Wrath of Night Chapter 3

EXT. STREET - DAY

New York City, 1975

Kincaid narrates a flashback. He speaks, "The year was 1975. I was working as a homicide detective for the NYPD."

James interjects, "Wait a minute, how old are you?"

Kincaid continues his voice-over, "Just listen, kid. I was a hothead, and my partner let me know it whenever she got the chance. Slamming perps against the hood of my car, while I cuffed them. I was on the SWAT team too. Used to raid drug houses in full gear. One day I pulled a reckless maneuver in a high speed car chase that nearly got us killed. I pulled over, and she got out of the car. I got out too, slowly. I looked over at her. Victoria Sanchez, a drop-dead gorgeous Latina woman. She was a no-nonsense cop that played by the book. Sanchez said, 'Kincaid that stunt you pulled back there could have got us killed.'

I said, 'Hey it worked, didn't it?'

Sanchez pulled off her shades and glared at me.

Back at my New York City loft that night, I was drinking beer and relaxing. My loft was even nicer than my L.A. pad. Fancy art pieces on the walls and spectacular display cases with my private collection inside. Not affordable on a cop salary. I didn't have to work. My parents left me a large trust fun when they died. I had expensive tastes. Fast cars, fancy apartment, but most of all: a love of rare art.

I heard the doorbell. I walked to the intercom on the wall and pressed a button.

'Yes?' I said.

A voice spoke back at me, 'Delivery for Alex Kincaid.'

'Come on up!' I commanded.

I signed for a crate. A wooden box that I opened with a crowbar. Inside was a piece I had acquired. It should have been in a museum. An artifact, maybe five thousand years old. The Amulet of Osiris.

I pulled the amulet from the packing beads. Covered in dust, I blew it clean with a mighty gust. I marveled at how it glistened in the light.

I didn't know anything about magical talismans. I took the world at face value then. But the amulet was one of the most powerful supernatural weapons known to existence. And by having it, I just put a target on my back.

Later, I was asleep in my bedroom. Suddenly my security alarm went off. I jumped out of bed. I checked the security cameras. Nothing.

If you could get close to the hairs on the back of my neck, you would see them standing up.

I reached under my pillow and grabbed my Glock. I checked that it was loaded, and carefully made my way out of the bedroom.

In the art gallery, I turned on the lights. Bullets flew through the air and took out the overhead lamp. I spun around just in time to have my firearm kicked out of my hands.

I was surrounded by gangsters. Deadly assassins, dressed in black. Their faces masked.

I blocked a punch from one, and returned with a fist to the face. Spin kicked the second. I flipped the third over my shoulder, smashing him through a glass display case. The first drew a knife, and lunged for me. But I parried and diverted the dagger into GANGSTER 2. I kicked the knee of GANGSTER 1, and rolled across the floor to retrieve my pistol. Two shots to the chest of GANGSTER 1, and the fight was over.

I got up off the floor, and looked around confused. I tripped the silent alarm, a button under one of the display cases.

The security system dialed 911 dispatch. The dispatcher would say something along the lines of, 'We have a silent alarm at the Kincaid residence. Send emergency response.'

Back at my loft, I had GANGSTER 3 straddled across the chest.

'Who are you?!' I cried, 'Who do you work for?!'

I ripped the gangster's mask off. Beneath lied a terrifying sight. A bald headed man that laughed at me.

The remaining light fixtures in the gallery flickered. An ominous feeling penetrated the scene.

And then entered SILEX. He went by many names: the Vicious, the Deviant, the Ancient Evil. He was a sorcerer of immense strength, lust for power, and particular cruelty.

Silex strode into the room, wearing oriental robes. He had a long goatee, and untrimmed fingernails.

Silex spoke, 'You will find it rather difficult to get an answer from him. But if you must know, he works for me.'

I pointed my weapon at Silex, and shouted, 'Freeze!'

Silex continued to move forward. I unloaded my clip.

Silex waved his hand at the bullets and they stopped midair. The bullets dropped to the floor.

Silex announced his presence, 'My name is Silex. I'm only going to ask you this once: where is the amulet?'

I replied, 'Go to hell!'

Silex shook his head, 'Wrong answer.'

He strode toward me. I unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks -- all blocked effortlessly by Silex. He grabbed me by the head, and plunged both thumbs into my eyes. I screamed.

Silex lifted me up by the throat and released, leaving me hovering in midair. He revealed his Samurai sword, and drove it through my midsection.

He flicked his wrist and sent me through my window. I fell three stories to the ground and hit with a crunch.

On the street outside my apartment, I was converged upon by EMS. Police officers and fire fighters were there too.

I heard the paramedic say, 'Get him to the ambulance, and have one milligram of epinephrine ready!'

Silex looked around briefly, and then cast a magic locator spell. He lifted his spell focus into the air, chanted something in Latin that sounded like, 'Loco Mappa'. The amulet was revealed by a glowing light. Silex grabbed the Eye of Osiris, and began chanting.

He spoke the magical incantation over and over, 'Ferra Vito Prava Nicto!'

Over and over.

Outside in the city, a dark cloud formed over my building. The sky opened and a light beam shot toward the hole.

The Eye of Osiris has one particular use. It can raise the dead.

In a graveyard somewhere close by, a hand shot up from the dirt.

Zombies crawled out of their graves.

Back at my apartment, the emergency medical technicians had put me on a stretcher and rolled me into the ambulance. My shirt was open, and EMT 1 was putting pressure on my abdomen wound.

And the dead, at that particular moment, included me.

I was flatlining in the ambulance.

My dead eyelids snapped open. The Voodoo spell had taken my corpse.

But then something unusual happened. EMT 1 charged the defibrillator, and grabbed the paddles.

'Clear!' she calls to the rest of the paramedics, as she presses the paddles against my chest. The shock started my heart."