“Armond? Armond are you there?” Lillian asked. No answer. Then, she heard him stir. It was obvious that this place was taking its toll on Armond. “Armond, have you ever tried to dig out of here?” Lillian asked. Armond chuckled. “Dig with what, my fingernails?” he asked. “I have stone tiles over here,” Lillian said. “Well then, you’ve got a shovel and a weapon.” Armond coughed. “By the way that Lucas described it, I thought the tiles on your side were linoleum…all this time, I had no idea.” He sounded grieved. Lillian felt a twinge of guilt. She had quite a few tiles, and after scraping at the plywood wall, she managed to pass a tile underneath to Armond, who then cried. “Can you reach your hand under for a moment?” He asked. “I haven’t felt the touch of another person in three years,” he sighed. Lillian hesitated, but then reached her hand beneath the wall. A large hand covered in something gritty enclosed her own. He held her hand for a long while as they sat crying in the dark. While Armond secretly imagined that he was somehow holding his wife’s hand, Lillian imagined that she was touching Caleb—that he was somehow only a breath away.
Finally, Caleb managed to reach a payphone. He dialed the direct number of his supervisor at Department 99 collect. A mousy male voice answered on the other end. “You better have a really good explanation for what the hell is going on. You stole agent Killian Marshall’s car, and then you tried to kidnap a boy after assaulting him?” His supervisor’s voice was shrill. Caleb was insulted. Of course, he’d never do anything like that…aside from stealing the car, which he had done…but with good reason.
“Boss, there’s some kind of problem with this Chachi ghost. Lillian was kidnapped this morning and I’ve been trying to determine her whereabouts. I found a body at a woman’s house named Carrie…there were cats everywhere…” Caleb rambled. His boss was very quiet on the line. Then, his boss said something, which surprised Caleb. “What kind of cats?” Caleb was taken by surprise. “I don’t know. There were all different kinds. They were everywhere. “His boss grew quiet on the phone. “You’re dealing with an ancient cult called the Abyssinian Elect. I don’t know why they killed Carrie, but they have to be the ones responsible for kidnapping Lillian. I’ve gotten some reports that they have a killing field a few miles south of where you are. Write down the coordinates. I’ll have someone swing by and pick you up with a car and some more weaponry. This isn’t child’s play, Caleb. You’re probably in over your head and Lillian is probably already dead.” The line clicked off.
If Caleb could have punched his supervisor through the telephone, he would have done it. Lillian was a survivor—and more importantly, he needed her. He needed her in a way he couldn’t quite explain. He had dated many women before, but Lillian was different. Her eyes were more perceptive. She was more sensitive and knowing. There was something in her, which drew him to her in a way that he could no longer fight. No matter where she was, he was going to find her.
About an hour passed when a Department 99 agent named Tam pulled up in another black car. “Scoot over,” Caleb commanded—immediately taking the other man’s place behind the steering wheel. Then, Caleb flew the car into reverse, without bothering to explain his plan to Tam. Tam had only been with the department for two months, and Caleb was angry that they would send a newbie to an assignment of such importance.
Caleb continued to floor it backwards down the alleyway until he found what he was looking for – the basketball, and the boy. Caleb pulled up next to the boy, grabbed him beneath the armpits, and sped off as the child wailed and kicked. Yet, they were moving too fast. No one had even seen what had happened.
Tam was mortified and Caleb didn’t have time to give him a long drawn-out explanation. “The boy is possessed, and he knows where Lillian is,” Caleb barked. He pulled the car over and threw the child in the trunk. When the boy tried to get up in order to run away, Caleb pulled out a bottle of holy water. The boy cowered visibly. Tam had never seen anything like it. “Where is she?” Caleb asked. When the boy hesitated, Caleb flicked a few drops of holy water onto his arm. The water hissed and bubbled up on his forearm, forming a huge boil. The boy screamed in pain. “I have eight bottles of this in my car,” Caleb threatened. “Tell me where Lillian is.” Again the boy hesitated and this time Caleb poured a bunch of holy water on top of his head. Again, the child’s skin bubbled up leaving terrible boils. “Jesus,” Tam said out of shock. The boy reached up, clutched his hands over his ears, and screamed. “The cat statue, near the river.” The boy managed to squeak out.
Caleb slammed the hood of the trunk down, leaving the boy inside. He then jumped behind the steering wheel and took off in the direction of a large cat statue that had recently been built next to the Missouri river.
Armond and Lillian had developed a plan. First, they would dig a hole beneath the wall. Then, he would cross over to her side, and they would try and dig their way out for good. The hole was almost big enough. “Okay, give that a try,” Lillian said. A bushy head appeared in the hole, and Lillian watched as Armond tried to snake his way through. He was surprisingly limber, and before she’d realized it, Lillian was face to face with Armond. Some light shined through his side of the hole and Lillian could finally see.
Armond was a tall man, much taller than Caleb and he instinctively reached out and hugged her. Lillian felt guilty, but she couldn’t help but cringe. His stench was unbearable. His entire face was covered in a long beard, and he looked like a walking skeleton. She could see bugs burrowing around in both his scalp and beard.
Lillian immediately offered him the remainder of her sandwich. Armond refused. “Look, you’ve been trapped here for a lot longer than I have,” Lillian said. If we’re going to escape tonight, I need you at your best. Eat it so that you have some more strength,” Lillian said, holding out the remainder of her meal. Armond looked sad for a moment, but then he took the sandwich and scarfed it down.
When he finished, they started to dig again…this time at the northern most end of the wall. Lillian prayed that it led outside, but she had no way of knowing. Yet, she decided to follow Armond’s lead. For a moment, Lillian looked at Armond’s bare back and smiled. For some reason his determination and heart reminded her of Caleb. Caleb would be proud of her. Even if she died in this hellhole, eventually he would find out that she had fought up until her last breath.
Hours passed, and Lillian became less and less certain that they were digging in the right direction until a section of dirt gave way, and finally the cool night air flooded into the cell. Armond clasped his thin hand to his mouth, and tears swelled in his eyes. Between them, they had only four tiles, but it would have to do. Lillian continued to chip away at the dirt in the hole, until finally it was big enough for both of them to squeeze through. When they both crawled through the hole, they remained lying flat on the ground for a long while, catching their breath. There was a chain link fence to the north, and beyond that fence was the Missouri river. A man was standing guard over there, holding a pistol—completely oblivious to their presence.
Lillian quietly raised one finger to her lips. Even though it was dark, they could see by the light of the full moon. Together they crept towards the man, extremely cautious not to draw his attention. Now they were very close, perhaps only three feet away. The man was now sitting with his back to the fence, fiddling with something on his lap. Lillian didn’t like the idea of killing a man who wasn’t even facing them, but they had little choice. Lillian raised the sharp edge of her tile up into the air. For some reason, she hesitated. In that split second, the man spun around and pointed his gun at her face. “How the hell did you get out here?” The guard asked nastily. “I got lost,” Lillian replied sarcastically. The man cocked his gun, getting ready to fire. Yet, Armond didn’t give him the chance. Armond jumped onto the guard as the man fired round after around into his stomach. Lillian took the opportunity to try and help. While the guard concentrated on killing Armond, she drove the edge of her tile deep into his skull. Hot red blood spurted out and cover
ed her hands and face. Repeatedly she drove the tile into the guard’s head until he lay twitching on the ground. Finally, the guard was dead.
Lillian rolled the dead guard off of Armond. He was badly wounded, yet lay there smiling widely. “What a beautiful night,” he said weakly. “Reminds me of the day I met my wife,” he said as he closed his eyes.
Lillian knew instinctively that Armond was dead. She turned to run, but slammed into someone else and was knocked flat on her back. It was Caleb.
For a moment, Lillian was in total disbelief. She grabbed at him and hugged him close. Caleb returned her hug, and then reached down and kissed her passionately. For one brief moment, he held on in the darkness. Then, more shots were fired in the distance. All hell was breaking loose.
Lillian now realized that there was a second layer of barbed wire fencing that she hadn’t been aware of earlier. In order to get out, they were going to have to fight their way through the building. Lillian took one final glance in Armond’s direction and then hooked her elbow through Caleb’s. Slowly and quietly, they moved towards the giant cat structure in the middle of the garden. There was a main house located toward the center of the encampment and Caleb guessed that they would soon find themselves in quite a jam.
Lillian and Caleb quickly approached the house. They were right that there would be trouble, but there were only two guys. One was sitting in a wheelchair with a shotgun across his lap, and the other was shifting into a giant snake. Lillian gasped.
The snake shed its human skin and took off through the front door moving at an alarming speed. It was hunting for something. It was hunting for them.
The exit gate was only a few feet away now. If they could reach it, they could jump the front gate and be out of there in no time at all. Lillian scaled the fence first, and then Caleb climbed over after her. They’d lost sight of the snake, but that was of little importance. Department 99 could bring its swat team in later to take care of business.
Caleb had left Tam sitting in the running black vehicle, and Caleb quickly reached for the car’s door. When he opened it, he almost dropped to his knees. Tam was sitting there, but virtually his entire body was being eaten alive by the snake. Tam’s feet kicked and flailed about as the snake slowly expanded itself to keep swallowing him whole. Caleb was in shock, but Lillian jumped into action. Without even hesitating, she drew her piece of tile up into the air and brought it down on the huge snake that had coiled itself, disgustingly inside the car. Lillian hacked with the piece of tile again; screaming as she brought it down. The snake reared backwards from the pain, and started to regurgitate Tam, who was still alive. The snake quickly slithered out of the car, and Caleb and Lillian stood back-to-back, ready for anything. Caleb drew his gun, and also handed Lillian his long military knife.
The snake first lunged at Lillian, and when it did so, she slashed its face. The monstrous body fell back and then started to retreat. Then Caleb chased it, emptying round after round into the giant body, until it stopped moving and eventually morphed into the body of a little boy. It was the child Caleb had thrown into the trunk. Apparently, he was a possessed snake-shifter.
Both Caleb and Lillian jumped into the car, pushing Tam’s body into the back seat. He was lying back there gasping for air—probably in a state of shock. Right when Caleb was about to press the accelerator, he noticed that there was someone in front of them. It was the man in the wheelchair. He was right in front of their car. The man raised the shot gun and started to fire as Caleb pressed the accelerator and rammed the car into him, while Lillian screamed at the top of her lungs. The blast rang out as the car lunged forward and pieces of glass sprayed all over Lillian’s lap. Then they noticed that man with the shotgun was dead on the side of the road—there was a large piece of tile sticking out of the side of his head and Armond was standing there, holding his guts in, weakly stumbling towards the car. He was alive!
Lillian rushed forward and helped Armond into the vehicle. She noticed that Caleb looked a little bit jealous, which made her smile inwardly.
About an hour later, they found themselves sitting in Caleb’s housing unit. While Tam was badly injured, he was going to live. Armond was in the critical care unit, but seemed to be slowly stabilizing.
The department supervisors had a lot of questions, but most of the answers were simple—the crazy cat cult had presumably been behind most of what had happened. Immediately, Caleb’s boss deployed a few cleanup teams. The civilian population of Kansas City would never even have a clue.
As Lillian sat on Caleb’s bed, she felt vulnerable and unbelievably tired. Yet, there was something about being so close to him that was virtually unbearable. Caleb turned to her. His eyes were intense and angry. “You could have gotten yourself killed, you know,” he spat. “Thank you for always stating the obvious,” Lillian said back. She even surprised herself with the comment—the way it just slid out of her mouth. Caleb rushed over as if he might strike her, but then he lowered his face to hers and pressed his lips against her own. His mouth was warm and his tongue was muscular. He flicked his tongue in and out of her mouth, and Lillian felt her pulse quicken. Then, inwardly her resistance melted away.
Now, Caleb was holding her down. He was on top of her kissing her neck, pulling her shirt away. Lillian moaned, enjoying the rough feel of his skin. The cold air in his room made her nipples stand up erect and Caleb was flicking at them with his tongue. Lillian reached up and lightly bit his lower lip. Caleb responded by biting her back. Then, their bodies locked together—both making out and wrestling one another in some strange fit of passion. “You think you’re tough.” Caleb asked her. His comment hit a nerve. “I am tough,” Lillian responded, a bit wounded. She slapped him playfully across the face and Caleb responded by grabbing her ass. “What you did today was just plain stupid,” Caleb said. His insult was too much. Lillian pushed him away and started to walk out of the room.
Then, a terrible metallic sound rang out and everything went dark.
Part IV
Love At Last
Love At Last
Department 99 headquarters had gone dark before. Power outages were somewhat common, but the generator usually kicked on in less than a minute. Something about this was different. Lillian stood with her hand on the doorknob, eager to leave Caleb’s room, but first she needed to know that it was safe. They waited silently in the darkness. It sounded to Lillian as if Caleb was fishing around for some of his clothes that had come off during their passionate make-out session. The thought made her smile.
Her feelings for Caleb were strong, which is why his insult had so much sting to it. Perhaps she was being overly emotional, but Lillian really wanted to feel as though Caleb respected her. If he thought her deliberate actions were stupid, he couldn’t possibly think much of her as a human being. Lillian felt foolish and vulnerable, breathing in the darkness. She desperately wanted the lights to come back on so that she could make a dramatic exit in order to put him in his place. How else could she keep her pride intact while expressing her hurt? Sometimes, Caleb simply went too far. He needed to know that his words had an effect on her. Yet, Caleb was arrogant and just as headstrong as she was. Even worse, he had probably been right. She shouldn’t have gone to investigate all by herself—not in the middle of an actively violent case.
Caleb flicked a lighter on in the dark room, which he then slowly used to light a small candle. The candle flickered creating a warm orange glow in the little metallic room. If Lillian hadn’t been so wounded, she might have thought it romantic. Regardless, the candle brought a sense of intimacy to the room that seemed to warm her heart a bit. Maybe Caleb didn’t know how to be gentle. Perhaps his years with the department and the bear shifter within him, made him a bit of a brute. Yet, he was a good person. He had done everything within his power to come to her rescue. Perhaps he was upset because he had come very close to losing her. Maybe Caleb’s feelings for her were just as deep as her own. Lillian sighed. If their positions had been rever
sed, she would have been furious at him for going off hunting for clues without her.
Then, Lillian thought she heard something coming from the other side of the door. There was a distinct scratching sound, and then something else that almost sounded like a low growl. Caleb’s eyes shot up. The bear-shifter in him knew that something was seriously amiss. Danger was nearby. Before Lillian knew what was happening, Caleb was standing in front of the door wearing a menacing grimace. His huge biceps bulged and rippled as he moved from side to side, like a boxer preparing for a fight. The intensity in his eyes was frightening. Then, something else flickered in his eyes and he changed instantaneously. Tiny sprouts of hair started to spawn all over his chest and arms, while his muscles seemed to enlarge. He was shifting. In a matter of seconds, his human form was swallowed up into that of a giant grizzly.
Lillian covered her eyes as Caleb disappeared and the mighty bear appeared before her. He seemed focused on whatever was on the other side of the door and roared fiercely. The sound shook Lillian to her core. Saliva dripped from the corners of Caleb’s bear mouth and he sniffed, grunted, and then roared again. The roar echoed off of the walls and moved through Lillian’s entire body, causing her to shudder. The bear readied itself for battle. Caleb was bloodthirsty.
Lillian wasn’t sure what she should do. Was the greater danger inside with him or outside with whatever was making the strange noise? Lillian slunk back behind Caleb’s bed cowering in the corner. Right after she’d moved out of the way, a terrible blast knocked the door off its hinges and Caleb was slammed up against the wall by an invisible force. The air seemed to cackle and laugh as the invisible force growled and struck him again spitefully. This time, Caleb attacked. He lunged upwards in the air, and actually struck something. Then, with his bear teeth and long claws, he ripped into something invisible. Whatever it was, screamed. It was shrieking like a dying animal- making a shrill, high-pitched sound as Caleb’s teeth gripped the specter and chomped down over and over again. He was ripping at the invisible force with his teeth—and the ghost was obviously wounded because it howled loudly and screamed.
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