TWENTY - SIX

The sign had been wind torn, sand blasted, and sun bleached by the natural elements of this arid environment. The words 'BELICHICK WELDING AND FABRICATING COMPANY, INC.’ could still be faintly read. As the headlights swung across the front of the building revealing four dark windows, two on either side of the double front door. It was the perfect picture of a house as drawn by a four or five year old. The bottom half of the building was concrete block and the upper half, aluminum siding. A twelve thousand square foot building with a flat tar roof.

Swinging the Winnebago around in a broad arc, the headlight illuminated the two fire exits required by law on a structure of this size on both sides. At the back of the building were three roll up doors for trucks to deliver and pick up, plus one regular sized exit.

Evan knew from years of working in the building that the single left door was where David said the trailer was parked. Two short staccato blasts of the horn caused the door to slowly begin to rise. As the Winnebago pulled to a stop, waiting for the door to rise high enough for the RV to enter, a tall thin man in old jeans and an army green t-shirt, jumped down.

Bending at the waist and still having to squat, Evan moved quickly inside. He immediately ran to the front of the shop in the semi darkness and locked the only door from the offices to the shop floor as only Evan or Edgar could lock a door. Running from door to door from the shop to outside, they were soon locked keeping those on the outside, outside. As he returned to the truck doors, the Winnebago was inside and the door was closing.

“Stay in the RV until the door is completely closed,” Evan yelled towards the open window.

Three more doors to seal, and then they would be secure. Moving his hand along the door's edge standing about five feet from the door, the edges of the door glowed red, as if the edges were being welded closed. From his hands being on the opposite sides of the door, palms towards each other. He clapped his hands together quickly. Rotating his wrists forty-five degrees, he pulled his hands apart quickly, from the floor to the

upper reaches Evan’s hands came together again locking the door from either side. With every door locked Edgar, Cleopatra and Valerie came up the stairs from the dock well.

They came to the middle of the trailer and opened the two steel doors, using the metal of the doors as a shield.

“We need to extend this out and across,” Evan said.

“Why, we’re alone in here,” David said.

“No we’re aren’t,” Edgar said softly, “there’s three to four up in the loft, and a few more at each of the front doors.”

“Edgar, you work on the extended barrier. Cleo, you keep patrol from any projectiles or bullets. Val and David stay inside the actual trailer. I’m going to see if I can’t disarm them. We're looking for my diaries. They were stacked on the table by the sofa.”

The walkie-talkie was held to his mouth to catch the whispered command, “Move in now! Move in now! As arranged.”

Silence! Two men were supposed to come through each door to surround the subjects. Silence!

“Move in now! Move in now!” The orders were repeated. Silence! Silence!

“Report now! Report Now!”

“Alpha One, Alpha two down and unconscious!”

“Bravo Two, Bravo One down after touching the exterior door!” “Charlie One, Charlie Two report.”

Silence!

“Delta One, Delta Two report.”

Silence!

“Foxtrot One reporting, Foxtrot Two is down and out. Some sort of electrical force on the door making it unapproachable.”

“Guardian One, reporting. Guardian Two is down, I repeat Guardian Two is down and leaning against the door. Do NOT touch the body or any item touching the door.”

“Sentinel One okay.”

“Sentinel Two okay, a bramble blew against the door and burst into fire. Will not approach doors.”

“Roger reports, will neutralize the interior and then try doors again, Destroyer One out.”

Evan scooted low behind several heavy steel jig tables moving to the only door not covered by the men in the open storage area above the office. He saw a soldier leaning against the door and knew he would be out until about an hour after the guards were removed. Carefully examining every inch of the area, Evan searched for what was new. This was his place of employment and had been for years.

He knew every inch, and then he saw it. Floating six inches above the floor and extending about three or four inches out from the stack of perforated steel sheets, There was a soldier guarding his fellow fallen soldier at the exterior door. Evan changed his trajectory to come up behind the prone soldier. As silent as the grave, Evan stood making certain his shadow did not cross the prone soldier’s body to see. Quickly Evan looked up towards the attic storage area above the offices. Not seeing anybody, he created a baseball size ball of blue energy in his hand which he raised above his head. Like a rubber band had been cut, the arm sprang forward to launch the blue ball of energy. It hit the back of the soldier just below the skull. The soldier stiffened then dropped the rifle and slumped forward, as if he were sleeping atop his rifle.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The clattering noise from the dropped rifle, even the six or seven inches, echoed through the silent work area. After thirty seconds of silence, Evan squatted down to collect the rifle and sidearm. Holding his hands over the rifle and sidearm, Evan imagined that these two weapons controlled all the other weapons inside and outside the building for a radius of fifty yards. He imagined that taking these two weapons apart would disassemble the others. The words he spoke clearly but softly. First he ejected the clips, and opened the the breech to empty the rifle and the side arm ejecting a bullet from the side arm and a dart from the rifle. All weapons were now empty, and Evan wanted them to stay that way without having to concentrate on just this for the next hour or so. From the rifle he

removed the slide bolt, the firing pin and then dismounted the barrel. He placed the rifle pieces to the side while placing the firing pin in his pocket. Next he took the side arm and removed the firing pin from this weapon before separating the barrel from the rest of the weapon.

Looking back to the soldier laying against the door, he saw the pieces from the rifle and sidearm scattered around the half prone figure. The spell was successful. The next soldier was found hiding between two pallets of rolled steel. Each pallet weighed more than a ton. Evan popped up in front of the cowering soldier, terrified what came next. The first thing Evan did was move his hands so the pallets scooted in to lightly press against the shoulders.

“What are you going to do to me?” the soldier demanded, absolutely terrorized by the man standing in front of him.

“Just put you to sleep for a few minutes,” Evan said softly and calmly, making the occupants in the attic storage area strain to hear him. Flipping his hand down, blue light gathered in the palm of his hand. He rolled the blue energy in his hand forming the baseball. “This should feel like getting hit with a softball in the arm. You know it stings for a minute,” Evan lied, never having been hit by a ball of energy.

The soldier jumped a little in his squatting position, coming down in a fully seated position, and totally unconscious. Evan clapped his hands and every light outside the office area came buzzing to life. The mercury vapor light produced a very bright white light so the workers could see their work

easily. The clap sounded more like a stroke of thunder, throbbing in Gil’s ears and the sole remaining soldier left awake on the inside. “It’s over, Gil come on out. You don’t want me madder than I already am having to come up there to get you and your buddy,” Evan’s voice rang out.

Major Gil Hammons saw Evan’s head slowly rise up the stairs. The soldier had been terrified when his weapons began to break apart. Truth be told, Major Hammons was only a moment away from peeing his own pants. He came up the steps slowly getting closer and closer. The loud roar in his ears of being told to come out and the terrific urge to do as the voice completed. The soldier next to him stepped out into the aisle

throwing his twelve inch k-bar knife at Evan with unerring accuracy. As the knife spun tip over handle, tip over handle, hurtling towards Evan. At the last second, Evan seemed to pluck the handle out of the air. An underhanded baseball size of blue energy came streaking towards the soldier. It struck him mid chest causing him to fall to the floor unconscious.

“Come on out Gil, all of your little playmates are out for the duration or locked outside. There's nobody left to help.” Louder than ever before, Evan’s voice boomed across the attic storage area, “Come to me Gil!”

The feeling was a little like how it felt just before he climaxed, electronically charged and totally unable to stop what was going to happen next. His will drained from his body, leaving an empty hole in the pit of his stomach.

“You wouldn't listen to Valerie,” and Evan shook his head sadly. You had to insist upon playing your stupid little war games. Well, let me show you why I won’t go with you or even help you. If this is successful, I will meet with your General just once.” With that said Evan reached out to touch his shoulder as he recalled the memories of the dreams he had prior to his visit to the Seventh Gate. With the memories came the full force of the emotions he had originally experienced.

Gil’s mind was a kaleidoscope of images and sensations. A little girl played with a severed human head. Dark empty windows looked down on him like the empty eye socket of a skull. Loneliness and helplessness pervaded his body. Dead bodies, puffy with decay, moving with maggots and cockroaches vying for temporary control over the cadaverous flesh until the rats and vultures fought for the ultimate control. Major Gil Hammons had seen dead bodies before, but not on this scale. Falling to his knees, weak and helpless, he emptied his stomach of the late dinner he enjoyed before coming to the welding company’s warehouse. Turning the corner in his mind, he let out a high wail of terror and pain. The bodies stacked like blocks in the middle of a soccer field, twenty-five feet high if it were an inch. On top of this monument to pain and suffering was a block of basalt, six feet by three feet by six feet tall, covered in dark blood. With terrified eyes and an inability to move, he watched the woman kill the baby slicing through the soft small neck. Major Hammons yelled until he was hoarse as the tiny head first dropped onto the pile of human bodies, to roll

down the mountain and roll to a stop at his feet. The sea blue eyes staring up at him. Movement at the top again drew his eyes to the woman still holding the ten inch chef knife. Just below the ribs on the left side of her body the knife was plunged into herself. Using both hands she dragged the knife from left to right, disemboweling herself. Dropping the knife and again using two hands she pulled her stomach and bowels through the opening while yelling “It’s all for you o great Dark King”.

Evan turned and went back down the stairs towards the open doors in the trailer. Major Hammons hurried after Evan. At the bottom of the stairs Major Hammons yelled at Evan, “Why? How? When?”

“You’re seeing the future if I am unable to change what is to come because you think playing your silly little patriotic games. This is what happens if I lose, so leave me alone.”

Evan moved quickly down the aisle, with Major Hammons running after him and wailing as he went.

“What’s with Gil,” David asked, stepping out of the trailer.

“He’s watching my dreams.”

“You can’t be an asshole and leave him with that intact. Evan, I know you’re better than him and this.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Did you guys find the box with my diaries?” “We think so,” Valerie said, then added, “But we can be sure. Either we can’t open the books or they open and less than sixty seconds later the handwriting is gone.”

“That’s them, are they all in one box?”

“Two.” Edgar said.

“Great,” and Evan went over to Gil and placed his hands on Gil’s forehead. Gil fell face first to the ground unconscious. “There you go David. When we leave, so do the guards on the door. I have to do it this way or no one will ever get in or out until I return. Then four soldiers that I knocked out should remain out for at least another hour. How many more boxes of books are there? I really don’t want Gil getting his hands on them now that he knows where our stuff is.”

“I think about a dozen, maybe fourteen. I’ll pack them in my car and then take them to Mom’s for safe keeping. And I’m going to call the police because some people broke into the place. That should stir up some shit.”

Call Mr. Belichick comes down so he can be here when the police arrive. The keys to the Winnebago are in it. It’s his to use for as long as he wants too.”

“So how are you getting out of here then?”

“Teleportation.”

“Shit, you always get to do the fun stuff,” David said with a smile.