Chapter 12: The Final Ritual

James reached the point in the ritual where it was time to carve the twenty-second rune. James ripped Patty Stiller’s robe open and began to carve the rune.

Patty awoke to feel the pain of the knife cutting into her tender flesh. Patty was too terrified to scream; instead she lost control of her bowels. She watched as her captor pulled the white robe open further and exposed her lower abdomen.

James pushed the dagger deep into the struggling girls stomach and then pulled the dagger across the abdomen. The gash allowed pieces of the upper and lower intestines, as well as pieces of the stomach and other vital organs, to spill out and slide down her legs to the ground. Patty’s body shuddered at the pain. The first victim was dead.

At the same time two police cars were fast approaching the area.

James approached the point in the ceremony where it was time to sacrifice the second victim. He tore the robe open and revealed Marci Sorenson’s chest. James carved the twenty-third rune.

Marci jerked awake as the point of the dagger finished carving the rune. She looked down and saw her blood flowing out of the carving on her chest. She saw her captor with a very long dagger. She looked around and saw one of the other girls slumped over with her insides hanging out of her body. She let go of her bowels and fainted.

James continued the ritual, stabbing Marci in the lower abdomen and opening up a wide gash. He watched as her insides spilled out. Marci died with a spurt of blood and a jerk. Her lifeless body slumped as James carried on with the ritual.

The police had found Harold Wilson and the girl he had picked up on the highway. The two cars stopped and the officers began to ask some questions of the man and woman on the side of the road. The officers found out that the girl was the one abducted from Atlanta and she had been held captive ever since. She showed the officer her back as evidence to validate her story. After looking at her back the officers suppressed the need to throw up. One officer stayed with the witness and the other took off for the area she described. The dirt road was found and the police car took off down the road as fast as possible.

James could hear the siren getting closer but paid no mind to it. The time had arrived to take the twenty-fourth and final victim. He once more tore open the victims robe and carved the last rune into her chest. At that moment Ingrid awoke and found herself tied to a wooden pole. Ingrid looked down and saw the reason for the pain in her chest. Her date had carved a symbol into her upper chest and it was bleeding. She saw a bloody dagger in one hand; both of his arms coated in blood and a strange far away look in his eyes. She had time to look around and see two other bodies with their guts spilling out. Ingrid saw the man chained up near the altar and wondered what he was doing there.

James paused for an instance then stabbed the tall blonde in her lower stomach and opened a large wound in her body.

Ingrid saw the dagger enter her body and was awake long enough to see her insides start to spill out and on to the ground. The loss of blood and the intense pain pushed her over the edge into unconsciousness.

Ingrid also died as twenty-three others had died. The ritual was almost done.

The sirens were very close now. James could see the lights through the trees. He had done what he had been asked to do. The last of the ritual was chanted as James saw the police officer get out of his car. James felt a bullet hit him in his left shoulder. Another bullet hit him in the upper left thigh. All the while he was walking toward the officer with the dagger at the ready.

The police officer had jumped from his car and saw the ghastly sight. He reached for his gun and pulled the trigger. He shot the killer twice before he was forced to the ground by the blood soaked killer. The two wrestled for possession of the gun and dagger. In the struggle, the officer felt the dagger enter his right shoulder just below the collarbone. The officer managed to discharge his gun once more. The bullet hit the killer in the stomach just above the navel. Finally the killer stopped moving and the officer rolled him off and got to his knees. He rolled the killer onto his stomach and cuffed the bloody hands behind his back. The policeman checked for a pulse and found out the killer was still alive.

James felt the bullets enter his body as he completed the ritual. He started walking toward the policeman who was shooting him. He managed to bring the man down and stab him in the shoulder just as another bullet hit him in the groin. James lost consciousness as the bullet tore into his body. As he lost consciousness James saw Hella and Shelly waiting for him on the other side. James saw Shelly holding out her arms to him. The door to the next realm of being was opened for them. Loki appeared at that moment. He stood beside his daughter Hella and smiled, “See, you have freed me and now you may have your reward.”

Just as he reached out for Shelly he felt himself being pulled back to earth. The vision of Shelly and the next world began to fade.

James woke up to see an ambulance and several police as well as two paramedics working on him. They were trying to save his life. James had been so close and had been pulled back to life.

He heard someone ask, “Why did you kill all those girls?”

James laughed and whispered, “I did it for Shelly.”

“You mean you killed 24 girls to get your dead fiancée back?”

“I did it for Shelly.”

James repeated that once more. Then, with a deep sigh and an outward exhale, he died.

James once more saw his beloved Shelly reach out for him. This time he made it across, falling into her arms. They embraced and turned toward the door to the other side.

James and Shelly smiled at each other and exchanged a kiss. Together they walked through the door and disappeared.

Loki shouted with glee.” Yes, Odin I am free and your end is at hand.”

With that, he and Hella laughed and started the preparations for Ragnorok.

The FBI, an ambulance, a paramedic crew, along with the rest of the police, arrived soon after the last shot rang out. Brian managed to arrive as the paramedics were working on the killer. They tried to save his life but the last bullet had done too much damage.

Brian managed to ask why he had killed the girls and got the same answer three times. He had killed all those girls for Shelly. Seconds after the third answer, the killer died. Brian stood up and walked away from the gruesome scene. He took a moment to reflect on all that had happened.

The killer was dead, as were twenty-four girls. On the way to the crime scene, Brian had called Professor Hansen and reported that the killer had been found and that the police were closing in on him and the ritual area. As Brian hung up the phone, the radio reported that the killer had been shot.