Chapter Fourteen
1
Trevor was surprised to hear his cell phone ring. The power had been restored hours before, but he had just put the phone on the charger. He picked up the phone and looked to see who was calling.
“What does she want?” Trevor said.
It was his daughter’s mom calling. She only called if she wanted something or wanted to complain about something.
“Hello,” Trevor said.
“Hey,” she started.
She went on to tell Trevor that she needed help getting some things for their daughter. Trevor replied by reminding her that she already knew his situation. He told her that he would try and figure something out.
He also had something on his mind. He had been thinking about it since the day before. There were just too many things going on.
“How’s Grace?” he said.
“She’s fine,” she replied.
He didn’t know how to ask his real question. What if it was just him? What if he was just losing what was left of his mind?
“Is there…,” he started.
“Is there what?” she asked.
“Is there any kind of marks on her head?” he asked.
“No,” she said. He could tell that she thought he had done lost his mind. “What are you talking about? Why would there be a mark on her head?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Are you alright?” She asked.
“Yeah,” he replied.
Trevor had done what he could to get off the phone. His daughter’s mom now thought something was wrong with him.
What did it all mean? Why was there a mark on his forehead? He had to figure things out before his mind was totally gone.
2
Terry had spent most of her morning listening to her grandma. Her grandma was upset with everything. Her granddaughter wasn’t marked.
She had lost count of how many times that her grandma had prayed for her. Her grandma had cried when she prayed.
Terry was forced to read the Bible. All she could do was read and pray. Her grandma was driving her crazy.
She was allowed to take a break to get something to eat. She was sitting at the table when the phone rang. She didn’t give her grandma time to answer. She had to talk to someone else.
“Hello,” Terry answered.
“Hey,” Trevor replied.
She was happy to hear his voice. She would have been happy to hear anyone’s face. Trevor’s voice almost brought a smile to her face.
“Is everything alright?” She asked.
“Well, I don’t know,” he said.
“What’s going on?” Terry asked.
She didn’t bother to say that she had problems of her own. How was she supposed to tell him that she was possibly going to hell?
“It happened yesterday,” Trevor said. “I woke up with this mark on my forehead.”
“Oh,” Terry replied.
“I think I’m losing my mind,” he said.
“No you’re not,” Terry said. She couldn’t tell him that she hadn’t been marked. “Everyone at the church has a mark on their forehead.”
“Really?” Trevor replied.
“They all think this has to do with the Bible,” Terry said. “They say God has chosen the people that will be saved.”
“Oh,” Trevor said.
Terry thought that he would be happy. He sounded disappointed.
“Is there something else on your mind?” Terry asked.
“My daughter,” Trevor said. He could barely get the words out. “She’s unmarked.”
3
Darkness surrounded Josh even as the sun shined bright outside. He covered up ever window with trash bags. He was in another abandoned garage, but this time he was alone.
He hadn’t been able to sleep well ever since the night of the explosion. When he did sleep he dreamed about Brad and Jeff screaming in the fire, or about the woman who just appeared. The dreams got worse when he couldn’t fight back the temptation to use any longer.
Josh didn’t even make it a whole day before he used up his small stash that was in his dresser. Then when he went out looking for more meth, he was introduced to something else, heroine.
The heroine helped ease everything. It helped him not care about whether or not the cops were looking for him cause of the explosion. The meth lab explosion had been on the news. They had mentioned that Brad’s and Jeff’s bodies had been identified by the dental records. They didn’t mention anything about anyone else possibly being involved.
There was something else that he was starting to fear the most. He thought he was starting to go insane. He was sure that he was hearing the sounds of a horse outside of the garage. He’s been hearing horse noises for days. It sounded like there was a horse walking in circles around the garage.
He didn’t know that the horse that death sat upon was in fact walking around the garage. The mark on Josh’s forehead shined bright red when death looked upon it.
Josh had to stay calm. He couldn’t end up like Brad and Jeff. He desperately needed to get high and to get some money. His grandma had seriously fallen behind on the bills. His nerves were shot and he couldn’t mess things up on his first time. He almost caught busted trying to get everything that he needed to get started.
Josh had found out how Jeff learned to cook meth. It didn’t take long for him to get desperate enough to try it himself. He was sure that he couldn’t do it better than Jeff.
He was alone and could concentrate. He wouldn’t have to split any of it with anyone. His hopes were high, but his gut feeling wasn’t all that good.
The addiction wouldn’t set him free. The mark on his forehead stood for something. He knew that he was marked for something, but he wasn’t worried about that at the moment. It was happening to everyone.
Josh only wanted to be high, but it wasn’t getting done fast enough. The process had to go faster somehow. He just had to figure out how.
The only problem was staying calm long enough to think about what to do. He didn’t trust anyone to ask.
He was all alone. He was set on keeping it that way. He just wished that the horse outside would go away.
4
Terry turned the light off as she came out of the bathroom. It was the second time she had to rush to the bathroom because she felt sick. Her stomach wasn’t the only bad feeling that she was having.
There was a feeling that she wasn’t throwing up because she had a stomach bug. She wished it was only stress, but she knew better.
Terry couldn’t sleep anymore at nights. She had started keeping most of the lights on when the sun began to fall. She hated to be alone in the house.
She had never been left alone throughout the nights. Her grandma had always been there. What would she do without her grandma?
She wasn’t going to get any sleep. Robert was always hiding in the shadows waiting for her to move. Then there was that bad feeling that she had been getting.
Could she be pregnant with Robert’s baby? The thought made her feel like she needed to go to the bathroom again. She was glad that her grandma hadn’t figured it out yet.
Bad thoughts had kept making their way into Terry’s head. The thoughts were about hurting herself. The made her consider taking her own life.
At one point she had taken a knife from the kitchen and brought it into the bedroom. She had lain in bed with the knife on her chest.
She wanted to die and she felt like she could do it herself. She prayed to God and hoped that he would forgive her of her sins. She wanted to feel his forgiveness for what she was about to do.
Terry picked up the knife and touched the tip with her finger. It was sharp but didn’t bring any blood. She still didn’t like how it felt.
The reality of what she wanted to do hadn’t really sunk in. She had never thought or felt this way in her life. If she was pregnant, there was no way
she could bring his bastard child into the world.
The knife went to her wrist. It didn’t move at first, because she was fighting back tears. Then she jerked on it and the blade went across her skin, but it didn’t even break open the skin.
“Damn it,” She cried.
She hadn’t press down hard enough and it had only left a red mark. She was left not knowing if she would be able to go through with it. She couldn’t bring herself to press harder on the knife.
She pushed back her fears and put the knife on her wrist, and then took a deep breath. When she let out the deep breath, heavy tears had followed.
The knife hit the floor before she could do anything with it. She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow.
5
Jack walked down a strange alley. He almost didn’t find his way to where he needed to go. The smell of meth cooking caught his nose and leads the way for him. He planned to get it over with quickly, but was stopped as he approached the garage.
The old man who wore the black robe stood in his way. The man shook his head no. Jack was confused.
“Not him,” the man said. He held his hand out to the garage. “He’s meant for another.”
Jack turned and then he understood what the man meant. He hadn’t seen it till then. A pale horse with what looked like death sitting upon it paced around the garage waiting for who was inside.
“Yours is coming,” the man said.
That’s when a car turned down the alley. Jack somehow knew that it was a police cruiser. He ran and hid on the side of the garage. Something told him that the cruiser was going to stop at the garage.
There was only officer in the cruiser. He was unmarked. He had survived the mass killing of officials, but hadn’t run into Jack Duggan.
Jack’s feeling didn’t let him down. The officer did stop at the garage. Jack wondered way the officer was still on patrol. There wasn’t a jail in condition enough to hold any prisoners. Anderson County jail was still being run by the intimates.
It was a young rookie officer. The officer knew that he couldn’t take anyone to jail. He had to at least try and stop whatever was going on.
The young cop had a good idea what the strange smell was. He had walked in on a meth lab once while he was in training. He had smelt it while driving around.
The officer slowly got out of the car. He was having problems with keeping the flashlight on. He had one hand on the gun in the holster.
Here, little piggy. Jack thought. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face.
The officer’s actions showed how much of a rookie that he was. He headed into an unknown situation without backup. He didn’t check out his surroundings when walking up to the garage.
The officer walked blindly into the dark. He walked past Jack without realizing it. He was close enough that Jack could have reached out and grabbed him.
Jack had to be patient. He didn’t want to mess things up. He couldn’t mess things up with the man in the black robe watching. The black robed man wasn’t what was really making Jack nervous.
The horseman had his attention on Jack. Jack had to complete his task before the horseman could do his. If Jack didn’t complete his task, then the black robe man would. Then the black robed man would take care of Jack.
Jack stood up without being noticed. He stood up behind the officer. It would be too easy for him.
He reached out and wrapped his arm around the officer’s neck. His other arm went down to grab the gun. The officer was no match for Jack.
Once Jack had the gun out of the holster, he put it to the officer’s head. He didn’t say a word as he pulled the trigger. He let the officer’s body drop to the ground.
As the horseman turned his attention away from Jack, the man in black robe came up to him. Jack’s blood was soaring through his body. He hadn’t felt so good since before he had got sent to prison.
“Now,” the man said. “You must go and find Robert.”
“I’m done with this shit,” Jack said.
Jack couldn’t believe what he said. He couldn’t believe what happened next. His whole body stiffened up.
“You will find Robert,” the man said.
“I’ve done what you asked,” Jack managed to get out. “There’s nothing more I can do.”
“Don’t stray from the path.” His eyes were glowing red. Jack thought he had seen small horns on the man’s head. “You must watch what you think, too.”
“What?” Jack got out.
“I know all,” he said. “Now, do what you’re meant to do.”
Jack’s body relaxed and he almost stumbled to the ground. He didn’t wait around for the man to say anything else. He avoided going past the horseman.
Jack got to the alley and started walking faster. He had lost his nerve. He wanted to find a place to hide from the messed up world. Almost like jail.
The old man still stood by the garage. The horseman was still there, too. The two were enemies, but the war couldn’t start yet.
“He’ll be done,” the man said. He started walking away. “When I say he’s done.”
6
Josh couldn’t believe how slow the whole process was taking. He knew there was a way to cook the meth faster. It didn’t take Jeff this long to do his stuff. He just had to mess around with it a little, but he didn’t know how.
“Hurry up,” Josh said. He was talking to the stuff cooking. “This shit has to hurry up.”
He stood up and paced around. He needed to get high. His body just didn’t feel right unless he was high. The tension was all over his body and it felt like rage to him.
“Hurry up,” he pleaded.
He started getting kicking around some small things. He didn’t start off kicking things hard, but then he did.
Josh kicked an old trash can and had sent it flying. The trash can knocked over everything. It crashed into his cooking operation.
He noticed a small flame spark up and thought that was it. His luck had finally changed for the better. Then his luck exploded with the garage.
The horseman sat outside of the flames. Death watched the fire consume Josh’s life.
7
It didn’t take Robert long to find where he needed to go. The house was only a few miles outside of Anderson city limits. The old farmhouse was down a very long dirt lane.
The house was barely visible from the road. A line of large evergreens were rooted in front of the house. It had the look of any other old two story farmhouse. It had white paint that was piling off and broken green shutters around the windows.
As he got closer to the house, Robert could see red barns that sat behind the house. There were three of them. They were different sizes.
When Robert got to the house, he couldn’t believe how big it was up close. He couldn’t believe that it was going to be his new home. The dark robed man had it all planned out for him.
The owners of the house had disappeared after the earthquake. All of their things were still in the house. The couple was in their late sixties and had been married for forty-five years.
“So, this is it?” Robert said.
The front door was unlocked and had opened with ease. Robert walked in and had left the door opened. There was old people smell in the air.
He walked around looking at the former owners things. He couldn’t help but to think that he would need to redecorate. The seemed even bigger on the inside.
Robert took a quick look at the kitchen. He was standing at the bottom of the staircase. He was about to go up them when he heard something.
He stood still for a moment. At first he wasn’t sure, but then he heard it again. Something was upstairs moving around.
Robert slowly went upstairs. He could hear it better when he got to the top of the stairs. Someone was walking around. It sounded as though something was pacing around in circles. No one was supposed to be in the house.
>
Four rooms took up the second floor. All the doors were opened except for one. Things had gone quiet as he approached the door.
He thought about knocking on the door first. He couldn’t help but chuckle. He grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open quickly.
There was a lady standing in the middle of the empty room. She was wearing a hospital gown. Her hair was a mess.
Her cold eyes were staring at him. Her tiny arms were shaking. Then she started to scream.
Robert quickly shut the door. He couldn’t believe it. What was he to do now?
“Her name is, Angie,” His voice said.
Robert quickly turned around. The voice wasn’t in his head. The dark robed man was standing beside him.
“I brought her here,” he said. “To help you.”
“How?” Robert asked. He pointed at the door. “How’s that supposed to help me?”
“Don’t worry,” the dark robed man said. “It’s beyond your control. This is all planned out.”
Robert was at a loss for words. How was a lunatic going help him? He wanted to door to the room locked.
“Why here?” Robert asked.
A chill seemed to fill the air. The house almost seemed alive.
“This is where is all started,” the dark robed man answered.