Necropolis PD

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Necropolis PD Page 37

by Nathan Sumsion


  Directly onto Captain Radu.

  The captain screams in agony as he bursts into flames. Green and orange fire licks up from his head, face, and hands. The bats swirl quickly to block the hole, casting shade over the captain again, but the flames are raging all over him. Armstrong and Kim both pull their coats off and throw them on top of the captain, diving on him to smother the fire.

  I’m holding one of the traps in my left hand, and suddenly it starts gaining weight. Cold radiates out from it. My gun drops from my other hand. My vision is drawn to the trap, and it’s like I’m seeing it through a long tunnel. It pulls on my arm, like a strong magnet homing in on metal, and turns me to face the demon about thirty feet from me. The smile fades from the demon’s face as his eyes lock onto the trap. His fist slowly drops to his side, he tries backing away from me, but his feet remain rooted in place. The runes begin to glow.

  “No,” he whispers. “No.”

  I see his eyes get closer to mine, getting pulled across the distance between us. I know he is not physically getting closer, but it feels like we are being drawn together. My sight is flickering, darkness is blurring the edge of my vision.

  I hear screams, but I don’t know if they’re the captain’s, the demon’s, or my own. A bell sounds, clear and pure, and the trap slams shut. There is a sudden silence, even the bats overhead stop making noise, or maybe I simply can no longer hear them. I drop to my knees, already exhausted. Then, muffled but growing louder, I hear Marsh’s voice from a mile away right next to my ear, and he hauls me to my feet. I stumble after him as we walk through the loading bay doors into the warehouse.

  It takes a minute for my eyes to adjust. The interior of the building is a wreck, lit only by whatever dim light filters in through gaps in the boarded windows and the exposed sky overhead. There is a network of steel girders about fifteen feet overhead, covered with spider webs, rust, and dirt. Inside what remains of the walls are piles of bodies. Hundreds of them. Some are piled on top of each other, others casually discarded into corners like dirty laundry.

  “Green, take it,” Meints says irritably. I realize this isn’t the first time he’s said this. He hands me the remaining trap. The three detectives—Burchard, Marsh, and Meints—spread out, guns ready, moving through small lanes in the piles of corpses.

  A voice sounds out from somewhere deep in a pile of bodies to my right. “Seer. Let me go. Just let me leave; you’ll never see me again.”

  “Not going to happen,” Marsh growls, kicking bodies aside as he moves towards the source of the sound.

  The voice replies from the other side of the building. “You don’t know what it is like, living for eternity without form. I have a body now. Don’t take it from me.”

  “It’s not your body. It belongs to someone else,” I slur in response. “You’re ending their lives and stealing their bodies. We’re going to stop you.”

  The others are spreading out, looking for any signs of movement among the bodies. The same voice echoes from somewhere else. “I’ve seen civilizations rise and fall. I’ve helped them rise and fall.”

  The voice jumps again. “I’ve seen so much. You could learn so much from me. Let me teach you.”

  It sounds from nearby. “Do not consign me once again to the darkness. To the nothing.”

  I feel the trap start to gain weight in my hand again. It’s starting to draw the demon in.

  “Mercy,” it whispers. “Please, you can have all the rest, just leave me one body. Just one. It’s all I want.”

  The runes begin to glow on the box. The lid springs open.

  The voice is closer now. I think I see one of the nearby corpses blink.

  “The box in your hand, it’s beautiful. Where did you find it?”

  I feel the temperature dropping. It’s all I can do to keep my eyes open. “Frank sends his regards,” is all I can think to say.

  “Frank?” one of the bodies near me starts to stand up. All the guns swivel to point in its direction. “You got it from Frank? Why would he—”

  The body takes a staggering step towards me. I hear it start to laugh. “A key. A Seer. You made him a key.”

  The laughter grows louder. I had always thought the term maniacal laughter was an exaggeration, but I’m truly hearing it now. The demon laughs with no care, both high-pitched and a deep rumbling at the same time. My hair is standing on end as the laughter gets close enough to tickle my ears. It starts to fade away, but it seems to me that I’m getting farther from it, rather than it moving away from me. I’d try and make more sense of it, but I’m falling through a tunnel of blackness, hurtling down a long distance.

  Somewhere far away, I hear the lid of the trap slam shut, and I feel the texture and taste of gravel.

  Chapter 44

  I’m sitting in my favorite spot at Warner’s, far in the back-corner booth in the dim shadows where the light barely reaches. It’s just warm enough to be uncomfortable; my arms stick to the faux leather seat. Sweat tickles my armpits. The familiar odor of rot wafts around me. The place is packed, but no one bothers me in my spot. I’m back to being studiously ignored. Even Maude, my waitress, seems intent on pretending I’m not there. The beer is getting dangerously low in my glass. I’ve tried to get her attention a couple of times but without success. I haven’t bothered to get up to do anything about it.

  I lean back and close my eyes, letting the sounds of bar patrons settle over me. It’s been two weeks since our encounter in Goldman’s warehouse. It’s been nice to have some down time to let my body heal. I was barely conscious by the time we got back to the precinct. Marsh had to half carry me down to the Pit, so I could watch the traps get thrown in.

  The demons were screaming in my mind the whole way down. There was some kind of connection between the trap, what was caught inside it, and myself. No one else heard anything. The fact that I keeled over when the traps were activated hints that it takes something from me or creates some sort of bond. While I held the traps with the demons inside, I could hear their whispers, their pleadings, their threats. I try not to think about that, the things they said to me. The things they said they would do to my family and friends. I want desperately to forget them. I take another large swig from my glass, finishing it off.

  They went silent the second they hit the Pit. It was a huge weight off my shoulders, one I didn’t even know I was carrying. All three of them are gone now, down there in emptiness. Down there with Clark, Olsen, Chuck, Calhoun, and countless others.

  A shadow falls over me, blocking out the dim light I can see through my eyelids. I open my eyes to see Marsh looming over me. He’s holding two mugs, one in each hand, and slams one down on the table in front of me.

  “Relax, kid,” he says, smiling. “I’m not staying. I just wanted to drop a few things on ya.”

  “If it’s more beer, I approve.”

  He chuckles, taking a large swallow from his own glass. “Just the one. I had Warner put it on your tab.” He reaches a hand into his pocket and pulls out a key on an old key ring. He tosses it onto the table next to the glasses.

  “What’s this?” I ask, hesitantly picking up the key. It’s plain, no engravings, no indications it will break any demons out of prisons. No extra weight or pain pressing on it. It looks like just a regular key, but I’m still wary.

  “It’s part of the good news I’m bringing you. The captain says we’re going to keep you around.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief. I was pretty confident they would want me to stay for a while, even after the case was solved. But you never know. And the alternative isn’t very comforting. There isn’t any sort of retirement plan as far as I know.

  “And,” Marsh says, then pauses to take another swig of his beer. He belches and continues, pointing to the key in my hand, “And we upgraded your pad.”

  I look at him in surprise. “I’ve got a new apartment?”


  He nods. “Yeah. That’s a key to Clark’s place. It’s not like he’s coming back for it any time soon. And we didn’t knock too many holes in it searching.”

  The key fits comfortably in my pocket. This move will be pretty easy since I don’t have any belongings to speak of. I can just walk over to my new apartment. It’s strange, knowing how I came to inherit it. Maybe someday I will feel some guilt about taking over Clark’s home, but for now, I only feel relief at being able to move out of the dive they’ve stuck me in for so long.

  Marsh says, “Maybe it’s the beer talking, but I’ll say it once. You did a good job. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

  I look at him sideways, sure he’s pulling my leg. But he seems serious. “Thanks, Marsh.”

  “Now, we just need to train you, so you don’t accidentally kill yourself or something. Because you’re hopelessly incompetent. Frankly, it’s amazing you haven’t died already.”

  And just like that, Marsh is back to normal.

  “Oh, and one more thing, obviously the whole squad knows about you being a Seer and all.” He looks around to see if anyone is paying attention. Satisfied, he continues. “The captain has managed to contain the info to just us though. Well, and that asshole Dean. And your girlfriend. But the point is, we all know, and we’re cool with it. We won’t hunt you or your family down any time soon. Just don’t go telling anyone, even other cops.”

  I nod. “Will do.” I’m too tired to argue about the girlfriend comment. I assume he’s talking about Jessica, not Amber, the girl I knew a lifetime ago. Months ago.

  Marsh drains the last of his drink in a large gulp, slams the glass down on my table, and nods at me. “OK, then. Take two more days to rest up, and get settled into your new digs. I’ll see you at work.”

  He leaves, bulldozing his way through the crowd as he heads straight to the door. The mug Marsh brought me is actually cold, so I start to enjoy it. I look over to the back of the bar, to the empty room. Frank hasn’t been seen since before we went after the last two demons. I’m not sure what he’s been up to. But I’m hoping I can put off finding out for as long as possible.

  A few minutes later, I see her approaching my table. She’s reluctant; she might even turn around and leave, but she realizes I’ve noticed her, so she firms her resolve and walks up to me.

  “Hello, Jessica,” I say, smiling. “Please, sit down.”

  She slides onto the bench across the table from me. She’s avoiding my gaze, fidgeting with her hands on top of the table.

  “So,” she says, but can’t seem to find the words to continue. I reach across the table and place my hand on top of hers, stilling her hands. My hand rests there, softly, not forcefully. I wait until she looks up at me.

  “Thanks for agreeing to come see me, Jessica. You’ve been avoiding me.”

  She shrugs. “Knowing that you can see me, I don’t . . . I just haven’t felt like looking you up.”

  “We’re going to have to figure something out then because you’re the best friend I have in this place. I’ve been through a lot, and I’m not ready to lose a friend yet. I’m hoping my friend doesn’t want to lose me either.”

  “No, of course not,” she says.

  “OK, then,” I wave frantically for Maude to bring something over. I think she only agrees because someone is with me. We sit in silence until the waitress sets another glass of something down in front of Jessica.

  I raise my glass. “A toast. To two friends. We’ve seen each other’s true selves, and nothing has changed.”

  She raises her glass, clinking it with mine. “Two friends. With plenty more to see.” And I see her dead face smile, and it’s beautiful.

  We talk about nothing for a while, I am able to put aside thoughts of my mother, wherever she might be; my brother, dead or undead or who knows what; and Amber, my once-girlfriend. Does she even think of me anymore, or wonder what happened to me? I push those thoughts back and simply enjoy the moment. And for the first time in weeks—surrounded by the dead, alone and trapped, far from family, far from home—I feel happy and at peace.

  About the Author

  Nathan Sumsion grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska on a steady diet of role-playing games, monster movies, comic books and computer games.

  He turned his passion for gaming into a career and has been a video game designer since the late 90s for companies such as Disney, Crytek and KingsIsle Entertainment. For the past several years, he has worked as the lead game designer on a popular fantasy MMO.

  Nathan has lived in various places including North Carolina, Utah, France and Germany. He currently lives in Round Rock, Texas with his wife and three children. Necropolis PD is his first novel.

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