Sharon James sat at the edge of her bed, still deeply worried about when Charlie would return home.
I’ve already lost my husband, she thought. I can’t lose my son, too.
Tara then entered the room. “Mommy, there’s someone at the door,” she told her.
Sharon went to answer the door.
A tall man in a blue uniform and a hat startled her. It was Sheriff Wesley.
“Ms. James, please, let me in,” he ordered, stepping in anyway. His eyes were incredibly wide as if he was in shock.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He really didn’t want to explain to her that there were multiple human-size monsters with horns on their heads and a ferocious dragon taking over the town. “Um…okay, listen. Do you have a basement, attic, or something?”
“No, why?” replied Sharon, confused.
“The whole town is complete chaos!”
“What?!”
“Look, I’m only here because I’m trying to keep you safe,” he informed her. “And…I think I’ve found your son.”
“You did? Well, where is he?”
“Well, I have a feeling he may have something to do with the catastrophe going on right now downtown,” he replied, pacing around the room.
Catastrophe downtown? she thought. She then snapped. “Listen, Sheriff Wesley! Where is my son and what is going on?!”
Sheriff Wesley’s eyes were fixed on the window.
Tara, who was just standing around, confused, seemed to notice as well. “Mommy,” she spoke, pointing out the window.
Sharon looked out. Outside were about a dozen horrifying creatures stepping out of the trees and making their way towards the house. She was in disbelief.
“Step back!” ordered Sheriff Wesley, putting up his handgun.
Sharon and Tara obeyed.
He shot through the window and the glass shattered. The bullet hit one of the undead entities in its left shoulder blade. Its arm disintegrated.
“Tara, go hide!” Sharon ordered her daughter.
Tara quickly ran to the kitchen and hid in an empty lower cabinet. She then covered her ears.
Sheriff Wesley shot at another couple of the creatures. One disintegrated completely. The other one collapsed to its knees. He shot at the same one. It disintegrated.
Two of them seemed to be nearing the window at a faster pace than the others.
The sheriff shot one straight in the head. It disintegrated. The other one in the leg. It fell.
“Here, take my other gun!” he ordered Sharon, handing her his other gun.
“Alright,” she replied nervously, taking the other handgun and aiming it at the undead entities, who were getting closer to the window. She began shooting at them.
Bang! Miss. Bang! Another miss. Bang! ...HIT!! On the third shoot she shot one straight in the face. The creature disintegrated instantly.
“Nice shoot,” commented Sheriff Wesley, who had just taken out three more.
There were now five left.
Sharon shot again. She got one right in the leg. It collapsed to the ground. She then shot the same one in the head. It disintegrated.
“I’m gonna go out and take out the last of them!” declared Sheriff Wesley. “Don’t shoot me!” He then jumped out the broken window and began running towards the last four undead entities.
He ran right up to one and tackled it to the ground. But it was a bad move. These creatures were too strong.
The creature he had tackled struggled to break free of his grip and then rolled over on top of him and began to turn him into one of them. The smoky black substance began to slowly exit the creature’s mouth.
“Noo!” the sheriff cried.
Bang! The creature disintegrated. Sharon had shot it from behind.
She then turned around and shot two in a row. Luckily both of them were head-shots. They disintegrated.
The sheriff recovered and got back to his feet.
There now was one undead entity left where they were standing....
A chilling breath was felt on the back of Sharon’s neck. She quickly turned around and kicked the last one in the chest. It fell to the ground. Then she fired her last round. It disintegrated.
She stared down at the grass where the creature was just laying a few seconds ago, breathing heavily.
Sheriff Wesley stepped up behind her. “Where did you learn to move like that?” he asked.
Sharon took a few more long deep breaths then answered with, “I don’t know. Luck, I guess.”
The sheriff had a hard time buying it but decided to just not question it again. The night was already strange enough.
Tara walked outside. “Mommy, are we safe now?”
“Yes, Sweetie,” answered Sharon with a smile on her face.
“Let’s get you inside,” the sheriff told Sharon, then after taking a glance at the broken window he said, “I suppose I’ll be paying for a new window.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
They headed back into the house.
From the distance, Tara’s black cat seemed to be watching everything. It then turned and scattered away into the dark woods surrounding the house. It was headed downtown.
Charlie, Will, Sheila, Rocky and Starr made their way out of the building of East River High School, tempted to finally close the portal in the well at the town library and end the chaos spread from the Underground.
“Let’s get to the car and head straight for the library!” ordered Charlie, frustrated.
The five hurried through the hall of lockers where Charlie and Will usually hung out after school.
“Will, you seriously didn’t leave the Book of the Underground in Greg’s car, did you?” asked Charlie as they ran through the hall.
“Uh, yeah, kinda,” he replied, following close behind him.
“You what?!”
“You don’t realize what could happen if you let the book into the wrong hands, do you?” snapped Sheila.
“We’ve only left the car for not even ten minutes!” interrupted Starr.
“Don’t argue, we need to get to the portal!”
The group then came to the entrance doors of the school. Out the doors and down the steps they hurried.
The car was parked next to the big flagpole.
264
They were soon at the library.
Will parked the car along the curb and with his sword in hand Charlie quickly got out of the vehicle and started to run straight for the well. Will and Starr followed, Will with the Book of the Underground in hand.
Sheila was in the sky and quickly landed in front of the library building as soon as the car did.
Rocky made it there by feet, sliding to a halt when he reached the car.
Rocky and Sheila both followed closely behind Charlie, Will and Starr.
Around the building and into the big clearing where the well stood they ran... and then they all stopped abruptly when they realized the big surprise that was waiting for them outside the well. Evil Joe James stood there in front of his army of undead, waiting for just the right time for Charlie and his friends to run into him as soon as they were ready to close the portal to the Underground.
The undead all stood there behind Joe, staring back at Charlie, Will, Sheila, Starr, and Rocky as if they were starving for their souls.
The heroes couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They were all speechless.
Rocky was ready to fight if he had to.
Then Joe spoke. “Hello, my boy...Charlie Joseph James.”
“Dad?” questioned Charlie. “What happened to you?” He stared up at the thick and pointy horns risen from his father’s head... the cut across his face left behind by th
e evil Lauren... his gray-colored skin.
“You read the Awakening, just like I had asked of you.”
“I-I-I didn’t know what I was getting myself into! The whole town is a disaster because of you!”
Joe laughed evilly. “Yes, Charlie, the whole town is a disaster. And soon it will be the whole world.”
This was just too bizarre for Charlie to understand completely.
“You’re crazy, Sinister,” interrupted Sheila, who took a few steps towards Joe.
Joe was surprised to hear someone call him by the name of Sinister. No one has called him by his nickname in years. “Sheila...is that you?” he asked.
“Yes, it is me,” she replied. “Didn’t think you would ever see me again, did you? Well, I survived all these years in the Underground. And so did Ted.”
“Well...I’m impressed. So where is Ted?”
Sheila got a little emotional again. “He’s dead,” interrupted Charlie. “Died fighting Dultona.”
“The Dark Master?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, what a brave man Ted Grey was. I have heard many things about him since I fled the Underground. And I still dislike him.”
Charlie couldn’t bear to hear Ted’s name anymore. It was still hard for him to get over his death, but the best way to think about it is the fact that he died in honor. If it wasn’t for him he wouldn’t have escaped the Underground and neither would have Sheila.
“Now tell me, my boy, where is the book?” Joe demanded.
The problem was that the Book of the Underground was in Will’s hands at the moment.
“Crap,” Will whispered quietly next to Starr, carefully hiding the book behind him.
“Shh,” she whispered back.
Charlie then replied to Joe’s demanding question. “I would never tell you.”
A furious expression spread across Joe’s face. He looked like he was about to grab someone’s throat.
Then out of nowhere, a cats’ meow was heard.
Everyone turned to look as a black cat made its way towards them, making things a little awkward.
Not you, thought Charlie. It was his sister’s cat.
The cat stopped and sat in between Joe with his army of undead and Charlie and his friends.
“What are you doing here, you stupid cat!” responded Charlie.
Then the strangest thing began to happen... everyone watched as a cloud of dark-gray smoke then appeared to rise up over the cat and began to grow.
“What is going on now?” responded Will under his breath.
Things were about to fall into place.
The smoke grew to the height of an average human then disappeared.
No one could believe what they were seeing. Standing where the cat was just seconds ago was now the man in the black trench coat.
“It’s you,” responded Will, remembering him from the alleyway.
Everyone else was speechless as well. A cat disappearing and reappearing as a person??
The man slowly removed his hood and his identity was revealed. “It’s been a long time since we last talked, Sinister,” he said to Joe.
“Jacob?” questioned Joe and Sheila in unison.
“Yes, it is me...Jacob Grey.”
Chapter 34