Beck barricaded every window and entrance while they entrenched themselves into position. The altar needs to be protected at all costs! It was their Magnum opus, the key to bringing a new era. But it was threatened by an outsider, a fiend that needed to be put to death. Beck knew the reptile’s body didn’t deserve to be used in the creation of the altar, to be soiled and tainted by the heretic and blasphemers.
The altar was a spire made from the conjoined flesh of the children who used to learn in the school her cult took over. She took pride in making the altar of flesh, how their young blood trailed between her fingers as their flesh became the means to create a beacon of a new future.
The altar gasped for some air, how its five sets of lungs expanded so it could fuel the wombs of life. While her world was falling apart, she couldn’t help but smile as she watched the wombs swell with the future, a destiny of a true people who would one day inherit the Earth. She could tell which one was hers, she was there when Theodor seeded it.
Theodor towered over the other cultists, his robes made of human faces spoke in cursed hymns, his hair changed to resemble veins that oozed a white mucus. To an outsider, Theodor looked ill, his skin oily and tight. Their skeleton was well defined, even their organs were outlined like he was vacuum sealed in his own body. It was a miracle that Theodor could stand, let alone still be alive at that point. Yet to Beck, he was blessed with the only gospel that truly mattered to her. He was a God in her eyes, one that she was glad to walk alongside with.
She aimed her harpoon gun at the entrance while she hunkered down behind a stack of metal lockers. It was quiet, too quiet. But she needed to keep her vigilance. The future she wanted depended on it.
A small cylinder fell between the gaps of the barricade at the front door. Before anyone could react, a bright flash combined with a loud bang disoriented everyone. The barricade shattered as the reptile bragged through it. Armed with a short automatic Remington Shotgun and a chemical spray gun. The chest of the first person in front of him bursts open, the second person erupted in green flames as a water-like substance made contact with the oils of their skin. The fire consumed their body, growing hotter and brighter as it ate away at the person’s muscle fibres.
As Beck regained their senses, they fired their harpoon gun at the reptile. Only for them to drop the chemical gun to catch the bolt. With great force, the reptile threw the harpoon bolt through Beck’s shoulder and nailed her to the wall.
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Theodor raised his hands into the air while the reptile aimed their shotgun at the altar. ‘I don’t think you want to do that.’
Theodor expected the reptile to reply, but was left startled as they did nothing but glared back at them.
‘This altar is more than you think, this remarkable display of hope holds the souls of everyone in this town. If you destroy it, you will doom their souls for damnation! They deserve paradise, do you agree with that at least?’ The reptile looked at Theodor’s waist to the grimoire latched onto his belt.
Theodor offered a hand to the reptile as a gesture of peace. ‘We are not enemies, how about we work together instead? I can give you what you desire. Name it, and I can make it happen.’
It was clear the reptile had other things in mind. Without hesitation, they destroyed the altar with their shotgun. The unholy construction blew to smithereens, its lungs screamed as every sacrificed soul escaped the abomination of nature and creation.
Theodor tried to protest, but before he could utter a word, the reptile pressed the shotgun under their chin and pulled the trigger.
Beck witnessed it all, nailed to the wall as the future had died. The means to recreate it, the hope of building something. Was dead. Killed by a single creature. How her lover was murdered and how her leader perished in a single night. A sight that broke her. All of that time, all of that devotion. It meant nothing in the end. Her devotion had only one reward, failure.
The reptile took the grimoire before they reloaded their shotgun. It seemed they were finished with the day and just conducting some maintenance. Beck moved, but the pain made her moan in pleasure. The reptile walked towards her, their weapon at the ready. She coughed blood, but her masochistic mind confused her life fleeting with short-term satisfaction. She knew it was the end, but there was one question she needed to know before she died. ‘What are you?’
The reptile didn’t reply; he didn’t care to. Instead, they raised their gun to Beck’s forehead and pulled the trigger.
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