by Peter Fang
35
Grub Mother
Thirty-five stitches to sew her head wound and her leg, and the doctor and nurses got an earful from Gretchen. She had just come back from two nights of stay at the local hospital. She didn’t care about the cost of the stay, but the doctors wanted to keep her under observation. She was at first combative to the treatment and anyone that tried to get near her, but after a good dose of morphine to calm her, her attitude changed. The nice doctor informed her that she was lucky there were no signs of concussion or broken bones. There was a deep bruise from the fall and a six-inch laceration to her right calf––which they couldn’t get a straight story from Gretchen; she refused to mention anything about the supernatural encounter in the hallway.
Gretchen didn’t want to go back to her apartment, nor did she look forward to staying in the suffocating hospital area, so she got a temporary hotel room nearby. A social worker offered to help her get situated in the room, but she refused any assistance. In the end, she was better off by herself. That had always been her preference. She didn’t trust anyone before, and after the encounter with Maria, Gretchen certainly was not going to trust anyone now. She tried to recall what had happened in the last few days, but so many versions had been recounted back to her from her neighbors that she was not sure which version was the truth. Perhaps it was all a bad dream?
Although the hotel accommodations were not as comfortable as her own home, at least she knew she would be able to sleep well here. But even with her TV volume turned up, she couldn’t process anything. The desecrated face of Maria kept creeping back into her mind; she was convinced that what attacked her in the hallway was the reality despite what the doctor said––a nervous breakdown.
“A nervous breakdown? Pah!” She literally spat on the ground with this disgusted thought. Being the proud daughter of a Chinese general, she always thought she was a cut above the average populace.
There was a knock on her door.
Gretchen thought it was coming from the TV, so she waited. She thought it was just her imagination, but the knocking came again, this time at a more insistent pace. She was tired and still didn’t want to see anyone. Who would want to knock on my door anyway? She yelled back, “Who is it?”
There was no response.
A few more seconds passed, and she heard nothing from the door. It must have been from the TV, she thought.
She turned the volume down with the remote and then got up and changed into a more comfortable outfit. Her stomach growled, and she realized she couldn’t remember the last time she ate. Going out to eat seemed such a hassle, and she was not leaving after what had happened to her. She dialed the front desk and asked to be transferred to the room service number.
A woman’s voice answered lethargically, “Room service, this is Teresa, how may I help you?”
“Yes, I'd like to order your Combo A, but please switch out the champagne with orange juice.”
“That’s Combo A, but with orange juice. Anything else, ma’am?”
“No, that’s it.”
The lined dropped abruptly on the other end, without even a closing pleasantry.
“Hello?” Gretchen felt her pulse quickened from the woman’s borderline rude behavior. This is why I never give tips. She hung the phone up and felt exhausted. The crazy colors and figures on the TV suddenly became a mosaic of sleep-inducing kaleidoscopes. She leaned over the bed and fell asleep against a large pillow.
There was a loud knock on the door.
Gretchen stirred. She sat up in a start, listening, waiting for another knock to make sure it was not from her dream.
“Room service!” a young woman’s voice chirped from the door, followed by another light knock.
“Coming!” Gretchen struggled to get up from the soft pillow top. She stood up, feeling a bit dizzy from the rush of her blood down to her feet. Wobbling slowly, she took small strides over to the front door. She looked out from the security hole and saw an Asian woman looking down at her cell phone while holding a cart of dinner plates and a glass of orange juice.
Gretchen unlocked the door and pulled the pneumatic door open. She saw a sweet-looking Asian woman looking up to her and smiled.
“Here’s your dinner!” the Asian woman said joyfully.
Gretchen stared back impassively at the service lady. “Come on in. I’m starving.”
The girl swiftly turned the cart around and pushed the cart into the small hallway in a smooth motion without even touching the door frame. “Oh, by the way…” She suddenly stopped and remembered something. “You had guests outside that were waiting for you.”
“What guests?”
“Your niece and her boyfriend?” The Asian woman turned around and looked over her shoulder. Two people emerged from behind and stood just inside the doorway.
Gretchen felt her blood chill. “Maria, and …” She didn’t recognize the other man. A diabolical smirk crossed Maria’s face.
“Wait! Don’t leave!” Gretchen screamed at the room service girl. “I have a tip for you!”
The service girl smiled at Gretchen. She pushed the door shut with her back against the door, and her face started to turn––long, spiky hair grew out of her skin. When she spoke, her voice was acrid and dry.
“Your ancestor and I were old acquaintances, and I’m here to collect an old debt.”
Gretchen shivered and muttered, “You are Queen, aren’t you? I knew it. You are real.”
Queen nodded slightly. “I heard that you have been studying me and my history with that monk friend of yours. I’m surprised that he’s not here to help you.” Spider webs were spreading slowly out of the girl’s mouth as she spoke. Soon the entire room was covered in sticky webs and trapped Gretchen on the ground. The service girl’s body shivered and dried up as if someone had a straw in her and was sucking out the blood. Her previously plump body slowly slimmed down, and her skin turned purple. Yet, she was oblivious of her body’s transformation, and she continued to talk in her acrid voice.
“It’s been such a long while since I found one of your kind. Old debt has to be paid! And the likes of you will pay and pay, and PAY!”
She jumped forward and clutched Gretchen tightly with her arms. Then four more arms appeared from her back, each tipped with razor-sharp claws. Gretchen felt her body bolted down by a tremendous force. The nails cut into her skin and ran down her body, ripping through her clothes. She felt every inch of muscle and tendon exposed and realized that she was being skinned alive.
The monster came close to Gretchen and stared into her eyes.
Gretchen closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she saw herself tied up on a post and surrounded by many people wearing old clothes. A little boy was holding a torch, and he looked at her with intense hatred. A large man surrounded by a group of soldiers called out to the little boy and urged him to move on. The little boy looked back at his dad and then at Gretchen again. He hesitated but then threw the torch at Gretchen. An abrupt plume of flame engulfed Gretchen, and her skin started to boil.
“Yes, you feel that? That’s what it’s like to be burnt alive,” said the little boy.
“You are truly evil! You torture and kill innocent people!” Gretchen screamed at the service girl.
The service girl started to giggle, and then her laugh shifted into a tormenting crescendo. “Evil? What is the difference between good and evil? I saved your ancestors many times over before, and all I received was betrayal. No one is truly good or evil; there is only convenience!”
“Just kill me, please––” Gretchen begged in pain.
“That was a nasty spell you hung on my front door!” Maria's body drifted over in the air and landed on top of a large wooden frame, her eyes burning red as she stared down upon Gretchen. She found a nearby antique hair pin and slowly forced the pin into Gretchen’s heart as she murmured into Gretchen’s ears.
“We have collected many of your ancestors, and soon you will meet them, too. Once you are d
own there, we will know everything about you. All of your memories will be ours. There will be nothing left for you.”
Gretchen thought she was waking from a dream, but something was staring back at her with infinite care––it was certainly not human. Its appearance looked like a snake with a partly human form. There were others around it—others that looked like it; they were all looking at her with intense interest. Gretchen looked around her and saw that the wall was pulsating, like inside a womb. The place was foreign to her, but she had no recollection of how she got here, or even who she was. Everything was new to her, yet still familiar. She felt scared, and cold.
“Hey, we've got a new grub mother here. This is the queen’s orders. We need to set her up now,” a serpent guard ordered a nearby toad nursery worker.
The toad hopped over and picked up the grub.
The grub started to wail, struggling to fight free from the toad's embrace.
“My goodness, this one is a screamer. Would you please sew her mouth up?” The serpent slashed his tail like a whip against the toad's back.
“Yes, right away.” The toad spit out a tooth and started to sew an invisible string around the grub’s mouth, but the grub wailed even louder.
“Give me that!” The serpent wrapped the grub with its tail and skillfully sewed the mouth shut. “There! Now take it away.”
“Yes, right away!” The toad picked up the swarming grub and hopped away.
36
Alley Rumble
There was an ominous presence in the dark sky. Neither Maria nor Koda could see it, but the queen had warned them: Meredith was up there, hovering, waiting for them.
Maria and Koda left the apartment, carrying Ansen and the queen’s three boxes. Lão Chóng had to retreat to underground for safety. As they left the building, the queen called upon human proxies from nearby alleys to help protect them. Maria looked up into the dark night and sensed that someone was watching.
“Someone is up there.” Maria blinked her eyes into the inky sky but could not see any movement. The cold wind brushed against her cheek, accentuating the supernatural feeling of that night.
“Our worries are not up there just yet; they're right around the corner. Your petrified friends have a welcome party planned for us…” The queen tapped her box and made a warning sound.
Before even turning the corner, a wave of nausea spread over Maria’s body. It was the smell of someone she had the misfortune to be familiar with. Riker’s drug-drenched body conjured up disgusting memories, and she wasted no time in confronting the odor with deadly determination. Around the turn, she saw Riker and three large men waiting on a large dumpster. One man was holding a large machete, while the other two showed handguns drawn. The long tubes on the handguns suggested that both guns had silencers on. Riker was sitting high on the dumpster and swung his legs like a bored grade-schooler.
“Please, get rid of the garbage for me. I’ll let you enjoy taking out your long-time rival,” the queen whispered in Maria’s mind.
Impassive, Maria moved swiftly towards the closest man. Her eyes lit up with an amber glow as she approached him. The man doubled back and pointed his gun at her, but Maria stopped a few feet away.
Riker laughed. “I don’t know how you managed to get out of your apartment, but I figure Ansen had something to do with this.” He spat on the ground in disgust. “I always knew that skinny-ass rat had a weak mind. Mr. Reed should have listened to me and put a bullet in his head long ago, but no––”
“Riker, get out of the way, or you won’t have legs left to walk out of here,” Maria said in an icy voice.
Riker feigned a scared look at her. “I’m sorry, maybe you are not the Maria I know. Did your service dog give you the balls to talk like this? What was that mutt’s name? Oh, yeah, Joey the wuss.”
Riker whistled, and a large canine form materialized from the shadows. It looked like a large German Shepherd, except it was much larger, and the color of its coat was more grey than usual. It walked out slowly, dragging a metal chain around its neck.
“Please meet my new perrito. I had to borrow it from someone special. See, this one is a hybrid canis lupus, aka a grey motherfucking wolf! And he’s here to make you guys dance tonight.”
Maria shook her head. “Riker, it’s hard to believe that you have not yet learned your lesson. You are a little man hiding behind your dogs. By the way, you are not the only one with pets.” Maria waved her hand with a whisper, and then several men in rags appeared and ran towards Riker and his party.
“What the...you are calling upon the homeless to do your dirty work? This is just suicide.” Riker laughed himself into a tizzy. He pointed his finger at the approaching party to signal his men to fire.
His men opened fire at the incoming zombies. Pieces of their clothes and chunks of their flesh flew away on impact, but they kept clambering closer to the thugs. Riker let loose of the chain and the wolf leaped at the zombie and shredded its skin. It brought down one and started to shake the man by the neck. One of Riker’s men pulled the trigger and shot a zombie in the back of his head as his body jerked uncontrollably. His arms wrapped around backwards and pulled the gunman to the ground.
Another gunman shot at another zombie, and the wolf started to attack the other approaching men.
Riker finally stopped his mindless banter and realized that the men approaching were not human. He stuttered out words that he could not comprehend himself as he barked orders from the top of his garbage command post.
“Dumb wolf! Go get the girl!” He whistled at the wolf and the wolf dropped the zombie from its jaws. It gave a determined stare at Maria and stalked slowly towards her.
Maria held her left hand out and pointed her finger at the wolf as gurgled sounds bubbled from her throat. It sounded like whizzing and series of clicks. The frequency was too fast for human ears to comprehend, but the wolf paused, then whimpered as the sounds reached its skull. It slowly moved back as Maria moved forward. Finally, Maria lifted her hand and pointed at Riker; then the wolf looked back at the men and Riker and growled.
“Oh—you are kidding me...” Riker stood back and pulled out his own gun. He pointed at Maria and yelled out commands. “Go get that bitch!” He quickly realized, though, that his men were overwhelmed by the zombies. One of the men’s arms had been torn off, and he was fighting with one arm, trying to get the zombies off his back. The crying and screaming from the dying men gave Riker the chills. He fired the gun at Maria but the bullet missed––his aim was hopelessly inaccurate from his quivering grip.
Maria said in a chilling voice, “It takes four spells to change a man’s mind, ten to turn one crazy. How many spells you think before I boil your brain?”
“Fuck you, bitch!” Riker blurted out. “Backup is all I need.” Riker searched for his phone, but he dropped it on the ground and it bounced next to the wolf. “Fuck!” Riker yelled.
“It’s not your fault, Riker. It was an accident.” Maria’s lips didn’t move, but Riker could hear every word. He felt a chill run down his back. The voice was his dad’s. He could never forget that voice––deep with authority. Those words were his dad’s during his brother’s funeral.
Maria shook her head. “Did your mother ever find out that you killed your little brother? Oh, that honor student. You were so jealous of him. Your parents were praising him non-stop; what an annoying feeling that must have been—to have someone perfect in your very home, and seeing him every day. How did it feel when you pushed him off that cliff? That hiking trip was a lot of fun, eh?”
Riker’s eyes widened, and his psychotic mind turned inward to see the old images that he thought he had buried long ago. He saw himself on that bright summer day, as he and his nephew Gene ran ahead of their families. They came to a vista, looking out to a valley. There was nobody around, and Gene was mesmerized by the beautiful view. Gene climbed down from the trail to a lower ledge to get a better view. Riker followed him. Gene was preoccupied by the scenery—Riker h
esitated but slowly reached his hands out towards Gene's back. He couldn’t believe he was doing it, but then he pushed him forward, hard. He only heard Gene gasping––never screaming––then he was gone. He remembered himself screaming.
Riker stirred and his vision cleared again, and he saw himself a foot away from a zombie. Somehow, he had climbed down from the garbage container, and the zombies were surrounding him.
“Gene, I’m so sorry. Please take me, take me with you,” Riker said quietly. A pittance of a smile ran across his face. The shadows around him suddenly covered him, and he was swarmed by the zombies.
The queen chuckled. “That was quite impressive, my apprentice. I can see that you have learned so quickly. We should get going, or else Meredith will be our next visitor, and I suspect it won’t be as easy.”
“Too late—” Koda pointed at the sky. A large shadow floated down ten feet away from Maria.
It was Meredith carrying Elise. Meredith unfolded her body segments like an awakening centipede. There were numerous tentacles jostling from her head and razor-sharp claws around her neck.
“Looks like a family reunion here,” Meredith spat. Her eyes burned red as she scanned the party in front of her.
The queen breathed calmly. “So, you have found us. I see that you are using Elise to help your crippled mind. How long do you think you will live with that poison eating away at you from the inside?”
Meredith’s voice cracked in anger, “Long enough to eviscerate you and your dirty crew. Save your mind games; they won’t work on me. I can counterspell if you try to do anything funny with your lips. You’ve taken away my most precious thing in life, so now I will take away yours.” She released her grip on Elise and let her quietly land in the alley.
“Let’s not forget it was June who took Manfred,” the queen reminded her. “I was the one who actually allowed him to extend your life after your death. I trusted him as much as you loved him. He betrayed both of us, and left to be with June.”