Ash & Flame: Season One (2 page)

"I already counted," Emma said, stifling a yawn. "Earlier today, don't you remember?"

"’Course you did." Ren packed the cans and food back in the bag and shoved it against the arm of the couch.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't we pray anymore?"

The question shocked Ren out of his plan for starvation.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Ren whispered. He smiled and hoped she didn't see through it. "God knows how tired we are. Go to sleep."

Two years ago, before Hell swarmed over everything like flies, Ren would have prayed with her. He would have bent down on his knees and listened to his Em thank God for her dad and her mom, for her grandparents, for everything they had.

He would have snuck a glance at his daughter and wondered just how lucky he'd been to receive such a blessing.

Two years ago. Might as well have been decades. An eternity. All that remained were his bittersweet memories, the wreckage humanity had left behind, and the Hell that had come to claim them.

Two years ago they wouldn't have been running from the apocalypse. From the war between Heaven and Hell.

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Ren slept in fits and starts. The springs of the couch pressed against his side, digging between his ribs. Every time he closed his eyes he heard the flies buzzing in the kitchen, pictured them swarming over the mangled corpse of a cat. He'd pop awake, frantic, until he saw Emma, tucked into a ball, asleep on the cushions. Then he'd tell himself she was okay and he'd slip back into a light, uncomfortable doze.

Something shocked him awake. He didn't know how late it was when he came to. Had he slept for ten minutes? Two hours? He only knew that it was dark and something felt wrong. Like the tatters of a nightmare, some truth he'd tried to hold onto but had lost to fog and shadow.

He sucked his breath in as he sat up, wincing at the burning ache of his ribs. He pressed a hand against his side. Maybe he should've switched spots with Emma.
Right. Let her deal with the couch for a while
.

The beginnings of a cracked smile on his lips turned into the open mouth of panic and terror as his gaze fell on Emma. The ache in his side vanished.

His daughter sat cross-legged on one of the cushions, her back straight. She stared at the wall across the room, her face a blank mask. A dark trickle traced a line from one nostril down past her lips.

"Em? Emma?" He cringed at how loud he sounded. Loud and uncertain.

Her head turned and she stared at Ren with wide, pitch black eyes. Ren's heart raced as her vacant stare cut right through him, like he wasn't even there. Like Emma wasn't there, something
else
lurked behind those eyes. The hairs on Ren's arms stood on end.

"They're talking to me again, Dad," Emma said, her voice soft and distant. "Can't you hear them? I think I know what they're saying."

Ren pushed himself up off the couch. His hand caught against their food bag and it crashed to the floor, a can rolling out from the opening.

"Emma, baby doll, look at me." His chest heaved, and he forced himself to take a deep breath. "Emma!"

Emma blinked. The blank stare disappeared, replaced by a sudden fear. A tear rolled down her cheek. Her bottom lip trembled as she spoke. "They said they're coming, Dad. Said they'd be right here, to wait for them. They said that...that..."

"Emma,we can't—"

"T-They said you shouldn't be here when they get here."

Ren grabbed the bag off the floor and shoved the can back inside. No time to think, only time to run. He didn't understand what was happening to his daughter, what seemed to happen more and more often, but no time now. He could figure it out later. Right now they had to move. He tied the bag off around his belt and reached a hand down towards Emma. "Come on."

Another tear tumbled free of her eyelid and trickled down her cheek. She wiped under her nose, leaving a dark smudge. "Dad, no. I need to stay. They'll hurt you if I go with you. I could
feel
it."

No time. Run or die. Run or lose her.

"No one's going to hurt me. Come on now, we need to hurry."

Emma didn't move. "No, Dad. I'm staying. I'm not gonna let them hurt you."

Ren crouched and picked Emma up, ignoring her protest. He could feel her shaking as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She began to sob, the tears leaving tiny damp spots on his shirt.

The door cracked against the siding as Ren burst out of the mobile home. He paused on the landing and scanned the darkness that surrounded them. A chill crept up his spine as he imagined what might be out there.

The crescent moon hung over the trees, casting its reflected light down on the mobile lots. Long shadows cut across homes and yards. A breeze picked up, lifting tufts of ash into swirling eddies. The plastic sunflower shifted and the leaves began to spin, the scorched leaf clicking as it rotated.

He looked up. The skull was gone, the antenna's arm broken off.

Move. You've gotta move
.

He squeezed Emma's leg. "It's gonna be alright, baby doll."

Ren scrambled down the stairs and paused. He bit his lip to keep it from trembling. He didn't know where to go.

The scorched leaf of the sunflower stopped spinning, stuck against the base. The leaf clicked into place. He stared at the burnt tip for a second and then his gaze swung past it to where it pointed, a clearing and then trees beyond.

Go
.

Ren cut east across the lot. He kicked a plastic trike out of the way and hurried past another mobile home. He didn't look to his left or right, just kept his focus on the trees on the other side of the clearing. He knew if he looked he'd see shadows dancing behind him, all around him. He might catch something dark out of the corner of his eye, and the terror of it would overcome him.

Already his legs sagged. His chest rattled with every heaving breath, but he let adrenaline carry him forward. Ren and Emma couldn't be here, not now. They needed to be elsewhere, like they were never here to begin with.

"Put me down, Dad," Emma pleaded. "I'm too heavy."

She pushed with both hands and Ren relented. She was right, and he knew it. He let her go and she landed, her feet already moving. She looked back and held out her hand.

Ten years old, and she was already braver than Ren had ever been.

Ren took her hand and they ran for the woods on the far side of the clearing, Ren struggling to keep pace. Something hard raked over metal behind him, like nails grating on chalkboard. Murmurs carried through the trees, haunting voices laced with dread and violence. A clacking sound reverberated, like teeth gnashing against each other, grinding and tapping.

He felt it now, the oppressive weight falling on him. He couldn't tell her everything was fine because it wasn't. He couldn't say no one was going to hurt him. A presence shifted its attention, and Ren knew it watched him. Knew that he couldn't outrun it.

"Everything's gonna be fine," he said breathlessly. Uttered the lie as a wave of heat washed over him.

No
. He held Emma's hand tight and sprinted for the trees, the slithering voices following him, boring into his head.

Wait for us. No, why run? She is soooo pretty, such a pretty little thing. Stop, so we can look upon her. Stop, so we can look upon you.

We are hungry. Hungry. Hungryhungryhungry
.

They became a ceaseless torrent, insistent and overpowering. He couldn't keep them out, couldn't shut them up, no more than he could stop thinking. Ren opened his mouth, a cry on his lips, then clamped down on his tongue to stifle the sound. He felt them all around him, burrowing into him, madness and claws and an agony he could never escape.

Motion caught his eye, off to his left. He glanced in that direction, wished to high Heaven he hadn't seen them. Eyes. Yellows and reds flickering behind the trees, burning like geysers of flame jetting from the darkness. A low growl sounded.

He took another step and cried out as a piercing burn sliced across the back of his calf. On instinct he let go of Emma's hand, pushing her away as he began to fall. He stumbled once, then gasped, and tumbled to the ground.

He jumped to his feet, coughing from the ash that covered half his face. He bit back a curse as his right leg almost gave out under him. He sucked in his breath and grit his teeth against the searing throb in his calf.

Keep moving
.

Emma had stopped a few strides away. Ren opened his mouth to tell her to run, but she wasn't looking at him.

Something blew out a breath, a hideous, unnamable odor wafting over him, and he turned. He tried to swallow and couldn't, his mouth suddenly dry.

The demon towered over Ren.

Eyes the color of jaundiced skin glared at him. Bone horns curved out from the demon's skull, stained red at the tips. The demon's skin glistened in the moonlight, several spikes jabbing into the sky from its shoulders. Pustules ran down its arms and chest, oozing something wet and dark. The creature’s long, thin legs bent backwards at the knee, like some sort of perverse imitation of an animal's hind legs. The air surrounding it shimmered, like the fevered haze of an arid desert.

Ren heard branches crack behind him, then snorts, low growls, and chittering teeth. Heard his own despairing sigh. A smile split the demon's face, revealing rows of dagger-like teeth, blood dripping from its snout. One of its hooves stamped against the ground, raising a cloud of ash.

The smile turned into a leer, the foul creature's face hovering inches from Ren.
"You should have listened to her, son of clay."

The demon's words burned into Ren as it spoke, and he wanted nothing more than to squeeze his eyes shut. The thing's voice echoed in his head, its menace wrapped tightly around him, pounding against his skull. He wanted to run. Wanted to run so bad that his legs twitched, but his feet wouldn't budge.

"Let. Him. Go."

Ren looked over his shoulder. Emma stood off to one side, facing the demon, blood streaming from her nose.

Her fists clenched. "
Vadat
." The word hung in the air, thick and heavy.

"Let him go?"
The demon's rasping laughter echoed in the clearing.
"Your words have no power over me."

Ren turned back to face the demon, his startled yelp cut off as the creature's hand swung forward and lifted him clear of the earth. The ground twisted and spun in his vision, a scream ringing in his ears. A jarring impact took the air from his lungs, and he thought he heard something pop.

He didn't know where he was, he only knew that he had to move. Had to run. He tried to push himself to his feet and he cried out at the fire in his shoulder, a pain so intense that he thought he might black out. His arm collapsed under his own weight, and he slumped onto his side. He blinked away the tears and wiped the ash from his face.

"Em?" Just opening his mouth hurt, the voice dull and distant. He tasted blood on his lips. "Emma?" he said, louder this time, his ears ringing.

He shook his head and looked up again.

Emma stood still, her arms hanging limp by her side. Blood dripped from her chin and her face had gone slack. She stared out of black ovals, the moonlight reflecting off the shimmer of her eyes.

Ren hissed as claws dug into his ankle. The world turned upside down, and the ground swept away. The food bag spilled out, cans toppling onto the ground. He found himself face-to-face with the demon, its open maw close enough that Ren could see the raw, open sores that ran down the creature's tongue.

"Just take me," Ren said, his words slurred. "Let her go, please."

The demon laughed, a rumble deep within its chest that shook Ren.
"Let her go? Do you not know? She is ours, fool."

Baleful eyes glared into Ren's.
"She has always been ours."

"No!" Ren struggled then, twisted and kicked. They couldn't have her. A small part of him prayed that she was gone, that maybe whatever sickness had come over her might finish the job, so that the demons couldn't have her. A rush of despair swelled within at the thought, and Ren began to sob. He lashed out, his fist slamming into the creature's neck. The dark liquid that ran down the demon's skin spattered against Ren's arm.

The demon's claws dug deeper into his ankle. The demon snarled, and then paused, a frown spreading across its face as it stared past Ren. Its eyes widened.

"Malakhi,"
it whispered.

Unsure what the demon had meant, Ren swiveled his body around. He spotted a light through the trees, a point so bright, so blinding, that he had to shield his eyes with one hand. The light came closer, rays shining past tree limbs, and the chittering sounds that surrounded him rose into panicked shrieks. The demon roared and let go of his ankle.

Ren hit the ground with a muffled cry. Dizziness washed over him, and the pain faded with his vision. He heard another roar, followed by a flash of light, a thumping sound, and then darkness.

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Ren dreamed of Emma. He saw her playing in snow, his sweet little girl jumping and sliding. She made snow angels, swinging her arms and legs like a frantic hummingbird. He tried to place where they were, but couldn't remember. It didn't matter. All that mattered was Emma, how happy she looked, the beaming smile on her face. He laughed with her as she rolled over on the pile of snow.