Here Be Monsters - By M T Murphy Page 0,32

out of this alive. We got to my room and I was pushed inside, Jamie shoved in next. Tyler came in and pulled a small blade out of his pocket and slit open his palm. Using the blood he drew symbols all over the door and the window as Jamie and I sat and watched. Watching Tyler draw his symbols triggered a memory for me. I remembered something a minister had shouted during a sermon he was giving on a street corner.

“The mark of the beast!” I exclaimed.

“What?” Tyler asked and Jamie chuckled.

“Two of four, three of three, five of one. That’s what it meant didn’t it?” I asked Jamie and he nodded. I felt like I should have gotten to that realization sooner and I nodded apologetically. Tyler glared at us and went back to drawing his symbols. After he was done he sat down in the corner with his head laid back, his eyes closed.

My eyes looked from Tyler to the door and I gauged how fast I could sprint for it and be down the hall.

“Do it and the hounds will start tearing you to shreds,” Tyler said. As if on cue, the growling started to ripple through the deserted halls of the hospital.

“We got you into this, and I’m sorry,” Jamie said as we sat down on the bed next to each other.

“You didn’t do it.”

“No, but the angels convinced you.”

“A prophet did, but I was higher than a kite at the time. Hell, I think he could have convinced me he really did have Lucky Charms and they really were magically delicious and I would have believed him.”

Jamie laughed and so did I. It made things calmer somehow to talk to him.

“Doesn’t matter anyway. I was dying then, just a slower death. If I die now, I die now.”

“I still think we could have won this without the hounds, but that was my opinion. I’m a messenger at best, nothing I say really matters to them. It only matters down here,” Jamie said.

“So they aren’t just demon dogs are they?” I asked.

“No,” Jamie answered. “They are hounds of hell, specially created from demons and Lucifer himself.”

“Why do you need them?” I asked.

“It’s like taking two armies, one has swords and the other has tanks. Who do you think is going to win?” Jamie asked solemnly.

I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to think about heaven or hell, winning or losing wars, any of it. I chose to drift off to sleep occasionally, never staying out for long, always waking up to the same scene.

“Shouldn’t the sun be up soon?” I asked after sleeping for what felt like a few minutes and Tyler chuckled.

“The storm has blackened the sky,” Jamie said flatly.

“What time is it?” I asked in a panic, not realizing that time was slipping away faster than I’d thought.

“It’s three in the afternoon,” Jamie said softly.

The information made me sick and I felt the whole room spin. Jamie touched my face, his eyes intently looking at mine. I was sure I was imagining it, but in his eyes looked like endless skies of blue. The power I felt from his touch was like nothing I’d ever experienced.

“Shhh,” Jamie said. His lips turned into a small grin and I felt peace come over me and I slept.

I knew when I awoke that the storm had come full force to our little inlet of Louisiana. I also knew that the war was beginning. My time was up. Tyler stood and went to the window, whispering something I couldn’t understand. Then he stepped back, his face sweeping into a satisfied grin. I heard the hounds snarling, heard ripping and biting and clawing from outside. I tried not to imagine the sight I would see if I chose to look.

The window blew out first. The wind was fierce beyond the window, the sound of metal scraping against metal, branches creaking and breaking from nearby trees. The sound of the power of the storm had my full attention, but Jamie seemed to be listening intently to something else.

“What is going on?” I asked over the noise as the pressure in my head grew painfully strong. Jamie gripped my arms and pulled me to the corner.

“Whatever happens, we will lay say siege to Hell to get to you, I promise.” His words hit me like a brick wall as he was yanked from me by an unseen force. All I saw were his blue eyes flying into