ending to Bearing The Burden part two

Chapter Seven: Unremitting Sorrow
         Dustin was drug back into the devil’s grasp.
         “YOU CAN’T ESAPE ME YOU FOOL” the devil growled. Several demons swarmed towards Dustin, taking his swords and wrapping him in chains. The demons were rejoicing, stabbing him with their swords and drinking his blood. Past enemies who Dustin had killed joined in the festivities, beating him and spitting in his wounds. After a while of this, Dustin was dragged towards the devil’s throne.
         The devil grinned, milking the sight of one of his greatest annoyances being reduced to a bloody blob of flesh.
         “YOU HAVE BEEN A THORN IN MY SIDE FOR ONLY A FEW DAYS, BUT IN THOSE FEW DAYS YOU HAVE PROVED YOURSELF WORTHY OF MY WRATH. AS PUNISHMENT, I SENTENCE YOU TO ONE THOUSAND LASHES WITH A CAT O’ NINE TAILS, FOLLOWED WITH BEING HEALED, THEN BEING SKINNED ALIVE, THEN BEING HEALED, THEN ONE THOUSAND MORE LASHES, AND SO ON THROUGHOUT ETERNITY” the devil yelled, making no effort to be modest with the sense of victory everyone in hell felt. Dustin closed his eyes as he was drug along the ground to where the lashings would begin. This seemed so familiar…

         Drake was giving another speech about how war was Christian’s faults and how they needed to be hunted down and killed. There was still such a thing as free speech in this country, so Dustin decided to exercise it. Drake was supposed to give another speech in Bereavement tomorrow, and Dustin intended to be there. He could afford bus fare and had permission from his grandparents to attend the speech. Dustin had said it was a concert he was attending, which there was one, but he was making a side trip…

         He arrived at the place he was going to be whipped, and his coat and shirt were ripped to expose his skin. A demon readied the cat o’ nine tails.

         Dustin stepped off of the bus, bible in his hand disguised as one of Drake’s books about, what else, exactly what he was talking about tonight. The stadium was filling up, and Dustin made sure to get a front seat…

         The demon raised the cat o’ nine tails behind it’s head, only for the devil to take it from its hand, raising it instead over his head.
         
         “The very ones who have been preaching peace are the ones that are causing these wars. Have you forgotten the assassination of President Thompson ten years ago? The destruction of the Smithsonian Institution? They have been trying to destroy this country. Will you let them succeed?” Drake yelled, getting the response he wanted. Dustin stood up as the cheering died down…

         Dustin yelled in agony as the cat o’ nine tails dug into his skin, and then violently left, taking part of his skin with it.

         “It was never proven who committed those acts of terror, how can you be so sure that it was Christians who did it?” Dustin yelled from his seat.
         “We captured one of their leaders, Ryan Clarke. He has admitted to being involved in the attacks” Drake retorted.
         “According to the reports from his psychological examination, he was also found to be legally crazy, how can you be sure that what he said wasn’t merely a fabrication from his own reality?” Dustin replied. Drake was silent. Then the fake cover fell from Dustin’s book…
         “I hate life” Dustin said silently.
         
         The cat o’ nine tails came crashing down again, taking a bigger chunk from Dustin’s back. Dustin screamed in agony, clawing at the chains on his wrists. The devil laughed.
         “Is that one or two? I lost count, guess we start back at one”

         Dustin was drug into towns square, his family already there…

         Other demons were joining in now, and Dustin was constantly yelling in pain, stopping only to breathe.

         Soldiers held his eyes open as his dad’s friend, Matthew Reid , laughed, holding a lever…

         The unfortunate residents of hell looked on, some spitting at him, others merely looking on, continuing in their undying torture…
         
         A shimmer of light flashed, and Dustin’s mother’s head fell into the basket underneath…

         Dustin yelled again, no longer in hell, but back in town’s square…

         His father looked towards the crowd, strong and proud. A shimmer of light…

         “Father!!!” Dustin yelled, the devil laughing.
         “Oops, lost count again”
         
         His grandmother looked into his eyes, forgiving of the lie he told. Another shimmer of light…

         Tears formed in his eyes, but were soon evaporated.

         His little sister Rachel, only four years old, was crying… screaming for her mommy. Another shimmer of light…

         Dustin stopped yelling, his body going numb. His eyes beginning to glow white like before.

         His grandfather began quoting a scripture, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of…” a shimmer of light…

         Dustin could feel only his heartbeat and the strain on the chains as he spread his arms out…

         His sister Megan looked into his eyes, tears rolling down her face. She mouthed the words, “I love you,” and then came the shimmer of light.

         The chains gave way, and Dustin yelled in a fury that scared every demon in hell.

         His soul broken, he starred at the ground, until the soldiers made him look into the crowd. The hatred in their eyes, but wait… someone looked concerned. Who was this? Then came the butt of the gun crashing into the back of his head.

         He turned and punched the devil in the face, a holy flame surrounding his fist. The devil flew into a group of rocks, the force of the collision causing them to crumble.

         Dustin woke up in an alley, soldiers in the process of beating him.
         “Welcome to your new home, leave and we’ll kill you” one of them yelled into his face.

         Dustin picked up his swords, the flame traversing from his hand to the blades. The devil flying at him again.

         The soldiers left, and shortly after. Years passed, the process was repeated everyday, but one day after the soldiers left, the manhole in the center of the alley started to slide open…

         Dustin’s feet slowly lifted from the ground, his hair beginning to stand on end. He shot like a bullet towards the devil, a sword in each hand, yelling with the fury of 10,000 volcanoes.

         A man’s head poked through the manhole, looked around, and spotted Dustin.
         “You the kid from the news?” he asked. Dustin stared at him, wondering if he was here to hurt him too. The man started crawling out of the manhole…

         The devil’s claws collided into Dustin’s swords, sparks flying, electricity crackling in the air. The devil stared into Dustin’s glowing eyes. Those eyes… they looked like…no, it couldn’t be. His eyes looked just like that of Jesus when he rose from the dead…

         The man picked him up, being careful not to aggravate his wounds.
         “Name’s Justin, let’s get you cleaned up” he said, making his way back to the manhole…
         The devil’s claws broke, Dustin’s swords slicing deep into his arms. The devil screamed in pain. Dustin’s hair was standing straight up, electricity crackling around him.
         “WHAT ARE YOU?” the devil screamed.
         “I AM A DEMON HUNTER” Dustin yelled and the blades severed the devil’s arms from his body. The devil fell to the ground, rolling in the dirt from the pain. Dustin looked at the demons who were rejoicing and torturing him earlier, they fled. Dustin floated over to the doors again, slowly, daring anyone to stop him. Dustin didn’t open the doors to his freedom, he ripped them off of their hinges, slinging them into the rock wall next to him. The members of RAGE still waiting on him. Dustin stepped through the doors, and his hair fell back down, his eyes now blue. Justin caught him as he began to fall, and passed out.
         “Good lord, look at his back” Shaun said as Whitney started treating his wounds.
         “What happened to him?” David said, looking at the beaten body that Whitney was healing.
         “And why was his hair standing up like that, and his eyes were white again?” Adam added. They got an order to bring him back to heaven, and so they went, bringing Justin with them.

                                       Chapter Eight: The Omen
         The gang soared into heaven, appearing outside the gates and laying Dustin down before Jesus. Jesus waved his hand and Dustin looked as he did before, his clothes no longer tattered and his body no longer useless. Dustin got up, slowly, and looked around him like a scared animal.
         “It’s okay, you aren’t in hell anymore” Jesus said, helping him up.
         “Where’s Raven?” Dustin said, searching for her. Jesus smiled and opened the clouds beneath them, revealing the old RAGE base where they met. Dustin sighed with relief, then looked at Jesus.
         “What happened back there, did I go super Christian or something?” Dustin asked, looking at his once flame encased hands. He could remember the power he felt flowing through his being, and the intense anger he felt.
         “Well, you see, you’ve got a gift that is directly linked to your righteous fury. The instant you got saved, you received this gift. That feeling you got wasn’t just your soul being mended, it was this being planted into your heart. Depending on how much righteous fury you feel, your body will do things like that. If you got any angrier, you would have been able to use the fire in your hands as a projectile. Angrier than that and you could shoot a continuous stream of it, and eventually you would be completely incased in it, invulnerable to anything evil. It activates in two scenarios, and that is if you are close to death, and if someone else’s life is in danger. After it’s your time and you join your family in heaven, you can use it at will” Jesus said. Dustin never stopped looking at his hands.
         “Will Michael have to fight me at full strength now?” Dustin asked, a grin slowly forming across his face. Jesus nodded. Dustin looked around him for a brief moment. He had friends now. Although the RAGE members weren’t exactly close to him before, they were now friends, and the closest things he had to equals as far as fighting went. Only three people had the honor of claiming superiority over him: Michael, Justin, and Jesus.
         “Well, as fun as almost dying three times in the past couple of hours has been, I think I’ll be on my way. Anymore life threatening missions for me before I go?” Dustin asked, turning to leave.
         “Well… yeah, but it can wait for now” Jesus said, his eyes glowing. Dustin put up his hand, causing Jesus’ eyes to stop glowing. Give me a minute to enjoy the free fall before you send me back” Dustin asked, and then he disappeared beneath the clouds, head aimed at the ground millions of miles below. Alternate dimension, technically there’s nothing below me, but in a few seconds I’ll be safely on the ground back on Earth, Dustin thought to himself as he fell. He was right, as he normally was. He landed right outside of the RAGE base, so close to Raven he could taste it. He ran inside, running through the halls, searching for her. She was in his room, lying in his bed. He sat in a chair nearby and watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful, lying there. Dustin hadn’t slept in peace in years. He awoke at the slightest noise, because noise was caused by something, and something could very well be trying to kill him. He silently placed the chair in front of her bed, incase something decided to pull another kidnapping stunt, and he leaned back in his chair and rested, until she woke up at least.
         A few hours later, after resting, he was awoken to find Raven standing in front of him, smiling, with a tear in her eye. Dustin shot out of his chair and embraced her, holding her as if he just went to hell and back for her to be with him.
         “Where was I?” Raven asked.
         “That’s not important, right now, you’re safe, and nothings going to take that away” Dustin replied, tears forming in his eyes. Raven nodded, her face sinking into Dustin’s chest. The two were finally reunited, this time for good. After a while of holding this picturesque pose, Raven’s curiosity couldn’t be contained any longer.
         “So what happened to me, and what happened to you? You act like you just got back from hell” she said, staring into his blue eyes.
         “Well, it’s a long story, I’ll tell you the long version later, when I can put more time between me and it, but the short of it, is you were captured, and my guess, killed by some demons while I was fighting Frank. An angel managed to get most of your soul back from them, but the demons managed to get away with the most important part of it, and naturally took it to hell” Dustin started. Raven laughed in her head about the irony of her “back from hell” statement, until she realized what exactly Dustin went through for him to have that embrace. All Raven remembered was being attacked by demons, and then waking up in Dustin’s room.
         “so I had to go to Frank’s palace, where I almost died fighting an unlimited amount of demons, was saved by our ex-RAGE friends, advanced into this weird hallway where I fought an evil version of myself and almost died again, discovered I have some weird, anger related power, then I made it to the gates of hell. I ran into my old master, Justin Sink, he’d gotten saved, which is great because we had to fight the devil after getting you back, he got away, I was pulled back in, and I was to be tortured for eternity, being healed after each method because if I died I would just go to heaven. But that anger related power kicked in again and I escaped hell, passed out, woke up in heaven, and then I came here to find you” Dustin finished.
         “Wow” Raven said, her vocabulary limited after hearing all he went through.
         “I’d do it all over again to save you though” Dustin said. Raven smiled, realizing that someone on earth actually cared for her that much. Dustin turned on a TV, hoping to see himself on the news again. He was in luck, as a picture of his face was being broadcasted on CNN at this very moment.
         “Life may get a little complicated” Dustin sighed, peaking out of the window nearby. Just as he thought, O.N.E. soldiers were marching this way.
         “Crap” Dustin said, grabbing his swords and gathering Raven’s guns.
         “What’s wrong?” Raven said, peaking out the window. It answered her question, and she helped get together her guns.
         “Think we could take them?” Raven asked, holstering a handgun.
         “Definitely, why do you think I’m just gathering guns and not clothes?” Dustin replied with a grin. Raven grinned too, grabbing the gun’s Dustin had collected and placed them in the appropriate holster. They were now armed to the teeth, and intended to fight their way through their ranks, to their freedom. They walked out of the front door, Dustin pressing a button on a remote causing music to start playing. Demon Hunter’s song, “Beheaded” began playing over the intercom system, filling the air with an ominous sound. The soldiers never knew what hit them…

                                       Te Hunt Continues in…
         Bearing the Burden Part Three: The Apocalypse This Way Comes