They set off again but each time they tried to veer West towards the main road whatever it was herded them back towards the deep shadows of the wood, until they were being pushed North. Veronica’s legs felt like jelly and she was panting hard when her luck finally ran out and her foot tangled in an exposed tree root. She went down hard, dropping her flashlight which flicked off and rolled away into the undergrowth.
‘Jake,’ she whispered urgently, trying to push herself upright, ‘Jake!’
She felt a warm hand grab her and pull her to her feet. When the scent of Jake wrapped around her she almost wept in relief.
‘I’ve got you Roni,’ he held onto her as he fumbled in his pocket for his flashlight.
The beam sputtered once, twice.
‘No, no not now,’ Jake muttered. ‘Damn it I knew I should’ve changed the batteries.’
He hit it a couple of times in frustration before it finally flicked on and as he scanned his surroundings the beam of light suddenly highlighted a pale white heavily lined face with black eyes. Roni let loose a scream as Jake spun her around, placing her protectively behind him. His weapon raised and leaning against the flashlight, he scanned his surroundings again, turning in circles trying to train his gun on the shadow that flitted across the edges of his vision.
‘Damn it’s fast,’ he muttered trying to get a shot.
He could feel Roni’s hands wrapped around his waist as she pressed against his back. He turned again sharply and she turned with him but he couldn’t see it. He spun once again and as the beam of light fell upon another face he pulled back just in time before he let loose a shot. The barrel of another gun was pointed at them and a flashlight shone in their eyes.
‘Jake?’ a surprised voice spoke in the darkness.
‘Mac?’ Jake tried to shield his eyes.
Mac dropped his flashlight to an angle that highlighted his own face.
‘Veronica?’ Mac recognized the young woman standing pale faced behind Jake. ‘What the hell are you two doing out here in the middle of the night?’
‘We could ask you the same thing?’
‘We’ve got a missing hiker, I’m helping to organize search and rescue just North of here.’
‘Are you alone?’ Jake asked.
Mac nodded.
‘What is it?’
‘It’s here,’ Jake told him as he glanced around uneasily.
‘What is?’
‘The Soul Collector,’ Roni told him, ‘we’ve seen it, it was chasing us.’
‘Damn it,’ Mac hissed, recalling Jake’s explanation of the shadowy man on the security footage. ‘I’ve got people all over this section of the woods.’
He holstered his weapon and unclipped a radio from his belt.
‘This is Chief Macallister, everyone return to base immediately. I repeat, return to base.’
The sudden static of the radio split the air.
‘Come on,’ Mac clipped the radio back to his belt and once again drew his weapon, ‘we need to get back to base.’
They headed quickly through the woods, the strong sense of unease prickling at their backs. Every now and then they would get a waft of Lilies on an icy cold breeze. It was obvious it was tracking them but strangely enough it didn’t attack, it almost seemed to be toying with them as it stalked them patiently.
‘What’s that?’ Veronica asked suddenly.
‘What?’ Mac replied.
‘Over there to the left,’ she reached out and grabbed his arm, aiming the flashlight towards whatever it was that had caught her attention.
‘Damn it,’ he muttered as they headed over quickly, ‘it’s the hiker.’
He handed the flashlight to Roni and grabbed his radio.
‘This is Macallister, we need paramedics.’
Roni dropped down to the damp ground next to the guy, as Mac relayed their co-ordinates. He was coiled on the ground on his side, his bright red jacket peeking out from beneath his backpack, which was what had alerted her. Mac dropped down next to her as Jake continued to scan their surroundings warily.
‘Is he alive?’ he called over his shoulder.
Mac turned him over and sucked in a sharp breath. The hiker’s face was chalky white and his lips tinged a deep unpleasant blue as Mac leaned forward and pressed his fingers to the guy’s ice cold throat.
‘No pulse,’ he grabbed the radio. ‘Forget the paramedics we’re going to need the coroner.’
‘We should go,’ Jake grabbed Roni and pulled her to her feet, his hawk-like gaze still trained on the trees surrounding them. ‘We’ll have to come back for him in the daylight but for now we need to get out of here.’
Nodding in agreement he joined them and together they disappeared into the woods.
By the time the sun had risen Roni was standing in the makeshift base wrapped in a blanket, clutching onto a disposable cup of coffee. It was barely palatable, too bitter and much too strong but it was warm at least. She watched nervously as a couple of the volunteers disappeared back into the woods with Mac, Jake and the coroner to document the scene and retrieve the body. She couldn’t sit, she was too worried and so she paced in front of the small canvas canopy which had been erected on a wide patch of grass at the edge of the woods. Inside the canopy was a foldable table covered with a large map, which had been divided into search areas. A smaller table was set up at the side with flasks of coffee and a stack of paper cups.
‘Miss Mason?’ a voice spoke up behind her and she turned recognizing deputy Carl.
‘Yes?’
‘Chief radioed in, they’re going to be a while documenting the scene. He asked that someone drive you home.’
‘I don’t think…’ she shook her head.
‘Chief’s orders I’m afraid,’ he apologized. ‘It’s a crime scene now, you can’t be here.’
‘I suppose,’ she frowned.
‘If it helps, Jake said he’d meet you back at your place once he was done,’ Carl replied seeming to realize the cause of her distress.
She nodded finally and followed quietly as he led her towards one of the squad cars.
Jake scanned the tree line as the scene bustled with activity behind him. Even running on no sleep and five cups of really bad coffee he was not tired, in fact he was almost painfully alert. It was probably the adrenalin, which even now coursed through his veins. Unfortunately, he knew when he eventually did crash, he was going to crash hard. But not yet, he frowned. Even with everything brightly lit with the pale rays of morning there was still a sense of foreboding, like they were being silently stalked. He paced the edge of the crime scene, impatient and filled with restless energy like a caged animal. The unease didn’t shift and he rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. At least by now Carl should have had Roni back at her apartment where he knew she would be safe. He knew she probably wouldn’t have been happy about that but when Mac realized the Soul Collector was still loose in the woods, he’d given Carl strict instructions to get her back to her apartment even if he had to cuff her to do it. They’d relieved as many of the volunteers as they could but there were still too many people out in the woods for comfort.
‘Jake!’ a voice had him turning back to the crime scene, ‘you’d better come and have a look at this.’
He turned around and headed over to where Dr Achari and Mac were leaning over the corpse, which was now partially concealed inside a body bag and zipped up to the chest leaving the hiker’s face exposed. He looked to be in his mid-fifties and given his build and his well-used boots and equipment it was fair to assume the guy was not only in good shape but an experienced hiker.
‘Do we know who he was?’
‘Businessman from Salem,’ Mac replied. ‘Brent Myers, on a hiking trip with two of his buddies. They got separated on the trail but Brent here was an experienced hiker so they figured they’d just meet him back at their hotel. When he was a no show they called in the authorities.’
‘Any idea how
he died?’
Sachiv shook his head.
‘There are no obvious signs so I won’t know anything until I perform the autopsy.’
‘There is something else though,’ Mac told him. He turned to Sachiv and nodded.
Sachiv leaned down and peeled back one of the guy’s eyelids. His pupils were cloudy and drained of color.
‘Damn it’ Jake swore, ‘just like Mr Bailey and Hayley Adams?’
‘Sachiv nodded. ‘Unfortunately, I’ve never seen anything like it but that’s three victims now. If this continues we may have to consider some sort of disease as the cause.’
He shook his head frowning.
‘I need to get him back and run some tests. If it is the same thing that is affecting Mr Bailey and Hayley perhaps we might discover something which could help them.’
‘I seriously doubt it,’ Jake muttered under his breath.
‘What was that?’ Sachiv frowned.
‘Nothing,’ Jake shook his head, ‘how long until the autopsy’s finished?’
‘A few hours,’ Sachiv stood, ‘I’ll head back now. I’ll bump him up to the top of the list as a priority just in case we are looking at some sort of virus. We need to find out what is affecting these people before anyone else succumbs.’
Jake nodded and stood back as Sachiv zipped the bag closed. Both he and one of the volunteers lifted the corpse onto a stretcher and headed out. Jake blew out a breath in frustration. He didn’t want to be in the woods, he wanted to go and check on Roni and make sure she was okay. He knew Sachiv wasn’t going to find anything helpful from the autopsy, just as the cops documenting the scene wouldn’t find anything. It was frustrating as he and Mac were the only ones who knew the truth but they still had to keep up appearances, which meant running procedures and collecting evidence. It was a huge waste of time as well as being potentially dangerous, after all the Collector was possibly still somewhere out there in the woods.
Charun watched through the tree line with shiny black eyes which seemed to descend down into endless nothingness. His mouth opened a fraction giving a glimpse of rotting brown teeth, at odds with the stark whiteness of his deeply lined skin. His gaze followed the one with pale hair and he raised his face slightly almost as if he was tasting his scent upon the air. That one interested him. When he had held the female in the darkness he’d shone. His soul had pulsed a bright blinding white in the darkness of the woods and it was that which had attracted him to them. He wanted it. His long tapered spindly fingers flexed as he recalled the tantalizing call of the human’s soul, so pure and blinding. He licked his thin lips and swallowed, his obsidian eyes filled with a dreadful kind of hunger. The kind of hunger that could devour worlds and yet never be satisfied. He had to have it. Perhaps he would take the female too, she had shone as well, slightly less than the male but still enough to interest him. His gaze once again locked on Jake and his mouth widened into a sickening smile. He could take it now, but, he glanced around the small clearing, there were too many others. He didn’t want them; they didn’t interest him. There was nothing special about them but that one, a low hiss rumbled deep in his throat. He could wait. He melted back into the shadow of the woods. He would be back, after all he had the human’s scent now.
Chapter 13.
Jake leaned up against the concrete wall outside the morgue and yawned. Taking another sip of coffee, he rubbed his eyes tiredly. He didn’t know why he was waiting around for the autopsy report on the hiker, Christ he couldn’t even remember the guy’s name. He was willing to bet the autopsy wouldn’t show anything. After all, he was pretty sure there was no medical test that would show if someone’s soul had been yanked out of their body or not. But, he thought with a tired sigh, Mac wanted him to double check just in case anything did show up. He took another deep gulp of coffee, draining the cup and looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching along the stark sterile corridor.
His expression softened as he saw his sister heading towards him.
‘Hey,’ he greeted her softly.
‘Hey,’ she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him hard. ‘Mac told me what happened, are you okay?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘What about Veronica?’
‘She was okay when we made it out of the woods, I haven’t seen her since.’
‘You’re definitely sure this thing has been stealing souls?’
‘Yeah,’ he muttered sourly as he stared into his cup.
‘Damn it,’ she swore softly.
‘I know, looks like we’ve got another vic only this time he didn’t make it,’ he frowned thoughtfully. ‘I wonder what made this one different? Why did he die when the other two didn’t?’
‘Four.’
‘Sorry?’
‘Other four,’ she shook her head in worry, ‘that’s one of the reasons I came to find you. We’ve had another two admitted with the same symptoms.’
‘Well shit,’ he scowled.
‘Jake,’ she whispered quietly, ‘it’s the Baxter twins.’
‘No,’ he shook his head crushing the now empty cup in his hand. He knew the Baxter twins, girls no more than eight years old, ‘are they stable?’
‘For now,’ she replied worriedly, ‘but the truth is I don’t know how long they’ll stay that way.’
They both looked up as the door opened and Sachiv stuck his head around the corner.
‘Oh good you are here,’ he nodded to Jake. ‘Hey Louisa.’
She smiled at him as he stepped out into the corridor.
‘You coming in then?’
Jake pushed himself off the wall and tossed the screwed up paper cup in the trash, as he headed in followed by his sister.
‘So,’ Sachiv scooped up a brown folder and flipped it open as he stopped next to the body, which was laid out on a stainless steel slab and covered to the waist with a white sheet. ‘We have here Mr Brent Myers age 56, of Loring Avenue Salem.’
‘And?’
‘And I’ve got nothing,’ Sachiv closed the folder with a snap and looked at Jake seriously, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with him.’
‘Aside from being dead,’ Jake replied mildly.
‘That’s just it, I can find no reason for it. His heart is in beautiful condition for a man his age, there’s no damage to the muscle. He didn’t have a heart attack, no stroke, no brain aneurysm, no clots, tumors, fever, injury…nothing. His body appeared to be fit and healthy. It’s literally like he went from being alive to being dead.’
‘Tox screen?’ Louisa asked.
‘Preliminary findings don’t flag anything up and I am still waiting on some other test results, but I have to say if it comes back clean the cause of death will have to go down as SADS.’
‘SADS?’ Jake asked in confusion.
‘Sudden adult death syndrome, it’s similar to SIDS which is sudden infant death syndrome or cot death as it’s also known.’
‘That’s it?’
‘Sorry I couldn’t be more specific,’ he handed him the folder, ‘but apart from the strange eye discoloration I can’t find anything.’
‘Well thanks anyway Sachiv,’ Jake shook his hand, ‘I’ll make sure Mac gets the report. Let me know if anything shows up in the test results.’
Sachiv nodded.
Louisa waited until they were both alone in the corridor before she spoke again.
‘I think I might know why he died and the others haven’t yet,’ she mused thoughtfully as they started walking back towards the elevators.
‘Yeah?’
‘Well if you think about it, all the other victims were discovered very quickly and given medical attention, or rather should I say medical intervention.’
‘They were all put on life support?’ He punched the call button and as the doors opened they both stepped inside.
‘Exactly and within maybe an hour of the attack. When I spoke to Mac earlier he said Mr Myer
s went missing at approximately 3pm yesterday afternoon, he wasn’t reported missing until after 6pm, the search didn’t begin until 8pm and his body wasn’t discovered until what? 1am?’
‘I see where you’re going with this,’ he scratched his chin.
‘Without life support all of them would die, it’s a commonly held belief that the body can’t survive without the soul. So if we don’t get to the vics within an hour or so of them being attacked they won’t stand a chance.’
‘Shit,’ Jake blew out a breath, ‘we need to do something and fast.’
‘Are you making any progress with that?’
‘Roni seems to think we have just about everything we need to try and contact Olivia.’
‘Still no word from Mr Connell or the others?’
‘No,’ he shook his head as they both stepped out onto Louisa’s floor and headed towards the exit. ‘Charles is off the grid, he’s not responding to the contact protocol he set up, and Helga, I mean Danae, isn’t answering any of her messages. Her phone is permanently switched off and we don’t know how to contact Davis.’
‘I can’t believe they’d just disappear on us after everything that’s happened recently. What do you think they’re up to?’
‘Haven’t a clue,’ Jake replied, ‘and right now, they’re the least of my worries.’
There was a sudden commotion down the corridor as an alarm went off and several nurses rushed towards one of the private rooms.
‘Dr Linden, Mr Bailey’s coding!’ a voice called out urgently.
‘NO, NO, NO!’ Louisa took off at a run, followed closely by Jake.
‘Do something!’ Mrs Bailey shouted with angry tears burning her eyes.
‘Somebody get her out of here,’ Louisa rounded the bed, dropping the head of the bed down as a nurse removed all the pillows to lay him flat.
Jake took the sobbing Mrs Bailey in his arms and pulled her out of the way into the corner of the room to allow the nurses to move more freely. He watched as Louisa began chest compressions.
‘Epinephrine and Atropine?’
‘Got them,’
Crossroads Page 17