Dovecrest couldn’t believe the demon had killed the boy. He stood there like a wooden soldier looking at Todd, completely paralyzed by shock and horror. He never imagined the thing could be so deadly so quickly. It had assumed it would take its time with them, maybe giving them an opportunity to act, or at least fight back. He suddenly felt so totally and completely hopeless that he didn’t know what to do. All he could do was watch.
Vickie pulled away from her husband and ran to the boy’s side, taking the baby from his arms.
“You killed him!” she screamed. “You killed my son!”
The demon laughed. “Actually, he’s not dead-yet. He’s merely paralyzed. He can see and hear everything that’s going on-although, I will say that the pain of the venom is excruciating.”
“Why?” Dovecrest asked.
“He’ll be fine-once I take over his body. Until then he’ll be in agony. But he will be silent and won’t cause any more trouble. Besides, once I take over he’ll be so glad to be rid of the pain that he’ll welcome me. I know what pain is like, believe me. He’ll do anything to make it stop.”
“How long does he have?” Erik said.
“He has until eternity,” the demon said matter-of-factly. “He won’t die unless I let him.”
Dovecrest looked at his friends and saw the agony on their faces. Erik was torn apart with grief. He walked over to his wife and took their baby in his arms. He whispered something to the baby and then to his wife. She began to sob violently and grabbed onto him, pulling him close.
“Oh, Erik, please, please, do something. I can’t do this anymore.”
Erik hugged her hard, and whispered some comforting words. Then he stepped toward the demon.
“I’m ready. Take me and let’s get this over with,” he said.
— 3-
The sun had come up and Mark paced up and down beside the huge altar stone. Soldiers were already setting the charges, stringing the wire and preparing the detonator. They’d be finished in a half an hour-maybe less. Then the captain would give the order to blow the altar stone to pieces and his friends would be trapped in whatever world they had been taken into.
He had spent the night in prayer, begging, pleading with God to intercede on his behalf.
“Please, God,” he said again softly. “I ask not for myself but for your people who have served you so well.”
But for some reason, God was strangely silent on this morning and he suspected it was already too late.
The captain came and stood next to him. Captain MacKensie, his nametag read, and Mark knew he was a good man. But he had a job to do.
“It’s not looking good, Pastor.”
“No, Captain, it’s not looking good.”
“I wish there was something I could do. I’d even send people in there if I knew how.”
“Do you have any idea what’s happened here?” Mark said.
The soldier looked down at the ground for a long moment. He was middle-aged and grim-looking, with hard eyes.
“Pastor, I’ve seen a lot of things in my years. A lot of suffering. I’ve served in some bad places and have seen some bad things. Terrible things. But I’ve never seen anything like what happened here.
“I’m a God-fearing man myself. I suppose you have to be in my line of work. You never know when you’d going to meet your maker. I don’t claim to understand any of this. But I did some praying of my own last night. I never believed in spooks and demons and such nonsense. But now, in the light of day, I’m thinking maybe I don’t know much about anything anymore.”
“What about your theory about aliens?”
“Aliens, demons…one is as far-fetched as another. All I know is that rock is truly a bad thing, and I’m going to make sure no more bad comes from it.”
Mark nodded. “I understand, Captain.”