Chapter 108

Craig woke to a state of semi-consciousness. He was dizzy and for a moment he had no idea where he was. There was a vile smell and the floor he lay on was cold and hard. He lifted his head and felt disorientated. There was pain throughout his body and his head wanted to explode. He focused slightly and saw a nightmarish scene of blood, brains and human parts. It all came back to him and he remembered where he was. He was supposed to help Patrick banish the evil and close the portal to hell. He had to protect his boy from harm. The last thing he remembered was a blow to the head.

Craig heard a repetitive sound and squinted his eyes towards the direction it came from. An image came into view through his blurry vision that froze his heart. Patrick was lying on his back. Someone was sitting on his chest repeatedly beating him in the face. Patrick's face was a red mass of blood as his lifeless head rolled from side to side.

Patrick is dead and that fucking cunt killed him. Craig realised.

Craig gathered his strength and tried to push the throbbing pain in his head aside. He looked around and found a chain lying on the floor. He thought it might have been the same chain he had felt on the back of his head earlier, but how long ago, he did not know. It was long enough to have his son killed. Craig picked up the chain and wrapped it around his right forearm and gripped it tightly. There might be a chance that his son was still alive. Craig stumbled towards the bastard who sat on Patrick's chest. His upper body and face were covered in blood, not his own, but Patrick's.

Victor saw Craig running towards him with the chain dangling from his right hand but he was too late to get away or block.

Craig let the chain fly, hitting Victor in the face and sending him backwards almost instantly. Craig let the chain fly another two times. One time hitting Victor on the back and another in the face. Craig would finish him off later, but first, he had to attend to Patrick. At least Victor was not going anywhere soon. If he was not unconscious, he would be in severe pain that would keep him down long enough for Craig to check on Patrick. Craig dropped the chain and went down on his knees next to Patrick expecting the worst, and praying for the best.

'Please God, let my son be alive,' Craig said. He placed his hand on Patrick's main artery. He bent over and placed his ear close to Patrick's mouth. He felt a little relieved when there was a faint pulse. Patrick's breathing was shallow and uneven, but at least he was breathing and his heart was still pumping. Craig lifted Patrick's upper body from the ground and pulled his boy towards him. Patrick's arms dangled next to his body with his palms facing upwards. Craig held Patrick tight with both arms rocking him slowly as if Patrick was still a baby. He felt a tear rolling down his cheek.

Craig looked up towards the roof of the warehouse. 'Please God, let my sons be okay. Give us strength to end this.' Craig looked down again to where he heard Victor groaning. It was then that he felt a slight movement from Patrick's body. 'Come on son, I'm here with you. Daddy's here.' He looked at Patrick's face. Patrick did not even look like his boy anymore. Both his eyes were almost swollen shut. His nose was skewed, and both lips were busted. His cheekbones and face were a raw bloody mess. Craig felt anger building up as he regarded the coward of a boy lying on the floor groaning. He was the one who introduced himself as Victor, the same boy who had hit him with a bar stool from behind, that night in the pub. He was the same one who had hit Craig with the chain from behind earlier. A fight was only fair when there were no weapons. If one party lost the fight, the other party had to respect that and walk away, but not Victor. He knew Patrick was unconscious and still, he kept on beating him repeatedly. Craig realised that Patrick would have been killed by him if he had not regained consciousness from the blow to the head earlier.

Patrick lifted his arm and touched Craig's shoulder. Craig looked down and saw how Patrick was looking back at him through partly open eyes. 'Go check on Andrew,' Patrick croaked.

'I can't leave you like this son,' Craig said.

'I'm okay dad trust me. Andrew needs us now more than ever. Go help him. I need to close this portal,' Patrick said. Craig could see that Patrick's strength was slowly returning. Patrick pushed Craig away from him and turned to his side to get up. Craig got to his feet and helped him up.

'Go dad. Go now,' Patrick said swinging on his legs. He looked at Victor lying on the floor groaning. He remembered what had happened. If it wasn't for Craig, he would have been dead by now. His face was a big ache that made the ache in his kidney and hand seemed like minor wounds. Patrick saw a meat cleaver lying on the ground close to him. He bent down and picked it up with his right hand. He came up slowly fully aware of the pain throbbing on his face.

'Son, let me just finish him off for you before I go,' Craig said indicating towards Victor that was starting to move.

'This is my fight. Now go,' Patrick said spitting blood from his mouth.

Craig grabbed the chain, looked at Patrick one more time and started running for the door.

'So, it's you and me again hey Vic, just the way you wanted,' Patrick said walking towards Victor. Victor was busy crawling on his stomach as he pulled himself with his hands. 'Maybe you can help me with this portal, what do you say?'

Victor did not answer. Instead, he tried to get away from Patrick by pulling himself faster onto the floor.

'Not so fast there my friend,' Patrick said leaping forward and kicking Victor hard in the ribs. Victor coiled up with pain. Patrick gave him another kick in the stomach and again Victor recoiled lying on his side holding his stomach with his left hand. Patrick noticed Victor's right arm stretched out over the floor and he seized the opportunity. He stepped on it with his left shoe and swapped the meat cleaver from his right to his left hand. It burned like hot coal from the cut on his palm, but he needed to use his strong hand for this task. Victor tried to push Patrick away from his arm but Patrick had the advantage of his body weight. Patrick squatted and brought the meat cleaver down on Victor's right wrist. Victor roared with agony. Patrick had to bring it down a second time to separate Victor's hand from the rest of his arm. 'You never used them for any good anyway,' Patrick said. He stepped back from Victor and noticed the blood squirting from Victor's boney stump. Victor continued to scream while holding onto his stump with his remaining hand.

Patrick scanned the floor and spotted the staff which had been kicked away earlier by Victor. He walked towards it and picked it up. He made sure he secured it properly by sticking it deep into the front of his jeans and headed back to Victor screaming on the floor.

'Time to go, Vicky,' Patrick said. He grabbed Victor by the collar of his jacket and started dragging him towards the portal.