antibiotic cream, peeked out, running down his fingers. He nodded to the screen in Matt’s lap. “Pretty gruesome stuff.”
“ Yeah.” Matt glanced back to the closed door. “He all right alone up there?”
“ Schmidt?” Allan snorted, taking the seat beside him, across the aisle. “He’ll call me if he needs me. I’ll take the controls once we hop through Quebec.”
Matt nodded, trying not to imagine the old man having a heart attack or something while manning the controls. He clicked back to one of the images, a close-up of what appeared to be sharp-edged letters within a nine-pointed star and half-circle. “You know what these mean?”
“ Nope. We think it might be some sort of ward, possibly a summoning.”
“ I found a cult in Louisiana once. Crazy fuckers.” Matt tapped the screen. “Looks similar to some things they’d written inside a barn.”
“ Demon worshipers?”
Matt nodded. “They’d kidnapped a girl. Sacrificed her while trying to invoke some monster. Don’t think they really knew what they were doing.”
“ I never really understood demon worshipers.”
“ Why?”
“ A demon has to possess a host. Who would willingly allow that?”
Matt shrugged. “They might not understand what it is. Maybe they think they’re getting the power and not the entity. Maybe they just don’t care. Either way, if they do it right, it lets one into our world.”
“ You think that’s where the new monsters are coming from?” Allan asked.
“ Sure.”
Allan made a see-saw motion with his head and grunted. “Maybe, but there’s a lot of new breeds. These killings have happened all over the world. That’s a lot of people giving themselves to possession. A lot of very organized people for it to be worldwide.”
“ So where do you think they’re coming from?”
Allan gave an embarrassed smile and glanced away. “I think they’re forcing their way into our world.”
Matt ’s brow rose. “How?”
“ Well, used to be, people believed that a person didn’t become a demon because one bit them. They saw it as a scourge on the wicked. Like a murderer became a vampire, or someone who was just so full of sin, the entity entered them. Wendigos, for example...” He paused, looking like he wished he could suck the words back.
“ What about them?”
“ They were people that were usually kicked out of their tribe. Starving, angry, they transformed into these emaciated monsters with insatiable appetites.”
“ Clay told me about spontaneous possession. Said if you killed the body of a demon that didn’t have any other souls they’d marked, they just kinda floated around, waiting for the right moment.”
“ Exactly.” Allan nodded, running his fingers through his dark hair. “So what if there’s all these demons just floating around, been there for God knows how long, waiting for the right time and it’s now? What if these cult markings aren’t human worshipers, but demons calling even more demons?
“ Like the moon and stars are lined up right and they’re just forcing themselves through, then widening the door for their friends to follow?”
“ Something like that.”
Pursing his lips, Matt glanced out the window. Blue nothingness. Clouds. He could just make out green at the bottom. “Personally I like the idea of demon worshipers better. I can’t shoot the planets and stars.”
Allan chuckled. “Just a theory.” He touched his gauze-wrapped neck.
“ I’m not saying it’s wrong. I just hope to shit it is.”
#
The plane hopped twice more through Canada, before finally beginning its Atlantic crossing. Relinquishing the controls, Schmidt headed to the back for some rest, and insisted Matt join Allan in the cockpit to keep him company for the long stretch.
Matt sat in the padded seat, his hands in his lap, afraid he might bump the stick up between his knees, or one of the dizzying number of controls. Huge gray headphones covered his ears, muting the plane’s drone.
“ Yeah.” Matt glanced back to the closed door. “He all right alone up there?”
“ Schmidt?” Allan snorted, taking the seat beside him, across the aisle. “He’ll call me if he needs me. I’ll take the controls once we hop through Quebec.”
Matt nodded, trying not to imagine the old man having a heart attack or something while manning the controls. He clicked back to one of the images, a close-up of what appeared to be sharp-edged letters within a nine-pointed star and half-circle. “You know what these mean?”
“ Nope. We think it might be some sort of ward, possibly a summoning.”
“ I found a cult in Louisiana once. Crazy fuckers.” Matt tapped the screen. “Looks similar to some things they’d written inside a barn.”
“ Demon worshipers?”
Matt nodded. “They’d kidnapped a girl. Sacrificed her while trying to invoke some monster. Don’t think they really knew what they were doing.”
“ I never really understood demon worshipers.”
“ Why?”
“ A demon has to possess a host. Who would willingly allow that?”
Matt shrugged. “They might not understand what it is. Maybe they think they’re getting the power and not the entity. Maybe they just don’t care. Either way, if they do it right, it lets one into our world.”
“ You think that’s where the new monsters are coming from?” Allan asked.
“ Sure.”
Allan made a see-saw motion with his head and grunted. “Maybe, but there’s a lot of new breeds. These killings have happened all over the world. That’s a lot of people giving themselves to possession. A lot of very organized people for it to be worldwide.”
“ So where do you think they’re coming from?”
Allan gave an embarrassed smile and glanced away. “I think they’re forcing their way into our world.”
Matt ’s brow rose. “How?”
“ Well, used to be, people believed that a person didn’t become a demon because one bit them. They saw it as a scourge on the wicked. Like a murderer became a vampire, or someone who was just so full of sin, the entity entered them. Wendigos, for example...” He paused, looking like he wished he could suck the words back.
“ What about them?”
“ They were people that were usually kicked out of their tribe. Starving, angry, they transformed into these emaciated monsters with insatiable appetites.”
“ Clay told me about spontaneous possession. Said if you killed the body of a demon that didn’t have any other souls they’d marked, they just kinda floated around, waiting for the right moment.”
“ Exactly.” Allan nodded, running his fingers through his dark hair. “So what if there’s all these demons just floating around, been there for God knows how long, waiting for the right time and it’s now? What if these cult markings aren’t human worshipers, but demons calling even more demons?
“ Like the moon and stars are lined up right and they’re just forcing themselves through, then widening the door for their friends to follow?”
“ Something like that.”
Pursing his lips, Matt glanced out the window. Blue nothingness. Clouds. He could just make out green at the bottom. “Personally I like the idea of demon worshipers better. I can’t shoot the planets and stars.”
Allan chuckled. “Just a theory.” He touched his gauze-wrapped neck.
“ I’m not saying it’s wrong. I just hope to shit it is.”
#
The plane hopped twice more through Canada, before finally beginning its Atlantic crossing. Relinquishing the controls, Schmidt headed to the back for some rest, and insisted Matt join Allan in the cockpit to keep him company for the long stretch.
Matt sat in the padded seat, his hands in his lap, afraid he might bump the stick up between his knees, or one of the dizzying number of controls. Huge gray headphones covered his ears, muting the plane’s drone.
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