24. Seven minutes.
24
Seven minutes.
“A host possessed by a powerful demon is a fearsome foe to vanquish. Some mutations, especially the fast-healing kind, can keep the host alive even through impressive damage. In 2044, a demonic trader named Orlo Fatch survived being shot twenty-six times and lost his two arms during a grenade explosion. Still, he kept fighting. When they finally immobilized him, and then spent another hour exorcising the class-two demon inhabiting him; this gave his mutations time to heal some of his mortal wounds. Mr. Fatch is still alive to this day, serving time in a penitentiary in Chicago.
Another example of demons’ resilience in human bodies is the infamous Grigori Rasputin, mystic of Russia’s final royal family, who died in 1916 of drowning in a frozen river, but only after being poisoned, shot, and stabbed. Historians now theorize that a powerful demon possessed him.”
-Extract from the State Exorcist’s Manual , edition of 2047.
CALIFORNIAN HIGH-SPEED RAIL, 2047
I was dying in the basement of our house in Williamsburg, the pool of blood spreading over the expensive wooden floor. My mother stood over me, knife in hand, and watched me take my last ragged breaths.
“I’m sorry, honey,” she said. “But you’re a sacrifice I’m willing to make to achieve my goals.”
What goals? I wanted to ask. What does a woman like you crave more than the life of her child?
I couldn’t move or talk, and my questions stayed unanswered.
My mother waited, and I died. Lucifer never came.
Arthur buried my head in the pillow and said, “Just be a good boy and take it. I’ve noticed the way you watch me, Jonah. Don’t pretend you don’t want it. I usually don’t swing that way, but you’re so insistent. Shush, baby. It can be your little secret.”
My tears soaked the sheets. No one came to save me, and Arthur broke me.
Harrison’s childish face was distorted as he looked at me. There was blood on his lips and chin, dripping onto his clothes. He let out a crazed laugh, almost like a hyena. I crawled away from the hellhound possessing him, but I wasn’t fast enough and he caught me. He dug his nails into my calves, then bit into my neck and tore my trachea. I died with my face buried in the mud, and the hellhound went on a rampage in the summer camp.
The cultists closed the church’s door, locking us in with their small army of possessed. Robb went down first while defending my back. I held his lifeless body, tears streaking down my face, as the demons fell on me, ripping me to shreds.
“ Jon, ” Lucifer said. “ Come back.”
My mother raised the knife to cut me down.
“ Jon .”
They say the brain replays your most vivid memories for seven minutes after your heart stops beating. A last curtain call for the spectacle that was your life. But mine showed me how many times I would have ceased to exist without my devil’s intervention. I died, and I died, over and over again, until the pain was all I knew.
“ Jon. Open your eyes .”
I gasped and jolted awake. Warm rain splattered on my face, and the sky above was the deep gray of ship-sinking storms. Lightning cleaved the clouds like a sword.
Where am I?
I could smell smoke, burned things, and… blood. Someone was screaming in the distance. Someone needed help.
“ Jon, take my power .” Lucifer said.
“Wh—what?” I could taste blood on my tongue.
“ You were dead, and I fed you some of my power to bring you back, little one. You need to take more, and there is only so much I can force on you .”
I had trouble comprehending what Lucifer was saying. I was so… tired. If I could just rest a little…
“ Imbecile. Will you listen to me?”
My fading attention snagged on the word ‘imbecile’. Lucifer always accompanied his insults and jabs with discreet humor. But this time, he sounded truly displeased. And I sought his approval in all things.
I opened my eyes again and really paid attention to my surroundings. I was in a passenger car… It was open like a broken egg, and the seats hung above me like bats. I’d been riding the bullet train… and…
What…?
I tried to rise, but my body refused to heed me. At last, I looked down and beheld the wreck that were my legs and lower body. Reality came crashing down, and I let out a pitiful sob.