Dark Side Darker

by Lucas T. Harmond

  Zackeriah’s eyes had grown black and yet a single beam of super intense white shone from their centres. “Then let him come!” he bellowed. “Malok screams for vengeance and in this way we leave victorious and not as snivelling dogs!”

  His sudden fury now exhausted, he simply slumped back to his chair. He turned back to Nickoloi, face suddenly beaming friendliness. “So tell me Nick, who do you think they’ll vote off next?”

  PICKING UP THE PIECES

  JOSH’S VISION SWAM. His head ached. He sat recovering in a large arm chair in the chaotic surroundings of McCalister’s living room. It seemed the worst of his trip was over. Rufus and Karen sat in quiet contemplation. Ian sat in front of a large whiskey, frowning. They had been talking for some time.

  “Drugs?” McCalister said, again. “This is really all about drugs?”

  None of the answers were coming easily. Ian was still having trouble accepting everything he was being told. To him it just didn’t fit. He failed to see the link between what he’d seen at 103 Longview and narcotics.

  After weeks of searching into similar cases for the most bizarre of explanations he found it difficult to accept that the answer could be found in something as mundane as drugs. No matter their source. Quite simply, drugs did not rip holes in the space-time continuum.

  “But I don’t understand. What I saw there was...” He searched for words that could accurately describe the scene he had witnessed and found there were none. Ian was visibly disturbed as he recalled the horrors of that night. He appeared close to breaking down. All that emotion, like a dam about to burst. He’d held so much in, for so long and with no one he could trust to share it with. Ever since his visit to 103 Long view, Ian’s life had fallen into quiet desperation and self-doubt. He struggled against it, choking it back and wiping silent tears from his eyes.

  “—it wasn’t of this Earth,” he finished quietly after a long period of silence.

  “Neither was what we saw at Rob’s flat!!!” Rufus almost shouted. He was smoking a cigarette from a badly shaking hand and his nerves were at their end. It was being shot at that had finally done it.

  Josh put down the beer he was drinking and turned to Ian seriously. “These aren’t normal drugs!” he told him. “Whatever these people are, wherever they come from, well, the drugs are from the same place!”

  Ian was still shaking his head and half laughed. “But drugs?”

  Josh reached inside his pocket, retrieving the film canister. “Here,” he said and threw the canister to Ian.

  Ian caught it shakily. “What’s this?”

  “Open it,” Josh told him.

  Ian popped the lid, looked inside, blinked and then looked back up. “Is this...?”

  Rufus was nodding. “Yep, that’s it, that’s Blue. That’s what this whole fuckin’ mess is about!”

  Ian was studying one of the remaining three capsules between his finger and thumb. He returned his attention to the group with a raised eyebrow. “Well I can tell you one thing, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’d love to get one of the lads down at the lab to take a look at this.”

  Josh looked up with fresh interest, his mind straight away turning to Sarah. “You could do that?”

  Ian grimaced. “Well it would be risky but yeah I think it could be done.”

  Josh barely heard. Labs meant analysis and analysis meant a cure. If there was one.

  “But it can be done?” he asked urgently.

  Ian considered. “If there’s a will, there’s a way lad.”

  Josh half-nodded and went back to worrying about Sarah. It was made worse by the fact he could still hear her screaming in the back of his mind and it didn’t end.

  “Oh Christ it feels like my brains gonna’ explode,” he murmured.

  Ian looked concerned. “This stuff’s pretty rough, huh kid?”

  Josh had returned his face to its resting position in his hands. His face was hidden by a curtain of mank hair. He didn’t look up when he spoke, but his voice clearly showed the strain. “Man it feels like everything’s playing backwards and that the whole world’s screaming inside my skull.” There was a brief pause while he thought how best to explain the sensation. “It’s like the universe is expanding inside my brain and everything’s some kind of weird psychic echo.” Another pause and he smirked to himself. “Most of all though it just hurts like a motherfucker!”

  Ian just stared at him for a length of time. “Jesus!” he said at last when all other words failed him.

  There was a look of troubled awe on Rufus’ face. “Dude, that’s real fucked up!”

  Karen only looked concerned. “Is it really that bad Josh?”

  Josh made a low laugh. “Huh. Worse!”

  There was a short silence which was broken by Ian. “Okay, say I accept that there are some kind of, I don’t know, demons and this rubbish here is their product, I still don’t see how any of this connects to the massacre I saw in Long view?”

  It was Karen who spoke. “You said that there was a girl with a hole inside of her right?” she questioned with her usual precision.

  There was a troubled look in Ian’s eyes, but he nodded anyhow. “It went nowhere.”

  “Well,” she continued. “I seem to remember Carthy saying something about them coming into this world somehow involving...”

  Ian cut her off. “You think that’s what it was? That that hole was some kind of gateway? Actually inside of her but leading somewhere else?”

  Karen nodded. “I’m sure he said something about people acting as gateways, so yes.”

  “A sort of wormhole,” Josh mumbled.

  Once more Ian was shaking his head. “But it’s all so incredible.”

  Josh laughed. “And your own conclusions detective?”

  He made a nodding gesture to Ian’s living room wall. It had been turned into a shrine to the bizarre and the unexplained. The whole of it was covered in cuttings from newspapers and magazines and over the top of that, a collection of post-its with hastily scrawled notes, diagrams and dates. The articles ranged from UFO reports down in Cornwall, to reported sightings of Satan, through to circles of light appearing around the world in people’s photographs after development. At the centre of all of this there was a map of Britain and pieces of coloured string—coloured depending on relevance— which lead to the location of each report.

  At a loss for any kind of lead, Ian had tried to find some kind of pattern. Maybe he hoped 103 Long view would be at the centre of a giant pentagram. Either way, it wasn’t and the only pattern was chaos.

  He caught Josh studying the wall. “After they threw me off the case I didn’t know what to do. But you don’t just forget something like that! How could you? So I just started collecting every strange event I could find, but none of the connections really fit. There has been a lot of weird things happening in our city, but that within itself didn’t lead me anywhere and its positioning was random.”

  “Oh, like that old lady who saw a monster in her garden?”

  Ian looked pleased, glad they were finally making progress. “Yes, and she was only one of many more, shall we say, less well-documented cases. In truth though, until Callum came through on the flat fire you mentioned I didn’t really have anything I could chase up at all. In truth you’re the first real leads I’ve had!” He paused and managed a slight laugh. “And drugs? Well, I would never have thought to look for a connection there! Who would?”

  Karen had been listening thoughtfully. “So what have we really got to go on?” she asked.

  Rufus looked up at Ian. “You say this flat fire’s being covered up? Who by?”

  Ian Spoke wearily. “One of my friends has been telling me about a lot of suits buzzing about the nick. Real high opinions of themselves apparently and none too eager to give out credentials!”

  Rufus only half-listened. “Well the way I got it figured is we’ve got the dealers, Carthy, these unknown assholes and us caught between them all. In short we’re fucked!”
>
  Ian shook his head. “It probably doesn’t have to be that complicated. I mean, now I know about the drugs link I should be able to get my man to get us any info’ we need. And if this Blue stuff is getting as big as you say, well, getting some lead of where it’s coming from shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  Rufus looked at Josh. “Josh, can Carthy find us, through you, I mean?”

  Josh looked solemn. After the worst of his trip he had finally found his senses returning to normal but he still felt dismayed and scared by everything he had experienced. He also had the terrible suspicion that not only might the Blue still be lying dormant somewhere in his system but that it may have also done something more permanent to his psyche. Something felt changed.

  “I honestly don’t know, Rufus,” he said. “I mean, I’d like to say everything will be alright but I don’t know his limitations... or mine,” he added.

  He paused for a long time. “The worst thing is I’ve got this dark suspicion that he could find me at any time he wants!”

  Ian was looking baffled. “This, Carthy... you say he can find you. How?”

  “Remote viewing,” Karen said knowingly and on seeing that Ian didn’t look any less confused, added. “He can look through space or something.”

  Ian shook his head once more. “Great! So is he dangerous?”

  Rufus and Josh exchanged glances.

  “Oh he’s dangerous!” said Rufus.

  “But to us?” Josh let his question trail into the air and shrugged.

  “So in essence, what you’re telling me is, you have no idea. Now you say he’s a cop or something and that you’ve seen him kill someone, supposedly one of these demons?”

  “That’s what he told us,” Josh said.

  “Josh thinks he’s lying though,” Karen added.

  Josh smirked. “I just started getting bad vibes about him. Right after he did open face surgery on that guy in the van, in fact. No emotion at all. He just flat out executed him! I mean, I don’t know how they do things in his world, but Jesus!”

  Rufus laughed suddenly and little too wildly, shocking them all. “I still can’t believe this shit is real. I mean it sounds like a bad episode of Buffy! Demons and fucking drugs!”

  “Hmmm,” Josh said at last. Then he stood up. “Well, I’m gonna’ check on Sarah.”

  She troubled him constantly. He spent every conversation anxiously waiting for a time when he could break away from it to go and check on her. Ever since their time at Carthy’s he’d been checking her frequently. Sitting beside her for hours, holding her hand and just staring sadly at her face. Praying she might suddenly stir and open her eyes. Her eyes and not those soulless pits of black.

  Ian rose too. “I think I’ll check on the lass with you lad. Then I think we should call it a night, I don’t see that there’s much more we can do tonight. In the morning I’ll phone Callum and see if he knows anything about this Blue stuff.” He turned to look back at Karen and Rufus. “I’d suggest you turn in for the night too, but you’re welcome to stay up and watch the television if you want. Right, any drink you want’s in the kitchen and there’s some blankets in the cupboard on the landing when you need them. And on that note I’ll bid you good night.” With that Ian walked from the room rubbing his stiff neck and shoulders.

  “Good night folks,” Josh said as he closed the door to the living room.

  Karen stopped him. “Will you be alright Josh?”

  Josh kind of half-shrugged. “Apart from the headache I feel fine. Just need some sleep. I think I’ll sleep in the spare room with Sarah tonight.”

  “Can you still hear people’s thoughts?” Rufus asked.

  “I can still feel people’s thoughts,” he replied. “But it’s not so intense now.”

  Rufus nodded. “Well, goodnight man.”

  “Yeah, see you in the morning. Sweet dreams,” Karen called after him.

  The door closed, leaving Karen and Rufus alone in the dimly lit living room.

  BREAKDOWN

  “DO YOU THINK HE’LL be alright? He’s been acting kinda’ strange.”

  “He’s been acting strange ever since this whole thing began,” Rufus said and stubbed out his cigarette.

  “How did we get involved in this?” Karen asked him.

  Rufus smiled in a pained way and slowly shook his head. “Honestly? I don’t know. I sort of feel like it all came looking for us. Still, can’t quit now.”

  Karen exhaled some smoke thoughtfully. “Suppose not,” she said, then looked him square in the eye. “You know, my father’s sounded absolutely frantic every time I’ve called him. Apparently the police keep calling. He practically begged for me to tell him where I was and I wanted to but...”

  Rufus nodded. “I haven’t phoned my parents yet but hell they’ll be used to that by now.” He sighed. “I’ll be glad when this whole thing’s over and Sarah’s—well when she’s alright and then we can all get back to normal.”

  Karen smiled. “Do you think that will be possible?”

  Rufus’ laugh turned into a spluttering cough. “Probably not,” he managed after a while.

  They were both silent for a time.

  “Some of what Josh has been saying, about voices I mean... is he just crazy, Rufus? When I talked with him back at his place he kept answering things I wasn’t saying. I mean at one point I thought I heard something, but this is real right? I mean, this is really happening right?”

  “You really doubting it? Even after you saw Sarah’s eyes? Carthy?”

  Karen shook her head. “I know how that sounds, but then look at the alternative. I mean how does the real story sound? Even less believable!”

  Rufus was quiet for a second while he decided whether or not to tell her about Cally.

  “Okay, I’m gonna’ tell you about what we saw at Rob’s flat. I’m going to tell you about Cally.”

  Karen instantly looked interested. “Who is she?” she asked.

  Rufus frowned. “She was, she was, just some chick from the rock scene some years back. you know, just one of these young girls who’s everywhere for a bit, then just seems to disappear. I guess they just get tired of pissing off mummy and daddy. Old story, you know.”

  Karen smiled and Rufus wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

  “Well that’s not the important thing—not anymore.” He hesitated. The next part was hard. “You ever see that movie, The Thing?”

  “No.”

  “That makes things a lot harder. Okay it’s about this alien, the Thing, right? Any how this thing doesn’t have any true form, it’s just this giant virus which absorbs everything it meets and can look like anything. you following?”

  “I guess.”

  “Well, most the time it’s just this giant mutant thing, with teeth and mouths all over it and tentacles sprouting from everywhere...” “Rufus, what are you telling me?” “That’s what we saw! That’s what this Blue shit had done to Cally! Turned her into the fuckin’ Thing!”

  “Are you serious? you saw that!?”

  “Yes, and that’s why I’m willing to believe everything since.”

  Karen was stunned. “Jesus,” she said at last. “And that’s what that stuff does? Why the fuck would anyone take it? And what about Josh?”

  “I think you have to take a lot. It does something to your head, wakes up the parts you don’t use. But that’s the danger I think. There’s things out there which can sense it.”

  Karen was shaking her head. “I don’t want to be involved with this! I’m scared fucking shitless. Monsters and trigger-happy secret organisations! I just want to go home.” She began to weep.

  Rufus put his arm around her and pulled her close. He stroked hair away from her face and just let her cry away on his shoulder for a while, saying nothing.

  “Oh Jesus, Rufus,” she said in between sobs. “I just want to go home.”

  “I know honey, I know.” He didn’t admit it, but he felt the same way.

  “It’s gonna’
be alright,” he said softly, and he believed it would. What he didn’t admit though, was that before it got better he felt things were going to get one hell of a lot worse.

  The silence that followed was not broken.

  VOICES IN THE DARK

  ‘JOSH?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘That is your name?’

  Josh woke with a start. Had he dreamed that voice?

  His vision swam. His head ached. He was sleeping in a chair next to Sarah’s bed. Must have fallen asleep while watching her and someone had laid a blanket over him. In the dark he listened to her quiet breathing.

  “Sarah?” He questioned softly as if not to wake her. There was no reaction.

  Had he really heard that voice?

  Sitting there in the pitch black room, unable to escape the quiet whispering in his head, Josh felt his dread return. A sensation welling up inside him like a storm of incredible violence. A storm which was fast approaching. And how could he dismiss such a feeling now? After all, his insight had proved itself right from the start. No, something terrible was about to happen and soon. He could feel it hum through the vibrations of his body, echo in the chambers of his mind. He was getting caught up in visions, obscure and terrible. Again he had seen Rufus die. Could he actually tell his friend this? Should he? Was it a mere dream or a vision?? It was this which troubled Josh the most. He felt like he was blindly marching Rufus towards his death but at the same time he didn’t know whether it could even be changed. And Sarah—if he stopped now??

  He felt as if he had no choice. That the script was already written and that he was just playing his part.

  He turned to look at her face in the dark. Her paleness showed clearly and her breathing was light.

  “Did you just speak?” he asked again. He wasn’t surprised that there was no answer.

  Josh sat glumly in the dark. knowing he would sleep no more that night.

  When the voice spoke again his heart missed a beat.

  ‘Yes!’

  It spoke from within his mind, a soft whispering voice and he jumped.