Judgement (The Twelve) (5 page)

Chris ga
ped at her
blank white eyes
up close but
then did a double take. Her long white hair was
really
actually moving on its own! There was no wind blowing in here yet it moved around as if she was under water.

Huntress smiled and offered Chris a nod of acknowledgement, “I can put an arrow through a one inch hoop at three hundred feet.
This is a very special compound bow,
based on the English Long Bow.
It’s the most powerful bow in the world and only I can pull it.”

Anvil
pointed out the cowboy,
“Another one just as deadly at long range, t
he gun
f
ighter
’s
called Bulls eye.
”

The man pulled a gun free with lightning speed, spinning it this way and that, both horizontally and vertically, “
Kn
ew John Wesley Hardin, nearly
as fast as me. Billy the Kid was nothing but a back shooter as was the James boys. Old Doc Holliday, he was fast but died sort of early
, mad as a coot, loved killing
. Me
? I kept myself to myself
,
people don’t know your name they can’t come a lookin for you. After two or three try and prove they’re faster than you, you either end up loving the kill or hate it. I hated it.
I
ended up
in a
Wild West
show
run by Bill Cody
.
Then one day a kid came back stage, he said he knew who I really was and pulled a cheap rusty old Remington on me. Said I’d killed his pa. I could have shot him dead a dozen times by the time he’d cocked the thing but I guess I was fed up with killing so….The next thing I knew was Anvil was helping me out of an undertakers coffin and here I am.
The
se are the same
guns
but I’ve had
rifled barrels
fitted
. Oh
and
I’m
still
fast
, real fast
.
I can send a bullet through that there hoop Huntress mentioned with my eyes shut.
The bullets are called hydro bullets. The tips are filled with holy water blessed by Priest.
They can
kill things that ordinary bullets won’t kill.”
He finished by spinning the gun back into
its
holster.

Chris
noticed the man
still
had a slight
N
orth American accent and
wondered what the hell ordinary bullets couldn’t kill
but didn’t ask just yet. He was still listening to the one called
Anvil

Anvil
nodded to the last leather clad male,
“Last but not least is Hot
C
ross, as you can see he has a very special…..talent.
He used to be an assistant with the Edison Electric company when it was first formed. They didn’t go in for Health and Safety then, died when they electrocuted an elephant in 1903. The elephant was uncontrollable and extrem
e
ly dangerous. Instead of shooting it they decided
to use Edison’s electricity to
execute
it
. Guess they already were thinking of the electric chair.
”

Speed laughed, “
Hot Cross
died
through
stupidly! H
e
was holding onto the iron
chain around its leg
, when they juiced the poor thing
.
“

Hot Cross
was in his
late twenties
and had
a thin hawk like face with
spiked short blond hair. He wore a tight fitting shiny leather coat buttoned up to his neck. He
grinned and allowed arcs of electricity to flash from hand to hand, “
I didn’t
hold onto the damn chain
; I fell over the bloody thing
!
!
”

He showed Chris a fantastic display of arcing electricity between his fingers,
“I
u
sed to work for the electricity board, now I am the electricity board
!
”

Chris was staring wide eyed at the electrical display when
Patch forced herself
out from between the others on her
settee and walked over to
Chris,
” Ignore his jokes. They only get worse.”

Hot Cross looked pained,” Hey Patch not fair! You know I’m
just
sparkling
good
fun to be around.” He let a flash of electricity explode into the air.

Anvil
frowned at him, “You set fire to another
house
and I’ll have to let Rage punish you.”

Hot Cross suddenly stopped
arcing electricity
as Rage grinned.

Patch looked intently at Chris’s face,
“Speed
really walloped
him. You saw his bruised and swollen jaw. Now look at him, good as new.
What do you think he is
Anvil
?”

Chris noticed she showed a great deal of excitement in her question. The others mov
ed
closer to stand alongside
Anvil
and
star
e
down
at Chris.
He felt suddenly very
claustrophobic.

Eventually
Anvil
answered
, “Been waiting over seven thousand years
, a
lways full of hope
.”

Priest took a step closer to Chris
,
who
swore the floor shook
as he moved
, “He can’t be
a normal mortal,
but you were never called.” He said this to
Anvil

“You were never called and he never died.
“
Huntress added.

Anvil
agreed but added
, “But he
has the power, he hurt the damn thing,
turned its
rotten
hand to ash. No human has that sort of power.”

Priest nodded, “I know and that confuses me. But look at the facts.
He can see Shades.
His touch burnt
one
.
He saw Speed and Slash in the In Between, which is impossible for a human.
He heals fast, faster than us.
He
could be
…..
Judgement
.
”

Rage whisper
ed
, “He answers the description
but
is he
the one
?”

“Test him.” Heartless
asks
.

Chris was getting fed up with being ignored, fed up and angry.
“
Look….whoever you are. An old man was murdered not fifteen feet from me. Why doesn’t that bother you? Why bring me here instead of calling the police. What the fuck was the thing that killed Wally and how the hell did I burn off its hand?”

Patch whistled, “He really burn one
?
”

Speed head jerked up and down like a hummingbird, “Saw it with my own eyes.
Fizz, flash
to ash
!
H
a
n
d was there one second gone the next, fizz, pop, flash.
”

Chris stared around at the group, “I want
answers
!
”

Huntress stepped forward to lay a hand on
Anvils
shoulder,
“Take him on a hunt.”

Anvil
thought it over, “
Y
es a hunt. Good idea.”

Chris’s head was swimming,
“
What the hell
is a
hunt
?”
Without knowing it he’d let his mouth hang open in confusion.

Heartless
smirked,
“Best
shut that mouth kid makes you look kind of stupid!”

Patch took Chris under her wing. For some reason he didn’t immediately leave. He wanted to know more about these weirdo’s but more importantly,
himself. Th
ey fed him
a meal after
he
admitt
ed
he was starving.
Patch
comment
ed
on his personal hygiene
and offered the use of a
shower. It was an old bathroom with black and white tiles and an old gas fired heater on the wall, connected to the shower. He felt as if he was stuck in the sixties!
But boy did that hot water feel so good.

Anvil bought him a pair of jeans, new socks, combat boots, army fatigue tee shirt and a leather jacket.

“You guys love leather.” He joked but accepted the new clothing gracefully. Anvil didn’t return the smile just walked away.

Chris found
them waiting for him in the living room. He was given over to
Patch
again,
who he liked
best of all. Also joining them were
Huntress
,
who
was
going to be the
ir
track
er
,
Rage and
finally
Anvil
.
Chris
had a ton of questions. All
had gone un-answered and he
was beginning to feel
like a prisoner
again
. An hour later t
hey took him from the building, which turned out to be a detached boarded up
two storey pre war house set in
its
own grounds, surrounded by a crumbling brick wall and
a
dense over gro
wn
foliage that
passed as a garden
.
Anvil
stated
it
was one of many they owned all over the country.