331
The Archangel has to be one of the worst traveling companions I’ve ever had. No conversation. No rest breaks. Whenever I try to stop, it would keep walking, forcing me to warp to catch back up. I’d rather have been stuck with EAT. Evil water monster or not, at least you could talk to it. Or the Red Cap. Mmm, the Red Cap… I wonder if I could convince it to change sides… at least for a night…. Nah, got to keep my head straight. Got stuff to record here.
We walked until we reached Chelmno camp. The place’s appearance was as horrible as its purpose. Located in a forest clearing, with two barracks and two open air ovens. Didn’t see the large numbers of starving prisoners I’d expected. This wasn’t a concentration camp. This was an extermination camp, designed to kill as many people a possible as fast as possible.
The soldiers here wouldn’t get the mercy I’d shown to those on the road. They didn’t deserve the kindness.
Tried to get my mind on other things. Had to focus on stopping Grendel. “They’ve been protecting Damzog,” I said to the Archangel, not really expecting a response. “Think if we kill him, it’ll throw of Grendel’s plans?”
Just had to figure out how to do that. The guards wouldn’t be much of a problem, but the Fears would complicate things.
A ghostly howl descended upon the camp, and I saw the Black Dog slowly approaching the gate. Well, looks like Snakes was right about other Fears going after Damzog. The guards saw it shortly after me, and they opened fire. Which is a reasonable response to seeing a black dog the size of a bus.
Reasonable or not, it didn’t do anything. The dog charged, and tore the gate aside. The guards who were nearby were swatted aside by its huge claws. One tried to run, but the Dog’s mouth closed on him, teeth tearing him in half.
Well that made getting inside much easier. The Archangel and I walked through the gate, mostly ignored by the guards. One did see us, and started to say something, but the Archangel passed a hand over him and he collapsed. I grabbed the submachine gun from his corpse, and followed the Archangel as we walked down the Black Dog’s trail of destruction.
The place was quickly turning into chaos. The Black Dog tore through the barracks, ripping men apart, impervious to any resistance. Hell of a lot of gunfire and shouting as the soldiers there tried to fight against this monster that had appeared.
But Snakes had shown me more than just the Black Dog pursuing Damzog, hadn’t she? Just to make things crazier, in the sky the clouds parted, and a huge Eye appeared. Men screamed at the unnatural sight, and some threw down their guns to flee. Any who ran by me were gunned down.
The Eye’s pupil searched through the camp. For a moment, it paused on me. The stare froze me in place, and I could hear a voice in my head, a booming voice that sounded as if it came from on high.
Murderer. Killer. Monster. You destroy lives without any care beyond yourself. Everywhere you go you leave death and ruin behind you. You feel nothing for the consequences of your actions, only desiring to fulfill your hedonistic urges. You have been consumed by your lust, your gluttony, your bloodthirst, and hide behind your flimsy justifications of heroism. You have sinned, and your sins are deserving of judgement.
Then the Eye looked away, and the voice stopped. Someone else had caught its attention. I followed the gaze, and saw Grendel pulling Damzog toward a truck by an exit. Gotcha.
Ran at them, but the Burning Bride appeared in my path. Several of the guards formed ranks around it, and opened fire at me. These guards were different from the others: they had a strange light in their eyes, and they fought with perfect skill and coordination. I couldn’t move out of cover, even to shoot back. Any guards who ran by the Bride gained that light in their eyes, and joined the fight with that impossible precision.
The Archangel walked forward, and the guards shifted their fire onto it. The bullets passed through without harming it, and the guards closest began to fall over, dead. The Burning Bride unleashed fire at the Archangel, but I didn’t stay to see its effect. With them occupied, I ran by.
Only gained a little distance before the body of a guard flew by me, followed by the Black Dog leaping into my path. Soon as it saw me, it swung a clawed paw toward me. Rolled under it, and then jumped aside before its teeth could close on me. It leapt at me and tried to bite me again, but a red cloth suddenly appeared and wrapped around its mouth, pulling the Dog to the ground.
“My, what big teeth you have.” The Red Cap said as it stepped out from behind the Dog, its hood tightening on the Dog’s mouth.
I let them deal with each other. Grendel and Damzog had gotten into a truck and were driving away. I ran for the other vehicles nearby, but guards were using them to escape in as well. Pushed myself, and barely managed to get past all the Fear screwiness and warp onto one of the moving trucks. Threw the driver out and took the wheel, driving after Grendel.
They were heading into the town proper of Chelmno. Slammed on the accelerator, and gradually started passing the other vehicles.
Just as I wear nearing Grendel’s truck, a cloud of flower petals drifted from the sky toward me. At first, I was confused. Then, I remembered what happened the last time I saw a suspicious random cloud of petals coming at me, and I turned the wheel as hard to the left as I could.
Wasn’t fast enough. The petals tore through the truck like it wasn’t even there. Jumped out the door before I could be ripped apart, and warped into the car behind me. The driver didn’t get the chance to be surprised before more petals sliced his throat open. Warped out of that car into the next truck back. Didn’t waste time then; soon as I appeared inside, I grabbed the wheel and swerved away from the colorful cloud. The driver was screaming in German, but he didn’t try to retake the wheel. Also did a good job of keeping his foot pressed against the accelerator.
Weaved down the road, trying to make up lost ground. Couldn’t avoid all the petals, but I just needed to avoid enough to keep the truck moving. Saw the Chelmno train station coming up ahead; Grendel’s truck was parked outside, and the train was starting to move. The petals hit the trucks right tires, and we started to skid. Held onto the wheel as tightly as I could, trying to keep us going straight. The left wheels were taken out, but we had enough momentum to make it the rest of the way, coming to a stop just in front of the train station. Both the guard and I let out a sigh of relief. And then I shot him. No mercy for this camp.
Got out after I threw aside the body, and ran onto the station’s platform. There was only one person standing there. Looked like a man, wearing an unbound straight jacket, with bright orange hair that covered his eyes, and a smile larger than his face. The colors on him were slightly off; his skin and hair was too bright, more like something drawn from marker than what a human should look like.
Heard about this thing from Lucy. One of the Fears. The Smiling Man.
It held a flower in its hand, which it offered to me. I didn’t pay attention to the flower. I was too busy shooting the Smiling Man through the torso with my submachine gun.
Bright syrupy red blood came out of the bullet holes in it. Didn’t kill it, though. God dammit why do guns never work on these things. The Smiling Man dropped the flower it had been holding, and the petals from it flew at me. They cut up my coat as I dodged, but nothing more. Then it moved its head so that I could see its eyes, and….
I… don’t remember what they looked like. Or really anything that happened. All I remember was feeling like I was falling. Falling into those eyes that I can’t remember….
What I next recall is lying on the ground, my coat was gone, and I was covered in cuts. Nothing very deep or life threatening; I get the impression that the Smiling Man wasn’t trying to kill me quickly. The Archangel was holding the Smiling Man in the air with one hand wrapped around its face. The Archangel squeezed, and the Smiling Man’s face was crushed, bursting into more of that bright blood that dripped down the Archangel’s arm.
The fight with the Burning Bride had left its mark on the Archangel. Its trench coat was singed, and part of its gas mask was gone, showing emptiness where a face should have been.
The Smiling Man was thrown aside, but it soon stood back up. Even with its head crushed, the smile still remained, completely unharmed.
The Archangel waved a hand, and several railway spikes rose from the tracks. Another wave, and the spikes flew at the Smiling Man. They tore it to pieces, tearing through its torso, ripping off an arm, then a leg, impaling its body over and over. Then the Archangel raised its hands, and the roof of the station began to groan. It lowered its hands, and the roof collapsed on the Smiling Man.
Time to focus back on the train. It was already speeding away, quickly moving to the horizon. Couldn’t let it get away. Took a few steps, winced at the pain, and then started running. Once I reached the end of the platform, I jumped, and warped on top of the train.
Landing on the roof of a moving train is a pretty god damn difficult thing to do, let me tell you. Had to catch myself before I fell off. Once I managed to stand up, I started to walk forward along the train cars. And guess who was waiting for me three cars up?
“I thought you’d catch up, Darling.” Grendel said while unholstering a luger pistol. “Let’s make sure to enjoy ourselves.”
He pointed the gun at me, but I warped forward and kicked it out of his hand. It fell off the train, but I warped to catch it, and then warped back on. Fired all its shots into Grendel, and then threw it away. Then Grendel was the one who warped to catch it and warp back to the train. He reloaded the gun and started shooting as I warped around the train cars to dodge the bullets.
Once the gun was out of ammo, I swung at Grendel, but he warped behind me. He tried to kick me, I dodged, punched his face. He punched at me, I warped away. Up and down the train, never staying in one place for more than a few seconds before warping, trying to break our opponent. For a time, it looked like I had the initiative. I warped behind Grendel and struck him in the head. Before he could recover I went on the offensive, punching, kicking, elbowing, until he was at the edge of the train car. Went for a final roundhouse kick to knock him off, but he caught my foot in his hand.
“An impressive display of your abilities, sweetheart. But you still think too much like a human.”
“The hell do you mean by that?”
Someone tapped my shoulder. I looked over, and there was another Grendel. Before I could react, he punched me in the face hard enough to almost throw me off the train. Paused to steady myself, and two Grendels came at me from either side. Warped away, only for a third to appear and hit me in the gut. Tried to counter, but he vanished, only to reappear behind me. Warped away to get distance, but he was already waiting where I warped to. Punched me again, and then backhanded me off the train. Barely managed to warp back on.
“We are masters of the very fabric of time, and yet you keep insisting on thinking in a purely linear fashion.” Grendel said as he walked toward me. “So very sad. You have such potential, but you refuse to grasp it-”
Another me appeared and decked him in the jaw.
I wasn’t thinking much. There wasn’t any planning, or careful coordination of timelines. There was just anger. I warped toward Grendel, any Grendel I could find anywhere along the nearby timeline, and attacked him. I would appear behind him and punch at him, only for another him to appear to block; then another me would kick the newer him aside. And so on and so on, without order or reason, just pure violence directed at one another.
I’ve never warped so much in such a short span of time. And it was becoming clear that I couldn’t keep it up. Each jump took more out of me than the last. Until finally, I reached for time… and couldn’t. I didn’t have the strength to grab it. I barely had the strength to move at all.
Grendel, however, was fine. And he didn’t hesitate to take advantage of my lowered defenses. I was knocked to the ground, and he started brutally kicking me over and over, laughing to himself. When he grew tired of that, he grabbed me by an arm and held me over the edge of the train.
“Well, this certainly has been fun. I’ll admit, I was worried when I first heard you’d arrived here, darling. But this would have been so boring were it not for your interference, and for that, I thank-”
Shut him up with a very well aimed kick.
It took him a while before he responded. “It’s… fortunate that we are no longer human. Otherwise that would have ruined many of the things I plan to do to you once this is over. Goodbye for now, my love.”
And then he threw me off the train.
Couldn’t warp to save myself from the impact. Closed my eyes, and waited for the ground to hit.
Never hit the ground. Instead, I felt myself surrounded by a brilliant light. The light was omnipresent, glowing behind even my closed eyes. And there was a sound. A dull roar, maintaining a constant tone and volume. I listened to the sound, trying to figure out what it was. Then it hit me: it was the sound of screaming. Billions of human voices all screaming in unison.
I opened my eyes, and found myself being held by the Archangel. Instantly threw myself out of its arms, even if it meant landing face first in the mud. We were by the railroad tracks, and I could see the train pulling away. Tried to get up and chase it, but I just couldn’t.
Since then, I’ve regained some of my strength. Enough to make a trip to the 21st century and post this, at least. Now I just need to focus on getting enough of it back to stop Grendel.
I-330
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