Hell's Army

Chapter Thirteen- Fight

Katie and Follows crept up the garage stairs and into the corridor.

"Stop," Katie hissed, and pulled Follows back. She laid the little car they'd found in the basement on the ground and twiddled the remote. Its tiny headlights blinked into life, and it sailed across the wooden floor. The walls exploded in its wake, nails flinging in all directions like tiny wasps whipping past. The little prick had reset the traps.

When the car had reached the stairs, Follows and Katie hurried after it. They slid their way down the railing, light bouncing off the tips of the pins littering the stairs dangerously. Katie clutched their bag of goodies to her chest as they drifted over the carpet. Something small and black flew towards them. Before she knew what she was doing, she was whipping out the spray oil can. She pressed a light to its mouth a squirted, flames screaming through the air and eating up the thing in one massive gulp.

She lowered the can, breathing heavily. A melting eye slipped out of the teddy bear's socket as its blackened fur disappeared beneath the flames.

"That wasn't nice," a soft voice said behind them.

Kevin slipped out of the shadows, the flames burning away in his eyes. Katie took a weary step back.

"I'm bored, Katie," he whined, and for a second he was almost like a normal kid. "Play with me." He pulled something out of his pocket, and Katie's blood ran cold. Follows wrenched her into the kitchen as Kevin pointed the gun at them.

"Play with me!" he yelled, and the light above them exploded.

Katie slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. This was it. She was going to die.

"Three blind mice," Kevin's voice drifted out of the lounge. "Three blind mice... see how they run..."

Katie looked around frantically, and her eyes fell on a thin piece of rope tied to the doorstop, running up the ceiling. She slipped her hand down, willed her voice to stop shaking. "If you get close enough to him, you can exorcise him, right?"

"If he doesn't put a bullet in my brain first," Follows muttered.

"They all ran up to the farmer's wife, who cut off their tails with a carving knife..."

"Okay," she whispered. "Promise me that the first chance you get, you'll get that thing out of Kevin."

Follows frowned. "Katie?"

Without another word, she scrambled to her feet and ran into the lounge.

"Katie!" Follows screamed.

Kevin's eyes lit up as bright as flames. "There you are," he said, raising the gun.

"Kid," she muttered, "you are so freaking grounded."

The sound of a canon being let off ripped through the house, and as if she was in a dream, Katie was falling to the ground, air whipping above her like a speeding train.

She crashed to the ground as the bullet tore through the rope, and suddenly the chandelier was crashing down, light screaming across the metal like hundreds of diamonds crashing to Earth. The glass exploded and scattered across the floor as Kevin snarled, trying to wrench his leg free. Follows was up in an instant, whipping out his cross and shouting things about God and angels and demons. Kevin's body jolted violently, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, and he screamed, and when Katie was about to beg Follows to stop, he slumped forward, unconscious. Then he blinked  a couple of times, and when he opened his eyes, they were a light, oak leaf brown. He looked around like a startled little rabbit as Follows gently pulled him out.