by Deryck Jason
Oates’ breathing was the rhythm of the office. He had gotten over the initial agony of his injury but it still ached. His breathing was to control his pain and it was gruff. If it was a cut he could wrap something around it but it wasn’t. There was nothing he could do right now about his injury. So he sat against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him, his pulsing breathing kept everyone from falling asleep but no one would say anything to him. How could they?
So they sat, scattered around the office, waiting for the next step.
CHAPTER 46
Connor Williams was not sleeping but he was also not aware of his surroundings. All his attention was on what was going on in Staunton, he was controlling the dolls individually and he loved it. A storm could have been raging inside his room and he would not have noticed. No, he was having too much fun. His father’s death would soon be avenged and then some. He did not know what he would do when he was finished but he knew it would be soon. The group was getting weaker and it would only be a matter of time before all this would be over.
Connor did not want this to end. While he did enjoy particular pleasure in taking life, his main thrill came from the fear these creatures instilled in their victims. He loved the tense moments, which derived from a person, when they were unable to define the feeling in their gut. The feeling that told them something was watching them, something inhuman, the feeling he would miss when this was all over. In his semi-conscious state, his mind analyzed these thoughts, trying to decide his next course after this was all over with. Maybe he could speak to “The Eye”, the one who so eagerly nurtured his destructive side to see if he could start work on another “mission” after this one. Maybe he would be allowed to become some kind of permanent vigilante, controlling other dolls to inflict harm on others who were deemed worthy of death. The child’s mind pondered such despicable yet equally attainable thoughts, whilst not losing focus of his goal ahead of him.
CHAPTER 47
Sitting in front of so many cables and wires coming in and out of his wife, Doctor Crass couldn’t help but be upset. Vigilantly he waited, holding her hand tenderly. She had not been responding to his voice. Apart from the steady beep of the heart monitor beside the bed Crass had only his own thoughts to keep him company. The pain in his body still lingered but it was small in the bigger picture. He did not believe Connor Williams was to blame for all of this even though he knew he was the only one who didn’t. The boy was sick, plain and simple. It was Crass’s job to ensure he got better, his and MacNamee’s and (to a lesser extent) Frieda’s. As he looked at his wife he knew he would not be able to continue treating the boy but he certainly felt no ill will against him. He was unsure he could vouch the same for MacNamee. So far they had failed, all of them.
Crass’s thoughts turned to Frieda and the strange message he had given him. The old doctor wondered if he would act on his fears, he wondered if he would actually follow through on his threat and visit Hallcombes. He had never heard Frieda talk like that before so something must definitely have been wrong.
Duty was the word on his mind right now despite everything. He knew that the longer he stayed here, with his beloved, the longer he had to worry about what was going to happen at his hospital. With a kiss to his devoted wife’s hand; he quietly left. His instincts told him what was going to happen tonight and he knew what he had to do.
CHAPTER 48
“They’re picking us off one by one.”
Tony repeated his earlier statement, layering his words heavily over the sound of Oates’ breathing. Anne looked up at him; she had had quite enough of Tony Oates already, and the night wasn’t nearly over yet. Tony scowled back at her, spotting her glare even in the dim light. He got to his feet and continued talking.
“How can you say I’m wrong now huh? After what just happened? At least the cops signed up for this.”
His total lack of respect caused a reaction in Jacobs. Jolting up from the couch he landed a straight right straight to the larger man’s jaw before he even knew what was going on. The punch put Tony straight on the floor and he didn’t dare retaliate. He had seen the fury of Jacobs and he knew that even despite his size difference, he was no match for the sergeant.
“You ignorant fuck!”
Jacobs pointed and yelled at him furiously.
“You’re the reason this is all happening! It’s your fault people dead.”
Calming down only slightly Jacobs lowered his tone.
“None of us signed up for this, but because of you, we’re probably all going to die tonight.”
Tony looked away sheepishly.
“I would kill you myself…” continued Jacobs “…But I’m pretty sure the boy is looking forward to that honor.”
Jacobs stared at Tony in disgust for a moment before Anne asked MacNamee a question, causing him to turn around.
“What is it Doctor? What do you see?”
MacNamee peered through the keyhole in the door. Light filtering through highlighted dust particles, but with a gentle blow MacNamee cleared them from his vision.
“I’m not sure” he responded quietly “But they’re up to something…”
Through the keyhole MacNamee watched Dummy throw paper files at the door while Basket sat on a desk watching. The two smaller dummies were breaking wood off desks and piling it up against the door.
“Oh shit!” MacNamee exclaimed “I think they’re trying to burn us out.”
“What?” asked Jacobs.
Outside, Basket flicked open a lighter. After watching the flame for a few moments he laughed out loud and dropped down from the desk he was sitting on. He continued laughing while lighting the paper. In the office, the group could hear that dreaded laughter. The relative safety of the office was now gone, the laugh re-instilled them with fear. As black smoke started to wisp under the door the group started to panic. MacNamee and Anne both looked at Jacobs who was simply staring at the door oozing smoke. Tony had gotten back to his feet and was watching the sergeant, waiting for him to save them. The sight of the smoke had solidified the feeling of lost hope in all of them.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Oates’ words from the floor startled the group as it had nothing to do with the smoke.
“What? Who?” MacNamee asked confused
“Why’s he so quiet?”
MacNamee could not answer Oates’ question from the floor, as he did not know whom the Sheriff was talking about.
“Who? What’s wrong with who?”
Oates groaned in pain and pointed across at Brian.
“Him!”
Brian sat on the floor with his knees to his chest and his jacket over him. His eyes were closed tight.
“He must be asleep”
MacNamee responded quickly without thought and turned back towards Jacobs.
“Through this?”
Oates’ question annoyed MacNamee because he thought they had more important things to worry about than whether Brian was awake or not. Anne took charge of the situation.
“Of course he’s asleep! Bastard doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”
She knelt down beside him.
“Brian, wake up!”
After receiving no response she slapped him a little but still nothing happened.
“Jesus Christ, fucking wake up!”
Taking him by the shoulders she shook him hard. His body was light; when she stopped shaking him he slowly toppled over onto his front. Anne jumped up in fright. Hastily she grabbed the desk lamp and shone it on top of him. His entire back was like an excavation site and the soldiers continued digging. Blood covering the floor was mostly draining through a hole in the floorboards. Entire chunks of his flesh were missing. Despite the light, the half dozen soldiers did not stop working on him. Matthew and Tony cried out in unison as Anne dropped the lamp to the table and started batting the little green men off of her ex’s back. MacNamee came across and started stamping on them as they tried to scamper off. Tony, Mat
thew and Anne joined in, stamping furiously, crushing the little men under their feet as the smoke continued to build up in the room.
“Fucking Christ!” Matthew screamed “What now?”
“We could go out the window!” Tony called back in panic.
“No!” Oates’ voice boomed “the point of coming here was to keep these creatures here. If we leave then others will die!”
“We don’t have any other choice!” Spluttered Tony as the smoke got to his lungs. “We’re fucking dead here!”
“I’ve had enough of this”
Jacobs’ first words in a few minutes silenced the room. The words silenced Tony quickest as he thought Jacobs was really going to kill him this time. But the sergeant was still staring at the door.
“What Jacobs?”
MacNamee wanted to know what he meant. Jacobs simply whispered the words:
“No more hiding…”
Militantly, Jacobs raised his shotgun and started powering towards the door.
“Jacobs don’t!”
MacNamee’s cry was too late. With one hefty boot, Jacobs burst open the office door, sending blazing wood and papers everywhere. Stepping out into the open, taking aim at a caught-off-guard Basket, Jacobs smiled devilishly and squeezed the trigger.
CHAPTER 49
Click. Click. Click click click. Jacobs never realized he had emptied the shotgun already, if he had he would have reloaded. Jacobs’ smile faded as the clown simply looked back at him and grinned. Barging past, Anne did have rounds in her shotgun and she wanted to use them. Basket had to dive to safety as she fired her first round. The recoil pushed the barrel back and up, clipping Anne’s forehead but she didn’t feel any pain, her adrenaline was superseding that. Instead, she learned from her first shot and tried to put what little weight she had into each blast to counter the recoil. Jacob’s reloaded furiously as MacNamee ushered the two very reluctant friends out into the fray. Once he had he turned to Oates.
“Want me to help you up?”
“No, I’ll stay here with the girl.”
MacNamee nodded and burst out into the main room to join the firefight.
The dolls, under the control of Connor had been opportunistic and smart. They had removed those who had weapons training first. Only Jacobs was still standing, with Oates effectively out of the picture for now, his role having been reduced to child protection.
Across in the city Connor Williams smirked. He was still very much in control and he was now more focused than he ever had been previously. He knew this was the end. With a simple thought he pushed the next move through to his dolls.
One of the small ventriloquist dummies sprinted out from behind a chair straight towards MacNamee. Jacobs was the first to spot it and open fire, followed Anne. Then they all started firing together. This would not have happened if any of them besides Jacobs had any experience whatsoever. After less than ten seconds the little dummy was completely destroyed but only Jacobs realized what was happening when it was too late to do anything about it. Connor’s message was for an attack based on a distraction and the little dummy was sacrificed as the distraction. Basket, on all fours bounded towards Jacobs, leaping and scoring his claws down the sergeant’s chest. Dummy came from the other side of the room and in one lunging move, smacked Tony’s gun out his hand while winding Matthew with his wooden elbow. Dummy turned and uppercutted Tony hard, causing the big man to bite off most of his tongue. As Jacobs fought the pain on the floor, Basket grabbed hold of Anne’s shotgun firmly, comically trying to wrestle it out of her hands. MacNamee was at first confused on whom to help first but he quickly made the decision to help Anne. He turned to fire at Basket but the second smaller Dummy lunged at him, causing him to miss his target. The smaller Dummy kept MacNamee busy while the others did their work. Tony ambled around in agony, the blow to the head made him dizzy and confused. He tried to escape the carnage by moving away but he was stumbling terribly. Basket was continuing his tug-o-war with Anne as she whipped the gun from side to side, trying to get it behind the maniac clown. With a huge tug she pulled Basket onto a desk, jerked the gun back and rammed it into his soft stomach. Something caught her eye as she squeezed the trigger but she couldn’t stop to see what it was. The blast halted everything for just a moment. A large hole in the clown’s stomach gave her an excellent view of what she had just done. Basket, unhurt, turned his head to see a headless Tony Oates falling to his knees. MacNamee was the only one who saw it happen. Matthew and Jacobs were on the ground. With no time for the shock to sink it, MacNamee kept fighting and Anne reloaded. Basket dived behind a desk before Anne could get a second round off. Chunky blood decorated the temporary walls surrounding Tony’s body. With a quick glance down, Anne felt no remorse for what she had done.
“No more than you deserve!”
She spoke quietly. It was an accident, but in her mind, not an unfortunate one. With Matthew still on the ground Dummy surveyed the room. His smaller cohort was keeping the doctor occupied and Jacobs was just slowly getting to his feet. Anne was his target right now; she had his back to him, searching for Basket with the shotgun at the ready. Slipping up behind her he wrenched her back towards the ground hard causing her to lose grip of her weapon. Quickly she tried to get back up but Dummy had other ideas. He charged at her, ramming his shoulder into her gut. Lifting her off the ground he kept running, letting her go at the top of the stairs to the basement. Jacobs watched her get flung down the stairs like a rag doll but he could do nothing to help. Basket was on top of him now and he was fighting for his life.
CHAPTER 50
The grounds of the old building were vast; sparse trees dotted a landscape that seemed to go on for miles. A car pulled up beside a large elm only a hundred meters from the dumpsters at the back entrance. Dawn wasn’t far away but it was still too early for the garbage men. After exiting the vehicle, the figure moved swiftly across the yellowish green grass, hopped the fence and slinked into the caged area near the fire escape. A skilled knowledge of the building allowed the man to enter through one of the fire exits. He knew the orderlies always made sure this door was not connected to the alarm system so they could slip out for cigarettes without the doctors knowing. Once he opened the back door he was confronted by a dark set of stairs. A knowledgeable hand flipped a switch, flicking on lights like falling dominoes down the stairs and off away from his immediate sight. The man walked down the stairs. The long hallways lined with various colored pipes were similar in length to the long hallways above. Gas, water, electricity, telephone and internet were all fed into the building from here and all had a different pipe or cable. He wasn’t entirely sure which way to go from down here so he kept his eyes out for directions. All the signs down here were faded. Stickers had been put on the walls years ago to help guide the few who frequented the underbelly but, a combination of time and dampness had all but destroyed them. It was a struggle for him to read some of the signs now but he did through sheer determination. These catacombs reminded him of the sewers he had seen on movies. Normally meticulously clean, the very state of things down here made him feel ill. Having to be down here only fuelled his anger, driving him on, pushing him forward. He turned right down a short intersection, read a sign and turned left. Then he read another sign and made another right. There wasn’t even a strong odor of anything down here, there was just so much dampness and so many cobwebs that he thought there was. He wretched. He stopped; bent over in the corridor and wretched. His brain was telling him there was smell and it was foul. After bringing nothing up but a bad taste he wiped his mouth, swallowed back down some of the taste and moved forward. On the wall there was a greenish, half peeled sign that told him his destination was just up ahead.
CHAPTER 51
The room was dark when she opened her eyes. Lying face down on the dirty brick floor Anne felt pain all over her body. Her left arm was numb; she couldn’t move it at all. Using every muscle she could muster she pushed herself over onto her back. She gently gritted he
r teeth then, with her tongue she checked to see if she had lost any. She hadn’t. Anne could not remember the last time she cried. These creatures attacked her and killed people right in front of her, not to mention the fact that they forced her to take a life (even if it was Tony Oates) but still, she was not about to let them see her cry. Only once that happened would she truly be beaten. With her right arm she pushed her way to her knees. When she sat up she realized she must have bruised or perhaps even broken a rib or two in her felt because breathing was painful for her. Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. Only a little light came from the staircase and she was not aware that the switches were only a few feet away from her. In this unique and deadly situation she had never found herself in before, her normal thoughts did not come into play right now. Looking for a light switch should have been the priority but it wasn’t. Self-preservation was. She used her good arm to sweep the floor in the darkness. It was after almost a full minute of searching did she remember her shotgun was not with her when she was thrown down the stairs so it was extremely pointless searching for it.
“Shit!”
She hissed aloud as soon as the realization hit her.
“Anne…”
Brian’s voice echoed hauntingly around her ears.
“Brian?”
She perked up, confused.
“Is that you?”