Ayumi (c)
Chapter Six
By Fiction Writer #13
(rom, nosex, paranormal, violence, teen, preteen)

I was out of bed in less than a heartbeat, nearly breaking my neck 
tripping on my sneakers.  I tried to look for my alarm clock in the 
darkness, usually its red numbers glowed so brightly that I had to cover 
it with a shirt in order to fall asleep, but tonight those lights were black.

"The power's out again," I whispered as I moved closer to Ayumi.  Her 
eyes had never left the window since I started moving, and now my own 
were drawn towards the outside world.

The neighborhood never looked so alien to me.  It's weird to look out a 
window that I've gazed out of a million times and see something I've 
never seen before.  The whole town was black; no one had any lights 
on.  There was no traffic, no headlights off in the distance winding up the 
east hills, no street lights or stop lights dotting the city.  Everything was 
dark... except for the sky.

"Whoa... do you see that?"

Ayumi's eyes moved skyward and her jaw dropped in disbelief. "It's... 
so... pretty."

It really was too.  The moon was nothing more than a thin sliver of white, 
stars peppered the sky in numbers that I'd never before seen, but that 
wasn't why we were transfixed.

Stretching from horizon to horizon the entire sky shimmered with a 
curtain of light.  Green and blue, orange and red, great ribbons of faint 
light waved and rippled in a slow dance.  It was beautiful, amazing, the 
most incredible thing I've ever witnessed in my life.

I would have rushed outside and laid down on the grass to stare up at 
heaven in wonder until the sun rose, if it weren't for the steadily 
increasing rumble of motorcycles.

"That sounds like a lot of bikes."

Ayumi nodded. "Otho had lots of friends."

Something didn't seem right to me, something was off.  If all the cars 
were out of commission, why were their bikes still working?  I was going 
to ask Ayumi, but she had just jumped off of the window sill.

"We have to go," she said with a frightened tremble in her throat. "We 
have to go now."

"What makes you think they'll come here?" I looked back out the 
window.  Way out in the distance, on the road that winds up and down 
the east hills, a line of white dots suddenly emerged from the trees.

"They know that he's dead.  They know where he died," she whimpered 
quietly. "They're coming for me."

I watched as those tiny white spheres of light moved down the face of 
the hill.  First they moved all the way to the left, then all the way to the 
right, then back to the left, closer and closer they came to entering the 
town limits.  I lost track of how many were on the way, my last count was 
somewhere around thirty-one before I looked away.  Ayumi had already 
inched her way to the door.

"Come on," she pleaded, "we've got to go."

"Where?" I hopped down and made my way around my bed to join her at 
the door. "We don't even have a car."

"I don't know, but if we wait here..." she grabbed me by my wrist and 
started to drag me out into the hallway, "... they'll find us fer sure."

"Hold on!  Hold on!" I pulled free from her surprisingly strong grasp. "Let 
me get dressed.  You should put something on, too."

"No time, come on... what are you waiting for?" Once again she tried to 
seize my arm, but I dodged her.

"Shoes first, then we'll go." I fumbled around on the floor trying to find 
the sneakers that I had just tripped over. "Seriously, though... you need 
to go put on some of my sister's clothes.  You'll attract attention."

"Fine," I heard her answer, but didn't see her leave; I was too busy trying 
to find my left shoe.

Still the rumbling got louder, loud enough to set my window rattling in its 
frame.  Once I had both sneakers on I stood up and glanced out the 
window, just in time to see the last light leave the east hill.

"Shit... what the fuck did I get myself into now?" I grumbled to myself as I 
headed out into the hallway in search of Ayumi. "Yumi?  Where are 
you?"

"Down here!" she called to me from the first floor, "Waiting for you!"

It was so dark I could barely make out the walls of the hall, let alone 
navigate down the steps without stumbling.  The pictures that my mom 
had hung rattled; one falling to the floor and breaking behind me.  It was 
getting loud, really loud.

I called down to Ayumi, more to find my bearings than to get an answer. 
"Did you find something to wear?"

"Yeah!" she called with so much fear in her voice that she sounded on 
the verge of panic. "Hurry up!"

I made it down the last step without killing myself and nearly ran over her 
in the darkness.

"Sorry."

"Come on!" She grabbed my wrist again, her nails biting into the skin. 
"We have to go!"

The growling roar of the approaching machines reached a new level of 
violence.  The noise vibrated the entire house, cut right into the heart of 
me like a bass drum.

"Okay!  Okay!  Slow down!  I can't see shit in here."

She didn't listen, though.  She pulled me through my own home as if she 
had lived there all of her life.  Her path took us expertly around all of the 
furniture and got us to the front door in no time, but it wasn't fast enough.

"Oh no!" she squeaked as her hand touched the door knob.

I was about to ask her what was wrong when I got the answer for myself.  
Harsh white light blazed through the windows from the outside, 
illuminating both me and Ayumi as we stood frozen by the front door.  
What had been one great mass of sound now changed to that of 
individual motorcycles as they roared up the street.

From my spot I could barely see outside so I moved closer to the 
window.  Ayumi clutched my hand and tried to stop me.

"Don't let them see you!"

"I won't," I hushed her over the loud din.

At first it seemed as though the lot of them were going to drive right past 
my house.  The first ten drove on up the street without even 
acknowledging the car on the sidewalk, the body in the street, or the van 
sitting in my yard.  But then they stopped, wheeled around and came 
back, joining an additional ten that had roared up behind them.

Another group drove past them, stopping at the corner and parking.  I 
looked down the opposite corner and saw still more arriving.  They were 
blocking off the street at both ends.  More and more of them came, filling 
the road with shining chrome and blazing headlights.

Outside the night disappeared, chased away by two wheeled machines 
bearing riders dressed in black leather.  Three of the men dismounted 
their steeds and began inspecting the curb where I had watched Otho 
dissolve into goo.  One stooped down and pulled the pile of wet denim 
and leather out of the gutter.

"AAAARRRGGGGGG!" His nightmarish cry cut through the noise of the 
thundering bikes.  His arm flew into a fit as he flung the clothes back 
down, his hand smoking as if it had been set on fire.  None of his friends 
moved to aid him, in fact most of them laughed at his distress.

"Serves him right," Ayumi whispered.  I hadn't noticed until then that she 
had moved in front of me, her eyes peeking through the same quarter 
inch slit in the curtains as my own.

Back outside another guy stooped down to the pavement and plucked 
up something tiny.  He closely inspected the thing before holding it up 
over his shaggy head so that the others could see.

Immediately a cry went up from the gang, a roar like none I've ever 
heard before.  It was full of pain and anguish, but most of all it was filled 
with rage.  The sound turned my blood to ice water.

"What is he holding?" I whispered down to Ayumi.

"Otho's Atrum Oculus," she whispered back.

"His what?"

"His Atrum Oculus; It's a little black thing, like jewelry only he didn't wear 
it.  They all have one.  I think it has something to do with their God, but I 
don't really know.  I touched one once... it burned my hand." She held 
her right hand up for me to see.  There was a faint scar in the shape of a 
small "X" on her palm. "I can't fix it for some reason.  Sometimes it itches 
real bad."

The howling of the bikers was making me feel sick. "Why are they 
screaming like that?"

"Otho's dead." She looked up at me, her eyes glittering with the lights 
from outside. "He was their leader."

"We're in deep shit, aren't we?" I already knew that, but Ayumi nodded 
slowly anyway.

Suddenly the men outside ceased their cries of anger, only the sounds 
of the motorcycle's engines filling the night air.  Out of the corner of my 
eye I saw the bikers blocking the street on the right start walking their 
bikes out of the road, leaving a large gap in the blockade.

A new sound filled the city, a familiar one.  Off in the distance the wailing 
of a police siren approached.  Before long the distinct flashing red lights 
began to bounce off the surrounding homes of the neighborhood.

'Thank God!' I thought to myself as I waited for the cavalry to arrive. 
'We're saved!'

"Oh no," Ayumi whimpered, "The red lights are here!"

"Its okay, Yumi, they're here to help." I put my hand on her shoulder to 
calm her down.  Her skin felt icy cold and she was trembling.

"No," she squeaked, "they won't!"

Surprisingly the bikers made no move to leave, not even when the 
Highland Township police cruiser slowly made its way down the street.  
The white and black cruiser rolled through the gathered crowd until it 
was in front of my house, then it parked.  The siren was killed, but the 
whirling light remained on as the two officers exited the vehicle.

The passenger, a young guy, moved cautiously through the mob, his 
pistol drawn as if he expected trouble.  The driver, an older man, 
showed no such signs of fear as he made his way over to the biker who 
had held up that Oculus thing.

The older cop and the biker spoke for a while, pointing at the van and 
the pile of clothes lying in the street.  Neither paid any attention to the 
other officer who had made his way over to the bloody body lying 
motionless on the asphalt.  He crouched down and tried to locate a 
pulse.  Finding none he made his way back to the car.  He called over to 
his partner who was still engrossed in conversation with the biker, "I've 
got to call this in!"

"You'll do no such thing," the older cop called back.

"The fuck I won't!" and he leaned into the passenger side of the car to 
make the call on the radio.

The older cop shook his head, pulled out his gun, walked over to the 
driver's side window, pointed it inside, and...

BANG!

After a brief flash of light the windshield turned dark red with splattered 
blood.  The younger cop's legs slid to the ground, leaving half his body 
still inside the car.  The older cop holstered his weapon and returned to 
his conversation.

"Jesus..." I breathed out in shock.

"I told you." Ayumi shook under my now clutching hand. "I told you they 
were bad.

The two men finished speaking and parted.  The biker moved to look 
over the van, and the cop pulled out a cell phone and put it to his ear.  I 
was surprised when the cop started speaking; I just assumed that it 
wouldn't work.  Meanwhile the biker had moved around the van, 
standing no more than ten feet from us.

"That's Garog," Ayumi whispered, backing away from the window and 
pressing her back into my front, "Otho's brother."

The man she spoke of was close enough for us to see him clearly.  His 
dark hair hung down to his shoulders, tangled and choppy.  He had a 
close cropped beard as dark as the hair on his head.  He was thinner 
than Otho, but still big, and damn, he was tall.  At least six ten, maybe 
even taller, but it was hard to tell since he walked hunched over.

He wore the same black leather jacket that Otho had worn, the logo of 
the Midnight Riders faded on the back.  His jeans were stained with oil 
and torn in places.  But it was his eyes that freaked me out.  As he 
turned to look back at the cop who had hung up the phone, the light 
reflected off them like a cat's eyes, only they shone bright red.

"Fuck me, did you see that?"

"He's a demon," she replied flatly. "They all are."

There was some commotion down the street again, and another vehicle 
moved slowly through the pack.  This time it was a grey van, just like the 
one currently rammed into mom's tree.  The van pulled alongside the 
police car and parked.  Another cop hopped out of the driver's seat and 
gave a wave to Garog.  All three of them, the two cops and Garog, 
moved to the rear of the new van.

As they approached the double doors the van suddenly rocked from side 
to side with loud metallic bangs.

"Oh no!" Ayumi shouted out, then quickly brought her hands up to cover 
her mouth.

"What?  What is it?" Her panic was spreading to me.

She didn't answer, couldn't answer, her fear had frozen her in place.

"Ayumi... tell me... what's in the van?"

Still no answer; her body quivered against me, little sobs of terror 
slipping past her lips, but no words.  The van rocked violently now, the 
sounds of metal scraping on metal piercing my ears and making me 
cringe.

"Ayumi!" I had to find out what was doing that. "I'm your Master!  Tell me 
what's in that van?"

"Z... zzz... zzzyrre..." she stuttered, "Zyrogoth."

"What?"

"Devil dogs!  Hunters!  Oh no!  Oh no!  They'll find us!  We're dead!  Oh 
no!" she started bawling, "I don't wanna die!"

"Yumi, shut up!" I reached around her and covered her mouth with my 
hand, muffling her cries. "They'll hear us!"

Outside, the rear doors of the bouncing van were thrown wide open. The 
two cops moved quickly out of the way.  Garog stood firmly in place 
staring into the dark interior.

"Mmmm... Mmmm... Mmmm..." Ayumi continued to moan into my hand.  
I could feel her hot, wet tears running down her face.

The van suddenly went motionless.  Garog made a high pitched 
whistling sound, a short burst followed by two longer ones.  Out of the 
van leaped not one but two great beasts.

"That's no fucking dog!"

They were huge, as big as bears, and though they walked on all fours 
like dogs, that's where the similarities ended.  They had no fur; their 
black and brown mottled skins looked wet, slick and shiny.

Each paw ended with large claws that dug easily into the hard asphalt.  
Long thin tails extended from their backsides, held straight out, parallel 
to the ground below.  Along their spines jutted sharp points like the teeth 
of a chainsaw.

Their mouths hung open, clear drool dripped in thick ropes from between 
rows and rows of blood stained teeth.  With each breath thick clouds of 
steam jetted from their flaring nostrils, despite the temperature outside 
still being somewhere up in the high eighties.  Garog's eyes may have 
shone red, but these creatures had eyes that burned red.  They glowed 
with a faint light like smoldering coals in a fire.  Atop their gnarled heads, 
twisted and sharpened, sat the thing's twin horns; nearly as bloody as its 
teeth, and scarred from fierce battles, those horns must have been at 
least four feet long.

The two creatures took up positions on either side of Garog, snapping 
their jaws and snarling, waiting for their next command.  With a simple 
hand gesture, Garog set the monsters to their task.

For a moment they sniffed the night air, their heads twisting this way and 
that.  Then they darted away, moving faster than animals that size had 
any right to.  Around the van they scampered until they reached the 
parked police car.  There they paused again, sniffing the air.

They parted, one moving up the street towards James' car, the other one 
leaping onto the police cruiser, its weight crushing the light bar, sending 
sparks flying and caving in the roof with a wrenching metal noise.  The 
one near James' car caught the scent of something.  Its eyes flashing 
brighter as it crouched and moved forward slowly.

Almost in unison the pair suddenly roared and moved quick as lightning.  
Before I could blink, each beast held a corpse in its maw, their teeth 
rending bone and flesh.  James' body was torn to pieces, as was the 
fallen young cop's.  The creatures whipped their heads from side to side, 
raining blood down on those bikers who stood too close to the carnage.

I had to turn away as James was eviscerated, his intestines spilling out 
onto the road like thick spaghetti.  Even with my eyes averted, I could 
still hear them.  God awful noises; Crunching and growls, wet slurping 
and sickening cracks filled my ears and turned my guts.  I don't 
remember when I had done it, but the hand that had been covering 
Ayumi's mouth was now covering my own, holding back the contents of 
my stomach.

"Please Justin... ", she sobbed in the darkness, "Don't let them get me."

For a moment I was frozen.  My arms felt so heavy that they just fell to 
my sides and hung limply.  I was numb, lost.  My heart which had been 
beating a mile a minute since I woke up, felt as though it had suddenly 
stopped.  What the hell was I going to do?  There were monsters, lots of 
monsters sitting outside, just waiting to for those Zyrogoth things to hunt 
us down.

Where would we go?  Where could we go?  I couldn't go to the police, 
they were a part of it.  I couldn't go to my parents, they were away.  If 
anyone was here in town that could have helped, they'd have been here 
by now.  I mean, it's not everyday that a gang of bikers comes rumbling 
through town.  You'd think there would be at least one curious person 
out there?

"Justin, don't let them get me..." She turned and hugged my waist, her 
tears soaking through my shirt and burning my stomach.

Maybe someone had come to investigate... maybe they suffered the 
same fate as James or that young cop because of it.  No... I was on my 
own.  If I wanted to get out of this alive I had to come up with something, 
and damn quick.  But what?  I'm thirteen, for Christ's sake!

"Justin... ", she whined softly against me.

Outside the chomping had ended.  I took a deep breath and looked out 
again.  The two Zyrogoths were stalking around the street again, nostrils 
puffing steam as they went to and fro.  One moved up to my yard, 
sniffed the ground and then howled.  Its howl was more of a wail than 
what dogs do.  The sound of it sent shivers up and down my spine.

"Pleassssse..." Ayumi pleaded, "Don't let them kill me, Justin..."

Garog moved in close to see what his pet had found.  He squatted down 
and picked up something from the grass.  I knew before he even held it 
up to the light exactly what it was.  Dad's gun.

Garog inspected the empty weapon before calling over the other 
Zyrogoth.  He let both of them get a good whiff of the grip, their eyes 
burning furiously once they got the scent.

"I don't want to die..." she gasped, shaking, "Not now... not after I found 
you."

That did it.  I don't know why exactly, but hearing her say that snapped 
me back into life.  Once again my heart started pumping, my body jerked 
into motion, and I found my voice again.

"We need to go... now." I backed away from the window.

"Where?" The black silhouette of Ayumi spoke before me.

"Out the back," I reached into the darkness and took her hand in my 
own. "We have to go right now."

With me leading us back through the house we didn't fair as well.  I 
stumbled in the inky darkness but managed to get us all the way to the 
kitchen without falling.  The back door never looked so comforting.

"Wait here a second." I spun away from the door and headed for the 
stove.

"Why?" She whined in panic.

I didn't answer.  I had a plan.

I had turned the gas off after making dinner, now I lifted the cook top and 
twisted the valve fully open.  Instantly the smell of rotten eggs filled the 
air.  Next I pulled open the junk drawer, dug around blindly until I found 
the half empty pack of matches that we used to light birthday candles, 
and pocketed them.  I was back to Ayumi in no time and soon we were 
through the door and outside in the muggy air.

"One more second," and I took off at a run to the tool shed.  I didn't stop 
to hear Ayumi complain again, I just ran.  The shed was packed to the 
hilt with all kinds of yard crap; Shovels, rakes, bags of fertilizer, even old 
folding chairs.  I almost broke my neck climbing over it all in absolute 
darkness, but I knew what I was looking for and where it was.  The red 
plastic gasoline can sloshed as I ran back to the house.

Ayumi punched me in the arm to get my attention.

"Let's go!"

Again I ignored her.  I twisted off the cap, swung the back door open 
again, and poured a good-sized puddle of the gas on the tile floor.  I 
moved backward leaving a river of fuming liquid over the threshold and 
over the concrete patio.

"Close the door," I ordered Ayumi.  She didn't have to be told twice, I 
think she understood what I was up to.

The can ran out of gas just as we made it to the end of my backyard, 
right up against the chain link fence.  Behind us the heavily wooded hill 
loomed up to the still shimmering heavens.  In front of us was the home I 
had grown up in, the place where I had always felt safe, but now it was 
the only thing between us and those things hunting us.

I picked Ayumi up and lifted her over the fence before I clambered over 
myself.  Out front on the street, the Zyrogoths began to howl.  They had 
our scent.

Nervously I knelt down in the crunchy grass, my hand searching out the 
wet area where the gas had reached.  I pulled the pack of matches from 
my pocket and with shaking fingers pulled one free.  I struck the head 
against the black stripe on the back of the pack and there was a bright 
flash!

"Shit!" I exclaimed as the end snapped off and went sizzling away.

I pulled a second one out.

CRASH!  BANG!  BANG!  CRASH!

The sound of wood breaking and glass shattering echoed from my 
house.  Those things were inside, hunting for us.  More howls, more 
sounds of things being broken.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood 
on end.

Another strike of the paper matches... success!

The tiny flame flickered and danced.  I cupped my hand over it to protect 
the fragile fire.  I brought it down to the wet spot... and the damn thing 
went out.

"Fuck me!" I was getting pissed off.  This kind of thing always works in 
the movies.

"Forget it!" Ayumi grabbed me by my shirt collar and tried to pull me 
away. "Let's just go!"

"No!" I yanked out of her grip, "One more try."

I looked up and saw that the Zyrogoths were not the only uninvited 
guests in my home, some of the bikers had let themselves in.  I could 
barely make out their hunched forms as they moved past the upstairs 
windows. 

'Mallenchior,' I said in my head. 'Not bikers, they're Mallenchior... 
demons.'

What a strange vocabulary I was picking up.  I barely knew Ayumi for 
twenty-four hours and I had already learned several new words.  God... 
if only French was so easy to learn... then I wouldn't be in this mess right 
now.  I'd be with my family.

I looked over at Ayumi and thought, 'You're my family now.'

I pulled out one more match. "They are not going to get you." I struck the 
match and it lit with no problem.

"I promise."

In the dim light of the flame I could see her looking back at me.  Despite 
her obvious fear she offered me a smile.  I returned it then remembered 
why I had struck the match.

This time I changed my strategy.  Instead of just dropping the match, I 
used it to set the rest of the pack on fire, and then I dropped that onto 
the gasoline soaked lawn.  The small blaze crackled and popped, but it 
didn't look like it was going to catch like I had hoped.

"Alright... fuck it!" I stood up and took Ayumi's tiny hand in mine. "Let's 
get the hell out of here while we can."

She was more than ready to go, and in fact started pulling me away 
before I had finished speaking.

The hill behind my house started off on a gentle slope, but quickly 
became a rather steep incline.  It wasn't long before I was panting and 
sweating.  I hadn't climbed this hill in over a year, there was nothing on 
top but more trees, and beyond it where just more hills.  The last time I 
had been this high was when my friend Tommy had lost our last 
baseball.  Back then it had been a game of who could get to the top first, 
loser buys a new ball.  Now it was a matter of life and death.  We had to 
get away, we had to climb, we didn't want to lose this game.

We picket our way through the trees with only the soft blanket of light 
above aiding us, but I think Ayumi had night vision or something, 
because she seemed to know exactly the right way to go.

Suddenly behind us there was a strange hissing sound.  At first I thought 
that we had been found, but then realized the flickering orange glow was 
steadily increasing at our backs.  Just as I was about to tell Ayumi that 
my fire had actually started...

WOOOOOOOMMMMMBBB!

The blast of hot air slammed me face first into the dirt, knocking me 
senseless.



Continued in Chapter Seven....


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