Judgement (The Twelve) (36 page)

Shadow struggled to his feet,
with
one side of his face
obscenely crushed.  Ignoring Judgement he tried again to make his escape. But two words stopped him in his tracks.

“Be Judged!” Judgements voice boomed.

“You cannot do this it is forbidden!” Shadow wailed.

“The
rules
ha
ve
changed.
W
hat must come to pass shall come to pass”

Shadow tried to back out through the rear wall, forcing itself to become ghost like in shape but it found it could no longer control its appearance. In fact it was becoming more solid for the first time in his re-birth.

“You cannot do this!”

Judgement ignored him taking yet another step into the room, glancing towards the smashed window. Shadow took advantage of this and rushed the doorway at an unbelievable speed but Judgement was ready. With a blast of light he sent Shadow tumbling across the room
. He rose and with his Will o the wisp flame, sent a ball of fire back in retalitation.

The quilt on the end of the bed and the sideboard behind Chris burst into flames. Chris removed his hat and with one quick wave of freezing cold air, extinguished the flames. Shadows fire had not touched Chris at all.

“Be Judged?” This time it was a question.

“NO!” Shadow roared.

The creature closed his eyes and commanded those that did his bidding.
The dead body of Jackson jerked and started to rise up, “Attack!” Shadow commanded.

Jennings who was in the doorway
couldn’t believe his eyes as Jackson rushed round the bed towards the kid,
“Shit
what the fucks going on!”

Judgement took his eyes o
f
f Shadow and reached out to Jennings
and his
gun. Laying his hand over the barrel, he whispered the word, “
Blessed
.”

“Now use that gun on
the dead
.” He ordered.

Jennings didn’t ask what
was
happen
ing
or what was going on. He just did what came naturally and opened fire with the Glock 21. The weapon wasn’t called ‘The big bore’ for nothing. It held thirteen big .45 rounds of ammo. The now ‘
blessed’
weapon blasted into the
ghoul that had been
Jackson,
cut
ting
it in two
.

Shadow smiled and Chris knew why, he sensed more Shades arriving at the flats.

“Jen
nings
behind you” Chris warned him as best as possible but he couldn’t afford to ignore Shadow.

Several
more
Shades appeared in the doorway, jamming themselves
together
as they tried to enter.
Jennings brought up his weapon and fired
.
The first two rounds blew
the head
off the first Shade, its body disintegrating in hot ash right before his eyes. Two more rounds followed, blowing away the second and third Shades,
which also exploded in ref hot ash. Jennings fired like his life was on the line which it was. The doorway was full of gun smoke, roaring discharges and exploding Shades.

Chris couldn’t help but risk a glance towards Jen
nings
.
Shadow took advantage of the distraction and charged Judgement. Hooked claws raked across Judgements cheek before he sank massive fangs into Judg
ments left
shoulder
.
Chris
yelled as the pain from both wounds impacted upon him. Lashing out with his mind, Chris sent a wave of pure energy to heal his shoulder. Shadow still had his fangs clamped onto Chris
and was blasted away
blood
coloured smoke
pouring from a gaping mangled mouth.

At the same moment, Anvil came bursting in through the flat door again.
Jen
nings
was
in the act of reloading
and the last three Shades were upon him. Anvil roaring an ancient battle cry
gripped the nearest
Shade
by the neck
.  Anvil drew back his hand and punched the one he
was
trying to st
r
ang
le
twice in the fac
e. With the impact of the second blow, the Shades head exploded. Anvil let go of the body as it started to turn to ash.
Slammed another to the ground and
brought his booted foot down on
its
chest
, h
is foot crunched deep into the Shades chest cavity. With a single wail it joined the ever increasing cloud of ash.
Jennings finished off the last Shade with three quick shots. Both Jennings and Anvil
turned at the same time
to see what was happening between Chris and Shadow.

Chris was down on his knees, holding onto the end of the bed, blood pouring from a vicious wound to his neck and shoulder. Shadow was reeling back and forth clutching his ruined mouth.

Chris had an image then as Shadows bite lifted the veil on memories that were not his.
He
saw himself as a
Nubian
mercenary. His heart fi
lled with hatred, hatred, because
the Egyptian
army
had butchered his Nubian family along with thousands of others.
He saw the bodies of his wife, son and two daughters
lying in pools of there own blood. They had caused no harm or evil to anyone, yet they had been butchered. He saw himself joining the mercenary ranks, learning the trade of killing, finding that he was a natural.

He saw Anvil kneeling over a dying solders body on a battlefield, mistaking Anvil for one of his sworn enemies, the Egyptians. Back turned and defenceless, he
stabbing Anvil
but was amazed when the man ignored an otherwise mortal blow, turned on his knee and thrust a short sword deep into his guts. He bit Anvil
like a mad dog
before collapsing in shock. He lay on the brick of death
and watched this warrior bring the dying solder back to life. His last thought was that this was a miracle then with the taste of Anvils blood on his lips, he died. Only
to be re-born
!
Confused
he fought clear of the battlefield.  Leaving the war behind
,
he
staggered off into the desert.
That night a stranger
found him huddled upon the cold sand
. The man had strange short pointed ears, stood well over six foot tall and moved like a cat. He
said his people were called the
Ellish
and lived by way of magic. His people knew them as Genies.
The Ellish
explained
that he
had been
re-born with his
enemy’s
blood in his mouth so that he would know him again in the future.
H
is new life
was to serve a dark master.
From that moment on his soul belonged to the Devil. Strangely, images of his family filled
Chris’s
mind.

Chris struggled upright as Anvil moved past him towards Shadow, “No leave him be.”

Anvil hesitated but obeyed. Chris clutched his wound as he staggered around the bed to stand just in front of Shadow. A weak pulsating flame burned in the centre of his chest. Chris reached out and before Anvil could stop him, touched the flame.

Shadow
s eyes snapped open wide as every stored image of his family flashed before him
, “
What have you done!” he cried.

Chris withdrew his hand, “I have shown you that which you once lived for. They still await you in limbo.”

Shadow cried out again, “They have not ascended?”

Chris shook his head, “Not until they see you one final time. You will either travel with them or not. It is up to you.”

Shadow grew insubstantial , “Too late.” He wailed.

Judgement
answere
d, “
I think you will be able to find your family again
if you redeem your self before God and tell us where to find the others
?”

Shadow
stared into Chris’s eyes with renewed hope
, “If only
that were true.”

Judgements voice deep and soft
responded, “God can grant absolution for past sins. Tell us where to find Coffee and The Dark and before God I shall judge thee.”

Shadow whirled around the room to stop before Chris
, “
For the sake of my family I am truly sorry for all my sins. You will find those you seek
at the cemetery for the fallen
women and those
who died of the great sickness
in
the
place wh
ich is no more.”

Anvil thought
it through for a second or two,
“Is it
here in London?”

Shadow nodded, so Anvil added,
“
T
he old Cross Bones graveyard
.
”

Shadow
sighed
, “I knew a
nother
woman once. She took my money when I had form.
I allowed her to live and i
n her own way she showed me love. I was sorry when the great illness took her.”

Judgement
allowed Chris to say the final words, “I find you judged
, go now and
rest.”

Shadow
sighed and
simply faded away to nothing. No
other
sound or movement, he just vanished
.

Chris turned to look at his father
. Anvil was surprised to see his son crying. Without saying a word,
Anvil
checked the prone figure lying on the bed, Jenkins was dead.