Sanctuary by Joshua Ingle Page A

whispered to each other, their voices like an ocean of leaves quivering in a cold wind. “Who is this measly Judge?” they were saying. “We have the numbers. There’s only one of him. No one will ever know…”
    How can he be so foolish? Thorn remained as still as stone, lest the demons remember their primary prey.
    “I said…” the Judge yelled again, but he stopped when he saw the immense army haltingly drifting toward him. All anger drained from his face, and he cringed gawkily. “… Just kidding?”
    Thorn nodded across the way at the peculiar Judge with whom he’d reluctantly shared power during these past few decades. Thorn didn’t need to say anything—the unspoken words were clear. We’ll only make it through this together.
    From behind dark sunglasses, the Judge gritted his teeth and gave Thorn a curt, affirmative nod.
    In one swift motion, Thorn hefted Crystal into Virgil’s arms and ran.
    She gasped a little, but she didn’t scream or yell out. Thorn kept his gait as quiet as possible as he closed the distance between himself and Heather’s car under the portico: sixty feet, fifty feet, forty feet… He could hear the army stirring above him.
    Just thirty feet from the car, pain ripped through his side, and he stumbled. Crystal fell out of his arms and a disgusting bloody gash opened in Virgil’s knee as it impacted the asphalt. “Get to the car!” he yelled. Crystal looked up at the sky, then at the revitalized wind jerking nearby tree branches back and forth. Without even looking at Virgil, she scrambled to her feet and bolted toward the car.
    Another attacker swooped toward Thorn. He tried to roll out of the way, but pain again bit through him, and he momentarily lost control of Virgil’s body. Virgil’s head dropped a foot and scraped roughly against the ground. Thorn quickly regained dominion over the cadaver, but now several dozen demons were speeding toward him. He stood and ran after Crystal.
    He swatted away one demon, but just feet from the car, the rest caught up with him. He wailed in agony as they bludgeoned him, bit him, tried to rip off his arms and legs and head, but he kept fighting his way through the demonic foliage, his pace slowed from a run to a burdensome march. He summoned the last of his strength, flung three demons off of him, grabbed the handle of one of the car’s back doors, jerked it open, leaped inside, then slammed it shut again.
    Thorn—and Virgil—collapsed. Intense pain wrapped around him like a shroud. He moaned against it, clenching Virgil’s jaw and wincing at every small movement of his spirit body. Demons flailed against the car’s windows, trying to get inside.
    “I can’t do that again,” Thorn said to Crystal, who sat in the driver’s seat. Her hair was a tangled mess after the windstorm outside.
    “What about Cole?”
    Thorn groaned as he sat up and looked out the car’s rear window. Cole lay prone on the pavement fifty feet behind the car, trying to recover from what must have been a trip-and-fall.
    “Cole, wait there!” Marcus yelled, using Heather’s voice. He came into view a short distance away, staggering toward Cole as fast as Heather’s broken leg would carry him. “I’ll come help you.”
    “Heather?” Rising to his feet, Cole seemed rightly confused. Hundreds of demons swept toward him.
    Crystal jammed down on the car’s horn, sending a piercing honk through the night air. The noise startled Cole and he dropped his cane. Crystal rolled down her window just a sliver. “Cole, run! She’s gonna kill you! Get in the car!” She honked again, then jammed the key into the ignition and started the engine. Cole walked briskly forward.
    Marcus started to sprint, causing Heather’s leg to wobble and the bone to jut out dangerously. Cole bumped into the car’s trunk.
    “This way!” Thorn said loudly as he banged on the windows. “Around this way!” Cole felt his way around to the passenger door, opened it, and entered. He