by Kate Sander
Ignoring him, anger burning through her, she heaved open the door of the nearest house and ran inside. The scraping was coming from upstairs. Senka heard it, followed by a low moan.
A woman was being kept captive.
"I'm coming!" Senka yelled, finding the stairs and pounding up them.
Kai's feet padded lightly behind her, followed way behind by the crashing of Tang and Ujarak. Senka would kill him, after she freed whoever was up there.
She'd make him pay.
The stairs opened into a hall with rooms on either side. The low moan reached her again and Senka took a hard right towards the sound.
A snarl from the dark room greeted her.
She stopped running and skidded on the floor. A white hand thrashed out from the shadowed corner. Senka leaned back, unable to get enough traction to change direction on the wet floor. The hand missed, but Senka fell with a heavy thud.
Senka tried to scramble up but the floor was sticky... and red. The floor was covered in blood.
"Argh!" she yelled. Kai reached out and Senka grabbed his paw. He hauled her out of the room as a gaunt-faced woman lunged from the corner, pointed teeth snarling, reaching out for her.
Kai and Senka tumbled back into the hall as Tang and Ujarak reached the top of the stairs.
The woman in the room let out a frustrated howl.
"What did you do?" Tang yelled, clearly afraid.
Senka scrambled to her feet and, covering the distance in two steps, slammed Tang into the wall. Elbow on his throat, she leaned in as he coughed. "You are going to explain, and you're going to do it fast. If you don't, I will kill you before you can piss your pants again."
Tang nodded quickly, clawing at her hands.
"What is going on here?"
Tang was turning blue. A little less pressure on her forearm and he was able to gasp for a breath. "The Ampulex," he said. "They turn people into that. That's my wife. I freed her as they were marching away. But I couldn't change her back."
"How?"
"The woman. The woman looks people in the eyes. Then they become... that. My wife tries to attack anything that enters the room. I have to keep her alive. I have hope that she will become normal. But she hasn't yet."
"And the blood?"
"She claws at her chains, at the floor, at everything," Tang sobbed. "I can't get her to stop. If I put pig’s blood on the floor then she can't damage her fingers as much. She was clawing them to the bone."
Senka stepped back. Ujarak was staring into the room, wide eyed. The woman inside was snarling and howling, trying desperately to reach them. Senka joined Ujarak and stared at the atrocity. Gaunt, hollow eyes white like the blind, the woman clawed desperately at the chain around her neck.
"I love her. I can't kill her." Tang said from beside them. "I just... can't."
Tang watched the two strangers with the cat walk away down the dusty road. Turning with a sigh, he lit a fire in the middle of the road, using bits of a house door. No one needed it anyway, he was alone in this village.
The fire raged and he cleared his mind, as he was shown to do, focusing on the wood.
His master’s face appeared.
"There's a Zoya here," Tang said. "She's traveling with a giant cat and a large man. They are heading inland."
Roald's voice filled his head. "You've done well."
"What are your orders?"
"Stay where you are."
"But you promised!"
A flash of anger in his master's eyes and Tang knew he'd pay for the indiscretion. His master turned to say something to someone beside him.
Tang heard his wife scream in pain from inside the house.
"No! I've done all you asked. You promised you'd release her!"
"The Ampulex are about the greater good," Roald said sadly. The scream echoed all around Tang, tearing out his heart. He sobbed and dropped to his knees, begging. "You clearly haven't learned that yet."
The scream stopped in an instant.
"You promised," Tang blubbered.
"You are free," Roald said softly.
The pain started right behind his eyes. Tang moaned as it grew, engulfing his entire body.
"Step into the fire. End the pain," the woman Malin's voice whispered in his ear.
Tang rose. Without a second thought, he stepped into the fire.
So began real pain, and the end.
21
Black Eyes
"No, but it has to be real," Black Eyes countered. "Did you see those crazy flying horses that the hooded men were on? There's no way those were fake. And that giant red-eyed thing looking for the short dude with the ring? Has to be true."
"Look, Black Eyes," Carter said, rubbing his eyes. "We've been over this. You've watched those movies every night for a week and a half. They always end the same, don't they?"
"Yes, but there's no way people made that up. There's no way."
"People made that up," Carter said. The SUV stopped hard at a light. Must be a rookie driving.
"Look, but how did they-"
"Black Eyes, we've been over this. It's entertainment. It's designed to make you feel something, anything, because our lives are so empty that we require it come from an outside source. We have time to think. We don't have to hunt for our food, or get water, or build our houses. So, to fill our time, we make and watch movies. The Lord of the Rings is a good one, I'll give you that, but it's fake. Can we please talk about something else?" He looked down at his phone, a clear signal in his world that the conversation was over. Black Eyes hadn't known this man for long, but she knew that much about him.
Black Eyes crossed her arms and huffed, but she didn't press the subject any further. "You still haven't told me why that man can't be the same bastard who attacked my friend and I," Black Eyes said, staring out the window of the black SUV traveling somewhere in the city.
"I thought I did," Carter said, not looking up from his phone.
"No, you said he was dead."
"Yes. Roald Ammondson died in 1911."
"So then how did he beat the shit out of Tory and I only a few months ago?"
"Bad dream!" Carter said with exasperation. He was tired of having the same conversation over and over with this hallucination.
"A guy named Roald, and his bitch of a wife Malin, are Zoya in The Other Place," Black Eyes said steadily. "I know you don't believe me, but I fought them, and I lost."
Carter sighed.
"Why don't you believe me?"
"Because. You're a hallucination. Nothing more. Also, even if you were a ghost, he's dead. Zoya don't live in The Other Place without first being in a coma here."
"But Senka is over there. And that lady Tomo. And countless others."
Carter rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We've been through this, Black Eyes," he said. "That only just happened. It was impossible before Tomo made those pills."
"But if she could do it..." Black Eyes drifted off. "What makes you think it couldn't have happened before?"
"I just know, okay? Can you drop it, please?"
"How did Roald die?"
"Look," Carter said, voice rising. "Roald Ammondson died in 1911 in a plane crash. It went down over the arctic while he was trying to find his friend's shipwreck. He died a hero. His body was never recovered because his airplane crashed into the ocean. He never had a wife name Malin. I actually searched this after you told me you thought you'd met him. He'd never met a woman named Malin and he was certainly never married. He started the ZTF and died a hero."
The SUV stopped at a light and Carter gathered himself.
Black Eyes decided to let it go. "Tell me again where we are going?" Black Eyes asked Carter. The SUV lurched, started again and made a quick turn.
Pleased that he'd finally gotten through to her, he answered, "We're going to see an old friend of mine."
"Thought you said she was a traitor?" Black Eyes said, looking out the window. The SUV pulled into a driveway. A large sign hidden in the trees said
"PRIVATE PROPERTY - PLEASE REPORT TO GATE." The writing meant nothing to Black Eyes. She didn't know how to read this type of writing.
"Yes, yes she is a traitor," Carter said absent-mindedly. The SUV stopped for a moment as the driver talked to someone. Then they slowly started moving again.
"Yet you still call her friend. That seems... kind."
"It's complicated," Carter snapped.
"Enlighten me," Black Eyes snapped back. "In our world, traitors are killed. They are friends to no one. Why are we here, talking to the scum of the earth, when we should be finding the Ampulex?"
"Because she's our only lead."
The SUV pulled to a stop in front of a nondescript building tucked into a beautiful, reclusive area surrounded by trees. Carter didn't move.
"Do you know who Tomo is?"
"You buried her under a different name," Black Eyes said. "Dr. Charlotte Penner."
Carter smiled to himself and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. "Yes, you're right. Dr. Charlotte Penner, darling of the doctorate program at Harvard University, with a doctorate in Biochemistry. Had the world at her feet, could work anywhere. Then, on her graduation trip, she fell while skiing. On the bunny hill no less. Hit her head, went into a coma."
Black Eyes didn't understand half of what Carter was saying, but she was smart enough to let him speak uninterrupted. It's surprising what kind of information people would divulge unprompted.
"So, Dr. Charlotte Penner is now in a coma. Won't wake up, her family grieves then leaves her. Same story for every Zoya, at least the ones that wake up."
The word "Zoya" peaked her interest. Maybe this was a conversation worth listening to.
Carter kept his eyes closed. "Dr. Charlotte Penner wakes up in The Other Place. No memories, no concept of who or where she is. Nothing. Again, average Zoya. But Dr. Charlotte Penner isn't average. She's driven, she's brilliant and, most importantly, she likes to be in charge. She is attracted to having power. Now, the nature versus nurture argument is an interesting one. Here, before her accident, Dr. Charlotte Penner was a nice woman. Liked wine, her girlfriend, long walks on the beach, and wanted to be in charge of her own lab and cure cancer. But, in The Other Place? With no memories of who she is?" Carter laughed to himself softly. "She was a killing machine. Named Kogo Tomo Hachiman, the Empress of Blood. No one stood a chance. Ten years she was in her coma. Ten years in The Other Place. She spent a full eight years on the throne, slaughtering anyone who stood against the mighty armies of Anzen."
Black Eyes was enthralled.
Carter opened his eyes and sighed. "Then, one day, she's killed. Tomo was pretty vague on the details, but it happened. Boom, wakes up here and is flooded with memories of who she was in The Other Place and who she was here. Two conflicting personalities born with the same character traits. The Zoya Task Force recruited her. She fell in love with her recruiting officer and they got married. Tomo worked harder than anyone. I think she really wanted to atone for how she acted over there. Anyway, she was kidnapped on a mission. The driven, brilliant part of her personality hit again and she made the Ampulex a pill to create Zoya. If anyone could do it, it was Tomo."
Carter made his way out of the car. "Keep yourself hidden," he said under his breath as they walked to a door with bars on the outside. "These people don't need to see something that isn't there."
"What happened?" Black Eyes asked, enthralled by the story.
"Well, Tomo's wife was now running the ZTF. She found out Tomo was alive and traded our best agent, Senka, for her freedom."
Something buzzed and they went through the unguarded door.
"Then it went to shit and they both ended up dead here and alive in The Other Place. Something that we had no idea could even happen, leaving us no concept of how to bring them home."
"So who are we here to see?" Black Eyes asked. They passed another sign in a brightly lit hallway. WELCOME TO THE NATIONAL DEFENCE MENTAL FACILITY - PLEASE SIGN IN AT THE DESK.
Carter led them to a desk where a chipper young woman in white scrubs sat writing something on a piece of paper.
"I’m here to see Amanda Nguyen," Carter said.
The woman smiled. "Identification, please."
Carter obliged, showing her a card in his wallet.
"Thank you, Warrant-Officer Green," she said. "Please, sign here."
Carter signed.
The woman stood. "Follow me, please."
She waited at a door. Something buzzed and the door opened automatically, leading them to a long hallway of windowless doors.
"How is she?" Carter asked.
"She has not been well," the woman answered. "You are the only family listed, so you've been told about her recent event."
Carter nodded and swallowed.
They stopped at a door no different from the rest. The woman put a hand on Carter's forearm. A gesture of solidarity. "It's good of you to come."
Black Eyes stepped to the side to avoid being walked through as the woman strode away. Another buzz and the door unlocked. Carter breathed deeply and pushed the door open, with Black Eyes craning to see over his shoulder.
Pure disappointment. The woman sitting on the bed, reading a book, looked neither like an expert assassin nor a psychopath. Long brown hair, copper skin, a slim build. Nothing that Black Eyes figured would warrant the security measures.
"Carter," Amanda said, looking up from her book. "So nice of you to drop by." She didn't get up.
"Hey, Amanda," Carter said, taking a chair a few feet away from the bed. Black Eyes noticed that the woman's feet were bound to the bed by thick white shackles that were locked.
"What brings you here," she said, flashing a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Her eyes were dead, distant. So much so that Black Eyes was uncomfortable to be in the room with her, even though the woman couldn't see her.
"I tried to get you a day pass to come to the funeral," Carter said.
"Yes, the doctors told me," Amanda said, uncomfortably pulling the sleeves of her long white shirt down to her hands. Black Eyes noticed white bandages poking out from under the shirt. "I, unfortunately, was indisposed."
"You tried to fucking kill yourself again," Carter snapped angrily.
"Carter!" Black Eyes gasped, taken aback by his tone.
"No, shut up," Carter snapped back at her. Amanda raised her eyebrows but stayed silent. "You know how that pisses on her memory? She loved you, Amanda. You were the best thing that ever happened to her. She used to tell me that all the time. Instead of living your life, you keep trying to fucking kill yourself!"
Amanda stayed silent, staring at her feet bound to the bed. Pitiful, really. No tears. No emotion.
Dead eyes.
"Are you done?" she asked.
Carter calmed and sat back down in his chair.
"What kind of life is this?" Amanda asked. "I'm in a box. They won't even let me stand. And I'm never getting out of here. Ever. Who are you to judge me for wanting blessed darkness instead of this?"
"Look, Amanda -"
"No," she snapped with authority, holding up her hand. "I don't want to hear it. It's what I deserve. I'm a traitor to my country, remember?"
"You were trying to save your wife," Carter said. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"I thank you for the sentiment. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of the leader of the ZTF visiting me in my cell?"
"Where's Freudman?"
Amanda shrugged. "No idea. Shouldn't you know? You've had damn near two months to figure it out."
"He went underground after the shit show in Germany," Carter said. "Look, any help you can give about how you found him in the first place would be appreciated."
"He contacted me. Like I told you before. Promised Tomo's release if I sent Senka there on a mission alone. I didn't know that Tomo was alive until then."
"But you saw her research before he contacted you?"
Amanda sighed. "Yes. I had an inclination she was alive because of t
he nature of the research, but I didn't know for sure. I was actually trying to find information when he contacted me."
"How did he contact you?"
"Email."
Carter frowned. "Was it immediately after you started looking for him?"
Amanda cocked her head. "Yes."
"Home or office computer."
"Home."
Carter sat back. "He hacked your computer. Probably put an alarm for specific search terms on the Internet, saw that you were looking for him and contacted you. The office computers don't send out a signal, they can't be hacked. But your home computer..."
Amanda kept her eyes averted.
"Which you knew, which is why you used your home computer. You wanted to set up the trade from the beginning."
"I told you, I deserve to be in here."
"Where is your computer now?"
Amanda sat back.
"Make it right," Carter said desperately. "You fucked up, Amanda. You betrayed your family. Make it right."
"I hid it," Amanda said. "It should be in the ZTF headquarters, in a stack of servers on the second floor."
Carter rose quickly.
"Thank you, Amanda." He headed for the door.
"Carter," Amanda said with dead eyes and a crooked smile. "Do you ever wonder why Tomo and Senka were over there but never met each other?"
Carter turned. "Senka awoke in Langundo, Tomo in Anzen. They are completely different countries."
"But why did they wake up in different places?" She picked up her book, smiling at the confusion on his face. "Maybe that ghost of yours can help you decide if that's random chance or not."
Dumbfounded, Carter left the room, with Black Eyes close behind. Amanda cackled behind them.
"Not everything is as random as it seems," she chanted as the door closed.
"I thought I told you to keep hidden," Carter snapped to Black Eyes. He looked at her face and the anger disintegrated.
"I was hidden," Black Eyes said. "She shouldn't have been able to see me."
22
Senka
"I STILL HATE BOATS!" Senka yelled as she ran to the forest to puke again.