by Alexie Aaron
They had come to a T. The transecting hall went north and south. The floor was recently swept, a strong indication that they were on the right track, but made it impossible to pick up any trail. John split the group in two. He took the two ghost hunters, and Tom paired up with Mia who would be accompanied by Murphy.
Tom and Mia went north. Murphy moved ahead of them, weaving in and out of the walls, checking the rooms before they passed them. Soon they were at a dead end. Murphy moved through the wall. Mia touched Tom’s arm and whispered, “Wait.”
Murphy came back and shook his head. The three of them quickly backtracked. Mia touched her earpiece. “Ted, tell the guys that we reached a dead end and are coming up behind them quickly.”
“Done and done,” Ted said and relayed the information.
Burt nodded at Mike and said quietly, “John, Tom and Mia are coming up behind us, don’t shoot.”
He soon heard their footfalls.
Tom reported, “Dead end.”
John nodded and they continued on. Soon the flooring became cracked and sloped downward. The last few rooms were more stud and wire than walls. The corridor emptied into an open space. The low ceiling and wide expanse made the area quite dark. The team took out their flashlights, but the beams barely cut into the darkness.
Mia saw a flash of green and remembered the glow sticks. “Everyone, turn off your lights.” She walked forward and pointed out the dancing tubes of green in the northeast corner. She also sensed that the floor wasn’t right.
“The girls are there.” She pointed and warned, “I think the floor is booby-trapped. Let Murphy check.”
Mia nodded to Murphy, and he proceeded to take a straight line to the girls. He was soon swallowed by the darkness. All Mia could do was wait for him to return. The seconds seemed like hours. They stood still, not wanting to attract attention or scare the girls. Soon Murphy was back. He stood in front of Mia and moved his hand this way and that. “Murphy wants you to follow him. Since I can see him I will guide you.”
“Go ahead,” John said, stepping aside and added, “Be careful.”
Mia nodded for Murphy to begin. She walked behind him until he stopped and pointed. Mia shined her light at the floor. There wasn’t any, just an exposed well of some kind. “Major drop off here. I’m turning right,” she informed them. She walked a few steps and, per Murphy’s instructions, stopped and resumed her eastward trip.
Carefully, the group snaked single file behind her until they came to a wall of barred cells.
Mia called softly, “Alice, Doreen.” She heard tiny gasps. She repeated, “Alice, Doreen.”
“Here, we’re down here,” Doreen said.
“Wave your glow sticks out the bars so I can find you.”
To Mia’s left there were instantly two dancing green tubes.
“I see you. I have lots of help. Don’t be afraid,” Mia cooed as she moved closer to the lights. She trained her flashlight on the floor and was pleased to see it intact. She stopped in front of the dancing tubes. “I’m going to shine my light on you, close your eyes so you don’t see spots,” she instructed.
Mia shone the lights into a cell where two little children had been caged like animals. There was a bucket, she assumed, for them to pee in. No water, no food, no blanket to keep them warm. There was a rickety bench and a pile of used glow sticks. Mia found the door and was upset to find it locked. She shook it in frustration.
John was right behind her. “Keep them occupied while Tom and I deal with this door,” he ordered.
“Doreen, is Alice okay?”
“Yes, miss, she just doesn’t want to break Rita’s rules and talk.”
“I understand.”
“Did you see Melanie? She went away with the tall man but didn’t come back.”
“Melanie helped us find you. She went to get something to eat. I bet you’re hungry. “
“Yes, miss.”
John and Tom pulled up hard on the bars of the door sharply again and again until they felt the old rusty locking mechanism give. The door fell off its hinges and clattered to the floor. The noise echoed through the dark chamber.
“Quickly come here!” Mia urged the girls. She held her flashlight over her head and pointed down so the girls could see her.
Out of the gloom ran Doreen and Alice. They were holding hands. Alice had only one shoe on, and on the other foot she was wearing a larger sock. Mia looked down and saw that Doreen only had one sock and both her shoes. She smiled at the eight-year-old. “You did well, Doreen. We have to be very quiet and very fast. Is it okay if my friends Mike and Burt carry you?”
“Dunno. Rita says to not to talk to strangers and don’t let go of hands,” Doreen informed Mia.
“You don’t have to talk to them, but you do have to let go of hands, just for a little while,” Mia said firmly.
“Yes, miss.”
Mia bent down and picked up Alice and handed her to Mike. “This is Mike, Alice, he smells good. He’s been on TV.”
Mike felt the little girl’s arms go around his neck, and he smiled as she smelled him.
Burt came forward and turned around so the older girl could ride piggy back. “Doreen, this is my friend Burt. He smells like donuts and will never let you fall,” Mia said, her voice trailing off.
“Time to get going. Mia, lead us out of here,” John ordered.
Mia followed Murphy, and the group made it safely to the other side. Mia felt a set of eyes on her but couldn’t tell if they were corporal or not. She stood aside and let John take the lead once again. As Tom brought up the rear, she stopped him.
“Something’s out there. Not sure what.” Mia turned and softly called, “Murphy.”
Murphy appeared.
“I feel eyes on me. From there,” Mia explained pointing to the southwest corner.
Murphy left. He returned, and with him was a very frightened Rita.
“Hello Rita,” Mia whispered. “We have your sisters. Follow us.”
Tom shook his head and waited until Mia moved forward before taking up the rear position.
They had made the T and took the main corridor to the right when they heard over John’s com. “Elevator is moving. Going up.”
The group picked up their pace.
“Elevator passing third floor.”
John jogged ahead. Mike and Burt moved as quick as they safely could in the dark carrying their precious cargo.
“Elevator going down.”
“We have to make the stairs. The elevator opens up into this corridor,” Mike informed the others. He was panting but still moving fast.
“Elevator passing second floor.”
The group made the stairs. Burt and Mike would need time to safely climb the stairs. After that run, they were tired but determined. Rita moved after them. Tom and John stood ready to take on Karl.
Mia was more worried about the orderlies. She made a decision. She sat on the floor next to the stairs and bilocated out of her body. She transformed herself into Alice in Wonderland, gowned in a blue dress, white pinafore and shiny white shoes. Her hair was long and blonde, she let it shine. Mia moved past the unknowing Tom, turned and centered herself in the corridor, so she was the first thing the orderlies would see when the elevator doors opened. Murphy nodded and moved down the hall.
“Elevator passing first floor.”
John and Tom moved backwards out of sight.
A clang of metal announced the elevator. The doors opened. Karl lumbered out. He didn’t see her but the two thugs behind him did. “There’s a girl, Karl,” DeMarco hissed.
“Get her!” commanded Karl as he walked out of the elevator.
Mia floated backward as DeMarco walked towards her. She lured him down the hall away from Karl.
“Stay right there! Don’t move!” John shouted at Karl.
Karl spun around to face him. He was surprised to see the law officer, but not worried. “Kill him,” he ordered the remaining orderly.
John felt a
rush of cold wind, and found himself knocked on his backside, his weapon wrenched from his grasp.
Tom witnessed John go flying. “Stand still, and put your hands up!” he ordered Karl.
Karl did a double take and spun and looked at Tom. “No,” he said firmly. “Jones, help me.”
Tom felt a rush of wind, and soon he was grappling with the air in front of him. He felt large hands at his neck.
John regained his feet and ran towards Tom, who was gasping for air. He launched himself at the space in back of his deputy. Whatever it was, it felt solid to John. The entity twisted, and he lost his hold. John was thrown off and went sliding away from Tom. He landed near Mia. He shook her with one hand, and she didn’t respond. Undaunted, he reached behind her and drew from her back the sawed-off shotgun. “Close your eyes, son, this is going to hurt,” he warned Tom before firing the gun at the air in front of him.
Tom’s body convulsed as the rock salt peppered his right side. His attacker lost hold, and Tom could now breathe, although he was in considerable pain.
Karl was horrified as he watched his bodyguard dissolve in agony. He ran back into the elevator and closed the doors.
John moved quickly to aid his deputy. He got him to his feet and struggled to the stairway. Out of the darkness hands came to take Tom’s body from him. Whit looked at Tom and asked, “Whatcha doing?”
“Our boss shot me.”
“You probably deserved it.”
“Elevator passing first floor.”
Whit hit his com. “We need an EMT. Two officers down.”
“Elevator passing second floor,” Butch reported.
“Butch, if you can hear me, get your ass down here and bring the statey on the first floor with you.”
Whit moved Tom to the stairwell. He leaned him against the wall and walked over to help John to his feet. That’s when he noticed Mia’s body.
“Elevator passing third floor.”
He fell to his knees. He put his hand to her throat and felt a strong pulse. He didn’t see any bruising and, aside from the wedge the removal of the shotgun had given her, she seemed fine. “Hell of a time to bilocate, dear.”
Chapter Ten
Mia skipped down the hall, keeping her position just ahead of her pursuer. Ghosts moved fast, but bilocaters could move twice as fast.
“Come here girl,” the orderly said. “I won’t hurt you.”
Mia continued to skip.
BLAM!
Mia heard a blast and saw the elevator doors close at the end of the hall. The entity heard the sound too and turned, puzzled.
“Mister, I’m lost and can’t find my way home,” Mia called in a little girl’s voice.
The orderly turned back and looked at her.
Mia stood still smiling at the T at the end of the hall. She giggled and batted her eyes. “Which way should I go?”
The orderly growled and started in her direction fast. Mia ran north, and as the entity turned the corner. Murphy cleaved him in two. The entity dissipated.
Mia mimed a toss on a hop scotch game. And hopped down the hall.
“Mia Cooper, stop playing ghost, and get your ass home!” Mia heard Whit shout down the hall.
She looked at Murphy and he said, “Daddy’s calling.”
Mia morphed back into herself and reached out a hand to Murphy. He grasped it. To each it felt like holding wood. The physics were still not right for a bilocater and a ghost. They shrugged but continued to hold hands as they made their way quickly up the hall.
Mia moved past a very angry Whit and into her body. Murphy skirted the rock salt on the floor carefully and stood guard at the stairwell.
Mia moaned as she opened her eyes.
Whit’s face was in hers. “Whatcha doing?”
“I can explain.”
He picked her up and set her on her feet. She stamped each foot several times. She looked around her and asked. “The girls, did they make it?”
“The girls are safe and being driven to the Harbin County Hospital.”
“Why is Tom bleeding all over his new uniform?”
“The sheriff shot him.”
Mia looked down at John, and he nodded.
“With your shotgun,” Whit added.
“Allegedly,” John added.
“Where’d the shotgun come from?”
“Hypothetically?”
“I give up,” Whit moved to the stairs. “What the hell took you so long,” he greeted Butch and the state patrolman.
“Stairs,” Butch said, trying to catch his breath.
“You’ll have to excuse him, he’s always grumpy after a nap,” Mia explained to Butch and the state patrolman.
“EMTs five minutes out,” Ted’s voice came over Mia’s earpiece and Whit’s com.
“Get Tom up the stairs and out of the building,” John ordered from the floor. Whit and the young patrolman crossed their arms and made a seat. They scooped Tom up and started up the stairs.
Mia squatted down by the sheriff. “You want to tell me the extent of your injuries?”
“Old age and maybe a broken rib.”
“I had that recently, that’s going to hurt for some time. Fly fishing’s out for a while,” Mia sympathized.
“Guess so. Mind if we discuss this on our way up. I don’t much like the atmosphere. We didn’t kill those things did we?”
“Oh no. They’ll be back. We did get the girls out though.”
Butch helped John to his feet. John tested out his knees. “I think I can climb. Thank you, son.” Mia gave him her elbow, and John held on to it with one hand and the rail with the other. They took one step at a time. “Mind telling me what you were doing while I was giving you a wedgie?”
“So you’re the one. I thought it was Whit.”
“He wouldn’t do that?”
“Did it twice in grade school.”
“Naughty boy.” John coughed and wheezed, “That hurt.”
“I’m thinking you have more than one rib broken.”
“I think you may be right. Proceed with your tale.”
“What about the deputy behind us?”
“He can’t use it against you if you use the word…”
“Hypothetically,” Mia said and smiled. She took her time telling him of her and Murphy’s adventure with the orderly. She embellished a little, but it made the story more fun to tell. She had finished her story as they made the landing.
Whit met her there with two fresh state policemen. They carried John upstairs. Butch sighed and followed them.
Mia looked at the last flight of stairs and groaned. “Who do you have to shoot to get a lift up them there stairs?”
“Mia, I’m sorry,” Whit said as they started to climb. “I don’t know what happened earlier. I just lost it.”
“You think you’re messed up. I fainted, right into the arms of my former lover. Fuck me and leave me a rose, did it have to be him?”
Whit snorted. “I’m surprised he caught you.”
“So is everyone. If I were betting, I wouldn’t have put my money on it,” Mia said amused. “Beth took good care of you.”
“I guess in the beginning, but afterwards she came back and shook me until my eyes rolled. Told me to get my ass down there and help you out.”
“Really, I wouldn’t have put my money on that either.”
“I know, she seems like such a nice young lady,” Whit gushed.
“Stop it,” Mia said as they took the last step.
“Stop what?”
“Shit stirring.”
“Me?”
Mia laughed. “Who’s the OIC when John’s out of commission?”
“Tom.”
“And when Tom is peppered with salt?”
“Me.”
“Heaven help us.”
“Hey, I’m a law enforcement professional.”
Mia just looked at him. “Well, we still have a suspect loose on the fourth floor. Two entities building power, ef knows where, and my tru
ck is stuck to the axels in mud.”
“How did you know that?”
“Murphy. He gets around.”
“He certainly does.”
“Your truck is now part of Americana. Some virtuous soul will find it one day and plant geraniums in the truck bed.”
“I like geraniums,” Mia said. “So, now we’ve sorted the truck. Do we have time for the murderous bastard? His minions?”
“Sheriff Ryan is looking for Deputy Martin,” Ted’s voice came over Whit’s com.
“Martin here,”
“Martin here,” Ted countered. “Sheriff Ryan requests you to stop flirting with girls and get your sorry ass to the EMT truck, pronto.”
“Ah, heavy is the crown…” Mia smirked and watched as Whit ran through the lobby, heading for the door. Mia looked around her and smiled at the axe-wielding farmer. He smiled back. “I’m hungry. Wanna come and watch me eat?”
Murphy patted his stomach, pointed at Mia, and patted his hips.
“I believe you just insulted me. I am not fat, just curvy.”
Murphy slapped his thigh and laughed.
“I never,” Mia said and turned heel and walked out the door.
Mike waved at Mia from the plastic tent and urged her to come over. She turned around and looked behind her and saw no one. She placed her hand on her chest. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” he said with an edge.
“K,” Mia said. She walked over. “Hey there, Mike. You wanted to talk to me?”
“Why do you always make things so difficult?”
“Oops sorry, you read the wrong line. Burt frustrated by Mia’s lack of direction says...”
“Okay, I get the point. I wanted to find out what you saw down there when the elevator opened.”
“Two behemoths dressed like orderlies and Karl the human.”
“So we only have two ghosts to deal with?”
“Don’t ease back yet. They are strong enough to break all a teenager’s bones before snapping her neck. One took on John Ryan and Tom. The other Murphy chopped in two, but he had surprise on his side. Remember the berserkers at Lucky’s?”