Flight of the Raven Pt. 02

A few seconds passed and I started to wonder whether she'd respond when she briskly turned, breaking eye contact with me and started walking towards John. "Be careful you two." she said, her words floating over to us as she reached John at the front of the line and began walking, leading the group back to the bus.

Tony and I watched the procession of sorts leave the garden through a thin, wooden door set in the fence that surrounded the cut grass. John and Kate were the last to leave, bringing up the rear as Cathy lead them. John nodded to us and Kate waved goodbye. I'm not sure who was more shocked: the hound when I blew him up, or Tony right now. He even half raised his arm to reciprocate until remembering who exactly Kate was, immediately dropping his arm again.

The night seemed somehow deeper and more oppressing when everyone had left the small garden, despite the fiery blaze that was still casting its hellish light across the street.

I sighed, not exactly relishing what our expedition would likely bring us, but bound regardless. "Right. Let's go Tone, your house first as it's closer."

He nodded, turning on his flash-light and walking out the gate in the direction of the others while I followed.

When we reached the pavement we both carried on, crossing the debris, corpse littered road to the other side of the street.

"Why didn't you want Cathy to come?" He asked suddenly as we made our way through what looked like a war-zone.

"I didn't want her to die." I replied, truthfully, bumping into Tony who had come to a halt in front of me.

He turned, terror etched onto his face. "You don't 'really' think we're going to die. Do you?" he stuttered out, obviously not relishing the prospect.

"This isn't exactly the safest of environments any more, and that's saying something considering how dangerous some of South London was 'before' the eclipse. I think the others at the bus will have a better chance of surviving the next few minutes than we do, but beyond that, I have no idea Tone." I told him bluntly, trusting him to carry on despite my observations.

He did not disappoint. "I... I suppose you're right." He muttered, letting out a breath. "I fucking hate Mondays."

I laughed. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to choke. The guy had got it dead on. Mondays fucking sucked.

"Oh come on, it's not that funny." He groused, looking at me in mild annoyance.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so unused to you making jokes and it's so true too. Mondays really are shit." I managed to wheeze out amidst my laughter, finally calming down enough to breathe.

He seemed to accept my explanation, continuing to walk down the street in companionable silence.

"Luke?" he asked, tentatively, still trudging along.

Ah. I'd wondered when someone would ask about that.

"What happened earlier... With that hell-hound?"

"Honestly Tone, I don't know. I've asked myself the same thing and I can't figure it out. What exactly did you see?"

He thought briefly before replying, still moving down the the road. "Well, I was watching from the window, I didn't have the best of views but I could see you and the hound thing above you. I saw you shove that stick into its mouth and I saw the demon somehow eat it."

"Burn it." I corrected, causing him to stop mid-stride.

"Burn it?"

"That's right. The hound had some sort of fire in its throat and it literally turned the wood to ash as I shoved it down." I said, brushing my nails across my suit as Tony looked back at me incredulously.

"Right... Okay. Well, after the beast had burnt the shaft I saw you stick your arm into its mouth, and after that. Well. The thing blew up into about a million pieces.

"Did you see anything before the hound blew up?" I pressed, not really expecting anything.

Which was a good job, as Tony had nothing to add. "No. Like I said. I saw your arm go into its mouth and then a couple seconds later it just blew up. Maybe they explode if something touches that fire you were talking about?" He asked, hopefully, eyes wide with the prospect of blowing up more demons. Causing me to chuckle warmly.

"Unfortunately no. You must not have seen from your vantage point but my glove was covered in this weird golden lettering after the thing exploded." I paused, holding his gaze. "Also, I felt something, not dissimilar to the 'pain' from the gym trying to get inside our heads, but this time it was trying to get out from my hand. It felt pretty strange but was no where near as agonising. Anyway, after I felt this 'force' unleash itself the hound was no more, and the script on my glove only lasted a few seconds before disappearing too. I'm not sure what to make of it all. All I know for sure is that whatever caused the script to appear also killed that demon."

"I don't know what to say Luke, it seems that a lot of things are linked to that 'pain' though I'm not sure how. Maybe you can ask John or Cathy about it later, they were at the door and had a much clearer view of you. Show me the gloves?" I nodded, placing my hand in front of him.

Tony looked the gloved hand over carefully, he even poked it a couple of times in what I was sure was a sophisticated scientific experiment, and not just the desperation of someone fishing for clues.

"Well, I'm stumped. Sorry Luke."

I sighed, annoyed with our lack of knowledge. The eclipse was dredging up far more questions than answers. Hopefully my mum would know something about all this.

Thinking about my mother caused me to start walking again, prompting Tony to do the same. I just hoped she was okay.

As we walked down the road we finally arrived outside Tony's house: looking exactly as it had the last time I was here. Minus the black stains from the ash that was covering its walls, the various bits of debris in the small front garden and the broken windows on the ground floor. Okay, so it looked nothing like it did before, having more in common with a haunted house than most haunted houses did.

Tony wasted no time, running to the front door and pressing the doorbell. We waited on tenterhooks as we heard the chime of the bell echo through the house.

Nothing.

Tony rang again, lightly bouncing up and down on his heels nervously.

Nothing.

A cold feeling of dread crept its way into my gut, settling there in preparation for what we'd find beyond that door. I had no doubt Tony felt the same.

I glanced at him, motioning to the closed door in front of us. Tony nodded wordlessly, bending down and retrieving a spare key that was taped to the underside of a large sunflower plant's petals. I almost laughed, talk about safety conscious, that was definitely the last place anyone would think to look.

With shaking hands he eventually got the key into the lock and managed to turn the metal, a sharp 'click' echoing through the night.

A gentle push caused the door to creakily swing inwards, revealing a hallway cloaked in darkness. Tony shivered, pointing his torch through the opening, illuminating the walls in a harsh, artificial luminance.

A wave of fetid air greeted us as we quietly crossed the threshold, causing both of us to cover our noses and gag.

Ignoring the smell as best we could, we crept towards the lounge, eyes alert for the slightest movement and ears straining to make out any noise.

Nothing.

A gasp suddenly broke the reticence. Startled, I lurched forwards uncontrollable bumping into Tony. Muttering an apology I wondered where the noise had come from, it sounded like it'd been close by.

My heart lurched. Tony. He'd made the noise. He was standing in the doorway to the lounge, his face completely white and his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

I nervously poked my head above his shoulder, looking into the dark room.

The thin beam of light from the weakening torch was stationary, fixed in position on the bodies of two people. Mr and Mrs Smalls. Tony's parents. His only family. The source of that god awful stench.

Their bodies were blackened and broken, both had obviously died from the 'Hell-Fever' but that wasn't the end of their stories. Oh no. A demon had been in here, you could see from the marks on their bodies and from the missing limbs that something had literally eaten most of the corpses.

Tony slumped forwards, violently vomiting on the carpet. I didn't blame him. Putting my arms around his shoulders I gently lifted him up and walked him to the kitchen, sitting the dazed guy on a chair while I hunted for a cloth.

Finally finding one I soaked it under the tap and made my way over to my small friend. I wiped the sick away from him mouth and off his shirt, discarding the soiled cloth when there was nothing left to mop up. I pulled up a chair next to his and sat with my arm round him in silence.

After a few minutes of complete silence he tensed suddenly, leaning into me and crying. It felt a bit odd having never held a guy like this but I persevered, gently patting him as he let out his sorrow.

My arm was soaked by the time his tears had run dry.

Eventually, he managed to sit up straight and looked at me, his eyes betraying depths of pain that I never wanted anyone else to have to experience.

"We... We should go." He sniffled, listlessly.

I patted him on the back gently, nodding as I helped him stand.

We walked down the hallway together, Tony briefly stopping to mouth his goodbyes at the doorway to the lounge. When he was finished he reverently shut the door and sighed, nodding at me to lead the way.

We made the short trip to my house in morose silence, Tony no longer in the lead as he lagged behind me slightly, his feet shuffling through broken glass and bits of wood on the ground.

I paused outside my front-door, the feeling of dread in my gut as rampant as ever. Taking a breath I rang the doorbell. Well, I tried to.

As my hand touched the bell it wasn't stopped by the plastic button, instead it carried on through the image. Half my hand disappeared into the side of the solid looking doorway before I managed to whip my hand back in fright.

I turned, wondering if Tony had seen the spectacle. He had, his eyes were wide even in his grief and his mouth was hanging open in a large 'O'.

I peered at my hand closely, bring it right up to my face as I inspected the strange appendage. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. What the fuck had just happened. Glancing at Tony again provided me with nothing but a helpful shrug.

I reached out with my other hand this time, ever so slowly touching the doorbell. The same thing happened as before, the tips of my fingers that were in contact with the bell seemed to almost pass through it and I had no sensation of touching anything at all.

I slowly pulled my arm back, wondrously looking at both my hands. What the hell.

"Tony, you want to give it a try?" I asked, unsure what else to do.

He nodded, not having spoken since discovering his parent's bodies.

Reaching slowly forwards to the bell with his own hand, Tony experienced the same strange occurrence that I had. His hand seeming to pass harmlessly through the solid wood of the door-frame. He let out an 'eek' of surprise despite having witnessed the phenomenon twice already, quickly pulling his hand back to safety.

"Strange senses, exploding demons and now illusionary walls. I think it's time to start believing in magic Tone." I said, referring to some of the unexplainable events that had happened in the past few hours.

"Yea..." He uttered, wondrously.

I smiled inwardly, knowing it was a good sign that he was talking so soon. Then again, he'd been with the group searching for survivors before I'd even woken up. He must have seen some horrific stuff already.

Making my mind up as I gazed at the doorway I stepped forwards. A hand shot out and grabbed my arm before I could reach the doorway however, Tony obviously not too thrilled to have me walking straight into god knows what. "Wait a second Luke, we don't know what will happen if you try and walk through... That." He argued, gesturing at the innocuous looking door.

"I'll go through first, if it seems safe I'll call to you, okay? I can't just not go in Tone, you know that." I sadly intoned, causing Tony's shoulders to slump and his grip to relax in agreement.

Walking slowly forwards once more, I lifted one leg through the door and then followed the intrepid limb with the rest of my body.

I stepped through to my hallway, the darkness too deep to make out much ahead. Turning back to Tony I could see him through a great hole where the door should be, burnt and crumbling wood surrounding the monstrous opening. I motioned to my friend to come inside, but he made no gesture of acknowledgement. Strange, he didn't appear to see me at all.

I realised that the illusion must only work from the other side and swiftly stuck my head through the hole, startling Tony. "What... What... Your head!" He cried, eyes wide as he pointed towards me.

"Oh! Sorry Tone." I said, embarrassedly, realising what it must look like from his end. I stepped fully through the hole until the illusion was once again behind me.

"It seems safe to go through the door thing, but it's pretty strange on the other side. It's definitely my hallway but the door appears to have been blow apart and the illusion only works from this side, I could see you when I looked out of the hole, but you couldn't see me it seems." I explained, as much to myself as to Tony.

"Right. Well, you ready?"

"Wha-- What?" Tony stared at me incredulously.

"You ready to go through?"

"You expect 'me' to walk through 'that'." He said, clearly not liking the idea one bit.

"Well, you could stay out here if you want, but I'm going in again. I just thought you wouldn't want to be alone." I shrugged, carelessly. It was a cruel thing to do, but I didn't want him on his own out here and I couldn't just leave without exploring my house. Besides, if the past few hours were anything to go by, this was just going to get worse and Tony needed a backbone if he was to have any chance of survival.

Tony nodded his agreement, clearly not liking the sound of being on his own one little bit.

His shoulder touched mine as we stepped through the image together, both of us appearing in my hallway. I motioned for Tony to give me his torch and led the way, swinging the beam of light from wall to wall as we walked to the lounge.

"Wait." Tony muttered, crouching down for some reason. I swing the light to him and wondered what he was doing. His hands were on the carpet and he was frowning. "It's wet."

"What?"

"The carpet, it's soaked Luke."

I lowered the light further, illuminating the dark blue of the carpet. Except. It should be light blue. Bending down I mirrored Tony and felt the floor with my hands. He was right, the carpet was soaking wet. Raising a hand to my nose I sniffed the liquid, I couldn't smell anything.

"I think it's water Luke."

"I think you're right." I agreed, standing up again and proceeding to the lounge. Tony in tow.

I opened the door, peeking inside, eyes following the light of the torch as I shined it into every nook and cranny of the small room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Closing the door again I entered the kitchen, stopping dead as I saw the strange spectacle. "What the fuck..."

"Wow." Exclaimed Tony from behind me, no doubt fixated on the same spectacle I was.

On the kitchen wall, right where I was shining the torch, was a man. A dead man. A dead man with a sword through his gut, pinning him to the wall. My mother's sword.

Walking closer to the corpse, I studied the body. The man looked to be in his late twenties, was fairly tall, though it was hard to tell as his feet were a few inches off the ground and he seemed to be in good shape. He had short, black hair and brown eyes. The only strange thing about him, other than the sword through his chest was his skin colour. Even in death he was a dark tan, hinting at perhaps a Persian or Egyptian descent.

Glancing away from the body I swung the light around the room, stopping abruptly when I noticed something strange on the floor. Ash.

Tony gasped when he saw what I was staring at: two piles of black ash, each in the outline of a person covered the floor. It was almost an imitation of when the police draw chalk outlines around bodies, except much darker.

"What the..." I murmured, bending down and examining the ash more closely. It was definitely different from the stuff that had fallen earlier as it was darker and seemed thicker too. Very strange. I ran my fingers through the dust, feeling the coarse flecks cascade across my skin as I pooled some of the ash in my palms.

Sighing I parted my cupped hands, releasing the ash, and stood back up.

"Erm. Luke. I don't mean to pry, but who exactly is your mum?" Tony asked me when I rose, gesturing to the ash and the body pinned to the wall by an actual sword.

"Honestly, I'm asking the same thing in my head mate. This is unreal." I replied truthfully, walking back up the body and inspecting the weapon through its gut. Something about the blade was familiar. I'd seen it before.

I remembered. This was my mother's sword. She'd shown me the katana when I was little and had first started teaching me kendo. Sophie had shown me the weapon and had cut a small, thin line across her palm, reinforcing the danger that blades represented and how careful I had to be, even with my wooden training bokken. I'd never forgotten that lesson. Never. I'd cried for hours when I saw her hurt.

This was the second time I'd ever seen the sword. Apart from that first time, she had never taken it out from the chest under her bed that I was forbidden to open.

I reverently gripped the hilt in my sweaty palm, caressing the silken leather in awe. Gently pulling on the hilt caused the blade to smoothly slid out of the wall, eventually leaving the corpse entirely which fell, gracelessly, to the floor.

Shakily holding the blade in front of me raised a lot of questions. Just who the hell was the man whose stomach was used as a sheath for my mother's sword. Who were the two people that were now just ash outlines. What the fuck had happened here.

"Come on, let's go upstairs." I sighed, having no clue how to answer the questions that these dead men had prompted.

"Ri-- Right." Tony replied, eyes glued to the naked blade in my hands.

I just shook my head in amusement, using a cloth on the counter to wipe off blood from the weapon, proceeding to head upstairs when the blade was clean.

The torch light fell upon the door to my mother's room. A door that was closed. The feeling of dread in my gut coalesced with the fear in my heart and I was filled with such terror that I couldn't bring myself to open the door. I was afraid of what I might find.

"Luke. You have to go inside, you know that." Tony murmured softly from beside me.

I nodded, not even looking at him.

Gripping the sword more tightly I slowly pushed on the door with my hand, a creaking sound echoing in the house as the portal swung open.

As the flash-light illuminated the small room I was met by a grim sight. There was another ash outline, this time not on the floor but on the bed. That wasn't the worst of it. There was blood, lots of blood, splashed across the sheets, dripping down the bedding and pooled amidst the ash. There was another liquid there too, some form of whitish fluid floating atop the pooled blood.

There was no sign of my mother.

Moving towards the bed with Tony on my heels I knelt down and inspected the outline. It seemed identical to the ones downstairs except for the two liquids pooled within the torso outline.

The dark red substance was definitely blood, but what was the white I wondered.

Oh.

My cheeks reddened in embarrassment when I was close enough to smell the fluids. So that's what it was.