I Am Chosen

White Agony

You are chosen.

Kacey stood, the butt of the Winchester to her shoulder, sights set on Hollis.

Once again it was like being in a waking dream. Reality had become a mere backdrop; a minor consideration in the vastness of existence. What mattered most was that she was chosen, and that she had a task to complete.

"Kacey?" Hollis called. He was stepping toward her.

You are chosen.

"I..." Kacey began.

Despite the undeniable force that compelled her, some small seed of doubt remained, hidden, buried so deep inside of her as to be almost unrecognizable and yet that infinitesimal coal burned. It burned just brightly enough to give her pause.

From the power that commanded her, Kacey felt a sudden, very slight hesitation. The coal within burned brighter.

This isn't you. Not the real you; you can fight this, you fought it before; the beast that slept behind the eyes of Piggy, it tried to make you kill him but you resisted; you resisted then and you can resist now.

Hollis was just a few steps away, talking, but she was shutting out the words.

An overwhelming urge to say "I am chosen" and pull the trigger engulfed her. She tensed her finger and held her breath; Hollis reached out, wide-eyed...

"I..." Kacey began again but she did not complete the sentence. Hollis reached out and grabbed the Winchester barrel, lowering it toward the ground, wrapping his arms around her and moving her backward, away from the stone. "Come on," he was saying. "Get away from it. Come inside."

Seconds later Kacey was through the door of the cabin, and the strange intelligence that had tried to force its will upon her was gone.

They sat inside the cabin, Hollis in a wingback chair, leaning forward. He was pale and drawn; his eyes held Kacey with cautious scrutiny. She sat across, on a couch, hands folded in her lap. Tears blurred her vision.

"I almost..." she began, unable to complete the thought.

"I know," Hollis said, still watching her closely. "But you didn't. And you don't feel it now, right?"

Kacey shook her head.

Hollis said "When I was close to it I didn't feel anything but I wonder if that's because it was using all of its... whatever, its mojo, to try and get to you."

Shutting her eyes tight, Kacey buried her face in her hands.

"You fought it," Hollis said. "I don't know how, but you fought it. As far as we know, no one else has ever done that."

Looking up, bleary-eyed, Kacey said "That's because I was exposed to it... or some version of it, or something like it- I don't know. Back in L.A. When I was being held."

"The Lord of the Flies Murders," Hollis said. Kacey nodded. "You think there's a connection?" He asked.

"I don't think the guy who did that-Piggy-was connected to Crowe or to any of this. I think that maybe the same thing that's in that stone, was... speaking to him or influencing him in some way, I don't know."

Hollis considered this silently. "Well," he said. "I guess the most important thing right now is that we were unable to destroy the rock."

"Yeah," Kacey said. "We gotta get back to town. Protect Brad and Jack. Leave the stone here for now. Think about some other way to destroy it."

"Okay," Hollis said. "I'll bring it in. You keep an eye on me. From farther away this time. But first... let's make sure any deadly weapons are far out of reach."

Brad Graham's eyes fluttered open. He had gotten to the point now where he was used to waking up in his hospital room, though he was consistently groggy from pain meds.

Pain, truth be told, didn't bother Brad all that much. It was a reminder that he was alive. He was very lucky to be alive, and on the mend. The fracture, from when he had fallen off the ladder in the reactor, hadn't affected his spinal cord and that had been the big concern. According to the docs he should be back on his feet in a few days, though he'd be wearing a back brace for about three months.

It could be much worse. He could be dead; almost had ended up dead, twice now. He had heard different versions and rumors from the police, hospital staff, and visiting friends about the latest attack. Their stories ranged from cryptic to outright nuts. The craziest thing he had heard was that the police officer who had been guarding him that night had said the suspect had a "snake and claw-like arm." Brad later heard that the same officer was undergoing a psych eval. Had the cop gotten his brains scrambled when he'd been thrown across the floor?

Whatever the case, PHPD wasn't playing around. They now had two officers assigned to watch him twenty-four seven. It was strange but it was also comforting.

With all that had happened, the most troubling aspect was the simple question: why him? He had heard that there was some kind of list but no one could tell him why that list existed, or why he was on it. And what about his sister? What had she ever done to deserve getting killed?

Focus on the positive. You're alive. That has to mean something.

Just then a familiar nurse walked into the room. Kimmy, she liked to be called. Nurse Kimmy. She was cute, and Brad had already hit on her more than once. Kimmy was very adept at shooting him down while simultaneously sparing his feelings.

She was carrying a fairly big, red plastic tray. "Just drawing some blood, Mister Graham," she said, setting the tray on top of the nightstand next to the bed.

"I think you're just looking for an excuse to see me," Brad teased. As she reached into the deep tray the nurse flashed him a smile. "I'm glad to see your spirits are up," Kimmy returned. Brad was thinking of something clever to say when he noticed what she had pulled out of the tray-

It was a bottle of lighter fluid.

"There a barbeque I wasn't told about?" Brad asked. With her other hand Kimmy reached in and retrieved a lighter. When she looked at him, the smile had left her face; it was now just a flat, emotionless mask.

She thumbed the cap off the lighter fluid and squirted it in a steady stream, beginning at his feet. He flailed, but she stood just out of reach. If he could only get out of bed-

"Oh God what are you-help! HELP!"

The officers ran in, taking a second to register what was happening as Kimmy flipped the lid on the lighter, said "I am chosen," and sparked it.

One of the officers was quicker than the other, rushing across the room but Kimmy's outstretched hand had already lobbed the lighter onto the blanket over Brad's legs.

There was a loud WHOOSH! as the entirety of Brad's world became fire and white agony.

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Well, hey, at least Brad got to live a little bit longer. Some of you predicted he'd come to a bad end. Yep, you were right.