Chapter 11, everybody! Read and review at your own leisure!
chyp: Thanx!
"Is this it?" Wesley asked.
"Austin Gilkeson," Matthew read. "Yeah, this is it. You ready?"
"Never," Wesley answered, "but let's get this over with."
Wesley cracked the door open and stuck a hand in, flicking it. Everything inside the room froze in motion, but when he and Matthew walked in, there was no one inside. There was definite evidence of a struggle, though. They saw the broken desk and knew at once that their brother had been here. But how long ago? They both searched for anything that could help them along the way.
"Try touching stuff and getting a premonition," Wesley said to Matthew. "Maybe this time you'll be on point."
"Good idea," Matthew said. "Meanwhile, you keep looking. And try to find a spot in the wall where you can walk through."
"What?" Wesley asked. "You want me to…fine."
Wesley tiptoed around the office, hesitantly pressing against random spots in the walls, looking for magical openings but secretly hoping that there weren't any. He breathed a small sigh of relief every time he was met with nothing, but that feeling only lasted a short while as he believed that it only doubled the chances that the next spot would be the one.
Meanwhile, Matthew was walking around the room, picking up anything and hoping to get a premonition from it. Anything he touched, though, either gave him nothing, or the exact same premonition that he had received before: the one where James walks into the house and waves his hand after his eyes flash. He shook his head in frustration as he tried to will that particular thought out of his head, but each time he saw it, it seemed to become stronger and stronger.
"You got anything yet?" Matthew asked.
"Nope," Wesley answered. "What are you getting? I hear you gasping every ten seconds."
"The same premonition I had before," Matthew said, "where Jimmy walks in and waves his hand."
"Maybe your power is broken," Wesley suggested. "I mean, I'm pretty sure that we can remember that. It doesn't have to keep coming back."
"Unless," Matthew said, sitting in one of the chairs that had managed to stay intact, "it's a sign."
"A sign?" Wesley asked, confused.
"Yeah," Matthew said as his hypothesis became clearer. "Maybe that one premonition was a sign of what could happen! Most of the ones I've gotten were visions of the future."
"Well duh," Wesley said. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"It means, jackass," Matthew explained, "that since they're visions of the future, we have a chance to change them in the present. Why didn't I think of this before?"
"I don't know," Wesley said, "but now we need to figure out how we're supposed to stop it. I guess the fact that you keep getting the same premonition means that we're red hot."
"Right," Matthew agreed. "We're on the one yard line. Let's keep looking."
James found himself in a small elevator-like area. Before he could make sense of anything, the room suddenly dropped at an amazing speed, catching James by surprise. It stopped abruptly, throwing James to the ground, and doors opened from out of nowhere, revealing a dimly-lit chamber. He slowly walked around, trying to stay hidden.
It wasn't very long before he came upon something that startled him. He saw a group of about fifteen people standing in front of a large, crackling red fire. There was something about the group, though. They looked somewhat familiar to James, but why? Then it finally hit him; they were students in Dr. Gilkeson's class! But they weren't moving. They were only standing there as if they were robots with depleted batteries. He moved in a little closer, making sure to stay hidden. As he moved closer, he could make out an all too familiar voice.
"Welcome, my newest group of students," the voice called out, "to your new lives. You've all been chosen to become the next group of elite demons under my command…"
James' mouth dropped in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. But it all made sense now. Adam's story about how students were acting strange after some incident. Something about Dr. Gilkeson that wasn't quite right. It all began to fit together into the scheme that he was hearing. Dr. Gilkeson was recruiting college students to become demons for him! He leaned in a little closer."
"…and together we shall unite and destroy all humanity!" Dr. Gilkeson continued. "But first, we must destroy yours. Line up, now, and walk through the fire to burn off all the humanity inside you. What remains of you will prove to be much more valuable than you ever believed as your deepest, darkest desires come to life!"
James watched as the students quietly lined up, not saying a word. They seemed to be in a zombie-like state, like they were under some sort of spell. After they slowly lined up, they began to march forward toward the fire without hesitation, as if they were moving against their will. The first student (James only knew him by his name, Robert Martin) passed through the fire. The flames consumed him completely, turning a bright white as a wispy silver-colored smoke rose from it. Dr. Gilkeson reached out his hand and the smoke redirected itself towards him. He absorbed the smoke into his own body as his eyes dilated as he did so. Then the flames turned black and Robert emerged, looking unharmed, but somehow looking "darker." After the process repeated fourteen more times, Dr. Gilkeson ushered them back to their original spots, looking as pleased as ever.
"Congratulations," he said, "you have passed the first step of the de-humanizing process. Of course, there will be some residual humanity that the Demonic Flame cannot destroy. That, my future demons, is your next step. Your next mission is to go out into the world and commit a crime. As the de-humanizing is a meticulously slow procedure, we must start slowly and work our way up to bigger and better things.
"Having successfully passed through the Demonic Flame, you have rid yourself of a conscience. As you progress, you will develop more and thus acquire demonic powers. Eventually, you will work your way up to killing innocents. Then, and only then, will you become a full-fledged demon."
"Yes," all fifteen students responded in unison.
"I almost forgot," Dr. Gilkeson said. "As a special treat for you today, we have a practice dummy for you to use. Mr. Armstrong, come on out!"