The Serpent League

by Brendan Walsh

  “He didn’t even tell me what he was going to do.” The doctor added, crossing his arms. “I was so furious at him. The way he was going to make my same exact mistake in exposing his child to the League. I tried talking him out of it. But he was insistent at the start, so I helped him initially, just to make sure he wouldn’t kill Patrick with the first injection. And then he just became a scarier and scarier fanatic until that last night…” To his side, Laura was fixing herself up, giving Patrick another quick hug before returning to Elder’s side. “By the time I got there, Laura’s fists were bleeding from banging on the walls. Not even Jefferson Black, a much younger man at the time, could figure out what Gordon did. And he used my equipment and tools for it. As for why you don’t remember, the blood of the League changes you and has a different effect on everyone exposed. Just look at Detective Hunter now. No doubt it tampered with your mind around the time of your exposure to it. That, my young man, is how you survived. You have the League’s healing gifts from the experiment he did to you. Afterwards I monitored you from afar, looking at your medical records… and my suspicions were confirmed. We couldn’t even get anything from Gordon’s body. It just wasn’t there anymore.”

  Patrick had to wipe his eyes. “We had a funeral. We had a casket. You’re saying there wasn’t even a body in there?”

  Laura and Samuel shook their heads.

  “So,” Gary said, “the only one who knows what really happened is Gordon Buchanan, since Patrick’s memory is seemingly wiped from the incident.”

  “I don’t believe that is true.” Elder replied. “I think there was one more individual in that room, the day Gordon tried to turn Patrick into one of the Leaguers.”

  “Who?” Patrick, Gary, and Johnny asked in unison.

  Elder straightened up. “You call him Edgar.”

  “What are you?” The bat asked. “I mean, what really are you? What do you look like?”

  “The answers to each of those questions are all very different.” The thing that was once a man and a woman and a humanoid alligator replied. Now it took the form off a massive rat, towering two feet above Edgar. “Sometimes I think of ourselves as the accumulation of all the imagination mankind produced. The mutant children of Poe’s terrors, Lovecraft’s gods and monsters, and even the beauty and sometimes more comedic work of Gaiman’s love”

  “Those three are all genre writers.” Edgar replied, stretching his wings.

  After being left brutally beaten, alone in the dark room, the bat’s super healing kicked in. He had never been so close to death, as he was from the beating, but he came through. His wings snapped back into place on their own, and the holes from the chomping sealed like running water. He was able to stand up on his talon-like feet again, additionally pleased that now the enigmatic creature before him seemed to be in a better mood.

  “Of course. Bat, our story isn’t exactly Jane Austen, is it? We’re living in a genre.”

  “Not of my own choosing.” Edgar replied sourly.

  The giant rat looked at him, smirking. “Well, by the time the Serpent League is finished, we will be the only genre.”

  For a few minutes neither creatures spoke to each other, they just stared out into the distance, their eyes surveying the forest of skyscrapers and the ant-like cars at the very bottom. When the bat looked closely, he could make out some individual forms on the sidewalks.

  “The whole business with the police station was all for me.” The bat said.

  The rat opened his eyes at him. “Are you asking me a question, or are you telling me?”

  “I’m telling you. I didn’t really believe it when I was told to come here, but after your ‘rough’ questioning of me, I couldn’t think of any other reason.”

  “Very good, bat.” The rat affectionately rubbed a paw along the top of Edgar’s head. “But not just for you. For the human girl too. The one you call Zoo Girl. I think it’s cute.”

  “Everything has been for the two of us. Why? Your group seems all-powerful compared to every other being on earth. What could you possibly need with a warped human female and a giant blood-eating bat?”

  “You’re both different,” the giant rodent nodded. “Both not born of the League, you both perfectly represent the world that is about to be lost.”

  “I’m not sure I follow.”

  The rat wrapped a furry arm around Edgar’s shoulder. “Here, bat, follow me. I think you’ll recognize some familiar faces.”

  The leader guided him, walking comfortably on two feet. They turned their backs on the magnificent skyline beyond them and below them, and the two of them disappeared from New York City, with the Empire State Building’s roof now void of life.

  When the pair materialized, Edgar felt grass under his feet. All around him, there were no signs of skyscrapers or other monuments of human conquest. Based on all his other senses, he knew that he was back in the San Francisco area, right back to where the Raven Gang’s cabin was.

  “We’re back.” Edgar said, as more of a question.

  He turned to the leader. It no longer took the form of a giant rat, but back to the furless, ageless human female that it was when he had met it, wearing nothing except for the simple drape-like fabric.

  “Yes, we are.” She said. “Now, let me reintroduce you to some friends. I’m sure you’ll remember them. They remember you. And they’re really excited to see you again.”

  In a few steps, Edgar saw them among the darkness and trees. Some forms were much bigger than others, and some took forms of humans. The bat wasn’t sure if their human forms were their ‘original’ selves, and perhaps they weren’t even sure of it themselves.

  He remembered them very well. He and the gang had battled them the day they beat Elder.

  “Hello there,” greeted one of the taller gryphons. “Master, thank you for bringing this one to us. We have been wondering what he’s been up to.”

  A pack of the lion-birds revealed themselves from the shadows. Five of them were now in plain view, but based on the other sounds around them, Edgar concluded that there were much, much more of them.

  “Yes, what have you been up to, little bat?” another one asked. This one was female. The Serpent League had again done a strange job of giving them all telepathic voices. “Were you still sticking with those humans of yours?” She shook her head. “I hope you know you’re in much better company with us.”

  Edgar didn’t reply, despite the feeling of innumerable eyes on him.

  “I thought you said he talked now?” said a darker gryphon, also male.

  “I can talk alright.” Edgar replied. “I just don’t know what to say. I have a lot to process, and don’t even have all the answers yet.”

  “Oh, well we can help you there.” replied the same one.

  From out behind the gryphons’ legs, new smaller forms emerged. Half of them walked on four feet, the rest on two.

  “That’s right. The werewolves.” said the Master, knowing Edgar’s thoughts. “Both groups are here.”

  “But not all of us!”

  The cheer came from the one in the front: a feral-looking young man, who hopped with his knees like a caveman. Edgar assumed that the creature was not originally a human.

  “No. No no no no.” he said, approaching the giant bat with reverence. “Some of the others left.”

  “Where did they go?” Edgar asked.

  “Who knows, kid? Who knows?”

  There was a subtle cackling, like cruel laughter, coming from deep in the young man’s chest. If he could comfortably stand on two feet, he didn’t show it, and his only clothes, as was the same with all the other ‘humans’, was just a loose red shirt and tattered jeans.

  He took a few steps closer to the bat, rubbing his hand along his web-like wing skin and his fur. “Oh yeah. Oh yeah. The League is going to be lucky to have something like you.”

  The Master, now returning to the form of a human male, batted his hand along the werewolf’s chest. He simply laughed it off a
nd retreated into the company of his fellow wolf-people.

  “He is right.” the Master said, turning to Edgar. “After you won your liberation from Samuel Elder, these two groups disappeared. I expected as much, so I found them all, notifying them of our existence and our mission. As you can see, some of them liked it and some others didn’t. But I won’t hold it against them. We will succeed with or without them, and then they could see the new world they all missed out on helping create.”

  Edgar looked to the ground, trying to forget about all the eyes that were still looking at him. He was the star, the main attraction, a celebration to these beings. He didn’t want to be. He simply wanted to be. But considering his image plastered on every news channel and him being the main interest of a strange group of shapeshifters, there was no way that was going to happen.

  “What comes next?” he found himself asked the Master.

  “Now,” Master exhaled. “we wait. We give BJ Elder time to reconsider what she’s seen and come join us. If not, then she just goes the way of the other wolves and gryphons. Just a missed opportunity. And sadly, there will be no queen to your king.”

  “And what about the normal humans?” Edgar asked. “The ones that were subjected to your blood? What will become of them?”

  Master smiled, rubbing a hand on his chest. “They have special roles. Like I said. We wait.”

  14

  King Delta

  Lindsey, Slate, and Jane had been there all night.

  And now it was looking like they would be there all day.

  Her father was still being kept under 24-hour watch. His vitals were more stable than they were after the thing’s blood first infected him at the station, but there was no sign of improvement. He was still deeply unconscious. It was impossible to say whether or not he even had good chances, or what his chances were. Thousands of people all across the country, all across the world, had suffered the same fate. As was being reported on every channel, the crisis had gone global. And everyone subjected to the same fate as her father had stayed in the exact same state.

  No one was waking up and it seemed like everyone who was going to die from the blood was already dead. There were only the ‘worthy’ ones left.

  Lindsey was by herself, alone in one of the waiting rooms adjacent to the emergency room. Luckily for her father, he was the only one at the hospital in the unique state, so all the doctors were at his disposal.

  Jane walked into the room. From the dark under her eyes it seemed she had gotten no more sleep than she and Slate.

  “Any updates?” she asked.

  Lindsey shook her head. “Can you blame them? They’ve never dealt with anything like this before.”

  Jane turned to the TV on the other side of the room. CNN was covering yet another story about a group of Egyptian soldiers that were affected by the League. A new report was covered almost every five minutes. Everyone on earth now knew two names: The Serpent League and Edgar the Bat.

  “Madness…” Jane whispered. “You would expect that with so many reports that some doctors would find some kind of breakthrough to help everyone else.”

  “Or maybe the opposite.” Lindsey shrugged. “Perhaps everyone is just waiting for someone else to find something first, because everyone knows that they have no clue what the hell is going on.”

  Jane found a seat on the chair next to Lindsey’s. Despite her obvious tired state, her voice had force.

  She took Lindsey’s fingers in her hand. “I know this looks outrageous, and I know that we have only known each other for a couple weeks, but you’re one of the strong ones here, and everyone knows that.”

  Her friend sat up, wiping her eyes of her anxiety. “Thank you, Jane.”

  “And that’s not even all. The way you so willingly thrust yourself into this mess…” Jane smiled. “I mean, who in their right mind would do that?”

  Lindsey laughed, looking down at her legs. “It was the right thing to do. But look what it did to my father.”

  “Your father recognizes you made the right choice.” Jane said. “He would say this is nobody’s fault but the League’s.”

  “Yeah, I may have had no idea that it would ever come to this, but I nearly ruined my father’s reputation as a detective by getting involved with this.” She paused and let herself breathe. Jane rubbed her hand against hers. “It was the right thing to do. I know it was. But even so, I’ll never forgive myself for throwing all this at him, especially if he doesn’t make it.”

  “It’ll be okay.” Jane replied. “You’ve seen all the things we’ve survived. The League seems to need us, need everyone they infected for something. If that’s true, I think your father will be fine.”

  Lindsey looked up at her and her eyes were more wet than before.

  “I know. I know.” Jane whispered and wrapped her arms around her.

  She let Lindsey cry against her shoulder for a couple minutes. They were all alone in the room, with only the pessimistic reports from CNN to keep them company.

  That was until Slate rushed in carrying his cell phone in his hand.

  The first thing he noticed were Lindsey’s wet eyes. “I’m so sorry I’ve been gone.”

  “It’s okay, Slate.” Lindsey blew her nose with a tissue. “I’ve just been here with Jane. What’s up?”

  Her boyfriend sighed, raising his phone. “I just got off the phone with Johnny.”

  “For nearly an hour?” Jane asked.

  He nodded. “He had a lot to fill me in on. You guys aren’t going to believe some of this.”

  Relaying all the information Johnny had given him took only fifteen minutes. Despite how much sense the information made, it was no less distressing. Half of the time Jane couldn’t suppress her astonishment at how involved her Aunt Laura was with Elder. The developments involving Patrick and Gary and their watches were equal parts confusing and terrifying.

  “What a thing to tell your son…” Jane said. “Lord, Gordon Buchanan was some bastard.”

  “And it doesn’t sound like his mother is much better.” Lindsey added. “What a family. I can’t imagine what Patrick must be feeling.”

  Slate moved forward, taking a seat on the couch next to Lindsey. “From what Johnny told me, he seems like he’s doing surprisingly fine. I’m very proud of him for being so brave.”

  “That suddenly makes me feel better about my situation.” Lindsey said. “My father never had anything like that done to me. He and my mother are saints compared to them. Speaking of her,” she rose from her seat. “I promised I’d pick her up now.”

  “Are you sure you feel alright to drive?” Slate asked.

  She nodded and put her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about me. I’m just anxious as hell about how my mother is going to be. Hope I have enough in me to hold it together for her.”

  Jane and Slate rose to their feet to embrace Lindsey. Neither of them could imagine how she was feeling, and the only thing they could do was to make sure nothing happened around them that could cause her more distress.

  A violent flapping from outside took away their attention. The second their eyes caught it, they saw a hawk, but the second afterwards the bird devolved into a colorful blob and began to grow new limbs.

  “BJ!” Lindsey shouted.

  Jane rushed over to the window, signaling her friend to lower her voice. “Be careful. We don’t want to bring any more attention to ourselves. We’re still considered criminals after all.”

  She opened the window to a newly formed human, still donning her shapeshift-proof black outfit. BJ slithered silently through the window and brushed her hair behind her ears.

  “What’s up?” Lindsey asked. “Is there anyone else with you?”

  She shook her head. “I came alone. I had to do some thinking after…” BJ nodded to the TV, still covering the same news. “There is a lot about the Serpent League we need to learn in order to stop them. So I met with the leader.”

  “The leader?” asked Jane.


  “Well, it was a leader. I’m not sure how much they take hierarchy seriously.”

  The three looked around at each other. “And…what happened?” Lindsey blinked. “Did he attack you?”

  “It didn’t attack me. I’m not sure if it has a gender or sex.” BJ replied. “He told me about how the League has been keeping tabs on me all my life, in every animal form I ever took and everything I pretended to be, and it told me that Edgar and I have a special role in the outcome…happening in a couple days.”

  “That doesn’t give us much time.” Slate covered his chin pensively. “Did you learn anything about why they’re doing this? What’s their motive?”

  BJ sighed. “Yes and no. They don’t view themselves as agents, in a matter of speaking. They view themselves as part of the natural progression of life on earth, something that evolution gave rise to with the intent of one day creating a new world and eliminating the dominant species. That would be us.”

  “I guess that fits in with what we’ve seen.” Lindsey said. “But I need to go pick up-”

  Within half a second BJ’s hand was on her arm.

  Jane and Slate stepped back in astonishment.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, her eyes twinkling with concern. “I don’t think it’s a good idea right now for any of us to be alone.”

  Lindsey wanted to pull her hand out of her mutant friend’s grasp, but there was no malice in her force. “I understand, but I really need to get my mother over here.”

  “I think you should tell her that it’s not a good idea. In fact, all of us should get out of here.”

  “Why?” asked Slate. BJ let go of Lindsey’s arm. “Why now? What’s going on?”

  “The Serpent League has plans for two days from now. Christmas Eve.” BJ turned from them and faced the TV, pointing to another report of those infected with the League’s blood. “And this is just the beginning. And I dearly, dearly, hope I’m wrong, but I think that they have a new weapon on their side.”

  “Who?” they asked.

  “Edgar.”

  “Edgar!” Lindsey exclaimed.