The old church bell rang signaling the days service. Gabriel looked up at the ceiling of his truck with groggy eyes. It took some convincing for him to sit up and see the days horrors. The once empty parking lot was now full of vehicles. Looking on Gabriel once again saw the blood on the people of Axal.
Dressed in their church clothes covered in blood. Even the youngest of the children had small amounts of blood on them. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary. To them it was just another beautiful church morning. Gabriel was frightened, how could he join such people.
The last of them made their way into the church, Gabriel could see rays of heat transmitting for the entrance. He watched as the priest came to the door. There was more blood on him than anyone there. His hands dripping, his clerical robes drenched in blood.
The priests eyes locked with Gabriel's. The gaze was smug and unwelcoming. The priest grabbed the double doors and quickly shut them. Sealing the heat rays inside. It was clear he would find no sanctuary there and even if he did it looked more like a slaughter house than a place of god.
Gabriel's truck roared to life and he left the parking lot. Everyone he saw had some degree of blood on them. At a stop light he saw kids playing in a yard. They were jumping in and out of a blood filled kiddie pool. He looked back at the light and a man he knew from school was waiting to go. There seemed to be no blood until he raised his hand to wave hello to Gabriel and his hands were covered.
Green light, Gabriel stepped on the gas and headed through the downtown. One of the local married women was walking. Normally she was very attractive but as Gabriel glanced at her cleavage there was blood running down between her breasts and into the dress. On her neck was a strange dragon symbol that he had never seen before. It was not a tattoo but more of a branding.
He drove around the town looking for one person that did not have blood. The meter on his gas gauge burned down quickly and it was clear no one was free of blood. At the gas station he got out and swiped his card and started to fill his tank. There was a high school kid in a jeep wrangler.
“Hey buddy, hows it goin today?” The kid said in his best Axal redneck voice.
“Hi” Gabriel said as he tried not to dwell on the blood.
This kid was clearly not yet affected by the typical rudeness of the town. It was a strange surprise and one Gabriel was not use to. Almost as if the kid was moments away from snapping and strangulating Gabriel. Hospitality could only be a sign of insanity in Axal.
The sight of blood was becoming more annoying than horrifying to Gabriel. Once again the old house in the woods seemed like a more friendly place than Axal. It never took long for the town to remind him that he was not welcome. Gabriel wanted to go back to that cellar to see if anything remained of his pornographic and horrific tale from the night.
Parking in his normal spot, the house seemed harmless in the light of day. Going inside he went into the living room and to his surprise the endless smell of chloroform was gone. Food or water did not appeal to him but he forced himself to make a bowl of grain cereal. Sitting down on the couch he brought the spoon to his lips. Crunching the cereal around in his mouth for a second made him feel sick.
Curdled chunks of grain came spitting out of his mouth and back into the bowl. Running to the toilet he dumped the bowl and flushed it. Could he no longer eat, or drink and if so what did it all mean? Old vampire movies ran through his head where human food would make them sick. Was he a bloody, pornographic, ghost seeing blood sucker?
After thinking about it for awhile he knew he had to go back to the cellar. He grabbed the flashlight which was now his only form of defense against whatever it was down there. Making his way along the path, he thought of the murder mysteries his mom would watch. The dumb women who always headed off to the old creepy building.
They would pretend as though they did not know that the old factory would be the last place the entered. But the whole time you knew they were as good as dead and dumb for continuing on and not getting the hell out of the area.
Now Gabriel was the dumb murdered person in the movie that his mother would yell out loud how dumb they were. “DON'T GO IN THERE!” She would shout at the TV as though they were listening. He tried to hold back a laugh as everything seemed so played out. He just needed a fog machine off in the tree's.
In the light of the day the forest was peaceful. It did not seem as though there was hidden danger ahead. The open meadow where the house once stood had butterfly’s and birds flying around. It looked like a good place to have a picnic rather than the grounds of a murder mystery. But in his mind he could hear his mom yelling at the TV.
Walking around the old foundation there were no signs of the home anymore. Not even the lumber, just a old foundation. Maybe the old wood in his home now was once used here and for some strange reason they moved it. Maybe the the previous owners were horrifically aroused nightly by the young woman and had no choice but to move it.
None of it really made any sense. But the cellar was still there calling out to him. But the sun and gorgeous meadow was hard to leave. Looking at the door he was again scared. Thinking of the woman gored down there. He grabbed the door and slung it open with a bang.
He stood back and did not look in. As if something might jump out from the dark hole at any moment. Walking back around the foundation he ignored the open cellar once more. As though he was letting whatever demons to air out. On one section of the foundation there was the name Ratcliff carved in. It must have been whoever built the house.
With a gulp of the saliva in his mouth he headed back to the cellar. Standing a few feet in front of the opening he shined his light inside. This time if there were gored remains he could easily turn and flee for his life. Maybe let out a scream to add to the theatrics.
The old mattress was still there, and the smell of chloroform. He slowly inched closer waiting for the punch line movie moment. His shotgun was right where he left it just before he prepared to crush his morals and have sex with the dead woman.
He shined the light around inspecting everything inside. It still seemed creepy but there was no monster inside. Stepping down he retrieved his shotgun. Once inside he no longer wanted to look around and inspect anything. He just wanted his gun and to seal that place up for good.
Just as he started up the steps he saw a old particle of clothing. Dirt covered the stained and torn cloth. He tugged as he pulled it from the floor. The dust from it filled the cellar making the light trick his mind into seeing shadowy figures. He took the clothing and hurried out. Quickly he shut the cellar door and walked a few feet away.
In his hand was an old dress, the same one the woman was wearing last night. It looked old and torn now, like who ever the woman was that wore it had it ripped off.
“Quite gorgeous, wasn't she?” A creepy yet familiar voice broke the sound of birds singing, startling Gabriel. The mentor who did not return his calls had came back for him. Swinging the gun around Gabriel turned to him. Apollyon was standing in his kings attire and his hands in the air as to surrender.
“DONT SHOOT, hahaha” Apollyon said as he laughed.
“What's going on, what's happening to me?” Gabriel demanded.
“As I said it will all reveal itself in time, something you have lots of.” Apollyon said still chuckling at the confused horror on Gabriel's face.
“I on the other hand am always short on time, so much to see and do its blissfully tiresome.”
“So you are just going to vanish on me again leaving me to stumble around with ghosts and people covered in blood?” Gabriel said as Apollyon's laughter continued, it was all like a joke to him.
“Follow me, I will show you something” Apollyon said as he walked into the woods. Gabriel had no choice but be in his company.
“What am I now, Apollyon?” Gabriel said with a beggars tone of voice.
“You are the savior of swine, the light for roaches, the host of the plague” Apollyon said laughing
harder.
“You are, you?”
“I know I am me, but why can't I eat, why the blood, or the ghost?”
“WHY?!..... It is all I have got since the dawn of your kind. WHY, because you are what you are and now you are mine. There really is nothing more I can say but follow me and you might see....WHY!” Apollyon said in a angry and annoyed toned. It was clear that he had a short fuse and little patients.
They followed a trail leading up a cliff. Gabriel had many questions but it was clear he would not receive any answer of use. He could only follow the angle of lunatics on their path to answers, or destruction. No small talk, nothing, what could he really say that Apollyon had not heard.
An Iron fence and gate to a small graveyard was coming in view at the top of the cliff. The trail was not very steep but the view from the cliff was amazing. The spiked iron fence was overgrown and the gate looked like it had not been opened in centuries.
Apollyon flipped open a gargoyle style gate henge and pulled it open. There were eight small grave stones and in the middle of them one large one. Apollyon stood at the large one.
“Daniel Ratcliff, what a specimen of divine grace he was!” Apollyon said looking at Daniel's gravestone.
“He was one of the first men to start his home in this area. I remember him well, his lunatic rage was something I see lots of. But each time I witness it it's like