Free Kingdom of Shadows by Greg F. Gifune Page B

said.  “We did achieve what we’d set out to do, at least initially.  But then it all went horribly wrong.”
    “This isn’t happening.”  He pressed his palms to his temples, his head pounding now and his legs weak.  “This isn’t…this isn’t…”
    “Once we realized what we’d truly tapped into, that it was the equivalent of accessing the literal power of existence, and the dark side of existence at that, we knew we’d overestimated our abilities.  It was actually quite beautiful in its purity, but you were all torn to shreds by its profane glory.  It became an orgy of violence and blood, an orgy of death.”
    “You’re lying, you sonofabitch.”  Rooster pointed the 9mm at him.
    “Do you really think we could let any of you come back at that point?  Or that there’d be anything left to bring back?”
    “Then where am I?  I’m standing right here!”
    “The longer you struggle against truth, the longer the forces of darkness will bind you, Mr. Cantrell.  There are some things human beings can never control.  We’re not meant to, regardless of how badly we may desire it.  Evil—true evil—is one of those things.  I understand it’s hard for you to accept, but you were all thoroughly expendable, Mr. Cantrell, a bunch of hooligans and lowlifes, losers and drains on society no one cared about then or now.”
    “It wasn’t enough that you used us as guinea pigs for your demented projects, crippled our minds and broke us to pieces.  You had to wipe out our memories and send us back into the world haunted by nightmares you put there and with no knowledge of who we are or how we got here?  You destroyed us—you admit it—and yet you still try to cover it up with bullshit stories about demons and Hell and—”
    “Do you really believe telling yourself that long and hard enough will keep the terror at bay?”  Poindexter placed the fork next to the plate and wiped the blood from his mouth with the napkin.  “You all disappeared from the face of the Earth and not a single person noticed, much less cared.”
    “Then why come to us after all this time?”
    “Penance,” he said softly, the air of arrogance fading.  “It’s what’s required of me now.  Eventually, we all serve one master or another, Mr. Cantrell, whether we like it or believe in it or not.  And I’ve come to learn that it rarely turns out to be the one we were counting on.”
    “Who are the men that killed Snow, the men in the Crown Vic?”
    He smiled blandly.  “They’re not men.”
    “What do I do?”  Rooster leaned across the table so that the gun was only a few inches from the man’s face.  “How do I kill these things in my head?”
    He leaned further into the light, pulled his glasses from his pale and sickly face and pushed forward until his forehead met the barrel of the gun.  “Deliver me from my sins,” he whispered.  “Deliver us  from evil.”
    Rooster’s finger remained remarkably steady as it curled to the trigger.
    The old man’s eyes rolled to white.
    Everything else turned crimson.
     
     
     
     
     
     

-9-
     
     
     
     
     
     
    The flashlight beam slides along the dirty floor to the door under the stairs.  An inverted pentagram has been painted across it in blood.  Above it and to the left, also in blood, are the numbers 666 and a series of words Rooster cannot decipher.
    “Oh hell no, that’s Devil shit right there.”  Snow backs away.
    Rooster studies the words scrawled on the door.  “What language is that?”
    “Latin.”
    They all look to Starker.  The giant shrugs.  “I took it in high school you ignorant motherfuckers.”
    “What’s it mean?”
    “Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here.”  Starker finds Rooster in the darkness behind him.  “Supposedly that’s what it says at the gates of Hell.”
    “Why would somebody put that there?” Nauls asks in a panic.
    “Probably a bunch of drugged-out, loser, never been laid, douche bag,