“Stop being a pansy,” Mrs. Deneaux said. “Today is the only day that any of us has guaranteed. If it becomes too much of a burden then you can always fall on your sword. Of course it would have to be made of wood,” she cackled.
“I thought you were relatively cool when you pulled that gun out. Now we’re back to square one and I can’t stand you.”
She cackled louder.
“Every second we waste in discussion will be that much more time you will have to stay alive waiting for your own powers to increase,” Tomas said.
“How much of a head start does Durgan have?” Justin asked. I was still pretty lost in my own thoughts to make any coherent cognitive thoughts.
“Five minutes,” Tomas answered his old friend.
“Why bother at all,” Mrs. Deneaux said. “He couldn’t survive five minutes against the old Durgan, now with the new and improved model? Pah, we should have kept more guns.”
“You should see if that gun has any rounds in it and hold it up to your eye. I’ll pull the trigger for you,” Alex said.
She “pahed” again.
“What of my soul?” I asked Tomas.
He shook his head in negation.
“I can never go to Heaven?”
“Only to the gates.”
“I’ve been there,” I said, burying my head in my hands. “It’s a beautiful place, lonely but beautiful.”
“Oh Mike,” Tracy said, draping her body across mine like a shield against the worst of what the world had to offer.
“I’m not strong enough for this,” I said as my body heaved.
“Our lives are not worth eternity,” BT said as he wrapped Tracy and myself up in his own embrace.
“Eliza will discard all of your souls before she is done,” Tomas said.
“Why are you doing this?” Meredith asked, “You play on the other team now, what do you care what happens to us?”
“I have my reasons,” Tomas said evenly.
I looked around at the faces surrounding me, searching for an answer that only I could produce. It was Travis and Justin that solved my dilemma. Watching them die today was infinitely worse than watching them die at some mythical point in the future.
“Do it.”
“Talbot! NO!” Tracy yelled.
“You sure man?” BT asked in disbelief.
“Do I look sure?” I asked him, my eyes red-rimmed.
“I don’t think so,” Gary said. “What? He asked!” Gary replied when BT looked at him sideways.
“Damn, I thought the whole Captain Obvious was my strong point,” Justin said. “It must run deeper in the family than we thought.”
Tomas came up beside me, “You will want to lie down.”
“Is this going to hurt him?” Meredith asked.
“Extremely.”
“Wicked pissah,” I said.
Tracy walked away, her arms folded across her chest. I couldn’t be sure from my position, but it looked like her shoulders were shaking with sobs.
I lay down, saying the Lord’s Prayer in one last vain attempt to possibly keep a dialog open with the Big Guy.
BT held my hand tight. “Let’s just go out guns blazing, Mike.”
I looked over to my sons’ very concerned faces. “I would if we were alone my friend.”
“I get it, I do. I’m sorry it came to this, buddy,” BT added.
Paul and Alex stood guard over my prone body as Tomas leaned in. It was Henry that almost stopped everything. Where he had been and what he had been doing I’m not sure, probably basking in the sun and sending out his own ozone melting flatulence.
He jumped across my chest, his back legs by my left arm pit and his front paws down by my right side. Froth formed on his muzzle as he barked and growled incessantly as Tomas approached.
“I will kill him if you do not remove him,” Tomas said, stopping his progress.
“You kill him and I will drill you in the eye with my Ka-Bar, Tomas,” I told him.
“Perhaps you would Michael. Now move the dog so that we can get to the business at hand,” Tomas said, still not moving, maybe because he was fearful of the dog or me.
Justin grabbed the big Bully and hefted him back. Travis stepped in to assist and still they almost lost control of Henry.
“Put this in your mouth,” Tomas said as he handed me a piece of rubber roughly the size and shape of a cigar. “And do not concern yourself where it has been, germs will no longer be a problem of yours.”
That almost made this whole scenario a worthwhile endeavor.
Tomas moved down to my neck. I had an instant of paranoia thinking that he merely wanted to get this close so that he could rip my throat out. And then he did, at least that’s what it felt like. Sparks of pain ignited in my throat like my veins were igniter cables and the fuse had been lit. Fire spread through every portion of my body. I arched so hard only the heels of my feet and the back of my head still made contact with the roof.
So this is how your soul was removed, it was burned out. I could smell burning cordite as my teeth struggled to cut through the guard. Muscles spasmed with a force that put my body into contortions that must not have been anything near to normal. I couldn’t register it then, but even BT was looking away, not able to stand what I was going through. Although I’ll give him this, his hand never left mine and I know I must have put enough force on it to crush a normal man’s.
“Th..th..thisss thu..thucks,” I chattered to BT.
He squeezed my hand tighter. “It’s no bargain on this side my friend,” he said, still not looking down.
Tomas had strode away at some point, could have been five minutes or five hours. Having your soul seared kind of takes your mind off of time.
“Dad?” Travis asked.
I gave him a nod but there was no guarantee that I pulled it off. My muscles were firing independent of any messages I was sending them. For all I knew, I could have stuck my tongue out at him.
“You stupid, stupid bastard,” Tracy said, cradling my head gently.
“Is it over?” I asked.
“You passed out a few minutes ago buddy,” Paul said.
“You said “goodbye” right before you went under. We were scared,” Alex said. “Do you know what you were referring to? Did you have a vision?”
I shook my head no, but I did know what I was referring to. It was the loss of my humanity, my mortality, my personage, my soul. I was less of a man now and more of a demon. And I had never felt weaker in my life.
“We need to clean his neck and stand him up before Eliza gets here,” Paul said looking nervously towards the door. “Tomas said this would look too suspicious if you were on the ground,” he said, looking at my confused face.
“I’m… I’m not sure I can stand yet, at least on my own,” I said. I don’t think I could have held up Eddy’s slight frame in this condition.