Chapter 5 5

All this Carol was told by her ancestors, the same victims and prisoners of this fog. Carol had many more questions... but so little time and energy. Since she began to pull out the prisoners of the black fog, he stopped letting her through, rejecting, pushing out, hiding from her those who languished in him. Now Carol was not as easy as before, it was to shout to them, to call, the fog did not let her captives near her, just like her - to them. She could easily call anyone from the world of the dead, they heard her and came, but not those who were in the power of the black fog.

Or rather, this something. Carol used to call it that from childhood, it looked like a black fog and evoked this association in her. But, of course, it was not some kind of fog, as she used to think. She learned that each of her family perceived and called it in their own way, as they saw it, as they understood it. Some called it just darkness, others called it black smoke from the underworld, and someone just a grave for souls, all in different ways, who had enough imagination. One girl called it a black cloud... Someone even hell. But Carol has already learned enough to know that this is not hell. That is, not the Hell that people talk about, intended for sinners. There were no sinners here, as such, there were only from her kind, on which someone once sent this curse, and those who were simply unlucky were just victims.

Carol had time to learn that none of them died in childhood or in the womb unborn. The curse takes care and protects until they grow up and produce offspring, passing on this terrible essence to him. And when the offspring get stronger and gain strength in order to be able to survive on their own, the curse devours the unfortunate who have become unnecessary. Therefore, few of them lived to old age. There were only three ways to gain time - without passing on your curse, that is, to remain without offspring, but this is not for long, or vice versa, constantly procreate children, spreading the curse, or making regular sacrifices to him, killing. Her ancestors tried all methods. And those who did it, trying to survive, argued that all these methods are equally difficult to implement in reality, even though it sounds simple. The curse endowed all of the clan with such sexuality that even those who tried to avoid reproduction through strict abstinence, completely excluding sexual contacts from their lives, could not stand it, and one weakness, one time was enough for a child to be conceived immediately. Because everyone, without exception, was incredibly prolific because of this curse. If women took any means to avoid pregnancy, it helped, but did not save or prolong life. If the fetus was disposed of before birth, the curse did not forgive this, and the woman, or the man, if the father of the slaughtered fetus was cursed, in which the curse already lived before birth, immediately died. There were those who chose the path of salvation to permanent reproduction. Women gave birth one after another, as much as they had the strength and health, and while doing this, they really lived. Yes, in this case, the curse supported them, granting both strength and health, many held out in this way for many years, but even they had a moment when they could no longer give birth. And then they immediately died, realizing that in their fear of death they reproduced into this world not only unfortunate children doomed to a terrible short life and torment, but also a curse, multiplying it, allowing it to grow and spread. And all the women, without exception, who chose this path, regretted it. but also the curse, multiplying it, allowing it to grow and spread. And all the women, without exception, who chose this path, regretted it. but also the curse, multiplying it, allowing it to grow and spread. And all the women, without exception, who chose this path, regretted it.

"All the same, it was not life, but torment ... to live in fear, sighing every time with relief, learning about another pregnancy, rejoicing that by doing so I still gained time, delayed the inevitable. Look at your children and understand that they are doomed. And then still die and end up here. And only here you realize that all this is pointless... trying to live longer, sacrificing your own children, whom you give birth to, to give to this curse. It makes no sense, because the years fly by quickly, and the result is still the same - it kills you as soon as you lose the opportunity to reproduce, and you still end up here ... "they said.

Cursed men, choosing this path, could hold out much longer than women, the curse also gave them strength and kept them as long as possible, moreover, they could use more than one woman for their own purposes. To fertilize - not to bear or give birth, giving one's strength and health. Therefore, it was easier for men, and they lived much longer, dooming different women to give birth to their damned children, and thereby saving their lives. Such men could live to old age, and even live into old age, because the curse kept their male power for reproduction as long as possible. And many were quite capable of this in years, reaching which ordinary men, in general, no longer had such an opportunity. When their strength still left them, they also died immediately, but, unlike women, there were those among them who did not regret anything, even boasted and were proud of the fact that

Those who chose to kill, for the most part, did not last long. The problem was that people don't like being killed. They resist and tend to deal with those who allow themselves to do so. In order to earn the right to life, it was necessary to constantly make sacrifices, otherwise he himself became a victim, and even the most dexterous and ruthless murderers-the damned could not avoid human anger, which sooner or later overtook them anyway. To kill as often as required and not be caught - no one succeeded. Someone lasted longer, someone less - but the result was the same. People still found them and punished them. If they were not executed, but isolated, in prison or a psychiatric clinic, and they could no longer make sacrifices, then they too died, but not as quickly as others, as if the curse had a special relation to the killers, as if thanks for the multiple victims. Louis told her that the killers are the favorites of the curse, and it is stronger in them than in others. And it was in no hurry to take their lives even after they lost the ability to kill. It killed itself, through them, using it as a conductor of its power to this world, to its victims. So it acted while the damned were still children and did not know their destiny, and when they were already adults, they resisted, not wanting to kill of their own free will. Among these, there were rarely those who had the strength to overcome their propensity to violence so as not to commit a single murder. With rare exceptions, sooner or later everyone failed. It was almost impossible to overcome this, as well as the craving for reproduction. Only the elect, who have an exceptional will and a stronger gift than others,

There were also those who lived their lives and died without knowing what was happening, without getting answers to their questions about what happened to them and their lives and why. And therefore, for some time now, people like Louis have appeared, endowed with greater power and strength than the rest, and became the head, finding and uniting all the damned into a clan, initiating and controlling the secrets of their kind.

Gift - a separate issue. Carol also learned something about him. He was before the curse was put on her kind, and he was the reason. Everyone of the family has it, without exception, but someone is stronger, someone is weaker. This gift is an extraordinary power that connects them with another world, the world of the dead. With death. The power that allows not only to communicate with that world and its inhabitants, but also to command them. With Carol's communication, everything was already clear, but she did not know what it meant to "command", how exactly and for what. Louis did not want to answer her questions about the gift and its possibilities, and when she insisted, cut off contact or stubbornly turned the topic to a curse. He talked about it with much more willingness, he emphasized it, attaching more importance than the gift. Carol did not like this, and she was imbued with him even more distrust and suspicion. She was sure that Louis did not want to talk about him and his abilities precisely because this gift was something that could help them resist the curse, prevent, perhaps even win and destroy. She wanted to believe it. Hope. This gift allowed them to see or feel the approaching death, the next victim of the curse, and thus giving them the opportunity to prevent. How Patrick saw and prevented his father's death by not letting the fog take him away. And it was this gift that made it possible to take away its victims from the black fog, free them and return them to a life that should not have been interrupted, even if not to the life that was, but already to a new one, in the form of a new birth. How she brought back Emmy, who was born again and was now her godson and Ernie's own little brother. Carol knew there was incredible power in this gift. And the curse could not overcome this force - the proof of this is that it takes away his victims from him, and it cannot keep them. It turns out that she and her gift are stronger than his. But, unfortunately, even if the curse could not resist her gift, it could easily kill her. And it would have killed if she hadn't carried a child, another damned one. Or the Blessed One, who protected her so far with his light, preventing the curse from getting to her, who may have healed her wounds, her death-touched flesh, when the mist tried to stop her from taking her prisoner. Or they healed themselves. Carol did not yet know who was in her womb - the damned or the blessed. In any case, as soon as she gives birth, the fog will kill her, without waiting for the death penalty prepared for her. She did it herself, Patrick warned her that if she tries to pull someone out of the black fog, he will kill her. But what difference does it make if she is already doomed to a quick death anyway? The curse was already fulfilling its sentence, having decided on her death in the form of execution, as she had foreseen, so what if it did not wait now and killed her immediately after the birth of the child? Carol did not hesitate to give the time that she could have lived until the moment of execution after childbirth - there was very little of it - in order to free and return to life those she loved and those whom she unwittingly killed with her curse. She had already freed Courtney and Diana, Kate and Meg Blaze, and their brother Frank, Madeleine. And even Rosa Day. She almost pulled out Emily, who was disabled in life and died under the wheels of a car, and pulled out if she had not been woken up. if she is already doomed to a quick death anyway? The curse was already fulfilling its sentence, having decided on her death in the form of execution, as she had foreseen, so what if it did not wait now and killed her immediately after the birth of the child? Carol did not hesitate to give the time that she could have lived until the moment of execution after childbirth - there was very little of it - in order to free and return to life those she loved and those whom she unwittingly killed with her curse. She had already freed Courtney and Diana, Kate and Meg Blaze, and their brother Frank, Madeleine. And even Rosa Day. She almost pulled out Emily, who was disabled in life and died under the wheels of a car, and pulled out if she had not been woken up. if she is already doomed to a quick death anyway? The curse was already fulfilling its sentence, having decided on her death in the form of execution, as she had foreseen, so what if it did not wait now and killed her immediately after the birth of the child? Carol did not hesitate to give the time that she could have lived until the moment of execution after childbirth - there was very little of it - in order to free and return to life those she loved and those whom she unwittingly killed with her curse. She had already freed Courtney and Diana, Kate and Meg Blaze, and their brother Frank, Madeleine. And even Rosa Day. She almost pulled out Emily, who was disabled in life and died under the wheels of a car, and pulled out if she had not been woken up. if it does not now wait and kill her immediately after the birth of the child? Carol did not hesitate to give the time that she could have lived until the moment of execution after childbirth - there was very little of it - in order to free and return to life those she loved and those whom she unwittingly killed with her curse. She had already freed Courtney and Diana, Kate and Meg Blaze, and their brother Frank, Madeleine. And even Rosa Day. She almost pulled out Emily, who was disabled in life and died under the wheels of a car, and pulled out if she had not been woken up. if it does not now wait and kill her immediately after the birth of the child? Carol did not hesitate to give the time that she could have lived until the moment of execution after childbirth - there was very little of it - in order to free and return to life those she loved and those whom she unwittingly killed with her curse. She had already freed Courtney and Diana, Kate and Meg Blaze, and their brother Frank, Madeleine. And even Rosa Day. She almost pulled out Emily, who was disabled in life and died under the wheels of a car, and pulled out if she had not been woken up. Kate and Meg Blaze and their brother Frank, Madeleine. And even Rosa Day. She almost pulled out Emily, who was disabled in life and died under the wheels of a car, and pulled out if she had not been woken up. Kate and Meg Blaze and their brother Frank, Madeleine. And even Rosa Day. She almost pulled out Emily, who was disabled in life and died under the wheels of a car, and pulled out if she had not been woken up.

But she came back for her. The wounds healed, and Carol returned to finish what she started.