Judgement (The Twelve) (18 page)

Speed laughed at his own joke before adding, “Me
, well you know my story.”In a flash he was fifty feet away, helping himself to a bottle of water from the fridge.

“I
can run faster than anything on this planet.  Kinetic energy kid! He held up his hand, if this hits you at four hundred miles an hour. It will be
like a knife through butter. Patch taught me some basic moves. Extended thumb through the eye, thin skull, straight into the frontal lobe. Heel of the hand under the nose, drives the cartilage and bone into the brain. Fist to the throat, crushed windpipe, can’t breath. That’s my life, over in a flash, just like my love making.” He allowed himself a nervous giggle.

Patch snorted, “You’ll stay a virgin Speed.
”

Anvil
tapped his weapon on the ground
, drawing attention
to him
se
lf, “Finish introductions later
.
Speed tells me that t
hey burned down our house
and killed a civilian,
so it’s pay back time.
Priest says
the security people
we use
informed
him that
there has been an un-usual amount of missing person reports
over the past six months
in
an area further along the dock
s
near Lambert Palace
. I suspect a nest, let
’
s find it and wipe them out.”

Chris raised his hand.

Heartless
chuckled, “Not in school kid.”

Anvil
frowned at
him
, “Ignore him
Chris
…
..
I mean
Judgement. What do you want to know?”

“
Chris will do,
w
hat the hell is a nest and why do we need to kill these things apart from the obvious.”

Anvil
looked over to Priest who took up the ball, “The Shades prefer night but can walk in daylight. They move in the In-Between time
that
normal people can’t see
.
But they need to sleep as well and to do that they drop into real time. So they need to find a place to hide. They sleep standing up and pa
cked
together real close to take up as little space as possible. That’s a nest
, which is different to a farm
.”

Slash added, “Oh yes a farms different. Only ever found three.”

Before Chris could ask, Patch whispered in his ear, “Farms are where they make Shades. You don’t really want to know the details yet. It takes a strong stomach.”

Anvil
answered Chris’s question
,” We destroy them, not kill the
m. They’re already dead but haven’t been allowed to
move
on
. T
hey’re trapped inside those slime covered shells that The Dark
creates
. They
’re used to
kill
people
and
gather souls for the Dark.
They can’t touch those that die by natural causes
.
They have to kill so that a soul can be
turned into Shades
.
”

Anvil
picked up his weapon
, “
N
ow we go hunting.
I want you to
stay with Rage and Patch.”

So it was that
two
hour
s
later Chris found himself strolling along a run down dockside area of the Thames. The sun had been up several hours and was approaching twelve. It was still a very angry grey clad sky that threatened rain at any minute. A few tramps scuttled past not noticing Chris and his new found friends. Just as well, Rage would have driven them to jump into the fast flowing river without a moments thought.

Chris stared at the grey colouring of the In Between, “How can you stand this?”

Rage thumped a fist onto the dirt covered cobbled road, “Nice colour, simple.”

Patch as usual
,
was holding Chris’s hand
. S
he gave it a gentle
squeeze
, “
The In Between does something with the light spectrum. All colour
is a
lie
anyhow. Take people who are colour blind, they see things differently. I was told once that it’s all down to the pigments in our eyes that interpret the colours we see. Change the pigments and the colours change with it.”

Rage started to grumble deep in his throat.

“Stop that!” Patch commanded.

Rage immediately stopped, “Sorry Rage forget, not like all this science stuff, never did.”

Chris
suddenly
stopped walking
,
causing Patch and Rage to stop as well. Rage immediately went into a crouch, his eyes darting back and forth.

“What is it?” Patch asked as she produced a thin bladed knife.

Rage growled, “I smell Shades.”

For the first time
Chris
consciously took in his surroundings. Nothing and yet…..
he looked down at a huge iron grid
he was standing on
.

He pointed
to it
, “What’s th
is
?”

Patch
explained that b
arges used to come in under the quayside to off
load
sugar, flour and cotton
in the warehouses
around us. It’s a breather vent, but hasn’t
been used
for years
, not since the entrances got all silted up

Chris
knelt by one of the huge iron hinges,
“Not used in years?”

Patch was looking puzzled, as was Rage, “
I’d say before the arrival of the car. Why?”

Chris pointed to the
grid, “Do those hinges look well oiled and
free
of rust?”

Patch stepped off the huge iron grid and stared at the nearest hinge, examining it,
and then
turned to Rage
,”
Think you can lift it?”

Rage looked offended and w
ithout a word, slipped the fingers of one huge hand into the square gaps in the iron grid and heaved.
I
t rose up without even a squeal.

Chris stepped forward and looked down into the darkness. He could just make out a wide iron ladder embedded in t
he
concrete wall, disappearing down into the darkn
ess. Without thinking, he held
the palm of his hand over the void and closed his eyes it just seemed the right thing to do.
Chris felt that same strange popping feeling as colour returned .
After
a few
second
s
he straightened up and Rage carefully replaced the huge grid without making a sound.

Patch was looking oddly at Chris’s face, “What?”

Chris had felt them down there. Somehow he had touched them as they slumbered, “I’m not sure but I think there might be….what do you call it…..a nest down there.”

Patch
nodded slowly
,”
You want to know something?” A look of amazement on her face, even Rage was looking stunned. “You dropped out of the In Between
all on your own
and I swear, for a second, you did the weirdest thing. Your
hand
looked for a moment as if
fire was dancing under your skin!”

Rage nodded, “Think
Anvil
needs to know that Judgement has found a nest.”

C
h
apter 4

T
hree hours later
, t
he plan was simple. Rage lifted the grid then dropped straight down, followed a second later by Priest. The ground shudd
ered as they landed, concrete cracked and the walls shook.

“Subtle! Chris said sarcastically.

One by one the others followed but used the iron ladder set into the wall. At the bottom, they found themselves standing on a wide stone pavement with a muddy half silted canal filling the rest of the tunnel, running in both directions. To the left, Chris could see an iron grill set into the entrance about thirty feet away and the river Thames beyond. Turning he peered down the tunnel into the dark.

Huntress studied the ground, “That way.”

Chris gave a slight start when he saw that the whites of her eyes actually glowed faintly in the darkness. He quickly got over the initial shock and realised she was
only
c
onfirm
ing
what Chris was thinking.
Somewhere along that dark stinking tunnel was a Shade nest.
Conscious of his hat, Chris carefully straightened in
,
before foll
o
wing the others down the tunnel
. They reached a gentle bend that went to the right. It wasn’t as badly silted here but the water was stagnant.

“What’s down that way?” He asked.

Anvil
pointed upwards, “Old cotton warehouse directly above us. The loading and unloading dock must be just ahead.”

Huntress whispered for quiet and carefully edged her way along the tunnel wall until she was out of sight. After thirty seconds or so, she reappeared.

Whispering
,
she told them that it opened up onto an underground dockside. “I can see three doors set into the
end
wall and an old disused wooden trap door above
in the roof space
. There’s a huge winch set high
up on the wall, no chain or rope now. I c
ould
see a concrete staircase going upwards over on the left side on the dock.”

Anvil
nodded, “Anything else?”

Huntress paused and glanced towards Chris, “Judgement was right.
It must be a nest.
There’s a pile of human bones and body parts outside the central door.”

Anvil
started to move forward, when for some reason Chris
gently reached out and held him back with a hand upon his shoulder. And before Anvil could ask what was wrong, Chris
moved
to the front.  Without saying a word, he
turned towards them
and again carefully set his wide brimmed hat.

His eyes locked with
Anvils
for a second, who arched his eyebrows in surprise
.

“What’s going on
…….
?” Slash started to ask but
Anvil
held up his
free hand
calling for silence.
He met Chris’s look and gave a quick nod of his head.

Chris took a deep breath
,
turned and slowly walked around the dockside, stopping not before the middle door but the first. He leaned forward trying to hear, nothing. He placed the flat of his hand against the wood. He wasn’t aware but the others could just catch glimpses of fire dancing under the skin
.
Slowly he lowered his hand to the worn dented brass
door handle. Pushing down, it creaked and squealed slightly as he slowly pressed downwards. Chris took another deep breath and again slowly pulled the door wide. Standing in front of him
there
must have been at least
thirty
Shades all bunched up in the tiny furniture less room.

Stepping back, Chris ran the same hand around the front brim of his hat before drawing himself up to his full height.

A deeper voice echoed from his lips, “Are there any amongst you who are willing to be Judged?”

‘
Were the heck did that come from
?’ Chris wondered.

Behind him, the others moved forward and spread out behind him, waiting with baited breath for what was to follow.

As one, the Shades awoke at the sound of his voice.
At first none of the Shades moved
and then
one pushed itself to the front and approached Chris with its head held low.
One of the Shades standing near the front
snarled
and
took a bite out of
the others
shoulder.

The Shade ignored the wound, stepping forward it stopped just in front of Chris.

“Jesus
,
get out of the way kid!” Heartless shouted.

Chris ignored him and turned his gaze fully upon the ugly creatures featureless melted slime grey face.

“
Do you wish to be judged
?” He asked quietly
.

The Shade moaned and tried to nod
(it had no neck to speak of)
Chris slowly reached out and gently laid his hand upon its right shoulder. Closing his eyes, Chris saw visions of what it had once been. A kaleidoscope of pictures captured in time. Chris opened his eyes and offered a sad smile,

In a deep strange voice Chris responded,
“Judged
!
”

With that the creature slowly turned to fiery ash, dissolving with an almost contented sigh. The other Shades snarled and started forwards but Chris cast his gaze upon them.

“Be Judged!” He shouted.

The Shades faltered, then before the eyes of his amazed friends, they actually shuffled back a step, cowering in fear.

A voice boomed out of the shadows, “Kill him
. E
at him. Now!”

You couldn’t see who
the voice belonged to in the darkness
, but the Shades
obeyed
and as one rushed Chris.

Twang!
Without thinking and almost in slow motion, Chris twisted first to the right as a
n
arrow flashed over
his
shoulder
. It took a Shade fully in the chest, which
explod
ed in a
flash
of
falling hot ash.
Then Chris twisted to the left as a
gun boomed twice behind and to Chris’s left, two more Shades disappeared in ash.

“
Chris
get out of the way!” Patch
yelled out, her voice echoing around the chamber.

Chris ducked down to one knee as a
knife flashed over his
head
, destroying yet another Shade but there where far t
o
o many. Chris held his ground
and slowly brought up his head. Onl
y
the Shades could see the expression on his face but it was enough to stop them dead
in there tracks no more than three feet away from him
.
Standing he raised
his right hand
,
palm towards them. Fire flared up under his skin.

“Judged!” A deep voice echoed from his lips.

An arc of living flame sprang forth from his hand, linking each Shade to the next.
One by one the
y
   started to dissolve in a re
d
hot cloud of black ash. The room was full of the stuff, it choked the air do much that  Chris
pulled his coat up and across his lower face with his free hand
in order to breath. Finally as
the ash
settled nothing remained but a thick heap of black ash on the concrete floor.
Before the others could say a word, the other two doors burst open,
two
dozen more Shades rushed from the middle
room
but two of The Dark c
harged out of the far left room with another ten Shades.
The Dark were
Shadow and Leach.

Of course Chris had no
idea of there names
at that point,
a
ll he saw at first was the Shades rushing towards his companions. Then as a fight engaged between them, he saw the Dark. The first was A middle aged male, strongly built, wearing a grey morning suit from the fashion of the 19
^th
C
entury. But then Chris realised
the suit wasn’t
grey;
it wasn’t really any colour
,
because he could see through
it
!

Was it a ghost of some sort? The man snarled revealing huge pointed fangs.

Chris’s attention however snapped to the other figure, a dripping wet male teenager, with short muddy hair and slime running down its
white washed
face. The creature was moving towards Patch and as Chris watched, it raised a hand and behind Patch a wall of water rose up from the canal.

“Patch behind you!” Chris shouted but she didn’t her him in the confusion.

Running forward
,
Chris leapt through the air and delivered a kick to the teenager’s
chest
. Sparks burst from its body were his foot had impacted. This was followed by a hissing cloud of steam which extinguished the smouldering flesh but it
was obvious
the blow had
hurt
it
. Screaming in pain, the teenager staggered back in sudden fear
, which quickly turned to
anger directed
at
Chris.

The other creature was shouting instructions to the Shades but only a handful remained. It
risked a quick glance towards Chris, “Ah I see it
i
s Judgement.
”