THROUGH HER EYES, I saw her past. She was a little girl, sitting on a bed in some sort of laboratory, hooked up to machines that measured her synaptic activity and psionic potential. Oddly, she seemed calm, as if she had always known it would happen. A clean-shaven, middle- aged man in a white lab coat entered. He wore glasses, and his black hair was streaked with gray.
“Do I have a name?” she asked, looking to him.
“No,” he said, brushing her off quickly. As he examined the machines, he looked toward a woman sitting behind a window about three feet above them. She nodded to him, and he exited the room.
“Well?” she asked as he joined her. They both turned to watch the girl through the glass before he replied.
“Her ESP level is off the charts. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows what we’re thinking at this moment.”
As he said this, the girl smiled and said to the empty room, “Yes, I do.”
“Well, then, she most likely knows what’s going to happen next,” the woman said, turning back to the scientist.
“She knows more than we do. Continually, she refers to someone she calls the Warrior, a man who will arise in her darkest hour…a man of love, compassion, honor, and valor. She even drew a picture of him.”
“Sounds like a typical child’s fantasy of a knight in shining armor,” the woman scoffed. “Yet…intriguing. Where is this picture?”
“She keeps it in her room, above her bed. She says it keeps the monsters away. I have a copy of it, if you wish to see,” he said, pulling a picture from a manila folder.
“Of course,” the woman said, leaning beside him.
It felt so odd…I was seeing things through the mind of a little girl who could see through the minds of others. The picture that the two studied was of me, in uniform. I wore combat fatigues and held an M4.
“Apparently, this is the man he will grow up to become. Currently, the two are the same age. We have his name, and I’ve compiled his records.” He handed the woman the rest of the folder. As the woman leafed through it, I saw that it contained a picture of me as a child stapled to a form that listed a brief description, with my address, age, and the names of relatives. Other papers were records from my schools, doctors, and known associates.
“Watch him,” she ordered, turning back to the girl. “He may be of great value to us.”
That was the past. In an instant, the vision moved to just a few years ago. The girl, now a young woman, sat in her room, looking at her drawing of me. Often, she spoke of the day I would come to her… the day I would rescue her. A new scientist, a younger one, conversed with the same woman outside. Their thoughts and words were clear to the young woman—and, through her, to me—though they were a few rooms away.
“We’ve found more information about this so-called Warrior of hers,” he said, pulling up
some charts on the computer.
“What’s this?” she asked, studying them.
“It’s an ESP test, given online. It measures all areas of ESP by giving questions with randomly selected answers. Only someone with ESP can get them correct. He scored 99 percent—higher than everyone else who took the test. He’s very powerful.”
“Almost in league with our specialist,” she said.
“Yes. Save for the combat gear, the drawing matches his current photo exactly,” said the scientist, holding up the two photos.
“I see. So perhaps something will happen very soon,” she said, comparing the images. “He may be the one she is connecting with. He has a history of night terrors and possibly
schizophrenia, which may in fact just be the manifestation of his intermittent connection with her. So far, he has not been very forthcoming about the nature of his…dreams.” He called up another file.
“Keep me informed,” she said, looking away.
The man sighed. When he looked toward the security monitor of the subject’s room, she looked up at the camera and waved. The camera was always on, and she had learned to ignore it, but she always knew when someone was watching her in real time through the camera. Her ability was astonishing.
Night terrors, possible schizophrenia, dreams…and photos and information about me.
They were talking about my life and the aberrations I’d experienced in recent years back.
The vision stepped ahead a few years, stopping at a point just a few months prior to the present. The same man and the same woman stood outside the containment room.
“Do you have an update?” she asked as she flipped through the folders he had given her. She came across a picture of me, taken after basic training. Immediately, she became speechless.
“It’s confirmed a perfect match,” the young scientist said, smiling. The photo and the image were identical, right down to the pose. “We’ve also been able to focus the dark mass we tapped into.”
“Can it be applied yet?” she asked.
“Unknown. Currently the research indicates that the dark mass comprises a self-aware, sentient entity constructed of pure dark energy. We will need to better understand it before we unleash it,” he replied, looking into the containment room.
“Very well,” she said, following his gaze. “And the crystals?”
“We’re still trying to determine how to unlock their full potential. They seem to have been built to channel spiritual energy. Built by whom, or for what specific purpose, we still don’t know.”
Time jumped ahead a little more in the vision to a point just a few days before I arrived at this place. The girl was being escorted to another lab by the chief. She felt that he cared for her, and she appreciated his gentle touch and supportive words. Both of them were silent, as she already knew what he was thinking. How can they do this to her? he thought. She knew he felt powerless to stop it. In the lab, she met the young scientist, who strapped her to a bed in the center of the room and rolled those bizarre machines to rest next to her, one on each side of her. A heavy, clear cable was connected to each through a Y connection, and the cable ran to the containment room, where the dark mass awaited.
Though she knew what would happen, she felt anxious. She was troubled by the scientist’s plans, yet she knew that I would soon come to her and she would know a love she had not felt.
The scientist gave her an injection, which placed her into an induced coma. He activated the machines and then left the room. The chief stood with the administrator in the adjacent room, watching through a heavy glass wall. The crystals churned with dark energy, all of which
was being channeled into her. Images, evil and cruel, flooded her mind, scenes of torture and betrayal. The laughter of an entity not of this world, echoed by a thousand voices, followed the images. Suddenly, the energy transfer reversed direction. Soon, the lights in the room began to flicker as the dark mass gained control.
“What’s going on?” the administrator asked, looking at the scientist.
“The dark mass…it seems to be using her as a conduit,” he said. He stared at a bank of gauges and monitors, checking various readings, but seemed not to know what to make of the readings. The young woman read terror in his mind, confusion in the administrator, and anguish in the chief.
Suddenly the chief’s radio erupted with screams of terror and panic. “All security personnel, report!” the chief shouted over the radio.
“The shadows are alive! They’re attacking everyone!” someone cried into the radio. There was the sound of gunfire in the background, along with screams and breaking glass. “Reporting multiple incidents, at least two possible heart attacks. More reports coming in of serious injury and at least one fatality.”
Another post reported in. “I’ve got a dozen wounded, and two cases of…I don’t know what to call it…hysteria? Insanity? Possession? They’re screaming and babbling about a coming darkness and cold. Wait, what’s—” The transmission ended abruptly.
Similar reports of chaos and mayhem followed. The power fluctuated throughout the facility, and several sections went completely da
rk and silent.
The chief drew his pistol and spoke into the radio. “Lock the facility down, and have everyone proceed to the emergency bunker. Evac now! Get everyone out of here.”
The administrator turned to the scientist. “Can we unhook her?” Just as she asked, the glowing, translucent form of the girl’s spirit appeared and stood beside her body, looking down at the comatose form. Beside her stood the dark form I had encountered. The dark form looked into the camera and smiled wickedly.
“What have we done?” the scientist wailed softly. “We’ve separated her ethereal form into two halves! I have no idea what that will do to her…or to us.” He buried his face in his hands.
“Get hold of yourself,” said the administrator. “There’ll be time for analysis later. Right now, we need to contain it.”
“First we need to get everybody out. Move!” the chief said, motioning for them to follow. They left the observation room and encountered a shadow creature, thin and fast. The chief opened fire as it charged them, and it fell to the floor. They raced through the hall and into the break room. Security guards fired down a dark hallway filled with shrieking creatures. A woman screamed and cried as a creature pounced onto her and tore into her. Its touch damaged the soul more than the body. A security guard rushed to her aid, kicking the creature off and firing three rounds into it. He took her hand and pulled her to her feet and ran into the bunker.
“All surviving personnel accounted for,” a guard reported to the chief. “Casualties?”
“We’ve lost 70 percent of our total personnel,” the guard said.
The chief gathered his squad. “We’re going to hold here until help arrives,” he said. “Help? From where? All external communications shut down before we could send out
so much as a smoke signal. Who the hell is gonna come?” asked one of the guards, clearly petrified.
“Her Warrior.” The chief was looking down at a photo of me. I hope you’re everything that she expects, he thought.
The vision left me, and everything went black.
“Are you OK?” a distant voice asked. I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry, and I
couldn’t keep my eyes open. It all went black again.
“Come on, kid,” another distant voice called. I opened my eyes and could make out seven blurry figures standing around me. One of them knelt beside me and supported me as I tried to sit up.
“Where…where am I?”
“Still in the field,” the kneeling figure said. Things started to come into focus, and the voices sounded closer.
“You just had one hell of an experience,” said one of the people standing. “The Specialist…where is he?” I asked, looking around.
“Gone,” the chief said. “Took off before we reached you.”
My vision finally cleared, and I saw that it was Mary who held me. The sounds around me drew near, and I could tell who the figures were. They had all come to me to help me.
“Thank you,” I said as I leaned into Mary’s arm. She smiled and stroked my cheek gently. “We should get moving,” Josh said. “We’ve got to reach that facility ASAP.”
With the chief’s help, I stood up. I slung on my rifle. “OK, I’m ready.”
“Let’s do it,” Chuck said eagerly. We geared up once more and set off again for the facility. It was a good seven-hour walk—eight including brief breaks. Just outside the facility, we set up camp.
“Rest up,” the chief said, sitting on the ground. We sat in a circle, staying close to each
other.
“We’ll sleep for two hours then hit the facility,” I said.
I had been asleep for less than an hour when I awoke to find the others sleeping. As I
geared up, the same white warrior approached me. “Will you enter without them?” he asked.
This feeling, one of valor, was already embedded within my heart…the feeling that I must always charge in. Another feeling, one of love, had become alien to me for years, though now it was my nature. “I will not let them die for me,” I said, looking at them.
“And if it means dying alone…with no one to witness and tell others of your noble deed?” the warrior asked, as if testing me.
“I’m not interested in glory. If I have to die alone, if that is the price that must be paid to save her, then, yes, I will pay it.” I sighed. I didn’t want to go in alone, yet I didn’t want them to have to go at all. I would not lose them.
With a nod, the white warrior stepped aside and allowed me passage. Raising my M4, I moved stealthily toward the facility. It was as dark inside as it was outside, and I detected no movement. Perhaps there were figures shifting through the darkness, but that could very well have been my imagination.
I entered through the doorway where I had first seen her and found darkness awaiting me. The light on my rifle could not penetrate parts of it, which hung in masses along the wall. Hesitantly, I touched one of the masses and found it was cold, much colder than the ambient temperature. Its texture was odd, as if a black fog had solidified into frost or loose snow. Faint whispers echoed through my mind as I touched it. Shaking off the echoes, I proceeded down the hall.
The black sludge was everywheree. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was drawing near, something…cold. I didn’t follow my tracks from before. Following the left hall, I entered a room filled with office cubicles, four in total. From one of the cubicles on the far side, I heard radio chatter. Moving cautiously around the panels, I found the cubicle with the radio. The voice shouting into it sounded increasingly desperate. I found the COM link and attached it to my ear.
“I’m under attack!” shouted the voice. He sounded young. “Can’t hold it off much longer.
Unknown entity. Repeat, I cannot hold out much longer!”
“What’s your position?” I asked over the COM link.
“Near a storage room, west side. Hurry!” the voice said. Gunfire rang out.
“On my way!” I sprinted out of the room and down the hall. The sound of gunfire intensified, followed by a scream.
“It’s inside!” he screamed in terror. “It’s wrapped around me, my body…” I was two rooms away.
“So…cold…” the young man moaned in agony, just as I burst through the door. I found a blob of the black mass consuming him. His skin was turning gray and shriveled. Our eyes met, and he began to cry. Only his face was visible as the mass absorbed him. There was no chance to save him. I raised my rifle, took quick aim, and fired a single round into his forehead.
Blackened blood sprayed the area, including me. The young man lay motionless now, his crying silenced. I fired another burst into the dark mass, but the bullets disrupted its form only briefly. It moved toward me slowly, with a cold determination. I darted down the corridor and ducked around a corner into the storage room.
The dark mass slowly crept out of the room, searching for me. I locked the door. Inside the room, I found chemicals and supplies—a metal pesticide sprayer, a jug of gasoline, and a grill lighter with a flexible tip. Twisting the top off the sprayer, I filled it with the gasoline and replaced the top. I held the lighter with the sprayer, positioning the lighter’s tip in front of the sprayer. In theory, the gasoline would pass by the lighter and a wave of fire would shoot forward, like a flamethrower. As I pumped the sprayer, I felt tense. Trapped, and not knowing if I could kill it, I wondered about my team members, my friends. Could I kill one of them if this thing got them? Could they do the same for me, to end my suffering? I didn’t know.
The door began to splinter and crack.
Slowly but steadily the crack grew. The black mass began to seep into the room. I waited for the right moment, for more of the creature to enter. When about half of it had seeped through, I activated the lighter and squeezed the trigger on the sprayer. A wide wave of flame swept through the creature. A gurgled shriek pierced my ears, but I did not stop until the dark mass melted, emitting the strange gas that many of the other cre
atures had released in death.
Kicking open what was left of the door, I pursued the rest of the dark mass as it oozed away down the hallway. The flames consumed it quickly, and all was quiet…for a moment. I carried the sprayer and the lighter back the other way, retracing my steps in search of the dark mass I had previously encountered hanging on the walls. Though I believed I was alone, I could not shake the notion that I was being stalked. I looked right, then left, and saw nothing. I knew the office area was clear, but then…a tingle…and the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up.
Instinctively, I dropped to the ground quickly and sent a wave of flame into the air vent above me, just as it broke open and another dark mass poured out of it, directly into my flame. In only a few moments, it was dissolved. I stood, and I scanned the area. It was clear, so I moved down the hall to my left.
I heard a faint cough, then a moan, from a room on the right. A thin trail of blood led me to the source. Before I entered, I nestled the sprayer into my pack and shoved the lighter into my pocket and raised my M4. It was a bathroom. I found a man, bloodied and near death, leaning against the far wall.
“You…you must be the Warrior he talked about,” the man said with great effort. “Don’t talk. Conserve your strength,” I said to him, kneeling in front of him.
“No need. I’m not going to make it. So…listen to me,” the soldier demanded, grabbing my vest. I leaned closer. “The Specialist has been taken over…by the dark entity,” he said. He had to pause to cough up blood. “He…he attacked us, slaughtered most of my team. Didn’t think I could hold on this long, but there was another… a warrior in white armor, holding me, telling me you’d come.” The soldier had to struggle to speak and was obviously in agony, but
he would not give up. “He said only those close to death or born with power can see him…and he had a message for you. He said, ‘Tell him I will join him when the time is right.’ End this. Avenge us, Warrior. Don’t let this evil spread, even though we brought it on ourselves with our own evil…”
“I’ll do my best.”
He took my hand and smiled. “She loves you, you know. And she’s the key…” With this, he gave up the fight and fell limp. I gently closed his eyelids.
He had been carrying an M4 and a .45 pistol. All of his clips were full; I added the weapons to my own stock.
I left the room, rifle at the ready, to continue my hunt. Instead of the dark mass, I found George standing in the hallway, his shotgun pointing at my gut.
“Damn! I almost shot you!” he said, lowering his weapon. He clapped me on the back. “Good to see ya, man.”
“Likewise,” I said with a chuckle, lowering my own M4. “Looks like you’ve been partying without us,” Chuck said.
“You shouldn’t have come. It’s not safe here,” I said quickly. Christina and Mary stood between Josh and Bill.
“The only safe place is together,” the chief said. “No more solo missions. We’re stronger united.”
“I’m starting to agree with you,” I said.
“You better. Come on. We have to get to the containment room. That’s where it all began
—and that’s where it’s damn well gonna end!” the chief said sharply.
We moved down the hall. The facility was unceasingly quiet. Aside from the blobs I had fried, we saw no creatures. Parts of the facility had been taken over by the dark entity, as the walls became completely black. As we neared the containment room, we found scars in the walls and floor where the tendrils had lashed out, but the tendrils themselves were gone.
“Josh, Chuck, with me,” I said. We entered the containment room and found the three bodies of the team that had gone in, their hazmat suits torn to shreds and their bodies shriveled.
Save for ghosts, the room was empty. We exited and rejoined the others.
“Is it gone?” Christina asked, staying close to Chuck. The chief and I looked at each other and agreed without a single word.
“No.” I was recalling what we’d seen that morning.
The chief apparently had the same thought. “The dark mass rising into the sky—that was the entity. And it wasn’t there when we woke up this afternoon,” he said.
“I found one of your company’s black-ops guys. Before he died, he said that the dark entity had taken over the Specialist,” I said. “He was already strong when I met him; now his powers will be far beyond my own.”
“Well, we can’t just punch out and go home. We came here to fight, didn’t we?” Bill said with a chuckle. “I say we charge.”
Josh remained silent for a moment, then said, “Damn right. This thing’s going down.” “There is a force of light at work here. Some sort of guardian or knight. I’ve seen him,
and he told the dying soldier to give me a message,” I said. “He said, ‘I will join you when the time is right.’ That means I’m charging and you guys are covering.”
“So while you wrestle with the big bubba, we handle the small fries?” the chief asked. “Yup.” I grinned.
“Works for me,” George said, cocking his shotgun. The ceiling above us ripped apart.
“I will never get used to this stuff,” Josh said, raising his rifle and firing at the rupture.
Soon, the room’s ceiling crashed down around us and the dark energy descended.
“Fan out!” I ordered. The others began to move. “Stay within ten feet of each other and
twenty feet away from me.” They took their positions.
The vaguely familiar form of the Specialist appeared before me. His face bore some resemblance to the man I’d seen, but his body was completely changed. His eyes glowed with dark power, and he was shrouded in darkness, just as the dark entity we had encountered before had been.
“I will toy with all of you…for a time,” he said, his clear voice fused with that of the echoing entity. I opened fire with the M4. The others followed suit. He laughed as the bullets pierced him. We kept it up, though the bullets seemed to do very little damage. He roared, throwing his arms out to the side and sending a dark energy wave all around him. It knocked us to the ground.
I recovered quickly and charged him, firing on full auto at his face. He laughed as I slammed the butt of the rifle into his chest; then he grabbed me by my vest and hurled me ten feet away. Before he could follow and attack again, the chief and his men fired, moving closer. Phasing, the Specialist vanished from their line of fire and appeared behind them and then struck them to the ground with another wave of dark energy.
Chuck moved at an angle while George rushed the Specialist, both firing at the same time. The Specialist seemed to stumble slightly when we pressed our attacks from multiple positions but not enough to halt him. With a blinding speed, he charged them, slamming into each. He focused dark energy into both of his hands, ready to hurl balls of black flame at them. I fired at his hands; he roared as he lost focus. He sent what energy he had left toward me; I jumped out of the way, firing into him at the same time. Seething with rage, he rose into the air.
“Now you will suffer…” he said from high above us. Dark energy surrounded him, forming a round shield. We fired into it, knowing that it would probably do little good.
“Regroup!” I yelled. We stood and ran to each other. Soon, a column of blackness burst forth from the shielding orb and crashed into the ground; in its wake stood a demon nine feet tall, massive, and clad in black, serrated armor. Spikes rose from its shoulders and wrists. The spikes on its shoulders, two on each side, were long and thick, rising in an arch. The ones on its wrists, smaller, extended from what would be the veins, had it been human. Its face was hidden by a helm, which covered all but its glowing eyes with a layer of plate. The armor itself gave off an illuminated gas, the same as the creatures. It had a long tail, like that of a monitor lizard, and wings like a bat. It was truly frightening to behold as it rose to full height.
“Open fire!” I cried out, firing at the new form. The others followed, but our bullets seeme
d to merely bounce off his armor. “Disperse!” I yelled, though I remained in the center. George and Chuck ran to the left; the chief and his men went the right. Mary and Christina, armed with pistols, followed Chuck and George. We were spread out far from each other, so that he could not wipe us out in a cluster, and we could attack from all sides. Everyone continued to fire as it charged me.
Rolling to the side, I dodged the massive sword that it wielded—the Hatred sword. Hatred was beyond the power of my flesh. The creature withdrew to stand ten feet from me. We took the chance to reload. It raised Hatred to the dark sky; a column of dark energy struck it. The dark energy dispersed throughout the surrounding area, which echoed with the shrieks of all the creatures we had encountered. The team fired into the surrounding attackers, while I focused on the behemoth before me. The entity scoffed.
Then it stopped. It looked up. The white warrior, my guardian angel, descended to stand beside me. In his arms, he carried my love.
The gunfire around us intensified. The others fell back to form a tighter defense as a group. Other warriors for the light, wielding flaming swords, appeared. They formed a circle around us, totaling a hundred. Immediately they charged into the endless horde of dark creatures, slashing wide and far into their numbers.
“So…you did come,” the entity said to the angels.
“I am Gabriel,” the white warrior angel said, turning to me. “Your love for her has brought you here, and it is for love that I am here now. Take my hand; we shall become one.” He presented an open hand to me. As I took it, a blinding light flashed, eclipsing the darkness. As it subsided, I studied my new form. Clad in white plate armor, glowing with an aura of righteousness, I looked at the demon. A flaming broadsword rested in my hand. I was about seven feet tall now, with long white hair that rested on my shoulders. Extending from my back were the wings of an angel. Wings made not of feathers but of pure energy.
My team joined in the fight, supporting the other angels in repelling the creatures. My gaze settled upon the demon as his gaze settled on me.
With blinding speed, we charged one another, our swords clashing. The sound of their thunder could not be ignored, and the flash of their strikes could be seen for miles. As I knelt down, I spun quickly and struck for its legs. The demon blocked and brought its sword down on me. Quickly, I blocked and pushed it back. The demon formed a bolt of dark energy; I formed a bolt of light. We hurled them at each other. The bolts became one, and a portion of the light broke through and struck the demon. The demon roared and took flight; I followed.
Higher and higher we went, until we were in the clouds. From there, I could see the endless horde that bore down upon the small group that fought them. Flashes of tracers and flaming swords trumpeted their strength. The demon phased and reappeared behind me to swing at me. Turning quickly, I blocked and kicked it in the gut. The demon roared and phased once more. This time it appeared above me but did not swing. It phased again and appeared below me to grab my foot and sling me toward the ground. Landing in the horde, I left a small crater. I was on my feet in an instant and released a wave of light as I flew toward the demon.
As I flew to him, I thrust my sword forward and sent forth a wave of holy flame. The demon formed a shell of dark energy to block. Before it could recover, I brought my sword to its side, knocking it off-balance. Then, I swung downward and hurled it to the ground. Gabriel was much more powerful than the entity, as light always is stronger than darkness. My love augmented my strength, fueled by my heart. Hatred could not match it. In a last effort, the demon stood and focused its entire energy into its sword, Hatred. In response, I focused my energy into my sword, Compassion. We sent the energy on a path of collision, and both sides held strong.
It had begun as a whisper, a sinister voice speaking to me. It told of times of anger, times of sorrow, and times of torment, and, indeed, the demons of my past attempted to haunt me once more. As I struggled and Hatred gained sway and inched closer and closer, another voice came to me—a soothing voice, reminding me of times of love and joy and of all that I had done simply to bring a smile to another person. Tranquility washed over my soul, and I found focus once more. All of my love went into Compassion; Compassion overpowered Hatred. The demon shrieked as it was consumed by the light and then was no more. The horde of creatures had been defeated. I landed to stand before my love.
Gabriel separated from me, and I was once more myself. She wept as she hugged me tightly, resting against my shoulder. I held her close and stroked her hair gently. The others stood around us and smiled.
Placing his hand on my shoulder, Gabriel spoke. “You will awaken now, both of you. Left with the feeling of love, you will wait for each other. And you will find each other,” Gabriel said. “Awaken.”
I woke up to my alarm clock. It was five in the morning on a Sunday. Sighing, I prepared for my walk. I set out the door, feeling love. I knew I would find her. I arrived at the church, six miles later, at seven thirty.
Gabriel’s Watch
I WATCHED THESE events knowing that those fighting with the light would prevail. They had found a strength they had not known. They stood against a darkness only a few came to know, and, at a high cost, they repelled it. My gaze was cast upon the Warrior, my Warrior. He and I would become one; together he and I would battle the darkness. I followed him into darkness and appeared to him to guide him. Never far, never near.
Finally, as all hope seemed to fade, I entered and joined with my Warrior. We would remain one even after he awakened. There was an even greater battle ahead—and more warriors to come. He was the first. He was the beginning.
About the Author
Patrick Howard graduated from Mount Dora High School in Florida in 2002 and went on to meet with many struggles in his life. He has been employed at a local Subway in Sorrento, Florida, for nearly ten years.
He is a single man devoted to the friends and family he has left. His experiences have shown him that hardship exists to strengthen us. Despite all the doubt that he has received from others, he has pushed on. In publishing this book, he is sharing the important life lesson that only you need to believe in yourself.
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