Author's Note: The final chapter! Thanks to everyone that's read this far. I hope you enjoy the finale! As an additional note, I will be adding a second part to this story at some point in the future as a direct sequel.
After a brief journey, the four friends arrived at Cartman's house. "What we need's in my room. We'll turn those demon-fuckers into swiss cheese!" Cartman confidently decreed. The group made their way up the stairs of his empty, dark house, striding into his room.
"Can't say I'm too impressed," Heidi scoffed, "Your room still looks like a pigsty. Thought you'd clean up for your new girlfriend!"
Cartman smirked. "My room is a 'pigsty' because it keeps people from noticing…this." He then proceeded to open up his closet, pushing away the rows of sporadically coordinated red shirts. Behind the shirts sat a small brass lever. "Stand clear, motherfuckers!" Cartman cried, dramatically slamming down on the lever. The wall opposite his closet began to slide apart, revealing something akin to a "secret stash".
"Holy shit, dude! All those years, I had no idea this was here!" Kenny gasped. A large metal box emerged from the gap in the wall. Cartman then threw open the lid of the box, the group looking on in awe as the container spilled forth a large pile of guns, ammunition, and various other weaponry.
"Eric, are you…on any watchlists, by chance?" Wendy giggled, gently rubbing his shoulders.
"…Yeah, probably," Cartman responded simply, handing out guns to his trusted friends. Heidi received a small 9mm pistol, holding it a tad awkwardly in her hands.
"I don't know the first thing about guns, but, that'll probably be okay, right?" Heidi looked a bit nervous.
"Just make sure you look intimidating and you oughta be good," Cartman calmly reasoned, "Any luck at all, we should be able to handle those fuckers before you need to shoot." He then proceeded to hand Kenny a double-barreled shotgun.
"I've been on the receiving end of these a few times," Kenny remarked, "I'm looking forward to not being the one getting their head blown off for a change…God willing." Cartman chuckled, handing Wendy a sleek AR-15.
"Thanks, handsome," Wendy teased, lovingly kissing Cartman's forehead, "Can't wait to roll some heads." Cartman blushed, then handed each of his friends a small pocket knife, as well as ammo for their respective weapons. The last items that he pulled from the box were two grenades that he quickly handed to Kenny.
"These babies will roll some heads!" Cartman proudly announced. After sealing the box, Cartman's last item was retrieved from the drawer beside his bed, an ornate golden revolver. "'Et in Arcadia ego'… 'Even in Arcadia, there am I'…its time," He muttered to himself. With the group now armed to the teeth, they returned to their cars. They then piled into Wendy's Station Wagon and began their journey to the cult's hideout, Cartman taking the wheel.
The group's journey was mired in tense conversation, each of them trying their best to remain calm. Heidi had returned to her practice of repeating mantras under her breath.
"Everything will be okay, everything will be okay, e-everything will be…" Heidi's eyes were shut, her head slightly titled upward. Upon careful observation, Wendy noticed that the small cuts on her chin were steadily healing.
Kenny and Cartman had been making small talk for some time, Cartman amused at his friend's skillful ability to careen any conversation into a discussion about porn.
"No, Kenny, I have not seen the woman from 'Total Recall' with three tits. Please seek professional help," He sighed, Kenny looking visibly offended by his response.
"You have no idea what you're missing out on dude!" Kenny cried, "That shit literally caused my sexual awakening, it was almost…cosmic."
"…I had absolutely no desire to know that, and my life is now worse for it. I honestly think you might've just given me AIDS," Cartman groaned, hanging his head in an exaggerated manner.
Kenny chuckled, but his laughter was short lived as he turned his attention back to the road.
"Is it just me, or is the sky getting darker?" Kenny questioned, his eyes narrowing forward. This caught the attention of the rest of the group, all of them glancing out their windows. Upon looking, the sight the group beheld reminded Cartman of many of the feverish nightmares from his past. The sun's brilliant light was slowing fading from view, not in the sense that it was setting, but in that it was disappearing from the sky altogether.
Soon, darkness swept across the land, coating everything in great blots of shadow. Cartman hastily switched the high beams on in the car, slicing through the vast blackness around them. Heidi started to panic, dry heaving forcefully and whimpering while tears began to well up. Wendy wrapped her arms around her in a reassuring embrace.
"Heidi, sweetheart, you're one of the bravest people I know. You stood up to a horror that most could only dream of. You. Can. Do. This." Wendy's impassioned words calmed Heidi and lifted her spirits.
"The darkness that swallows the sun…" Kenny muttered, "They're attempting to call forth their 'Master'. We don't have much time!" Cartman reacted to Kenny's words by hammering on the gas, rocketing them up to immense speeds. Soon enough, following Kenny's directions, the four arrived at their grim destination.
"Honestly, I'm a little disappointed. I mean, a fucking McDonald's? Really?" Cartman groaned. Surely enough, the cult had hidden themselves in an abandoned McDonald's, a product of the attempted gentrification from several years ago.
"I always thought people just went here to drink and get their dick sucked," Kenny quipped, "…N-not that I would know, heh."
"Don't get any ideas, Eric," Wendy cautioned, shooting him a stern look. Cartman merely grinned in response.
The anxious group turned on their phone flashlights and began the treacherous search for the Cult's location. Kenny revealed to the group that he had recently acquired a new one, and wore a look of determination on his face.
"My contact informed me that he would mark their secret entrance with a symbol if he found it first," Kenny explained, "Keep your eyes peeled." After a short period of fruitless searching, the group heard a voice calling from the women's bathroom.
"Guys, I found something!" Called the voice, the group rushing into the room. Heidi stood near the back, her flashlight pointed toward the dingy, scum-covered back wall.
"Is…Is this the 'symbol' you were looking for?" Wendy asked, her voice quivering slightly.
"THAT is fucking gnarly," Cartman gasped, his eyes widening as he looked on. Emblazoned upon the wall sat a dark red insignia in a shape that vaguely resembled the letter "B". The rune emanated a heavy, metallic scent and the "paint" had pooled and thickened in several areas throughout the design. "Just who is this contact of yours anyway?"
"Truthfully, I don't know exactly who he is. He seems to know all of us pretty well, though," Kenny muttered, still deep in thought.
"He also seems to be a bit of a fucking psycho, too," Heidi noted, Kenny nodding silently in agreement. The boy then reached forward, pressing his gloved hand against the center of the grisly artwork. Upon making contact, a section of the wall gradually swung open, revealing a stairwell dimly illuminated by candlelight.
Wendy grasped tightly onto Cartman's hand. "Is, um, is it too late to say I'm afraid of the dark?" She nervously quipped.
"No reason to be afraid. I failed my mom when she needed me the most. I won't fail the people I love ever again." Cartman's words carried a seriousness that Wendy had rarely heard from the boy, his eyes focused and determined. With that, the four friends began the treacherous journey down the steps. Cartman felt a similar dread within himself as he did during his nightmares, but maintained a brave face.
After a tense, silent walk, the group emerged from the darkened stairway into a rather large, stone-walled chamber. Great numbers of half-melted candles were affixed to the walls, the scent of burning wax mixing with various other horrid aromas. Aside from the lighting, the chamber lacked any real furniture, save for a hastily cobbled-together stone altar stationed in the back. Most bizarre and grotesque of all, however, was the overwhelming metallic smell that permeated the room.
Upon closer inspection, the group discovered that the floor, as well as the lower sections of the walls, were drenched in deep scarlet blood.
"A…massacre," Kenny whispered, noting several bodies scattered upon the floor, all dressed in full-length black robes. He approached one of the corpses, discovering a deep gash in the victim's throat. Directly next to the wound sat a Cerberus tattoo, characteristic of the Cult of the Third Circle.
"T-T-They're all…d-d-dead…oh my GOD!" Heidi's panic came surging back, causing her to drop to the floor and begin sobbing.
"Just what in the fuck happened here?" Wendy exclaimed, expending all her energy to keep from vomiting. Cartman held her close and tried to shield her eyes.
"W-well… I guess that's means we won't have to fight them now…" Apart from the rest of the group, Kenny didn't seem particularly surprised by this occurrence. He then heard a buzz coming from his phone.
"I couldn't get to them before they completed the ritual. Stabbed me a couple times, can't fight right now. Rest is up to you."
As soon as Kenny finished reading the message, the crude altar at the back of the chamber began to glow a deep red.
"Shit, that can't be good," Cartman declared, "Get your guns ready, assholes!" The group raised their weapons, save for Heidi who had curled up on the floor with her head buried in her hands. Deep from within the ominous light came a primal, blood-curdling roar. The glow began to shine a spectrum of all shades of red as the roar grew louder. The shoddy stones of the altar loudly cracked before crumbling into dust. Just as the bellowing grew too loud to bear, and the light grew blindingly bright, everything went dark. The roaring soon stopped as well, with a ghastly figure emerging from the remains of the altar.
Cartman instantly recognized the demonic force that bore down upon them. The same horrific entity that had stalked his dreams now stood before him in the rotting, decayed flesh.
"Dearest Eric, how long has it been? I've missed you, old friend," The beast intoned, turning its glassy eyes toward the boy.
"Fuck you, I'm not afraid anymore!" Cartman cried, as the group began to unload their ammo directly into the beast's sunken flesh. Unfortunately, the deluge of gunfire appeared to have little effect, as the wounded skin of the creature quickly healed.
"How deeply disappointing that you would treat me this way," The beast calmly spoke, dragging its bloated body toward the group. *CRASH* The creature whipped forth with its tentacle-like arms, slamming into Kenny and Cartman. Kenny reeled back, crashing into the nearby wall. Blood began to pour from a deep gash in his gut courtesy of the blades at the end of the creature's limbs. Cartman collapsed to the ground in turn, a gash of his own opening on his right arm. "Now you will watch as the ones you love are stripped away from you."
The horror extended its mighty, flailing limbs forth, wrapping them around a struggling Wendy and despondent Heidi. Wendy wasted no time producing her concealed pocket knife, stabbing desperately at the beast's arm. The beast responded by tightening its grip around the girls.
"Eric!" Wendy pleaded, gasping for air, "I…l-love…y-" Her weak voice fell silent as she collapsed from the pressure. Heidi, conversely, had fainted as soon as she had been captured, no sound coming from her whatsoever. Cartman began to despair, fully convinced that the end had come. However, a glimpse of something moving behind the beast gave him a spark of hope in the darkness. He now realized that needed desperately to keep the beast's attention.
"Hey, you Goddamn loser!" Cartman roared, "You're only holding those girls cause you're too big a pussy to fight me head on!"
"…How amusing," The beast finally spoke, tossing the girls toward the back of the chamber. It then raised its whip-like arms high into the air, brutally slamming them against Cartman all at once.
"ARGHHH!" Cartman bellowed in agony, the beast's repeated strikes cutting into his arms, legs, and back. The violent whipping deafened his ears as he desperately scrambled to shield his eyes. "I-I-Is that… a-all you g-got?" Cartman weakly exclaimed, his words barely escaping his mouth between sharp, raspy breaths.
"This night, you will join me in the burning pit!" The beast cruelly declared, raising its arm high to deliver a killing strike. Just then, the demon heard a curious noise coming from behind it. The creature grotesquely twisted two of its necks backwards to catch sight of the disturbance.
"Sorry to break it to you, but I'll be joining you instead!" The confident words surged forth from Kenny, who stood tall in spite of his grievous wound. He cast one final glance at his friend. "Cartman, everyone…I'll see you again soon." On those final words, Kenny embraced the rotten flesh of the beast, revealing the pin-less grenades on his belt. The beast's glassy eyes were suddenly filled with pure, primal terror.
After a split second of dead silence, a tremendous explosion rocked the chamber. Cartman looked on in awe as the beast, as well as Kenny himself, erupted into a thick red mist. Upon the tumultuous impact, a large collective of white energy escaped from the room, the beast's captured souls finally freed. The force of the explosion deafened Cartman's ears, and the resulting thick smoke blinded him in turn.
Cartman laid helplessly for what felt like an eternity before finally rising to his feet. He scrambled on his hobbling legs over to where Wendy and Heidi had fallen, pressing his head against their chests, listening intently. Cartman breathed a deep sigh of relief upon hearing their hearts still beating. Despite his numerous wounds, he used his massive strength to scoop the pair into his arms.
"H-Hold on, y-you two. The n-nightmare's…f-finally o-over," He whispered under his breath, lugging the girls up the now pitch-black stairwell. Once he reached the top, he gently placed Wendy and Heidi on the floor, caught a brief glimpse of the sun once again shining in the sky, and slipped into unconsciousness.
When Cartman next awoke, he found himself laying in an unfamiliar white bed, his various wounds wrapped in bandages. He quickly determined that he'd been taken to the hospital, but his friends were nowhere to be seen. After sitting in silence for a brief time, the door to his room creaked open. A short figure donning a black hoodie stepped inside, waving politely. Cartman noticed that the figure had a large hunting knife holstered on his belt.
"Long time no see, Eric," Spoke the figure, his voice strangely familiar, "Just wanted to thank you for dealing with that, 'inconvenience',from earlier. Might call on you fellers again soon…"
"…Butters? That you?" Cartman questioned, the figure silently slipping out of the room with no reply. He had little time to process his confusion when more people suddenly burst into the room.
"Eric, sweetie! Thank God you're okay!" The sweet voice was none other than his mother Liane, who greeted her son with a light embrace, cautious of his numerous bruises. Behind her stood Wendy, Heidi, and Kenny.
"Kenny? Didn't you just explode? How the hell are you back already?" Cartman looked highly perplexed.
"You were out much longer than you realize, dude. It's been like three days," Kenny remarked, shrugging his shoulders.
"I was gonna draw a dick on your face, but your dumb girlfriend wouldn't let me…ugh," Heidi quipped, patting Cartman's hand. Wendy jabbed Heidi playfully on the arm and took her place beside his bed.
"Ooooh… we'd better clear out, kids!" Cartman's mom declared, "Let's not bother the love birds!" Cartman and Wendy blushed bright red as the three guests departed, teasing the pair the whole way out.
"Eric," Wendy began, "What you did was really brave." She smiled warmly at him, but her expression quickly turned serious. "But it was also really stupid! What if you'd been killed? I…I couldn't bear it if I lost you, Eric."
"Wendy, if it meant saving you, I'd gladly do it again," Cartman looked up at her, wiping a lone teardrop from her cheek. "I love you, Wendy."
"I love you too, Eric." Wendy placed her hand on his chest. Cartman pulled her close and the two shared a loving, passionate kiss.
Truthfully, many problems still existed for the pair. Stan and Kyle now hated their guts. Wendy's parents, alongside many others, likely wouldn't approve. The hooded figure's ominous warning still weighed on Cartman's mind.
In that moment, however, with light snow gently falling outside the window, none of those worries mattered. In that moment, the world stopped around them, and the only thing on their minds was the love they shared. In that moment, if only for a brief second, everything was perfect.
End Part One