Blackthorne Episode 144

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Blackthorne

Cinemagenic  144

Demon

“If I get rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.”

--Tennessee Williams.

1(medium close-up) Buck tossed a sizzling short-

fused bundle of dynamite down the stairs.

2(cut to shot) of the dynamite bouncing and 

rolling down the stairs, and landing at Cash

Bronson’s feet.

Buck heard heavy boots scurrying like rodents,

and Bronson swearing. Ten bullets tore up the 

edge of the wall that Buck was pressed against.

Then a humongous explosion happened, and the

roof caved in. Banisters became toothpicks, and

everything suddenly was acrid smoke and rubble.

3(cut to exterior) as the ranch house exploded, and

a two hundred foot fireball demon rose up through

the white smoke, a writhing, undulating, angry demon

from hell. Then the air was full of sticks and stones.

4(cut to) a murder of crows fleeing their tree, making 

the dark sky come alive with their swarming.

5(sound cue) saxophone, coronet and bass drum.

6(cut to) the explosion flattened Buck. He lie there

catching his breath, rubbing his eyes, and

marveling at the cathedral bells clanging in his head,

as the shock wave snarled its way across the front 

lawn and raced for the dark timber behind another

fire demon devouring the outbuildings.

  Pieces of ceiling were still falling, as Buck under

the cover of stygian black smoke, pushed his way

back into Thor’s room. He logged at a glance that

a lamp still burned brightly perched on a round low

table, that Thor’s bed was made, that a large well-

framed picture of Salina, its glass covering splintered,

lie in the middle of the bed with blood splattered all

over it, and that a large window at the east end of

the room was half open.

   Buck scattered the glass shards on the picture

frame, cutting his hand. Shaking the frame free of

the glass slivers, he snatched out the sepia-toned

photograph. Salina was wearing a big hat and a

fancy dress, with a low bodice allowing a lusty

set of cleavage to be exhibited. She was smiling,

and looked happy, care-free. A jealous image

seared into Buck’s mind like a branding iron, with

Thor holding Salina, both of them naked, then only

Thor naked, his eyes bleeding, his mutilated hands

crossed in front of the bullet-riddled hole where

once his genitals had been.   

  Buck tucked the photograph inside his shirt and 

rushed to the open window. He heard thudding 

boots clumping up the remains of the stairs. He

shoved the shutters all the way open, banging

them on the side of the house. He poked his

shaggy head out into the crisp night air. The sky

was choked with stars. It was a fifteen foot drop

to the ground below. 

7(cut to exterior) as Buck swung one leg out, and

shifted his weight. Someone darted past the door-

way, and a shotgun went off. The window over 

Buck’s head exploded, and moon-glowing glass

took flight into the gritty darkness. The Thunderer

barked twice, and the lead chewed through the 

wall where the shooter was hiding, and the

projectile found flesh. Someone outside fired at

the window just as Buck dropped out of it.

Glenn Buttkus 

Posted over at d'Verse Poet's Pub OLN