3. Ode to the Sinners
Charley had a feeling of déjà vu as he approached the Gothic doors that his Boss and Danny now blocked. The halogen security lights pulsed and flared a slow and languid rhythm.
“Listen, Sir, you can’t come in. Those are the club rules,” his Boss said, in a calm but firm voice.
“Why the hell not, you let all sorts of weirdos in here? What’s wrong with me?”
“Sir, I’ve already told you why. Firstly, you’re wearing a suit and secondly you look as if you’ve had too much to drink. “
“So if I come back wearing a gimp suit or a dress it would be acceptable?” He waited as if the pure logic of this sentence would gain him entry.
His question hit a wall of silence.
“Listen, I want one last drink before I go home. I’ve always been curious about what goes on here and thought I’d see how the other half live. What’s the harm in that?”
“Club rules forbid suits, jeans, or any other casual wear. Plus, you have to be a member. Rules are rules, Sir. ”
“Rules? I thought this place was all about breaking the rules?” The man was convinced he had a winning argument and came forward to receive his prize. Expensive shoes scraped along the tarmac, almost as if he lacked full control of his legs.
“Even a place like this has certain rules, Sir. We’re only doing our job.”
Charley inwardly cringed at the man’s approach. The strange feeling he’d had earlier returned. On closer inspection, the man’s face looked deathly pale, his hair dull and gray. His suit looked tired and rumpled, as if he’d slept in it. A smell of earth and leaves came with him, as if he’d slept in the surrounding woods.
Charley sensed something not quite right about the man that went beyond his appearance. It was hard to pinpoint and nagged at him. It was like watching someone struggle against gravity, trying but failing to regain the easy movement that most of us took for granted. It was possible he suffered from a disability but his voice and manner suggested otherwise.
“Ha,” he laughed, “call this a job? You call babysitting a bunch of freaks a job?” He raised his arm and pointed at them with an accusing finger. Charley thought he looked like some Bible-belt evangelist, beating out some moral code to his eager flock. He imagined him doing a jig while shouting praise the lord and hallelujah.
The man continued with his moral tirade. “You people make me sick! Doing your job, you say. I suppose that makes it all right, then. Bunch of fucking miscreants, is all you are!”
“Sir, we’ll have to call the police if you don’t calm down.” The man’s words were getting to his Boss. Hardly surprising because they wanted a quiet night, chatting about footie or what they’d seen on TV. If the man didn’t calm down, he’d get invited to an old school kicking. Charley had seen this scene played out many times.
“You!” he said, pointing his wavering finger at Charley. “What do you think of all this?” Absorbed by the exchange, he found himself taken by surprise. He had started to feel like an invisible bystander. He cleared his throat to say something but his Boss interrupted.
“You’re dealing with us, buddy; don’t be looking over my shoulder.” His Boss was pissed and the gloves were off.
“Do you agree with what they’re doing? Don’t you think it’s wrong that these vile and repulsive children are allowed to play out their wanton fantasies in the house of God?”
“I don’t know, it’s been awhile since I was an altar boy,” his Boss said, a tight smile crossing his face, “but aren’t we all children in the eyes of God?” He could tell that his Boss saw this bloke as nothing more than a fly on the windscreen of his 16 wheeler. Charley wasn’t so sure about that.
“So they would have you believe, brother, so they would have you believe. But in truth, there is a place in hell set aside for people such as these. Of that you can be certain.” The Biblical feel of this rant struck him as strange. The man didn’t look like your average churchgoer.
“I’m sure they’d like that. They could have themselves one big orgy.” His Boss said, enjoying his chance to speak his mind in jest.
“Who said anything about a party?” The stranger said, with deadly seriousness as his face turned to stone and tilted to one-side. He looked as if he were hearing instructions from on-high.
“Listen, I’d love to stand here and chat but you really have to go.”
“I tell you this!” The stranger said. His right arm, raised once more, his finger pointed accusingly at all three men. “The Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God.”
“Don’t you ever shut up, Buddy?” His Boss asked. “Here’s me trying to get through my shift and then you have to come busting my arse. Your sermons are ringing in my ears, Mister. You win. Now go home and sleep it off before you get yourself into trouble.”
The man ignored the warning and continued, his body visibly shaking. “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. I tell you the truth; this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened”
The halogen security lights glowed brighter, picking out a gathering swarm of moths that fluttered aimlessly against their searing glass tubes. The resulting shadows reached them as many times bigger than their actual size. It was as if invisible phantoms or angels were attacking them from all sides, throwing ugly shadows on the ground beneath their feet.
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” he said. Charley no longer thought of him as some well-heeled drunk. This was something entirely different. He felt certain that this man had some connection to this church, a connection that went beyond the grave. Instinctively, his senses focused to every possible outcome and reaction. He even moved out from behind his Boss in a bid to protect him from what he thought might happen next.
“Ah, here he comes, the man himself,” the guy said chillingly, “we’ve heard a lot about you, Charley boy.”
This threw his focus. He was level with his workmates his Boss’s arm came out and barred his way. Charley felt a strange mixture of confusion and understanding well up inside his mind. His Boss’s eyes looked stern but calm as he looked directly his was. They seemed accepting of the situation. “Let us deal with him, Charley. This ain’t your time, old-son. Protect Jennet and warn the others.”
“But Boss!”
“But nothing; there’s nothing you can do here — warn the others!”
The man was closing the gap, a cruel and menacing smile crossing his face. His Boss dove forward, Danny mirrored him. The stranger disappeared in a flurry of well-practised jabs. He had seen fellow bouncers in action many times before, but never had he seen them go beyond the need to subdue. This was different.
“I want my church back!” He was outraged but temporarily stunned. As I moved in to help, the man’s head popped out from between his Boss and Danny. “Yea though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me! You’re next, Charley boy, you’re the one I’m here for!” He put the bottom of his heel down sharply on the top of the man’s head. The man’s head disappeared.
His Boss turned to look at him as he pushed his knee and all his weight into keeping the man down. “Lock the doors behind you, Charley, this guy’s strong. We can’t hold him for much longer!”
Charley had no intention on splitting on them and dived in to help. He would have done this earlier, he was no stranger to trouble being a bouncer, but his Boss’s words had thrown him. When he managed to grab one of his flailing arms, its strength far exceeded its size. They weren’t joking when they said he was strong. It was like grappling with a bronze statue that had come to life.
Once he managed to pin the man’s arm down, he put his hand on the guy’s head and used all his strength and weight to keep it still. The man’s skin felt cold and clammy and Charley fought the urge to take his hand away. They all grunted with the effort of keeping him contained. Punches had little effect. He hoped Jennet had called the police. The man was draining their energy.
As if by divine intervention, he heard Jennet shouting. It was hard to make out what she was saying, at first. Then he heard her say something about having a taser-gun. He knew that she had it from a locked steel box in the office. If he weren’t so busy, he would have kissed her.
“You guys need to get off him. I can’t get a clear shot.” All turned and nodded their faces flushed and sweaty. They were losing the battle.
“On the count of three! One, two — three!” She leveled her arm. She’d never fired it before so didn’t know what to expect.
They all used the last of their strength to push themselves off him. Jennet already had the gun primed, aimed and ready to fire.
They left him wide open as a target but his speed was on a par with his strength and he recovered much faster than was humanly possible.
For Charley, everything happened in slow motion, even though it was more of a blur. The enraged man, hell-bent on seeking revenge for his beating, went for the closest person to him. Covering the short distance in one fluid movement, placing himself between his Boss and shifting aim of the taser. He registered the look of horror on Janet’s face as he made a bid to reach his Boss. He didn’t have time to predict what was going to happen next but part of him imagined another struggle. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
Two strong arms went around his Boss, like pincers, and lifted him clear off the floor. The crunch of bone was sickening as his ribs crunched and popped like seasoned wood. His back arched and the splintered ribs made their way into his lungs. A cry that held a mixture of pain, fear and anger left his Boss’s lips before he went limp and silent. If he wasn’t dead, he soon would be.
Even as he and Danny closed the gap, the man charged at Jennet with a full 18 stone of their Boss’s bulk effectively shielding himself from the spread of the taser darts. It hardly mattered as Charley was between them and hoping his momentum would be enough to knock him off-balance. Danny had the same idea and they came together like two bulls in a knocking shop. Toppling back with their Boss still in his arms, they heard a satisfying crack as the man’s head hit the floor. Screaming with frustration, he fought to rid himself of the dead weight that now pinned him to the ground. He still had plenty of fight though and was almost free by the time they recovered and headed towards him.
He approached as if taking a penalty shot and made perfect contact. The guy’s head snapped back but he still managed to grab Charley’s leg with his free hand. To Danny’s credit, he planted an enviable blow to guy’s the testicles. The man howled in pain but amazingly managed to tighten his grip on his leg. One good snapping twist brought Charley’s down to his level. Crying out in pain, he knew it was a clean break because he could feel his calf hinge in an unnatural way. He looked down quickly and saw the broken bone sticking out through a tear in his trousers.
“Hang on, Charley!” Jennet shouted, as she approached. The man still had him by the leg and he could see she was afraid to fire in case it affected him too.
“Shoot it!” he shouted, afraid that the thing would pull his leg clean off.
She pulled the trigger and the darts speared its back, sending 50,000 volts through the man’s body. Convulsing, the man’s grip momentarily tighten on Charley. Finally, letting go, the suited man had no choice other than to go into the fetal position. Charley saw the man’s face contort in agony and he felt a mild satisfaction as he sat up and used his arms to heave himself away. He wasn’t sure but he thought he heard sirens in the distance, but it may have been the mind playing tricks on him. His own breathing was trying to catch up with the shock and the panic, which he only now felt creeping up on him. He laughed in relief, thinking it was over. It wasn’t.
Through the convulsion, the man still fought to regain control of the body that had never even belonged to him. Charley heard the sickening cracks as the man’s spine tried to unravel against the pull of muscle and tendon. Slowly, the crazed man seemed to win his battle for control. Twisting onto his back, hands shaking with effort, he grabbed the wires of the taser that Jennet still held and proceeded to reel her in like a fish. Hand over hand it slowly pulled, as Jennet desperately tried to hold on to the taser. Much to Charley’s relief, just as she was getting too close for comfort, the taser sprang from her hands and she fell back and away from the lunatic they now faced. It showed little regret on losing Jennet. Sitting up straight, it put its hands behind its back it pulled the barbs from its clothes and skin.
Coming up large, Danny tried for the head this time but in his panic he misjudged and his foot only hit the man’s right ear. In retaliation, the man grabbed at Danny’s leg and pulled him down to his level. Face-to-face, the thing laughed gleefully. “Tell your ancestors you put up a fight,” the man rasped. Taking Danny’s head in both his hands he rotated to the right with one swift sharp cracking movement. Letting him go with a push, Danny’s body fell back lifelessly. Charley had to look away before his body hit the tarmac.
Looking back, he saw Jennet still standing there with her empty hands holding an invisible taser. She’d frozen.
“Jennet! Run! Save yourself!” His words had no effect.
Tearing his eyes from Jennet, he looked at the creature. It was looking at Jennet. “I’m over here, you son-of-a-bitch! Come and get me!”
That got its attention. Its back was slightly turned his way. Without moving its torso, its head slowly twisted around to look at him, a manic grin distorting its face. It looked like an owl or ventriloquist dummy and his blood felt chilled in its presence. Its head stood fixed as its body followed the same deadly rotation and he had no choice but to try to lead it away from the building and Jennet. Twisting he tried to do this one last thing.
Behind him, the man was rising to its feet. It took its time, as if toying with his fear.
As he dragged himself towards the church entrance, the music from the club became increasingly louder. Chancing a look he saw the thing walking towards him, Jennet was behind it and walking swiftly towards them. Her arms extended, he wasn’t sure what she was trying to do, other than kill herself. Then it dawned on him, she was going to use the taser at close range, firing it off on the back of its neck.
He was maybe four feet away from the door but he had to make sure the thing didn’t turn and see Jennet. “Come on then; if you want your church, here it is.”
Whether the guy would have turned around, he would never know. Jennet reached her target and pulled the trigger. He went down but after seeing how it had recovered previously, she gave it one more five second blast while it was on the floor and ran around its prone form to get to him.
“What’s happening?” It was the New Boy, Mikie. His face looked perplexed, as if trying to take in the carnage he saw. Two bouncers down and one crawling on his belly. It didn’t take Einstein to realize something was wrong.
“Help us! Help me get him inside,” she said as she rushed up to them. To his credit, he could have shut the doors in their faces and bolted it. Instead, he grabbed Charley under the armpits and started to drag him into the church. Jennet swept around them to start closing the double doors. She got one closed and bolted at the base as he was crossing the threshold. She was closing the large heavy door when a hand grabbed the large ornate doorknob. It stopped solidly.
They all froze, not knowing what to do next. It smiled as it pushed open the door. Charley was half in and half out and couldn’t move anywhere near fast enough. They thought it was going to enter the church but it didn’t. Instead, it pulled the door full force onto his back. The door was heavy oak but it opened and closed it as if it were made of plywood. Using its other hand to brace itself against the other door, with its feet set apart, it used the door’s weight to pummel his midsection. It was like being in a pair of scissors, the doors edges being the blade. Try as he might, neither the New Boy nor Jennet could stop the door from battering his back. He heard crunching noises as his back broke and the pain was more than he could ever imagine.
Charley heard Jennet screaming as she fought with the door. Although he didn’t see it happen, as the door was opening and closing, Jennet was knocked unconscious. Thankfully, the New Boy had the presence of mind to catch her as she began to fall to the flagstones. Charley was thankful. He was even more thankful when he saw the guy pick up a heavy forged iron coat hanger in an attempt to save him.
***
Timing the blows, Mikie thrust the circular base between the fast snapping doors. It worked but the doors still kept opening and closing, regardless. He shouted for help because although he’d stopped the onslaught on his back, he couldn’t let go of the coat rack and drag him out at the same time.
Part of his mind watched on detached, another screamed him to action. It was like being the action hero of his own film, yet some more reasoning part of him knew this wasn’t a film. This was real and it could possibly kill him before his time and put him in a hole like the dead peeps outside in the ground. Just as this small but mind altering thought crossed his mind, he looked up.
The creature that had wreaked so much chaos in so little time was now focusing all his attention on him. All along, it had been looking at Charley and now it was looking at him.
“Hello, Mikie-Mikie,” it said cheerfully.
He gasped, involuntarily, but stood his ground. Despite himself, he’d never felt so calm while experiencing such fear. Boring into his very soul, its eyes were cold with menace and he thought the thing was going to grab the stand he still held and beat him to death with it.
He heard a commotion from behind and turned to see someone dressed as Count Dracula come up and help them. He had a convincing costume and it startled him slightly, even though his job meant he was used to all manner of things.
“You hold this still and I’ll help him.” He shouted over the worried talking and occasional scream, from both men and women. Once he felt sure the Count had a firm grip on the hat stand, he ducked down to pull Charley to the safety of the church foyer.
Grabbing with sweaty hands, he used all his strength and body weight to attempt to pull him over the threshold. However, the doors had stopped their incessant banging and his strength was no match against that of the crazed man outside.
“Close the door,” Charley managed to say, just as he disappeared from view.
“You heard him, close the door,” an almost hysterical voice called out from behind them. Others must have felt the same because a surge of people pressed against him and the door and closed it with a bang.
He knew there was no arguing with them so he focused his attention on Jennet. Pushing away from the door, he made his way to where she was. As he approached her, he saw the crowd milling around her as she tried to get herself up.
“What happened?” Jennet said weakly.
“Charley’s outside; we have to find another door out of here.”
***
Dazed but determined, Jennet went in search of the service-exit.
Where are the police, she thought as she made her way with Mikie, the New Boy. Surely they could get here faster than this? Maybe it hadn’t been as long a time as she thought. After all, time slowed at times of stress.
She stumbled through darkened crowds. A feeling of despair grew and almost felt unbearable, like a dream. Fighting back tears, she hoped that she would reach him in time.
“Focus Jennet,” she hissed. All of her being fought against the possibility of losing Charley and she’d never felt the urgency of time until this moment. Never had time been so critical up to this point in her young life.
Destiny’s Number
II.
Dragged by his broken leg along the tarmac, Charley was in a world of pain.
“What do you think, Charley, do you think they will come to save you? Maybe; maybe not. Seems likely they would have done it by now, if that was their plan.” He seemed satisfied with this answer and continued, “They’ll most likely find someone else to do their dirty work. Time waits for no man, Charley. Though I must confess, time is running out.”
He found it hard to follow the words that left the man’s mouth. He could just make out that he’d just become very chatty, almost friendly. The heavens had chosen this moment to open the floodgates. He had to blink back the rain that filled up his vision. A welcoming peace descended on him. Maybe this was what death felt like, he thought calmly; too calmly.
“Do you believe in eternal damnation, Charlie?” the man said reflectively, “I do, you see? I’m what you’d call the old school. I prefer the vengeful God of the Old Testament. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, that kind of thing. Call me old-fashioned, it’s just the way I am.”
Charley choked and coughed as something warm seeped from his mouth. Rain mingled with it and took away its warmth. Despite this, his eyes fixed on the clouds and the moon. Like some pale marshmallow, the moon seemed skewered on the tip of the church steeple, ready for the fire and the gaping mouth of creation.
To his mind, the strangest thing about this picture was the bat-like wings that grew large and proud from the steeple’s steep, almost sheer, sides. It was odd that they should be there, spoiling the clean lines of the steeple. Odder still, they seemed to move in the storm like leather sails on some hellish rig.
“You’re an important guy but we can’t have you meddling with human affairs. No, Sir, we have to put an end to this before you fully awaken to your purpose.
All men and women are equal in the eyes of God, and we can’t have you fucking things up.” The owner of the voice came into his line of vision and hovered just above him. Now the large bat wings poked out either side of its head making him look like a fiendish Mickey Mouse.
Charley would have laughed but he didn’t have the strength. “You’re not leading my gentle flock astray. They’re going to the slaughter and that’s the end of it.”
He watched the wings displace from the voice’s head. Against the light of the moon, its shape was black.
“I’m going to kill you slow, because that’s my way,” the man said as he shook his head, sending a fine halo of water into orbit around his deathly silhouette.
Charley heard sirens, he was sure of it this time. He saw the creature’s head tilt, as if it heard them too.
“Or maybe I’ll do it fast. Some-thing’s coming and I don’t think it’s the police.”
Something was coming. It swooped around and around its head, like a hungry vulture that had found a choice piece of carrion.
Charley felt a deadly purpose, chilling and immaculate in its execution. Tighter and tighter the circles wound inwards, like a spiral tail of a newly forming galaxy. Finally, two clawed hands appeared and fully enveloped his tormentor’s head like a child picking up an unloved doll.
“Shit!” the man said, as his skull and brain were swiftly unscrewed from his spinal cord and vertebra. Charley heard a dull crunch as its eyeballs popped from broken eye sockets. As if trying to speak some last farewell, the mouth opened and closed their futile last words. It appeared that the mechanics of speech were beyond its grasp.
“Fuck,” it said and its lifeless body was thrown to one side.
“Here we are at the crossroads, Charley,” a new voice rasped. “It’s a shame you have to go through all this. We would have helped you sooner but this is your destiny. This is your path and no one else can walk it.”
He was trying to make out its features as it came down to his level. Its red eyes glowed in their sockets as they hovered above him. Mottled with orange and yellow, they seemed like miniature gateways to hell itself. Its features were delicate and pleasingly symmetrical. The blackness of its skin appeared as smooth as silk, with an inner glow that made it shine and glitter from within. It reminded Charley of obsidian.
Its voice continued, rasping and deep but strangely feminine, “Now is your time to endure. Destiny has chosen this path for you — you have chosen this path for yourself. The isolation of self will soon be your world. No one will enter but us, and only at your bidding. Great times are ahead, times that will turn this world upside-down and inside out. Just remember this time as a fleeting phase, soon to be transplanted by a greater reality.” The words sank into Charley’s mind and became his world.
He heard sirens, very near now. They were mournful and ghostlike. Rain came in waves, hitting the upper-part of his body. He felt as if he’d been lying here forever. Caught between the folds of life-and-death, everything else receded.
“I must go now, my work is done and they are coming to help you. Good luck — we’ll see you on the other side of morning.”
With this, the world advanced on Charley. The sirens came with blinding lights. He heard voices, one familiar, shouting his name. The figure that had spoken to him was still there, but the headlights shone through it. It was looking at the source of the light protectively.
Before it disappeared, it looked down at him and smiled. More angel than demon, he wondered if he’d ever felt such acceptance and love outside the crib. Air rushed into his lungs as his body came back to life. Charley realized he’d just been dead without knowing it.
“Charley, what was that thing?” Janet’s voice rang close by but he couldn’t answer her. She was beside him on the wet tarmac, holding his arm and kissing his forehead. Sheets of water coursed round them like small rivers. Big burly men with reflective coats moved in on them and Jennet moved away to answer their questions and give them room to work.
“Sir, what happened? Who was that with you?” He heard the fear and uncertainty in their voices but again he could not answer. He could only smile.
