And It Arose from the Deepest Black (John Black Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

need to be the ones to take it down,” he said, jumping over a barricade and landing in an enemy bunker. Soldiers surrounded him, and in under a second, Bobby’s character was down, dead. As the game started loading the last save point, Bobby tossed the controller to me. It landed against my leg on the couch.
     
    “What, because we have powers we have to do everything now?” I said. It sounded whiny. I know.
     
    Bobby just looked down his nose at me. On screen, the game stopped reloading and my character stood idly, watching war happen all around him. I didn’t reach for the controller. The enemy soldiers began to move closer, and the screen flashed red as my guy took several hits. “John. Sol’s dead, so now we’re like the most powerful people on Earth, right? Do you think that happened so we could just sit around and play video games?”
     
    I feigned indignation. “Oh, so now Bobby Graden is all about fate? Like, we have a predetermined purpose or something?”
     
    Bobby rolled his eyes. “No, it sounds dumb when you say it like that.”
     
    “Then what?”
     
    “I don’t know, okay? It just seems awfully coincidental that you and I — and Holly — end up with some kind of power, and then all of a sudden the world is attacked by a giant creature from outer space or under the ocean or wherever it comes from.” Shots were fired on screen, blinking red again. My character made a series of oofs and args .
     
    “Bobby, I went after Sol because of what he did to me. He took Holly. I couldn’t sit by when that happened. But this Gorgol thing? I mean, I don’t want anyone to die, but that’s not my fight.” I reached for the controller just as the screen flashed red one final time and my character fell to the ground, dead.
     
    “My turn,” Bobby said, swooping the controller out of my hand.
     
    We played for another hour or so. When we finally turned off the game, normal TV popped back on screen. A special report on the Gorgol. No surprise there.
     
    The military continued its bombardment, but more carefully, more controlled. The all-out assault had failed, and throwing everything else at the Gorgol was just wasteful and dangerous to bystanders, I guess.
     
    Meanwhile, something had led the Gorgol back to the sea, and the live footage showed it standing in the shallows just offshore from the town it had leveled. Then, for the first but hardly the last time, I heard the Gorgol scream. It opened its triangular mouth full of large, spiked teeth and emitted a shriek that seemed like it would destroy the news microphones, and maybe our TV speakers as well. The Gorgol just stood there, facing out to sea, letting loose its verbal fury.
     
    Then I saw why. A naval vessel, some dreadnought with huge guns, floated off the coast with the Gorgol in its sights. As we watched, huge puffs of smoke went up from the ship’s massive guns. A second later, the whump whump whump of the shells fired could be heard. Something hit the Gorgol, hard, and it staggered.
     
    It fell. A huge cloud of dust blew up, and we couldn’t see anything. But the monster was down.
     
    We held our breath for a moment or two. I broke the silence. “Guess there’s not much we need to do after all —”
     
    “Wait! Look!” Bobby shouted, pointing at the screen.
     
    The dust was thick, but something was moving. The camera zoomed in, and the black and brown shape of the Gorgol rolled over, countless pointed scales sliding past our view.
     
    “Holy crap,” I said.
     
    “They didn’t kill it.”
     
    I think this was about the time my mom walked in, pushing Holly in her chair. “What’s going on, guys?”
     
    Bobby chimed in. “They shot the Gorgol with some really huge guns and it went down. But… it’s getting back up.”
     
    On screen, the Gorgol stood and faced its enemy again.
     
    “This is bad,” Mom said, pushing Holly ahead of her.
     
    You see this, Holly? I asked.
     
    Yes, but Johnny? Holly said.
     
    Yeah,