Launfal / my_fiction (public) (License: Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0) (since 2018-06-24) (hash sha1)
Repository of my stories and books.
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Add files via upload c166ec5cdc35b19ee06c51cfe665332bc4fd70f9 Launfal 2017-12-24 17:48:22
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Commit c166ec5cdc35b19ee06c51cfe665332bc4fd70f9 - Add files via upload
Author: Launfal
Author date (UTC): 2017-12-24 17:48
Committer name: GitHub
Committer date (UTC): 2017-12-24 17:48
Parent(s): 486c3704e2242ed951b4bad5b3af9613a74c4558
Signing key: 4AEE18F83AFDEB23
Tree: 0d6dd5476872ddd1933a89e8ac4346e8d2f7dc67
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WIP/01.chapter_one.text 137 0
File WIP/01.chapter_one.text added (mode: 100644) (index 0000000..14c274d)
1 Chapter One
2
3 "Shouldn't this shit be on the inside of the house?" Claude asked as he approached the nearest of the patrolmen, skirting broken pieces of furniture, the odd small appliance, shattered glass and an ankle-deep sea of torn and muddied clothing.
4
5 "As a general rule, that's where you'd find it," the cop, whose name was Gene or Jim or something like that. It was getting harder to keep track of the youngsters who were replacing the veterans. His badge said Hutchins, so he would stick with that.
6
7 "Then how did it all end up out here, and why did I get the call anyway? I'm the night guy, and that big yellow thing in the sky over there means that my shift ended hours ago."
8
9 The cop shrugged. "The call came in a few hours ago, and when the lieutenant showed up and scoped the scene, he said to call you."
10
11 "And where is his esteemed personage?"
12
13 "Around back, across the street. Him and Sarge blocked off the cul-de-sac and set up a command post there. LT said to send you over as soon as you got here."
14
15 "They better have made some coffee," Claude said as he stepped carefully over the debris on his way back to the sidewalk.
16
17 Turning the corner, he looked back at the building, a ramshackle A-frame with peeling paint and a roof barely deserving of the name. Most of the windows had been broken out, probably by the first of the belongings to hit the yard. Like so much in the city in recent times, decay and apathy had taken their turns to slowly wear down what had once been a house built to last. Shaking his head, he found the sidewalk and turned the corner. Reaching the end of the cross-street, he stopped just short of a group of men doing their best to look industrious without actually doing anything.
18
19 At the center of the circle stood the two men who were allegedly in charge. Claude waited until one of them, a stout man with bushy eyebrows and a red nose glanced in his direction and waved him over.
20
21 "It took you long enough, Morrow," the taller man said, putting his hands on his hips. "We called for you over an hour ago."
22
23 "Yeah, well," Claude said, taking in the papers scattered over the makeshift table and the almost constant chatter over the several radios. "Since, one, I don't work for you, and two, I work at night, I'd consider you lucky that I'm here at all. Which does beg the question of how you pulled that off."
24
25 The call that had wakened him had come from the regional field office in Washington. A neat trick for a piss-ant like this.
26
27 "You can thank him for that," the lieutenant said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Following the gesture, Claude saw a man of average height in a suit that cost more than his car standing with his hands in his pockets, gazing at nothing in particular. As if he heard himself mentioned, he turned around, the rising sun catching the gold rims of his glasses and diffracting into tiny rainbows that danced around his face. Smiling, the man straightened his tie and walked over.
28
29 "Ah, Mr. Morrow. It is my great pleasure to meet you at last. I have heard a great deal about you."
30
31 "Advantage you, Mr..."
32
33 "Nashton. Byron Nashton," he replied, offering his hand.
34
35 Claude took it, exchanging a firm grip and direct eye contact. Refreshing for a change.
36
37 "Let's pretend that I have no idea what's going on," he said, "and that someone is willing to tell me why I'm here."
38
39 "Certainly, Mr. Morrow," Nashton said, flashing another smile and gesturing him away from the bustle around them.
40
41 They left the command post and headed south, carefully navigating broken, weed-riddled pavement until they reached an overgrown grass lot sprinkled with wildflowers. Nashton continued until they reached the sidewalk before a narrow cross-street before he stopped and waited for Claude to reach him.
42
43 "We can talk here," Nashton said. "There are indeed things you need to know that those others will be unable to tell you."
44
45 "Story of my life," Claude said, surveying the row of houses in front of them. They were in better shape, and their lawns were better tended. He turned to look behind him, noticing the difference, as if someone had drawn a line, a border between two distinct countries. Turning back, he saw Nashton watching him, nodding.
46
47 "The blight is spreading, and men like those," he gestured behind them, "are, in the end, powerless to stop it."
48
49 "If not them, then who? They're sworn to protect the people..."
50
51 "Oaths fail, Mr. Morrow," Nashton snapped, a faint blue aura surrounding him. More softly, he added, "Even the best of us can fail, through no fault of our own."
52
53 Claude blinked, and Nashton appeared as he had before. Tired eyes falling for a trick of the light. "If not them, then who?"
54
55 "Good men, through strength of will and work of their hands can do much to protect themselves, for a time. But that time is growing short, Mr. Morrow, and before long, without intervention, they will be swamped under by the rising tide that threatens them."
56
57 "You mean God? We're just supposed to sit around holding hands and singing psalms, waiting for deliverance from evil? Is that your answer?"
58
59 Nashton shook his head. "Most emphatically not. Even when things seem darkest, and the forces arrayed against us seem indomitable, there are cruxes, moments in time when even the smallest action, a thing seeming most irrelevant, can turn the tide in the favor of good."
60
61 "And this is one of those times? A hero rises up to save us from the monsters under our beds? Then I guess he'd better punch his time-card, because he's got work to do."
62
63 Nashton turned to him, saying nothing. The moment stretched, grew, gathered weight.
64
65 "Wait a damned minute there, buddy. There ain't no stone with a sword sticking out of it around here, and I wouldn't pull it out if there was. You've got the wrong guy."
66
67 "Nothing so dramatic, Mr. Morrow. As I said, it is sometimes the insignificant that truly holds the most portent. In the course of the ordinary, the extraordinary manifests."
68
69 Claude paused, turning to face the command post. "I'm here because of you."
70
71 Nashton nodded. "You can succeed where they will fail. You must succeed."
72
73 "Why? Just another murder in a shitty part of town. Happens all day every day, and no one can do anything about it. Why is this one different?"
74
75 "That will become apparent to you in due time. To start you on your way, I offer you this: Take nothing at face value. Question everything, no matter how obvious it may seem to you. Leave your mind open to interpretations that will fly in the face of what you think you know. Keep this in mind, and you will arrive at the truth."
76
77 Claude turned back to face Nashton. "And what is this truth that I'm supposed to understand?"
78
79 Nashton smiled and shook his head, turning to retrace his steps to the command center. With a grunt, Claude followed him.
80
81 Nothing much had changed, and when the sergeant saw him, he waved him over. "The forensics guys are done with the primary scene. I figure you want to take a look inside."
82
83 "Not really, but I'm not going to get much done until I do." Taking a pair of surgical gloves, he crossed back into the yard and stood at the front door, broken in and hanging at an angle from only the bottom hinge.
84
85 A strange odor came from inside, but that could have been from the chemicals the investigators had used to raise fingerprints and extract physical evidence. Could have been. Running his eyes over the door-frame, he saw nothing unusual about a door that had been kicked in, although the footprint in the middle of the door was larger than normal. A lot larger. The guy attached to that foot had to be a monster. Adjusting his gloves, he stepped inside.
86
87 The front room was dingy, and even without glass, the windows let in almost none of the light from the rising sun. The cheap carpeting was threadbare and worn through in places, and overlaying its numerous stains was a green film that ran from a spot in the center of the room, spreading and thinning in an irregular pool. In the dim light, it looked like the pool had eaten through the carpet and the thin floor underneath. Careful to avoid stepping in it, he slowly circled the room to a tech packing her equipment into a large, plastic box.
88
89 "What's the green stuff?" he asked.
90
91 "You won't believe me when I tell you. Still wanna know?"
92
93 "Try me."
94
95 "The prelims all say its blood."
96
97 "You guys smoke crack on the way over?"
98
99 "See? You don't believe me. I don't believe me. But short of the whole workup, that's what we've got to start from."
100
101 "Why does it look like it ate through the floor?"
102
103 "Because it did. Jackson got some on his finger and it burned him almost to the bone. He's on his way to the hospital now. Understandably, we've steered clear of it since then."
104
105 "Anything unusual about the body?"
106
107 "Other than it being gigantic? Not really, at least at first glance. The ME will have more on that once he gets his hands on it."
108
109 Just then, a couple of men in cheap, rumpled suits came in from the back doorway and stopped when they saw Claude. Thanking the tech, he walked over to them.
110
111 "What do you know?"
112
113 "Not a damn thing," the taller of the two said, a Detective-Two named Thomas. They had worked a few cases together before, and were reasonably comfortable with each other. Claude was unfamiliar with the other one, who seemed in no mood to talk.
114
115 "Nothing? At all?"
116
117 "What we got is a report of a home-invasion about two hours ago. Door breaks in, and a bunch of screaming and thumping and shit flying out of the windows. Shortly after, two people leave the house with nothing but the clothes on their backs, running like the devil himself is after them. When the first unis got here, they found the body and the scene you saw outside."
118
119 "The people live here?"
120
121 "That's what we're told. Lisa and Gordon Evans, married, no kids or pets. Nice couple from all accounts, kept to themselves, seemed friendly enough. A quick check came up clean. No wants or warrants."
122
123 "So some guy breaks in, the couple takes him out, throws all their shit into the yard and scrams, taking the time to dump green acid all over the place. That works for you?"
124
125 "Hell no it doesn't work. I figure that's why you're here, to make it work. I don't envy you this one. So, with that, I leave this to you so I can back to crime-scenes that actually make sense."
126
127 "Thanks. You're too kind."
128
129 "You bet. Take 'er easy, and good luck. You're gonna need it." With that, the pair tip-toed to the front door and outside.
130
131 Alone inside the house, he stood quietly and let his eyes roam where they would, taking in the missing windows, the shattered drywall, the green lake on the floor. Seeing everything and nothing, he slowed his breathing and cleared his mind, narrowed his focus, excluded everything not of the here and now. The shouts outside quieted, the early-morning birds silenced, and the smells inside the house intensified. Several heartbeats, then several more. He looked around the room again.
132
133 He saw the room again as it must have been just a few hours ago. He saw the door burst open, but no one stood on the other side of it. He saw a man come into the room from behind where he stood, look out the door and start screaming. Windows shattered as debris flew through them, and through it all the man ducked and weaved to avoid getting hit. A minute, maybe two later, a smoking, green pool spread across the floor, and shortly after that, the man sprinted through the front door, his right arm held straight back. Another heartbeat, and the scene vanished.
134
135 Claude shook his head and took a last look around. Without the reports from the tech guys, there was little more he could do, so with a last look around, he made his careful way through the door and back into the world he thought he understood.
136
137
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