The Curse of 1977 (Book 2)

Chapter 42

Barricaded inside another apartment on a floor which Lynnette really didn't care to even identify, both mother and son sat on the floor with the window wide open as to allow smoke to escape and not suffocate them.She had hoped that with enough smoke escaping the building that it would alarm someone outside to contact the fire department.

The roars of the beast downstairs were becoming more like purring snarls. It sounded at times like it were growing weary and tired, but none of that set Lynnette at ease. She was wise enough to realize that her life would be required of her in order to leave the building.Isaiah slept away on the floor right next to the window. The smoke inside the room wasn't stifling enough to where no one could breathe as of yet, but the time was drawing nigh. More debris was falling from floor to floor and the noise of raging fire was becoming louder and more intense.

Getting up from off the floor, Lynnette made sure to take long drags of oxygen from out the window while rummaging throughout the darkened room for something sharp. She had no plans or schemes to free herself and her child, just raw anxiety and a stomach that was about to explode at any moment from both smoke inhalation and fear.She never bothered to revel in the destruction of one of the beasts, and truth be told, she didn't even know which one it was. All that mattered to her was her baby at that point, and if she couldn't free him then Lynnette was determined beyond all hope to be slaughtered right by his side.

The woman went from room to room until she happened upon a wooden curtain rod in one of the bedrooms that was still lanced upon the top of the window.She reached up and took it down before going back into the kitchen and searching through the sink and in the cabinets for something sharp.

When she couldn't find something like a knife she instead sufficed for three spoons and a fork.With her utensils in hand the woman went back into the front room where Isaiah was resting and sat down next to him by the window where she proceeded to go to work.One by one she bent and twisted off the top portion of the spoons leaving only the sharpened ends of the silverware exposed.

From there she ripped a piece of fabric from off the dirty old rug that was lying on the floor in front of her and bound the spoons and fork together tightly.Lynnette worked diligently while making sure to take puffs of oxygen from the window above her head.

As she kept on she could hear something from within the kitchen scratch and scuffle about. All she did was toss it up to a rodent or perhaps the fire crackling from the other side of the walls. The disturbance wasn't anything too distracting for her to halt her work.

As the young lady tarried on, she couldn't help but to mumble to herself incoherent babblings that not even she was sure what they meant. She was holding a dialogue with God, but her words were less than rational.

"I must've seen it at least a hundred times since I was a little girl." She whispered. "But for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it. It's like a Tootsie Roll or something like that. "C'mon, God, you can do anything, tell me what that candy was daddy bought me when I was—

Without warning, Lynnette's entire body froze. Even her tongue seemed to not want to move anymore. She stared off at the black wall ahead of her before her bottom lip began to tremble.

"God...are we gonna die?" She slurred so softly. "Why is this happening to us?"

The sudden feeling of desolation wrapped her up so tightly that the smoke that was seeping its way underneath the front door for a moment blew right past her on its way out the window.

Right then, the racket from the kitchen grew louder to where Lynnette snapped right out of her trance and went back to her detail.With her utensils wrapped up, the woman took one end of the curtain rod and positioned the utensils at the very tip.

"Mama," a child's voice suddenly spoke out in the blackness.

Lynnette dropped her newly forged weapon to the floor before scooting backwards. With bulging eyes she looked all around her before catching sight of a small silhouette coming from out of the kitchen.

Lynnette grabbed Isaiah and held him against her while shaking uncontrollably. What looked to be a child slowly crept closer and closer before Lynnette found that she couldn't back away any further due to another wall behind her.

The child kept coming towards them before it finally stopped just a foot away from Lynnette's face. Lynnette held out her shivering left hand in defense.

The child only stood for a moment or two before it asked in the most pitiful way, "Are you my mama?"

"Wha...what," Lynnette shuddered.

"Are you my mama?"

Lynnette couldn't see the child's face, but she could smell something that resembled age old must emanate from off the little boy's being.

"Is my mama in here?"

"I...I don't know for sure."

The child looked all around while standing in place. "Okay then. If you see my mama, can you tell her I'll be outside playing? My name is Dougie Ferguson, and I live on the third floor."

Lynnette only shook her head yes as she watched the boy turn and walk away, only to vanish right before he reached the kitchen.

Lynnette sat curled up in the corner and allowed the harrowing moment to soak all the way inside before placing Isaiah back down onto the floor. Then, with her eyes still pointed vigilantly at the kitchen,

she picked up her weapon and went back to her duty.

As her shaking hands continued to work Lynnette all of the sudden realized something that the boy had said. She dropped her weapon and got up before going to the door. The knob was warm but not hot enough to pull away quickly. She opened the door, tip-toed over to the stairwell and counted the floors that led to the smoke-filled lobby.

Once she was done counting she crept back to the apartment, shut the door behind her and went over to the window. She looked outside at the sky that was slowly becoming bright. In the far off distance a streak of lightning split the sky though it was not followed by thunder.

Lynnette stood for a brief moment and stared even closer at the Downtown skyline. Ever so sharply a coarse ripple struck down her spine.

"The sun's not coming up...it's coming back?" She murmured to herself in confusion.

No sooner had she turned around then from the other side of the door an explosion of sorts caused the floor to vibrate. It sounded like the entire building itself was on the verge of collapse.

Without another moment's hesitation the woman picked up both her child and her weapon before heading for the door.

"Get up, Isaiah!" She hollered at the boy. "You're not gonna be my dead weight! I need you wide awake, boy!"

The child began crying only to have his mother clasp his mouth shut. She then flung open the door to find the ceiling above crumbling large piece after large piece onto the floor in front of them. Even the apartment they were inside of succumbed to the effects of the fire as the wallpaper began peeling and melting.

Lynnette knew full well that they couldn't remain inside the building. Death was inevitable either way she saw it. The woman, with her whining son's face shielded from the fire, held her breath while making her way past sizeable chunks of wreckage on her way to the stairwell.

The moment she made it to the set of stairs that led to the first floor, Lynnette could not only see that the lobby was becoming brighter, but that the other beast was still lurking about in the smoke. With thick, flowing smoke surrounding her and her son Lynnette stood and looked down at the thing.

At that point in the ordeal she couldn't even tell if she was dead or alive. Her body still felt like walking cement, and knowing that she and her son were only a few yards away from a prowling evil certainly did not cause her feet to scoot any faster.

Beyond the smoke Lynnette could see what looked to be the door in which they first entered. As the beast skulked back and forth Lynnette managed to catch a glimpse of its body, but the thing that seemed to grab her eye the most was its thick coat of fur.

"I'll be damned, that's you, isn't it, Arthur?" She said under her breath. "I've got to be one fucking fool."

The heat inside the building was reaching dangerous, toxic levels, as was the smoke that they had been breathing in, but the exit was only a few yards away from where Lynnette was standing.

Lynnette was well aware that even if she did make it outside the creature would be hot on her slow heels like a cat on two mice. Lynnette gripped her weapon as tight as she could before looking back to see more ceiling collapse to the floor behind her.

The woman didn't shut her eyes, nor did she pray a prayer, she simply pressed her lips firmly together and stepped down one stair after another until her two feet finally met the first floor.

The beast snarled within the smoke before its noises ceased altogether. From where Lynnette was standing the doorway was located about thirty or so feet to her left. She could sense that the creature

was somewhere in front of her, its brooding presence was far too heavy.

The woman coughed and heaved up large amounts of mucus which she promptly spat onto the floor before placing Isaiah down on the floor behind her and raising her weapon. At that very moment, however, Lynnette could see the beast rise to its two feet and stand hunched over in the smoke. The woman wanted to faint right there. For a meager second she saw only her bathroom and Isaac.

The beast then began growling as it lurched from side to side. It was aware, Lynnette thought to herself. It was well aware.

"Don't you have any feelings for anyone?" She whispered with a juddering tongue.

All of the sudden, the beast roared out before going back on all fours and charging straight at Lynnette. Nearly forgetting that she had a weapon to begin with, she raised her pole and poked the rampaging thing somewhere in the face which in turn sent it hurtling to the floor.

Lynnette reached down and moved Isaiah out of the way. The smoke made it nearly impossible for her to see, but with the reemergence of the sun at least its hulking fur was becoming more and more visible.

Breathing heavier than she had in months Lynnette raced back over and began stabbing the wounded brute all over its body before it managed to grab her makeshift weapon and simply snap it in half. Lynnette fell backwards onto something hard before reaching back for her baby that was still crawling about on the wet floor.

The beast got back up and proceeded to lunge at mother and son only to have Lynnette move both her and Isaiah out of the way just in the nick of time.

"Go through that door, Isaiah!" Lynnette shoved the child. "Go out the fucking door!"

But Isaiah only cried and wallowed about in the smoke as though he had no idea what was happening.

Lynnette kept feeling something hard and sharp pierce her backside, but that didn't deter her from evading the beast left and right.

As she attempted to get up, the thing managed to grab her by the buckle of her jeans and pull her backwards. Lynnette kicked and screamed at the thing before she was able to kick at its snout. The second it released her she fell so hard on her back that whatever was poking her from behind caused her to squeal out in pain.

Lynnette, from where she was lying, looked up to see the beast head straight for Isaiah who was gradually wandering about in an aimless blunder, unable to see just where he was going.

"Get out of here, Isaiah!" She furiously screamed.

Trying to get to her feet Lynnette felt her backside only for her right hand to connect with something very unusual. She reached down into her back pocket and pulled out her switchblade, the same switchblade she totally forgot she had.

Every moment at that stage began to crawl in time. From pulling out the knife, to hearing her son cry in the smoke, to the demon press forward towards him.

With the speed of a cat Lynnette ran over. With the ferocity of a larger cat, she dug the blade right into the beast's back, repeatedly stabbing it in any and every part of its body that she could before the thing flung her off, sending her body plunging backwards into a wall.

Lynnette could immediately feel something break in her back, while in front of her, large chunks of flaming ceiling came falling down, just missing her legs by inches.

Lynnette's aching back was to the wall. The beast regained its bearings before seeing just where its prey was located. Lynnette tried to get up, or at least roll over but her back was in too much pain; it was like she was pregnant all over again, except with twins. Without a hint of relent the demon began racing towards her.

Lynnette looked over at Isaiah who was steadily crying and reaching out for her next to the doorway. She herself broke down and wept, for her child was next once she was through, and that thought alone nearly stopped her heart from beating altogether.

Then, from out of nowhere, something that resembled the sound of scraping metal stopped the beast dead in its tracks. Through the smoky mist Lynnette could see a slim figure emerge from the elevator that had crashed to the bottom earlier.

The person shoved the doors open enough to where they could slide right out. It was Akoni, in her human form all over again. From her head all the way down to her naked feet the woman was covered in blood. She looked like she had just walked away from a horrific car crash. She was limping while holding her stomach in anguish.

"Brot...brother," she strained to gasp.

The beast, seemingly forgetting all about Lynnette, tuned its eyes to the battered woman before it began a slow, snarling march towards her. Akoni had the most astonished look on her blood-covered face while backing away.

"No...please!" She gulped.

But the beast would not listen; it just kept on stalking on all fours towards her before its march eventually turned into a mad dash. Akoni couldn't even scream before she was engulfed and backed right into the elevator all over again.

The whole thought process was finished. With as much pain as she was in Lynnette managed to get up as fast as she could before reaching down and picking up one of the burning chunks of ceiling.

With her two hands feeling the intense heat, the woman ran over to where the demon was destroying its sister and tossed the burning rubble into the elevator along with them both. Just like that the elevator exploded into a flaming glory. The beast howled out as though the fire was eating it alive.

Lynnette limped as fast as she could towards Isaiah. She had nothing else more to view as far as the demon itself was concerned, only its wails of torment sent the woman racing all the more speedily out of the hellacious building with her baby in tow.

With buckets of sweat saturating their faces Lynnette went straight through the wrecked, wood door and out into the front of the building. The woman had exhausted just about every last bit of energy she had left to expend. Her clay feet dragged further and further away from the building before her crippled legs could no longer take one more step.

Just like that, she collapsed to the ground before looking up at the sky and letting out the single most bloodcurdling scream that her lungs could expel. The grey sky responded in kind by pouring down a heavy torrent of warm rain that pounded upon mother and son.

"Isaac!" Her vocal cords hollered themselves to death. "Isaac!"

The rain came down so hard on both her and Isaiah that it was washing off the blood, ashes and every other sort of filth that layered their bodies. Lynnette and Isaiah coughed and spat all over themselves in an exhaustive effort to regain their breaths and breathe in holy oxygen.

The longer Lynnette knelt on the ground crying and screaming the louder the building behind her exploded into flames. She just couldn't stop bawling, no matter how much her voice wanted to give out. She didn't give a care as to what could have come out of the building behind her; all Lynnette could do was wail while the long-awaited rain drenched her and her son's bodies.

Soon, the thunder followed.

***

Downtown Cypress, Ohio was not spared the overwhelming, and long hoped for soaking that took over for the remainder of the afternoon. People walked down the sidewalks with umbrellas covering their heads and raincoats suited over their bodies. Sewers rapidly overflowed while the steamy streets were becoming flooded, giving way to vehicles of all sorts inadvertently splashing pedestrians along their speeding course.

The thunder that ripped through the downtown area sounded cavernous as its rumble echoed and bounced from one tall building to the other. Some people walked fast while others ran from one sidewalk and street to the other, but not Lynnette Glover.

The woman, with her son cradled securely to her bosom, hobbled down the sidewalk without any protectant from the elements whatsoever. From her face all the way to her torn and tattered sneakers she was drenched. She could feel and hear the water inside her shoes splash, making her already slow march all the more sluggish. The rain was getting into her misty eyes, which in turn caused her to nearly miss a traffic stop. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

There were the onlookers, the ones who may have stopped completely or simply kept moving while keeping a curious eye on the unfortunate woman and her child. To Lynnette, they were the shadows that she had encountered back at the Estates; annoying, but harmless.

"Honey, do you need help?" A black lady tried to console Lynnette.

Snatching her body away, the woman growled, "Leave me the fuck alone!"

Down the wet sidewalk she carried on, while in a far distance, a lone building burned.