Nightmare Stalkers

by Michael La Ronn

  “Evening,” Destiny said. “We were there this morning and nothing happened.”

  “But we found a suspicious dude there,” Darius said. “I chased him out of the building and almost caught him. I grabbed this.”

  Darius held out the backpack fabric.

  Rodgers and the sheriff studied it.

  “The Leather Skull,” Rodgers said. “Sounds like some kind of punk skateboarder shop.”

  “We were going to go check it out, but we had to kill some time before it opened,” I said. “We never made it.”

  “We went to get Allegra checked out,” Destiny said. “She received an MRI but never got the results.”

  “Ah, because of the fire,” Rodgers said. “I’m curious to see what those results are. But it sounds like The Leather Skull is our next destination.”

  The sheriff nodded. “Those are good tips, guys. We’ll send units over to Kemiston Central Station. This fellow you chased—what was his description?”

  “Black hoodie, skateboard,” Darius said. “Didn’t get any other visuals.”

  “Got it,” the sheriff said.

  “We’ll head over to The Leather Skull,” Rodgers said. “Fortunately for you all, I feel like cracking some skulls today.”

  We ran to the stairs.

  I took one last look at the terminal, at the blood, at the officers walking around confused, at the paramedics scrambling around frantically.

  I was glad to leave.

  23

  Rodgers parked in a parking lot facing Wynecia Avenue, a row of storefronts with neon signs in the windows.

  “Nice part of town,” Rodgers said.

  We were a few blocks away from one of the city’s premier shopping districts.

  The storefronts looked like they had been built in a construction boom—nice, colorful siding and veneer, but cookie cutter.

  A tanning shop, wine and sports store, hamburger shop, and a tax service. Pretty vanilla stores.

  “The Leather Skull must be around back,” Rodgers said.

  “My apartment is not too far from here,” Allegra said as we ran across the street, avoiding oncoming cars.

  “You ever pass by here?” Rodgers asked, glancing around the complex. “Maybe you got hit with some voodoo shit.”

  Allegra shook her head.

  “Never been on this street,” she said.

  “You got a hell of accent,” Rodgers said. “Where you from?”

  “Brazil,” she said.

  “Cool,” he said. “From what I've seen in a few rap videos, that's the place to be.”

  “Hardly,” Allegra said.

  Rodgers puffed.

  He stopped us.

  “All right,” he said. “Before we march up in this place, we gotta set some ground rules.”

  “You the one with the gun,” Destiny said. “So go ahead and state your terms.”

  The wind blew, roaring through us. A sign on the hamburger shop clapped against the side of the building. A customer in a parka walked out of the shop carrying a paper sack; feeling the wind in his face, he bolted toward his car in the distance.

  My teeth chattered.

  I was sick, sick, sick of this snow.

  “Let me lead the way,” Rodgers said. “Let me ask the questions. Any shit goes down, let me handle it. Like I said, I'm the one with the gun. Got it?”

  He glanced at Destiny. “Don't do any cavalier shifter shit on me.”

  Destiny rolled her eyes.

  Rodgers pointed at Darius.

  “I might could use you, though. Know a few good spells?”

  “More than a few,” Darius said, snapping his fingers. Fire bloomed momentarily on his fingers and then faded away.

  “That's what I'm talking about,” Rodgers said.

  Then he looked at Allegra and me.

  “You two…Umm, well, I guess you'll be all right,” he said.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said.

  “It’s just experience talking,” Rodgers said. “I hate when civilians go cowboy on me.”

  He pointed at Allegra.

  “Give me the address,” he said.

  Allegra read it to him, and he scanned the addresses on the shops next to us, mouthing the numbers out loud.

  “Let's roll,” he said, walking around the corner.

  We pushed through the snow, charging into the wind.

  Through the whiteness, I saw the sculpture park. A sculpture of a black dragon stood in the middle of a patch of snow, wings spread, standing as if it were royal, its teeth bared, its tail reared back to strike.

  There several park benches covered in snow.

  At the edge of the courtyard was the storefront we were looking for—a gigantic brown skull exterior with hollow eye sockets, squeezed between a gift shop and a flower shop. In its mouth was a sliding glass door with tinted glass. There was no sign.

  “It literally is a leather skull,” I said incredulously.

  “Never seen this store before,” Darius said.

  “There's a first time for everything,” Rodgers said, shaking his head.

  We stood in front of the shop.

  “What do you think they sell?” Destiny asked.

  I tried to look through the sliding glass door, but I couldn't see through it.

  “Remember those rules I laid out for y’all,” Rodgers said.

  We followed Rodgers to the door, which slid open as he approached.

  We entered.

  I expected a smoke shop.

  Or a skate shop.

  Or a tattoo parlor.

  But the store was full of screens.

  No shelves.

  No counters.

  No products.

  Just screens.

  Television flat screens lined the walls, mounted from floor to ceiling.

  The air was cold and smelled of scented candles, a scent that I couldn't trace.

  Our steps echoed on shiny hardwood floors.

  “The hell?” Rodgers asked.

  I looked around, but there was no back room. No stairs.

  The only thing in the shop was the screens, shining white and bright.

  “Hello?” Rodgers called out.

  I inched closer to one of the screens.

  It reminded me of an airport departure and arrival screen.

  There were long lines with times next to them.

  Norwyn Station: 5:15 P.M. Canceled.

  Grimoire Plaza: 5:25 P.M. Canceled.

  Shalewood Avenue: 5:26 P.M. Canceled.

  The word “canceled” flashed in yellow and red letters.

  I scanned the screen up and down.

  There were streets and times all over it, and they all read “canceled.”

  I exhaled.

  The streets.

  The times.

  The statuses.

  “These are subway terminals,” I said.

  I pointed to the Crafter Circle Terminal, the terminal closest to the shop. I often caught the 5:49 downtown for drinks with friends. Sure enough, it read “canceled.”

  “Whoever is here, they're tracking the subway terminals,” I said.

  “I never seen anything like this in the terminals,” Darius said. “How did they get all of this information?”

  He held up his phone, which had the KTA website on it.

  “You can't even see all of this information on the website,” he said.

  “They must've hacked into their mainframe,” Rodgers said. “Good call, Darius. That's how they know all the trains are currently canceled. I'll let the sheriff know.”

  Rodgers threw his hands up and took another look around.

  “This is some weird shit,” he said.

  “Guys,” Allegra said, pointing to a screen.

  On it, all the times were canceled except one.

  One terminal and time glowed in an ethereal green.

  We crowded around the screen and collectively gasped as we read it.

  Kemiston Central St
ation. 7:01 P.M. On time.

  24

  “Seven oh one,” I said. “That’s the same time the train arrived in Allegra’s dream.”

  “What dream?” Rodgers asked.

  “I jumped into one of Allegra’s dreams last night,” I said. “We were at the Kemiston Central Station, and the clock chimed seven times, right around the same time the train arrived.”

  “And it was a subway train?” he asked.

  “No, it was a real train,” I said.

  “Huh?” Rodgers asked.

  “An old-fashioned one,” I said.

  “You mean a locomotive?” he asked. “Those subway tracks can’t hold a locomotive. It’s impossible. They’re electrified.”

  “It tore up the tracks,” I said. “That I remember well.”

  Rodgers hesitated for a moment.

  “Ladies and gent, we’re deep into something that’s bigger than us,” he said. “I have no idea what’s going on. And from someone with security clearance, that’s saying a lot.”

  That unsettled me.

  If Rodgers couldn’t help, and if we couldn’t find any more clues…we were stuck.

  He called the sheriff.

  “It’s me,” he said. “I got bad news, badder news, and even badder news.”

  The sheriff cursed on the other line.

  “The bad news is that we’re at The Leather Skull, and there’s nobody here,” Rodgers said. “Just a bunch of screens. I don’t know what the hell this place is. Huh? Naw. Seriously, there are no people here. The badder news is that somebody hacked into the KTA mainframe and has all the data on the subway arrivals and departures. Can you have your contact at the KTA run a systems inspection? Sounds like there's a vulnerability.”

  Pause.

  “And here’s the even badder news,” Rodgers said, wiping his nose. “The screen I’m looking at right now is saying that there’s a train coming into the Kemiston Central Station at approximately seven oh-one, and it’s on time. I know, I know—the KTA should have canceled all the trains. There isn’t a chance one of the subway cars could be running, is there? My crew here is telling me that there’s a potential locomotive that’s coming, not a subway car. Naw, I’m not messing with you. I trust them. We ought to have a helicopter sweep the line coming in and out of the station to see if there’s any suspicious activity on the tracks. Anything going on will be obvious in the snow. All right, well, check on that seven oh-one for me and call me back. Get me forensics out here so we can sweep the place for fingerprints. Somebody had to install all these screens.”

  Rodgers hung up.

  “Sheriff says he’ll call the KTA, but he didn’t think there was a seven oh-one at Kemiston Central,” Rodgers said.

  “Of course not,” Destiny said. “That would be too easy.”

  In that moment, Allegra’s phone rang.

  We all stared at it as it pulsed and vibrated in her hand.

  The caller ID on the screen said Restricted.

  “Answer it,” I said.

  Rodgers stood next to her.

  “Go on,” he said. “I’m listening to every word.”

  She answered reluctantly, putting the phone on speaker phone.

  “Hello?” she asked.

  Static.

  “This is Allegra,” she said. “Who is this?”

  Static.

  Sounded like a wrong number.

  But I knew in my heart that it wasn’t a wrong number.

  A tingling sensation spread across my arms.

  Finally, a voice spoke, jumbled up and distorted.

  “Are you at The Leather Skull?” it asked.

  I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.

  “Are you at the Leather Skull?” it asked.

  “Yes, I’m here,” Allegra asked. “Who is this?”

  “I’m outside,” the voice.

  Rodgers drew his gun and ran to the door.

  The sliding door opened.

  Through the snow, a figure wearing all black stood underneath the dragon statue. A black hood covered the person’s face.

  “It’s him,” Darius said. “The guy from earlier.”

  “Freeze!” Rodgers yelled, aiming. “Put your hands up and get on your knees. NOW!”

  The figure remained still.

  Rodgers inched toward the figure.

  “Did you hear me?” he said. “Get on your knees NOW or we’re going to have a problem!”

  The figure turned around and ran.

  “There he goes!” Darius said.

  “Shit,” Rodgers said, holstering his gun.

  He broke into a run after the man.

  They headed toward the opening in the courtyard.

  “D, can you hit him with a spell?” I asked.

  Darius’s hands bloomed into fire, and he aimed at the man.

  “Tough aim,” he said. “I can’t hit him without hitting Rodgers.”

  Darius took off running after them.

  “D, be careful!” Destiny said.

  The man reached the courtyard exit.

  “Stop!” Rodgers said. “You’re making a mistake! Do you hear me! Turn the fuck around!”

  And then, instead of exiting the courtyard, the man turned around and ran along the storefronts.

  There was no other way out of the courtyard.

  He rounded another corner.

  He was coming straight for us.

  25

  I grabbed a clump of snow.

  I felt the hard surface of a small rock underneath the wetness.

  I patted together a snowball.

  The hooded man approached, running fast. I still couldn’t see his face.

  I aimed, taking a step back.

  Throw!

  The snowball struck the man in the face, but he kept running as it if didn’t faze him.

  A rock to the face would have stopped anybody.

  But not him.

  I balled my fist.

  Allegra pulled me out of the way.

  A loud shriek like a missile descended from the sky.

  A falcon zoomed at him and tore at his black hoodie.

  Destiny.

  She shrieked as she ripped her talons into the hoodie, pulling it and flapping her wings.

  But the man kept running, letting his hoodie rip, exposing only more black clothes underneath.

  “Sis, raise up!” Darius cried, a fireball on his fingertips.

  Destiny let go of the man and flew upward.

  A fireball struck him in the back, making him stumble.

  He was only a few feet away now.

  I stuck my foot out and tripped him. He flipped face first into the snow.

  Rodgers blazed past me and jumped on the man.

  “Resist and I’ll fight back,” he said.

  For a moment, the two men wrestled in the sand.

  Rodgers grabbed the man’s hood and pulled it back. Long, curly hair fell down the man’s face.

  But the curl’s weren’t a man’s curls.

  It was a woman.

  Dark-skinned.

  “The fuck?” Rodgers said.

  The woman looked up at Rodgers, expressionless.

  That face…

  It was the face of…

  Allegra.

  The woman was Allegra.

  But it wasn’t.

  I glanced at the courtyard.

  Allegra was standing next to me.

  I glanced back and forth between the two.

  “Who are you?” Rodgers asked.

  And then the woman disappeared, leaving behind a distorted, pixied laugh that carried on the wind before fading away.

  Rodgers scrambled back, falling into the snow.

  He looked at Allegra.

  “That was you,” he said.

  “But it wasn’t,” Allegra said. “I’m here.”

  “Jesus,” Rodgers said. “Do you have an evil twin that you haven’t told us about?”

  Allegra turned pale.

  “I swe
ar it wasn’t me!” she said, crying.

  I touched her shoulder.

  “Honey, we trust you,” I said. “But forgive us for being freaked out for a minute, because that was beyond creepy.”

  Darius slid to stop.

  “Why did that…that…thing have your face?” he asked.

  Allegra put her hands in her face and sobbed.

  “I don’t know!” she cried. “I don’t know!”

  “How do you not know?” Rodgers asked.

  “I’m me!” she said. “I didn’t ask for any of this to happen. I didn’t think something like this would ever happen to me. Oh my God. Oh my God!”

  I took Allegra into my arms and hugged her.

  I said nothing.

  Destiny, in falcon form, landed in the snow and transformed back into her human form.

  “Umm, that was creepy,” she said. “That chick looked just like you, Allegra.”

  Allegra sobbed.

  “And I would know,” Destiny said. “My bird vision isn’t wrong.”

  I shushed Destiny.

  We said nothing, listening to Allegra cry.

  I patted her on the shoulder.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “This isn’t over. We’re one step closer to figuring all of this out.”

  “How?” Rodgers asked. “Every step we take, it gets weirder and weirder. I’m about ready to throw my hands up and call it a day.”

  I mouthed to him to shut up. Allegra sobbed harder.

  “If the FBI can’t help me, then I’m screwed,” Allegra said.

  “No, he’s just venting,” I said, flashing a nasty look at Rodgers. “Don’t mind him. If he wants to walk away, you’ve still got us.”

  “Seriously, Aisha,” Rodgers said. “What do you recommend?”

  His phone.

  He checked it.

  “Thank god, it’s the sheriff,” he said. “I don’t need any more creepy calls today. Yo, sheriff. You aren’t going to believe this. What? Aww, hell. Are you kidding me? No, really? Well, I don’t have good news, either.”

  He told the sheriff what happened. They exchanged a few code words and he hung up.

  “The sheriff just told me that he checked with the KTA,” he said. “Apparently there isn’t a seven oh-one at Kemiston Central. Never has been. It typically runs at seven forty-five.”

  “What train runs before that?” Darius asked.

  “The times don’t match up,” Rodgers said. “That’s a dead end, brother.”

  Darius patted Allegra on the back and stroked her hair. It was an awkward movement, like he was stroking a puppet. It was clear he had never touched a woman this way before.