At this point, Karen, Sam, Bruce, and even Sarah and Daniel, got out of the van, to face the Deadites.
'Sheryl' pointed at Daniel, '' If you give me him, I'll let you all go.''
Immediately Matthew pointed his shotgun at Daniel, '' Do it have to be dead or alive?''
Daniel tremble seeing the barrel of the gun pointed at him.
'Sheryl' laughed seeing that and said, '' I was joking.'' Her face finally contorted into a Deadite, '' Not a single one of you will leave this place alive.''
BANG
Matthew knew, roughly, how the Deadite attacked. So he knew they would act as soon as Sheryl finished talking, so he shot first.
The shot hit Sheryl Deadite, but Janet and Catherine were unfazed and continued going toward the group.
Only Daniel and Sarah didn't have a gun, but they did have some kind of weapon. The only thing they found was a plastic bottle and a wrench. That's what they're using.
BANG BANG
Anyway, seeing the Deadite approaching made everyone start to shoot at them. But, not all weapons were a shotgun, so the gunshots, while they did slow the Deadite down, didn't inflict that much damage.
And, to kill a Deadite for good, they need to dismember it or use the Kandarian Dagger. But to do both of those, it required a lot of fight, because the Deadite would not just let himself be stabbed or dismembered.
Matthew saw the scene in front of him and steeled himself, as Janet and Catherine arrived at close quarters.
'' Catch.'' Matthew passed the Kandarian Dagger to a bewildered Karen. '' I know you'll find an opening to attack.''
Karen just looked at the dagger in her hands and back at Matthew. She could not understand why he passed to her.
Matthe could see the confusion in Karen's eyes, '' Listen, I don't care if I die. But, I care if YOU die. I'll make sure to give you an opening so you can kill one of them for good. We just need a distraction.''
While they could never face the 3 Deadites head-on, if they were distracted and dispersed, Matthew believed they could kill one using the Kandarian Dagger or dismembering.
Karen trusted Matthew and was a bit touched by all that. She nodded, '' I'll do my best.''
'' That's all I could ask for.'' Matthew reloaded his shotgun, just when Catherine and Janet Deadite arrived close to all of them.
Bruce trembled upon seeing the Deadites approaching him and stumbled when he was reloading his gun, making it fall to the ground. When he went to pick it up, he noted a shadow in front of him, ' Fuck.'
When he looked up, Bruce could see Catherine Deadite looking at him. '' Bruce, why did you leave me behind? You could've saved me from Sheyrl!''
Bruce was paralyzed with fear, but still spoke, '' I could not. They are too strong... I'm sorry you died.''
Catherine smiled sincerely, '' I'm not sorry I'm about to kill you.'' Her face contorted and she jumped at Bruce.
BANG
Bruce fell to the ground with a graze on his arm, but that was it. He quickly picked his pistol up and nodded at Matthew, who had just shot at Catherine.
The Deadite stumbled a bit, but soon recovered and attacked Matthew and Bruce. While the Catherine Deadite was fighting them, the other 2 Deadites were occupied playing with the others.
Matthew fired once more and hit the Deadite in the center of its chest, making it stumble. Karen, who saw this opportunity jumped at it with the Kandarian Dagger.
But the Deadite wasn't going down without a fight and easily sent Karen flying a few meters and making her drop the Dagger.
Just as it was about to pounce on Karen, it suddenly was stabbed by Bruce with the Kandarian Dagger. '' I'm sorry...''
The Deadite changed its features and returned to the human Catherine. It extended her hand close to Bruce's face, almost like it was going to caress it.
Bruce could see the humanity in her eyes and let her.
Matthew noted something was off but it was too late, '' BRUCE, DONT!''
But, just when the hand touched his face, it suddenly yanked his whole head off, killing him instantly.
' Catherine' laughed maniacally then also died. Matthew and Karen could only watch their friend die. But they could not rest and immediately grabbed the Kandaarian Dagger off the ground and went to face the remaining Deadite.
Janet Deadite was playing around with Daniel and Sarah, while surprisingly Sheryl Deadite was only watching, amused by all of that.
Matthew immediately went into action and jumped on Janet Deadite with the Kandarian Dagger, stabbing her in the back. It also tried to turn back into a human and lure someone in, but no one did. Janet Deadite died then and there.
Only Sheryl Deadite was left and it clearly was the strongest of the 3.
'' Well, that was disappointing. But, it's time to end this.'' Sheryl then disappeared instantly, arrived in front of Daniel, and grabbed his throat.
'' You will die first.'' BANG
Surprisingly, Matthew shoots Sheryl Deadite, but it only makes her flinch and look at him, '' Don't worry, you're next.''
CRACK
Matthew smiled a little seeing Daniel die and thought, ' Good riddance' but soon returned his whole attention to the Deadite in front of him.
Before they could react, Sheryl appeared in front of Sarah and with a swing, decapitated her. Only Matthew and Karen remained.
Matthew passed the Kandarian Dagger to Karen, '' Look for an opportunity to finish her.'' Then slowly approached Sheyrl
Sheryl Deadite looked at that scene and smirked, '' Look at that, the ex is now trying to kill me. But don't worry, I don't plan on dying soon.''
Matthew ignored what it was saying and said what he wanted, '' I was mad you didn't believe me and for a long time prayed you would see the truth, but time passed and you didn't even try. I get it but at the same time, I was angry at you for not listening to me.''
'' I held onto the hope you would come back to me, but you never did and died... I forgive you.''
Finally, after 4 years of trauma for not having his life, Matthew forgave Sheryl for not believing him. To tell you the truth, he also was not angry at his group of friends anymore, as they were all dead, and there was no reason to be mad at the dead.
Sheyrl Deadit laughed, '' Should I be honered?''
Matthew shook his head, '' I just wanted to say that before sending you back to hell and freeing Sheryl for good.''
'' You wiil neve-'' BANG
The shot from the shotgun hit her on the chest and made her go back a little.
'' Wh-''
BANG
Another shot and Sheryl Deadite was getting angrier.
'' St-''
BANG
Matthew now only had a few more bullets and reloaded.
Sheryl finally had enough and jumped at Matthew, who smiled seeing that, ' Got her!'
This whole time Matthew was begging her to jump at him, '' NOW!''
Sheryl noticed something was wrong but there was nothing she could do as she was too close to Matthew. Regardless, she tried to move away but Matthew intercepted her midway and stopped her for a few moments.
But those few moments were enough for Karen to swing the Kandarian Dagger at Sheryl, and stab her.
Matthew let go immediately, as he didn't want to risk it. Bruce's death taught him not to take any chances.
Karen and Matthew watched as Sheryl returned to her human appearance and said, '' Thank you...'', then she died soon after.
Matthew stabbed her a few more times and finally breathed a sigh of relief confirming she was dead. ''It's over.''
Karen was waiting to hear that and fell to her knees, crying. Matthew wanted to comfort her but decided to grab the Necronomicon first. He only did so after leaving the Kandarian Dagger with Karen.
Matthew soon returned with the book in his hands, and sat down near Karen. A few minutes later she stopped crying and looked at him, '' What do we do now? How can we explain this to the police?''
After scratching his head, Matthew was honest, '' I don't know, but honestly, I'm just glad to be alive. We will deal with all that later.''
Both stared at each other for a moment, until Matthew asked for the Dagger, '' Give me the Dagger for a moment.''
Karen passed it to him, '' What are you going to do?''
'' Try to destroy the book.'' Matthew grabbed the Dagger, alongside Karen's hand. She looked at him and noticed his eyes were fiery.
With no hesitation, Karen kissed him on the lips. After a few moments, Matthew broke the kiss and was grinning, '' Let's end this nightmare.''
Matthew raised the Kandarian Dagger and prepared to swing it at the Necronomicon when suddenly a portal appeared behind him out of nowhere and the suction force was unbearable.
Having almost no time to react, and knowing he didn't want to risk Karen's life, Matthew threw the Necronomicon and the Dagger at Karen. He smiled contently seeing only him being sucked at the portal.
Matthew was at peace with whatever happened, and soon enough he was completely sucked into the portal.
Karen could only watch helplessly as this happened. Just as she was about to try and do something, she passed out from shock.
---
HOURS LATER
Lucia was watching TV and felt sick. Ever since Matthew had talked to her about this trip, she had been upset. And even today, one day after he left, the bad feeling continued.
To try to remedy this, Lucia kept watching TV and messing with her cell phone. It was during one of these channel changes that she saw news that gave her goosebumps.
'A group of friends decide to spend a few days in a cabin in the forest and only one woman survives. The police said that they are investigating, but that they wouldn't say anything for now.'
Lucia began to tremble and started desperately calling her brother, but to no avail. 'Could it be ...?!'
Fearing the worst, Lucia started calling all of Matthew's old friends. However, in the middle of this, she remembered that Matthew said that the place would have no signal.
But the news on TV made Lucia paranoid. With no other options, Lucia called the relatives in her group of friends.
The first person she called was Janet's relatives. However, after three unsuccessful attempts, she became even more worried.
For the next 10 minutes, Lucia kept calling everyone's relatives, but no one answered. Tired of this, Lucia took her things and went to visit them personally.
As soon as she came down from her room, she saw some policemen talking to her mother and father. Lucia paled and ran down the stairs, '' What happened?''
When Lucia's hand turned around, she was crying, '' It's about your brother...''
Lucia's brain paused as she listened to her mom tell her that Matthew and his group supposedly died, leaving only one of the entire group alive.
After some time, Lucia asked, '' Who survived?''
'' Karen. She is being transferred to our local hospital as we speak. She is mostly unharmed, but she still hasn't woken up.''
Lucia excused herself and returned to her room. She started to hug her pillow and cry, ' Why? Why didn't I talk to him earlier?!'
Guilty was consuming her, as she didn't even talk to her brother for years. Of course, he supposedly was a rapist, but something about that situation bugged her mind. ' I should've looked more about all that situation...'
With regrets in her mind, Lucia cried until she went to sleep. When she woke a few hours later, she made up her mind, ' I'll go talk to Karen about all this situation.''
Lucia knew that trying to talk with Karen could be impossible, but she still had to try, for the sake of her well-being. So, she grabbed her phone, called an Uber, and went to the local hospital, ' She must be there already.'
----
AT THE CABIN
Police officers were on the scene, collecting what little was left of the bodies. Karen did the best she could and, before Matthew disappeared into the portal, stabbed all the bodies with the Kandaria Dagger, just to be safe.
'' What the hell happened here?'' One of the policemen was new to the force and was extremely disturbed and surprised by the bloodbath in the place. The only part of the house that was bloodless was on the second floor.
Don't ask too many questions and just do your job. One of the policemen there was a veteran and, although he was also unmoved by the situation, he just wanted to do his job and leave.
The novice said nothing more and continued his work of collecting evidence and remains, in silence.
After a few hours, the police force on the scene heard some cars approaching. When they looked at the scene, they saw 3 black vans pulled up to the scene and some people in suits got out of them.
The cops thought this was strange and stopped their work to see what these strangers wanted. One of the people in black started to approach one of the policemen and asked, "Could I speak to your supervisor?''
The policeman just pointed to another policeman.
"Thank you.' The man in black thanked the policeman and approached the supervisor, '' Are you leading the operation?''
The supervisor nodded, '' Yes. But who are you?''
The man in black pulled a document from his pallet, '' We are taking control of the operation from now on. Orders from above.''
The surprised man took the document, looked at it for a moment, and concluded that it was a genuine document. He looked at these suspicious men and fought very hard not to ask any more questions. Looking at his men, the supervisor said, ''Let's go.''
Many policemen also wanted to ask many questions but decided to stay put. They weren't going to confess, but the men in black were intimidating and they also wanted to leave as soon as possible.
"Wait a minute.'' But before the cops left the scene, the man in black called out.
"What is it?'' The supervisor asked as the other policemen got into the car.
''Give me all the evidence you've found, and for your own good, forget about what happened here today. ''
To the supervisor's surprise, the last part was said with sincerity. This made the supervisor even more afraid and he quickly passed all the evidence to them, and said to his men, ''Forget everything you saw today. These guys are dangerous and I don't think we should involve ourselves more.''
Even if the supervisor didn't say this, the cops wouldn't open their mouths. Soon after, all the policemen left the scene.
As soon as they left, more men in black appeared. One of them asked the leader, who was looking at the evidence, ''Is it true this time?''
The leader was analyzing the evidence and his expression was solemn, '' ... It seems so. Humanity is in danger.''
The name of the organization of these men was THE KIGTHS OF THE SUMERIA and they were responsible for battling the demonic forces on earth. And yes, they knew of the existence of the Necronomicon, but they didn't know where it was. Until today, traces of Demoniac activity were reported in the area, and they looked at the photo of the unconscious Karen with the book in hand.
The man who asked paled, '' What are we going to do?''
The leader looked at a remnant of one of the bodies, '' Look for the Kandarian Dagger and increase our search for the chosen one... And hope for the best.''
-----
Karen woke up in a hospital bed, screaming. She had just woken up after having a nightmare. She started to look around frantically.
A nurse who was nearby noticed her waking up and approached her, '' Easy, easy.''
This calmed down Karen enough for her to ask, '' Where is Matthew?''
The last memory Karen had was of her and Matthew kissing when suddenly a portal appeared out of nowhere. Matthew pushed her aside and threw the Necronomicon and the Kandarian Dagger to her before disappearing into the portal.
The nurse hesitated to speak, '' Before that, rest for a bit.''
Karen knew this meant Matthew died or wasn't found, ' Damn it! Why did this have to happen after we won the fight!?'
The group had won the fight at the expense of almost everyone. Only Karen and Matthew survived the fight against the Deadites.
Karen had no big wound but fainted soon after the portal that took Matthew closed.
After cursing their luck for a while, Karen asked the nurse, '' Did I have anything on me when I was found?''
The nurse nodded, '' You had a book on you and a strange Dagger. Let me say, the book had a weird cover.''
Karen basically screamed, '' Don't open that book! Whatever you do, DO NOT OPEN IT!''
The nurse was taken aback by this but soon calmed down, '' Don't worry. Your belongings are safe with us for the time being. But, the police might want to talk to you in a few minutes.''
While Karen was happy the Necronomicon and the Dagger were safe, she wanted them with her the entire time. They can't fall into the wrong hands, '' I know this might be a breach of protocol, but can I have my book and the Dagger? The Dagger is an heirloom, and if the police want my items I can give them to them later.''
The nurse was clearly going to say no, so Karen appealed, '' Please, those are the last mementos of my grandmother...''
While the nurse knew she was breaking protocol, she decided to give the items to Karen, '' Wait a minute.''
She then left Karen's room. A few minutes later she was back with the book and the Dagger. '' Here.''
Karen took both and held them tightly, ' No one will ever see those again, or use them again, for the sake of humanity.' She still thanked the nurse, '' Thank you.''
'' No problem.'' The nurse then said, '' The police will arrive shortly to take your account of what happened in the cabin.'' She left the room after that.
While the police might be a problem to normal people, now that Karen knew the existence of Demons and such, she was more preoccupied with Matthew and the world situation.
' He is not dead, I feel it. But, if he isn't dead, where are you, Matthew?'
Clutching the book and the Dagger even tighter, Karen swore to find him and deal with whatever the world threw at her. She then heard the door to her room open up.
Karen's instinct flared up and she almost launched the Dagger at the thing entering the room, but soon noted the 'thing' was Lucia, Matthew's younger sister, '' What are you doing here? How did you enter my room?''
Based on the situation and what Karen knew about the law and such, there should've been officers outside, to protect her. But Lucia managed to enter with no problems, surprising Karen.
Lucia wanted to look smug but her feelings of guilt caught up to her, '' That doesn't matter. I want to talk about my brother and what happened 4 years ago and today.''
Karen could see the guilt on Lucia's face. She sighed, '' Do you want to know everything?''
Lucia noted the tone of Karen's voice gave a feeling of danger. But she bit the bullet, '' Yes, everything.''
Karen then decided to tell everything, without holding back. She did this to protect and at the same time prepare Lucia if things go bad.
Thus started a partnership with Karen and Lucia, who now knew the truth of what happened in the cabin and the truth about 4 years ago.
No one could've predicted but this duo would later be known as the Two Sisters, one of the most well-known Demon Hunters in the world.
But that is a story for another time.
----
WITH MATTHEW
At the same time all this was happening, Matthew was screaming in a tunnel. This tunnel was weird, as it almost didn't have a shape, was transparent, and Matthew could swear he was seeing angels, demons, elves, and all sorts of different things as he went deeper and deeper into the tunnel.
'' AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...OOF!'' After a long time, Matthew finally exited the tunnel, only to go head-on into the ground. He wasn't that hurt, but still, it hurts. '' What the fuck happened?!''
As he cursed his luck, Matthew finally got up after some time. He made some checks on his body and the only thing he had on him were his shotgun with a few more ammo and his clothes. He also noted his injuries, apart from his missing eye, were mostly healed.
Matthew then looked around and tried to guess where he was. ' ... I have no idea.'
It was a little dark, the sun was just setting. It also looked like a desert, with houses nearby. It was definitively the town nearby nor the forest he was just in.
Just then, Matthew heard another scream coming from the sky. He looked up and sure enough, a portal opened and another person came tumbling to the ground. He could see the person slowed down before hitting the ground, ' So that's why I didn't go splash.'
Matthew could see in the corner of his eye the portal closing, as he was approaching the person who fell to the ground. In the distance, Matthew could see it was a man and in the place where his right hand was supposed to be, there was a metal thing in its place. And he also had a short barrel shotgun with him.
Matthew didn't care about that and continued to look as the man got up. He too looked around and spotted Matthew, '' ... Who are you? And where are we?''
'' If I say I only know my name, would you believe me?'' Matthew was being sincere.
The man finally noted Matthew's condition, '' What happened to you?'' He specifically pointed to the bandage over Matthew's eyes.
Matthew retributes by pointing at the right 'hand' of the man, '' What happened to you?''
Both men reached a stalemate, not knowing whether to trust the other or not. Matthew had an idea, '' How about this, we say what happened to us at the same time.''
The man thought it was a nice plan, '' Ok. I'll count to 3 and we say it at the same time. 1 ... 2 .... 3.''
''''' My ex-girlfriend turned into a demon and took me eye - hand.'''''
Both Matthew and the unknown man were stunned, '' What the fuck?''
The man now was even more curious about this whole situation, '' What's your name?''
Matthew recovered from the shock and didn't mind giving his name, '' My name is Matthew Willians. And yours?''
The man looked surprised for a second, '' My name is Ashley Joanna Willians. But you can call me Ash.''
Matthew found it weird this Ash had the same surname as him, but he put that on the back of his mind, '' So, I assume a portal also sucked you from where you were and you have no idea where this is, right?''
Ash nodded, '' Yes.''
So, in the next 10 minutes or so, Ash and Matthew explained to each other their entire situation. Their experience was very similar, with just a few different things here and there.
Both of them were about to continue to talk when they heard a familiar screech in the distance. Immediately both took out their weapons to prepare for the Deadite attack.
'' So, this place also has Deadites, huh. I thought I would've been free from them.'' Matthew was tired of facing those demons.
Ash checked his gun and nodded, clearly agreeing with Matthew, '' Yeah, I also don't like them.''
Just then, both could see a group of 10 or so Deadite in the distance. Some of them were even flying.
The duo looked at each other, '' So... you take care of the one flying.''
Ash immediately said, '' No, come on. My gun can't reach that far in the sky.''
'' Dude, I literally can't see with one eye. What'd expect me to do?'' Matthew lifted the bandage so that Ash could see his eye missing.
'' That means nothing!''
They continued bickering until one of the Deadite arrived close to them.
BANG BANG
2 shots coming from different shotguns made the Deadite head go splat.
Ash and Matthew looked pleased with the results. But soon after, they resumed their bickering, as the small group of Deadite continued getting closer and closer.
Matthew finally relented, '' Ok, fine! I'll deal with the one flying, while you deal with the rest on the ground!''
Ash looked pleased, '' Sure! I'll handle the other ... 8? No, wait, let's change!''
Matthew smirked, '' No, no. You can have them.'' He aimed at the sky with his shotgun and fired.
BANG
The shot missed and the Deadite appeared to laugh at Matthew.
''....''
''...''
'' Let's make a deal. You take the one in the sky, while I make up the difference by taking one more than you down here.'' Matthew proposed a deal to Ash.
'' Deal!'' Ash happily accepted.
The duo then started to fight seriously against the Deadites. 10 minutes later, all Deadites were dead.
Matthew thought something was weird, ' Me, Karen, Daniel, Sarah, Sam, and Bruce took a long while to kill 3 Deadite with almost all of us dying and I just killed more than 3 easily... something doesn't add up.'
Ash and Matthew sat down to catch their breath. As soon as they put their butt on top of a Deadite corpse, they heard another sound.
'' Again!? They don't stop coming!'' Ash thought it was another wave of Deadite but when he looked at the sound he was surprised to see 100 men riding horses and looked like medieval people.
Matthew immediately remembers that vivid dream he had while sleeping on Karen's thighs, ' Their clothes look almost the same as me in that dream.'
Ash, on the other hand, was focused on other things, '' Man, I think we are in the past.''
That made Matthew pause, '' Why'd you think so?''
'' We either traveled through time or we are at a dress weird convection. And, from the little I know from the Necronomicon, the book probably can bend time and space.'' Ash made an assumption. He just didn't know he was right on point.
Matthew could only sigh, '' I just want to go home.'' He was tired of fighting Deadites.
The man in horses finally arrived at where Ash and Matthew were. Before the duo could say anything, they found themselves with their hand-tied with a rope.
Both Ash and Matthew tried to ask something but every single one of those men stayed quiet. After a few hours of walking, both could see a castle in the distance.
Ash looked smug, ''Told we are in the past.''
Matthew could only accept that the Necronomicon or some other thing made him travel to the past. He was also thinking, ' How can we go back to our time?'
Well, Matthew and Ash would eventually find their way back to their respectives times, but that is a story for another time.