It Comes in Darkness

“No. No!” Liv shook her head at Casey. “That's not him. We need to go!” Grabbing John she pulled both of them towards the car.

“Liv, that's his voice! He's up there somewhere!”

“No it's not. He would never call me Olivia. Never. It can't be him. This is a trick and we need to go now!” As they reached the car, she dropped the keys onto the ground and lost it in the dark and the strobing light just didn't give her enough illumination to find them so she felt clumsily for them on the ground among the dirt and rocks.

“Get in!” John hissed at her.

“I lost the damn keys!” She hissed back.

“LIV!” Ryan's voice called out again.

Looking back up from the ground, Liv stood up and looked towards the building but saw nothing. Everything around her seemed to fade into a quiet background and she started taking a step towards the sound when John, equipped with the flashlight flew around the front of the Tahoe and found the keys and then grabbed her arm roughly and began shoving her into the back seat.

“We'll call the fucking police and they can come get him, we're not doing it.” He said, jumping into the front seat and starting the car as fast as he could, flying backwards.

They were still close enough that when the scream rung out into the dark air around them, Liv could hear it.

“That's him! That's him! Stop the car!” She pleaded, fiddling with the door handle but it was locked.

Unlocking it as fast as she could, she huffed in frustration when John locked it again. “Liv, you are not getting out of this car.”

“But that was definitely him!”

“Him and who else? What was that thing?” Turning towards her, Casey pointed towards the building. “What the HELL was that?” His lips pursed.

Liv's lips quivered and she quickly unlocked the door and flew out of the moving car, nearly tumbling into the dry dirt and rock.

“Fuck!” Casey slammed his fist onto the dashboard and John put the car in drive and flew forward, easily catching up to Liv who was running at full speed across the bumpy terrain.

Before she flew back in through the gate, Casey's arms were around her and dragging her back to the car.

“John, you have to get the door!” He called out as John hurriedly rushed to open the door and get to him.

Knowing that this would be only chance to get him and that if they left she would never see him again, she did the only thing she figured would get Casey to let her go. Pulling her hand as far forward as she could get it against his grasp, she flung it back into his groin causing him to groan and drop her.

Scrambling to get up, she launched herself towards the stairs.

“RYAN?” She called out, fearful that the thing she had just seen would harm him in some way.

“Liv!” He called and suddenly she spotted a hand peeking over the rail on the top level.

Her legs refused to stop running and she could hear that Casey and John were both hot behind her trying to catch up.

“I'm coming! Ryan, I'm coming!” Supporting her round and heavy belly, she bolted for the stairs which were coming up and about 20 feet away.

Grabbing the rail she pulled herself up onto the stairs, her breaths coming out in an even and loud pulse and she felt her heart throbbing inside her temples.

“Please!” He sobbed to her.

“I'm here, I'm here!” She reassured him, nearly tripping on the last step.

At the top level he laid naked on the floor, writhing uncontrollably. Liv needed a moment to take in the state of him. He was absolutely covered in blood and he seemed hot and sweating. Steam poured off of him and billowed away into the cool air. Covering her mouth, she went over to him as fast as she could force herself to comfort him.

“Oh my God, Ryan. I thought I'd never see you again!” Tears sprung from her eyes and clouded her vision. She held him tightly and cried onto his hot and bare skin. “You're so warm, Ryan. What's happening? What was that THING? Did you see it?”

Taking off her jacket she tried to cover him as John and Casey reached the top of the stairs. The reaction to Ryan was the same. He looked a mess.

“I...I don't know how...Liv I need you...” Ryan looked down at Liv's round abdomen. “You're...pregnant?”

“Yes. We're having a daughter. Come on, let's go. We'll get you to the hospital.”

Ryan's eyes looked tired and red. “Liv, I...”

“Please help me.” Liv pleaded to Casey and John, but John had no sign of relenting to this particular request.

Raising the shotgun, John jerked it to one side, gesturing for Liv to move. “I'm sorry. I really am, Liv, but I don't think that's him.”

Looking at Casey, her glassy eyes pleaded with him. The sympathy there showed her that he at least thought of it but he shook his head. “I can't. I'm so sorry, but I can't. My brother is dead...and I don't know what this is, but it isn't him. We need to go.”

“I'm not leaving him! I am NOT leaving!” Her barks grew more desperate and she held onto Ryan's large hands, kissing the knuckles to his long fingers and pressing them to her wet cheeks.

“Liv,” Ryan's voice broke and he started to cry. “I'm so happy to see you. I'm so happy. But you have to do something for me. I need you to say yes before I ask you what it is and I want you to promise me you'll do it.”

Looking back at his contorting face she shook her head. “If I have to say yes before you ask I can't do it.”

Tugging on her hands he pulled her closer to him and gave each of her hands a hard squeeze and held them tight. “It's not a choice. If you don't, I'll ask John to do it. He wants to anyways.”

It finally dawned on John what Ryan was asking and his mouth dropped with his weapon and he looked at Casey.

Eyes widening, Liv jerked her hands out of Ryan's. “No!” She stood up abruptly. “NO! That is not happening!”

“That thing you saw...that thing IS me, Liv.” He told her, pulling his bottom lip into his mouth as the tears fell down his cheeks. “It's me. And this is the only way to get rid of it.”

Instinctively John reached for Liv since he was closest to her, but she jerked away from him.

Slumping back to her knees, she leaned onto Ryan and sobbed into his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his torso. “I can't. I can't do it.”

His cheek rested on top of her head and she felt the rise and fall of his body as his cries died down. “I know you don't want this but--”

“NO!” She yelled. “We have to find another way!”

“Listen to me!” His voice commanded. “I'm telling you that there is no other way. This is the only way, and you need to do it.” Silence hung between them for a moment. “Please do it for me, Liv. Please do this and take our daughter away from this place. Please do it for me.”

Shaking her head, she used her hand to cover her mouth and muffle her cries. The tears stung and burned her eyes so bad she could hardly make out his features. Her breath became ragged and she took deep ragged gasps of air.

“Liv, please...I love you.” His lips grazed across her forehead.

The heat radiating off him was enough to warm Liv and she wondered what this was and what it meant.

“I can't...I love you, but I know I won't be able to.” She whispered to him.

“Casey, please take her.” Ryan closed his eyes tightly and grimaced as he pushed Liv away who desperately tried to cling to him, her fingers digging into his skin enough that it scratched across him.

“NO!” She cried. “Please don't do this!”

“John, please do this for me. For all of us. I've wanted this to stop for so long.”

“John!” Liv screamed, her legs flailing with all the strength she could muster as Casey struggled to hold her. “John no!”

“I know it's a big thing to ask but you're not safe while I'm alive. We can end this.” Ryan's bloodshot eyes tried to convince him.

After a moment where everyone froze to see what John would do, he raised the shotgun in Ryan's direction while Ryan flinched.

“Liv, I love you. I can't believe it's ending like this. I know I promised you something different. I'm sorry.”

“No! John look at me! Please look at me!” Liv sobbed, collapsing to her knees while Casey held her back. “Please don't. I'm begging you. You can't kill him. You can't!” Her soft eyes pleaded.

“Do you think that I want to see this, Liv? You think I want to watch my own brother die? NO! But you heard him! This is the only way to kill that thing using his body as a puppet. He's not in control of himself! Do you want him to suffer?”

Liv ignored Casey and watched John, her eyes never leaving his. “Please, don't.” The words were nearly inaudible.

Tears continued to fall down Liv's cheeks and she blinked them away, her ragged breaths making her feel light headed. The shotgun still hung in the air, pointed at Ryan who looked worried.

Suddenly the growling began again, emanating from Ryan's body. His eyes were changing. His green eyes turned dark and then darker still as his skin became spiny and seemed to shift in the light.

“Oh fuck!” Casey gasped. “JOHN NOW! DO IT NOW!”

Suddenly John pumped the gun and fired it with a boom making Casey wince.

“NO!” Liv cried out, watching Ryan's body slump down flat against the ground.

For a moment no one moved except for Liv who continued to watch Ryan's body for any changes.

“We need to go.” John said quietly. The shock had not quite reached them all.

Crawling to his body, Liv couldn't even reach him before Casey scooped her up and they began to walk back to the stairs but this time she didn't fight it, she just continued letting the tears fall as her lips quivered.

Not even halfway to the stairs, Liv turned at a sound that sounded like bones cracking. Turning around, Ryan's body was no longer there.

“Uh...GUYS!” She tugged Casey's sleeve.

Turning around, his eyes widened and he bolted down the stairs and flew across the dirt towards the gate. “LET'S GO!”

John looked at Liv and at Casey and decided to leave, but Liv turned back and went upstairs.

“Ryan?” She called with uncertainty.

Getting no response, she went back to the corner where she originally found the creature but found nothing, not even the body that it had been hunched over.

“Ryan?” Her voice was nearly a whisper.

Suddenly, Ryan appeared and grabbed her, causing her to scream in surprise. He didn't look right, his body didn't feel right. It felt like his skin was being electrocuted, an undercurrent inside of it slightly shocking her. His larger frame started to overpower and when she panicked that she would die here and she was stupid enough to not have left with Casey and John, Ryan collapsed into the crook of her neck and cried.

“You have to try again, Liv. One more time. Kill me and give yourself enough time to get out.”

Her heartbeat feeling more suitable for a hummingbird, she looked at him, afraid to even breathe. Not even moving she waited until Ryan looked like he would ask again.

“H-how?” She asked him quietly, her limbs pulled in as close to her body as she could get them, sweat beading on her clammy forehead.

“I...I don't know.” He cried against her for a moment. “Liv?”

“Yeah?” At this point she wished she would have just left him the first time.

Looking up at her, Ryan's eyes told Liv that once more it wasn't him in control of his body.

Panic and fear took over her and she grabbed his head and dashed it against the brick wall as hard as she could. Dazed, Ryan didn't seem to expect it and as he tried shaking it off, Liv did it again. Each time it became easier and eventually he dropped to his knees but the blood started making his body slick. Not giving him a chance to recover she held his hair and kept ramming his head against the brick, the heaviness making her hands ache. She refused to cry or even stop until his head started falling apart in her hands like a dropped watermelon.

Once he stopped moving, she took a deep breath and tried to keep her composure while darting for the stairs and trying to ignore the hot and sticky blood all over her hands. To her relief, John and Casey were still there waiting for her. While she waved at them to let them know to be ready for her, she didn't notice that the creature was behind her until it turned her around and shoved her over the side of the rail and she crashed face down into the dirt.