THE DEAD GAME -- DAY 168

What is now waiting for them in the basement of End House?

     The group slowly descended the narrow staircase, down to the basement of End House—definitely the last place that any of them ever wanted to visit again. The basement was cold and drafty. The one light bulb seemed to be broken. They were forced to climb down the long flight of slippery stairs in darkness.

     At the bottom they were faced with Father John—or a facsimile of Father John with glowing green eyes. He was elevated a few feet off the floor, floating in space over a huge roaring fire dug deep into the ground.

     Linda asked him, “Why are you here, Father John? It’s not safe to be here. It would be much safer for you at the church.”

     Great question, thought Mike, his temper fraying to its bitter end. He was astonished at how stupid humans could be.

     Father John lifted up his right arm and began to throw one flaming ball of fire after another in their direction. The balls never hit them, since Todd had simultaneously lifted up his owns arms to block the fiery barrage. The red-hot balls were left suspended in air between them and the priest.

     His arms fully extended out in front of him, desperately holding the balls in place, Todd yelled out, “I can’t hold off these things forever! I need help quickly! Like right now!”

      Sam ran behind the priest and placed his palms on either side of the Father’s temples and closed his own eyes.   

     The priest slowly lowered his arms and the extinguished fire balls began to drop—one by one—in slow motion to the floor. Father John followed soon after: falling unconscious to the ground where the fire had been raging just moments before.

     “Where did Father John get the power to control fire? I had thought he was human and a good man,” Linda said. “No brains” constantly had to have things explained to her. Couldn’t these people ever think for themselves? That’s why we’re always getting into trouble.

     “The Father is still good, but he’s being controlled: he’s being used as a vessel. He doesn’t even understand what’s going on,” Todd said. “Look! He’s waking up! Let’s see if he remembers anything!”

     Father John stood up and groggily looked around. He asked, “What am I doing here? The last place I remember being was at church. How did I get here? Did I hurt someone?”

     No, Father, we just had a party and you were the clown.

    While Todd helped him to his feet, he explained to the priest that he had been used as a vessel of The Dead to frighten them away but luckily, no one had been hurt. The Father couldn’t recall anything that had happened to him; the last thing he remembered was being alone in the church.

     “What should I do now? I could join you in battle against the evil vampires.”

     “Father John, the best thing for you to do would be to return to the church and pray for all the lost souls down here and all the innocent souls who’ve gotten themselves unwittingly involved in this crazy situation,” David said.

     The priest told everyone how sorry he was for trying to hurt them, and then hurried back to church.

     All that praying is certainly going to help us in this situation,

Maybe Todd and Sam will be more practical than his silly friends and be able to wipe out The Dead—before anyone else gets hurt or killed.