Hellspawn (part 7)
PART 7
Original prompt, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, part 6
Patrick closed his eyes to try and get some sleep. His previous attempts to sleep as well as this one seemed fruitless, the front window of the car was missing giving a constant draft of cold wind. They were only 15 minutes away from the retreat but there would always be detours, there would always be a monster right where they needed to go and Patrick did not want to lead them to the retreat if they were to hide there until this was over, whatever the outcome may be.
You won't need sleep where you're going
Morteus spoke to him in devilish tones, the name Julie had given it had stuck and they may as well use the names if they were to speak about the monsters.
"What do you think is going on?" Patrick asked Julie in a hangover like state.
"We know whats going on, the world is ending" Julie said that with an almost casual tone, no doubt Azrael was speaking to her too.
"Is it? This could be happening to just us for all we know, this could all be a horrible experiment gone wrong or it could be the devil playing tricks on us" Julie looked at her husband now with a more emotional look, perhaps Azrael had given her a break.
no tricks, we are here to consume you and that is all, we are not leaving until every single last one of you is dead
"The only way to know is by getting to the retreat and trying to find news on the radio or the tv, anything to know what is going on" Julie seemed distracted now, her eyes did not seem to be focused on anything in particular as if she was deep in thought.
"but what are they? why come now? are they actually from hell or is that just a trick they play on us to scare us?" Patrick looked to Julie as she didn't respond, something was wrong. "What is it saying to you? whats wrong?" Julie glanced to Patrick with discontent.
"I can't... I can't tell you, he knows everything about me, he knows things that I have not told anyone, things that I don't want anyone to know about, things that I wish I did not know"
"What is it?" Patrick asked resentfully, but the only way they were going to fight this was to talk to each other.
"Patrick I... I can't tell you, I can't do this its driving me mad!" Julies eyes began to water as tears visibly formed in the corners of her eyes.
"I'm sorry Julie but I think the only way we can overcome this is if we talk to each other. Perhaps it won't be so hard to think about I don't know but its all we can do right now"
You think talking about it will help you? You have your own secrets, secrets you would never tell... oh? whats this? you kept this hidden away didn't you? tell me... how old were they?
Patricks eyes shot open "No no no, not that... please not that, don't, anything but that please!" Julie stopped the car and braced Patrick, he didn't realise he had said that out loud.
"He... he knows! he... he knows what I did, I... I can't think about that! I can't!"
"Think about what Patrick? What is he saying to you?"
You really want to tell her? You were the one that suggested talking about it remember? not so easy to say when its you telling the secret is it?
"One of my deployments I..." Patrick began to tell her, he don't know what prompted him to tell her, perhaps in defiance of Morteus. "We came across a village" He started crying, Julie had never seen him cry before. "We weren't even supposed to be there, our truck had broken down and we went out to look for help as our radio had been fried by a bullet in an earlier fight" Patrick could see Morteus' dissatisfaction at his defiance.
Are you sure you want to tell her? Maybe she will kill you herself and leave your corpse for me
"The village seemed abandoned long ago, the buildings were falling apart and there seemed to be no activity at all. They were just hiding"
"Who was?" Julie asked, she seemed eager to hear the rest.
"The people that attacked us, they caught us out in the open and managed to kill half our team before any of us got to cover. It was horrible, I only survived because Jason just so happened to be in front of me" Julie gasped, the thought of her husband dying only made her cry more. "See? this is why I don't like to talk about my time away, it only upsets you" Julie nodded in between tears.
"Is... is that it? your secret?" Patricks expression now only showed sorrow.
"No"
Don't do it Patrick, she will hate you. Do you think she would ever forgive you for this?
"Once we got to cover the situation seemed dire, every time one of us tried to get a shot off they would get pinned down again by more bullets. Sometimes they would get hit" Julie took Patrick's hands in hers and squeezed them. "Our radio guy Daniel, he had been trying to fix the radio the whole time to call for backup and by some miracle he got it working again... so we called in an airstrike"
"Right so... you were saved right?"
"Yes... we were in a standstill for quite a while as we waited for the strike but once it came it decimated the entire village and that's when the shooting stopped" Patrick looked around, the trees around them seemed still save for 1 hanging corpse of a hiker who had a hook through his chest. "We should keep moving" Julie wiped below her nose.
No, stay right where you are just stay there and accept your fate
"Right" She said nodding her head, she turned the engine back on and they kept driving. "What happened next? i'm sure you don't feel sorry for calling an airstrike on people that were trying to kill you"
"No... it was who the people were"
"What do you mean?"
You mean you're a murderer, does she know you would have rather it be you than them after you found out just who exactly it was you killed? Well... not at first anyway
"Children... they were all children" Julies eyes shot open now, she turned to him.
"Children?!" There was a hint of anger in her voice, Patrick wouldn't blame her if she left him to die right here.
"Yes, 15 at the oldest" Patrick's tears grew bigger and flowed quicker.
"But that's... thats ok though right? I mean... they were trying to kill you?"
"Yes, its just... I was so angry. All I could see was red, I wasn't angry at myself or the pilot or the army, I was angry at the children... I didn't even care they were children"
If you tell her this and she leaves you to die I will personally hunt you down and make your passing a living nightmare, I will slowly tear the flesh from your limbs and feed it to you. I will bend your body in ways you didn't think were possible
"I walked in to the village, I was so full of hatred that I ignored all their charred bodies I stepped right over all of them and walked up to the one remaining survivor... a 13 year old kid. Then I shot him" Julie slammed on the brakes.
"WHAT?! You shot a 13 year old child?! after everything that happened you walked up to a 13 year old child and shot him... just like that?"
"I... I wasn't thinking, I just... it was like I was watching myself and shouting to stop but I wouldn't listen. All I could feel was anger, angry at how these little brats had killed all of my friends for no good reason, angry that they did it with no remorse. Why should I give him mercy if he didn't return the favor? That is what I was thinking at the time" Julie stared forward with both hands on the wheel as she tried to process what he just told her.
Morteus clung to the edges of Patrick's mind eager to witness what she would do.
oh this is good, this is really good. I was going to torment you with that memory but this is even better, this is what I yearn for. Misery
"Lets go" Julie said after a few minutes of complete silence to Patricks surprise. She put the car into gear and kept driving once more.
"Aren't you going to throw me out? I don't understand arent you angry at me?"
"Of course I'm angry! what do you think im going to do throw you out there so they can kill you?! those monsters are far worse than what me or you have ever done but that doesn't mean I'm ok with this... besides, we all have our own secrets"
Patrick slumped back into his seat and wondered what Julie was hiding, all he could do for now was think.
Posted Jan 29, 2017, 9:24 PM UTC · edited