Chương 75: The Pure Line: Ellie

Ellie spent most of the night doing chores around the church—steaming the abbot's robes, vacuuming the floors, counting inventory, and straightening the pews. It was exhausting work when all alone. But she'd do it. Otherwise, there'd be nothing for her to do on this one of many sleepless nights. It wasn't until 4 a. m. that she finally tuckered herself out and fell asleep in the upstairs bedroom. She never liked the room. Red was such a bloody color, and it was everywhere. The covers, the wall, the carpet.

But this place was only temporary. At least, it was supposed to be when she moved in a year ago. She was abruptly woken by her phone. Martha was calling again. She spat her bedhead out of her mouth to answer.

"Mff… helloo," she was half yawning when she answered.

"You sound like you just woke up," the old woman accused in her soft, passive tone.

"Aren't people allowed to sleep in on the weekends?"

"Fridays are still a weekday for the rest of the living. At least it's my crusty old voice waking you up and not some egghead boss pissed off because you slept in again." Ellie laughed.

"You sound like you're speaking from personal experience, Martha."

"Me? Of course not." Ellie worked her way out of bed and downstairs to make some tea in the basement kitchen.

"Well, you don't have to worry. When I find work, I'll be able to wake myself on my own just fine."

"I do worry. It's my nature. You know, you don't have to be so quick to rush out and find some random job. You're welcome to stay at the church however long you like."

"No, no. I've abused your hospitality longer than enough. And it won't be random. I found some interesting openings out there."

"Like?"

"Uhh… like a waitress at a diner. There was a wanted ad for bus drivers. I even saw a job at an aquarium… as a uhhh fish tank cleaner." She added some spunk to her voice to make the sound more interesting than they were. It didn't work.

"If you don't like the room, I'm sure Arthur and I can make room in our—""No," Ellie interrupted.

"The room's fine. I just… I just don't… what the hell?" Ellie nearly dropped her phone and her tea mug when she felt something crawling on her hand. She flung hot tea on the walls, flicking it away, and it thumped on the kitchen counter.

"Ellie! What's the matter?" shouted the phone.

"There's a bug…"

"A bug? You're cursing in a church over a bug?" But the closer she looked, the less it looked like a bug. More like a… metal coin with legs.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a bug. Didn't you just say?"

"Martha, it's crawling towards me. What do I do?"

"You're asking me?"

"I don't think it's a bug. I don't think it's a bug. I think it's chasing me." Ellie started panicking.

"Should I call the police? Pest control?" On Martha's end, she heard nothing but silence for about a minute. Then rustling. Then a clanging metal.

"Ellie, are you there? Did it kill you?"

"No… I caught it in a jar."

"Oh, thank god."

"Martha, do you mind if I call you back?" The old woman obliged and hung up the phone while Ellie stared at this strange thing, which she had trapped in a glass jar. She couldn't figure out what it was, but she could have sworn it was trying to attack her. It looked like it still was, desperately twitching inside the jar. Eventually, though it stopped moving, rattling down on the glass. Then its legs retracted back into the shape of a coin.

She spent the next couple of hours scouring the internet, searching for what this thing could possibly be. Nothing substantial came up, just some strange conspiracy theories and a Dungeons and Dragons monster called the mimic. None of it fit, this living, walking piece of metal. She wondered if it was a robot of some sort, and wondered if she should find some scientist to turn it in to. But those thoughts were quelled by what came next. So did any thought of anything she once thought normal.

An earthquake hit the city, an earthquake in a part of the world that didn't have earthquakes. When it was over, Ellie ran outside to see for herself, but everything was clear. The parking lot was empty, and the surrounding woods looked just as empty, if not a little disheveled. It wasn't until she turned on the news in the abbot's office that she witnessed the horror that was happening to the world. Monsters were roaming the streets, killing whatever they saw. Entire buildings were suddenly leveled.

And the whole world looked to be on fire… and yet somehow the space around this church wasn't affected. It took a while for her to process it all, whether it was real or if she had accidentally tuned in to some alien movie instead of the news. But she knew it was real when she heard Arthur calling her name from the pulpit. She rushed down to find him panicked, covered in sludge and blood.

"Arthur, are you alright?"

"No… I mean, yes. I'm fine." He grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Are you hurt at all?"

"I'm okay. I saw what was happening on the news. Is it real?" He lowered his voice to something low and callous, almost cold.

"Ellie, listen to me. Something obscene is happening. The demons are… everywhere. Hell has chosen not to wait for us any longer. But by god's grace, we are prepared. As we speak, there are people outside, seeking this church for safety. Seeking order within the chaos. We must be strong and give it to them. Can I count on you?" She didn't fully understand what he meant, but the sternness in his voice made her nod.

"Good." He took a deep breath.

"Now, please, go unlock the front doors. And guide the people to the pulpit. I'll try to calm them down." Ellie started to go, but she hesitated.

"Arthur, where's Martha?" His face transformed them. No sadness but anger as he abruptly said, "She has passed on." Ellie was struck silent, tears welling up in her eyes.

"No. I was just talking to her… There was a bug and a jar.. and we were talking about…"

"Ellie!" Arthur shouted, forcing her attention on him.

"I will say this once. The devil is amok. His corruption is rotting the flesh of the earth. Do not cry for those who gave in to his temptation."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't speak of her again in this church." His voice softened as she stepped closer to her.

"Forget all things that have happened before now. Our purpose is to protect those who need protecting. We must forget all other things and do as we must." He hugged her, and she could feel him mouthing a prayer in the embrace.

"We'll be alright. Now, please. Let the people in." She rubbed her hand on the warmth on her dress when he let go. There was blood on it.

"You should change into your robes first," she said.

"You look a mess." At first, everything was chaos. People came rushing in like a herd of wild bulls. The first wave were people demanding answers that neither she nor the abbot had. The abbot spoke to them from the church's main room, speaking to them from the bible and calming them with the words from the book of Joshua." Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

The second wave came with the injured and those who searched but found nowhere else to go. When a boy showed up with a broken arm, Ellie offered to treat him. She knew the first aid to set it back in place. But then people started coming in with missing limbs entirely, third-degree burns all over their bodies, wounds that looked like they came from medieval swords and hammers. It wasn't long before she was overwhelmed, and her EMT training stopped serving her.

Still, she put on a face that didn't falter and kept moving because "our purpose is to protect those who need protecting." If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. The basement was the easiest place to put everyone. It had a large open space where they could set up cots on the floor for people to lay on. It was also where the storage room was, where she'd have the easiest access to all their supplies. First aid kits, food rations, power generators.

Arthur really had prepared everything, and yet it still didn't seem to be enough. Many of her patients died. Because she wasn't a doctor. Even if she was, she didn't have an operating room or the ability to make miracles that would save everyone's life. No matter how hard she wished. She hated the suffering. She hated what she had to tell people when there was nothing more to be done. She couldn't handle it before, and yet here she was pretending to handle it now. She watched them turn on God… in his very house.

She couldn't blame them. There were several points where she did herself… she just had to remember that she was still here and that should've meant something. On the second day, Arthur called her into his office. He sat her down and gestured to a jar that sat on his desk.

"One of the believers found this jar in the kitchen pantry." The coin lay peacefully inside.

"Oh yes… I found it yesterday morning. I don't know what it is, though."

"These things are the corruption," he said as a matter of fact.

"Tell me you didn't let it touch you." Ellie paused, remembering its touch on her hand before she flung it away.

"No. What does it do?"

"It turns you into one of those demons. A monster. It takes your soul and manipulates your body for its evil purposes. I've seen it." Without any warning, Arthur seized the jar and flung it out of his open window. And then he spoke calmly.

"We don't let them or anyone they've touched into this church. You understand?" Two days later, Ellie was treating a boy in the basement. He was tan-skinned with a head of thick, dark curls. His father was the same with tattoos up to his neck. He was pleading with her, "Please help him. We didn't have anywhere else to go. I don't know what's wrong with him."

"I'll do what I can. Show me what's wrong." The father lifted up the boy's shirt. His chest was petrified, turned to hard, cracking stone. She had never seen anything like it. It was like his torso was made of solid rock while the rest of him was made of skin. Then, when she went to touch it, the stone skin retracted into his flesh. And it was gone.

"What's happening to me?" The boy panicked.

"Dad, I'm scared." The father snapped at his son.

"Stop whining. The lady's fixing you. Just hold on a second." The boy started nearly hyperventilating then. Ellie thought that he would need a calmer touch, so she grabbed the boy's hand, rubbing it gently, saying, "Don't worry. I've got you." The father rolled his eyes, but the boy's breathing started to slow. Until the hand in her hand turned to stone. The change was so sudden that Ellie jumped back as if the stone would infect her hand as well.

Protected by the walls of the church, Ellie hadn't seen the demons herself. She had been told that they could do things like summon fire and strange weapons, but she never had time to process what that meant. The others saw the commotion.

"What's going on?" someone said.

"The boy is cursed," said someone else.

"He bears the mark of one of the beasts. You can see it on his neck."

"My son is NOT… cursed. Don't come at me with that Bible-thumping shit. He's sick, and he needs help."

"He's corrupted." A crowd started to close in on the man. He grabbed his son roughly by the arm as the people commanded them to get out.

"There's no place for you here! Let the devil have you! Leave!" The father fought and cursed at them all for several minutes. But no one backed down, despite his imposing frame. Eventually, they both left as the father yelled, "fuck you all." Someone came to Ellie after they were gone, asking if she was alright. She nodded.

"Maybe he was just sick." But there was nothing to be done. They were already gone. Days turned to weeks, and weeks felt like an eternity. Things did settle down eventually. And she was able to get some time to herself. Still, she had to sneak away. She found a tree, deeper into the woods, and knelt in front of it. From a bag, she picked out a framed photo and a candle. She put Martha down in front of the tree, smiling in her favorite yellow dress, lit the candle, and said a prayer.

Arthur never cared to do a funeral. She asked him once, and all he said was, "There are plenty of dead." She didn't push him on it any further, but it didn't feel right to forget Martha's memory. So she held a private funeral where all she could offer was a prayer and a moment of silence. She sighed.

"I came here searching for meaning, and all I found was more meaninglessness. It's all just suffering, isn't it? No matter what I do, I just can't escape it. Maybe you weren't the one who was corrupted." A small pile of dirt on the other side of the tree hid her sin. She dug up the jar with the coin in it. The creature was unmoving inside, no different than a normal coin.

"If it were alive, it probably suffocated in the jar." Cautiously, she stared into the glass, wondering if this thing corrupts people and was trying to attack her; what did that mean for her? She could almost make out an image on the thing's back, but it was morphed by the glass. She shook the jar to make sure the thing didn't move again. When it didn't, she opened the lid to look at it. It was a simple image, resembling a bow and arrow upon a sun.

"What exactly are you?" A clashing of leaves jolted her to attention, but before she could react, she was struck hard on the side of the head, knocking her to the ground. She nearly lost consciousness from the blow. Someone had hit her.

"How many points did Nrv say each person was worth?" a man said. His voice was muffled by a mask with a bloody, smiley face on it, like it was fresh out of a Halloween store.

"I don't know. Like 5 or 6. Probably not shit since they're all lootless." They wore matching spray-painted jackets with the word letters "nrv" bleeding off of it in neon green. Ellie struggled to her feet and ran as quick as she could. A long, metal chain erupted from a cloud of black smoke. The cold steel wrapped around Ellie's neck, and the man yanked the other end. Then she was on the ground, gasping for air as the pull of the chain felt like it was collapsing her lung.

The man holding the chain put his boot to her chest to make sure she stayed down.

"Well, maybe she'll be my prize then. What use is it just killing them all, huh?"

"What, are you gonna chain her up like one of your dogs?" They were both radiating with that strange smoke.

"You're… cor.. rupted," Ellie strained on the ground. The smiley-faced man knelt, "What was that? Corrupted? This ain't corruption." In one hand, he held the chain around her neck, and in the other, a bright red flame.

"It's pure power, baby… I can burn you to a crisp without thinking about it. So don't even think about running away or nothin." She couldn't breathe, but she could hear. Explosions and they were coming from the church. The other man looked up.

"Yo. We're gonna miss all the action. Just kill the woman and let's go." The smiley face didn't take its black eyes off her.

"I don't give a damn about the points."

"Fine, have it your way." The other left, having turned his body into neon light and zipped away. Her captor turned his head away from the light. Ellie didn't process what she had just seen. She felt the opportunity. While man battled that sudden bright light, she reached for the glass jar dropped on the ground, inching her fingers, choking herself further just to get a grip on it. The man noticed, but before he could stop her, she shattered it on the side of his head.

He fell over, screaming, cupping the blood dribbling from his ear.

"Son of a bitch!" Ellie loosened the chain enough to free herself and ran. But another emerged from the man's hand and snatched her by the ankle. The fall knocked the wind out of her as the man slowly came to.

"You'll pay for that. You'll pay for that for a nice long time." He seethed. Ellie clawed at the ground to keep herself away as he dragged her back towards him. She struggled and struggled until there was no need to struggle anymore. Something told her not to. Something deep inside her. It told her to snatch the coin from the ground and let it corrupt her. It told her not to give a damn what happens to her soul as long as she can make evil people suffer.

It then told her to draw her arms back, as if she was holding a bow and loose. The man flew back, body stapled to a tree by a glowing, golden arrow. Moments later, he lost consciousness. Ellie sat up, hands shaking, feeling the black smoke inside her skin. Though on the outside, it formed a golden light that felt undeniable. She heard the screams coming from the church, the sparks of lightning, and the crumbling of rubble.

"More suffering." But now she had the power to stop it. And she was going to stop it… Because "My purpose is to protect those who need protecting." She ran to the church, loosing arrows at anyone in a mask. Anyone was threatening to harm her home, even though she never felt ike she belonged there, it was her home. They were surprised by her attack, as was she. She was adept with the bow, like she had grown up with it attached to her arm, and she could take out three thugs before they even realized she was coming.

Eventually, they caught wind that an attacker was coming from their flanks, and they stopped their slaughter to charge her. So then she attacked them with a metal chain, and then flame, and then ice. She was equipping anything she could find. The black smoke was coming out of her mouth as she breathed. It blurred her vision, but the thugs didn't stop attacking, so neither did she. But she could feel her body falling apart and the control being taken away from her. Being… corrupted.

She came across the mask of a younger one in the parking lot by the front doors. He wasn't afraid of her like the others had grown afraid of her. There was another one next to him, wearing a bear mask. They were stood still, likely speaking to her or each other. She couldn't hear them. She could only focus on killing them, so when the bear stepped forward, he was met with an arrow. Then, like a flash, the other was gone.

He appeared behind her, but Ellie grabbed her bow, swinging it like a club, cloaked in fire and ice. Lightning flung from his fingers, barely missing her head. She sent fire at him, only to burn an empty space. Not knowing where he'd run, she surrounded herself in it and swung the chain through it to attack where she was blocked off by the flames. She felt it connect with something and let down the veil of fire. The boy was hitting himself on the head. His mask had caught on fire, and he was trying to put it out.

When that didn't work, he took it off and threw it down.

"Damn it. Now I gotta get a new one." Now she was hearing him. Now the voice had a face… and she recognized it. And she paused to stare at it.

"To protect those who need protecting." And then she felt the lightning hit her chest.