Faces of beth, p.19
Faces of Beth, page 19
flashlight beams danced across the walls and into their eyes as the
unaware members of security searched for meaning in a dark sea of
crazy.
“What the fuck is this?” a man yelled. Then it sounded like he too
howled in pain.
“We need back up on the first fl—ah!”
“Olivia!” Andrew yelled. “Alex! Both of you, hold onto my hands.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Olivia replied.
“Daddy?” Alex called out.
“I’m right here, baby,” he said as he grabbed her hand.
He slid his fingers through hers, but something didn’t feel right.
There in the darkness, as his hand joined hers, he thought Beth’s
fingers seemed to go on too long. They were too frail, too dry, too
coarse, and ended in nails too sharp.
“Thank you, Daddy,” the hoarse, garbled voice of Father Dennis
said as the hand snapped shut around Andrew’s and squeezed with
a strength Beth could never possess.
Andrew’s knees wobbled and the bones in his hand threatened to
snap. He yelled in pain and his legs went limp. Andrew fell to his
knees with watery eyes under the weight of Father Dennis’s
strength.
“Kill them all,” Father Dennis ordered.
The lights flickered, and the naked form of Old Lynne came into
view, on all fours, her bare, pale tits dangling as she sat back on her
haunches and put her hairy, nappy mound on display. She snarled at
the ceiling and sniffed at the air. Her body slick, damp with sweat,
and bone white, like a fucked-up feline on the hunt. Her wiry hair
reflected the flickering glow of the neon lights overhead.
Nearby, Lady Anne, the patient who thought of herself as royalty,
crossed the hall blindly and muttered, “Help me. Please.”
Old Lynne sniffed once her way, then turned toward her, sprung
off her heels, and galloped a few steps before launching herself onto
the woman and tearing her teeth into her throat. Lady Anne
screamed but her cries for help died quickly as she choked on her
own blood. Old Lynne yanked her mouth away and blood spurted all
over the walls. Between the feral woman’s teeth hung bits of flesh.
She looked over at Andrew and growled, blood running down her
chin. Old Lynne giggled and blood bubbled up between her teeth.
Then her eyes moved to Olivia and then down to Beth who’d tripped
and was sitting on her ass a few feet away.
As Andrew looked at Beth, he saw the demon over his shoulder,
what was once Father Dennis was now a thin-skinned monster with
bluish veins, a long pointy nose, beady black eyes, sharp and jagged
teeth, and thin, stringy grey hair dangling from his black hat. This
was him in pure demon form and he was worse than anything
Andrew could have ever imagined.
“Why, Andrew,” he said. “Lovebug.” He opened his mouth and let
his long purple tongue slither out and with it, a giant cockroach fell
onto Andrew’s lap.
Andrew slapped at the roach, smacking it away from him, and
yelled, “Olivia, take Beth and run!”
He no longer cared which of his wife’s personalities was in
control. They were all his wife, and he wanted her safe. That was all
that mattered.
Andrew climbed to his feet as quickly as his aching body would
allow and tried to yank his arm free from the demon’s grasp, but the
evil one was faster than he was and was stronger. As soon as his
shoes touched the floor, the creature jerked Andrew’s arm up and
launched him toward the ceiling where he caught him by the neck
and wrapped his long, bony fingers around his throat.
Dangling there above the floor, Andrew fought to free himself
from Father Dennis’s grasp, but the creature had a tight clutch
around his throat and squeezed harder the more he fought.
“I could kill you easily like I did that weak coward you called The
Quiet Man,” the demon hissed. “You know why I don’t?”
Andrew kicked at the demon, thrashing wildly, and trying to do
damage but nearly passing out as the evil priest dug its claws into
his skin. At any second, a slight pull in opposite directions could rip
his throat open.
“Fuck you,” Andrew managed to wheeze out.
The demon laughed. “I haven’t killed you because I want you to
suffer seeing the things I’m going to do to Beth.”
With that, the evil creature roared and shoved him into the
ceiling, driving his back into the tiles above, bashing his skull against
the metal plumbing overhead before yanking him down and
slamming him against the hard floor.
It all happened in one swift movement, but to Andrew, the pain
seemed to go on forever. He felt himself lifted and flung back down
to the floor. Then he was there on his stomach trying to make sense
of it all.
Through blurred vision, he caught a glimpse of Olivia running with
her hand clasped around Beth’s. The demon bent over and licked
Andrew’s face. His tongue was like sandpaper as the rough strip
ground against his flesh and threatened to tear off his skin. Andrew
cried out in pain.
The fresh stench of urine and shit was strong in the hallway. Andrew
didn’t stay down for long, and when he finally climbed to his feet, the
lights were on again. They were no longer flickering. Dead bodies
littered the floor in front of and behind him. Most were patients and
some were guards. It was clear from the foul odor that many had
soiled themselves during the attack.
Ripped open intestines, probably at the hands of Old Lynne,
added to the reek.
Where is that old bitch anyway?
He hoped she was dead and that his wife and Olivia had
managed to escape before she or the demon in priest’s clothes had
reached them. Andrew said a silent prayer that they were still alive.
He prayed Beth and Olivia had found a hiding spot and were still
there now or that they’d escaped the building.
Maneuvering around the bodies was impossible, so Andrew was
forced to step over them. Leroy Slouch, a patient who’d always been
kind to him, now watched the ceiling with a broken, purple neck and
eyes that would never again see the living world. Andrew tried to
avoid his gaze but felt his death stare as he walked into its lifeless
path.
I know. It’s my fault, Leroy. I’m sorry.
If Andrew hadn’t come here, none of these people would be
dead, and for what? What information had he gathered? None really.
He hadn’t learned anything from The Quiet Man other than the fact
that the demon had been with Beth all along. That he’d been
watching the whole time, hiding in the corners of the rooms.
Whatever the fuck that meant!
Had he been at Andrew’s house all this time too? Hiding in the
corner of every room she entered? Was he standing in the living
room when Andrew talked to Peter, watching in the restaurant when
he and Alex ate breakfast, peeking in the bathroom when he fucked
Ruby in the shower?
Could he have done this all along? Could he have slaughtered
them all? If so, why did he wait?
Looking around at the dead patients, Andrew hoped all this was
caught on the cameras. Surely all this would be recorded. They
would see Old Lynne biting and tearing her way up and down the
hallway. They would see the priest killing and everyone bleeding out
of their fucking eyes.
They would see everyone going completely fucking insane.
“Beth!” Andrew yelled, knowing it was probably a dumb move.
He took a few steps and stumbled. His knees, hips, back, and
jaw ached. The demon priest had fucked him up. Andrew looked
above him and saw the missing ceiling panels where he’d been
hoisted and body slammed as if he’d tried to battle the Undertaker at
WrestleMania.
A quick glance behind him showed where all the debris had
landed and reminded him why every bone in his body hurt.
“Beth!” he called once more, looking at each body lying on the
floor ahead of him and behind him, making sure she wasn’t one of
them. She wasn’t.
It dawned on him that this could be a trap. Calling out to her
could be dangerous. If she was hunkered down somewhere, and she
came out of hiding because of him, the demon might find her, but he
hadn’t been thinking straight. He’d only wanted to find his wife.
But why? You couldn’t protect her before. Do you think you’d be
able to protect her now? Would anything be different this time?
“Andrew?” It was Olivia’s voice.
It wasn’t Beth, but at least it was someone he knew. If Olivia had
made it, maybe Beth had too.
Maybe Beth was still alive.
“Andrew!” It was Olivia again.
“Andrew!” this time it was Beth.
They were calling to him from the next hallway.
Andrew limped down the hall, stepping over dead bodies as
quickly as he could. A few of the patients were still alive. Some
whimpered and cried, but even the ones alive were in bad shape.
They probably wouldn’t make it through the night. Most had been
ripped open either at the throat or the stomach by what looked like a
rabid dog.
Old Lynne.
She’d been dangerous from the start. Andrew had always known
it. That’s why he’d been so afraid of her. As if simply thinking of her
was enough to summon her, he heard her bare feet padding down
the tiled hall and her hands slapping the floor.
Fuck. Where is she?
Even with the lights on, everything was always so damn dark in
here. It was the middle of the afternoon, yet it seemed like night.
He’d forgotten it was broad daylight outside.
Where are you, you bitch?
Andrew looked around, searching for something – anything – that
might serve as a weapon. The only thing in sight was a plant. A fake
tropical palm tree. He’d walked by it a thousand times before. It
stood high, nearly six feet tall, and at its base was a pot. It was
plastic so it couldn’t be that heavy.
The charging feet grew closer.
He only needed to make it out of the hallway and into the atrium
before Old Lynne pounced on him. If she got to his back and ripped
into his neck the way she had all those other people in the hall, he
was done for. She would surely kill him with one bite, and he didn’t
have a whole lot of strength left to fight her off.
He still had a good thirty feet or so to go.
Limping as quickly as he could, he moved down the hall at what
felt like a snail’s pace, hearing her raspy breath growing closer and
closer.
“Andrew!” Beth yelled again.
“Andrew, hurry!” Olivia called out.
He was sure they were in the rec room.
Twenty feet to go.
Old Lynne’s hands and feet slapped the floor, and her growls
grew louder. She laughed as she approached, knowing she would
finally sink her teeth into the orderly she loved to fuck with night in
and night out. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. This was
when she’d finally taste his meat.
Ten feet.
“Argh!” she screamed.
Andrew reached for the plant, grabbed it at about the halfway
point, and lifted it as he swung his body. The old woman was flying
through the air when he spun around to face her.
Her arms were outstretched, bloody fingernails poised and ready
to rip out his eyeballs…
Teeth barred and bloodied…
Eyes as black as the demon father’s…
Grey hair blown back in the breeze…
And tits dangling down…
When the potted end of the plant met the side of her face, it
bashed her skull in so hard her body flew to the right, smacked
against the corkboard that announced the week’s meals, and sent
her crashing to the floor where her dead stare remained fixed on
Andrew even when her soul left this world.
“Andrew!” Beth yelled from directly behind him.
Andrew turned to find his wife standing there. He wrapped his
arms around her and squeezed her so tightly he thought he might
crush her.
“I thought I might’ve lost you,” he said.
“No,” she said, “Olivia took me into the rec room.”
“Yeah, we hid,” Olivia said from behind her, and I’d never been so
happy to see my friend again either. “My God, your face.”
Olivia reached out and touched Andrew’s face. As her fingers
touched his skin, something changed in Beth.
“Take your hands off my husband,” she said, and suddenly lifted
Olivia up by her throat, the same way Father Dennis had thrown
Andrew around so easily. Long nails grew out of Beth’s fingertips,
and they punctured Olivia’s skin, causing blood to run down her
neck. Then she ripped sideways, tearing into her throat as she flung
the woman against the wall and onto the floor.
“Beth!” Andrew yelled. “No!”
As he ran to stop her, Beth backhanded him and sent him flying
against the wall. Andrew’s body flopped onto the floor, and he lay
there sprawled out and half unconscious. His eyes bounced heavily
and as they blurred over, he watched Beth turn into the priest and
walk toward the door.
17
When Andrew woke at Myles-Bend, he wasn’t sure if he’d been out
for seconds, minutes, or hours. It was dark in the atrium, but the
lights were always dim there. The cops hadn’t arrived yet, so he
couldn’t have been out long. Murmurs of complaint and whines of
pain echoed down the halls where patients who’d survived the
massacre were barely clinging to life.
Olivia.
Andrew looked toward his friend’s fallen body. It remained in the
place where it had collapsed.
Beth was gone. He’d watched her walk out of the building after
turning into Father Dennis. He’d never seen the demon priest in his
wife’s body before the moment he revealed himself and attacked
Olivia. Before that, Andrew had only assumed he was one of her
personalities. Now, it seemed, he was part of her or using her as
some kind of vessel.
What was it The Quiet Man had said? Always with her. The priest
who wasn’t a priest was always with Beth.
And during Gore’s ramblings the other night, he’d said something
that made sense now too. Gore said he might have stained her,
might have made her body a receptacle of evil, a canister that could
carry wickedness, he might have opened their home to something
truly sinister.
Fuck. Gore, what have you done?
Drool dripped from Andrew’s lips as he crawled across the floor
and made his way to his friend’s unmoving body.
“Olivia,” he called out to her as he approached. He didn’t expect
an answer but felt the need to say her name.
“An… drew,” came a whispered reply.
“Olivia?” Andrew got to his hands and knees and then forced
himself up to his feet as he moved across the atrium and toward the
sound of her weak voice.
She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling with tears running
down her eyes and collecting in her ears. Blood leaked from her lips
and ran from her throat.
Unsure of the injuries she’d sustained, Andrew was careful not to
lift her.
“Liv,” he said, “for fuck’s sake, Liv.”
“Not… Beth,” she squeaked out. “Old priest.”
She knew. She understood it wasn’t Beth who’d done this to her
and for that he was thankful. His sweet wife wasn’t capable of
something like this. But she’d been Beth only moments before. This
demon had latched onto her. He was with her now wherever she
was.
On the far side of the building, not near the main entrance where
he’d entered earlier with Alex but over where the security staff
rallied, he heard the squawk of a radio. “10-4. Sending backup. Don’t
enter ‘til arrival.”
“Roger that. What’s the ETA?”
“Five. Maybe less.”
Cops were in the building. If they hadn’t already set up a
perimeter outside, they would soon. He needed to leave before it
was too late.
“Liv, I have to go, okay?” he said.
She tried to shake her head “no” but could barely move.
“I have to find Beth before she or he hurts more people. The cops
are here. If they find me, they won’t let me leave.”
She stared at him and could barely keep her eyes open. Her
bottom lip quivered. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’m
sorry.”
Then he called out once, loud enough that he knew the cops
