Shifter

by John Sharp

  ****

  It takes four days to finally get something and I had grown dull from boredom. I had even taken to reading the tabloids to pass the time. The front cover of yesterday’s issue read, ‘Zombies rise at Morgue Flipping off Doctors.’ I begin to worry that my brilliant plan was a dud after all, but just as my hope is failing Brick appears. He seems ecstatic, as if his dreams of becoming a real private eye had come true.

  “We got them!” He declares.

  “Great,” I say, jumping up off the bed where I had been dozing with Whisper. I stretch, rubbing my eyes and yawning loudly.

  “Where?” I ask, reaching for a disposable cell phone lying on top of the old white nightstand near the bed with Sarah’s business card next to it.

  “It’s complicated. Have Sarah come over so I can explain just once,” I nod and make the call.

  Thirty-four minutes later there’s a loud pounding on my motel door. The room is cramped yet as clean as I could make it despite living here for over a week. My meager possessions are neatly organized around the room in a manner that would even impress an anal-retentive librarian. My need to maintain order and cleanliness is as strong as ever. At least it renders last second clean up before company comes over irrelevant. Moving to the front door I do a quick glance out the window, confirming Sarah’s identity before letting her in. Sarah isn’t trying to be nondescript today. Dressed in a nice blue coat with the word POLICE stenciled on the back in bold yellow font she wears nice, professional clothes underneath that could be described as office casual, minus the gun under her arm of course. I think she just came from a crime scene for her face is a mask of suppressed rage that makes me want to confess all of my sins before she can explode at me.

  “What do you have?” She asks, taking a seat on the bed and taking a long sip from an alarmingly large coffee mug.

  “Not sure yet. Brick wanted to wait until you got here,” I reply.

  “You don’t know yet?” She barks angrily at me. The noise disturbs Whisper who was still napping on the bed. He raises his head, giving Sarah what could only be called a ferret scowl. Whisper might like Sarah but he wouldn’t tolerate anyone mistreating me. Shocked at her response I flinch away. A look of hurt must have crossed my features for her face immediately softens.

  “Sorry,” she mutters. “I was just at another vision death scene. It was bad. Some mother OD and ate her two kids. Bits were everywhere and she was still eating when we arrived.” Her face visibly darkens at the memory. She looks both disgusted and angry at the same time.

  “That’s horrible,” Whisper says and I nod my agreement.

  “A practical use for children as appetizers!” My shadow laughs and I throw him an angry look but don’t respond.

  “Let’s listen to Brick and perhaps we can do something about it today,” I say, reaching for her arm. I gently touch her arm and in a blink I have shifted her. Having experienced this several times now she knows what to expect and doesn’t flinch at my shadow’s silhouette leaning against the wal,l leering at her. She moves quickly to Brick’s grinning face above the bed.

  “Hello, fair lady Sarah,” Brick says, giving her a long exaggerated wink.

  “Hi Brick, please tell me you have something I really need it.” The urgent need in her voice must have impressed upon him the importance of the situation. He gives a single nod before sinking into the wall. A moment later he reappears with another face. I’ve never seen one of Brick’s kind show any fear or concern. Life is a game to them, being able to hide in walls offers great protection, yet this one is. It’s female, with a short button nose and a wide mouth that stretches all the way across her face with a few missing teeth, but it’s her topaz colored eyes that tell me she’s afraid… terrified even.

  “Tell them,” Brick tells her.

  “We did like you asked, following and observing everyone at the station. I was following an older man by the name of James Standworth with four others.” The female face says and Sarah inhales sharply but does not interrupt. “Early today he got a cell phone call that made the color drain from his face like he was just told of his own imminent death. He immediately dropped everything, going to his car and we joined him.”

  “You can go in cars?” I ask.

  “Yes, it’s uncomfortable but we can travel around easier that way,” Brick says.

  The female face nods in agreement. “He did a short drive to a warehouse near the station.” Sarah’s eye narrowed, no doubt thinking the same thing I was, the same place as her disastrous raid.

  “We tried to enter the building when it happened. Some kind of energy pulse, shifting all those caught in the walls into a different reality. The others were taken and I luckily managed to avoid it. After that I fled, looking for Brick. Something bad is happening.”

  Yes, something bad indeed. “Sarah,” I say. “Take me to this warehouse. I need to see it.”

  “There’s nothing there. All empty,” she counters.

  “No. I need to SEE it,” I emphasize and her eyes widen, arriving at the same conclusion I had.