Judgement (The Twelve) (32 page)

Anvil
looked around at the carnage,
“
You’re right
this
wasn’t
the
time or the place, we’re lucky no one was killed
. Best we get back to
base
.”

He closed his eyes for an instant
, before
snapp
ing
them open wide
in surprise
, “We appear to have a problem.”

“What?” Chris asked
looking up from Patches side.

“That blast has closed the In Between place off from us.”

Priest spat, “See! That black hearted
D
evil of there’s has to throw in a twist.”

Heartless tried and failed, “Well why can’t God undo it then?”

Priest shook his head, “They don’t attack each other directly. It’s another rule. He’s leaving it to us to fix.”

At that
very
moment there came a multitude of raised voices from the childrens zoo area,
followed
by
several uniformed police
heading in there direction
, “Oy you lot!” One shouted, pointing towards
Anvil
and the others.

“Big problem
,
”
Priest shouted
having
seen the police.
He was still partially deaf from Screech’s blast.

“Shit!”
was all Heartless offered, spitting
blood
o
n
the ground.

Speed
was
all done in and was
being carried like a baby in Rages arms
,
blood was pouring down a wound across his back,
”
Never felt Panther cut me, the bastard!
”

The police were fast approaching and it didn’t go un-noticed by Chris that all had drawn there telescopic Asps.

“Best let me do the talking,” he offered.

“And hide your weapons.” He offered as an after thought.

Slash retrieved the knife he’s thrown at Edge. He was quietly seething that Chris had healed him, “Speaking of weapons, any one seen Bulls Eye?”

Chris closed his eyes for a moment, “He’s behind us, hiding in some bushes.”

The problem was, how do you hide Rage
or Anvils hammer, let alone all the knives that Patch and slash carried and how will he explain Heartlesses claws!

The nearest police officers
where ignoring the weapons as they stared in fear at Rage
. One whispered to
another
, “You got the Taser?”

Chapter Ten

A
sergeant thrust himself to the front. At first he started to shout angry questions that went unanswered. But it was Judgement who took control of the situation
,
’with your consent
?’

Chris silently agreed
,
“What seems to be the problem Sergeant?” His voice had a mellow
deep
calmness about it.

The Sergeant scowled at first then his face seemed to relax, “Bit early for Halloween?”

“Fancy dress party
, w
e’re going as Goth freaks.”

The Sergeant nodded then stared at Rage, blin
ked and looked away, “Nice foam rubber suit but he must be boiling hot in it.
Those
fake arms
are very lifelike. So are all those knives and that bloody big hammer. Good job they’re plastic. Couldn’t let you run around with real ones now could I
”
H
e
laughed at his own joke.

“
Got a pillow up there
?”
he
laughed again pointing to Rages hump.

Rage started to growl but Speed slapped him on the shoulder.

Chris was smiling, “You got it in one, nothing gets past you. So what seems to be the trouble officer?”

The Sergeants face changed to a scowl, “Some bloody swine have slaughtered every single one of the childrens pets
and all the other animals
in the zoo.”

Chris tut tutted, “I hope you catch them officer
, s
uch a
n
absolutely terrible thing to happen. Don’t you agree father?”
H
e asked in that same deep hypnotic tone.

Bulls Eye
who
had approached them from behind, realis
ed
Chris was playing tricks with the police officers minds
.

Anvil didn’t reply
until
Bulls Eye
kicked him gently in the shin, “What? Oh yes absolutely terrible.”

One of the officers was eyeing
Bulls Eyes
guns
, he
slowly circling in from the left, “Those guns are they…”

Chris’s voice again spoke clear and hypnotic, “Tell you what Sergeant. My father and I are very well off financially. We can send someone round tomorrow. If you get who ever is in charge of the zoo to draw up a list. We would gladly pay to re stock it.”

The policeman who was moving in on
Bulls Eye
stopped and blinked, “Bloody hell, that’s a
lovely gesture. Isn’t it Sergeant?”

The Sergeant agreed, in fact he seemed un-usually choked up, almost in tears,” Damn good of you Mr…?
”

Chris answered for
Anvil
, “Can we remain anonymous
, m
y fathers a quiet shy sort of man. The attention would only embarrass him. You know what I mean don’t you?”

The Sergeant strode up, walking past a bleeding Priest as if he didn’t exist. He held out his hand towards
Anvil
, who with raised eye brows, took the offered hand and gave it a quick shake.

“Okay lets let these good folk get
off
to th
ere
party. Bye the way did you see anything strange in the Park?”

“I’ll bloody well say we did!” Heartless muttered.

One of the other police officers seemed to notice him for the first time, “What was that?”

Chris sighed and concentrated harder, “We had a fight with some monsters and they vanished into thin air.”

The Sergeant stared at him for a second, before laughing. “Very good
, t
hin air, yes very good.
Sorry to sound cheeky but w
hat time will your people be round in the morning?”

Anvil
fielded this one, “
My representative will be a Mister Jennings of Starlight Security. In fact Mr Jennings is the managing director of the company. He can write a blank cheque for
all
the animals lost.
In fact I was thinking of making a donation to expand and improve the zoo. I will tell Mister Jennings to add a few noughts onto the end of the sum.
We mu
st think of the kids.”

The Sergeant tilted his flat cap back on his head. “
That’s bloody good of you I must say, hang on,
Starlight security! I’ve heard of them .They deal with most of our government buildings.
They handle top security stuff all over the world.
You know them how..?”

Anvil
tried a smile
,
“I own the company.”

The sergeant pulled himself up straight.
“
Sorry to have bothered you sir. As a matter of fact
, the reason I know so much about them is
I’m due for retirement in six months, was thinking of applying.
I used to be a Sergeant in the Irish Guards before joining the police. I know I’m nearly fifty but I’m fighting fit.
Do you think…
?
.”

Anvil
smiled again, “I’ll tell Mister Jennings. We can always use a good man such as you.
I’m sure our starting salary is will be about double what you currently earn.
”

Anvil
thought the man was going to kiss him. Instead he straightened his cap,
“Come on boys spread out and get on with searching the park. It’s obvious these good folk have nothing to do with it.” He
half
saluted
Anvil
, “Good day sir.
Oh by the way the name is Peter Farthing.
”

Anvil
found him self starting to return the salute but managed to stop his hand
,
” Name noted sergeant. “

  Huntress let out a quiet chuckle, then hissed on pain as she gripped her swollen hand tighter.

Bulls Eye was tapping a hand against the butt of one gun,
“Can we get the hell out of here?”

He was holding what was left of his rifle in the other hand.

Heartless pointed to the gun, “What..”

Bulls Eye interrupted, “Bloody bitch broke my best weapon, nearly broke me as well.”

Priests ears must have started to heal
, “Don’t blaspheme. “ He ordered.

They waited until the police had departed. Heartless spat blood onto the grass, “That damn African hunter! He
g
ot me with one of those steel balls, I think I’ve cracked a rib, possibly nicked a lung.” He spat another larger glob of blood onto the grass.

Anvil
looked around the group, “We need to get back to the warehouse
and heal but
it’ll be dangerous in normal time and
space.
Can’t anyone open up a way into the In Between?
”

No one could,
Chris asked why
it was dangerous to travel normally.

Heartless answered, “The Dark
may have been thrown half way across the globe but my guess is they can still use the
I
n Between kid.
If they’ve managed to get back from wherever they got blasted to, t
hey can follow us back to the warehouse and we’ll never know.”

Rage who was still holding Speed grunted too, “Can we get a move on. I don’t feel too good. I think there must have been poison in those claws.”

Huntress looked over to Chris, “Can you get us back into the In Between?”

Judgement took over and tried with all his might. For a second he thought there was a small crack in the barrier placed
before them, but when he tried to widen it, the crack snapped shut
.

“Can’t do it as the moment
,
I
think I may
run the risk of
destroy
ing
the doorway to In Between.”

Judgment
chose
that moment to educate Chris and f
or the first time
he
realised what
the In Between
place really was
.
Th
e R
eal
P
lace
was here on this dimension. A place
full of life, then there was the In Between, the place between the living and the dead, A no mans land, a black and white copy of this world
, where both may walk.
The
n there was the other place. Somewhere he didn’t want to go but Judgement insisted.

In Judgments deep voice he took charge,
“I will
bypass
the In Between place
,
which is but one of many levels between this world
,
Purgatory
and the next.
”

Priest was impressed, he whispered to Anvil, “I thought we could only access the In Between
, never Purgatory
?
”

Chris heard him and carried on in Judgements voice, “
Purgatory
is but a much darker deeper path
where
the living should
fear to
tread.
I can manipulate
Deaths doorway
to lead us to a spot near the warehouse. The Dark will not be able to follow, not unless Coffee figures out what I’ve done.”

Rage growled and this time no one told him to be quiet, “Deaths doorway
!
Rage doesn’t like the sound of that.”

Anvil
walked up to Chris, “You sure you can do this. I’ve heard of
Purgatory
is a place fit only for the dead
.”

Judgements voice answered, “
With the Destroyer blocking the In Between, The Cre
ator has opened Purgatory to us, but dangers lay within, n
ow I want you all to
move in close and hold onto each other. Do not release that hold. I can only move you as one entity
,
not as singular life forces. Now prepare.”

The
injured warriors
managed to get into a close tight group, blood
smeared, battered and bruised they held on tight to each other
. Chris
witnessed
all
of
this
as a
student studies his tutor.
Judgement gathered his will and forced a
vis
i
ble
black tunnel
to form out of thin air with a
blood red land beyond.

“Now all of you close your eyes and take three steps forward.”

Collectively they felt as if they had moved forward at an unbelievable speed, through air that was freezing cold,
scorching hot, then normal once again.

“Open your eyes.” Judgement ordered.

The Twelve found them
selves standing on a
sticky
tar
like
black
substance
twelve feet
wide
,
that wound its way through a veil of blood red fog.

“Don’t step off the roadway. If you do I will never be able to find you again and you will remain her forever.”
Chris’s mouth
did not move but they all heard his words.

Slowly
,
with Judgment leading, the tightly gathered Twelve shuffled along the road. At one point a hideous beast hopped onto the road directly in there pathway. It looked like a cross between a frog and a man with a huge wide mouth full of needle sharp teeth. With an almost human scream it lunched itself at them. Judgement didn’t stop
moving
, he just raised his hand and shouted, “We are the living!”

The creature skidded to a halt it
s hideous snout
sniff
ing
them
closely before
gathering itself
to
howl
with anguish.  In an instant it
vanished in a
n explosion
of clotting blood.

Judgements voice filled there heads,
“It feeds on the dead. Seeing us alive reminded itself of what it once had been. That thought destroyed it.”

Cresting a hill five minutes later
,
they came to a cottage directly in there path. An old woman stepped out from the front door, supported on two wooden walking sticks.

“Cup of tea my dears?”

Judgement once again didn’t falter, he held out his hand and a c
up of steaming hot tea appeared.