Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) (27 page)

In
the meantime, Gary had been busy searching the cupboard drawers in the living
room when he suddenly realised he wasn’t alone, as he became more than aware of
the presence standing behind him. Turning, ready to expect another senseless
argument, he couldn’t help but notice the yellow specks swimming around at the
back of her eyes. Fascinated at what he was seeing, Gary was standing partly
mesmerised and couldn’t move.
Before he knew
it, the eyes suddenly flickered, two beams shot out and hit him with such force
that they literally lifted him from his feet and sent him flying across the
room.
 

   
Gary landed very awkwardly with his head
buried amongst a pile of video cassettes, some of which lay scattered in all
different directions. As his senses slowly recovered, he felt a certain sense
of loss as severe pain surged through his body. This became far worse when he
finally attempted to sit up and realised almost immediately that something
wasn’t quite right. Staring down in total disbelief, he was shocked to notice
his right arm was completely missing and his lifeblood was busy spewing out
from a massive gap, where it had once been. Gazing around with his vision
already starting to blur, he managed to spot the missing limb lying over by the
window, just to his left. Sadly for him, it was far too late to go back to how
it had all been before. There was no hope for this guy or most of the others
for that matter.

   
Despite the fight she’d been desperately
putting up for all this time, Vicky had already transformed into a Dra-Na-Zee killing
machine, as Janus took further control. There was simply no stopping her now.
The creature took great pleasure in tearing the human apart limb by limb even
when his screaming had finally ceased. The two remaining skinheads had started
to panic the moment they’d heard Gary’s desperate cries for mercy, but the
taller one had eventually been brave enough to go and see what was
happening.
 

   
A few moments later, he’d rushed straight
back with a horrified look on his face. He then began blurting out what he’d
just witnessed, much to his disbelief. Danny, having heard what was said, and
seeing what would probably be his best opportunity, decided to take full
advantage of the situation and immediately started to stir things up.

   
‘Guess who’s going to be next on her
hit-list then?’ The two of them instantly went to pieces and ran headlong into
each other in their sudden rush for the door. One of them had somehow managed
to knock himself out cold, and he now lay spread-eagled in a rather undignified
heap on the floor. The other one, the one who’d seen what had happened to
Gary’s body, was already freaked out and he now staggered around the room in a
bit of a daze. Rachel, who’d remained surprisingly composed, finally finished
him off by hitting him across the head in one blow, using one of Danny’s
cricket bats that lay close by. Seeing that he wasn’t likely to be getting up
in too much of a hurry, she finally stepped into the hall, thinking that they
really had nothing left to lose.

   
‘Come on Danny!’ she shouted as she ran
over and twisted the lock on the front door. Fortunately, it opened much easier
than she expected. Once open, a welcome blast of fresh air immediately washed
over the two of them, and encouraged them further. Stepping outside and peering
around, Rachel spotted Dana and the FBI agents, at pretty much the exact same
time they saw her exit the flat. She started to head towards them straightaway,
almost at a trot. Yet, as she turned to reassure Danny that all was well, her
heart nearly stopped there and then. She cried out in absolute despair as she
noticed he was no longer by her side. She then looked up just in time to see
the door that she’d just come from, being closed. Danny had closed the front
door once his mother was firmly outside and safe as far as he was concerned.
He’d managed to give her the slip and knew she wouldn’t be happy. Already
committed to what he was about to do, he turned and retraced his steps back
along the hallway. Approaching the living room at the far end, he gazed in with
extreme caution. He could quite clearly see that everything in the room was
completely saturated in blood, alongside other things that didn’t leave a great
deal to the imagination.

   
‘I wondered how long it would be before
you’d finally pluck up enough courage to wander in and see for yourself?’ A
hostile voice from the other end of the room teased. Vicky threw the torso that
had once been Gary, in his general direction, but he held his nerve and didn’t
even flinch as it landed close to his feet. With a quick downward glance, Danny
noticed that what was left of the carcass had been stripped of every scrap of
flesh, before looking back up and staring back across at his tormentor. She
looked like a totally depraved animal as she just stood there covered from head
to toe in blood, and he noticed that she even held a lump of raw flesh in her
hands, while her eyes were wild and glowing exceptionally bright. She reminded
Danny of a modern day Medusa, who he’d seen as part of the earth’s history in the
stone disks.
 

   
Therefore, he was wise enough to ensure he
kept her well within his sights for now.

There
was a loud cracking sound as the wood around the doorway, which also included
part of the frame, splintered inwards. Dana was first through the front door
and she immediately headed for the main room that she knew lay directly ahead.
As soon as she set eyes on the horrific scene set out before her, she felt the
bile try to rise in her stomach, yet somehow managed to hold it back. It was
perfectly clear that Vicky was way beyond any possible help right now, and so
she concentrated on what she needed to do, in order to get the boy to safety as
quickly as she could.

   
‘Danny over here!’ she shouted, already
aware that eyes were upon her.

   
‘Oh Dana! It’s so nice of you to join us,’
an insane voice from across the room told her with a definite smugness. ‘You’re
just in time to witness young Danny die at long last.’

   
‘Not if I can help it he’s not,’ Dana
cried, motioning her colleagues to stay back, before rushing forward and
grabbing Danny by the hand. The blast just missed them, but it still caught one
of the armchairs, catching it alight and sending it crashing straight into the
wall behind them. Black smoke instantaneously rose from the foam interior and
started spewing out highly noxious fumes into the enclosed room. One of the
Feds ran forward in an attempt to try and smother it with his jacket. The man
died instantly as two yellow rays sprung forth and pierced the back of his head
before he even knew what had happened. The excessive temperature had fused his
brain to his skull in an instant, causing his lifeless body to fall onto the
rising flames, then become one with the melting mass beneath it. The other two
Feds held back from firing their guns for fear of hitting either Dana or Danny.
Then, moving extraordinarily fast, Vicky boldly strolled out into the open to
face them. She showed no sign of fear whatsoever, and immediately cast her mind
at Danny, who collapsed at Dana’s feet and pulled her completely off balance as
he went down. Calling on her police training, Dana managed to turn her fall
into an almost perfect forward roll and came up just short of Vicky, catching
her completely off guard. Vicky failed to see the fist that smashed heavily
into the side of her jaw and sent her spinning sideways in the process. Yet
just at that same moment, she’d discharged another blast, which deflected from
its original target and slammed straight into Danny’s back. With the boy down,
Vicky very quickly regained her balance and then started to line Dana up for
the kill. Under any normal circumstances, Dana would have been dead within the
next few seconds. However, the gods were obviously on her side at that moment,
as a sharp spasm of intense pain tore at Vicky’s internal organs and suddenly
started to rip her apart from the inside.

   
The sight was already something that was
familiar to Dana, and she had no other option than to watch the whole
transformation take place again.

‘No!’
screamed Vicky, as her body started to contort in an extremely odd manner.
Dana’s main concern refocused back on Danny, so she moved across the room, bent
over his body and gently lifted his face up towards her. She felt great relief
as she watched his eyes flicker open, but looking deeper, she soon realised
that all was not well.

   
‘I’m so sorry Dana! I’m afraid I’m going
back home to join my people now,’ he whispered, mustering up just about all the
energy he still had left. His eyes were growing very distant and Dana noticed a
deep yellow light flare up in the far background, just before it faded away and
died along with the loving smile that had always adorned the boy’s sweet face.
Dana tried in vain to hold back the tears, but she failed miserably as she
lowered Danny’s head gently to the floor.

The
other body lay sprawled out just beside her and thankfully it remained dead
still for now. However, once the transformation had been fully completed a
short while later, Dana felt compelled to gaze across at her ex-lover and
simply couldn’t help herself. Janus was such a handsome man, but she now
wondered about the state of his mind and what he’d be like once he regained
full consciousness. It wasn’t really something that she wanted to gamble on
exactly, and hearing a sudden commotion behind her, she was more than pleased
to see that the military had finally arrived, having been informed of the
seriousness of the situation at hand by her colleagues earlier.
 

   
She did feel they’d been a little bit
forceful in their approach, especially with the way they’d treated the two
Fed’s on their way in. Yet Dana knew exactly how they worked in such situations
as this, and didn’t quite trust the military as much as she probably should
have. Slipping a small transmitter out of her pocket and turning it on, she
swiftly concealed it beneath Janus’ clothing before moving away. She was only
just in time, as two burly soldiers immediately approached and trust him up
like a gift wrapped turkey. Not long after, they were soon carrying him out to
the large helicopter that had set down in the nearby play area, much to the
amazement of the local residents, most of whom were quite nosy, and wanted to
know what on earth was going on. A large group now stood and gazed in wonder,
as the two long rotor blades of the Boeing Chinook with its huge green
camouflaged body spun around noisily above.

   
Back in the flat, Dana stayed and watched
as one of the soldiers carefully placed Danny’s body in a body-bag. He took a
deep breath and was just about to lift it on to the stretcher with a waiting
colleague, when Dana suddenly grabbed him from behind.

   
‘Please can you let me help to take him
out?’ she pleaded. The soldier was a little taken aback by her request, but
seeing that she meant business, he quickly peered over her shoulder to the
officer in charge. The man already knew Dana, having come across her
previously, so he simply shrugged his shoulders and then nodded his full
approval. Rachel was completely in tears as she watched Dana emerge at the back,
carrying her son’s body along the balcony towards her. She’d tried to get
inside but been stopped at every attempt, despite them knowing she was the
boy’s mother.

   
‘I knew he was different the moment I felt
him inside me. Yet despite our differences, he always loved me, and I always
loved him.’ she spluttered, once she’d drawn level. Rachel walked beside Dana
with her hand on the stretcher for the remainder of the journey to the
helicopter. She then watched helplessly as the detective passed her end of the
stretcher to another waiting soldier and felt totally empty inside. Dana
suddenly felt Rachel’s body go completely limp, as the body disappeared from
view and moved right down inside the military vehicle.

   
Later, having ensured that she was recovered
enough to walk a short distance for her, Dana led her to a small brick wall,
that she saw to be situated fairly close by. As it was slightly set back from
the main walkway, Dana hoped they wouldn’t be disturbed. So fortunately, they
sat together and talked things through, which also provided Dana a decent
chance to keep an eye on her, until she’d finally calmed down. She also managed
to persuade Rachel to stay with her at her place for the time being, which she
realised was overstepping her duty a bit, but also deemed it a worthwhile
necessity, as far as she was concerned. This comforted the distraught woman no
end, which confirmed to Dana that she’d called the shot correctly. Two seconds
later, Rachel literally poured her heart out, having sworn blind that she’d
never ever set foot on that damned estate again.

The
mood in the office was just as sombre as they all mourned the passing of Luey,
despite the fact that they’d completely started off on the wrong foot.
 

   
Dana now held a great deal of respect for
these guy’s, especially as, just like her, they’d all worked so desperately
hard to get to where they were right now.

   
The phones had not stopped ringing, and the
latest rumour doing the rounds, was that the remaining two agents were due to
fly back to the States the following day. Just as predicted, Dana’s boss used
that afternoons de-brief in his office to let off steam, ranting at no one in
particular, but letting them all share his rage all the same. It wasn’t the
most pleasantest of meetings, but having suffered in silence for the next
fifteen minutes, they were finally told that they were allowed to depart, much
to their relief.