by C Bilici
Jasper was still in her induced coma, but with the increased security measures after the incident, Stacey wasn’t worried. Jasper was in the safest place she could be, on a planet of Wards, in effect.
There wasn’t much in the way of clues in the office, examination room or labs. The fridges were empty of both bodies and samples, one in particular sealed off.
“This must of been where they kept her.”
Stacey nodded to Charlie, staring at the trolley that would have held Tammy’s corpse a few days ago. “You think she’s, you know, an Umbra zombie, or a shadow person?”
Charlie shrugged, and shook her head. “Let’s hope for the former. If we find her and have to put her down…”
“You done that a lot?”
Charlie shook her head again, gave Stacey forced smile. “Only small creatures. Every trainee has to. Then when we go into the field we start as Hunters.”
“That sounds kinda cool.”
“Sure, if you want to be like those guys on that rat catching TV show.”
“Oh, yay.”
“Exactly. But we all do our part. The big stuff, that’s more a duty for enforcers and others. I guess here, though, you don’t have the luxury of numbers.”
“Have you seen it done?”
“Not in person.” She pulled the door of the fridge closed. “There’s nothing here.”
“We need to talk to the people that worked on her. Maybe they know something.”
“If they’re still alive.”
After a quick search of the work space again, they came up empty.
“They probably destroyed anything that could be contaminated,” Charlie said.
“Well, there has to be offices in the building. Offices have reports. Come on.”
“I could hack into the systems,” Charlie said as she followed, “but it will take time.”
The door to the examination room was deadlocked, but a quick hop later and Stacey was in a hallway. An office door sat not too far away. She walked past it, and others, to a bigger office at the end of the hall.
“Here.” Stacey pointed at the door.
“OK, let’s hop in and—” The door handle twisted in Stacey’s hand and opened as she pushed. “Or not.”
“I don’t think any of the other doors in this building will be locked.”
They entered the darkened office and Stacey stood at the desk while Charlie dropped into the expensive looking chair and started powering on a desktop.
“Shouldn’t take me long,” Charlie said.
“Got it.”
A manila folder dropped to the glass table.
“You’re shitting me, right?” Charlie pulled the folder and stared at the printouts.
“Hacking master!” Stacey blew on her nails and buffed them on her top.
“Who prints? It’s got their names and addresses in here, too.”
“Please, people love printing. Makes them feel all important and shit to hold things in their hands. Shall we?”
The chair rolled back and Charlie stood. “You know where we’re going?”
“Roughly. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
A handful of hops, a stop in a convenience store, and asking an old woman calling for her cat in her yard later, the found themselves at a small townhouse. One of four, the house sat in darkness, while several lit those around them and muted sounds of televisions and talking drifted into the shared drive.
“Do we ring the doorbell, or ninja Ward our way in?”
Hands cupped around her eyes, Charlie peered through a window. “The blinds are drawn tight, can’t see anything. I’ll go around the back while you take the front.”
“That’s what she said,” Stacey muttered to herself as Charlie jogged around the house.
The doorbell, an old fashioned ding-dong by the sounds of it and somewhat out of character for the modern house, echoed a short distance from the door. As its reverberations faded, Stacey thumbed the glowing button several times over. If that didn’t bring someone to the door, nothing would.
The outside light came on.
“Yes?” a soft voice spoke through the door.
Stacey opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She wasn’t sure what to say.”
“H— Hello?” The woman spoke louder and Stacey was sure she was scared.
“I’m sorry. My name’s Stacey Trampler. Are you Fiona Redfern?” When no response came, Stacey leaned in closer to the door and turned her head. She thought she heard heavy breathing.
“I— Who—”
“You did the autopsy on my friend, Tammy K. I think you might be in danger.”
The deadbolt ground and clicked and the door handle rattled softly. A dark crack appeared as the door swung, a chain stopping it. A woman peered out. A dark, puffed hemisphere below a bloodshot eye spoke of sleep deprivation.
“What kind of danger?”
“I’m pretty sure you know what. I reckon you saw something, and that’s why you can’t sleep. Trust me, been there, done that.” She smiled. “Plus, there’s that whole thing with her body going missing on its own.”
Fiona’s eye shot up and down Stacey’s body in panic. “How do you know that? That information hasn’t been released.”
A shaky cry of fear escaped her lips as Charlie appeared.
“Shit!” Charlie turned to the door as Fiona fell onto her rear and backed away.
Stacey stuck her face into the opening. “Fiona.”
“No, no,” the manic woman repeated the word, backing into a corner and shaking her head.
“Trust me, we’re the good guys. We just want to help.”
“Help? You… She…”
Stacey could see the woman was petrified, her tired mind making her paranoid. Though given the situation and their appearance — literally — she couldn’t blame her. “I’m coming in, OK. Try to stay calm.”
The woman screamed louder as Stacey appeared next to her. Her feet slid on the tiled floor as she tried to push through the walls of the corner. A slipper fell off one of her feet.
Stacey dropped to a crouch, her hands out palms up as she made soothing, quiting noises, much as she would have with her kids. “It’s OK. I’m here to help.” She dropped to the floor and crossed her legs. “We’re not here to hurt you, OK. You take your time. Ask me any questions that make you feel more comfortable.”
It took her a few minutes, but eventually the woman forced herself calm and even allowed Charlie to come in through the door. They sat at her table and drank scotch from geeky coffee mugs.
“I don’t drink, but TV says this is the time for hard liquor,” she’d said.
Stacey had commented at least she’d done it right and bought the cheap and nasty stuff. Then Charlie and Stacey had told her who and what they were, and about the Umbra.
Stacey winced as she took another gulp of the whiskey. “I have to say, you’re taking it pretty well.”
“Well, people appearing before your eyes tends to both break the ice and provide some level of proof. Not to mention your friend.”
“Speaking of Tammy.” Charlie put aside her superhero mug. “We know your assistant was with you at the time, but could anyone else have been exposed?”
“Not that I’m aware of, but I don’t know enough about how this stuff works. I mean, am I infected? Contaminated? Contagious?” She sipped the whiskey, coughed, and stood. “This stuff is awful. How can you drink it?” The liquor drained from her mug as she poured it into the sink and put it aside. She flicked the kettle on.
“It’s an acquired taste, like me.” Stacey drained the mug.
“We need to check on Tom and make sure you’re not infected,” Charlie said.
“I guess that means no coffee.” The rumble on the bench subsided when she pulled the switch up again. “I’ll go get dressed. Do I have time for a quick shower?”
Charlie gave the woman a nod, who trudged upstairs. They heard a door close, and soon after the sound of pipes and sluicing
water.
“You had to tell her no coffee,” Stacey said, breaking the silence.
With a sigh and scrape of her chair, Charlie stood to turn the appliance back on. She stopped halfway to the bench and they both turned to face the staircase as Fiona’s scream drowned out the complaining pipes.
The space under the stairs boomed as they took them two at a time, Stacey close on Charlie’s tail as she followed the sound of water into a bedroom. Through a walk in wardrobe, they found Fiona cowering on the shower floor.
Stringy black mucus hung in strands from an exhaust fan at the edge of the shower screen door, oozing down to the floor. The fan groaned as it attempted to spin and a heat lamp sizzled as Umbra bubbled on the globe. Glistening like the naked woman trying to make herself as small as possible where she stood, the Umbra crept forward.
The thing was the size of a smallish dog, and looked like the spawn of a jellyfish and a rat that had it’s hindquarters severed, it’s gelatinous innards stretching out and up to the fan. Its squat, fat fore-legs kicked, feet slapping in the water.
“Motherfucker!” Stacey’s hand sprung out.
“Wait!” Charlie yanked the shower door open. The thing turned and hissed. “Go.”
An electric crack shook the small space as Stacey shot it in the face. Water and slime spattered Fiona’s bare legs and she let out a shriek of surprise, which rose into a cry of fear as the fan and surrounding plaster around it collapsed. Amid a shower of white dust and pink insulation, large black bodies fell with thuds to the floor. Each was giant, misshapen rat.
Charlie pushed Stacey into the cubicle with Fiona and slammed the door behind her. “Get her out of here.”
The Umbra in the shower had been slowed, but was far from destroyed. The hole in its head stitched closed from the inside out, dozens of dark lines worming in every direction until it was whole. Stacey didn’t wait for it to recover fully. With a quick glance at Charlie, who was dealing with the rat creatures as best she could, Stacey grabbed hold of Fiona and jumped them out.
They didn’t go far. Stacey waved her hand around the bedroom. “Throw something on,” she commanded as glass shattered.
Stacey ran through the walk in cupboard behind Charlie to find her blasting randomly, the shower door obliterated. The creature that had been contained within was now readying to launch at her, glittering shards embedded across its body.
“Charls!” Her arm wrapped around the girl’s waist and she pulled her back. Her other hand rose and she felt her palm and fingers tingle as the energy rose.
The shot hit the creature in its side and it flew into a mirror, flopping onto a shelf full of bottles and items below it. The rat-creature and most of the bottles fell into the sink below, rattling as the thing twisted and rose, ready to attack.
She didn’t give it the chance.
With no time to think, Stacey spread her fingers wide and let loose her power. Her vision became electric sharp, and she sent out the call to her avatar. And it responded.
In her mind’s eye, the giant pulled one of the clubs from its belt, a red band on its handle, and activated it.
Heat licked her skin, but nothing to the degree that lapped at the Umbra caught in the conflagration. Charlie exclaimed something unintelligible behind her, the flames and the death cries of the creatures drowning her out. Bottles exploded and an aerosol hissed, a crumping rush followed.
Stacey leapt back, cutting the flames from her hand. “Whoa!” A cough escaped her lips as the acrid smoke raked the back of her throat. “You think they’re dead?” she asked Charlie.
“Uh, yeah, I do. How did you do that?” Stacey lifted her hand again. “No, Stacey, that’s en—”
The rushing onslaught fanned out, and Charlie grabbed at her shoulder. The girls hands relaxes. The bathroom hissed as water sprayed out, steam and smoke filling the air. Stacey’s left hand crossed over her arm and a blast ripped out the glass from a small window above the shower, then a breeze whipped out from the same hand as she passed it around the room. The air cleared and after a short time the water and breeze ceased.
Charlie stared open-mouthed over her shoulder. “You tied your avatar with the elements.”
“Yeah. Got the idea from Fenton. I guess he’s not totally useless after all. Come on.”
They found Fiona cowering behind her bed, dressed, or at least partially.
“It’s all good, Fiona. We got rid of them. But we gotta go.”
With an emphatic nod, the woman stood and did as instructed. She packed herself a bag of clothes and essential possessions, then brought up a map on a tablet and directed them to her assistant’s house.
“Thank you,” Fiona said as Leigh beckoned her into the temple.
Stacey stared after her as she climbed the stairs, the blind guardians eyeing her warily.
“They’ll take good care of her,” Charlie said.
Not knowing or having seen what the decontamination process involved, Stacey could only nod and trust in her friend. “Let’s go see if we can save someone else, huh?”
* * *
Following the map and places the both of them had been, it didn’t take long for Stacey and Charlie to find the house, and when they did it was not what they had expected.
“This looks like my gran’s house,” Stacey said.
The aged house had a shabby garden, one that looked like it had been well loved in its day but fallen into neglect as the tenants had aged, much as the house itself. The place needed painting, grass sprung from the gutters, and the dimly lit windows were grimy with dust.
“Do we do the front and back thing again?” Stacey looked to Charlie, who shook her head.
“I think we should just go in.”
“We could give the old timers a heart attack.”
“Somehow, I don’t think so.” Charlie’s eyes didn’t leave the structure.
The smell of aged furniture and people was strong as they appeared on an old, crimson rug. But not as strong as the stench of excrement and blood.
“Fucking Jesus!” Hand over mouth, Stacey looked at the three bodies on a sofa that looked like it was from the fifties.
Two elderly people sat side by side, and a young man that Stacey could only presume was Tom. They had all been eviscerated. Their gaping guts, mouths, eyes, every open orifice in their bodies, ran with Umbra. Bugs of all shapes and sizes crawled the walls.
A pounding echoed through the house that seemed to shake it to its foundation. Charlie and Stacey both jumped and turned to the source of the sound.
The back door shook as the hammering came again.
Charlie ran and pulled aside a thick draped at the kitchen window and peered through a small gap. “Fuck, It’s Tammy! And she has friends.”
“Umbra?” Stacey mumbled. Charlie nodded. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” She looked at the dead people on the couch.
“We just have to hope we can come back with reinforcements in time to take care of them.”
She didn’t like it, but Charlie was right. If they had time, she’d burn the place down. Her sneering face turned to the walls, and the bugs had changed, elongating and joining into a web. She reached out with her power for the Nexus. Her stomach flipped, but it was followed by a different sensation.
With a groan, Stacey found herself on a rug. She looked about, dazed, and it took a moment to realise that they wete still in Tom’s house. Not far away, Charlie was in the same situation, on the floor and confused.
“The fuck happened?” Stacey asked, getting to her feet.
“I’m not sure. Let me…”
Charlie’s body half vanished, both there and not. In her place was a tumbling, vibrating, translucent ghost of her that suddenly snapped back and she was flung to the floor. She lay dazed, winded and bruised judging by the way she clutched at her body.
Stacey fell to Charlie’s side and looked around the ceiling and walls at the shifting web of Umbra.
The house shook again.
; “Little pigs, little pigs, come out to play,” Tammy’s American twang drawled lazily. “Little pigs, little pigs, time to slay!”
Stacey watched Charlie’s dumbfounded face and cursed inwardly. Now was not the time for her to freak out.
“How many times did I tell you, Tammy?” Stacey yelled out, trying to buy them time. “You can’t write lyrics for shit.”
The girl’s lyrical laughter sounded through the walls. “Maybe not. But your boyfriend never seemed to mind the things I did to him with my hands and mouth.”
If Tammy was here taunting her then that could only mean one thing. Paul was still alive.
“Go fuck yourself, whore-bag. Paul wouldn’t touch a mangy twat like yours if you didn’t force him.”
The girl laughed again but this time it was a deeper, throatier sound. A laugh of knowing confidence. The laugh of the victor.
“Oh, I’ve forced him alright, don’t worry about that. No, I was talking about before all this.”
Stacey felt the muscles in her jaw tighten, her teeth aching from the pressure.
“Much before, actually.”
Stacey stood and Charlie finally reacted, sitting up to stop her, shaking her head in panic. “No, Stace.”
“If we’re stuck here with no way out,” Stacey said, her voice an angry gravel, “I want to at least look the bitch in the eye and go out with a bang.”
Fists clenching, Charlie Stood. “OK. We go out together then.”
“Together.” Stacey held out her fist, and Charlie bumped it with determination.
They walked out the rear door to a scene that was as fantastical as it was horrific.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
BY THE TIME the latest conference with the Cardinal’s had ended and Fenton realised that Stacey and Charlie were gone, it was already too late. He searched frantically for his wayward apprentice and her friend after confronting Despina and being told they’d gone out and come back with the medical examiner.
After questioning Fiona, he had procured the address for her assistant’s home and gone there as quickly as he could. The scene had been horrific, but no more so than anything he’d recently witnessed. After searching the house two things were very clear, that there no sign of the two, and it was infested with Umbra.