Chapter 18. Cory was smoking her third cigarette in a row and she knew eventually that she would have to go back down to the apartment to face the wrath of Timmy over her mental health issues. Cory wish Timmy could understand that she feel uncomfortable talking to his aunt. Yesterday when they when to the church for a counseling session, the pastor there opened her mind to a possibility that she never considered before. Demonic possession could Jason Grey actually be a demon. “I know your not buying into all this demonic bullshit” said Jason Grey now standing over by the ledge. “why wouldn’t I your always in my fucking head” yelled Cory. “and don’t think I didn’t notices the way you was afraid of the pastor yesterday” Jason Grey seems to get angry at Cory for a moment then he looks down at the street below and he couldn’t help himself from breaking into laughter. “what’s so funny” ask Cory feeling her angry now begin to build. “your been so worried about protecting Timmy and his aunt Meg, but it looks like you had dropped the ball” said Jason Grey in a cocky tone. Cory runs over to the edge and looks down at the street below to see four gang members of the MS-13 street gang loading Timmy and Meg into the backseat of the graffiti car. “fuck” yelled Cory as she begin quickly making her way down the fire escape. When she got to the landing of Meg’s apartment Jason was standing in front of her. The car that carried both Timmy and Meg had already driven out of sight. “you need to calm down and come up with a plan” said Jason Grey. “this rushing in shit will get us both killed” Cory knew what Jason was telling her was correct but the fear of the street gang killing her boyfriend Timmy was overpowering and the only thing she could come up with was to retrieve the handgun that she taken from the thug at the bus station it was safely hidden inside her duffle bag. Cory climbs back into the bedroom window from the fire escape. Cory swears for a moment that she hears a noise coming from the bathroom as she grabs the handgun from the duffle bag. Cory steps into the small hall to see a big Latino man seating on the couch in the living room area. Cory points the gun at the large man as she step into the living room and he gets up from the couch to face her. Cory believed the man could easily pass as a professional wrestler and she was pissed that the street gang took Timmy. Cory slowly aim the gun toward the man’s chest and pulled the trigger. The big Latino man startled for a moment till both of them realize that Cory’s gun didn’t fire. “fuck you” yelled Cory as throws the gun at the big man who easily side step it. The big man says something to Cory in Spanish that she didn’t need a translator to understand his meaning was sexual. “not with foreplay” said Cory as she puts up her fist and takes a fighting stance. The big man throws a haymaker punch that Cory easily ducks and counters with a few punches and a back roundhouse kick that all connect with the gang member’s face and body with no real results. Cory felted like she was battling with a large tank. Cory then tries to throw another back roundhouse kick only to have the big man catch it and he easily picks her up in the air and carried her into Meg’s small kitchen. The big man then lifts Cory high in the air then quickly slams her down through Meg’s kitchen table breaking it into big pieces. A rush of pain shoot through Cory’s back and already injured ribs from her war with the Grey family as she finds herself on the floor with the large man resting on top of her. Cory quickly looks around to see pieces of broken table around her. In a last desperate attempt Cory throws several wild punch to position herself where she was able to wrap her legs tightly around the big man’s neck. At first the big man fights and struggles with everything he has to try to break free but Cory never lets up. After a few minutes Cory felt the big man slip into unconsciousness. Cory debates with herself about letting go of the hold at first but she could help having this feeling that something was missing. Cory uses her hands to lift her body a little off the floor for Leverage and her legs tighten more around the big man’s neck till she finally feel his neck break. This was the feeling that Cory longed for, killing was like a drug to her. Preacher sit inside his car and even ducked down hiding in the seat when the street gang come out of the building with two hostages. Preacher right away recognize Timmy as the demon possessed girl’s boyfriend. After the street gang left with there hostages Preacher got out of his car and entered the apartment building. The first sight Preacher come to was the apartment manager on his hands and knees crying his eyes out over the dead bodies of a old woman and a young boy. The apartment manager’s family looked to of died from shotgun blast. The apartment manager reaches into his pant pocket and pulls out two more shotgun shells. He then picks up his empty shotgun that the gang member killed his family with and reloads it. He then Prestige by placing the barrel of the gun under his chin. “no” yelled Preacher as he tries running up to stop the apartment manager from taking his own life only to be to late. Preacher drops down to both his knee and says a prayer a loud. “dear Lord, love them abundantly in the next life amen” Preacher knew most people believed that suicide was a one way ticket to Hell and most religious figures would agree, but Preacher believed there were exceptions to the rule. One was mental illness and this was the other. Preacher then takes the shotgun from the dead man’s hands and check it. The gun only had one shell left. Preacher then begins to walk up the stairway. He remembered that the demon possessed girl was on the three floor but there were six gang members that entered the building and he only counted four coming out with the teenage boy and the woman. Two gang members left inside the building and only one shotgun shell in the shotgun, Preacher really didn’t like his odds and found himself wondering if the blonde girl will be any kind of help. On the third floor Preacher realize that he had no idea what apartment the girl was living in then Preacher noticed a open door far down the hallway. When Preacher gets to the open door he suddenly hears a loud crashing noise come from inside the apartment. Preacher walks in to find the blonde girl wrapping her legs tightly around a giant gang member’s neck. Soon the gang member pasted out and Preacher believed the girl was going to let the gang member go but suddenly came a loud cracking noise of bones snapping. Preacher felted a sickening feeling sweep over him for a moment as the blonde teen girl seem to get great joy out of breaking the big man’s neck but that’s when another gang member suddenly steps out of the hall holding a knife. That’s when Preacher suddenly turns toward the gang member and fires the last shotgun round in to the street gang member’s chest. Cory blocks out all her pain as she kicks the dead body of the broken neck gang member off of her before she was able to get back to her feet. She looks over at the church pastor and watches him drop the shotgun and stand there with a look of shock of what have I done on his face. “there’s three dead bodies in the lobby down stairs and I just killed a man” said Preacher trying to acted a little shocked by his actions. He didn’t want to show the girl that he was as comfortable with killing like she was. “would it help if I told you they wasn’t nice people” said Cory as she lights a cigarette. Preacher stands there quietly staring at her. “why are you here for anyway” ask Cory look at the church pastor in a different light. She found herself to be a little attracted to the handsome Pastor now knowing he wasn’t afraid to take a life. “the church requires we do follow up meetings” said Preacher. “fuck” yelled Cory in all the excitement she couldn’t believe that she forgotten about Timmy and aunt Meg. “we need to get away from here” said Jason Grey now standing beside Cory. Immediately Preacher’s eyes turn to Jason Grey. “you really can see him” stated Cory grabbing her CD player off the kitchen counter. “yes but I don’t feel comfortable around a demon” said Preacher. “fuck you pal” said Jason Grey now throwing up his middle finger at Preacher. “I really need his help right now” said Cory talking to Jason Grey. “could you just disappear for awhile” “fuck the both of you” said Jason Grey before disappearing. Cory persuades Preacher into taking her close to the parking garage where the MS-13 street gang hangs out. Cory felt a little shocked because the construction site where she dreamed of killing one the gang member Ryan was across the street just like in her dream. Both Cory and Preacher climbed up on the Construction building and studied the parking garage acrossed from them. Both Timmy and aunt Meg seemed unharmed for now but they were tied up on the third floor of the parking garage and Cory counted at the least 20 street gang members with a few of them were heavily armed carrying what looked to be assault rifles. “time to bring the polices into this” said Preacher looking over at Cory. “the local polices are scared of these guys and wouldn’t dare come in this neighborhood” said Cory giving Preacher the facts. “and what are you going to do” ask Preacher look at Cory all seriously. “I’m going to save them” said Cory as she begins to walk away. Preacher quickly grabs Cory by the arm and she turns to him quickly throwing her hands up and ready to fight. “let go of me” said Cory with a tone that she didn’t want to resort to violence with Preacher but she would if it come to it. “for someone so tough your not very smart” said Preacher. “if you just storm in there now all three of you will end up dead” “says who” said Cory now mentally beginning to questioning her own actions. “says every action movie ever made” said Preacher. “I don’t watch action movies” joked Cory as her mood seem to lighten up. “I’m more of a horror fan” Preacher found himself laughing at the blonde teen girl’s remark. “you ever notices that most monsters in horror movies wait for the cover of night before attacking a camp” stated Preacher. Cory thinks about it for a moment then ends up finding herself agreeing with Preacher. “is there any gun stores or pawn shop close by that sell weapons” ask Cory. Preacher also found himself questioning what he was doing as he takes the blonde girl to a used camping store that was near by. He knew what the blonde girl was about to temp tonight was a suicide mission. Preacher even noticed that the demon trapped inside of her begged for her not to go through with this madness. Cory entered the store and looked around, immediately she rationalized that no one was going to sale a 16 year old girl any type of gun or firearm. Cory played around with the idea of stealing a gun till she realized the only guns the store sold was bb’s and pellet guns. Just when Cory was about to give up on getting a weapon she sees a camping hatchet for $19.95, she pick up the hatchet and Jason Grey’s knowledge of weapons suddenly sweeps over her like a flood. The hatchet had a fiberglass handle that made the weapon light and there was a nice balance so she could also use it as a throwing weapon if she needed to. Cory began playing with the weapon like it was a baton and found herself amazed at her skill. “so we are going up against a crew armed with all kinds of guns including assault rifles using a fucking hatchet” said Jason Grey now standing off to the side of her. “we don’t seem to have very many options” said Cory as she made her way to the cash register to pay for the hatchet. “sure we do, we could always just leave” said Jason already knowing what Cory was going to say. “you know I cant do that” said Cory showing her frustrations of having this argument. “fuck you” yelled Jason. “your going to get us killed” Preacher remain silent during Cory and the demon’s argument. It fascinated him that the demon show true concern over the girl dying and then Preacher realized they both seem to have a soft spot for each other. Cory purchased the camping hatchet at the checkout register then suddenly Jason Grey voice begin nagging at her to buy a CD of AC/DC greatest hits that rest on a rack close by, she added the CD to her purchase before they started there drive back to the construction site. “you never explained to me the other day how you became like this” ask Preacher trying to change the subject away from the young girl’s suicide quest. Cory thought about it at first then she decided that if tonight was going to possibly be her last night a live, why not share her story. Cory opened up and told Preacher about the night Jason Grey raped her and almost killed her. She explained how the event deeply change everything in her life and how things build up to the bloodiest night in Lynn, New York history. By the time they made it back to the construction site Cory have told Preacher everything, she’s never shared her story before. Not even with Timmy. Preacher saw a maturity in the blonde teen girl now that was beyond her years and being a man that just recently found out he was going to die of brain cancer before he could see his 31 birthday. Preacher found himself now attracted to the young girl. Cory stared out the window to see a dark night sky and a heavy rain storm begin to falling down from the sky. “mind if I said something” said Preacher. “sure” said Cory smiled as she noticed Preacher checking her out like he just seen her for the first time. “if you wasn’t so young and I wasn’t a man of God” stated Preacher looking deep into her eyes. “I could see you leading me down the wrong path” Cory wraps her arms around his neck and pulls his face closer. “maybe after this is done we could get a motel room and kick around the furniture” Joked Cory. “I think your boyfriend would like that about as much as you doing this” said Preacher. “for luck” said Cory then she leans in and there lips meet for a long kiss. When they pulled apart both were smiling. “your sure you don’t need me as back up” ask Preacher even though he heard the voice of the holy spirit of God whispering in his ear for him to only observed and not to interfere.  

Next Chapter: Chapter 19