Before he hung up, Pat had directed us to fly to the cathedral. He would be joining us there later. Flash! Crack! The lightning and the thunder resumed their cooperative frightening. The howling wind beat the raindrops against the glass like bullets. And most importantly, there was the black mass. It was ahead of us. It was huge. It was buzzing and flapping.

  “What is that?” I asked in a state of heightened panic.

  “T-t-t-t they’re flies,” said Ethan in a slow but shaky voice.

  “C’est va est très difficile à échapper,” Dr. Jimmy muttered darkly. He raised the elevation of the flying car and steered it in a sharp swerve to avoid the oncoming mass. “Monsieur Parrotieur est disparu-things will be très, très difficile.” He banged on the dashboard in anger. “Et mon Alie, il faut être vengent!” He turned to Ethan with his hidden eyes and his grimaced lips. “Je will payer for ce!!”

  “You lay a hand on my friend and I will burn your body!” I shot back. He pointed a shaking, metal finger at me.

  “Je vais throw tu out!!”

  “Order, order!” Officer Caleb barked. Both me and the mentally-ill scientist were reluctant to break off the tension but we had to. We gave middle fingers to each other and then turned away.

  Regarding preparations, Officer Caleb was readying his pistol. I dug into my pockets but found only a dwarfish pencil with the sharp end chipped away. At least this writing utensil was good enough for poking out eyes. Unfortunately, the swarm was not one-directional. It turned and swam in our direction like a malleable piece of aluminum.

  Even though by now I hated Dr. Jimmy Dickbois, my uneasiness made me ask him this question: “Does this car have any machine guns?”

  “C’est une voiture expérimentale!” Dr. Jimmy raged angrily. “Ce n'est pas un hélicoptère militaire! Can’t you regarde?!!” He had returned to his fits. I had to shut up for both of our goods. However, worse was to come. In front of us was a massively swirling supercluster. It was blacker than outer space and angry bolts of blood-red lightning blasted across this mini gas giant. It roared like a demon from hell. And its size was double that of New York City.

  We were trapped by death on both sides. Or so it seemed.

  “Look!” cried Sheila. She was pointing at something that I initially thought was invisible. But when I leaned closer, I could confirm that she did see something. A tiny speck had appeared in the storm. It grew and grew, until it became a tunnel-sized hole that we could safely pass through-a wormhole. “There’s a safe passage through that cloud tunnel.”

  “Remercie Dieu,” Dr. Jimmy breathed with a huge sigh of relief. Suddenly, Veronica’s phone rang.

  “Hello?” The voice on the other end was crackled but we could hear who it was.

  “People,” Pat Cochrane spoke in a hurried panic. “Whatever ye do, dun go through that wormhole. Dun go through that wormhole.” We were super confused.

  “Why?” Sheila asked.

  “Quel est votre problème?!” shouted Dr. Jimmy who was on the verge of going into even worse obscenities. By now, Pat Cochrane’s voice was not only getting more difficult to hear but it was turning into static mush. The only word I got out of it was “dimension.” My brain clicked and I realized why he had made that warning.

  “Guys!!” I shouted. “Don’t go in that hole! It will not take you to safety! It’ll take you to another dimension!!”

  “N’importe quoi!!” screamed Dr. Jimmy. “Je suis un scientifique et you are not! Vous will all écoutez-moi, PUTAIN!!!” Click! Officer Caleb put his gun to the mad scientist’s head.

  “Turn back now or I will make you,” he spoke in a deadpan voice.

  “TU ES SéRIEUX?!!!” screeched Dr. Jimmy.

  “I am.” The safety pin clicked back.

  “Puis aller!” A small tube-like gun had appeared on the cyborg scientist’s wrist.

  “You pull the trigger and all of us die.” Officer Caleb was defiant.

  “D’accord, D’accord, D’ACCORD!!” shouted Dr. Jimmy in certain defeat. “We won’t go-we’ll land. ?A M’EST éGAL!!!”

  The flying car ended up landing on the roof of a Petron gas station. It was a precarious landing as not only was the supercell and the swarm bearing down on us but one faulty move could bring the vehicle to a sickening crash. As we were about to get out, the Black Eyed Kids reappeared in front of us. The horde stared at us with their large black ovals. We were surrounded.

  “What do we do?” asked a nervous Ethan. I wasn’t able to answer him as I also knew the truth-there was nothing to do. If we went outside, we would be killed. If we stayed inside, we would be killed. This helicopter would be our tomb.

  “INNE NAME OF JESUS, B’GONE!!!” A loud megaphone voice emanated from the ground. Instantly, the Black Eyed Kids vanished. We all scrambled outside to see who it was. Pat Cochrane. He was standing beside his Eldorado. We were saved.

  To get to the ground, Dr. Jimmy personally flew us down. He had the same kind of foldable wings as L’Archange Alie. When it came to Ethan, he gave him a very long, angry stare before reluctantly lowering him. Thank God that mad scientist did not attempt any revenge plot. If he did, I would have to personally intervene.

  At 3 a.m., the gas station would obviously be closed but we were still able to enter the convenience store as I was an excellent lockpicker. We all rushed inside as quickly as possible and Officer Caleb had just barely locked the door before the swarm impacted the windows. Bang! Bang!! BANG!!! The swarm was not flies-in fact they were way, way worse. They were what Revelation 9 or so describes as giant locusts with golden crowns, the faces of men, razor-sharp, jagged teeth, iron armor embalming their hideous carapaces, and scorpion stingers. These undead, rotten, demonic things banged against the glass with such ferocity that they were pulverized into disgusting, black, gooey mulch that oozed down the windows. At a windowpane that was directly in front of me, scratches and dents were beginning to appear. At first, they were small and insignificant but soon they got bigger and bigger. Dents became cracks, cracks became spreading cracks, spreading cracks became craters…then… CRASH!!!

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  One of those demon locusts broke through our only line of defense and landed hard against the white linoleum floor, staining it forever with black infamy. It lay there, still and dead. I cautiously inched my head a little higher above the ice cream refrigerator. Was it really dead? That was the same question that Ethan was thinking of-he was hiding behind the cashier’s counter on the other side. Suddenly, with the energy and the vivacity of a supersonic plane, it lunged at me. Its beak tore into my forehead and the pain that emanated was worse than disembowelment. Rivulets of blood immediately began pouring out of the gaping chasm of a wound. I grabbed it, trying to shake it off but not only was it unmovable iron but its jagged edges spiked the pain to a hellish max. It was only by biting into my lip until it bled was I able to stay conscious.

  Thwack! Ethan had shattered an ice cream box on it. Of course, his blow did nothing. In response, it jumped at his left shoulder and began chewing it. Blood spurted out of my friend like a garden hose as he sank in screaming pain. It was very likely he would die in less than a minute. It was very likely we both were going to die. Whack! Whack! Whack!

  Sheila now came to our aid, hitting it with a broomstick. Same thing-the demon locust was unfazed. It simply refocused its attention on my former bully. It clawed at her viciously. She fought bravely but the broom strings were being ripped open bit by bit with each clawing.

  As I tried ripping a fire extinguisher off of a pillar, Ethan stood up. Surprisingly, his face was absent of any pain and fear. I had wanted to tell him to run but before I could open my mouth, he had grabbed its wings and as if a huge power surge was coursing through his body, he pulled. The wings were torn off, black goo coated his hands, bits of chitin were embedded in his fingers, and various insectoid segments were scattered on the floor. Both me and Sheila gaped at him, utterly shocked.

  “What?” he asked in confusion. Then he slowly lowered his face and saw.

  “Damn son,” I remarked. “You Samson now?”

  Ethan did not respond as he looked at the window. Relief was still a thousand miles away. The rest of those locust abominations had already swarmed through the rapidly expanding, gaping hole and were sweeping through the shelves like a plague. We ran as fast and as blindly as we could. We often hit metal shelves and dislodged beer bottles but that was okay-anything was better than death at the hands of the BEK minions. In particular, I feared that the swarm would enter our heads through our porous wounds, possess us, and then everyone would be dead quicker than light-speed. I gagged to even envision this. As the dark masses began to close around us three, I had the strong urge to just sink on my knees and accept defeat. But that powerful electricity kept buzzing within me and I kept on running. With a strained neck, I looked up. A bright light was shining ahead. With whatever was left of my strength, I sprinted forwards. And entered. Pat slammed and bolted the door. The swarm banged against it viciously but this time, they could not create any dents or cracks. The bathroom door was made out of metal.

  I collapsed on the ground, utterly exhausted. The effects of the rapid bleeding were creeping in (i.e. dizziness, blurry vision, etc.)

  “Thank God this washroom doesn’t have a wheelchair button,” I remarked in a confused daze.

  “Isn’t that insensitive to wheelchair users?” Sheila asked through her panting.

  “They can sit out for now,” was my joking response.

  “Hey! This isn’t the time for fun and games,” Officer Caleb chastised sternly. “Both of you are bleeding!” He immediately took off his uniform to wrap it around my head. White instantly became red on the navy blue dress shirt. Pat took off his blue tweed suit and wrapped it over the uniform. It too was stained. It was only when Officer Caleb applied his black t-shirt that the blood did not appear. Also, the symptoms slowly ceased and my eyesight returned to normal.

  I was able to see everything, including Sheila taking off her pink headband to fasten it around Ethan’s shoulder. As her gentle fingers wound round and round and he calmly accepted her delicate fingerwork, I realized there was something missing from my intimate life with Jordan. As I thought about my first and closest friend, panic welled up inside of me. She was definitely taken by them. And there was no way for me to get to her. Hopefully, she’s still alive by this point. Hopefully. But doubt still weighed me down like an elephant. And it became suffocatingly hot in that cramped, claustrophobic restroom.

  I looked over at Dr. Jimmy. He was still sullen and crestfallen. Even though it was not wise to say so, I asked.

  “Hey Dr. Jimmy, still mad at us?” He slowly looked over at me.

  “Je suis content.” He dragged his answer, clearly showing that he was lying. Regardless, I continued.

  “So what made you change your mind?” He waved a hand of dismissal at me.

  “Oublie-le. J’ai débuté à. Your ami, il n’est pas do it. C’est hypnotisme. Je vais trouver le génie derrière ?a.”

  “But that was clearly demonic possession,” I rebutted.

  “N’importe quoi!” The scientist was getting indignant again. “There is no such chose.”

  “Hypnotism does not give you superhuman strength,” I countered. “Think about that.”

  “?a m’est égal.” The scorn continued.

  My gaze shifted to Pat. He was looking right into my eyes, with laser precision. A chill rose up in me. I knew all too well what it entailed.

  “D’you remember what aah told ya?” I wanted to wait for him to continue talking but I then realized that his prolonged silence had attracted the gaze of everyone else. Embarrassment compelled me to speak but I still had to protect myself. So I feigned ignorance.

  “Me?” I pointed at myself.

  “Yes ye, Calvin Garcia!” There was a slight jilt of anger in his exclamation. But worse was to come. “Ye sinned! Aah told you not t’go into Mr. Grincher’s flat ‘n ye did.” I felt as if his face was morphing into that of Mr. Grincher. Still, I had to do something to get myself out of this dirty mess.

  “I’m sorry,” I began in the most apologetic voice ever. “I was stupid. Please forgive me.”

  “Ye didn’t repent to Gawd.”

  “What?” Those six strong words shook me like the wind. He was hellbent on destroying me.

  “Ye need to confess yer sins to Almighty Gawd. Repent.”

  “But he can’t hear me!” I protested. “He’s too far away!” The next line from him was so Grincher-esque that it did more than get on my nerves-it blew them up.

  “Son, not only have ye sinned against a righteous n’ Holy Gawd by engagin in witchcraft n’ sorcery, but right this moment, yer responsible fo hunnerds of deaths that’re happenin round Charleston.”

  “You’re just a crazy, old, looney fool!” I jeered back. Pat’s face exploded in tomato lava and he raised his right hand.

  “Ye insolent boy, aah think aah outta spank ya!!”

  But he wouldn’t be able to-the sounds were coming back. The supercell storm was very near us. Like a swirling maelstrom, it was gobbling up everything in its path-gas tanks, gas booths, the entirety of the roof. Loud explosions could be heard as the gasoline combusted. The swarm failed to disperse, as would match the normal laws of physics. Instead, the demonic locusts ramped up both their numbers and their intensity. The sturdy bathroom door was now rattling as violently as a jiggling skeleton.

  “Tell us Elijah, what are we going to do?” asked Officer Caleb in a very serious tone. The demon slayer was calm-he knew the way forward.

  “Y’all pray for deliverance and aah’ll pray to the Lord for a ‘pecific way of ‘scape.” We all gave him looks that told him he was a madman. In fact, I was thinking that he was a worse madman than Dr. Jimmy ever could be. “Y’all gotta trust me on this.” We were about to strenuously object when we heard it-the storm had smashed the store windows and was now sucking the walls up. We did according to what he had said. My prayer was a one-liner which I kept screaming in my head, over and over and over again.

  “Dear Almighty God, please don’t let me die!” I quickly switched out the “me” for the “us” after I realized I was being too narcissistic. “Dear Almighty God, please don’t let us die! Dear Almighty God, please don’t let us DIE!!”