American Devil

Chapter 1 - The Devil Awakens

Donovan runs from the warehouse as smoke fills his lungs. It makes it harder to breathe. It’s choking him up. The night’s chilly air does nothing to dry the cold sweat dripping down his body, and does nothing to chase away the smoke that clings to his skin. The distant storm brewing cannot compare to the thundering steps following him down the hill  towards those desolate trainyards that once connected this warehouse to the world. Breathing ragged, and fear consuming every aspect of his being, from his skin, bones and soul, Donovan wishes he could run faster, fly like a bird, teleport, anything that would help him get away. But he knows that he is merely human, and nothing can save him.
            This time he has bitten off more than he can chew. His mother used to warn him when he was a child that he always wanted too much, took too much. “A greedy child.” She would chide him every time he’d steal one of his sister’s toys, whenever he’d eat the last cookie in the jar, whenever he’d bully lunch money out of another kid at school. She never did much more than that, a sickly woman who could barely control her own life, let alone properly raise a child on her own. “You need to be moderate.“ She’d say. “One day, all of it is going to come back around, and you won’t like it when that happens. It’s a dangerous game you are playing.” He’d always laugh, disregarding her words as the ramblings of a worried mother, fears of a weak woman who could not protect him.
            This time the danger that she spoke of comes to claim his life. Here he is running for his life and all he can think about is his mother's nagging voice. He knew there was a risk but as they always say, high risk equals high reward. Believing naively that, if he stayed in control, if he remained powerful enough, witty enough, charming enough, that he’d remain untouchable, maybe even immortal. He had worked for his place in this corrupt world, his decisions may have been questionable and they often put him on the wrong side of the law. But no one could doubt all his hard work and not once did anything go wrong. Until today.
            The one decision he had made had started this deadly domino effect. The last drop in a glass full of water. He made a decision that led to a series of even deadlier mistakes. His mother is long gone, not there to chide him anymore, but he’d give anything right now to go back in time and heed her warnings. He knows that if he doesn’t escape that… beast? Man? Devil? That he will soon be joining his mother in the eternal slumber.
            He feels like a newborn fawn, running on unstable legs, slipping over the unsteady gravel. He avoids falling down for as long as possible, sprinting and jumping over train tracks to get out of sight. However, one's luck can only last so long and while attempting to leap over another set of tracks, his foot snags on one of the raised protruding planks.
            Donovan goes down hard. The fall knocks the air out of him, and it takes him a second to get his wits about him. The figure’s footsteps grow closer. No matter how hard he runs, that steady pace continues to follow him. Not daring to glance at the deadly figure, he frantically looks around for a place to hide, spotting a cart a short distance from him. Taking his chances, Donovan scrambles onto his knees, crawling like a dog over to the cart hoping that his dark attire will hide him.
            He manages to pull himself underneath the cart just in time, as a pair of spotless black shoes round the corner and stop in his line of sight, several feet away. He holds his breath and silently prays to whatever God that may listen to his pleads. “Please, please, please, please.” He chants hoping for someone to take mercy on him whether that be God or even the predator that is seeking his pound of flesh. Asking for a chance.
            This moment feels like an eternity, an neverending nightmare for Donovan to suffer through continuously in a state of panic as the being just stands there. Looming over his hiding spot as it searches out for him. Donovan feels a slight  pang of hope  that there is a chance the predator truly lost their prey. It takes forever, but the shoes finally, ever so slowly, move away, taking with them the held shaking fear of one Donovan. He lets out a shaky breath, waits another beat before he drags himself out. His hands ache from the fall, scraped by gravel but he still pushes himself back to his feet. There is no time to lose. He sets off in the opposite direction than the one the other took.
           Donovan rounds the  corner of one of the many overturned train carts, hiding in its shadows for merely a second, which feels still a second too long. He can’t keep this up, his  lungs are screaming for air, his body aching and growing weaker. He wants to scream for help. Hell, if he knew it wouldn’t summon that accursed figure, he would scream to alleviate the stress weighing on him. He would still scream to just end it all if it weren’t for the fact that he is completely out of breath.
            He needs time to think, and searching, he spots another cart, a better hiding spot.  The smoke is not far,  but it's still heading in the wrong direction. It’s far away enough that he shouldn’t be noticed if he makes a run for it. Taking his chances , he springs into action. After a quick sprint in the dead of night, he skids behind the safety of another train cart, heart pounding in his ears. His gasps are too loud even to his own years. It makes him briefly wonder how he hasn’t been caught yet. Luck has not been on his side at the beginning of the night, but maybe it will be now. 
     That's when he realizes where he is. There is a forest about a hundred feet away, without seeing it, he knows it's there. The only greenery in this trainyard that's been seeping into the gravel yard for months. There are a few carts in his way but there is a chance. 
    He had scooped out the forest earlier in the week when he had been making sure that the meeting place was perfect, that cops couldn’t find them and that no one could interrupt them. That nothing would go wrong. He hadn’t taken this possibility into account. What a fool he had been. Everything had gone so wrong. If only he could reach that forest, he’d find refuge there, in the darkness of the trees.
           He looks back around the cart, at the path he had come down, no longer seeing the plume of smoke. Deciding he has wasted enough time, he sprints off again, gravel crunching under his feet. As he runs towards the forest, the smoke that had been polluting the entirety of the yard is dissipating with each step, finally no longer suffocating him. It's almost like a sign that the danger is moving further away from him,  taking with it the wisps that had been clinging to Donovan’s clothes, his skin. He isn’t safe just yet.
            Donovan leans against another cart to catch his breath and eyes the forest. At another time, it would look intimidating, with all of it’s shadows and towering trees and frightening unexplainable noises. But right now, with all of its darkness, the forest is a beacon of light.
            He shuts his eyes, listening to the light wheezing of his breath. He starts counting in his head, one Mississippi, two Mississippi. It’s childish, but it helps keep him focused on the goal and holds his fear at bay. Once he reaches sixty Mississippi, he thinks, it’s been long enough. His eyes open and he looks around. He should have been found by now. But there’s nothing. No footsteps, no smoke, nothing.
            He smiles, breathes out shakily in disbelief. Almost there. He waits one heartbeat, two, three, wants to make sure that the coast is clear. But he is too nervous, too on edge. In a state of liberation, like being freed from a waking nightmare. He is giddy, slowly lumbering towards the towering woods as the idea of being free begins to consume him.
            Almost there. So close. With every step he takes his hope rises, the smile on his face stretches even further. There’s a giggle that threatens to break out of his throat. He knows he must look manic, but the thought of achieving the unachievable makes him grin in the dark. Makes him feel cocky. Who would have thought that a man like him could escape the danger? That a man like him could fool the beast? Just a simple human against a creature like that? It’s unbelievable. And yet. Here he is. It’s David and Goliath all over again.
            There were others before him, he knows. Others who have faced the same faith he is facing now. Not a small number, by any means. He had been aware of it, but had never done anything about it. Kept his head down, minded his own business. Never lifted a finger to help one of those pitiful humans. And now here is, in the exact same position every single one of them had been in. And no one is going to help him either. He should have seen this coming, honestly. No clue what he expected. “Greedy child,“ a voice that sounds suspiciously like his mother echoes in his head. He shakes it off. No time for that now. He’ll worry about that later. Once he escapes.
           He is almost at the forest edge, almost there, just a couple of more steps and he will reach his haven. Closing his eyes again, he imagines it. Going back to his apartment, shedding off the clothes that had absorbed so much of the scent of smoke. Taking a long, long bath to wipe all of the sweat off his skin. Making lunch, something light to not further upset his already queasy stomach. Watching TV to relax, settle, and feel safe again. Finding someone to love him, maybe even love that someone back. Getting a small house with a white picket fence. Having a perfect life, no danger, no threat in sight. 
       When he escapes this, he will turn his life around, he swears. He will be a better man, volunteer, and give to charity. Hell, he will do anything just as long as he escapes.
           In the next moment, any hope he has is ripped away from him as he is slammed back against the cart by excruciating heat. Any progress made is now erased. Donovan, slumped on that gravel, pain spreading along his back from the impact, can’t decide if he wants to laugh or cry more.
            He had jinxed himself. That’s the only explanation. He had jinxed himself like a damn fool. But he should have known that there was no escape from this. He knew from previous experience and he still let himself get lost in hopes, dreams. His body aches, hunched in on itself on the ground against the side of the cart, defeated. It’s a sick imitation of how he had stood there just moments before, filled with hope.
            He lets out a groan, unable to stop himself, not sure if it’s the physical or the mental pain that causes the sound. Quite possibly both. The gravel crunches in front of him and his eyes fly open. It is leaning over him, towering, menacing, and he thinks: “This is not a human being. Not anymore. No human could ever be so cruel.”
           Donovan had never been religious. He never believed in a God that could answer all of his prayers, make miracles come true. Never believed in a Devil that could punish him for his sins. And there were plenty of sins, those becoming of a greedy child.
            But as he looks up at the creature standing above him, flames flickering in his vision, for the first time, Donovan is inclined to believe. He can almost see the horns on the Devil’s head if he tries hard enough. His frightened imagination has no trouble providing him with such terrifying imagery. Shivers ripple through his body at the sight.
            He wants to crawl as far away as possible. He wants to beg for forgiveness. Repent for his sins, for the life choices he had made that have led him to this. However, deep inside, he knows this Devil carries no forgiveness. Has no mercy for the damned. Yet Donovan still tries. He wants to live.
           “P-Please.” Donovan sobs out, voice cracking. “Please! I won’t tell anyone! I can keep a secret, you know that! I’ve been loyal! I’ve worked with you for years. You know I’d never betray you. Please don’t kill me!” His voice gets louder and louder as he speaks. Tears blur his vision. He is openly sobbing now, terrified like never before. He wants to live. He is too young to die, has so much planned, has so much to live for.
           “I- I can still be of help, still be useful! I can still do my job. Please!” He begs, reaching for the Devil’s legs but stopping himself just in time as the flames grow larger, threatening to hurt him. “I can kill those who oppose you. You won’t have to dirty your hands with them anymore. I’ll make your life easier. I’ll do anything. Anything.” He bargains, voice etched with anguish even as he vinces at his own words. Tonight, he is ’them’. Tonight, he is the one whose life can simply be wiped away. But if he begs enough, offers an unmissable deal, then maybe…He’ll do anything to survive.
           The Devil stares down at him, head tilted to the side, mulling over Donovan’s words. It looks like the beast is deciding on what judgement to pass. Donovan prays, to both God and Devil, that his life be spared. It feels like hours pass as he waits for an answer, spends all that time inside his head, praying, begging, is just about to keep begging out loud too. He is so out of it that it takes him a second to register when the Devil starts to speak.
           “You have been loyal, yes.” The voice rumbles. “You have done your job well, that is also true. But there cannot be any loose ends. My work is far too important to be ruined by the likes of you or anyone else, whether accidentally or on purpose. I truly am sorry. But that is the way it must be.” The flames die down for a second, don’t shine as bright, don’t hurt as much to look at. They don’t seem as monstrous for a moment, as dangerous, as life threatening. It’s as if the creature is apologizing to Donovan. Taking a minute of silence for his death. But that cannot be it. The Devil does not apologize to anyone, especially not to likes of him. The Devil didn’t need God’s forgiveness, so why would it need Donovan’s?
           Donovan wants to live. He wants to live so desperately, wants to cling to the last threads of this existence. He wants to live. But he realizes that he has been a dead man walking for a while now. Maybe even from the first moment he laid eyes on this terrifying creature, made a deal with it. No one taught Donovan not to make deals with the Devil. 
          With a quick flick of the Devil's scorched fingers, Donovan is soon buried in a torrent of flames, sentenced to death. Out of instinct he screams in terror but soon the pain fades. A small act of mercy, or an oversight, he cannot tell. “I was too greedy in the end, mother. And just like you said, it came back to bite me.” With that final thought his mind turns blank and the eternal darkness of death consumes him.