Nightwalk

by D. Nathan Hilliard

  As we drew closer, it became obvious she had called it right. The blue glow separated into dots, and then became small flower shaped points of light before they started to dim in the greater glow of the approaching lantern. As our circle of light reached the patch in the street, it revealed a mass of what appeared to be ivy covered with pale flowers.

  The patch of vegetation spanned about six or seven feet in diameter. A thin train of vines ran from it, across the asphalt, then up over the curb to a much larger mass in the yard facing the street. The strange flowers gave the usually well groomed setting a disused and overgrown look, adding to the deserted feel of the area.

  At least the patch in the road lay fairly close to the right side, meaning it would be easy to walk around. Which suited me fine since I intended to give it a wide berth. It had a certain mounded shape to it, giving me the uncomfortable impression of a fresh burial.

  As it turned out, that impression was more accurate than I imagined.

  We had moved to the other side of the street and started the process of proceeding onward, when a low moan rose from the floral clump.

  “Uncle Ed, did you hear that?!”

  “I heard it.” He stopped and eyed the mass. “I’m just not sure what I heard.”

  Personally, I knew exactly what I had heard. I only wished I hadn’t heard it. Because the idea of somebody being caught under that pile raised all kinds of horrific possibilities, and it would also mean we would have to stop and try to help. And doing so would mean involving ourselves in a threat we didn’t understand…and a threat that had already taken down a human being.

  Even as I realized this, another moan came forth and this time the mass shifted slightly as well.

  Crap.

  “There’s somebody under there.” Casey squinted at the mound.

  “I think you’re right, Dodger.”

  “It sounded like a woman,” she continued. “or maybe a kid.”

  “I think it’s a woman,” Ed replied.

  “We’ve got to help her, Uncle Ed!”

  Yep, I knew that was coming. There was no way Miss Future Firefighter and her white haired cohort could walk past this without rendering assistance. I like to think I couldn’t either, but I’m honest enough to admit I would consider it. Death roamed the streets tonight, and we were about to be doing the equivalent of poking something mysterious and dangerous with a stick.

  “You’re right,” Ed murmured, staring at the mound, “but slow down. We need to be smart about this. Let’s figure out what we’re dealing with here.”

  “Right,” she agreed, also studying the mass intently.

  “Hey, Mark?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re the mystery writer. Why would she be lying in the street, while most of the flowers are over there in the yard?”

  Good question. I studied the mass of flowers covering the woman, then looked over at the carpet of them in the yard. I noticed right away how the vines trailing from the bunch in the street led to a “hole” of about the same size in the yard patch.

  “Well, it happened one of two ways,” I muttered. “Either she was going by and this patch leaped out and landed on her…”

  “There’s a scary thought. That would be a twenty foot leap.”

  “…orrrr…she was going down the street in the dark, saw the glow, and went over to investigate. Then it somehow caught her…probably by her stepping in it…and she dragged that portion of it along with her before it finally pulled her down in the street.”

  “Yeah, I’m kind of thinking along those lines too.”

  “Okay, so where does that leave us.”

  “Well, I think it means as long as we stay away from the big patch in the yard, we won’t have to worry about anything from that quarter.”

  Another moan issued from the clump, and this time I definitely made out a leg in striped sweat pants twist under the ivy.

  “You guys! C’mon…”

  “Alright,” Ed acknowledged while laying his cane on the roof of a nearby minivan parked in the street. He pulled a folding knife out of his pocket and opened it, then moved slowly in the direction of the trapped woman while holding the lantern in his other hand. “Mark, you stay with me and keep the first aid kit handy. Casey, you’ve got the hatchet so I want you to go around to where those vines lead off from this mess. Be ready to cut, but don’t do it unless I say so. Got it?”

  “Got it.” All business now, Casey moved around to the spot indicated and knelt by the vines.

  “Okay thennnn….” Ed knelt carefully by the stricken woman. With the lantern this close, I could now see her through the gaps in the ivy. She lay on her stomach, with her head turned to the side and her eyes closed shut. Blonde locks of hair stuck out in places between the vines, and a sneakered foot protruded down at the other end of the mess.

  This had been a woman out on a midnight jog who had stopped to sniff the wrong flowers.

  “Ma’am?” Ed called gently, “Ma’am, can you hear me?”

  Another groan escaped her while her form did a slow writhe under the leaves. The move looked involuntary, more a contraction of different body muscles than a conscious movement. She showed no sign anything she did came as the result of reacting to us, or our efforts to communicate with her.

  “I thought so,” Ed sighed with a grimace. “She’s unconscious.”

  It occurred to me that was probably just as well. If she woke up and saw this motley crew leaning over her, they would probably hear her in the next county. Between the one-legged guy with the knife, Troll-girl in her do-rag and hatchet, and me looking like a poor man’s gangster armed with a fedora and tire iron…we created a sight that would probably send any damsel-in-distress screaming for the hills.

  I chose to keep this thought to myself as I watched Ed get down to business.

  He leaned forward, examining what he could see of her.

  Apparently having chosen a course of action, he moved the blade of his knife over to where her bare forearm showed between the leaves. He paused a second as she did another slow squirm, then carefully inserted the blade between her skin and the vine laying on it. With infinite care, he slowly lifted the vine away from her skin…

  …only to have it suddenly jerk back down and tighten against her.

  “Shit!” he growled, “Mark, you might want to take a step back. This stuff is feistier than your average garden begonia.”

  He didn’t have to tell me twice. I scooted back and squatted again, putting an extra eight or ten inches between my feet and the vines. Plants weren’t supposed to move like that.

  Ed leaned forward again, reinserted the knife between the vine and the woman’s skin, then slowly slid it up her arm. He moved it about three inches before coming to a stop. Then, once again, he carefully began to lift it.

  Like before, he got it about half an inch up before it tightened back against her arm again.

  “Damn,” he muttered, “I was afraid of that. Whatever this is, it’s grown roots into her. I hate to say it, but I don’t think things are going to end well for this poor woman.”

  “What can you do?” I looked up from the woman’s unconscious face to his grim one.

  “At this point? Not much. Our only options are leaving her as she is, or trying to cut her free of the stuff. The first way she’ll probably die, and the second will most likely kill her.”

  Once again she did a slow squirm, and another moan rose from her.

  “Uncle Ed, we’ve got to at least try.”

  “I know, “he agreed with obvious reluctance. “I know. But I don’t want anybody getting their hopes up here. I really think we’re past the point where this can turn out for the good. She’s probably going to die when we do this, so I want you two to be prepared for that. Do you understand?”

  Casey and I looked at each other, and for the moment all previous conflicts were forgotten. This was bigger than all that. This was the real deal. Being present at a death was a sobering experience,
and one neither of us had counted on having tonight.

  “Yeah,” I answered in a subdued voice. “We understand.”

  Ed nodded, then looked over a Casey.

  “Okay, then. Dodger, what we’ll have to do is kill this vine. Once I start cutting her loose I’ll need to work fast, and I can’t be fighting the thing at the same time. So what I want you to do is get ready with your hatchet…then when I give the word, I want you to hack through those vines connecting this bunch to the main mass as fast as you can.”

  “Got it.”

  “Fast as you can, Casey,” he repeated sternly. “And if anything moves you get out of there. I mean it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Mark?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Once she cuts the vines connecting this stuff to the yard, I’m going to start removing this ivy from her. I’ll have to be careful with her head, neck, and torso, but first I’m going to start yanking it free as fast as I can from her arms and legs. I want you to be ready with the medical tape in the first aid kit. I don’t know how deep these roots are, and she’s definitely going to start bleeding, so I need you taping the wounds closed as fast as you can. Don’t worry about making it pretty. Just tape them shut as fast as you can. I can go back and redo it later.”

  “Right.” I swallowed and opened the first aid kit. I had never done anything like this before, and for a moment wondered if Casey might be more qualified for my job. On the other hand, having her cut the vine and then staying out of possible harm’s way appealed to me even more so I decided I preferred it this way.

  I fished the tape out and removed it from its metal cover. Then I crouched at the edge of the ivy and looked meaningfully at Ed. He looked from me over to where Casey hunched at the vines, hatchet at the ready. She met his gaze, slowly raised her hatchet, then nodded back at him.

  Keeping his gaze locked with hers, Ed gathered a bunch of ivy in his fist near the woman’s arm. I tensed, ready with my tape.

  “Now,” he said.

  Casey struck, severing the vines in one blow…Ed yanked hard, pulling a strip of ivy free and causing a line of bloody holes down the woman’s arm...I tore off a piece of tape and leaned in, having already spotted a large hole near her shoulder…

  …and then everything went insane.

  All the flowers flared a brilliant blue, bright enough that their light became visible even this close to our light. At the same time the woman pushed herself to her hands and knees in a single, violent motion, knocking the lantern on to its side. Light and darkness went crazy around us.

  I fell backward in surprise, then tried to recover so I could grab the lantern.

  As I did, I looked up just in time to see the woman rise to her knees and turn to confront Ed. The flowers hung from her head and shoulders like a glowing shawl. Then her eyes flew open, revealing two blank orbs that blazed with the same azure luminosity.

  “Holy Jesus!” Ed gasped and crabbed backwards, trying to both get to his feet and get away from the thing.

  The woman’s mouth stretched open and the blue light spilled forth from it as well. It was like she had a cobalt flame burning inside her head. A hollow, inhumane howl issued from the glowing depths of her throat and she launched herself after Ed, tackling him as he started the process to get himself upright. The two went down, with Ed seemingly buried under the carpet of glowing flowers she wore like a cloak.

  I heard him cry out under the foliage, and knew he was in bad trouble.

  Changing tactics, I forgot the lantern and snatched up my tire iron instead. I could see her easily enough anyway. I scrambled to my feet and advanced, tire iron raised, as Ed somehow managed to push her off of him.

  “Stay away from her, Mark! I need a clean shot! She bites, and those roots try to get into you, too!”

  I could see where he bled from the forearm, probably from putting it between him and her mouth. It looked like she had bitten a chunk out of him. He managed to get to his feet this time, and reached behind his back to go for his pistol…but not before she descended on him again.

  The pair of them staggered back against the minivan, struggling wildly. In the poor light they created a confusing blur of shapes and glowing blue flowers.

  “Mark!” Casey yelled from nearby, “Do something!”

  Right.

  I started forward with the tire-iron again, preparing to risk a swing. I would have to go for her back, because aiming for her head would have too great a chance of me missing and hitting Ed instead. Besides, I had never swung a weapon at another human being in my life…and even though I felt pretty sure this woman no longer counted as human, it still made for a powerful mental block to overcome. I hoped I could do it.

  Fortunately, Ed spared me from finding out.

  A gunshot blasted in the confusion, causing me to jerk to a halt. He must have managed to get his pistol free after all. And the close proximity of the blast drove home his point about getting clear of them. I stumbled back in a big hurry as he emptied another shell into the horror.

  I don’t know where he hit her, or if he actually did, but it broke the momentum of her assault. And the very next second he took advantage of that pause to push her out to arm’s length…

  …whereupon he put the muzzle of the pistol against her forehead and pulled the trigger.

  The cold premeditation of the move took my breath away. I knew he fought something awful, and I could tell he had been hurt, but I guess down on a gut level I hadn’t fully accepted we were in a true life or death fight because I almost yelled for him to stop. My horror came as much from his action as the result. Or at least it did until I got a good look at the result.

  The bullet exploded straight through her head, blowing off a chunk of rear skull the size of a large tomato. My gut clenched, first at the damage and then at the ghastly reality it revealed. To my astonishment, cold blue light poured out the exit wound as if her very brain glowed with hellish radiation.

  And she still didn’t fall.

  But now knowing for sure she no longer counted as one of us, I felt no compunction about bringing my tire iron to bear. I stepped in and took a full swing Mickey Mantle would have been proud of. It landed across her shoulders with a solid “chunk” I felt reverberate through the length of steel.

  Unfortunately, that’s when I discovered anything capable of taking a bullet through the head would only be pissed off by being belted with a tire iron.

  The monstrous banshee howled and tried to tear away from Ed. The move caught him by surprise, causing him to stagger due to them still being entangled by vines. She ripped herself free on the second try and whirled to face me, sending a shower of glowing petals flying into the air around us.

  I held the tire iron up, and took a step back as she advanced. I had never in my life imagined facing something as ghastly as this. How the hell could I? This was impossible! The bullet hole which should have killed her glowed like a third eye above and between the other two blazing in her face. And now that I stood this close I could see the dim shadow of her skull due to the glow coming through her skin.

  At the same time I faced the thing, Ed lost his balance from her pulling loose from him and fell to the ground. When he did, he automatically tried to catch himself with his hands, and that’s when things went from bad to worse. He must have still had his finger on the trigger, because as soon as his hands hit the ground the gun went off again.

  The bullet spanged off the asphalt and buried itself into the minivan’s rear tire, which immediately deflated with an explosive “kwunphhhh!”

  I had already started backing away as the ghastly wraith howled again and began to launch herself at me. The gunshot and sudden destruction of the tire caused me to jump while doing so, and I somehow stepped on my own foot…causing me to fall flat on my ass.

  I cringed, anticipating the inevitable crash of the monstrosity landing on top of me and held up the tire iron in defense. The length of steel didn’t make for a good clo
se quarter weapon and would be practically useless in a struggle on the ground. I sure hoped Ed recovered quickly because I might be in need of help in a big way when this creature attacked.

  But then the woman did something entirely different.

  She gave another unearthly shriek and charged right past me.

  It only took me a split second to realize what she intended, and I twisted over onto my stomach and snatched at her as she went past. It didn’t work. I only managed to end up clutching a handful of leaves for my effort.

  “Casey, look out!”

  Casey still knelt by the lantern where she had been in the process of picking it up behind me. Now she looked like a deer caught in the headlights as the glowing apparition bore down on her. Her mouth worked, but whatever she intended to say never came out. Then, at the very last second, she dodged under the arms of the thing and took off running.

  She flew past us, still carrying the lantern, and sprinted up the street in the direction we came from. The dead woman charged howling after her in hot pursuit.

  “Casey!” I screamed, scrambling to my feet.

  Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!

  Despair filled my gut even as I took off after them. They had already covered ground while I thrashed around getting to my feet, and now they had a huge head start. On top of that, I was a desk jockey on the wrong side of forty trying to catch a teenage girl running for her life and an inhuman monster chasing her. The odds were not going to be pretty.

  I heard Ed yell something about taking the gun as I started after them, but I ignored him. I couldn’t see the point. If this thing could shrug off a bullet between the eyes, then a gun wouldn’t do either me or Casey any good. Of course at that point, I didn’t know of anything that would.

  But I still had to try.

  So I raced up the dark street, hopelessly chasing the yellow and blue glows ahead, and left Ed in the darkness behind.

  Chapter Five: Family Casualties

  “Casey!” I screamed while racing after the two diminishing points of light.