A Gift From The Creator

"I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world to world to sow death and madness."

~ H.P. Lovecraft

continued...

The Professor finally made his move. He stood up fully and displayed a small hollow bone he had been chanting over. He brought it to his lips, then blew into it with all his lung strength.

Neither Sierra nor John could hear any sound emitting from the bone whistle. However, the monstrous Night-Gaunts were immediately affected. The Brood began convulsing in apparent pain as all the Demons fell to their knees.

Steele swiftly slung the rifle over his shoulder and sprinted directly at one of the kneeling creatures encircling him. He leaped over the fallen monster, coming to a sliding stop outside the deadly circle.

He reached into his pockets and swiftly tossed three hand grenades behind the line of Night-Gaunts that were advancing on his friends. John spun quickly in the opposite direction and lobbed several sticky bombs over the head of the same demon creature he had just vaulted over.

The bombs landed with a loud splat in the center of the circle John had recently inhabited. He spun for the third time and ran full speed away from the ring parallel to his friend's position.

The Professor either ran out of air, or the spell ended at that exact moment.

The Brood began to rise to their feet in unison. The grenades and bombs exploded, sounding like the finale of a July Fourth celebration.

Steele came sliding to a stop directly between the Professor and Sierra. He whipped the AR-17 off his shoulder and into shooting position. The Team watched as the smoke and rubble settled.

The warehouse floor looked like a slaughterhouse, littered with Night-Gaunt body parts, bits and pieces of gelatinous masses, wings, horns, and unrecognizable internal organs.

Only four of the Demons remained standing.

The four Night-Gaunts sprang upward before Steele could steady his sights on any of them. The surviving Gaunts began flying in a zig-zag pattern upwards to safety. Uncertain of the effectiveness of the lighter 7.62 ammo at this distance, John lowered his weapon.

John Steele thought bitterly. It was better to keep the last of the ammo and two stickies for what was to come.

They still had an Eternal Prisoner to deal with.

*****

The Team...

The Team heard Frederick shouting just before he ran full speed around a warehouse pillar.

"Freddy is telling us to run for the entrance because all hell is about to break loose," Sierra shouted.

The three of them turned to run. An internal voice thundered in their heads, its power and magnitude rooting them to their spots. Frederick must have felt it, too, because he suddenly skidded to a stop.

The Team looked upward and, through their psychic bond, immediately regretted their decision. The Eternal Prisoner swept down from her nest. The Mother Queen was a sight from the most hellish of nightmares.

As the ancient Mother of the Brood screamed her rage inside their minds, the Demon Queen came swooping down on a wingspread of at least one hundred feet. Her faceless head and body were covered with abscesses and sores observable from the ground.

These ghastly sores were oozing, throbbing, and pulsing as if alive. The Mother Queen's living carcass glowed a molded greenish color. Collectively, the Team felt the urge to turn away from the hideous sight and felt nauseous. They found it difficult to gaze at the monster without experiencing severe cognitive dissonance. 

The human brain wasn't created to view or conceive of such a living hell. Mother was a hideous Demon nightmare who made Dante's hell look like a picnic. Her piercing cries froze the Team and held them immobile as the Monster Queen glided downward. They were trapped and helpless under her powerful mind spell.

Suddenly, the explosions began. This series of detonations was tenfold the sound of John's display, and the entire warehouse structure began shuddering.

The Team's psychic bond broke, and they could move again. The diving monstrosity began to shimmer as if losing her substance and ability to exist in this world.

The portal!

The explosions must have destroyed whatever anchored the other-dimensional gate in their world, disrupting the ancient demon's mind spell.

The four friends turned and ran faster than they had ever run. Not to escape from the explosions. No, they were trying to get as far away from the sight of the vile creature as quickly as possible. Her overwhelming presence was so deeply imprinted into their minds that it felt like the evil Eternal Prisoner had rattled their souls.

The Team experienced one final collective thought:

They had been given a gift from the creator!

END