Free Sentinel by Joshua Winning

light erupted blindingly from his fingers. It blasted Richard in the chest with the force of a sledgehammer.
    He hurtled backwards, right through the open bedroom door, hitting the wall in the landing.
    “Dear me, Walden. So you’re taking the hard road.”
    The words spiked in Richard’s ears as he lay crumpled on the floor. His head throbbed dully and he gasped for breath, winded. He tried to move, but the pain was too great. A hand gripped his throat as the doctor fell upon him.
    “Always the heroes,” Dr Snelling hissed, pushing his face so close to Richard’s that he could see the beads of sweat clinging to his cranium. “You never learn.”
    “Wh–what d’you want?” Richard managed to slur.
    The doctor squeezed Richard’s throat. “You’re going to tell me everything you know about the Sentinels,” he whispered, his spittle spraying Richard’s cheek.
    “I–I don’t know what... you’re talking about,” Richard panted, gagging as the doctor’s fingers bit into his throat.
    Dr Snelling reached down and ripped the sleeve of Richard’s shirt with the metal gauntlet. A tattooed raven was on his forearm.
    “There,” the stocky man sighed, licking his lips. “The time for playing the fool is over, Walden.”
    “I’ve… had that for years,” Richard gurgled. “Reminds me of... that poem. The famous one.”
    Without a word, Dr Snelling placed the gauntlet against Richard’s forehead.
    “No more jokes,” he snarled. “Let’s see how you laugh when I’m through with you.”
    Sparks exploded around the metal device once more. White hot energy seared Richard’s mind. He screamed.
    “Lucy!” he howled. “Lucy, get out of here!”
    “She can’t hear you, fool,” Dr Snelling spat. “She’s downstairs right now still stirring my tea. Do you think I’d let her hear you?”
    The sparks sputtered and died.
    “We are everywhere, and we are many,” Dr Snelling growled. “Your confidence in all that is good and true is your ultimate downfall. You would be the wiser man by giving in.”
    “It doesn’t matter... what you do to me... or my family, in the end... we will always win,” Richard wheezed.
    “It pleases me to hear you so ready to die,” the doctor taunted. “I will delight in aiding you in that quest. Now talk!”
    The sparks fizzed and Richard’s eyes rolled back in his head. Through the blazing light, he felt something cold stirring, pressing against his skull. Where the doctor’s hand pushed against his head, a wriggling invader scraped hungrily against his scalp.
    Richard screamed again, battling against it, desperate to move his arms, his legs, anything that might push the doctor away. But he was paralysed. The coldness crept over him and he could no longer feel his body. Apart from his head, where the squirming, wriggling thing cracked through his skull and burrowed into his brain, invading his thoughts.
    “That’s it,” the doctor hissed, drool escaping the corner of his mouth. A ravenous grin separated his lips. “Let me in, it’ll all be over soon.”
    Richard fought, but there was no contest. The worm-like thing gnawed its way through the contents of his skull, ripping aside chunks of his mind. It was so strong, and the darkness that gushed over him felt suddenly inviting.
    “There.” Dr Snelling gave a satisfied sniff, though Richard was beyond the understanding of words. His eyes flickered, his face gaunt.
    Through a haze of stars, images surfaced and the worm in his brain had stopped burrowing. The images shimmered with such speed that Richard’s failing mind barely had a second to consider them, though they were startlingly familiar: a raven screeched before leaping from a branch; a cloaked, masked figure advanced toward him; his father handed him a velvet box, from which he drew a silver pendant; Lucy stood before him in a white veil; a dim room brimmed with people, adorned in silver, deep in conversation; an old-fashioned bus was parked at a kerb; a