Requiem for Ash
Chapter IV
Written by Amel J. Figueroa aka The Voice
Okay. Another quick recap. I'm stuck in a utilities closet with my only hope of salvation being a mental patient by the name of Bob. He seems to have the mentality of an 8 year old boy or girl. Haven't thought about it too much.
Let's see. We know the good ole' Doctor played the phonograph therefore unleashing the evil in the insane asylum. Check. More than likely the Necronomicon is here too. Check. Not likely here are my boomstick and chainsaw. That sucks. Check. Let's see on top of all that no Annie or Wise man to recite the passages to send it away. I'm royally fucked.
It's dark in this room but better than being out there with the whole residence turned into deadites. Think Ash, think.
"Are we done playing hide and go seek yet? It's getting near my bed time."
I'm glad I can't see the stupid look on Bob's face. Let's see maybe there is a light switch in here or…
A light comes on in the utility closet. The light blinding Ash momentarily until his vision readjusts. Bob claps with joy. Ash begins to search through the shelves for something helpful. Something to take on deadites.
"Mr. Ass? It's past my bedtime."
"No shit, Bob. No bedtime tonight. We are going to party like you've never partied before."
"I like parties."
"I'm sure you do Bob."
"Ass, what are you looking for?"
"Bob. It's Ash!"
"That's what I said, Ass."
Ash frustrated holds an aerosol can of air freshener. He looks at it carefully, and reads the flammable label. He searches the closet for any type of incendiary to start a flame. No luck. He looks at Bob.
"You wouldn't happen to have any matches on you?" He looks at him with no real seriousness as Bob looks blank at him. "I thought not." Ash continues to look when a lighter flame is lit in front of him.
"Would this work?"
Ash surprised nods his head and breaks a faux smile at Bob.
"How long have you had this?"
"A long time. It's why I'm here."
"Bob, you devil! You telling me you're a pyromaniac?"
"No, I'm Bob. I like fire. And explosives. Mommy and Daddy got hurt one day because of me. I was sent here. Me never make fire again."
Ash thinks briefly. And a plan comes to him.
"Bob, tonight is where you will redeem yourself. I need you to make an explosive to clear the hallway. This way we can make a run for the doctor's office. We are going to get out of here and you no longer have to be a prisoner."
Bob has the same blank look he had moments ago.
"I'm sorry Ass. I was daydreaming."
"Bob! Make an explosive! We throw it out in the hall. Boom. Deadites fall down. We run!"
"Ok."
Bob grabs the aerosol can from Ash's hand and looks around. He grabs a light bulb, a box of tacks, a flashlight with no bulb, and some ammonia. He stops to think and grabs a few other aerosol cans of different things. Ash watches in amusement as if he was watching a genius work. Bob moves with precision.
Noises are heard outside the door, scratching and some banging. None of this disturbs Bob. First he checks the flashlight to make sure the batteries are in place. He removes the top part of the flashlight where the bulb belongs and rips it to expose the wires. He makes sure the switch is off on the flashlight. He removes the batteries, obviously to be on the safe side.
Second he removes the screw thread contact portion of the light bulb leaving the foot contact. He bites bits of the plastic from the exposed wires and twists the copper wiring into the foot contact. Using tape he connects the aerosol cans to the flashlight portion also tightening the bulb to the makeshift device.
Ash just stares in awe. Not wanting to say anything to disturb the man-boy. The banging had ceased and Bob continues to work. Tearing a sleeve from his shirt he drenches it in the ammonia and wraps it around the device. He puts the batteries back in and holds it up with the pride of a child holding up his Lego© masterpiece.
Ash replies the only way he knows how.
"Groovy."
He looks at Ash with a smile that would seem frightening to anyone else.
"Alright, Bob. This looks like it will work. We have a whole bunch of deadites out there. I will open the door and knock whichever ones are near and you throw the device out there. Hopefully it will at least knock them off their feet enough for us to run. So on three I will open the door and you throw it to the majority of them."
Ash grabs the door knob and unlocks it. He looks at Bob who is holding the device with his thumb on the flashlight switch. Ash opens the door and begins to hit the deadites with his fist. He feels himself being outside the door for a while before he realizes that Bob is still in the closet.
He sees a deadite approaching the closet, grabbing it by the hair and striking it in the throat with his stub. He fights his way back in to the closet and closes the door and locks it once again.
Gasping for air… "Bob…What part of the plan did you not understand?"
Bob looks at him with watery eyes.
"Bob don't want to hurt anyone."
He looks at Ash and Ash looks at him in disbelief.
"You got to be kidding me. We are dealing with a horde of demons out there not the Boy Scouts or your parents. These guys want to eat your soul Bob!"
"My soul?"
"Yes, Bob, your soul, the only thing that makes you, you. Do you want them to take that away from you?"
"No…"
"Well then, the plan is this. I open the door and you toss the device to the biggest crowd of them. Then we run. You got that? Do you understand me?"
Bob nods. Ash looks at him and opens the door. He punches and kicks and finally sees Bob coming out the door. Hitting the switch and tossing the gadget in the air, the bulb explodes in mid air catching the sleeve that was drenched in ammonia on fire. Ash begins to run back to the closet grabbing Bob and running down the hall away from the deadites and away from the bomb. The mechanism explodes catching the majority of the deadites in its wake and tossing the rest to the ground.
Bob, dragged by Ash, claps like the child he is. He turns the corner and begins to head towards the Dr. Stein's office. In pursuit is the evil within the walls, tossing benches out of its paths and closing open doors. Ash screams and pushes ever so harder to get to that office. The office that unbeknownst to him has his mighty chainsaw and a few other good surprises. But nothing is ever easy.
The evil moves on the ceiling and twists and turns down the corridor. Ash finds himself almost near the office when the doctor appears in front of Ash and smacks him. Bob falls backwards not realizing what just happened. The Doctor picks Ash up and tosses him to a wall.
The Doctor moves in and grabs Ash once more. Suddenly Bob pounces on the doctor's back forcing the doctor to throw Ash through the dry wall of his office. Bob hits on the doctor but is then thrown to the ground. Bob tries to kick the doctor off of him to no luck. The doctor picks up Bob by his neck.
"Join us!"
Bob struggles trying his best to remove the grip on his neck. He feels himself losing consciousness. He hears a sound but it is faint because he is blacking out, the sound, now a roar is heard and suddenly kicking the doctor's office door down, Ash emerges.
"Hey, doc! Therapy is in session. And I charge an arm and a leg per hour."
Ash, dusty from the dry wall and scratched and scraped vents with his Chainsaw in hand.
"You will die!"
Ash smirks.
"Come on then, Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Ash has the cure."
Dr. Stein, the Yale alumnus, drops Bob and quickly approaches Ash. He swings his chainsaw at the doctor who flies back barely grazed by it. Ash moves in and kicks the doctor and swipes at the deadite with his chainsaw tearing into its flesh. Inhuman screams are heard as Ash gets blood on himself. And then the arm of the doctor drops. With his other arm he grabs Ash by the neck and tosses him down. Bob is nowhere in sight but no one has managed to realize in all the confusion. Ash stands back up to find the doctor approaching him. His arm that had dropped grabs Ash by the leg while the doctor tries to bite Ash.
"Oh man, do you need a breath mint."
Dr. Stein roars in Ash's face spitting green spatter in the process. The doctor continues to try and bite Ash when suddenly it screams in agony, dropping him to the floor. Ash clears his throat and grabs his neck. He looks up to find the ritual dagger in the doctor spewing blood from its bone-like mouth. And Bob standing over the doctor like a man possessed.
Bob approaches Ash and gives him a hand up. They both stare at Dr. Stein's body as it begins to melt where it lies, cursing Ash in the process.
"You okay, Bob?"
"You know what the worst part about this place is? That they make you believe you are crazy."
Bob sounds awakened and coherent. They continue to look at the doctor's melting body. And Ash looks at Bob. Bob looks at Ash.
"I'm a pyro not a psycho."
Ash releases a smile and begins to laugh.
"You on the other hand, Ash, you might seem like you lost your mind."
Bob looks at Ash who continues to laugh maniacally. And the laughter can be heard all through the asylum and even through the way out where eight abnormally looking figures stand in the way. Their institutions wear reading "criminally insane," and the Necronomicon in their hands.
End Chapter Four.