\chapauth{Creflo Chronicle}
\chapter{Black River}





\noindent The horrid, crushing sound of a gushing river broke through Luke
Bavarius's rushing mind. He had awoken from a deep sleep to the
sound. The horrid sound. He had a hangover from too many Coors, and
it was driving him mad. Ever since the alley, where the ghoul had
deformed him, he drank every night until he blacked out. Otherwise,
there were the dreams. The horrid dreams.

But now the river had woke him up. It made no sense. He lived in
the city, not by a river. And the sound was driving him mad. He
vomited.

He got out of bed and shook the horrid vomit off his hands. He went
to his window. He looked out of his window. His apartment had been
moved from the busy city to a deserted hill overnight. At the foot
of the hill was a river. A black river. He went to his front door.
He opened it. He stepped outside. Rough stone steps lead from his
door down to below the surface of the rushing river. He turned
around and looked at his apartment. It was as though a giant had
reached in to his apartment building and scooped his apartment out
and then dropped it on top of the hill. The grass on the hill was
brown and dead. Around the base of the hill there was a dark,
impenetrable forest. Bavarius thought he could see faces peering
out at him from between the trees. Suddenly, night fell. Luke ran
in to his apartment.

The moon was the only light to be seen. There were no stars. The
moon shone down and was reflected on to the river.

Two fiends rose out of the river, walking up the stairs. They were
as tall as a tall man, but fat and obese. They looked the way
babies would look if they were as tall as a tall man. They were
white with black splotches like an albino who had had mud thrown on
him. They were naked. Bavarius quivered with fear, and held his
Beretta close to comfort him.

The manbabies stopped as they reached his door. They shouted to him
inside the house in unison. ``Luke Bavarius!'' they shouted. ``Let us
in and we will save you from some pain!'' Their voices were like a
sick man vomiting while trying to talk.

``No!'' Luke shouted.

The manbabies each raised a hand and pressed it against the door.
The door flew off it's hinges and slammed into a wall like from an
explosion. The manbabies entered Luke's apartment.

Bavarius was still shaking with fear, but his killer instincts
kicked in. He leveled his trusty Beretta and fired 4 quick shots: 2
in each of the ghouls' heads. The bullets struck them and black
ichor vomited out of the wounds. Soon though it congealed and
clogged the holes. The manbabies smiled and walked forward. ``No!''
Luke shouted. They didn't listen. They walked him out of his
sliding glass door that used to lead to his balcony. It no longer
led to his balcony. He wasn't in the city any more.

Outside there was a flat black stone, like a chunk of a freshly
paved road, but it looked natural. The manbabies led him to it and
held him against it, one at either end. The one by his head held
his arms down against the stone. The one by his legs held his feet
down against the stone.

Skinny, emaciated people emerged from the forest and came up to the
stone. In their hands they held sharp shards of rock. One by one,
they stepped up and cut a deep gash in Bavarius's skin. He screamed
horridly. Wherever his rust-colored blood vomited from his body
onto the grass, the grass came to life with a rich golden sheen.
The life spread across the grass slowly.

``No!'' Luke shouted.

Luke died.

When the last of his blood had left the wounds, the manbabies each
grasped their end tightly and tugged, ripping his body in half.
Each tucked their half under their arm and trudged down the stairs
and under the horrid black river. As they submerged, the river
seemed to dry up, leaving a barren riverbed.

``It is good,'' the leader of the tribe said to his woman. ``Our crops
will grow again.''

``Yes, it is good,'' said his woman, patting her pregnant stomach.
``Little Luke Bavarius will not starve.''



The End 
 



\illustration{Creflo Chronicle}{Black River}{art/Creflo_Chronicle-Black_River.png}