The Wicked End

My breath caught in my throat, my heart pounding in my chest. Johnny just stared back at me, almost as if he were just a statue, unmoving.

"J-Johnny..." I whispered, repeating myself, and I took a step closer to him, my hand shyly reaching up to his face. I had to touch him. I had to see if he was real, or it he was just another mirage.

White-hot tears spilled from my eyes as my hand made contact with the smooth, pale, flawless skin of Johnny's face. He was real. Very real.

"Oh my God," I cried out, wrapping my arms around his neck as I pulled him into a hug, the rain soaking us both further. I felt his arms fin their way around my waist and he brought me closer, his face resting in the crook of my neck. I felt my tears soaking into his shirt beneath my face, but neither of us cared.

After what felt like ages we pulled away. I smiled through my tears and the raindrops as I placed my hands on Johnny's cheeks. He smiled back at me, but was calmer and more subdued.

"What happened to you?" I asked, an excitement rising in me despite the current and recent situaions. I was finally going to get some answers to all the questions I had. "Where have you been all this time? I thought... I thought you were... dead."

Johnny quietly and gently pulled my hands from his face. "There's no time for questions. I need to get you somewhere safe. Matt is on the move," he said quickly and my smile slowly faded.

"What do you mean he's on the move?"

"We can't talk now... we need to get away from here," Johnny insisted again, and he took my hand in his, pulling me away from the dark abyss that was growing behind me. But he was pulling me back toward the city, the one place I didn't want to go.

"Johnny, wait," I objected, tugging back on his arm but he resisted me, continuing toward the city. "Stop! I can't go back there! Matt... he'll..." I trailed off and Johnny stopped, turning back to face me.

"We have to get into the city, it's the only place you'll be safe once Matt ascends his throne," Johnny explained, and I furrowed my brow in confusion. Johnny grabbed my shoulders and spun me around, facing the mountains that had formed. There, in the side of the mountain nearest us, was a white marble palace. It didn't look like anything I had seen in a fairytale though. It had jagged, sharp looking edges, had pieces crumbling down, and didn't seem to look as brilliant undr the dark clouds that tried to block out the sun. There as a large set of steps leading from the ground up to the entrance of the stone palace, which I assumed went further back inside the mountain.

"Matt, the Anti-Christ, the second most powerful force walking the Earth right this very moment, is ascending his throne in that palace. He's on his way right now, and it's not safe for you to be here when you and I stand between him and his throne," Johnny explained before a bolt of lightning flashed overhead, followed by the echoing crack of thunder. The clouds rumbled, growing darker as smaller bolts of light surged around them, creating a charge.

"Shit," Johnny whispered, and we both turned in the direction of the city. The rain began to pour harder and more bolts of lightning whipped down from the sky, making contact with a lone figure making its way out of the city. Everything seemed to fall quiet. Even the thunder didn't sound so monstrous for a moment, and the rain didn't seem to hit the ground so hard. "Come, now," Johhny whispered, grabbing my hand once more and dragging me a few feet away.

He pulled me behind a smaller rock formation that had appeared because of the shifting ground and crouched down, peering around the side.

"You're going to hide from the Anti-Christ? Here? He's going to find us. No, he's going to find me and he's going to kill me," I hissed into Johnny's ear as I peered around the side of the rock as well.

"As long as you're with me, Matt can't hurt you."

"Yes, but he can hear my thoughts. He'll know where I am," I whispered again, my heart pumping hard in my chest as a cold fear took over my body.

"As long as you're wih me, Matt can't hurt you," Johnny repeated, and I watched as Matt got closer to where we were. "He won't know where you are, what you're doing, or what you're thining as long as you're right here with me."

I noticed something funny about Matt the closer he got to us. The bolts of lightning in the sky were running down through the air to his body, but he was in no pain. Like the clouds overhead that were teeming with electric charges, Matt's body was covered with small bolts of lightning, twisting around his arms and legs and body like serpents, smooth and graceful.

I watched in awe and saw that Matt's eyes were glowing pure white, like the charges of electricity in his body were showing up inside his hollow soul. It was frightening to see him. He walked in a straight line toward his white stone palace, his pace unchanging and his attention on nothing but his destination, his face set like stone.

"What the hell is happening to him?" I whispered to Johnny, pushing my wet hair from my face.

"He's gathering his powers from every evil thing in this world," he replied, and as soon as Matt was far enough in the distance on the other side of us, Johnny stood from his crouched position, pulling on my arm.

"Wait," I said, feeling mesmerized by the way Matt moved.

"No, we have to go now," Johnny pressed and he dragged me away, heading to the city in a run, myself trailing after him. I didn't argue with him because I was running so fast I couldn't catch my breath.

We turned down a dark alley once we were in the city, and Johnny led me inside a dark abandoned house. It felt good to be out of the storm that was brewing outside, but it was damp and gloomy inside the one, single, first floor room.

There was a ratty looking couch in the corner and I flopped onto it, hearing the springs in the cushions creak underneath the new weight. When I looked up, Johnny had disappeared, but before I could even ask myself anything he came down the stairs, holding blankets in his arms. Thy looked clean and dry and certainly made me wonder where they had come from, but I didn't say a word as he handed some to me, sitting down on the old couch as well.

"Are we safe now?" I asked as I bundled myself up in the blankets, trying to keep my wet body warm. I hadn't noticed how cold it had gotten as Matt came near us but it was like all heat was sucked from the Earth, from my very body.

"We're as safe as we're going to be," Johnny sighed and leaned back.

"Can I ask questions now?"

He looked at me for a moment and unexpectedly grinned. "Go ahead." Finally I wa going to get some answers.

"First off, where did you go? What happened to you?" I asked, crossing my legs and turning to look at Johnny. He sighed deeply before looking away.

"I uh... I had some things I needed to take care of."

"But-" I started, only for him to cut me off.

"I can't really tell you what I was doing. It was just important and I needed to get away," he mumbled. "You've just gotta trust me on this one."

I nodded, looking down at my fingers. "And Jimmy? Was he with you after he left?" I queried, because I hadn't seem Jimmy in almost as long as I hadn't seen Johnny himself.

"Yes... but no. We were together at first but we got separated. He had his own things to take care of."

"Like what?" I questioned, not expecting to yeild an answer worth hearing.

"He... he's putting together an army. He's getting together as many good souls and believers that are left in the dwindling amount of time before the Battle of Armageddon begins," Johnny explained, and I cracked a smile, chuckling. "I'm serious."
"Jimmy's trying to defeat the Anti-Christ?" I asked, disbelieving that he would really be ble to do it on his own with what little good souls I figured were left.

"No, he's only doing his part to help. Defeating the source of evil... Well, that's your job," Johnny stated, and my eyes widened, my slight laughter dying down.

"I... I have to fight Matt? Alone?" I whispered, dreading the very moment to come, for I knew it would more than likely be the last time I would see the light of day.

"No, not alone. That's what I was sent back for. To help you."