by Amy Cross
“Mom, don't be so mean,” a nearby child said, stepping closer to the girl. “She might need help.”
“Hey, little thing,” Robert continued, reaching out toward Langheim but not quite touching his shoulder as he stared into his eyes. Or rather, into Katia's eyes. “We're not mean. We just want to help. Can you tell me your name?”
He waited.
Marty waited.
Even Carol, frustrated and bored, waited.
Langheim stared back at Robert.
“Come on,” Robert added finally. “Help us to help you. What's your name, little girl?”
Langheim paused, and then slowly he began to move his lips. As he did so, a thick plume of gray, noxious-smelling gas emerged from his mouth, another stray plume of Zyklon B.
“What the hell?” Robert whispered.
“Why's there smoke coming from over there?” Marty asked, looking toward a vent in the ground, where smoke from the burning underground medical facility was starting to emerge. “Dad, I'm not sure whether -”
Suddenly Langheim struck, slicing the scalpel's blade across Robert's throat. As the older man gasped and fell back, Langheim lunged at Martina and stabbed her in the side of the neck. Carol screamed, but Langheim was too quick for her. He ran at her and dug the blade deep into her belly, then he pushed he back and landed on her chest. Straddling her and holding her tight, he stabbed her over and over in the chest and neck, then in the face too, ignoring the blood that sprayed up against his own features. Finally he sliced her throat, preferring to finish her off, and then he fell still.
He waited, watching with fascination as Carol gasped and then died.
Turning, he saw that Robert and Marty were already both dead.
“Pathetic idiots,” he muttered, before climbing off Carol's corpse and heading over to Robert.
Dropping to his knees, he began to go through the man's pockets, and he soon fished out a wallet. Rifling through the contents, he found some cash.
“That should be enough to cause some noise,” he muttered to himself. “The cults will be ready. They must be searching for any hint of my existence. They think Katia is ripe to be stolen away and used, when in fact they're the ones who are going to be used.” He paused for a moment, struggling to keep his mind together as his brain continued to adjust to his new body, and then slowly a smile formed on his lips. “Soon, the entity will be in its prison cell. And I shall have control over its powers. I just need to attract attention from the right people.”
Chapter Thirty
Today
“No,” Annie whispered, staring up at Katia as he towered above her, “you can't be...”
“I can't be what?” she asked. “I can't be here?”
“It never occurred to me that he might still be alive,” Nurse Winter's voice said in Annie's mind. “I should have accounted for that. I should have realized he'd be like a cockroach, and he'd still be involved somehow.”
“You're dead!” Annie gasped. “You can't be here!”
“Because I died at Lakehurst?” the little girl replied. “My old, crippled body did indeed die. I should have abandoned it before that point, but I felt that the flesh of my birth deserved more respect. I had prepared for the moment, however, and I had ensured that Katia was ready for an exchange. I would like to tell you that she did not suffer as her brain was extracted, and as my own was placed in her body, but in all honesty I imagine she screamed until blood came from her mouth. As per my orders, her brain was eventually dissolved in acid, to ensure its complete destruction. A terrible waste, to be sure, but a necessary precaution.”
Annie shook her head, still unable to believe what she was hearing. At the same time, more and more of her blood was soaking across the floor.
“This is the ultimate moment of the mind's triumph over the flesh,” Katia added. “Flesh is weak and interchangeable, something to be worn but not something over which one must obsess. It is the mind that achieves all, but the mind too must be set free from the shackles of the human brain. The brain is merely another vessel, a container. A jail. The brain is a cursed parasite that sits on high in its throneroom of bone. The mind, however, must be allowed to escape. The first stage is moving a brain from one body to the next. The final stage is the freeing of the mind, releasing it from all physical containers. Now do you understand why I am so interested in the radio transmission of minds? And do you understand why the entity, in its natural state, is of even more interest?”
He took a step closer.
Again, Annie shook her head.
“You're dead,” she stammered. “I saw you die. I saw you fall when Lakehurst exploded!”
“The madness after the transplant was incredible,” Katia continued. “For several years, I was barely able to think properly. I had anticipated this, and I had arranged for myself to be secretly cared for at a facility in Iowa. Of course, my superior intellect allowed me to reject the madness, and eventually I destroyed the facility in order to cover up any evidence of what had happened there. Then I had to gain the attention of these pathetic cults in order to get close to the entity. The plan was a good one and it worked, although I must admit that I could perhaps have chosen a simpler route to this moment. Fortunately, I became aware of your plans, Ms. Radford. I realized I could piggy-back on your efforts and use all of your equipment. Now I only -”
Before he could finish, thunder rumbled once again, high above the hospital.
Katia looked up.
In the distance, metal pipes were banging in other parts of the building, as if the storm was causing the entire place to shudder.
“The timing is perfect,” Katia whispered, her young eyes widening with a sense of wonder. “The entity knows that it doesn't have long left, not in its current form. It's consciousness will dissipate if it doesn't soon take a human brain and a human body. I anticipated that Doctor Schlesinger's work would have come closest to success, and it's clear that the entity felt the same. I shall give the entity what it wants, I shall allow it to take a corporeal form as a creature of pure evil, but there will be one difference. Unlike these cultists, I do not see the entity as a god, but as a force to be shackled and controlled. And thanks to your help in delivering me to this moment, Annie, I shall use the entity as I see fit.”
“You can't do this,” Annie murmured, already feeling herself losing consciousness. “They won't let you. The cults -”
“I was greatly amused by your efforts,” Katia continued. “As soon as I emerged from my madness, I knew that I had to signal my emergence to the world. That idiot Halvordsson enabled me to do just that, and then the whole train of events was set into motion. The entity is getting desperate, it has waited years since it was released from beneath Lakehurst. Now it think it's going to be given the body of an ageless child, but instead I intend to give it an ordinary human host. I have developed a serum that will allow the body to withstand the entity's presence without burning up, but the entity will be entirely under my control. And what better body to give to the entity, than that of somebody who has so gravely irritated me over the years?” Reaching down, she touched the side of Annie's face and stroked her tenderly, even as she tried desperately to turn away. “Fortunately for you, Schlesinger identified several other brains that will be more resilient, so it really is just your body that is required. And since I invented much of this technology, I shall need no assistance when it comes to performing the operation.”
“You can't do this,” Annie replied. “I'll stop you.”
“The time for stopping me has long since passed,” Katia said, before rolling Annie onto her front and ripping open the back of her dress. Slowly, she traced a line along Annie's spine and up to the base of her neck. “The Americans tried, after the war. Even some of my own men tried. There have been others along the way. But I am a brilliant man, the kind that comes along only once every ten generations or so. And I have plans for the world.”
“Please,” Annie whispered, “don't do this.”
<
br /> “There's no time like the present,” Katia purred. “I'm afraid I have to cut you open.”
Before Annie had a chance to cry out, she felt the scalpel's tip dig deep into her neck. She tried again to scream, but this time the scalpel dug deeper and then began to carve a line down to the top of her spine. She tried yet again to cry out, but all she could manage was a faint gurgle as she felt a blade cutting into the knot of her spine.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Do you know where you are?”
Opening her eyes, Annie saw Nurse Kirsten Winter staring back at her from the other side of the table. The image was so simply, so brightly lit, that for a moment Annie could only stare. Nearby, drapes fluttered in a morning breeze, making no noise. Still Annie stared straight ahead, squinting slightly as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
“Do you know where you are, Annie?” Nurse Winter continued. “You seemed to black out for a moment there.”
Annie opened her mouth to speak, but no words emerged. She felt as if something was very wrong, as if her whole body had been turned inside out. When she looked around, however, she saw that she was in one of the very bright, white-walled interview rooms at Lakehurst. She recognized the place, at least to some degree, but it also seemed so very different. There was so much light, she could barely even keep her eyes open.
“Tell me where you think you are, Annie,” Nurse Winter said firmly. “It's important, it'll serve as a kind of anchor for your consciousness. And believe me, that's something you need very much right now.”
Annie turned back to her.
“Tell me, Annie. Where are you?”
“I'm there,” Annie whispered.
“Where?”
“I'm back there.”
“Be specific.”
“This isn't real,” Annie said, looking around again, feeling a sense of panic rising in her chest. “Lakehurst was destroyed years ago, and you were destroyed with it. I mean, you fell when it exploded, and then -”
She turned to Nurse Winter again. Her mind was racing, and she took a few seconds to gather her thoughts into anything even remotely resembling a narrative.
“That's your original body,” she continued. “You took another body, you took Nurse Perry's, and that's what you looked like when I saw you again at Middleford Cross, at the Overflow.”
“I thought that was Elly Blackstock who met me at Middleford Cross?”
“It was me!” Annie snapped. “I know that now!”
“But you remember it as -”
“I can't trust my memories, but I know it was me! Don't try to confuse me!”
“I wouldn't dare,” Nurse Winter replied. “I'm impressed, Annie. You're starting to make it through the haze.”
“I'm only -”
Before she could finish, she instinctively looked down at her hands and tried wiping them against the front of her shirt. It was as if her hands – her entire body, even – were soaking wet, although they looked bone dry. She tried to dismiss the sensation, but instead it became more and more insistent until she felt as if she had to be drowning. And despite the bright light all around, she couldn't escape the sense that she was actually trapped in darkness.
“Focus, Annie,” Nurse Winter said. “You're so close to losing your mind right now, but you're just about managing to cling on. That's not bad for a plump little mental patient, but it's not enough. I need you to hold yourself together. You've come so far and you're almost where you need to be. Just hold on for a moment longer. The problem is, our plan has gone more than a little awry. I never expected Langheim to show up and intervene, and frankly I didn't think Schlesinger would panic so quickly. I've come up with a back-up plan, but it's taking a little time to implement. Just hold tight.”
“What's wrong with me?” Annie muttered, still trying to wipe her hands on her shirt, still finding that they felt wet.
No.
Not wet.
Submerged.
“It's like I'm underwater,” she whispered. “I don't know if I can even breathe.”
Closing her eyes, she immediately felt as if she was sinking deep into a vast sea. She allowed the sensation to persist for a few seconds, and then she opened her eyes again and found that she was back in the room at Lakehurst.
“What is that?” she whispered. “Why's it happening to me?”
“The human brain doesn't feel pain,” Nurse Winter continued matter-of-factly. “Still, it has a few mysteries left, and extreme stimuli can still somehow get through. And you're being extremely stimulated right now, Annie. I'm working on a fix, and it'll be ready soon, but I need you to stay sane for these last few minutes. It would be so easy right now for your fragile mind to disintegrate, and then you'd be lost forever. Fortunately, you have one advantage on your side.” She paused, and then a faint smile began to cross her lips. “You've been crazy for so long, Annie, you've built up a bit of a tolerance.”
“Where am I?” Annie asked, wiping her hands more frantically now. “Why do I feel like I'm underwater?”
“Stay calm, Annie.”
“Where am I?” she screamed, getting up from the chair as the whole world seemed to tilt around her. “What's happening to me?”
***
Picking his way carefully through the broken glass that covered the floor, Doctor Rudolf Langheim – still inhabiting Katia's body – made his way past Doctor Schlesinger's corpse and past the dead, discarded brains, before stopping at one of the shelves.
Slowly, he reached up and placed a fresh brain onto the lowest shelf. This brain was so new, there were still swirls of blood in the liquid that filled its jar, and stray scraps of tissue trailed from the stem. Whereas the older jars had shown their age, this jar looked fresh and new, as if it had only just been filled.
“I don't even know why I saved you,” Langheim said, through Katia's mouth, as he stared at the brain. “Perhaps if I had the right acid, I'd already have destroyed you. Still, I suppose I'll come up with something later, something I can look forward to. Maybe I just want you to suffer the -”
Before he could finish, thunder rumbled above, shaking the walls.
“He's impatient,” Langheim continued, setting the brain a little further back on the shelf before stepping away and hurrying to the door, once again walking around Schlesinger's corpse. “I have to go to him now. He's ready. I don't know how, but he senses what's happening down here. He thinks he's about to be set free. Instead, he's about to enter a whole new jail.”
With that, he was gone. As he ran, his footsteps sounded like the steps of a little girl. Which wasn't surprising, really, since he was still in Katia's body.
Left behind, Annie Radford's newly-removed brain continued to rest in its jar, submerged in the fluid that kept it alive.
***
“Make it stop!” Annie screamed, clutching the sides of her head as she slumped down in the corner of the Lakehurst interview room. “It hurts so much!”
“The pain is an illusion,” Nurse Winter said, towering above her, watching with an expression of detached cool. “You don't understand where you really are, do you? I suppose that might be for the best, at least right now. The truth might destroy you. Not that you should feel too bad about that, Annie. Most people can't handle the truth, even if their own minds are in their own brains, and even if their own brains are in their own bodies. In some regards, you're actually ahead of the curve.”
“Have I been here all this time?” Annie whimpered, with tears streaming down her face. “Have I been at Lakehurst, imagining everything else? That's what's happening, isn't it? I'm just a mad mental patient with delusions of grandeur, and ever since I arrived I've been fantasizing about all this craziness. Langheim's not real. There's no entity. Lakehurst is still standing, and I'm just going to spend the rest of my life here.”
“If only. I wouldn't mind that either, believe it or not. Oh, for the simple days back then. I thought I was bored, but I miss that time dreadfully. Believe me, if
Lakehurst still stood, I'd be the first one to run back through its doors. Funny how one can change one's opinion over time, isn't it? Maybe I could pretend to be your room-mate again. I don't think I really did that for long enough, Annie. I could have had a lot more fun with you if I'd just kept that whole charade going. Honestly, that's one of my biggest regrets from back then.”
“I can't breathe,” Annie said, suddenly taking big, deep gulps of air. “It's not going into my lungs!”
“You don't have lungs right now, darling,” Nurse Winter muttered. “You have a kind of nutrient-rich fluid. Oh, and you also have a pole that's poking into the back of your brain.”
“Something's happened to me!” Annie gasped. “I can feel it!”
Nurse Winter rolled her eyes.
“It's here!” Annie continued, reaching up and touching the back of her neck, as if she was trying to feel for something buried in her skin. “It's right here. I don't know how, but I can tell that it's here. What's wrong with me?”
“What isn't wrong with you?” Nurse Winter replied, before crouching down in front of her. “Listen to me, Annie. We need to skip fairly quickly past all the panic, and we need to focus on the task at hand. A little light panic is all well and good, but let's not allow things to get out of hand. I'm sure you're not an attention-seeker, Annie. So just stay calm.”
“What are they doing to me?” Annie screamed.
Before she could get another word out, however, Nurse Winter slapped her hard on the side of the face.
“Pull your crap together, Annie!” she snapped. “I'm working as fast as I can here. You've come so far since the day you left Eldion House and went off to draw Katia here. I've been here a long time now, waiting for you to arrive. Believe it or not, I need your help. I can't do this alone.” She paused, staring into Annie's terrified face. “You've come a long way, Annie Radford, but you're not done yet. There's just a little more to do, and it's going to be the hardest part, but I have faith in you. You're going to pull through.”
