Los soldados del Diablo

Frank couldn't get enough of the horrorspirit. As soon as Halloween got in sight, he was thrilled by the thought of all kinds of horror. This year was special. Not only Halloween, but Juan invited him and Bryan to come with him on his visit to Mexico to celebrate the day of the dead, or like he called it, "El dia de Muertos".
Frank didn't know what to expect, sure he has seen one of the skulls before, but that was about it.
Juan told them that it's a very ancient celebration of honouring the dead. It would take two days.
At the first day the children were honoured. There where all kinds of puppets sitting on benches everywhere around the village.

Source; Unsplash

Frank saw the puppets who where supposed to be children, and although they didn't look scary at all, they had something macabre. They were were images of the children who died a long time ago, but also the children that died recently.
Frank an Bryan were lead to graves of children, where food was laying.

"People believe that the spirits of the children will eat the soul of the food" Juan explained. "It's all to calm them, honour them and protect us from harm during the coming year. Today we do the children, tomorrow the adults will be honoured. Today is quite harmless, but tomorrow you must listen carefully. The second day is dangerous. People actually die on that day. The locals believe that anyone who dies at the second day is recruted for the Devil's Army. He or she will become a soldado del Diablo, as they say."

Frank laughed, "This is good man, that's why I am here, let's meet some dead soldiers tomorrow!"

"Don't fool with it Frank. The soldiers of the devil are very real and very dangerous. You must follow my orders exactly, don't make jokes tomorrow, it is not a walk in the park. The children we can handle, it's the grown ups that scares the shit out of us. Promise me you will not be a fool or a jerk tomorrow Frank." Juan sounded serious, so Frank stopped laughing.

"Don't worry mate, I will be very careful, I promise."

Source; Unsplash

The second day, Frank woke up early. He had been dreaming of dancing corpses on empty graveyards where bodies of recently died layed and were eaten by birds from Hell.
He was in the right mood to party. He needed coffee to get that perfect spirit today, so he put on his clothes and left his small room at the motel he and his friends were staying.
It was already Sunny, the sun was hanging low and there was a little mist in the distance.
How good can it get, Frank thought. Man, If this wasn't a perfect day for the dead, then what was?
He crosed the street and then he heard shuffling feet behind him. The street in front of him was empty, and he didn't see anybody on his way. Excited he turned his head and saw a girl who made him pee a little from being scared. Just enough to enjoy it. First he held his breath and then realized it was just a painted face. He smiled at her, but she didn't answer his smile. It was like she was in some kind of trance.

Source; Unsplash

After he finished his coffee, Frank walked back to the motel. He saw some sort of priest walking around the marketsquare. He was drawing symbols on the ground, layed stones while he was humming some sort of songs. He walked towards him. He was curious what was going on. The priest looked at him and started shouting. Frank didn't know what he said, but appearantly the priest didn't want him to approach. At that moment Juan came out of the motel.

"You can't enter the marketsquare anymore Frank. It's now sacred ground. Come here, I will explain."

Frank walked towards Juan without touchen the sacred ground. "Okay, what's all this fuzz?" Frank asked.
"The priest is creating a sacred zone. It is to protect us from the dead when the sun is down tonight. During the day we are going to perform rituals. We make altars, we feed the dead and we sing and dance to them. As soon as the sun is going down, we all gather at the marketsquare and we stay in the sacred zone. It is to protect us from evil. The dead who were bad when they were still alive, are now Soldados del Diable. They will come towards us and will try to catch us. We must all stay in and don't change anything in the circle the priest made. If we do, the circle is broken, and the Soldados will kill us. You can't walk out either, it will be a certain death. You understand?"

"You bet I understand, this is great. An army of dead around a safe zone. This is better than a scarehouse, I love it. Are they painted and dressed as zombies?"

"You don't understand Frank. The Soldados are not people. They are dead soldiers from long ago. Don't touch and stay in when the sun is down. No joking today Frank, I mean it."

Frank laughed. "I am going to get painted Juan, I'm in for some real horror. See you later."

Source; Pixabay

The artist painted frank's face. He looked in the mirror. "This is cruel man. Fuckin' awesome. I'm going to make a selfie and post it, it's briljant. Thanks mate, I love it".

He gave the artist a couple of dollars. He didn't have to, but he thought the guy deserved it. He never looked this evil before. There weren't any good bodypainters where he lived. A zombie was more like a guy suffering from a terrible herpes all over. Skulls were flu patients and witches looked like crackwhores. They would be amazed back at home.

He went back outside where the priest was still busy. The priest didn't even notice him. He was in trance. Just like the girl this morning. Maybe they all smoke pot here, and that could be the answer of seeing dead people at night. I musn't forget to ask Juan what they smoke. If it made you see dead people, he definately would want some.

He looked at what the priest made. Was that it? A circle of stones and some brenches in the shape of a pentagram? Man, it looked childish.

Source; Flickr

The day went on. All day Frank, Bryan and Juan were walking around watching the decorations and rituals. They were asked to help to make an altar. Every thirty minutes people start singing and dancing. Torches were lit and people started marching towards the graveyard where all gravestones were decorated and loaded with all kinds of fruit. They visited every grave, sang and greeted the dead who was burried there.

Frank had to take a pee, and he quickly ran back to the motel. Everybody was at the graveyard, so he figured he could cross the marketsquare. Nobody would notice, and it shortened his way. He quickly ran over the square and accidently kicked one of the stones. The stone landed against the wall of the motel. Damn, he thought. He looked and couldn't figure out where the stone belonged. He looked at the circle. It seemed to be intact. Then he looked at the pentagram. The stone could belong in two different places, but which one was it? He decided to put the stone at one of the two places he thought it could belong. Nobody will notice, he was convinced. He quickly took a piss and went back to the graveyard.

"What took you so long?" Juan asked.
"I needed to take a shit after all. I'm sorry" Frank lied.

Source; Flickr

Then things went quickly. The sun went down, and as if the light was shut down, it became dark. The villagers got restless, they walked towards the marketsquare like something was chasing them. Juan told his friends to hurry.

"Speed up guys, we cannot be too late." Juan urged them.

They got in the circle on time. At the graveyard a mist was rising from the graves. The Woods that surrounded the village also became misty and the mist was coming towards them. Frank heared the priest was starting to sing. Frank swore he heard horses-shoes walking around the circle. The mist stopped at the circle, it didn't enter. The priest started to sing loude as the mist got thicker. The noises from the mist go louder. Now he heard howling and snarling. The priest sang like his life depended on it. In the mist light appeared. Frank was thinking that if this was fake, they were the best horror folk he had ever met.

Frank stared in the mist, and wondered if he had gone insane. He saw soldiers. Spears, swords, helmets and they were worn by skeletons. Frank pissed himself. Man would he look ridiculous when suddenly the light went on and the preist would shoot, Happy day of the dead! Look at the American, he did peepee. Frank felled embaressed.

Then a small string of mist enetered the circle. People started screaming. A loud howling sound like it came directly from Hell was heard from the mist, and then he was there. The soldier of Satan.

Source; Flickr

After the first entered, a whole legion followed. They now knew the circle wasn't working. The first walked towards the priest and pressed it's sword into the chest of the priest. The villagers were defenceless. The dead soldiers hacked and slashed at every man, woman and child. Soon the floor was covered with bleeding bodies and when a man who was standing next to Frank got his head chopped off, Frank felt the warm blood splashing in his face.

Frank suddenly woke up from the first shock, and he realized that the stone was in the wrong place. He looked and saw the pentagram. It was covered with bodies and blood, but he rememebered the stone and where it should be. He replaced the stone and then, like they were never there, the soldiers dissapeared.

Juan, who had the luck to be a survivor, saw what Frank did. He ran towards him.
He grabbed Frank's shoulders, shook Frank back and forth, and then calmed down.

"If the villagers figure out that you are the one who is responsible of this, you will be the guest of honour next year.
come on, we gotto run. Run, fool!"

Thank you for reading. If you like this story, and you think it should win the contest,
please upvote it at the following link.
https://steemit.com/halloween/@stevescoins/halloween-contest-4-2017-open-subject-and-medium-25-sbd-prize

License for all pictures; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/