Hell's Army

Chapter Nineteen- A Reverend, An Angel, and a Teenager Walk Into a Bar...

Katie hurried down the corridor and banged on Follows' door.

"Katie?" he demanded when he saw her. "What the hell are you doing here? I told you to leave."

"The doors were locked," she said. "And the guy at the desk- he just kept staring at me. There's something seriously weird about him."

Follows snatched her arm and pulled her inside.The man with the flaxen hair was sitting on the noxious pink bedspread, pouring over notes.

"Hey," Katie said. "Insurance guy."

He looked up, frowned at Follows.

"Katie, this is Zadrian," Follows said.

Katie held her hand out. "Katie."

"Did the manager say anything to you?" he demanded without missing a beat. "Anything at all?"

She slowly withdrew her hand. There was something strange about this man. Something not quite right. But she couldn't put her finger on it. "Just that he hoped I had a pleasant stay. He was, like, really caught up on that. But there was something else..."

"What?" Follows asked.

"When I was going up to you guys, I saw him and a bunch of other people, like, talking to someone. They kept finishing each other's sentences, almost like... they were the same person. Follows, what's going on?"

He took a deep breath. "Zadrian and I got a call after I left Kevin's house," he said. "One of the staff said the people were...changing. We came to investigate, but when we got here, he was like-"

"Like Pleasant Stay Guy?"He nodded.

"So, are they demons?"

"Demons are far more adept at mimicking human behaviours," Zadrian said.

"Right. Then what are they?"

Follows sighed. "That's what we're trying to find out.""

All right," she said. "How do we do that?"

Zadrian and Follows looked at each other. "I guess you should meet the group," Follows said.

The group, as it turned out, was holed up in the lounge like refugees, sitting on lounge chairs that same shade of pink Katie was quickly learning to hate.

"Katie," Follows said, pointing to each of them, "This is Sam, Brian, James and Glenys, Lance, Harriet, and Daniel."

The group gave her a few half hearted waves.

"Follows," the woman, Harriet, demanded. She had a stern looking face and pointed glasses, an expensive looking business suit sticking to her like a second skin. "I have a flight to catch at 9.30. They're not letting me out."

"What happened to Maybellene?" Brian, a balding man in an absurdly patterned shirt and birches, said. "She changed."

"Something really freaking weird is going on here," Lance muttered. His hair was shaved and a leather jacket clung to his skinny shoulders. Far too many piercings to count decorated his face.

"Listen," Follows said calmly, "I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know what's going on. But nothing is going to get better if you start panicking. So I need everyone to take a deep breath."They all did."Now, don't you all feel better?"

"No," Daniel, a vacant looking teenager, said.

"I'm going to have a word with the manager," Follows said firmly. "No one move until I get back."

 He left, and an uncomfortable silence settled over the group, which was broken by the sound of tiny, electronic people screaming as Daniel started shooting them on his Nintendo.Katie wandered over to him.