Evil Spirits

Sitting with his back to the wall with a clear view of the large bar, Travis sipped on his coffee. hile taking glances of the room after reading a few paragraphs in the book on the table. A commotion caught his attention on the other side of the room. The five guys playing cards were now standing, pointing, and cussing at one another for cheating. The one wearing the blue gingham style shirt poked the guy next to him, who was wearing a brown shirt and matching cowboy hat. This, in turn, caused the latter to punch the former in the face. After that, the whole table started fighting.
Travis watched with little interest as a blond man still wearing work gloves crossed the room and backed up the man in blue, who turned out to be his twin. The largest man Travis had ever seen stood up after the twins knocked the man in the hat out, and he fell onto the giant. Without hesitation, the twins jumped at the man, and he easily swatted them out of the air. The other three from the poker game got so caught up in arguing that when one of the twins knocked into them, they too started taking swings at one another.
Soon, another argument broke out between a couple of people at a different table, and they, too, resorted to violence. The man wearing a well-worn white cowboy hat threw his empty mug at the gentleman in the brand new black hat and hit him in the chest. The black hat reciprocated with a punch to the white hat's jaw. Someone from behind the white hat came to his defense and flew through the air at the black hat, knocking him to the ground. Another person came to back up the black hat as he was being double teamed, and from there, the whole room, save Travis, chose violence. George, the owner of the bar, did his best to calm the room but was relieved when the saloon doors opened and the Sheriff walked in, holding his six shooters.
BANG BANG
The room stuttered before all turned to look at the man holding one of his revolvers in the air, pointed at the ceiling. When there was complete silence, the Sheriff spoke up.
"Settle down, or I am throwing all you in a cell or a coffin. Whichever is easiest."
The room kept silent and started putting chairs and tables back where they belonged. Travis went back to his book. It wasn't too long after that that Travis heard, "Is that Travis Walker? As I live and breathe!"
The Sheriff approached Travis' table in the corner and lowered his voice. "What sort of hellish nightmare have you brought this time?"
"I didn't bring the Dire Wolf, Bernard."
"But you got rid of it?" Bernard asked, worry on every word.
"Yes, the wolf is gone."
"Then what brings you to my crossroads this time?" Bernard turned carefree in an instant and sat down.
"I am not sure."
"What the hell does that mean?" Bernard blurted out.
"All I know is that a strong magical release is going to happen around 2 am." Travis nonchalantly replied while picking up his cup of coffee to take a sip.
"What the hell does that mean?" Bernard repeated.
"It means that in 2 hours, there will be a release of magical energy. I don't know why. I don't know how. All I know, Bernard, is that when things like this happen, all forms of magical creatures can be released." Travis tried to explain.
"So it could be more wolves?" Bernard's voice caught in his throat with the last word.
"No, that Dire Wolf being here was a fluke." Travis said as he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Then what is it?" Bernard now looked confused.
"I. Do. Not. Know. Will you, please, leave me alone now. I would like to read in peace." Travis said, frustration now over his face.
"Yeah, sure, no problem." Bernard seemed hurt by the bluntness but got up from the table before adding, "I expect to see you at 2."
With that, the Sheriff turned and walked away. Travis returned to his book. The following hours flew by, and soon Travis was pulling his plain gold watch out of his black vest pocket. Just a few more minutes before whatever was to happen happened. He placed his book in his back pocket as he stood. He then fished out a few gold coins to throw the owner as he walked towards the door.
When he stepped out of the saloon doors, he immediately saw the Sheriff sitting on top of a beautiful black horse, staring at him from across the street. Travis climbed onto Butter, his trusted steed, and both of them approached the middle of the crossroads. Just before Bernard could say a word, a bright green light flashed to the north. It lit up the right side of Travis's face and the left side of the Sheriff's. Bernard, with a shocked look on his face, said, "The mine!" And took off down the trail on his horse that headed north.
"How far is the mine?" Travis asked as his horse easily kept up with the older man's horse.
"About a fifteen minute ride on horseback. There is a sign." Bernard replied before Butter took off with a shot, leaving him in their dust.
At a full sprint, Butter made it there in under ten minutes. Travis could immediately hear screams and the sounds of fighting echoing out of the hole. Travis stood still, put his forearms at a 90-degree angle from his body, palms up, and began to chant one word in a different language. Nothing happened, and Travis sighed. He opened his jacket and pulled out some kind of key ring from a pocket, but instead of keys, there were different colored pieces of glass. He cycled through them one at a time before he found one that showed a different scene. Instead of being in front of the large hole that was the mine, he was now looking at a wall of green through a glass made of pink.
"Damn it." Travis said as the sounds of horse hoofs announced the Sheriff.
The Sheriff got down from the horse before asking his question, "What's going on?"
"An ancient evil has been unleashed."
"Can you elaborate?" Bernard asked.
"Not until I see what's coming out of the mine." Travis answered, "How many people are in there?"
"Around 45, maybe 50. Why?" Bernard asked again.
"Because it sounds like they are fighting whatever they let out." Travis explained. "And we are next in defense, so get ready."
"Gotcha partner," Bernard replied as he pulled his six shooters out, still two bullets down in his right gun.
The cacophony that enveloped the pair grew in intensity as whatever was released grew closer to its freedom. There were no longer screams coming from the hole, so Travis figured the magical beings had killed everyone and were marching towards domination. The creatures were in the mouth of the hole, but only their green glowing eyes could be seen by Travis and Bernard. The Sheriff shot off a couple of rounds at what was quickly becoming a sea of glowing green, but the bullets did nothing.
The first few stumbled into the half-moon lit opening, and Travis immediately recognized what he was up against. Bernard put both of his guns up and emptied them into the emerging horde of miners. These miners, however, were far from normal. Instead of standing up right, they were slumped at the shoulders, almost like marionette dolls hanging on loose wires. They were moving so slow it was as if they were dragging their feet. But after the shots got the green eyed miners' attention, the light growls turned into almost screams of hunger as they clambered into the light.
Bernard was halfway through reloading his guns when Travis spoke up, "Bullets aren't going to work, Bernard. They are possessed."
"So we need to exorcize them?" Bernard asked.
"Yes, but we can't just say a prayer." Travis replied as he opened his jacket and pulled out a bag of something and threw it at the horde, "I have a crystal that can essentially suck the evil spirits out of the miners, but I need a few ingredients." The small bag exploded on impact, and the three people the yellow dust enveloped stopped. The glowing green eyes began to fade, and the others in the horde noticed, causing them to start grabbing at them
Travis threw his hands out in front of him, fingers fanned out. He then pulled his pinkies in forming fists, which then rocked out and opened into claws. He pushed his hands forward more and closed his fingertips, which caused the three freed people to be draped in an aura of white. When Travis then pulled his hands back, the people teleported to his side.
"Run!" Travis yelled at them, and they took off towards town.
"How many of those bags do you have?" Bernard asked as he started to back away from the group, gaining speed.
"Not enough," Travis answered before his fingers began to glow a bright blue as he now whispered with his eyes closed. He opened them wide, and they, too, were glowing blue. His arms did a quick few movements and then extended out at their sides. Travis crouched, touching the ground with his fingers, and swiped out towards the walls of the small cliff the mine was cut into. This caused lines of blue to run towards the wall of dirt, then the blue climbed the malformed structure, and after reaching about ten feet off the ground, it jettisoned itself back towards Travis. When the blue lines collided, the entire interior of the outline became a solid blue wall.
"So we are good now?" Bernard asked as he took a few steps forward.
"No," Travis started, "It will only last a little while. We need to go and find some ingredients."
"What do you need?" Bernard wondered out loud.
"A couple of normal things like berries and roots, but also something a bit harder to find here; scale of a dragonfish." Travis elaborated.
"I know of a woman that is rumored to be a witch. She lives across from the old train station." Bernard offered as they quickly walked away from the blue wall.
"We need more than a rumor." Travis replied, "And I can make it work with a little magic."
Bernard laughed as they got up on their respective horses and took off. The rest of the trek was silent except for the sounds of their horse's footsteps. They followed the trail south and soon saw the first building on the outskirts of the town. The structure was on the left side of the trail. On the other side of the road, hidden by trees, was the barbershop and then the general store. As they kept riding, the crossroads came into view, and there was a crowd in front of the bar.
"What's going on here?" Bernard, in an authoritative tone, bellowed over the group.
For the second time that night, the group from the bar stuttered to a stop. No one spoke up, so the Sheriff added, "We have something coming through here, so y'all need to get off the streets."
"What's coming through, Sheriff?" An anonymous person in the group asked.
"It's not good, and y'all should clear out." Bernard tried again.
"We deserve to know." Yelled another anonymous person.
"Yeah!"
"We want to help!" The giant of a man from earlier, who had been kneeling next to two knocked out guys, stood up.
"Hey, I appreciate the want, but …"
"We can always use the help, Sheriff." Travis interjected.
"But …"
"They can help move the rest of the townsfolk towards the train station to the south." Travis steered Bernard towards a solution.
"Oh, right!" Bernard finally caught on. "We do need help with that."
Travis took over directing people, but he had misjudged the time it would take for the slow-moving zombie-like possessed people to reach town. Instead of the townsfolk heading south, they were still in town when the spirit possessed miners started to show up. The first victim was an older woman who assumed the miners were on break and welcomed them to help her with her bag. She didn't see the green glow of the miners eyes until it was too late. Accompanying the glowing eyes were chomping teeth that penetrated the woman's skin of her neck. It drew a bit of blood at first, but as the miner continued to bite, the blood was soon running down her clothes and pooling on the ground. In an instant, another miner lunged at the old woman as her screams reached the rest of the townsfolk.
"They are here! Run! Run to the train station!" Bernard yelled from the middle of the crossroads.
The living started to scream and run without thinking. Travis and Bernard did their best to help along the stragglers, but there were dozens of them. Everyone was still in town, and the miners were hungry. The miners, once slow paced, were now advancing with incredible speed. The next person to get attacked was a young man who worked first shift at the mine. He was tackled by two rabid humans, and once on the ground, two more came in to help rip his stomach open. The various organs spilled out, and each kneeling vile being grabbed at it like candy out of a piñata. The miners, many already soaked in blood, started lunging and jumping towards the regular people.
One such victim was about to be a new mother and her infant, but the lunging green glowing eyed rabid human was suddenly enveloped in a white aura and thrown several meters north. It landed without injury and made its way south once again. Travis approached the woman, who recoiled in fear before he said in his calmest voice, "Let's get you and that baby to the station." She relaxed as much as she could with possessed neighbors attacking and followed the man in black. Before she knew it, she was rushing down the trail alone, with her baby, in a group of other fleeing townsfolk.
Travis, having regrouped with the Sheriff, turned his attention to the miners still flooding into the packed streets of the small town. A handful of bystanders were already lost to the evil spirits. Only time stood in the way of them becoming the flesh hungry monsters that ate them. The spirit inside will heal what it can, and they will get to their feet and follow the lead of the possessed in front of them. The next couple to endure the horror of being eaten alive were the blacksmith and his wife. She lagged behind a second too long and got grabbed up by the blood coated fingers of one of the miners. The blacksmith, armed with a sword and several axes, was more than able to cut off the red painted arm, but two arms replaced the one as two previous townsfolk joined the assault. The blacksmith, skilled at making and using many different weapons spun and used the momentum to cut off the new appendages. They were replaced with the other arms, while the severed ones quickly grew back, which were then cleanly chopped off again. With all of his attention on the ones trying to get his wife, he failed to notice the two miners approaching from his back. When he went down, his wife was seconds behind him, both being shredded by numb fingers and deadly teeth. Their eyes started to glow behind the dead stare they both now had, and after their bodies rebuilt themselves, they too joined the feast.
Travis noticed the miners were winning and decided to repeat a trick. With movements as quick as he could possibly do correct, he shot his blue light between the two closest buildings, ironically enough, the bar and Sheriff's office, and sealed the street. Unfortunately, he trapped more than a couple of regular people behind the blue wall with the hungry monsters. The screams were heartbreaking to listen to, and the family and friends of the ones trapped started their own cries.
"You need to find me a few minutes to get my crystal ready." Travis said as he removed a bowl from a bag Bernard hadn't noticed before.
"How?" Bernard asked as his wide-eyed stare focused on the blue wall that was being beaten on by dozens of zombified miners.
"Get some people to help you hold them back for a few minutes." Travis said as he pulled more from the new bag.
"How are we supposed to hold them back?" Bernard yelled, "And where did that bag come from?"
"Get some other people to help you literally hold them back. Here," Travis stopped what he was doing and handed over 3 little bags similar to the one he had thrown earlier, "take these, but don't waste them. Throw them as hard as you can." With that, Travis hurried away from the blue wall to complete the ritual. Bernard did as ordered and started grabbing men and boys to fight as the line. He was relieved when the giant, Brady, stepped through the crowd, having gotten his family on their way to the train station he was ready to help. With him on the team, more men joined the defense.
Everyone watched as cracks started forming in the blue material in front of them. The cracks grew and grew until there were only small shards of blue. Instead of breaking and falling to the ground like the glass it mimicked, the shards turned into dust and evaporated. The fight was on. The green eyed mass lurched forward, and it was immediately clear that the defenders were outnumbered 3 to 1. This resulted in a few of the townsfolk being grappled and tackled to the ground before the miners started biting through clothes and skin to get to the meaty parts. Brady, however, had picked up one of the possessed by the neck and trousers and was using him as a barrier. He was knocking back half a dozen at a time with his improvised weapon.
Bernard was grappling with one and would slam it to the ground when another came his way. He was having trouble with his strategy when Brady, having thrown his makeshift shield, picked up the one Bernard was having trouble with and threw him several meters south. They exchanged quick pleasantries and turned back to the growing number of possessed. Brady punched one in the face, grabbed it by the throat and crotch, and threw him into 3 advancing miners. Bernard punched one in the face, tried to pick him up by the throat, but failed and tried to retreat only to stumble over an eaten body, moments from rebuilding itself, and falling to the ground. Bernard was down for half a second before he was jumped on by 5 different possessed people. The rest of the second ended, and a yellow dust erupted from the group and quickly exorcized the 5 possessed. Another second dropped, and Bernard, alive and unharmed, yelled at the confused miners, "Get to the train station, now!" The miners got up and ran.
Bernard got to his feet and watched as Brady continued to mow over the possessed. There were only a few getting by Brady, and Bernard decided to try and push them together and hit them with a second bag. He was able to push the first two into the wall, which resulted in them falling to the ground. He then grabbed the third and, with all his strength, slammed the miner down on top of the two, struggling to get up. A fourth and fifth rushed Bernard, and he was able to steer them into the pile. He brought the bag back behind his head and aimed at and threw it towards the pile of miners. The yellow dust wrapped itself around the hill of flesh, and soon, the miners were back to themselves. Completely confused, but human.
"Run!" Bernard yelled, "Run to the train station!"
The miners hightailed it south without another word. Bernard went back into the fray. He watched as Brady continued to deal with quite a few of the green glowing eyed miners and now more than just a few townsfolk. Bernard intercepted a straggler, trying to sneak up behind Brady and tackled him to the ground. As he put his weight on the would-be assassin, he watched as one of the crowd leaped at Brady and latched on to his arm. The bite was instantaneous, and Brady dropped the two miners he had by the throats and grabbed the biter by its head. Brady whipped that head back and threw it, and the rest of the body followed it like the tail of an asteroid. Brady stuttered for a second but picked up another advancing possessed miner and swung its legs out to redirect an old woman from approaching any closer. He stuttered again when he swung the lower body of his temporary weapon at 3 more possessed townsfolk. He continued to wade through the sea of possessed, knocking them back with his human nunchuck. Unfortunately, his breathing became deep breaths, and his movements began to slow. His eyes went blank, and a small green glow popped up. With a loud yell, the hulking man grabbed up another possessed by the throat and fought off the glow and the next line of hungry monsters. His power trip didn't last long as after throwing the two bodies he had been using as weapons, he fell to his knee. He tried to exert all his strength in an attempt to fight off the spirit within, but the possessed surrounding him took the second to leap towards him, open mouths first. Their mouths collided with the muscular giant's arms and chest and easily scraped through the fragile skin of the powerful man. He tried, in vain, to regain control, but 7 zombie-like creatures ripping meat and tendons out of his upper body left him paralyzed to their continued oral assault. In one last push, the possessed got Brady on his back, and 5 more evil spirits joined in.
Bernard, still on top of one, couldn't watch and got to his feet. He looked back at Travis and noticed he was still putting things into that bowl. He turned back and noticed he was the last one defending the town. He took a step back but found something other than just dirt and fell backward. He had lost his balance on someone's lost bag that had probably been left when the horde hit. He did his best to scramble back, but he wasn't moving fast enough. He yelled in one last attempt to get Travis's help, "We need that crystal, Travis!" After the last syllable left his mouth, he felt hands on his feet. He looked down and knew it was too late. Brady had gotten back up, completely healed and eyes glowing, plus there was a sea of glowing eyes slowly surrounding the Sheriff. The Sheriff was lunged at from all sides. He was soon covered in them, and all were biting down. Bernard took his last breath as pain racked his body from the mouths and hands ripping at his flesh.
Travis finally fired up the contents of the bowl, which created a bright orange light erupting from it. The light faded, and Travis dipped a white crystal into the mixture until it reached the decorative leather handle. The crystal seemed to suck in the orange liquid until the bowl was empty. He lifted the now orange glowing crystal into the air and turned just in time to see the surge of possessed people in his direction. That was when he saw Bernard, on his back, and being devoured by more than a few townsfolk. He used his free hand to push everyone back. With a quick flick of his wrist his hand was wrapped in white and a 3 foot wide barrier forced everything but Bernard's body back a few meters.
When Travis finally reached the consumed corpse of his acquaintance he knelt down next to it. Something caught his eye and he saw the last little bag he had given him. Travis immediately grabbed it and stood up. He looked at the horde now bypassing his barrier and ended the spell. There was another surge towards him, the possessed Brady pushed to the front, and the hungry bubble that was collapsing in on him almost closed when a yellow dust exploded on the giants chest and dispersed over the first two layers of possessed individuals. They came to and Brady immediately knew what to do. He picked up 2 evil spirits by the necks and started his nunchuck assault which backed up the horde. The others that were now free ran. Travis yelled to the giant to retreat and he followed his lead and retreated.
The crystal, still in the air, began to increase incrementally in intensity as Travis started whispering, "Spirits from the depths of sin, Leave the house you dwell within, In this crystal make your home, That you never again may roam." As his voice grew, so did the light. They both kept growing until everyone including the possessed had to shield their eyes. The light went pure orange in a 30 meter range and hid the occupants from view. When the light faded the residents of the town were a little worse for wear, but alive. All of them gave Travis an odd look as he was still standing there with his hand stuck in the air with a pure black crystal attached to a leather handle. He lowered his hand and looked down at his acquaintance. Bernard was looking up at him with a look of horror.
"You couldn't have done that before I got eaten?" Bernard asked with a scared look on his face.
"I went as fast as I could." Travis answered, "I am sorry you had to endure that. I know how unpleasant it is."
"You … you got eaten too?" Bernard asked, dumbfounded.
"Yeah, that's a different story, Sheriff."