Superhero by Night Omnibus

by Jeffery H. Haskell

  In my dream we’re all together, arguing over Thanksgiving like a normal family. Nothing happens. No El Fuego burning mom, no Ghost killing dad, nothing… yet.

  Then it happens. Mom is eating her turkey when her body starts smoking. At first it’s just her hair, but then it comes out of her mouth. I gasped in horror and tried to tell her something was wrong.

  She just smiled as her skin cracked and peeled.

  “It’s fine honey. This is how it was supposed to be.”

  I leaped from the table, grabbed a pitcher, and threw the water on her. It acted like gasoline and she burst into flames.

  I watched, as helpless as when it had happened the first time.

  I looked to Dad, but his head was tilted back in his chair, blood streamed from his mouth and nose.

  Spice!

  I ran for her, desperate to get to her before she died too. No matter how hard I ran, or how fast, the room never moved. I couldn’t reach her.

  Then a sword exploded from her chest and she died, again, for the thousandth time.

  I had no power here, and no help. I looked up at the sword wielder expecting to see Ghost but instead... I saw myself. I killed Spice.

  Chapter 26

  Waking up from a nightmare was never fun. I jerked up, my brain scrambling, trying to remember where the hell I was. I fumbled and rolled, falling out of the hospital bed to land on the cold tile floor with a thud.

  I shook my head, trying to clear the fog, and reached for the bed rail with both hands to pull myself up—I froze, looking up at my hands. Plural.

  It all came back in a rush. I hadn’t killed Spice, Ghost had. And later on, I killed him, just like I killed El Fuego and everyone else in New Orleans who had anything to do with her death.

  Stumbling backward I hit the wall and used it for balance. My head spun and my vision blurred. Then the pain set in and everything hurt like I had fallen six stories onto a concrete floor covered in Legos.

  “What...” I was so damn thirsty I couldn’t form words. I ran for the bathroom, turned on the faucet and drank. I leaned down so water poured over my face and hair, wetting my cloth shirt and spilling on the floor, but I continued to drink until I literally couldn’t swallow another mouthful.

  “I’m not a magician—I can’t do magic,” Spice said from her cross-legged position on the bed. “I overcharged your bodies own regenerative abilities and unlocked the potential of your cells. You’re DNA did the rest, but yeah, it leaves you hurting and thirsty. Let’s not lose any more limbs for a while. I can’t do this very often.”

  She was so matter-of-fact, so calm about the whole thing, I couldn’t help but wonder how many lost limbs she had healed over the centuries.

  We didn’t have time for that, though. As everything cleared up, I could hear the alarms wailing in the background.

  “What’s going on?” I asked her as I used a towel to dry my face. I checked on the girl in the bathtub where I had bound her with bedsheets; she was twitching and spasming like she had electric current running through her.

  “I have no idea. A few seconds after you passed out the alarm went off and she started seizing. I don’t think it’s a good thing.”

  I needed to find Neve, find a way out, and rescue as many of the girls as I could. I padded over to the door and opened it an inch. The lights were off, only emergency lighting filled the hall.

  Weird.

  I stuck my head out and made sure that both ways were clear. A familiar coppery scent filled the air… blood. I ducked out and right, jogging down the hall with my fists clenched, ready for anything.

  Anything but what I found.

  I came to a full stop, my hand covering my mouth involuntarily as I looked up the mess of blood, flesh, and bone that used to be two human beings. There was blood everywhere. The girls looked as if they had lost a fight with a blender. Parts of them were strewn about the floor and ceiling.

  I turned my back on it for a second, trying to come to grips with the savagery of it all.

  “We need to go,” Spice said from beside me. She was holding onto my side and peeking around like a scared little girl, which was so unlike her.

  “Of course we do, but first we need to—”

  She shook her head. “No ‘firsts,’ we need to go now.” Then she vanished. That didn’t bode well. The immortal ghost who gave me superpowers and fed on death was afraid of something. Great.

  I need a weapon. The pain-stick I had borrowed from the guards was better than nothing, but probably wasn’t going to be much help, considering the state of affairs in front of me.

  I moved on, only briefly inspecting them to make sure they weren’t Neve. Whatever had done this was brutal.

  The hall led to a pair of large metal fire doors. From what I could tell they required a security pass to open. However, the small booth on this side of the door was bathed in blood and the doors themselves were peeled back from the other side like a banana.

  “Uh, if you were at full strength, could we do this?”

  She didn’t answer, so I assumed it was a no. I checked the booth as carefully as I could. I wasn’t squeamish—not after the things I had done to humans—but this... this was different. This was just awful.

  The remains of the guard had no weapons I could find. I really wished I had a gun or something. Maybe a rocket launcher.

  A loud growl echoed from back the way I came, and it sent the little hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Something deep in my psyche told me to run. RUN!

  Joseph had drilled that into me a hundred times: reacting from fear or panic almost always lead to disaster. I would remain in control of my mind and body and I would use that control to defeat whatever life threw at me.

  “For the love of God, Madi, run!” Spice cried from beside me.

  Then again, running was usually a good option.

  I took off out of the booth, bare feet slipping on the blood for a second before I found traction and ran.

  A few seconds later I heard it. Something hard scrambling on the tile, a heavy panting followed by that low, reverberating growl.

  What in the hell were they doing here? The biggest problem I faced at that moment was a lack of awareness; I had no idea what halls led where, or how to get out of the building.

  I turned a blind corner, stumbled over the remains of one of the big men, and kept running. The wall next to him had dents in it where his fists had hit. Even his super powers hadn’t helped him. I ran my fingers over the chunks of sliced metal next to the body. Kneeling down I focused hard on it for a second.

  Claw marks?

  That growl echoed down the hall again and I started moving. I didn’t want to meet whatever it was.

  I found a station with working computers and ducked around behind them, trying to ignore the half-eaten body spread over the far wall.

  The chair under the desk moved and I jerked back, pain-stick up.

  “Madi?” Neve asked from under the desk. “Oh thank God,” she said crawling out. Her clothes were shredded and she was covered in blood, but she appeared unhurt.

  I raised an eyebrow at her as I helped her out from under. “What happened?” I asked her.

  She looked around, weighing her responses from what I could tell. “I don’t know.” Lie.

  I took a step back, Spice’s warning not to trust anyone fresh in my mind.

  “Do better,” I said.

  The growl grew closer. I picked up the faint clack of hard claws against tile.

  “I don’t… I was just doing my job.” Truth. “And then everything went to hell.” Truth. “I’m telling you, I have no idea why—” Lie.

  This was strange, but I didn’t have time to sort it out; I would just need to keep an eye or two on her.

  “Fine. How do we get out of here?” I asked her.

  “There’s an underground garage they use for bringing in the shipments. We could also try for the roof and the helipad.” She glanced down the hall the way I had come. Palatable
fear rolled off her in waves. Whatever she wasn’t telling me, she truly was afraid.

  If I knew how to fly a chopper I would say get to the chopper. But the garage would have to do. “Do you have access to the elevators?”

  “They’re locked down.”

  “Stairwells?” I asked.

  She nodded and pointed opposite the way I’d come.

  “Why didn’t you run for it?” I asked her as I made a quick search of the area. No weapons.

  “I— I’m too scared,” she said, her eyes cast down. Truth.

  I grabbed her hand and squeezed. “The only true enemy is fear. Come on, let’s go.” I pulled her along behind me. Holding her hand may have seemed like a comforting gesture, but in truth, I wanted to know where she was at all times.

  It only took a minute to find the stairs, but my relief was short lived when I hit the push bar and the door didn’t open. Like many stairwell entrances, the door was metal, with a small window in it. I pressed my face against the glass and saw the problem; someone had jammed an extinguisher into the handle. There was something else holding it shut but I didn’t have the angle to see it.

  It was dark enough with the emergency lighting that I could teleport, but did I have the strength?

  If I kicked the door or rammed it with my shoulder it would alert our pursuer. No; I only had one option here.

  “Spice, please grant me the strength or we’re going to end up something’s after-dinner snack.”

  “Who’s Spice?” Neve asked.

  I shook my head. “Listen, I have superpowers. I can teleport over short distances. I’m going to go through that door and unblock it, and then you can follow, okay?”

  She shook her head ferociously. “Don’t leave me!” I clamped my hand over her mouth.

  “Get a hold of yourself. You want to be eaten?”

  “No,” she said in a whisper. Her lower lip trembled.

  Was I that far gone? Of course, I felt fear, even now with whatever was chasing us drawing closer but... was her response a normal human response? If she was normal, what was I?

  “Good girl. I won’t be but a second.” I turned and faced the door. I had to see where I was going, at least a little. I focused on the other side of the window, reached into my mind where the darkness resided and pressed.

  Oh God did it hurt. I stepped through and collapsed against the metal staircase, banging my cheek on the lip of the stairwell. My head bounced off and I tasted blood as I rolled on my back.

  Stomach cramps hit me and I gasped, doubling over in pain. Through the haze of pain, I saw what blocked the door—besides the ubiquitous red extinguisher: half a man leaned against the door, torn to shreds, mouth open in a gasp of fear.

  “Oh shi—” The roar of a beast from the other side of the door cut off my curse.

  Chapter 27

  The roar faded, replaced by Neve’s scream. I didn’t have time for pain even if It had plenty of time for me. I grabbed the dead man’s arm and yanked him off the door and tossed him down the stairs. It was much harder than it should have been. He was heavy, and I felt it. Come to think of it, my cheek hadn’t healed—it still hurt like I broke it.

  “Spice?” I muttered as I yanked on the fire extinguisher.

  “I told you, it took almost everything I had to regenerate your arm. Leave her and run!”

  I shook my head no. I wouldn’t do that. The pressurized cylinder finally came loose. The door flung open and Neve ran past, not even bothering to stop and say ‘thank you’ as she charged down the stairwell. I slammed the door shut just as something huge and heavy hit it. The frame held but the impact knocked me back to the stairs.

  I scrambled forward and jammed the metal extinguisher into the handle to prevent the door from opening.

  It hit the door again and the metal groaned in protest. It wasn’t going to hold. Curiosity, though, and the need to know my enemy, got the better of me and I stepped to the side to look through the little window.

  A blast of hot air fogged it up; whatever was on the other side was looking at me too. All I could make out was a snout and a pair of large yellow eyes.

  Time to run.

  I followed Neve down the stairs, taking them two at a time and panting the whole way. Good thing for me, with or without powers I was in grade ‘A’ shape. This was a good moment to remind myself to continue working out. Regardless of how much power Spice gave me, it was almost always temporary.

  Three flights down I heard the door give, exploding inward and clanging against the stairs.

  I grabbed Neve as she turned one more downward stair. If we stayed here, we would never make it to the garage. I shouldered this level’s door and pulled her after me. It shut behind us with a click.

  There were no lights here. None. Not even emergency lighting. Seeing in the dark was one of the few things Spice could give me regardless of our power level.

  I leaped forward, jumping over a body and heading down the hall. This wasn’t a prisoner level, everything was marked and well laid out.

  I hit the desk and saw the mess behind it. A man in a white uniform, his arms and legs missing and the rest of him was torn open like a pinata.

  However, what was left of him wore a uniform—an actual security uniform. I glanced at the sign on the desk, sitting there as if nothing had happened.

  Security and Armory-No Unauthorized Personnel Beyond this Point.

  I knelt down and searched the remains. A security card on his belt might prove useful. I snatched it. Finally, a turn of luck. I grinned at Neve then remembered she couldn’t see me.

  I went back to guide her. “This way,” I said as I pulled her along.

  “I can’t see anything!” she protested. She stumbled trying to keep up with me. I made another turn, following the sign to the armory. I know I was always saying “luck isn’t a plan” but at this point, I really was hoping for a turn of luck. I needed something bigger than a pain-stick, or even my pistol, to take out whatever was behind us.

  The sound of metal ripping apart and crashing into metal echoed down the hall. It was here.

  Then I found it; the armory door. Locked, of course. I slid the card through the reader but the power was off; it didn’t open.

  I took another look at the door; secure, all metal, no exterior handle. This was a big pile of nope. I didn’t have time or the material to blow it open, and I certainly didn’t have the strength to kick it down.

  “Keep moving,” I told Neve. It certainly would have made things easier if I could have gotten in, but with that thing on our six I didn’t have time to stop and ponder how to make that happen.

  The sound of claws scrambling on tile made me run faster. We took another turn and I saw a supply closet that might just do the trick. I ran for it, pulling Neve along, sliding to a stop and yanking the door open.

  Cleaning supplies and other essentials like toilet paper lined the shelves. I pushed Neve in all the way to the back and closed the door. I put a finger to her mouth to make sure she knew to stay quiet as I worked. I took a roll of toilet paper and wiped as much sweat off me as I could, then her, then opened the door and tossed the roll down the hall the way we had been going.

  With the door was shut, I grabbed a second roll, unwound it, and pushed it into the crack at the bottom. Once I had most of it blocked I pulled the industrial bleach bottle off the shelf and dumped it out on the pile of toilet paper. I grabbed some of it and ran it along the square door frame until it was covered.

  Then I heard the creature coming around the corner sniffing like a dog and growling twice as loud. I backed up and put an arm around Neve and one hand over her mouth. She didn’t protest but I could feel her body shaking. She was well and truly terrified.

  The click-clack of its claws echoed down the hall as it moved slowly by. It stopped for a moment outside the door... if what I did was going to work, I would know in a few moments; either it would move on, or it would eat us.

  I wasn’t so much afraid as pissed o
ff. What in the hell were they doing here? How were they creating these monsters and what were they doing with the poor girls that disappeared?

  “If it eats you, I’m going to make sure to say ‘I told you so’ the entire time,” Spice said from the far corner.

  I glared at her for a moment then turned my attention back to the door. The thing was running a claw down the side of the door sniffing around it.

  It coughed, making Neve jump but I shook her to hold her still. After a second it moved on down the hall. When I couldn’t hear the click-clack of its claws any more I let out the breath I’d held and let go of Neve.

  “Is it gone?” she whispered.

  “For now,” I said. I moved to the door and very quietly opened it. The hall was empty. I reached back and pulled her with me as I headed back the way we came. I had no idea how big the floors were, but it wouldn’t take long for that thing to come back and look for us.

  Once we were back in the stairwell, I cautiously closed it, making sure to keep things quiet.

  “What the hell is that thing?” I asked her in a whisper when the door was shut.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know.” Truth. “I’ve never seen one before today.” Truth.

  I narrowed my eyes at her. How could she have worked here for two years and not known about those things?

  “What, in the hell, is going on here?” I asked. She shrugged again. Either she was brainwashed, or she truly didn’t know.

  I took her hand and headed down the stairs. Maybe if we could find the garage, we could do something about the captives.

  “Where do they hold the girls they bring in?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. Truth.

  I let out a sigh of exasperation. “What do you know about this place?”

  She shrugged again. “I wasn’t told anything about this place.” Lie.

  I was going to have to table the conversation for now until I had more time to interrogate her.