The toss was about three feet too short... the camera hit the concrete and broke into several expensive pieces.

"Oops,"  she said.  "Sorry."

"YOu did that on purpose!"  the detective shouted.   He seemed a lot bolder without Marilyn's hand around his throat.

"Prove it."

"You're gonna pay me for that!

"Bill me,"  she said as she and Alexis walked away.

he building hadn't been deserted for long.

A strong smell of pine and sawdust still hung in the air... along with the faded remnants of expensive incense.   Dust had just began to collect in an ever-so-thin layer on the antique chandelier.   Cobwebs had yet to sprout from the corners, and the floor was conspicuously absent of insects, rodents, and those annoying, rolling balls of dust.    The pungent, musty smell of mold and abandonment was still weeks away.

But the place DID have the silence.   The stillness.  The intangible empty feeling that seemed to settle instantly into a place as soon as the last living person left it.    Loneliness... abandonment... it was all these things... and none of them.   And this place had it in abundance.

The oiled hinges on the door failed to squeak, creak, or groan as Jason slowly eased it open.   The edge of the door struck the tiny brass bell suspended from the ceiling, and the warm jingle echoed lightly through the room.    Jason winced at the sound, and Sebastian looked up at the bell as if it had personally offended him.

"See,"  said Ashley.  "I told you the place was deserted.   I know these things."

"Mmmm..."  Sebastian hummed... neither in agreement nor disagreement.   He paused in the doorway, his gaze darting from shadow to shadow in the dark room.    Beside him, Jason hit the light switch on the wall.   The chandelier suspended above the center of the room failed to light.    He flipped the switch a few more times, on the odd chance that the light fixture wasn't paying attention the first time.   Then he pulled a small flashlight out of his coat pocket, turned it on, and swept the bright halogen beam back and forth around the room.

"Agrizi,"  said Sebastian.

"Bless you."

"Agrizi worm-serpants.   Tiny flying snakes, about two inches long.    They nest in dark places and attack the first light-source that comes along.   Hundreds of them will launch themselves at you and bore under your skin.  Then they eat-"

"Okay,"  Jason turned off his flashlight.  "I get it."

Sebastian shrugged.

"If there were any here you'd be covered in them by now.  It's safe."

"Oh, well THANK you..."  Jason turned his flashlight back on and walked into the room.   "Ashley, you getting anything?"

"Yup.   There's something here all right."

"Something like...?"

Ashley shrugged.

"Its not what I felt before... but its something."

"Well... let's start looking.   This probably won't take long.... ain't a whole lot of places to hide in here."

Aside from a few harmless-looking crates, the store was completely empty.   The antique merchant that, according to the phone book, had been in this location for over 50 years had packed up and moved away... presumably in the past few days.   The showroom floor was large enough for several rooms full of furniture, although Neeson and Sons certainly didn't limit their collection  to anything as mundane as old furnishings.   Artwork, Collectibles, Historical and Hard-To-Find Items... that's what the ad in the phonebook had said.     Hard-To-Find Items.... like cursed swords with demonic spirits trapped inside.

But none of that was here now.   The only thing showcased in the store were three large wooden crates... apparently leftovers from the hasty move.   The crates were large enough for two or three people to hide inside, but the lids were off and the crates were quite empty.  Sebastian searched the crates again... even going so far as to move them around and check the floor underneath, while Jason and Ashley went on to other parts of the room.    A search behind the long wooden counter produced nothing.    No boxes, no crates, no demonic puzzle-boxes or messages written in blood... nothing.

"So, Sebastian,"  said Jason.  "Is demon-hunting always this exciting?"

"No,"  said the boy.

"That was sarcasm."

"I know."

"You have no sense of humor at all, do you?"

"No."

"That's what I figured."

"There's nothing funny about what we do."

"Yeah, but if you don't find something to laugh at in all this, you'll just go crazy."

"I'm not crazy."

"Uhhhh-huhhhh..."

"What's back here?"  said Ashley.   There was a door behind the counter.  It wasn't hidden, but it was easily missed in the shadows.

"I dunno... YOU'RE the psychic... you tell ME what's back there."

"Okay."  Ashley placed her fingertips on either side of her forehead and got a far-away look in her eyes..."Hmmm.....I seeeee...."   Then she shoved the door open and walked into the room beyond.

"Hey, guuyyyys..."  she called a second later.   "C'mere."

"What?"  said Jason.

"Just come here."

"Okay, tell me this...,"  said Jason as he joined Ashley in the back room.  "Why is it that I'M the one with the superpowers, but everybody ELSE gets to boss me around?   Why is that?    And what the hell is this thing?"

The back room was about half the size of the main showroom, with most of its space cloaked in deep shadows.   Jason didn't even bother to shed any light on the far corners... his attention was fixed firmly on the thing sitting in the center of the room.

"huh...?"

After being surrounded by so much emptiness, actually FINDING something in the store almost came as a shock.   Jason did a double-take, not because what he saw was particularly interesting... but just because there was something THERE.   As for what it was... Jason had no clue.    He ran his flashlight's beam up and down the white dust-cover... trying to discern what lay beneath it.   Whatever it was, it was was big... just taller and broader than a man.   It didn't move, attack, flee, or explode when they entered the room, so it probably wasn't alive.   Probably.

"Looks like they left something behind,"  said Ashley.

"...but if they took everything else, why leave this?"

"Looks heavy."

"Probably isn't the heaviest thing they had in here,"  said Jason.  "So why is it still here?   Vibes?"

"Creepy."

"That's what I thought."

"Find something?"  said Sebastian.   He walked toward the room and paused in the doorway.   He studied everything in the room with an eerie, almost mechanical precision before entering.

"Nope,"  Jason replied.  "Nothing at all."

Sebastian ignored him and approached the object.... slowly.   One hand grasped the hilt of the sword on his hip... the blade was already drawn about an inch out of the scabbard.   It was only then that Jason noticed the weight of the gun in his own hand.   He didn't remember drawing the revolver, but there it was.

"So,"  said Jason.   "Do I shoot it before or after we find out what it is?"

"I dunno..."   said Ashley.

"Donovan?"

"Oh for heaven's sake, just take the damned sheet OFF already!"

"Okay-"

Jason grabbed a corner of the dust cover and-

FWOOOM!

-snatched it off-

"AAAA!"   he yelped.

"AAAAA!"  Ashley screamed.

"Amateurs,"  Sebastian mumbled.

Ashley and Jason were staring at their own startled reflections.   The thing under the sheet was a floor-length dressing mirror.  The glass was thick and remarkably clean,... the frame that held it was a heavy dark-stained oak.  The whole thing probably weighed more than the three of them could carry.   The wood was unadorned by shapes or symbols of any kind... its smooth surface was polished to such a degree that the glass mirror was almost unnecessary.

Ashley looked at her reflection, then ran her fingers through her hair.

"Oh, God, I look awful..."

Jason looked from Ashley to her reflection, and then back again.

"Yeah..."  he said.  "You do."

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary about it"  said Sebastian, who'd been creeping around the rear of the mirror.   He came around to the front and glanced at his reflection.   "Except for the fact that its here-"

The glance was all it took.   The instant that the mirror had the eyes of all three of them, it activated.   There was a flash... a flash of the brightest, whitest light that any of them had seen... so bright that it hurt to even THINK about it.   Light flooded the room, but then faded as quickly as it came... faster than even Jason's enhanced reflexes could react.   And when the light faded and darkness reclaimed the storeroom, Jason, Ashley, and Sebastian were gone.

"he went THIS way!"

"GET her!"

"HURRY!  Before she gets away!"

The frenzied shouts of the crowd snapped Ashley out of her daze.    For the briefest instant, her mind was filled with sounds and images of a place far away...  but before she could grasp their meaning, they faded like the remnants of an old nightmare.  With them went the brief, uncomfortable notion that she didn't belong here... and a sharp, nagging feeling that something important... VERY important... was missing.  If only she could remember what it was.

She was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar street.  It didn't look like Rock Springs... but then, it didn't NOT look like Rock Springs, either.   It was dark... probably well after midnight.    There were no stars in the sky.  No moon.   It had rained recently; the yellow glare from the street-lights made odd reflections in the puddles that the rain had left behind.  They were like tiny lakes of color... and occasionally, a wayward drop of water would disturb them, sending brief neon ripples across their surface.

Ashley watched the light play across the wet asphalt... and she realized that her clothes were soaked... as if she'd been caught out in the downpour.

"THIS WAY!"  came a shout.   The crowd.   She'd almost forgotten.

They came surging around the corner behind her.  There were at least a hundred of them.   Men and women, young and old... armed with bats and sticks and chains and rocks.  And knives.  Machetes and meat-cleavers and long, sharp hunting blades.   Their angry, frenzied shouts sent chills down Ashley's spine.     Their voices were like growls... snarling and snapping and howling like beasts-

"HURRY!"  someone called.

Ashley looked into their eyes.   And they looked into hers.

"HEY, YOU!"    The dozen or so people at the front of the mob pointed at her.  "HEY!"

Ashley ran.   She put her back to the crowd and sprinted down the wet street.  The shouts of the crowd came after her-

"HEY!  COME BACK HERE!"

Ashley ignored them.  She didn't know what they wanted... but it couldn't be good.    She focused on the street before her... and on the second group of people that were just coming around the next block.   Ashley veered to the right and found herself running toward an old building.   An apartment?  A bar?   She couldn't tell.  The lights were on, so she dashed up the short flight of stairs and pounded on the door.   The door flew open on the third knock.   A tall, broad-shouldered man came rushing out, nearly knocking Ashley aside.   When he saw her, he grabbed her by the shoulders and held her still.

"LEMME GO!"  Ashley screamed.

"SHhhhh!"  the man said.  "Where you going!?  It's dangerous out here!"

"HELLLP!"

Instinctively, Ashley reached out to the man's mind.   She could find out what he wanted... she could MAKE him let her go.  Ashley touched the place deep inside herself where her talents lay hidden... and found an unsettling void.    There was nothing there.   Her gifts... her talents... gone.    As if something had simply scooped them up and carried them away, leaving a empty crater where they had once rested.

"Wha... Wha... What's happening!  WHAT HAPPENED!"

"You're safe with us, honey,"  the man said as the two crowds merged.   The mob gathered around the front of the building.  Ashley looked out at them.  She tried to read them... thoughts... emotions... anything!

Nothing.

It was like trying to use a limb that was no longer there.   Her power was gone.   Taken.  Stolen.

"Is she okay?"  a woman in the crowd asked.

"You okay, honey?"  said the man holding Ashley.   He relaxed his grip.  Ashley sprang away from him, but she couldn't go more than a few feet without running face-first into the crowd that surrounded them both.

"Wh... what do you want!"  she screamed.

"Are you okay?"  someone else repeated.   The crowd pressed forward.

"...something wrong with her?..."

"...looks okay to me..."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"    Ashley lashed out with... nothing.   She had nothing to lash out with... not the slightest twinge of power.

"Not tonight,"  said the man on the steps with her.   "It's too dangerous.  You'd better come with us before she gets to you."

"She?   Who-?"

"You don't know?"

"...she knows..."

"...how could she not know...?"

"What's going on here?"  said Ashley.  "Where... where am I?"

"...its too late..."  came a reply from the crowd.  "It's crawled into her head already..."

"Ruined her like it did the others!"

"...damned thing!"

"KILL IT!"

"FIND IT!"

"GO GET IT!   KILL IT!"

"KILL IT!"

A roar of furious shouts flashed through the crowd as someone reached out, grabbed Ashley's arm, and yanked her down into their midst.   She screamed and fought... swinging her tiny fists and kicking with all the strength she could muster.  She hit someone... maybe two people... before the crowd closed in around her.  Bodies pressed against her... she felt hands and arms and chests and shoulders... shoving her this way and that... sucking the very air from her lungs...

"AAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"  she screamed.

"Calm down... calm down..."  someone whispered.   She felt a hand on her shoulder.   She felt someone else pushing her... shoving her forward... moving her along with the others...

...they were moving.   They weren't fighting or kicking her or trying to wrestle her to the ground... they were just moving... a solid mass of bodies with her in the middle of it.  That's when Ashley realized that they weren't here for her.   They didn't want her.   Whatever they wanted... whatever they were so intent on chasing down and destroying...

...had nothing to do with Ashley Ricks.   She just had the misfortune of dropping right in the middle of it.

Dropping?

Dropping from WHERE?

Where WAS she?

Something within Ashley squirmed... memories and images flashed across her mind...

Flashed?  Like a light?

...but then, like a man rolling over in his sleep, the restless knot of memories settled back down and vanished into darkness once again...

They were still moving.   People all around her... jostling her... pushing her, not violently or even intentionally... but moving her forward nonetheless.   They didn't want her, but now that they HAD her, they weren't going to let her go.   She'd been caught up in the middle of the crowd, and she couldn't get away.

"What's going on?"  she asked the person next to her.  "Please tell me what's going on?"

"You don't know?" the young boy answered.

"She's got you,"  said a woman behind Ashley.  The woman was carrying a meat cleaver.  "She gets inside your head... Creeps inside your thoughts and changes them without you knowing!   That's how she hides!   But don't worry... we'll get her.  She can't hid from ALL of us.    She's here... she's close.   We'll find her-"

"And then what?"  said Ashley.

"What do you THINK!?!"   said another man.  He carried a wooden baseball bat with several large, rusty nails protruding from the fat end.   He raised his makeshift mace and howled.  "WE'RE GONNA BASH THAT LITTLE BITCH'S BRAINS OUT!  MAKE HER PAY!"

"YEAAAHHH!"  the crowd roared in response.

"THAT'LL teach her!"  said the young boy beside Ashley.

"But... but you can't just KILL people!"

"Why the hell not!!?  She wants into  our minds so bad... well now WE'RE gonna get into HERS!   RIGHT THROUGH HER SKULL!!!"

"KILL THE BITCH!  KILL THE BITCH!"

"Oh, God..."   Ashley shivered and wrapped her arms around herself... drawing herself up into a tiny knot of sanity amid the surging crowd.
 

orches.

That was the first thing that Sebastian saw... the dim, flickering light from the torches.  A sharp contrast to the... the... to something that he couldn't remember.   Something that wasn't important.   Right now he had more serious matters to deal with.

He was standing in a wide, dark corridor.  The walls were stone.  Ancient... coated with dust, mold, and moisture.  Torches lit the way before him at irregular intervals, creating zones of clarity in a long sea of unfathomable blackness.   The passageway behind him was identical.

Sebastian was reasonably certain that he was underground.   There were a dozen signs that told him that, and if he really studied them, he could get a rough estimate of how deep.   But that didn't matter.

"...Sebastian..."

He looked down.

Donovan was hurt.  The old swordsman lay at Sebastian's feet, bleeding profusely from a deep wound in his side.  The jagged edges of the wound looked like they'd been made by claws.   The stones all around him were red, and the pool was spreading slowly...

Sebastian could almost see his reflection in the blood.

Reflection... like a mirror...

Sebastian shook the fading thoughts from his mind.

"Donovan, are you... can you stand?"

"Stand, yes.  Walk... perhaps.   Fight... out of the question."   Donovan shook his head.

"Fight?"  Sebastian looked up and down the corridor.  "Where are we?"

"What's wrong with you, boy?"  said Donovan.  "Where's your mind?   Now isn't the time to lose focus... we have to get out of here before they find us again!"

"Right!"

Sebastian helped Donovan to his feet, and as he did, a series of high-pitched screeches ripped down the corridor. At first there was only one, but it was soon joined by dozens more.   The hideous cries merged into one continuous siren that made Sebastian's spine twitch and his fists clench.   Donovan stiffened and hissed as if he'd been stricken.

"They're coming back,"  he said.  "Can't outrun them like this... You'll have to fight for both of us."

Sebastian leaned Donovan against a wall then stood in the center of the corridor.   He drew his sword, then listened... he was barely able to pick the sound of clattering claws out from among the eerie wails.   Something was coming.

Several somethings.

The first one attacked without warning.   At first there was nothing there... then, just out of range of the torchlight ,a shadow moved.  As soon as Sebastian saw it, something pale and large leapt out of the darkness and tried to sink its claws into Sebastian's surprised face.  But the boy wasn't quite as surprised as the creature thought.

Sebastian's blade dug a deep groove across its lower chest.  The thing's pale, turgid flesh split open like a ripe mellon.   Sebastian followed through with a spinning slash that tore out half of the creature's throat and sent it stumbling back into the darkness.   Sebastian glanced at Donovan-

"Don't worry about me!"  he said.  Donovan pointed-  "Look Out!"

Without hesitation, Sebastian turned and slashed in the direction that Donovan had pointed.   Metal met flesh.   One creature howled as two more rushed past it to attack the boy.  Sebastian lunged to one side and impaled one of the things with a simple thrust.   He abandoned that weapon and spun away from the second monster while drawing his other sword.  One slash removed the top of the monster's head.... thick, slimy gore gushed from the wound as the thing fell.

"REEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

More of them announced their presence with a blood-curdling war-cry.  They came.

"YAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"   Sebastian shouted back into their faces as he met them.   He snatched his first blade out of one  corpse and swung both weapons in a raging storm of ambidextrous fury.  The first few creatures plowed right into it and were literally cut to pieces.   They came in threes and fours... then fives... too many to handle.   Sebastian backed away.    The creatures took it as a sign of weakness.  They charged.  Their severed heads and limbs bounced noisily off the ancient stone walls as Sebastian turned their confidence against them.  Finally, the near-constant flow of enemy slowed... then halted.

Sebastian looked around at the pile of bodies that surrounded him.

What were these things?

He knelt to examine one of the severed heads.  It was pale-gray, with gleaming white fangs that oozed a clear fluid.  Venom.   He picked the head up, and that was when he noticed the thin, almost invisible filaments trailing from the neck.  The long hair-like tendrils ran to a nearby torso, where they disappeared into the neck-stump.  More of them emerged from the shoulder-joint and snaked across the floor to a severed arm.   The fingers of the arm were already moving.

The creature was sewing itself together.   ALL of them were.

"Dammit, boy..." Donovan coughed.  He spat out a stream of blood and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.  "This is no time for an anatomy lesson..."

Without a word, Sebastian sheathed his swords and grabbed Donovan.   They hobbled back down the corridor, away from the direction the creatures had come.  Untold minutes crept by.  Adjoining corridors came and went, but Donovan kept them on the main hallway.

"...almost there,"  he coughed.

"You're going to be okay,"  said Sebastian.  "I'll get you out of here... I promise."

They emerged into a circular courtyard, where a set of huge iron doors dominated one wall.   The mold and slime was particularly thick and pungent.   The floor was wet... slippery.

Donovan went limp.   Sebastian had to drag him across the courtyard to the door, but when he reached out for the latch-

-the door vanished.  There was nothing there but old, moldy stone.

"Donovan?"

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Came a single, eerie cry.  Others joined it.   The siren-song echoed down the corridors and emptied into the courtyard.

"...they're... coming..." Donovan gasped.  He'd lost a lot of blood... he was fighting to keep himself alive.

"Where's the way out?"  said Sebastian.

"I... I don't know."

REEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Sebastian drew his swords and turned toward the flood of creatures that was now entering the courtyard.  He took defensive position in front of Donovan and glared at them as they came...

he metal was cold and hard.   The weapon was heavy, so heavy that he had to use both hands to hold it.  Even then, his grasp was awkward and clumsy.   But he was holding it.    Jason stared in awe at the gun.

"That's all you gonna go?" said Todd. "Put it in your hand like this-"  Jason's brother took Jason's fingers and wrapped them around the handgrip.   "Now put your other finger through here. You seen how they do it on TV-"

Jason adjusted his grasp according to his big brother's instructions.  As he did, the light from the overhead fixture gleamed off of the gun's polished surface.  A flash.   For a second, Jason thought that he was somewhere else... there was a man with a sword... and a woman... and a voice in his head-

-and then it was gone.  The flash and the images were gone but they had left something behind.   A glimpse... a feeling... Something wasn't right.    He looked at the gun, and then at his brother.  And then at himself.  He was a kid.   Seven years old... but that wasn't right.   Was it?  How old was he?   Jason couldn't remember, but he DID remember the gun.  The room.   His parents bedroom.  His father's gun.

Something was about to happen.

Something horrible.

"Okay. That's enough." Todd reached for the gun-

"AAAA!"  Jason dropped the weapon as if it had burned him.  It hit the carpet with a loud *thunk.*

"HEEEY!"  Todd screamed, his voice trembling with surprise and fear.  "Don't DROP it!  It could go off!"

Jason stared at his brother's frightened face.   Todd looked back at him for a moment... then retrieved the gun from the floor.

This wasn't how it happened.

This was NOT how it happened.  Todd was dead.   Jason remembered it clearly:  Todd reached for the gun and Jason jerked it away and the gun went off and the bullet went through Todd's chest.   But it didn't happen.

It didn't happen.

"Todd?"  he said tentatively.

"What?"   His brother was wiping the fingerprints and scuff-marks from their father's semiautomatic .38.  Jason stared at the weapon in his brother's hands.   What if it went off now?   It was still loaded... Todd had removed the magazine earlier, but there was still one bullet in the chamber!

"Todd!"

"You wanna hold it again?"  said Todd.

"N-"

"Good, 'cause you ain't gettin' it.    And you CAN'T tell dad, either!"   Todd put the gun safely back in the box and returned it to the top shelf of their parent's closet.

"Todd...?"

"WHAT?!?  What's your PROBLEM!?   Why you callin' my name like that?  You retarded or somethin?"

Todd was alive.   The gun hadn't gone off.

Jason hadn't killed him.

It didn't happen.

The realization swept over Jason like a gust of warm air on a freezing winter night.   Unable to control himself, Jason ran up to his brother and hugged him.

Or at least he tried.

"Get OFF me, boy!"  Todd pushed him away as all brothers did when confronted with gratuitous shows of affection.  "Don't be touchin' on me!   What's wrong wit you!?"

All Jason could do was look at him.

"...you're alive..."  he said finally.

"Maaaan..." Todd backed away from him.  "You ain't right.   C'Mon, we gotta get outta here before mom and dad get back..."

Todd shoved Jason out of the room, turned off the light, and pulled the door closed.   As he did, Jason caught a glimpse of something in their parent's bedroom mirror:  A man... a man wearing a brown trenchcoat and a hat like his father wore sometimes.   He was holding a big, shiny chrome gun... bigger even than the ones the cowboys shoot on TV.   The man looked at him... he seemed about to say something, but the image faded before he could get the words out.   Then Todd closed the door, sealing the mirror and its strange image away.

Jason thought about the man as he followed Todd down the hall to the kitchen.   For some reason, he wasn't surprised or frightened to have seen him... he just wished he knew who the man was.

"You hungry?"  said Todd.

And with that, all thoughts of the man in the mirror were gone... replaced by a sudden, irresistible craving for one of his brother's famous peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.

hey tracked it to an old warehouse about ten blocks from where Ashley had first encountered the mob.   Ashley didn't know HOW they found it... or even exactly what IT was... but they had it cornered inside the old, decrepit building.   The place looked like it hadn't been touched in decades... the windows were all broken out and the boards over the empty frames had rotted almost completely away.   Even the asphalt around the place was cracked and uneven from years of neglect.

The crowd stormed up to the large steel doors and pounded on them repeatedly until one of them fell.   The sound it made when it hit the concrete floor inside almost made Ashley loose control of herself... it was like the banging of some enormous gong deep in the furthest pit of hell.    The mob poured through the rusty doorway, and the force of their angry bodies carried Ashley along with them despite her reluctance.   Beams from a few dozen flashlights lashed out at the darkness... searching the stained and rotting walls for signs of their quarry.

The warehouse was big, and as the crowd expanded to fill it, their grip on Ashley loosened.   She turned back toward the door, but there were still too many people rushing in for her escape.  She couldn't force her way through-

"THERE!   THERE!"  someone shouted.    Ashley didn't want to look, but she did.   Flashlights converged on a corner of the warehouse, where something small and bright dashed out the light and chased the fleeing shadows.

"THERE SHE IS!"

"GET HER!"

The lights followed the tiny figure as it streaked across floor.  It was a little girl... not possibly more than five or six years old.   Her blonde hair was in pigtails on either side of her head, but the ribbons that held them were dirty and tattered.

"NOOO!"  Ashley cried as she saw the girl.   A child.   They were here to kill a CHILD!

"eeeeeeek!"  the girl's cry was so high and faint that it was almost comical... but there was nothing funny in the way the mad crowd converged toward the frightened little girl.

"STOP!"   Ashley shouldered her way through the people rushing past her.   She pushed and shoved her way through the crowd... her heart clenching like a fist every time she lost sight of the girl.   "DON'T HURT HER!"

"Get BACK, woman!  She's DANGEROUS!"  Someone grabbed Ashley and tried to hold her back.   Ashley spun around and drove her left heel down onto the bridge of the man's right foot.   It made a satisfying crunch.  "AAAAAAGHK!"   She tore free of the man's grasp and raced through the rapidly thickening crowd.  Several more people tried to grab onto her, but Ashley wouldn't let them.   She was too fast... to determined.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"  she shouted.

"...help me!"  the child responded.

She caught a glimpse of the girl up ahead.   The man with the baseball bat was chasing her.  The girl ran, but the crowd was herding her into a corner.

"NO!  STOP!"

Ashley burst free of the crowd and reached the girl a second before they did.

"Hey!"  the man with the bat backed away, surprised at Ashley's sudden arrival.  "Hey, what are you-"

 Ashley snatched the baseball bat out of the man's hand and threatened him with it.

"Back Off!"

"Help me!"  the child hid behind Ashley, grabbing onto her legs and peering out at the crowd with horrified eyes.

"Back Away!  Everybody Back Away!"

"She's dangerous!"  someone in the crowd shouted.  "Don't let her touch you!"

The mob gathered around... sealing Ashley and the girl away from any hope of escape.  There were at least thirty people between them and the nearest window.   Fifty between them and the door.   Ashley felt the child's arms tighten around her legs.

"It's okay..." said Ashley.  "...I won't let them hurt you."

"She's a monster!"  someone else shouted.  "A MONSTER!  Just LOOK at her!"

Ashley glanced behind her and looked into the little girl's eyes.   They were red with tears... filled with fear.   Ashley could see herself in them...

...like a mirror...

Something began to stir within Ashley, but before she could grasp its significance...

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

A big, foul-smelling man with a pick-axe rushed toward them.   Ashley swung the bat-

-WHOOSH-

-she missed, but the man and everyone else in the crowd knew she was serious.  In order to get to the girl they'd have to go through her.   It was something they could do in less time than it took to blink... but not without one or two of them getting hurt.   The nails protruding from the end of Ashley's bat were long enough to puncture vital organs... the sight of them discouraged anyone else from approaching.

"Get away from us!"  said Ashley.  "Just BACK away and go back where you came from!"

"You don't understand!  She's EVIL!"

"She can READ OUR MINDS!"

"...can make us DO things!"

"She's just a CHILD!   You can't KILL a child... it doesn't matter WHAT she can do!"

"Why not?"  someone shouted back.

"Because I WON'T LET YOU!  Go away!  ALL of you!"

Ashley tried to reach out with her mind and MAKE them go away.  But she couldn't... she already knew that she couldn't. Even if she still had her abilities, touching this many people was far, far beyond her.

And of course, the crowd knew that.   That's why they were here... that's why there were so many of them.  Strength in numbers.   The girl couldn't defend herself... and  neither could Ashley.

If only...

...someone...

...were here.

Someone?   Who?  If only WHO were here?

"We're not gonna let you OUT of here!"

The crowd took a collective step forward...testing Ashley's resolve.   She raised her bat and shook it at the closest person.  An old woman.  She had a cane.   At the sight of the bat, the lady stepped back and lost herself in the crowd.

"Cowards!"  Ashley spat.  "Picking on a little girl!   You're all COWARDS!   Every One Of You!"

"She's controlling you... she's MAKING you defend her!"

"She's inside your mind!"

"No she isn't!"

"PROVE it!  KILL her!"

"NO!  You're all INSANE!   You're CRAZY!"

"Can't you SEE!   She's CONTROLLING you!"

"...don't let them hurt me,"  the little girl cried.  "Please don't let them hurt meee!"

"I won't,"  said Ashley.  "I won't, baby..."

"Now, you're gonna make us do something we don't wanna do..."  said another voice from the crowd.  "...but we will.  We don't want you; just the girl.  But we'll take you both down if we have to!"

A murmur of agreement moved through the crowd.

"Come do it, then!  DO IT!"

The girl trembled behind her.  Ashley felt her shaking.

"Don't make us!   Step away from the girl!"

"NO!"

The crowd moved forward again.  This time, it was Ashley who backed away.  She backed into the corner and shielded the girl with her own body.   She held the bat in one hand and made a fist with the other.

"I'll hurt you!"  she warned them.  "I swear to GOD, I'll hurt you!   Don't make me do it!"

"Don't make US do it!"  said one woman.  She was wearing a bathrobe and had rollers in her hair.  She had a shiny meat-cleaver in one hand.   Light glinted off of the weapon...

...a flash...

"huh?"   Ashley paused...  "What... what's going on..."

"Don't make us HURT you!"

"...oh, no..."  the little girl cried.  "They're coming."

The world seemed to slow to a crawl as Ashley gazed out at the mob.  Their faces were so filled with hate that it was almost unreal.   The entire scene... the warehouse... the crowd... the flashlights...

...light...

It was wrong.   It wasn't that SOMETHING was wrong... EVERYTHING was wrong.

"...where am I?..."

Ashley caught a glimpse of herself in the woman's raised meat-cleaver-

...mirror...

"We don't wanna do this!"  the cleaver-woman shrieked.  "We don't-"

"-want... to do... this..."  Ashley whispered.  "DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!"

Screaming at the top of her lungs, Ashley tore herself away from the child.  She turned and swung the bat...

"GOD, PLEASE HELP ME!"  she cried.  She felt the wind-resistance as the brutish instrument ripped through the air...  She saw the look in the little girl's eyes the instant before the nails reached her tear-soaked face-

"AAARRGH!"

Sebastian landed on one creature's back and drove his sword straight down the center of its spine.  He swung his other blade, decapitating another monster as the first one fell.

"YAAAH!"

He growled as he yanked his sword free.   The courtyard was littered with bodies.   The corpses were so deep that he could barely see the floor... he was fighting on top of them; the bodies becoming just a thick carpet of living gore.

"REEEEEE!!!!"
"--EEEEE!"

-ShWOOSH!- CHOCK!
SHLUCK!

Another pair of monsters fell before Sebastian's fury.   He split one open from groin to sternum with one sweep of the blade.  The other died just as easily when Sebastian hacked its abdomen open.

"..behind you..."   Donovan warned.

Sebastian spun and sliced open a third creature's skull.   There was a second of silence... Sebastian looked out at the sea of carnage... at the dozens of pale bodies slowly pulling themselves together.   It would only be a few moments before they rose from their own mass grave to attack again.

He could run.  He COULD run...

"GRAAA!!!"

-WHOOSH!-
Ka-CHUCK!

"EEEeee..."

But why!?

"YAAAAAA!!"   Sebastian threw himself at the creatures as they rose.   He hacked at their newly-mended flesh, tearing them asunder with both blades.  At first he could keep up with them... cutting them down before they could even stand up.   But as more and more of the creatures regenerated, Sebastian had to face them in proper combat... claw to sword... fang to fist.    The way that it SHOULD be.

"RRRAAA!  DIEE!"

Sebastian was a machine.   Unstoppable.  Unbeatable.   No matter how many there were... no matter which direction they came... he cut them all down with cruel, perfect efficiency.   But they still kept coming.  If Donovan could only fight... together,  they could cut their way through them fast enough to get away before they regenerated.   But Donovan was wounded.  The creatures were regenerating too fast.   There wasn't going to be an escape.

"...SEBASTIAN!"

At the sound of Ashley's voice, Sebastian halted in mid-swing.  He turned... there... in the corner-  Nothing.

"REEEEEE!"

Sebastian disembowelled  two creatures with one swing, while impaling a third with his other blade.

"Sebastian!"  the voice called again.  "It's ME, Ashley!"

"Who...Where are you!?"

"HERE!"

And then she was behind him.

It was as if she'd been there all along.

For a second, Sebastian didn't recognize her.   She didn't look any different, but for some reason his mind was reluctant to even acknowledge her memory.   He had to force himself... like trying to see through a thick fog...

-and, of course, while he was going that-

"REEEEEE!"

Creatures rose from the body-covered floor and flung themselves at them.

"Stand Back!"  Sebastian warned.   His swords flashed in the torchlight as the battle began.  There were too many of them... but Sebastian didn't care.   For all their claws and fangs, he was fiercer than they were.   He showed no weakness... gave them no mercy.  He danced away from their claws and returned to slice the limbs from their shoulders-

"Sebastian, LISTEN TO ME!"

"Don't get distracted!"  Donovan warned.  "Ignore the woman and FIGHT!"

"Sebastian... do you remember who you are!?"

"Sebastian Wilde-"

-WHOOSH-
"EEEEeee...."

"Do you know who I am?  Do you remember ME!?"

"The woman..."  Sebastian seemed confused for a second.  He remembered her... he remembered knowing her... but he couldn't recall anything ABOUT her...   "Your name... I can't..."

"REEEE!"

"Look OUT, Boy!"

Sebastian dealt with another three creatures.   They fell quickly, but in the time it took to dispatch them, another pair had sewn themselves together and risen to do battle.    Sebastian went into a loose fighting stance as they charged. His swords were covered with gore... but an tiny clean spot near the hilt caught the torchlight

-flash-

"Brooks..."  he said suddenly.   "Where is Brooks!?"

"He's here with us... but somewhere else!"

"She's talking NONSENSE, boy"  said Donovan... "trying to distract you!"

Sebastian said nothing for the next few moments... combat had consumed his full attention.   More creatures rose from the floor on the other side of the courtyard.   Ashley continued to talk to him as he fought.

"Sebastian do you remember what happened?   Do you remember the store?  The mirror?"

-mirror-

"Where are we!"  Sebastian shouted.   His voice was nearly drowned out by the dying screeches of his opponents.

"We're inside the mirror!... and the only way out is for you to STOP FIGHTING!"

"What?  Are you MAD!?!"

"Don't listen to her... if you stop now, we're DOOMED!"

"Donovan is wounded!  I'm the only one keeping these things off of us!"

"Donovan is DEAD!"  Ashley shouted.

Sebastian blinked.  He lowered his weapons...

"What?"

"Don't you REMEMBER!?!  He's DEAD!"

"We're on the spiritual plane,"  said Donovan.  "I have physical form here!"

"No we AREN'T!   This place is REAL!  We are REALLY  here... INSIDE the mirror...but you can't trust ANYTHING you see or hear!"

"PRECISELY why you should ignore her!  BEHIND YOU!"

Sebastian spun around and came face-to-face with one of the creatures.  It lunged at him, trying to sink its fangs into Sebastian's neck.  Sebastian started to strike it down... but he hesitated.  He studied the creature a bit longer... then backed away as more of them rose up beside it.

"...Donovan... what are these things?  What manner of creature are they?"

"I don't know... I've never seen the like of them before!  We'll STUDY them LATER!"

Sebastian held his swords ready as he continued to give ground...

"Donovan... you always know..."

"It's all a big TRAP, Sebastian!"  Ashley shouted.  "We walked into it.. and its using our own nature to keep us here!  The only way out is to-"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HER!"

"-betray yourself!  Go against your heart!"

"FIGHT!"

"Turn your back on everything you are... DO what you would NEVER DO IN A MILLION YEARS!"

"FIGHT!"

"Sebastian, the only way to free yourself is to STOP FIGHTING!"

"Those are the words of EVIL, son!   This isn't Ashley... she's an illusion!  She's here to lead us to our doom!  LISTEN TO ME!"

Sebastian looked back at Donovan, then at Ashley.  There were creatures all around him now.

"Sebastian, PLEASE!  TRUST ME!"

"I don't have to,"  said Sebastian.  With a flourish, he returned both swords to their scabbards.  He dropped do one knee and lowered his head as the monsters charged toward him.  "Donovan would never call me son-"

And then the creatures sank their claws into him and began to gleefully rip him apart.

"ass the potatoes, Jason."   Henry C. Brooks' deep bass voice rolled over the dinner table like a bowling ball.   Jason and Todd both snapped to rigid attention... pausing in their normal dinner-time game of seeing who could make the most disgusting faces without begin caught.   Todd was winning, but Jason was running a very close second.  However,  his come-back would have to wait...

Jason looked up at his father... wondering if he was about to be chastised for making rude gestures at Todd.

"Stop grinning and pass the potatoes,"  Henry repeated.

"Yes, sir."

Jason grabbed the bowl in front of him and handed it to his father... who promptly emptied it of mashed potatoes and handed it back to Jason.

"Hey, you ate 'em all!"   said Jason.

"And I paid for 'em all, too,"  said Henry.

"There's more potatoes in the kitchen, Jason,"  said Sharise.    "And while you're in there, bring some more tea."

"But moooom... I can't carry-"

"Guess you'll have to make two trips then,"  said Henry.

Jason sighed... lightly, so his mother couldn't hear... and got up from the table.   He started toward the kitchen-

"Nerd,"  said Todd as Jason walked past.

"Punk," Jason replied.

"HEY!  None of that at the table!  Save that foolishness for later."

"Yes, sir," both boys responded.... only Todd punctuated his reply by punching Jason in the left buttock.

-thwack-

"Ouch!  DAAAD!"

"TODD!"

"It wasn't me!"

"Well, who was it, then!?"

"Apologize to your brother,"  said Sharise.

"...<sigh>... Sorry, Jason."

"Now go get the tea,"  said Henry.

"...sorry you're such a nerd..."  Todd whispered just before Jason got out of earshot.   No one heard the comment... Todd was an expert of saying things just right so that nobody else at the table could hear him.  Jason hadn't quite mastered that art... as evidenced by the beatings he got whenever he and Todd got started.   Todd always got away with everything... and Jason always got the beatings.

And Jason loved it.

It was the same.... exactly the same as it had always been.   No hospitals... no police... no funeral.   No therapy.

None of that had happened this time.  It happened before... but not THIS time.   Jason had changed it.  He'd stopped it.  And now, everything was the same... the same way it USED to be.  The way it SHOULD have been.

Jason couldn't even remember how long it was since Todd and showed him dad's gun.  What day  was that?   Yesterday?  Tuesday?   Last week?  Today?  He couldn't remember.   There were other things that he couldn't remember too... but he didn't know what they were.   It was just a strange feeling that he should be somewhere else... somewhere far away.  A feeling that he should be doing something important.  But as hard as he tried, little Jason could never figure out what it was.

Eventually, he stopped trying.

And that was when the man in the brown trenchcoat stopped appearing in the mirrors.

-mirror-

Jason stopped just short of the kitchen as the familiar twinge of *something missing* gripped him.   He let it go without a thought.   He walked into the kitchen and searched out the fresh pot of mashed potatoes that his mother said was waiting for him.  He didn't see them.

"Moooomm!"  he called.  "I don't SEE 'em!"

"Did you LOOK!?"  Henry Brooks replied.

"Yeah?"  said Jason.

"Well, look again.   I'd better not come in there and find 'em!"

Jason looked again.   He turned around and saw two people standing behind him.

"HEY-"

Ashley clamped her hand over Jason's mouth.

"Jason... do you know who you are?"

Jason looked up at the strange white woman that had just materialized in his mother's kitchen.    He tried to squirm out of her grasp, but the other stranger put one hand on Jason's shoulder and held him still.   The hand was like iron... the grip was even stronger than Jason's father's!

"Jason Brooks,"  Ashley repeated.    She looked around, then grabbed the butcher knife out of the kitchen drain.

Jason's eyes got as big as dinner plates as she brought the knife toward his face.

"Look-"  said Ashley.  She held the flat of the blade in front of Jason's eyes... the metal caught the light-

-flash-

Jason winced and pulled back.

"Remember the mirror,"  said Ashley.

-mirror-

Jason looked at the knife... looked at his reflection in the metal.  But the reflection wasn't him.  It was the man.  The man in the coat... the man with the gun.

-mirror-

A river of images came flying across his mind.   They were too fast for Jason to grasp them all, but even the fleeting glimpses were enough.

Ashley saw the recognition in his eyes.  She removed her hand.

"Ashley..."  said Jason.  "What are you doing in my house?  And why does my voice sound so funny?"

"Puberty," said Ashley.  "Or lack thereof."

"Huh?"  Jason looked down at himself.  "Wait a minute..."

"How old are you, Jason?"

"I'm si...I'm twel.. I'm...uhhh... I don't know.   What... what year is this?"

"Jason, none of this is real.   You're not here... you're somewhere else.  We ALL are.  We're trapped."

"What's TAKING so long in there!"  Jason's father called from the dining room.

"Dad-"

"That's not your father, Jason."

"Yes it is!"

"No.  It isn't.  If that's your father, then that means you're still a little kid.   So how do you know me and Sebastian?  When did we meet?  How OLD were you when we met?  Were you still a kid?  No... no you weren't."

"I'm... this... this isn't happening... is it?"

"It IS happening, but it is NOT real.  It's an illusion... a trap... and you're going to have to do something to get us out-"

"Get... out?"  said Jason.  "Why?  Why would I want to get out?    This is how it was supposed to be.   This is the way it should have been... a second chance.   Why would I want to leave?   Why would I throw away my second chance?"

"This isn't real!"

Jason looked at her.

"I know,"  he said.  "I know... but... it feels real.   It looks real.   Why can't I just stay here for a while... just until whatever it is wears off-"

"It WON'T wear off, Jason.  It will go on forever.  And as long as YOU'RE here, then WE'RE stuck here with you."

"No,"  said Jason.  "No, that's not right.  You can't stay here.  You don't belong here.... you have to go.  If you go away now, then maybe I'll forget again and things will be like they're supposed to be..."

"You're not thinking clearly, Jason.  You're not even TRYING!"

"You don't understand!  You don't know what it was like!  I... I killed my brother!  And then... and then nothing was ever the same after that!  Everything went bad!  My mother... it was like I shot HER, too.   She was alive... but dead on the inside.   My father-"

"There's nothing you can do to change that, Jason."

"But it already HAS changed!  Don't you get it!  None of that happens now!  This is how it was supposed to be!"

"But its not real-"

"I don't CARE!"

"Jason?"  Sharise Brooks called.  "Jason what are you doing in there?"

"Nuthin!"  Jason replied.

"That's not your mother,"  said Sebastian.

"Jason... I know you don't want to hear this, but in order to release us... ALL of us... you have to put things back the way they really happened.   You have to do it because its what you least want to do."

"What?  I'm not gonna-"

"You are,"  said Sebastian.  "Listen to yourself.   Remember who we are.  Remember what happened to you... remember Donovan.  Brite.  Braxis.  The hound.   The mirror.   All of it.  Remember!"

"I don't want that..."  said Jason.  "I don't want any of that-"

"You already have it,"  said Sebastian.  He tapped Jason on the forehead.  "It's already happened.   Turning your back on it won't make it go away."

Sebastian's echoed through Jason's brain... cutting away more of the fog that clouded his thoughts.   Jason's eyes lost focus for a moment, then he blinked away the last of the confusion.   He looked around at the kitchen... it looked so real...

"Where are we?"  he said.

"Inside the mirror,"  said Sebastian.

"How do we get out?"

"Jason,"  Ashley began.  And then she told him.

"I can't do that,"  he said.

"That's why you have to do it.  It's the only way out... for any of us."

"But I can't!   You... YOU do it, Sebastian!  YOU do it!"

"It doesn't work that way."

"TRY!"

"You try,"  said Sebastian.

"It's the only way,"  Ashley added.

She was right.   Jason knew it.

He walked out of the kitchen and made a left... down the hallway.

"Where you going?"  said his mother.

"To the bathroom,"  Jason replied.  He didn't know why he bothered to lie, but he did.  He walked past the bathroom and into their parent's bedroom.   There was a chair in the corner.   Jason slid the chair over to the closet and stood on it so that he could reach the top shelf.

The gun was still there.

He got the box and placed it on the bed.  He opened it and took the gun.  He jammed the loaded clip into the weapon... then stopped.

"...don't make me do this,"  he said.    There was no reply.   No one said a word.   Jason pulled back the slide of the gun and loaded a round into the chamber.

"Please don't make me do this."

After a silent pause, Jason walked back down the hall.

The family was sitting at the dining room table... exactly as they should have been.   Sharise had gone to get the mashed potatoes herself, and now they were all enjoying second helpings.

"Somethin' wrong, boy?"  said Henry Brooks.   Then he saw the gun in his seven year old son's hand.   Jason raised the gun and aimed it at Todd.

"JAAASON!"  Sharise Brooks shrieked.

Todd turned around in his chair to see what the commotion was about.

He had a glob of mashed potatoes stuck to his chin.

His eyes fixed on the barrel of the gun.   He inhaled sharply-

Jason closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.  The gun roared and kicked in Jason's hands like a thing alive. The noise was like a thunderclap... loud and terrifying.  The impact threw Todd out of his chair... Jason opened his eyes just in time to see his brother fall dead... for the second time...

And then the whole world shattered.

There came a wave of light so bright that it hurt NOT to look at it.  It erased everything... everyone... everyplace... All gone in the blink of an eye.  Swallowed by the light that sounded like a ocean of breaking glass...

Jason knelt on the floor in the back room of the old shop.   There was an old mirror in front of him... the wooden frame was cracked and splintered, the glass it once held lay strewn all over the floor in a thousand deadly shards.   Jason's head rested lightly in his hands as he rocked gently back and forth...

"Oh, Jesus..."  he murmured weakly.   "Oh, Jesus..."

The shattered glass crunched beneath Sebastian's boots as he walked up behind him.   He held out his hand.

"We're out,"  he said.  "Come on, we have to go-"

"Leave him alone."  Ashley swatted Sebastian's hand away.  "Just leave him alone for a minute, okay?"

Sebastian shrugged and walked away.    Ashley kicked a few pieces of glass out of the way and then knelt down beside Jason.  She put her arm around him and held him.

"Are you okay?"  she said.

"Would you be?"  Jason replied.

"It wasn't real, Jason"

Jason raised his head enough to look at Ashley... but didn't make any effort to stand.

"It was real the first time," he said.

"I'm sorry,"  said Ashley.

Jason closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"Don't feel sorry for me,"  he said.  He wiped the tears from his face and slowly rose to his feet.  "Feel sorry for the bastard that put this mirror here for us to find.  Because when I find him..."  Jason shook his head.  "I... I can't even say it.  Let's just get out of here."

"Where are we going?"  said Ashley.

"Away from here."

Sebastian followed them out, but not before picking a few of the larger pieces of glass from the floor.   He wrapped them in a cloth, and joined the others.   They had already gone through the main room and were waiting for him outside.

"Donovan, you still there?"  Ashley said as Sebastian walked up behind them.

"I'm here, Ashley.  Everyone is accounted for."

"Did you catch any of that in there?" said Jason.

"All of it, I'm afraid.  I tried to get through to you, but..."

"Next time, try harder.  This trip was a bust... we've got nothing.    I'm all for burning this place down... Sebastian?"

"The best way to cleanse a demonic habitat is with fire,"  said Sebastian.  "High explosives run a close second."

"And the bad part about that is, he's serious,"  said Ashley.  "I'll wait in the car while you boys blow shit up.  Too bad about the mirror, though."

"Too bad?"  said Jason.

"Yeah... we broke it.   That's seven years bad luck."

"I'll take my chances-"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sound was like an explosion overhead.  It shook the entire street and shattered windows for blocks in every direction.  It was loud, but quick... gone in an instant.  But even as the echoes faded, another, different noise rose to replace them.   The air itself screamed in agony as something HUGE tore through it.  The thing came for them with a sound like a hurricane-

vvvvVVVVRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

It began as just a white dot in the night sky, but it got bigger and bigger and bigger... seeming to double in size and proximity every fraction of a second-

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"GET DOWN!"

Sebastian drew both of his swords and looked toward the thing... then he spun and threw himself flat on the ground.   Jason had one had on the Corvette's door, but when the sound came he snatched a .454 revolver with one hand while pushing Ashley to the ground with the other.  Moving on pure instinct, he dropped to one knee and aimed up at the thing in the sky.  His eyes narrowed... he saw scales... teeth... wings... claws...  so FAST!  And HUGE!

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

He fired once... the bullet was lost in the giant reptiles's pale scales.  Jason knew better than to fire again.  He rolled to one side, flinging himself out of the thing's path as one enormous claw swooped down-

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

KA-KLUNKKKK!

White talons... each one the size of a man... closed around the black Corvette and snatched it up as easily as a man might grab a pebble from the shore.   The incredible wind of the creature's passing sent Jason, Ashley and Sebastian tumbling down the sidewalk-

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHhhhhhh.....

And then it was gone.   Jason rolled to his feet and aimed his revolver at the fading white dot in the sky.  He didn't bother to fire... the thing was already far, far, FAR out of range.   He could still see it, though.  He saw its long, pale body... the serpentine tail pointing straight out from its wide back...

...the black Corvette clutched like a child's toy in its enormous claws.    The dragon flew off into the night and vanished.   Jason watched the spot where he'd last seen it... then looked down at the vacant space where the Corvette used to be.

Then looked back up at the sky.

"What...the... fu-"

[To Be Continued]

copyright 2005 by Dark Icon Entertainment