Infinite Testament (22 page)

“I don’t have it,” Mr. Ixley said. “Whoever maintains
the title of ‘X’ has it. X is the leader of the group. X dictates
when the group meets. X receives his instructions from the angel.”

Bruce looked at the remnants of the circle on the
floor. Whatever the X-circle was, it was apparently used to talk to
angels.

“I was X for almost 20 years. When I left, Ronnie
became X.

“Ronnie was lost in the darkness after Sara died. He
loved her for years. But she told him she wouldn’t marry him. She
loved
you
, Bruce. If anyone knows anything about foul play in her
death, it’s Ronnie. She broke his heart. Who else could it have
been?”

Bruce kept quiet. There was no way Ronnie knew
anything about Sara’s death. Not when he turned the cult into a personal
mission to find her killer. But the more Mr. Ixley resented the cult, the
better.

Mr. Ixley continued, “Ronnie’s friend, Matt, the old
Michigan State quarterback, joined the Xlympians a couple years after Sara
died. Matt encouraged Ronnie to join. And of course, he did.
Who wouldn’t? Every joining member is promised a one-way trip to heaven
when he dies. What God fearing man wouldn’t want to join?

“Man is not meant to be alone. In Ronnie’s darkest
hours, he found someone to love. He found God.”

Mr. Ixley was starting to sound just as crazy as the
members of the Xlympians of Christ. Bruce asked, “And you believe all
this?”

“I did,” Mr. Ixley said. “The book told me how to
speak to angels. And I did just that. You can’t dispute what you
see. The book allowed me to see things most people wouldn’t believe even
if they saw it with their own eyes.

“But there is something more going on than meets the eye.”

Mr. Ixley sighed. The topic was filling him with
regret. “The Bible speaks of Jesus’ return to the world. Christians
have been waiting for thousands of years. The Xlympians was supposed to
be about facilitating the return of Jesus Christ to the world. It was
supposed to be about getting the world ready for His return. Every couple
nights, we’d gather. Sometimes in the forest, sometimes at someone’s
house. And you know what we did? We prayed. We stood around
an Occor, praying in Latin, and hoping an angel would visit. We prayed
for Jesus’ return to save the world. But you know what? Jesus is dead.
He’s
never
coming back.”

There was no telling if Mr. Ixley actually believed that or
if he had been so shaken from Sara’s death that he had completely lost all
faith.

“When you join, you’re a member for life. Ronnie
couldn’t wait for his turn. So he killed one of our members, just so he
could join immediately.
Killed
him. In all the years the
Xlympians of Christ had been around, that never happened. And nobody
seemed to care. ‘It was all for the return of Jesus Christ,’ they
said. That’s when I knew it was pointless. Our ‘cult’ was no better
than any other. We no longer cared about following the
Commandments. Now we allowed murder.”

Bruce asked, “How did you get out?”

Mr. Ixley smiled. “There are always ways, Bruce.”

Whatever that meant.

Bruce said, “Moros is going to destroy the world. And
the Xlympians are helping him.”

Mr. Ixley turned and glared at Jesus hanging from the cross
on the wall. “Who is this Moros? Is he a demon?”

“As far as I know, he is just a man.”

Mr. Ixley turned and locked eyes with Bruce.
“No. The Xlympians don’t do the bidding of
men
.”

Bruce caved in and reluctantly declared, “Then he is a
demon. Either way, they have a weapon… a weapon with supernatural
technology. And it’s almost ready to go.”

Mr. Ixley hung his head. His hands extended and
gripped the ends of the altar. It was hard to tell what was going through
his mind, but his face had tightened and thoughts were clearly dashing through
his head.

“I’ll do it.” Mr. Ixley said, “I don’t agree with killing.
But… I’ll do it.”

Mr. Ixley was face to face with X: It was the old X
and the new X.

“Fancy seeing you again,” X said.

Mr. Ixley smiled. “I see you’re still waiting for
Jesus.”

X laughed. “Jesus will come when he’s ready. We
got bigger plans now.”

Mr. Ixley responded with sarcasm, “Destroying the world…
that’s going to help things.”

Matt, standing behind X, removed his hood and shouted,
“We’re giving everyone a second chance! It’s what the angel wants!”

Mr. Ixley turned and stared him down. “Ending the
world won’t bring back your pathetic football career.” Matt, an ex-star
quarterback at Michigan State and Lisa’s old boyfriend, flinched at those
words.

Mr. Ixley turned his attention back toward X. “And it
won’t bring back Sara. She’s dead… because I killed her.”

X’s eyes widened and his heart dropped to the floor.
He was stunned to hear Mr. Ixley say it. And with such conviction.
Before X had the chance to use his staff to exact revenge, Mr. Ixley punched
him square in the nose. As X stumbled backward, Mr. Ixley ran toward the
long corridor.

Several of the disciples chased after him while some
conspicuously stayed behind. Mr. Ixley ran past several metallic doors of
the corridor. Behind him, the sound of screaming and pounding feet closed
in. His ex-disciples no doubt clamored for the chance to get back at him.

Mr. Ixley spotted the door he was looking for: the bulky,
infinitely strong door. No getting in or out if locked. Mr. Ixley
grabbed the thick handle and latched the door open. The disciples were
right behind him. Just what he needed.

Mr. Ixley ran into the room and left the door wide
open. He marveled at the X circle on the wall in front of him. If
the room in his house was a shrine, this was a cathedral. As he ran into
the heart of the room, he noticed an Occor, an X-circle, on the metal
floor. That’s where Ronnie talked to the angel, he surmised. The
door under the gigantic X logo on the wall in front of him opened. Bruce
popped in his head and waved toward him, “Come on!”

Mr. Ixley stood firm. “Close the door.”

Bruce’s eyes widened as he screamed, “Come here
now
!”

The disciples filed into the room. They savagely made
their way toward Mr. Ixley. By Bruce’s count there were only 7 disciples
in the room. X and 3 other disciples were oddly missing. Mikey
closed the door behind the disciples who entered through the main
corridor. The door locked, leaving the disciples to turn and
wonder. There was no getting out.

Mr. Ixley, through all the mayhem behind him, looked at
Bruce. There were mere seconds left before the disciples would reach him
and moments before they would all die. Bruce’s eyes filled with
sadness. Mr. Ixley’s sacrifice was unnecessary. But Mr. Ixley
smiled. He was at peace. He nodded at Bruce, quietly thanking him
for everything. The great irony of the prior rivalry between principal
and student was that the two had actually learned from each other; they had
become necessary counterparts. Mr. Ixley’s nod to Bruce was not only a
gesture of thanks, but an acknowledgement of the mutual respect the two had
gained for each other.

Bruce nodded at Mr. Ixley and closed the door. He
slid the lock into place. That was it. Bruce pulled a remote out of
his pocket. The C-4 littered throughout the room was going to blow away
the 7 disciples. Bruce stared at the remote. Mr. Ixley was in
there. But he had to do it. Mr. Ixley wanted this.

If Bruce pushed the button, all of the Ixleys would be
gone. Rachel. Sara. And now, Wayne. Bruce closed his
eyes.

And pushed the button. The room behind him blared and
shook. The explosives went off unapologetically, destroying everything in
their wake.

Determined to finish the job, Bruce ran back toward the
main dome room. Unfortunately, X was standing there, waiting for him with
Chad, Matt, and another disciple, Ryan.

X asked, “I assume you killed them all?”

Bruce wasn’t just surprised; he was totally stunned.
Speechless.

X said, “Did you get Ixley too? Where’s Mikey?
Don’t tell me you sacrificed
Mikey
.”

Just then, Mikey walked into the room through the main
corridor, twenty yards from Bruce. Mikey was just as perplexed as
Bruce. “Dad!” he yelled.

X instructed, “Go get him, Chad”

Bruce pulled a gun from a belt under his robe and pointed
it straight at Chad. “Take one step and I’ll blow your head off.”

Matt pulled out a gun and pointed it at Bruce. “No
you won’t.”

X said, “Put the gun down or Mikey dies. Simple as
that.”

Bruce’s finger rested on the trigger. He wanted to
squeeze it. But he couldn’t. Bruce loosened his grip and placed the
gun on the ground. He watched helplessly as Chad walked toward
Mikey. Bruce noticed X’s staff resting loosely in his hands. Maybe
he could make a move for it.

X spoke up. “It’s a good thing we knew about your
little plan. Since we’re pretty much ready to use the Keres, I figured
I’d humor you and let you kill a couple of them. It was good
though. Real good. But we only need the four of us.”

Bruce exhaled. He was defeated. How could X
have known?

Mikey’s eyes stared at Chad approaching him. Chad
held out his hand. “Come on, kid. Let’s go.”

Mikey didn’t move. “Don’t think so.”

“Come on, Mikey. It’s over.” Chad reached out
and grabbed Mikey’s arm. The two struggled and resisted each other.
With his free hand, Mikey grabbed a knife he had hidden in his robe and stuck
it under Chad’s ribcage. Chad leaned forward, shocked at the pain
smothering his core. He looked in Mikey’s determined eyes.

Mikey twisted the handle and whispered, “Not this time.”

X, Matt, Ryan, and Bruce looked at the scene with great
surprise.

“Okay the three of us,” X corrected, “not the four of us.”

Chad fell to the ground as Mikey darted in X’s direction
with a bloody knife in hand. With a gun resting at Bruce’s feet, he kicked
it toward Mikey. But as soon as it started to travel, X halted its
momentum with his staff.

Bruce had enough. He walked face-to-face toward Matt
and his gun.

“You gonna shoot me? Then shoot me!”

“Get back or I’ll…”

Before Matt could finish his thought, Bruce, quick as
lightning, ripped the gun out of his hands and smacked him in the face with it.
Bruce pointed his newly acquired gun at X and pulled the trigger.
Click
.
He pulled the trigger again.
Click
.
Click
.
Click
.

It was empty.

X grinned widely. “We’re too many steps ahead of
you.”

Mikey all-out sprinted toward X. Matt braced to stop
him. While all the attention was geared toward Mikey, Bruce swiped X’s
staff from his hands. A surprised X retaliated by reaching to pick up
Bruce’s gun from the metal floor.

Bruce twisted the staff and a blade shot out from the
bottom. With X’s left hand exposed, Bruce stabbed the blade through it,
ripping it open and slicing through the bones. X let out a pained yell as
Bruce shoved the blade further into his hand.

Ryan, a hippie-looking, red-haired man, came to X’s aid,
attempting to pull Bruce away. Instead, Bruce pulled the blade out of X’s
hand and swung it around toward Ryan. Bruce thrust the staff’s blade into
Ryan’s neck, collapsing his muscles and drawing gallons of blood. Bruce
ripped the blade out and kicked Ryan’s flimsy dying body away.

Matt had stopped Mikey from reaching X simply by
obstructing his path. The two strategically dealt with each other as they
carefully tried to read one another’s moves. Mikey held the knife in his
hand and was ready to use it on Matt, who inched backwards, preparing for a
sudden move. Mikey had other plans.

Before X could deduce what happened, Ryan was dead.
Bruce vertically swiped at X with the staff and grazed his left eye with the
blade. Blood bursted from the deep cut and poured over his eye. X
had to wipe with his sleeve just to see. Beyond the blood, he witnessed
the brunt of his staff soaring straight toward him. Bruce swung it like a
baseball bat and cracked X’s face. X absorbed the hit and flew onto his
back. Bruce stood above him and held the blade at his neck.

“Ronnie
Russell
,” Bruce seethed.

Matt steadily backpedaled. It was at this moment that
he realized what Mikey was doing. “Oh shit,” Matt mumbled to himself.

Mikey leaned over and picked up the gun that was now easily
obtainable thanks to his backing Matt away from it. Mikey stuffed the
knife back inside a belt in his robe and held out the gun with both hands.

“Dad I got the gun!”

Bruce continued to hold the staff to Ronnie’s neck.

“Dad get off him, I got it! Let me shoot him!”

Bruce and Ronnie stared at each other. Their hatred
for each other was deep. Ronnie thought he could trust him. Of
course he couldn’t. They were natural enemies with a history. And
now their feud was going to end.

“I have to hand it to you, Bruce,” Ronnie whispered in a
haunting voice, “it was a nice try.” Ronnie’s hands flashed up and
twisted the staff. The blade teetering near his neck disappeared and a
blade erupted at the other end of the staff. Ronnie shoved the blade into
Bruce, straight into his lungs.

“Dad!” Mikey screamed in horror.

Ronnie rolled away from Bruce and darted away with
Matt. Mikey pointed the gun at them and fired away. But it was to
no avail. Ronnie and Matt disappeared into the corridor.

Bruce pulled the staff out of his body and let it fall to
the ground. The pain was excruciating. Even worse knowing he had
them. And he blew it. Bruce’s face became pale. He smiled at
Mikey. And fell to the metal floor. It was suddenly hard to
breathe.