Dancing In The Void

Constantine yawned as he leaned on the dirty hood of the Cadillac.

He didn’t care that he was staining the beautiful white overcoat he was wearing. It wasn’t his. He had found it a day prior to their encounter with Katherine and Nikolai in a wardrobe in one of the rooms. It was hidden behind the rest of the coats, and it was clear that it hadn’t been worn in a long while. But it fit him to perfection and he liked how little movement it restricted and how resilient the material was so he decided to take it. He knew Katherine wouldn’t mind. He frowned thinking about her, because his mind immediately went to Nikolai. He shook himself awake and moved aside the flocks of gray hair that came down over his forehead and eyes. He got up off of the car and stretched his hands.

Wrath was walking towards him alongside Evan. She was wearing her black leather jacket over a simple short gray shirt that revealed her midriff and had the word “truth” stylized on it. On her feet were her long boots adorned with numerous little silver spikes on them and her slender fingers were inside the pockets of her jeans. Evan, to contrast her slim dress up, was wearing his plain brown winter jacket and some stuffy pants.

“We thought you were still sleeping.” Wrath said.

“I thought we were leaving first thing in the morning.” Constantine replied, mildly annoyed.

“We are. But breakfast usually takes priority. Here” She tossed him a sandwich wrapped inside a napkin. He caught it almost without realizing it. “You guys have your daggers?”

They both nodded. Constantine tapped his chest where he had a knife strap on the inside pocket of his jacket, Evan patted his belt where he put one of Katherine’s knife holsters.

“Well then, let’s get going.”

Wrath was the driver, Evan was shotgun, and Constantine drew the short stick and had to ride in the back. He didn’t really mind, as he was more interested in his sandwich than enjoying the gray desecrated scenery. It was a morbid sight. They encountered nearly nothing on the road. The winter air that once was supposed to bring a comfortable chill and snow was now just cold, dead emptiness. No cars, no people anywhere to be seen. Most had fled the city, and those that didn’t were in hiding or worse. After fifteen minutes of silent driving, Evan turned on the radio.

“-gly advise anyone to stay indoors, and wait for the local military to come and evacuate you. Worst case try to make your way to your local church or monastery. Reports across the globe have stated that these seem to be the most effective countermeasure zones, as if the creatures are afraid of them and actively avoid them. Other reports however state that even these are also unsafe and that those that were attacked have far more gruesome outcomes for those that sheltered within them. So far, the military offensive is almost completely ineffective, and many units have begun focusing on defensive measures. Evacuating the people is a primary objective. On the topic of offensive, a small conglomerate of people have managed to deter the horde from their northward advance, and caused the creatures to turn westward, closer to Danaway river. So far unconfirmed rumors state that they achieved this by torching the city of Makhayo, north of Deterna and barricading inside St. Anthony’s cathedral. As stated previously, if this is true or just merely a freak accident or coincidence is currently unknown. That was our news broadcast for this morning, we will continue to try and be on air for as many days as possible. Remember to hide, and pray. May God have mercy on us al-”

“Whatever mercy he once had is long gone.” Wrath spat, turning it off.

Evan shook his head and muttered a silent god damn it.

“Is fire effective against wights?” Constantine asked Wrath.

“Apparently so, but I rather doubt it. Holiness itself however, definitely. That’s why your daggers are so important, and why most of Katherine’s weaponry is so useless.”

“We should tell the army, we need to let other people know if that’s the case.” Evan exclaimed.

“There’s not enough holy weapons out there for everyone. I agree however, we need to let them know if there’s any chance we can fight back. But not now, we are almost isolated in that mansion. If we tried to leave now we’d definitely run into unpleasantries.”

The car hit a pothole and jumped as soon as she finished her sentence.

“Why would the wights be afraid of fire if it’s harmless to them?” Constantine mumbled again.

“Why are you so hung up on that fire?” Evan asked, turning around to look at him. His friend was staring at the muddy windows of the jeep.

“Why aren’t you? It would greatly help if fire drove them back, the military would have no issues dealing with the wights.”

“True. But that’s not why you’re so hung up about it right now is it?”

Constantine couldn’t help but frown. Then he laughed, thinking about how well Evan could read him. The rest of the way was driven in silence. Constantine pulled out his knife and spun it in his hand, careful not to puncture the skin. It wasn’t as if he needed to, he felt as if the blade wasn’t able nor willing to cut him. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t make out the blue markings on its hilt. They always moved, always changed, if for a moment he thought he could make out a word, it shifted before he realized it. He turned it and looked at its pommel. He wondered how it was that the knife could extend into a spear. He concluded some sort of mechanism allowed the hilt to collapse into itself, and that was the extent to which he was going to try and wrap his mind around it.

“We’re here.” Wrath’s gloomy voice echoed as she stopped the car. They were hidden behind a couple small trees and bushes off the road, near a small ditch that ran sharply right.

“Couldn’t you have gotten us closer? It’s gonna be a long road to carry what we need.” Evan asked her as he opened the door and got out.

“No.” She said.

“Not unless you wanna risk it Evan. Don’t worry about carrying stuff, we’re lucky if we have anything to carry back.” Constantine said.

The three walked towards the road. Once there, they began making their way towards the city. The smoldering ruins loomed across the horizon like an ashen snake. By some miracle, the Grand Lighthouse still endured, though its light was absent and its once marvelous white color seemed faded and stained. The closer they got, the more they could see the destruction the wights left in their wake. Cars and shops and buildings were all ravaged. Bits of glass and crushed metal and upturned asphalt littered the streets. Further into the city, they ran into an entire street that was simply torn apart in two. The sewage system could be seen beneath the crumbled rock. A filthy stream tinged orange flowed between the ruins. Wrath and Constantine turned to find another way, while Evan just stared in wonder.

“H-holy shit. It’s a whole street. A whole fucking street carved in half.” His voice trembled.

“Yeah. C’mon Evan. We have to go around.” Constantine said.

“What the hell did this?” Evan asked, catching up to them.

“A pale shadow most likely.” Wrath answered calmly.

Constantine felt a chill running down his back. He remembered the terrifying gaze of the pale one back at the auction. How it slid like a slug off of the ceiling and how easily it nearly broke him just moments before. Its white burning empty eyes were etched into his mind ever since.

“Like the one that attacked you and Nikolai at the auction? Jesus. What the hell are those things?” Evan kept asking.

“What am I, your fucking encyclopedia?” Wrath answered, finally bursting with irritation. “They’re just malevolent beings born of hell. Who knows what monsters lurk down there in the sodden depths…”

“Let's hope they remained there when everything else rushed to the surface.” He smiled awkwardly.

“Knowing our luck they’re probably around the corner.” Constantine chuckled.

The rest of the city greeted them with similar hellish landscapes as they tried to find some shop or supermarket. But everything was emptied or destroyed, and what little remained was unusable. After a while, they found a small park where Constantine and Evan used to spend time as kids, along with Nikolai. Most of the trees were nothing more than ash, some were still lit, and nothing more than moss and shrubs remained. Constantine sighed as he squatted and placed a hand on the dry muddy grass.

“Fuck, What the hell have we done…” He said softly.

“You can’t blame yourself for all of this Constantine. Don’t let that thought in your mind. If we start blaming ourselves it’s going to end up consuming us both. Just.. accept what happened, and let’s try and fix this shit.” Evan said.

“You’re right, man.” Constantine nodded, before an old memory crossed his mind. “Fuck... I remember we came here one time with that kid, shit, what was his fucking name? That one kid with the dull hairstyle and dumb glasses. He wore that falcon shirt all the tim-”

“Allan.” Evan chuckled. “Yeah I remember Allan. Oh. You’re referring to when we stole his playing cards? God how that guy cried.”

“Yeah… Nikolai laughed so hard when she saw him, all snotty and puffy. Damn, where’d we hide them, it was in a tree no?”

“Yeah, we climbed one of the trees, I don’t remember which one though. God we were such little shits.” He said with a smile.

Constantine looked up, his smile was one of sadness and memories long forgotten. “D-do you think he made it out?” He asked.

Evan was silent. A moment later he turned around and walked away. “For his sake, I hope he just died peacefully… Come on man get up, we gotta get going.”

Wrath watched them and listened from farther up ahead. She couldn’t help but smile sadly at their story. Her mind wandered towards her own past, a past that she could no longer recall. Then her ear twitched. She heard it, it was a faint sound, it came from behind one of the unscathed trees a bit further off. She listened closely, it was merely a sob, not something more dangerous.

A survivor? She thought. Her amber eyes peered into the distance. She saw her, a woman, huddled up and holding something. Her body was gently rocking back and forth. So it seems, she’s not a wight..

“Guys, come quickly!” She shouted. The two sprinted towards her.

“There, behind that tree.”

“What?” Constantine asked, scouring the park.

“A woman.”

“She still alive? I was just about to ask why there aren’t even bodies here, let alone survivors” Evan asked.

“Yes. Let’s go.” Wrath led the way towards her.

The closer they got, the more their hearts sank. The woman was clutching a small child wrapped inside some ragged red blankets. The child was dead. She was stuck up between the roots of the tree, rocking gently back and forth, whispering and mumbling to the child.

“Mommy’s here… Mommy’s here darling..” She said softly.

Constantine knelt down in front of her.

“Miss.” He said calmly. The woman did not lift her head.

“P-please. Leave me.” Her voice trembled.

“We can’t leave you here. Come with us. We can keep you safe.” He tried convincing her.

“Y-you can't keep me safe.” She started laughing. “You couldn’t possibly keep me safe from them.” She looked at him. The skin on her face was dry and cracked. It flaked and fell on her clothes from her cheeks as she spoke. Wrath pulled Constantine up immediately and stepped forward. The woman saw the demon standing before her and her eyes filled with dread. She put her head in her child’s chest and started crying uncontrollably.

“Evan. Constantine. This will not be pretty. You guys should go on ahead.”

“Wrath. What are you doing?” Evan dared ask. She simply turned her head towards him, looked to the side, and then turned back.

They both understood what it meant. Constantine put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and nudged him forward. “You don’t need to see this.”

“And you do?”

“Listen to me.” Wrath told the woman. The two stopped talking and turned to them. If they wanted to avoid watching, the chance had passed. The woman still cried, ignoring Wrath. “Listen to Me!” Her thunderous voice echoed through the park. Her head twitched.

The woman slowly lifted her head. She stared back at Wrath, trying to be defiant. But her trembling eyes and lip betrayed her.

“Do not think ill of me. I wish I did not have to kill you, but if I let you live, you will become a husk, nothing more than a shell. You will forget breath, you will forget life, you will forget everything, even the child you’re holding. If you haven’t already started to.”

Wrath stood up and flashed her right hand. Her violet blade shone under the gray sunless sky. Evan felt his chest burn. He turned and walked away unable to look. Constantine glanced at his friend then turned back, as if entranced.

“T-this is supposed to be m-mercy?” The woman laughed. “Demon, mercy would be ending yourself after you’re done with me.”

Wrath closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Before she opened them she lashed forward and stabbed the woman through her neck. She then turned and walked away after Evan. Constantine stood motionless and watched everything unfold. He watched as the woman writhed like a fish, blood squirting in torrents from her neck. It all splattered messily over the face of her dead son. She gagged and coughed, her body twitched and convulsed violently. She looked up one more time at Constantine. Her eyes were turning gray and the small flicker of light within them was fading. The last embers that remained were gone as she slumped forward and died, still embracing her child. He turned around and violently vomited. When he was finished he stumbled forward after Wrath and Evan. They were already farther up, out of the park and into a small parking lot. He walked up to Wrath and shoved her shoulder.

“What the hell was that?” He shouted.

“She insulted me.” said Wrath.

“Oh and I guess that means you’re supposed to punish her? Her fucking child just died and god knows what else happened to her and you’re going to blame her for being afraid and calling you demon?”

“Yes?” She responded with an air of coolness about her. Evan took a step back and let them talk.

“Fucking… You could have at least warned me or something. I didn’t plan to watch a woman choke to death on her own blood on top of her dead kid.”

“I could have been less kind and not even kill her and let her mind and soul fade away. Stop being angry, you chose to stay and watch.”

“Look, I get why you did it. I understand that life isn’t a fucking game anymore, that now we have to fight and kill to survive, that it’s us or them. I made peace with that idea by now, but…” He bit his lip and shook his head once. “Wrath, that was just cruel.”

She silently turned her head and walked away.

“C’mon. We should get going. We’d best not linger till it gets dark.” Evan told Constantine, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“The supermarket.” Wrath said, stopping and pointing at the building at the end of the parking lot. “There’s people inside.”

Evan and Constantine looked at each other and ran after Wrath, catching up to her.

“How many?” Constantine asked.

“Six. Possibly seven. Two of them are children though.”

The three of them stood in front of the building. The front glass door and windows were all barricaded with planks and serrated pieces of metal. Wrath paced back and forth in front of the door, pushing against it once or twice.

“Ok. Stand back guys.” Wrath pulled up her right sleeve and stretched her hand towards the door. Immediately, three tentacles black as smoking coal shot from her forearm and elbow, latching against the glass and hinges of the door.

“Hngrr-yah!” She groaned and tore the door down, planks and hinges and all. The door slammed against the cold pavement with the powerful sound of the glass shattering in thousands of pieces.

The three then walked on inside. Evan and Constantine pulled out their knives, with Evan holding his with uncertainty in his right hand. Wrath took the lead and kept walking. It was dark and the supermarket seemed to be perfectly normal on the inside. Most of it was still intact, save for some of the carts and aisles that seemed to have been knocked over or moved. Wrath’s golden eyes seemed to glow faintly in the dark as she searched for the survivors.

Four behind the counter in the back. She thought. Two behind the aisles up in front, where’s the last?

“YAAAAA-rguh” The man charged at her with a fire axe. Wrath felt him coming from a mile away. She dodged the swing and jabbed him in the stomach. As he fell forward, she grabbed his short brown hair and pushed in faster, slamming his face into her knee. The two behind the aisles, a man and a woman jumped out, guns ready and pointed at Wrath. The demoness pulled the first man up by the neck with one of her shadowy tendrils. He began to cough and gag as his feet went dangling wildly in the air. The other two hesitated when Wrath put the man between them and her.

“If you shoot a single bullet, I’ll snap his neck and kill all six of you, starting with the kids. Drop them, and I’ll drop him.” Wrath’s voice viciously ordered.

The woman grimaced, but complied, throwing her gun on the floor. She then put her hand on other’s beside her who nodded and threw away his gun as well. Wrath nodded back at them and let go of her hostage. The man hit the cold ceramic floor gasping and heaving. The other man rushed over and pulled him away from Wrath.

“Listen.” Constantine took initiative, walking in front of Wrath. “We’re not here to fight or anything, believe us. We just wanted to find some supplies, we didn't think there was anyone left around here, so excuse us for barging in.”

“You’re just kids...” The woman spoke. Her voice was weathered, but warm, like her long ginger hair. “How the hell did you two survive the beasts... Did she help you?” She cautiously asked, nodding towards Wrath.

“We used to live in this city, but we weren’t here when the attack took place. And regarding her...” Evan said as he turned and glanced at Wrath. “She’s a real swell person, despite her scary appearances. Trust me, she’s wonderful when you don’t try to greet her with an axe to the face.“

Constantine chuckled. He put away his knife and leaned forward, grabbing the two guns off the floor and handing them back. He smiled as they carefully took their weapons and placed them in the holsters they had on their belts. The woman looked at him and noticed his dangling left jacket sleeve.

“I’m Evan. This is Constantine, and Wrath.”

“She’s even named after one of the seven sins… Are you some sort of elder de-”

“NOOoope, nope, nope, nope. No.” Evan rapidly interrupted the woman. “Trust me lady, you really don’t wanna call her what you were going to call her.”

The axe-man finally got on his feet and shook himself awake. He took a deep breath and calmed himself.

“Well it seems like you folks are decent enough. Better than what we faced for the past few days. Sorry about earlier, can’t be too careful after what happened.”

“No worries. I’m used to people trying to kill me.” Wrath commented. Her voice echoed into itself.

“I’m Daniel, Daniel Conway. This is my wife, Sarah, and her brother Matthew.”

Daniel was a tall, durable man, with a strong jawline and short brown beard. He had bags under his eyes, most likely from exhaustion, and bruises all over his face and hands. He wore a plain white shirt drenched in blood, and jeans. Matthew was similar in appearance, but his face and body had younger features, mainly due to his lack of a beard. Noticing that the situation was nothing too dangerous, the other four people came out of their hiding spots behind the counters. Two elders, a man and woman wrapped in a miasma of antiquity and gray hair and two boys. One was barely younger than Constantine, and another that looked no older than ten. Both stepped forward with cautious steps.

“Those there’re my parents, Ben and Mathilda, Mathew’s little boy Jack…” He reached over and placed an arm around the last person, ruffling his hair. “And my son, Laurence.”

Laurence Conway looked at the guests with a face of indifference and mild disgust. He had sharp piercing blue eyes and a slim physique. His hair was short and ruffled, colored in light shades of red among brown like leaves in autumn. He wore a rosary around his neck, hidden beneath his dark blue jacket.

He nodded at them. “Hey.” He said. His voice was low and deep, yet vehement.

The group then moved upstairs, in a spacious room furnished with a few chairs and a small glass table. Wrath, Evan and Constantine were joined only by Mathew, Daniel and Laurence.

“How did you people survive until now? Are there any more?” asked Evan.

“We were in our car, when the creatures started appearing. We tried to make it out of the city but we ran into one of those big fellas. Spider-human-shadow-like… Things.” answered Matthew.

“Pale shadow.” Wrath said quietly.

“Ye… Whatever it was, it wasn’t friendly. We almost all lost our lives.”

“Some... weren’t so lucky.” interrupted Daniel.

“Yes…” Matthew continued with a disheartened face. “My wife, she died, became one of t-those things. And their daughter…” He nodded towards Daniel. He looked away, hiding great sadness in his eyes. Laurence grit his teeth. “Anyway, we then made it here to this supermarket. For some reason the creatures wouldn't come near it, even the big ones. So we hid. Just the seven of us.”

“Daniel. You should all come with us. It will be safer than staying here, eventually the supermarket is going to run out.” Constantine proposed.

“No. I think we’d rather take our chances.” said Laurence.

“We’ll think about it.” His father quickly told him.

“No, we won't.” He calmly responded.

“Laurence!” Daniel shouted. “God damn it. You would have us all die?” His voice trembled.

“It was only a suggestion.” Constantine tried cooling down the situation. “But if you don’t want to come, that's fine. We are going to need to take some things though, we have someone that’s hurt too. We need water and medicine especially.”

“Sure. We have more than enough, and we’re not planning to stay here until we run out. Come, I’ll help you load it, there are some vans in the back that you can use to get back faster.” Daniel rose from his chair and motioned towards the back of the supermarket. Constantine rose as well, followed by Matthew and lastly Wrath. The four then went away toward the back.

After a few moments of silence Laurence started talking. “How’d you lose your hand?”

“Long story.” Evan disinterestedly answered.

“The bandages are fresh, it happened recently, didn't it?”

“Yes.”

“Night of the attack?”

“Yeah. But it wasn’t from the wights.”

“Wights?”

“Yeah, that’s what those… laughing corpses… are called.”

“And you know this from…” Laurence hesitated. “From her right?”

“Yeah. We’d be dead without her.”

Laurence nodded. He then bit the inside of his cheek and pulled out his handgun. He held it in his hands and stared at it, deep in thought.

“Hey. That gun’s not gonna be much use against wights. It’s gonna help if you need it against other people and wild dogs, but that’s it.”

“I wasn’t thinking about wights. But then, how do we fight them back?”

Evan saw Laurence’s crucifix dangle around his neck and perked up.

”Holy weapons.” He said.

Laurence looked at him confused.

“You know what I mean right?”

“No..”

“Weapons used by saints, by priests, by holy people I don’t fucking know. Weapons that were blessed.”

“By who?”

“You clearly are a believer in god. You would know how these things work better than me. Honestly, it wasn’t really explained to me either.” Evan rolled his eyes.

“Right…” Laurence sighed, exasperated. ”Hey I know of a church on the other side of the city. I’ve visited it about a year ago. It was partially a museum and it had an entire exhibition on the crusades at the time.” He said after a few minutes.

“Yeah, those kinds of weapons should do. You should tell your folks when you plan to leave.”

The silence pressed upon them once again. Laurence again opened his mouth and asked:

“So you don’t believe in god?”

“Damn it man, you’re killing me.” Evan shook his head and chuckled before a few moments passed and he frowned. “Good question though, I hadn’t thought about it.”

“You haven’t?” Laurence looked at him, intrigued.

“I mean, for the longest time, I didn’t. I just never had a reason to, you know? But fuck. When I met Uri-” He paused and coughed. “When I met Wrath, I just…” Evan shrugged.

“Naturally, If I was an atheist and then I met an actual demon I’d be pretty shaken up too I'd imagine.” Laurence interrupted, his voice hiding a mild feeling of anger.

“She’s not a demon.” Evan said harshly. “Don’t call her that, trust me. She really doesn’t like it when you call her that.”

“You’re joking right? Is the irony of her appearance lost on her?”

“I’m dead serious Laurence.”

“What the hell is she then?” He shouted.

“Fucked if I know, but she’s not a demon. Of that I am certain.” He fiercely answered.

Evan’s eyes stared back into Laurence’s icy blue ones.

“Evan.” Constantine shouted at him from the doorway. “Come on, we’re going.”

Laurence turned to Constantine, then his gaze went down towards the marble beneath his feet. The three then walked down to the floor below. Wrath was there, helping Dan and Matt make a new front door.

“We all ready?” asked Evan.

“Yeah. This should do fine.” said Wrath. She then quietly added. “Sorry for tearing it down earlier.”

“No worries. This should do fine. Sorry for charging at you with an axe. If I knew what you could do, I’d have run the other way.”

She laughed briefly.

“Let’s get going.” Constantine sorely interrupted. “Dan. Before we leave trying to find someplace safe, we’ll come back for you guys. If you hadn’t already left, Alright?”

“Alright Constantine.” He answered, nodding his head. “I’m sorry we couldn’t come now.”

The three of them quickly shook hands with Daniel, Matt and Laurence, then said their goodbyes to the others. Their departure was brief, and when the minivan’s loud engine could no longer be heard as it drove off, Laurence heard his father say:

“Come on Matt, let’s make the beds. Laurence you comin’?”

“Yes, I’ll be right there.” He said quietly. Laurence kept staring at the street where Wrath and the others had left. He was leaning on the wall of the building, arms crossed. His forehead was boiling, and he felt a gaping hole in his stomach. He could not get the image of Wrath’s golden eyes out of his head. Everytime he blinked they stared back at him. He was reminded of the white soulless ones he had seen on the day that hell broke loose. Try as he could, he was unable to calm himself. So he just watched the street, empty, abandoned, with the freshly-made tire tracks running across its length. A whisper of dry wind billowed around him, blowing the pebbles and dust away into the air of night. It was warm out that evening. He spat and looked up from the street, the twenty-story building besides it looking like a colossus among the other ruined ones. He stared at its very top, and back it stared at him. He could not see her of course, but She could see him as if he was right next to Her. Her silver armor shone in the moonlight, revealing the dark and terrible specter of finality that she was. Next to her, blackness given life and form loomed. Its white pale eyes watched with vigilance and hunger. It opened its mouth and white smog escaped around its lips. The beast was impatient. The woman rose from her seat atop the edge of the roof.

“My, you are feisty are you not? Very well then.” She lifted her weapon, a dreadful scythe made of blue glass, and slammed it against the concrete roof. The impact was not powerful, but the cursed sound echoed throughout the night like thunder. And that, Laurence heard. His headache and nausea vanished along with it.

Strange. He thought. It got so cold all of a sudden.

And then he saw it, down the street he had been staring at. A nightmare made material.