Chapter 24: China
A feeling of senseless oblivion shot through Peter when he tried to run and he crumbled to the ground. Hurriedly the black things soared over and through his immobile form to come after the other two kids with much vigor!
“What’s wrong with him?” a running Nora demanded.
“Dunno!” her remaining companion puffed. “Guess it’s not wise to find out now!”
“No, it’s not!” she buttressed, looking back once. Squeaky sounds came from the gloomy horde in hot pursuit and this was more than she could bear. “Can’t they see I’m running?” she screeched.
“They’re not happy you are!” Matthew highlighted. “They’ll surely stop if you do!”
The part ahead was askew, now veering to the left and then to the right. Up and down it also went and Matthew hastily spotted its unbelievable height above ground as it snaked its way into the steep hills before them. He also noticed the gaps evenly placed along one of its very low borders and this evoked in him the feeling of being on the fortified wall of a large fortress.
Meanwhile, thin black hands had started reaching out from behind in a bid to seize him, but he arrested this hellish intention by further pushing himself to pass Nora and take the lead, puffing with the increased effort.
So the demons caught the girl instead, and for a very brief moment, she remained suspended in midair while they shot through her body, immeasurably jolting it and inflicting a heavy state of unconsciousness on her whole being, before discarding her like a piece of used rag.
She wasn’t their target.
“Nora!” Peter shouted, running up to her solitary figure on the stony road. “Nora! Wake up!” he cried, kneeling beside her to vigorously shake her up. “Are you alright?”
A dazed Nora looked up. “Peter! Where’s Matthew?”
“Still on the run! Who are these people? Nora?” She had left him behind and he quickly followed her.
“Matthew!” Nora kept shouting as she gave the moody shapes chase.
“Matthew!” Peter assisted, fervently trying to keep up with Nora’s lithe figure. He knew that the screaming noise made by the mass of blackness after Matthew wouldn’t let any response get to them.
Matthew still had some distance between him and his pursuers, though, but he knew he would get to the limit of his strength sooner than later. To his heart-wrenching dismay, a lone tower suddenly popped up ahead of him as he scaled another hill. He just hoped its huge doors were unlocked.
And they were, although he found out before he got to the tower, because more demons were spewing from the huge doors!
“Oh, Christ!” Matthew muttered and broke off his run, since the devils now had him surrounded. More of the black things streamed out of the tower’s entrance towards his lonely figure and he realized he still held the scroll in his right hand. He thought of jumping over one of the road’s low sidewalls only to remember that he was afraid of heights, no matter how low.
“Matthew!” Nora called out to her brother and he turned just as she scampered up and round a distant bend with Peter.
These two were so far away and could do little at the moment, so Matthew turned back to the approaching horde, which quickly closed in from both sides of the road. He could even see some swerving off to cover their flanks as well. Flanks that were collectively his last hope of escape. Unless . . . “Fire devour!” he blurted out and immediately knew he was joking again. “Erupt!” he continued, with the joke. “Arise! Flames!”
Their blackness engulfed him.