Judgement (The Twelve) (42 page)

The south wall suddenly burst inwards as a giant Shades head and shoulders forced its way through the shattered breeze block. ‘Boom reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of King Edward cigars.

The female archer raised her eyebrows, damn she was pretty, “Strange time for a cigar.” She shouted from across the room.

‘Boom’ grinned broke the packs spine with an audible click, “Fire in the hold!” He yelled.

Running forward, he thrust the cigars into the creatures gaping maw, “Smoking can damage your health big boy!” He yelled before diving out of the way. A flash of light was followed by an explosive blast. The Shades head disintegrated, covering the room in tiny bits of grey slime and ruddy flesh before its body collapsed
,
blocking the hole.

‘Boom’ looked up, “In your case it proved fatal knob head.”

“Everyone
get
out of this room now.”
Chris
ordered.
“Judgement is coming.”

‘
Sure Shot
’ didn’t like the sound of whatever the hell
Judgment was, but it sounded final
. Gun covering the room, he waited until the strange woman with the white flowing hair and the man who seemed to be able to shoot electricity
from his hands
backed into the corridor
leading to
the firing range. Jennings
and ‘Boom’ were
the last but one
to leave
, “’
Mike
get your arse in here now!”

“Roger that.”
Mike replied as he fired off three more rounds. At the doorway he turned to see the kid was still in the room! He started back but the kid held up a hand towards him and bugger if he wasn’t pushed physically back through he open doorway.

Chris let
Judgement
take control, he
stood with arms folded as if waiting for something else to happen. He didn’t have to wait long. With a crashing rendering impact, the doorway into the conference room, together with the frame and several breeze blocks, crashed inwards. A
new member of The Dark entered. This one was larger than even Rage. It resembled a Neanderthal, heavy of brow, low on intelligence.  “I am
Brick
Head
sent here to kill humans. You human
, so
me kill you.”

At the sight of
Brick
Head
,
some of the other cowering Shades
now snarled or hissed in anger and
slowly
they moved forward
prepared to attack.

Judgement raised his head until his eyes were visible. He unfolded his arms and held them wide, “Be judged
.
” He
shouted.

The room started to vibrate; maps
fell from the walls, picture glass shattered and a water cooler over in the corner exploded.

Huntress pulled at Jennings,
urgency clearly showing in her voice.
“W
e
need to move now!”
 

Jennings saw the t
w
o
leather clad warrior
, helping one of his men
drag
a
wounded
female t
owards the firing range at the end of the corridor, several of his men
followed, some staggered or limped, holding onto the walls for support.
Jennings looked
back over
‘Boom Booms
’
massive shoulders
and saw the giant
monster
. Then he saw
Judgement. A glow was forming around his body!
“Jesus
‘
Boom
’
get a friggin move on now! Code Alpha!”

Judgements eyes were glowing white, “Be judged!” his voice booming out.

The
giant
called
Brick
Head
started to walk towards Chris, arms outstretched to crush him, “
Brick
kill human.”
The top of his head shattered what was left of the overhanging strip lighting.

T
wenty or so
Shades
were gathered
behind him
; they burst into the room around the giant
Dark
One
. Judgement remained stock sill, frozen to the spot as if he was totally ignoring the danger. The Shades started to slowly close in on him. Another figure loomed in the door way. It was The Dark
One
called
Leach. He dripped mud and water behind and around him, “Kill him
you stupid fool
!” His voice gurgled the command.

Judgement sounded like the voice of doom,
“Judged!”
He roared.

Jennings was almost at the firing range door,
he could feel
the
pressure wave build that he normally associated
with moments before a large blast
,
“Boom
down
!”

Pat ‘
Boom Boom’
Mackinnon was pissed off. He wanted to be in the
thick of the
fight but his boss was ordering him to run away.
At the sound of his name he looked up to see his boss
by the steel sound proof door to the range
about twelve
feet away, when
all of a sudden
he heard this God almighty din. His
mind
was literally assailed by
a blast of
heavenly sound
ing
trumpets
,
harps and high pitched female voices raised in a great wail of sadness
, all intermixed with the sound of a large explosion.
It was a sound he’d remember to his dying day.

‘
Boom Boom’
had been in explosions before. So he recognised the white light
as he started to dive for the floor, hands covering his ears, mouth wide open, eyes screwed shut. A
wa
ve
of compressed air lifted him off his feet and carried him in through the firing range door
as if he weighed no more than a feather
. He was surprised though that no blast of
fire or fragmentation followed
,
but the noise did. A
blast of thunder so loud, it knocked ‘
Boom’
senseless.

“If you don’t mind!
”
a
distant
voice gasped.

‘Boom Boom’ rolled off a flattened Mike Edwards. “Sorry.”
He shouted, his ears still ringing loudly from the blast.

Jennings saw dust and debris settle in what was left of his conference room. Forcing his way to the front
,
he ran back
into the room
. Judgement was now kneel
ing with both hands
supporting himself
on the floor
.
The room was flattened, the solid wooden table nothing but splinters, as was all the chairs and three side tables. The entrance wall was completely blown out. The dead, his dead, were all smeared across the remaining walls, mixed in with grey slime.

He dropped to Judgements side, resting a hand on the kids shoulder, “You okay?”

Judgement was gon
e. Chris slowly raised his face.
Jennings was surprised to see he was crying. “I managed to send the souls of your men
to
the ascension point. Whether they actually ascend will be up to them. I save
d
some of the others but not many.”

Jennings rocked back on
his
heals,” You saved the souls of some of those things that killed MY PEOPLE!” His voice rising in anger.

Chris slowly climbed to his feet, “there are….
complications
you’re not aware of. The Shades are nothing but shells moulded to cover the souls of people The Dark kill and capture
. None have any control over there actions, some do not deserve Hell.”

Jennings looked at what was left of his room, “What the hell was that big one and
who
was that
other
horror behind
him
?”

Chris considered the question, “
The one behind was Leech, he
ordered the new one to attack
.
I
’ve
never seen
that Dark One before. He must be newly recruited because he made a fatal mistake.”

“What mistake?”

Chris brushed dust from his hat, “He mistook me for
a
human.”

‘Boom’
staggered out of the firing range,
nudg
ing
part of a rotting foot aside,
“Did you kill
him
?”

Chris
staggered ove
r to where the doorway had been. The outer wall was also smashed in, lumps of masonry was still falling from the roof area
twenty feet
down the hallway. Mixed with the rubble was blood splattered chunks of flesh and bone that had once been
Brick
. Of Leach there was no sign, “
Brick
took the full force of Gods Judgement. He’s gone but I think Leach got away
.”

‘Boom’ grinned. Wrong name should have been called Prick Head.”

Chris shook his head, “Need to tidy up your act, we have a Priest who hates swearing.”