Ghost Mortem (Bordertown Chronicle Book 1)

by Gavin Masters

  I vaguely heard Vikki struggling and screaming inside Porter's house.

  “Stop! Perry, stop!” Vikki screamed. “Why are you doing this?”

  Oh god, Vikki! I have to get her out of there.

  I didn't think. I made a run for the house.

  Like a wraith in the night—either metaphorically or literally; I really couldn't tell with the Oversoul—Danko appeared before me, brandishing his soul-slicing-scythe.

  The disorienting suddenness of this caused me to trip and fall, making for a decidedly ungraceful face-plant. I looked up to see the Oversoul's scythe descending for me.

  I braced myself for the end.

  Somehow…I didn't feel the bite of the scythe passing through me. Instead I re-opened my eyes to see a couple—no, three ghostly teenaged boys wrestling with the Oversoul. It was the three youths from the Heaven-Eleven!

  “Boy, am I glad to see you guys!” I said.

  I wasn't ever expecting to say that to them!

  “Don't worry, dude,” said the one with the backwards ball cap. “We got this. Just go save Vikki from that creepy fat fuck.”

  I nodded. I scrambled to my feet and made a break for the sheriff’s house. Maybe my chances of escaping on my own were better. Maybe the best move would have been to put out an A.P.B. to the rest of the B.T.P.D. But I just couldn't leave Vikki in there. Not one second longer than I had to. I couldn’t stomach the idea of her being disfigured, raped, or killed just because I took too long to get help. I couldn't let that happen. She was my best friend here, maybe my only friend now, and I…

  I love her, all right. I probably always will. Even if she thinks that's inappropriate. I knew I didn’t want to live in a world without her in it.

  I dashed back towards my father’s body. I grabbed his weapon belt and his pistol. Then, with the strength of five desperate men, and the speed of five…very fast, desperate men, I kicked in the sheriff's front door. I moved through the house with my father’s pistol trained in front of me with both hands, the way by father taught me.

  “Vikki?” I shouted, searching each room frantically. “Where are you?”

  “Gavin, down here! Basement!” I heard her cry, before she made another “oof” sound.

  That fat bastard must have punched her again. I heard her cough, and gasp for air.

  I dashed into the doorway I heard her calling from, which turned into a set of stairs leading to a basement.

  I rushed downstairs as quickly as I could and scanned the room for Vikki. I saw her, being held from behind by Sheriff Porter. He had one arm around her throat, holding a curved blade. The same blade, I presumed, he'd used to carve up Danny. And so many other victims. I couldn't see his other hand.

  I also noticed, to my horror, that neither the sheriff, nor Vikki were wearing pants anymore.

  “What the hell, Sheriff Porter?” I said.

  “Shoot him, Gavin,” Vikki whimpered. “Shoot him right now.”

  “Don’t be stupid, boy” said the sheriff, brandishing the blade close to her, thankfully as-of-yet unmarred face. “You don't want to accidentally miss and shoot your girlfriend, do you? Don't be stupid, son. Put the pistol down.”

  Conventional wisdom would suggest doing the thing the psychopathic hostage-taker wants is never the right choice. Because then he just shoots you, and then he still has time to torture and kill the hostage. So I couldn't let him do it.

  “Put it down, Masters. Put it down and let's talk about this. Maybe we come to an arrangement. Or if you prefer…”

  Porter brought the blade up to Vikki's throat. Vikki shut her eyes and whimpered.

  “Don't!” I pleaded.

  I felt so helpless.

  “Put it down, Masters,” Porter urged. “Put the gun down or she dies.”

  “All right,” I said.

  I turned my gun outwards in my hand.

  “I'll lower it slowly,” I said. “Just take your arm off Vikki slowly at the same time, okay?”

  “Fair enough,” he said.

  “Gavin don't,” she pleaded. “Gavin…he's just going to kill us both!”

  She was right. I knew that. I'm not stupid. Well, she was right about him killing me. He'd probably take his time with her. But I wasn't planning on letting that happen. I just wanted him to clear enough space for me to take a shot at Porter without hitting Vikki. I wanted to shoot the sheriff, not the deputy.

  You can do this, Gavin. Just like you practiced at the range.

  I knelt slowly with the gun. I had it almost to the floor.

  Porter's arm loosened its grip on Vikki.

  “Gavin, look out!” Vikki cried.

  That's when Porter drew on me. And his draw was faster.

  Remember that other hand of Porter's I couldn't see? It had been reaching for his gun. Which was now drawn, trained right at me.

  Porter fired into me with a loud bang.

  I didn't have time to react. The sheriff was too quick a draw. I found myself staring at an explosion appearing from Porter's gun. From out the explosion came a single bullet, slipping slowly through the air toward me.

  Wait a minute! Why the hell can I see the bullet moving?

  By comparison, Vikki and the sheriff were frozen in a tableau.

  Vikki was looking up intently at the sheriff. She looked like she was concentrating hard.

  The sheriff looked determined to shoot me.

  The sheriff fired a second shot at me. There was a second explosion, and another bullet came toward me at a very slow speed. I'd heard about time slowing down the first time officers are in a shoot-out, but this was ridiculous!

  Of course! The slowness bubbles Vikki mentioned! Vikki's using her powers to protect you, you dolt!

  Realizing this, I sidestepped the slow-moving bullets. I trained my father's pistol right at the sheriff's head, and got ready to shoot.

  Time resumed its natural flow, and the sheriff looked momentarily disoriented.

  “Shoot him, Gavin. Shoot him now!”

  “Don't be an idiot, boy! If you shoot me, I’ll just come back more powerful than you could possibly imag—”

  I didn't hesitate this time. I fired a single shot right into the sheriff's forehead.

  The sheriff's knife and his gun dropped to the floor first. Then his body collapsed to its knees, and then slumped to the floor.

  His spirit continued to stand behind Vikki, just where his body had stood moments before. He had a stupefied expression on his face.

  “You…little shit!” said the ghost. “I can’t believe you shot me before I could even finish my—”

  I drew my father’s E.D. gun and fired that too, forcing the sheriff's ghost into a helpless cloud state.

  Then, for my trifecta, I quickly primed an imploder grenade and dropped it below the cloud.

  “Get out of my town!” I shouted.

  In a matter of seconds, Porter’s ghost was nothing but a memory, sealed within one of Larry’s imploder grenades.

  “Gavin,” Vikki started, tears streaming down her face.

  “Vikki, are you all right? Did he hurt you?” I asked, running up to her, and checking her for wounds, and for…signs of other abuse. “Did he…”

  I couldn't even say it. Her pants were down, but her panties were still on. Hopefully I'd got here before that had happened.

  “No,” she said. “I'm fine. Really.”

  I grabbed Vikki and held her close.

  “You saved my life,” I said. “He had me. I was dead.”

  “You saved mine too,” she said.

  “Yeah. That's true, isn't it?”

  “Gavin…If you're done hugging me, I'd really like to pull my pants up and get out of these handcuffs.”

  “Right. Of course,” I said.

  I looked for the key.

  “What happened to the Oversoul?” asked Vikki. “I thought he—”

  As if summoned by the mere thought of him, the Oversoul emerged at the top of the basement stairs.

 
“Oh, f-fuck!” Vikki sobbed.

  We both peered up helplessly at the Oversoul.

  He floated toward us, his cloak billowing in the black smoke that swirled around him as he descended upon us.

  Vikki tugged helplessly at the cuffs locking her hands behind her—not that her hands would have done her any good anyway—and then buried her face into my shoulder, sobbing.

  I’m pretty sure I was sobbing too by this point. Despite holding my father’s arsenal of weapons. I knew they were useless, and I might just as well have been handcuffed myself, for all the use I'd be in fighting this thing. I supposed I could try a few more defensive maneuvers, but it was cramped in here, and I knew Vikki wouldn’t have the same luxury. And I wasn’t going to leave Vikki now. He'd have to kill me first.

  So? I did what any sane person would do in this seemingly hopeless situation; I fired my gun at it. Not my E.D. gun. That would have been worthless anyway, since it seems the Oversoul isn't made of ectoplasmic energy. He seems to be made of something else. Or nothing at all. I really didn’t know. But I fired off my father’s Glock 22 at it anyway, shooting a bunch of holes in the stairs behind it as it laughed. One bullet grazed the metallic amulet around its neck, and a spark flew.

  The Oversoul roared suddenly, like I'd just kicked him in the coin-purse or something. The next thing Vikki and I knew, the Oversoul swirled around in the air and coasted up through the ceiling.

  Then he was gone.

  I continued to stare a few seconds, not even believing that had really worked.

  Vikki opened her eyes and turned back to look too.

  “Gavin, what did you do?”

  “Damned if I know,” I said. “I think I shot his amulet. I think that might be his weak spot. The rest of the bullets just kind of passed through him.”

  “Get these off me,” she said, holding out her cuffed wrists. “The keys are on my belt.”

  I quickly pulled up and fastened her pants, grabbed the keys, and un-cuffed her. Then she pulled out her own pistol.

  “We should go before he comes back,” she said.

  “Go where, Vikki? He can float through walls. He can cut through the living and the dead. I mean…where can we even go?”

  “Doc's house. It's protected, remember? And he’ll know what to do next.”

  We climbed the stairs, and tried to stay back to back, both peering around us, not wanting to be ambushed by the Oversoul.

  Once we were outside the house, I stopped at my father’s body. I put my ear to his chest. Then I started pounding on it.

  “Gavin…” said Vikki.

  “Can we do something? Can we save him?”

  “Gavin…his soul is gone. I'm…I'm sorry.”

  I started sobbing. “But…it’s not fair.”

  “Oh…shit,” said Vikki.

  I looked up to see the black smoke pooling around our feet.

  “Run, Gavin,” said Vikki. “Get back to the cruiser.”

  Vikki and I ran to the cruiser and got in just in time to see the column of black smoke shoot into the air behind us. Vikki revved up the engine and our car careened down the street.

  I looked into the passenger side rear-view mirror to see if I could tell how far behind us the Oversoul was. To my horror, the Oversoul seemed to float up to us almost as though we weren’t moving at all. This motherfucker had to be traveling at least 120 km/hour, and we were maybe doing 80.

  “Faster, Vikki. You need to go faster.”

  “Gavin, I can’t go any faster or we’re going to cause a car accident.”

  “Then put on the damn siren or something,” I said.

  “Couldn’t hurt,” she said.

  Vikki turned on the siren, and then sped up.

  Even then, the Oversoul seemed to simply outdo our speed and gain on us. It readied its scythe once again to try to pass through us and sever our souls.

  “Vikki, brake.”

  “Why?”

  “Just trust me. Brake right now,” I said.

  Vikki slammed her foot on the brakes, and the Oversoul flew right past us and swung its scythe into the air ahead of us.

  “Okay, drive,” I said.

  Vikki hit the gas and sped through the Oversoul, and down the street.

  The Oversoul continued its pursuit of us, and we, in turn, continued our evasive maneuvers.

  Vikki caught on quickly, which was good. Apparently, the Oversoul wasn’t so good at hitting moving targets. Unfortunately, the Oversoul was also catching on, and was starting to anticipate our moves. He dove for us again, and Vikki took a sharp right down the next street. It was a bit like being on a bicycle and playing chicken with a tank. We knew that, at some point, we would collide with the blade of that scythe, and then we would be dead.

  Chapter 49

  Our police cruiser screeched to a halt in front of Doc's house. Vikki and I got out, and like a couple of bats out of hell, we sprinted for the front door.

  The Oversoul was right on our asses, and got ready to swipe at us again. Vikki and I both pulled out our pistols and shot at its amulet again, missing with most of our shots. Fortunately, one lucky shot was all we needed. Whether it was one of hers or mine could be debated for bragging rights later. For now, it meant a few more seconds of sweet life for the two of us. The bullet grazed the Oversoul’s amulet again.

  This time, the Oversoul didn’t fly upwards and disappear like last time, but at least he was stunned for a few seconds. Long enough for us to frantically ring Doc’s doorbell, shout and bang on his front door.

  The Oversoul recovered, and was fixing to charge at us again when Doc opened the door.

  “What is it with the racket?” said Doc.

  Vikki grabbed my arm and pushed past him, pulling me behind her.

  “Judge Hawthorne?” said Doc, peering out the still-open doorway. “What’s going on here?”

  “Doc, get down,” shouted Vikki.

  Vikki dove at Doc.

  “Get off me, meshuganah,” said Doc.

  He wrestled with her.

  I watched helplessly as the Oversoul coasted forward to slice them both in two. I made a grab for them both.

  But then, just before the Oversoul could reach them, it seemed to simply catch in the doorway, cause a ripple as if it had just hit an invisible trampoline. Then the Oversoul bounced back out into the night air.

  “Oh thank god,” said Vikki. “I didn't know if your fields would actually stop him.”

  “Why is Judge Hawthorne chasing you?” asked Doc.

  “He’s not Judge Hawthorne,” said Vikki. “He's Nefarious Darius.”

  “The serial killer? It’s him? Ay-ay-ay!”

  Doc stood there for a moment, letting it all sink in.

  “Good god,” said Doc. “Jack, is he… Where is your father, boychik?”

  I shook my head, crying, unable to answer for a time.

  “He took him,” I said finally.

  “Took him where?” Doc asked.

  I shook my head again. “Nowhere. He took him in his hands, and he crushed him to nothing just like he does with all the accused spirits in the courthouse. And he said he was Nefarious Darius, and that he’d kill all of us. Dad, me, Raven. Is Raven here, Doc? Please tell me she’s here and not out there somewhere.”

  “She’s here, boychik, she’s here. She’s downstairs in the…”

  Doc stopped short and looked over across the room at Raven, who wasn’t downstairs it turned out, but who now stood at the end of the cluttered hallway at the top of the stairs.

  “Gavin?” she said. “Where’s dad?”

  My eyes welled up with tears and I couldn’t answer. But I didn’t have to. One look at my face, and I think she just knew.

  “No,” she moaned. “No, no, no…”

  Raven slumped against the back wall, and slid to her butt onto the ground.

  “Raven,” I said.

  “No,” she continued to shout, crying and hyperventilating on the floor. “No, no, no. Not dad!” />
  I got up and went over to Raven. I held her tightly.

  “I’m sorry, Raven. I’m so sorry,” I sobbed into her shoulder.

  We were both pretty useless for a couple of minutes. We just sobbed into one another.

  “So the killer was…the Oversoul?”

  “Not just the Oversoul, Doc,” said Vikki. “He was working with the Sheriff Porter. It was both of them.”

  “That…” Doc began. “Actually, that explains a lot.”

  “They're twins. Or…they were, anyway.”

  “That…okay now I'm lost. What, are we watching Days of our Lives?”

  “Tell me about it, Doc.”

  “Where’s Sheriff Porter now?” Doc asked.

  “He’s dead now,” said Vikki. “Gavin shot him in the face.”

  Doc looked back at me.

  “You shot the sheriff?”

  “Yes,” I replied flatly. “I shot the sheriff. But I didn't shoot the deputy.”

  Doc laughed, then cleared his throat realizing he was the only one laughing.

  “An understandable reaction,” Doc added. “Under the circumstances. Did you take care of his ghost?”

  “Yeah,” said Vikki. “Gavin took care of that too. He used an implosion grenade, and he’s hanging on Gavin’s belt right now.”

  “Good,” said Doc. “That’s one mitzvah at least.”

  “Larry?” came a voice from just past a number of boxes. “What’s with the racket outside? And why is everyone so verklempt?”

  I dried my eyes and stared at the ghostly woman who didn’t so much enter as float through the boxes in the room, and carried a sleeping baby with her.

  “I just managed to get little Joshua to sleep,” she added.

  “This isn’t a good time, Rachel,” he said. “Very bad things are happening outside this house.”

  “You want I should go outside and sort them out?”

  “No, Rachel. Good god, no. It's the Oversoul.”

  “The Oversoul?” she replied. “Oy, gavalt. Why in god’s name is the Oversoul outside our house? What did you people do?”