Shards

by F. J. R. Titchenell

  “No it isn’t,” Aldo said.

  “This is the best way,” Mina clarified.

  “No it isn’t,” Aldo repeated.

  “Are you gonna bitch or are you gonna help us?” Greg said.

  “Remember why we’re here,” Kevin said, defusing the fight before it could start. This was a trap, we all knew that. At the same time, I don’t think anyone doubted Robbie’s threat. If we didn’t stop him that night, he would kill as many people as it took to get to us.

  We had to end it.

  Mina and Haley traced a crude map of the school in the dirt and ran through our opening moves. We would be entering through the network of steam tunnels and old fifties fallout shelters that connected to every building in school. We would take a tunnel from the science building and come in under the auditorium in the hope that Robbie would be more prepared to greet us at the main entrances. Haley knew the tunnels well from using them as extra changing space in theater. The real Robbie was afraid of the dark, so, hopefully, he hadn’t passed on too much knowledge of their layout to his Splinter.

  It was a tiny hope, but we would use whatever edge we could get.

  I checked my cell phone. The clock read 9:53. We didn’t have much time to get this started.

  “This won’t be easy,” Mina said, making her last adjustments to the weapons’ distribution.

  “Robbie will make your worst fears real and may very well try to turn us against each other. Do not, under any circumstances, split up, and keep an eye on whoever you’re with. If they look like they are going to hurt themselves, or anyone else who isn’t Robbie York, do what you can to restrain them until the visions pass. He claims to have unlimited range with his mental abilities, but that seems to require more energy and concentration than his close-range effects. He’s going to have his physical body somewhere nearby, and it will be vulnerable from the effort. We’re going to find it. From what I have seen . . . from what he has threatened, I believe that he has difficulty invading the thoughts of large groups of people. Our numbers will be our greatest advantage,” Mina said.

  “Or, lacking that, some cold, hard iron,” Greg said, cradling a heavy, curved crowbar in his hands.

  “Don’t let that get you overconfident,” I said. “You can hurt Splinters, or at least make them think you’ve hurt them for a few seconds, but it won’t last.”

  “It lasts long enough to give you the chance to kill them,” Greg pointed out.

  “Only as a last resort,” Mina said quickly. “Remember, we’re trying to take him alive.”

  That thought brought little comfort. Killing a Splinter was hard enough; a Shard would no doubt be even harder.

  Trying to capture one alive so we could turn it into the Splinters’ authorities? It was probably impossible, and to Aldo’s credit, incredibly suicidal.

  Still, someone had to stop Robbie.

  I grabbed a long-handled, fifteen pound sledgehammer. Testing my grip on the weapon, I tried to reassure myself that we were the right people for the job.

  The door to the science building gave way after one sturdy blow from the sledgehammer. It felt weird, destroying school property like this, but given the greater good that we were here to protect, I didn’t feel too guilty. The eight of us filed into the long, main hallway that led past more than a dozen classrooms—all decorated for Christmas—and would eventually allow us basement access.

  Kevin and I carried the most weight, his backpack containing the heavy coil of copper wire that Aldo had found, mine holding the car battery. Between my sledgehammer and Kevin’s pickax, and our flamethrowers and Tasers, we were the most heavily armed members of the group. I worried about him. He had as personal an investment in this as Mina did, though unlike Mina, Kevin was a pacifist. He held his ax like he meant to use it. I didn’t know if he would.

  That worry went for much of this group. I didn’t question Mina’s fighting ability, and Courtney had proven herself capable. I had no idea how any of the rest of them would fare. They were determined, they looked strong, but when things got bad . . .

  Julie had taken the lead, her swift footfalls echoing loudly in the hallway as her heavy boots hit the linoleum. Rounding the corner in the L-shaped hallway, she skidded to a stop, her eyes large and staring.

  “So much for the element of surprise, guys,” she said.

  We hurried to catch up with her. Robbie York stood at the end of the hallway, backlit by the windows behind him. A low, wide-brimmed preacher’s hat obscured his face, and he balanced himself jauntily with one hand on a fire ax like some demented cane.

  “Hello, boys and girls,” he said cheerfully. “I’d really like to thank you all for coming tonight!”

  I gripped my sledgehammer tightly and tried to sound brave as I called out, “You know this’ll be a lot easier if you come quietly!”

  He cocked his head appraisingly, then let loose with a loud, long, braying laugh.

  “Did you just say that?” he laughed. “I mean, seriously, did you just tell me to come quietly? Who says that? ‘Come quietly!’”

  He nearly doubled over from laughter. It felt odd, in the middle of this, to be embarrassed by a serial-killing Splinter laughing at me.

  Robbie stood up, straightening his back with a loud, Splintery crack.

  “Seriously, though, I’m totally not gonna come quietly. I’d much rather do this,” he said, sticking two fingers from his free hand into his mouth and whistling shrilly.

  From the open doorway of a classroom near Robbie, we could hear the low growl of several angry animals. I half expected a pack of wolves to come out to meet him.

  Instead, we got a small parade of house pets. In one neat line came a border collie, a bulldog, a pit bull, and what appeared to be a rather fat calico cat. The cat had a bell on its collar that jingled and jangled as it slowly walked. It would have been funny had they not all lined up in front of him so obediently, staring at us with almost human intensity.

  Cocking his head in the opposite direction, Robbie said, “Kill.”

  Slowly ambling toward us, the four animals began to expand, limbs snapping with that sound of splintering wood as they grew bigger and more horrific, growing extra eyes, toothy mouths, tentacles, and legs as they saw fit, each reaching at least the size of a pony. The cat nimbly jumped to the ceiling, crawling along it like a spider with its three extra legs.

  Breaking away from the group, Mina sprinted down the hallway, dropping to her knees and sliding between the bulldog and the pit bull before any of us could stop her. Smoothly and quickly, she turned around, pulled out her flamethrower and transformed the pit bull into a ball of fire. The beast howled and thrashed. She answered it with more fire.

  The cat dropped from the ceiling onto Mina.

  That broke us out of our stupor.

  I ran for the melee first, swinging my sledgehammer into the cat’s now massive ribs. A large, staring eye that had formed in the side burst like a boil as my weapon connected, covering Mina in mossy, green slime as the cat hit the wall, yowling. It lashed out at me, clawing me in the side. I hit it with the hammer again, then in the spine. That kept it down for a moment.

  I helped Mina to her feet as the others came to join us, wildly swinging their weapons and trying to join the fray. In the darkened hallway, I could only catch a few, wild images of the attack, illuminated by our wildly bouncing flashlights and the burning remains of the pit bull Splinter.

  Greg smashing the collie in the head with a crowbar, only for the head to split into a giant pair of insect-pincers and grab his wrist.

  Aldo and Haley wrestling the bulldog off of Kevin.

  Courtney howling in pain as the cat locked its jaws around her ankle, then kicking its skull in with her free foot and hobbling away.

  Julie and Mina wrestling the collie away from Greg, then Mina setting its fur ablaze with her flamethrower as Julie smashed it repeatedly in the head with a large pair of bolt cutters.

  The collie kicked out with one of its l
egs, catching Julie in the chest. She hit the wall hard and fell to the ground with a heavily bleeding cut on her forehead. I went to her, and she looked up at me, dazed.

  I looked around; the science labs had to have first-aid kits. I tried the door nearest to me, found it unlocked. Opening it up, I dragged Julie inside.

  The darkened walls were covered with poster board projects demonstrating various principles of physics, with rows of desks looking eerily empty in the darkness. The twin, yard-long prongs of a Jacob’s Ladder stood proudly on the teacher’s desk. I checked beneath the desk and found the first-aid kit. It was sparse, but it had a couple rolls of gauze that would work.

  “You still with me?” I asked her, wrapping her forehead. She looked up at me blearily, but smiled.

  “I’m fine, we gotta go help them!” she exclaimed.

  “Wait ‘til you can see straight before you—”

  The door swung open again. Aldo and Courtney spilled in, looking fearfully at the door as they pulled it shut. A heavy, clawed hand broke through the gap, trying to rip the door open.

  “Help us, damn it!” Courtney called out to me as she and Aldo pulled at the door handle with all their might. I ran to join them, helping them slam the door shut against the claw, severing three of its fingertips.

  The pieces hadn’t been on the ground for more than a second when those clawed tips sprouted small, insect legs and began crawling around, searching for us. One by one we were able to crush or corner them, using our stun guns and Tasers to reduce them to small puddles of harmless, raw Splinter.

  The sound of claws against the door continued. I felt for the flamethrower clipped to my belt, but it wasn’t there. I cursed myself, imagining it getting knocked into the hallway when the cat took a swipe at me.

  The door handle jiggled.

  “Is there another way out of here?” I asked, looking at the door.

  “No,” Aldo said.

  The handle turned all the way around. The door swung open. The cat, larger and more horrible-looking than before, leaped nimbly inside. It lashed out at us with tentacles and tails, knocking Courtney and Aldo into the row of desks and sending me toppling over the teacher’s desk, landing next to Julie. The Jacob’s Ladder fell between us with a clang.

  I grabbed the edge of the desk and pulled myself up, to see Aldo scrambling our way. The cat had perched itself on a few of the desks, stalking Courtney as she kept low to the floor and crawled away from it. I grabbed the first thing I could find, a stapler from the teacher’s desk, and threw it at the Splinter. It turned one of its heads to hiss at me, but continued stalking Courtney.

  Frantically, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a canister of mace. She held the can high, spraying the hissing monster directly in the mouth.

  The Splinter stumbled away from Courtney, falling between the desks and thrashing about on the floor as it yowled and spat. Spasming and arching its back grotesquely, the beast vomited gallons of vile, black ooze, and internal organs onto the floor, almost deflating it like a balloon. Courtney was a mess, but she was able to crawl away from the monster to us.

  “Think this still works?” Julie asked, toying with the fallen Jacob’s Ladder. I looked at the twin, metal prongs of the device and understood what she was getting at.

  There was an extension cord with a switch on it in a drawer in the teacher’s desk. I gave the cord and the switch to Aldo, plugging the Jacob’s Ladder in.

  “When I give the word, throw the switch,” I said.

  “Got it,” Aldo said.

  “Not a second before,” I said.

  “Got it,” Aldo said.

  “Because I’d die,” I said.

  “I know, now shut up and kill the thing already!” he exclaimed.

  Holding the Jacob’s Ladder by the prongs like a spear, I ran for the recovering creature Splinter.

  I slipped in the puddle of gore after three steps, landing hard on my back (or rather the car battery in my backpack, which felt a thousand times harder than the ground). I looked up, dazed as the cat arched its back, hissing and clicking at me angrily, baring its fangs and pincers. Softly, quietly, it pounced.

  Thankfully, Julie was faster than the cat, running to me, picking up the Jacob’s Ladder, and stabbing it into the Splinter’s chest before it hit the ground, confused. She helped pull me away.

  I shouted, “NOW!”

  Aldo threw the switch on the extension cord. In a flash, the cat monster went rigid, its fur catching fire as the full electrical arc of the Jacob’s Ladder passed through its body. Bright, loud sparks shot from the visible portions of the twin prongs that stuck from the creature’s back.

  A fluorescent bulb in the ceiling burst. The room filled with putrid smoke as the Splinter was cooked from the inside out. Its flesh melted off in small rivers, puddling on the floor around a rapidly deflating, deteriorating skeleton. As it disintegrated into nothingness, Aldo shut off the switch.

  I looked up at Julie. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it,” she said, waving a hand in front of her face as she looked at the Splinter’s remains.

  “Everybody all right?” I asked.

  Despite some cuts and bruises, and Splinter gore covering everyone, they were fine.

  The hallway outside had fallen silent. I hoped that was a good thing.

  Suddenly, the sprinklers overhead cut loose, spraying the room with water.

  “Now what?” Courtney said.

  “One of the fires probably set it off,” I said, making my way for the door. “Hang back a second. I’m going to check on the others.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Julie said, getting shakily to her feet.

  “I’m good for now, you guys catch your breath,” I said. Nobody argued.

  I stepped out into the hallway, feet splashing in the heavy puddles. I looked around for anyone, or anything, and found an empty, wet hallway that seemed to stretch on forever.

  “Hello?” I called out. No answer.

  I turned to face the classroom I’d left behind, and found myself staring at a brick wall. A sick feeling turned my stomach.

  Robbie York was in my head.

  The science building’s hallway had transformed into a dingy back alley, smelling heavily of mildew and decay. The sky above was dark and gray, the rain dark and oily. Crudely spray-painted on the wall opposite me were the words:

  FEAR ME

  “Subtle, Robbie, real subtle!” I called out.

  I thought you’d appreciate this. His voice came from nowhere and everywhere. I had to keep my head together. This was his domain.

  I closed my eyes, tried to will it away. This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This isn’t—

  It may not be real, but who said it had to be? His voice was calm, amused even. I didn’t like it.

  I started walking down the alley, trying to find a way out. I didn’t think I’d find one, but I hoped that someone would see what was happening and stop me.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” I said.

  Give it time.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  The same thing you want. To live up here. To experience—

  I interrupted him. “I’ve heard this speech before. ‘I’m a poor Splinter who comes from a world without feeling.’ It didn’t save Splinter-Haley and it’s not going to save you.”

  Fair enough. Let’s play this your way, then. All the amusement had left his voice. Now it was pure threat.

  The brick wall in front of me began to contort and split open with glowing, sickly-yellow light spewing forth from its new openings. Soon I could see that the wall had become a ghastly perversion of Robbie’s face, smiling at me as rancid-smelling curls of smoke came from his mouth.

  I tried to run away. The smoke lashed around me like tentacles, lifting me from the ground and drawing me into the monstrous mouth.

  I was set on my feet in a world of madness and despair. Towering pillars of rock lined with eyes and teeth, skeletons and people
tied to them with chains. The thick smell of sulfur and brimstone filling the air. Screams surrounded me, and everything was hot, so hot.

  Hell.

  “I know,” I responded.

  And it doesn’t get any reaction from a God-fearing boy like you?

  “No,” I tried to lie.

  He chuckled. See, this is why I love humans. So imaginative. There is so much to fear in your own world, so much death and vileness that the very act of living should scare you to death. And what do you people really fear? This!

  A pillar of fire erupted next to me. I turned to it, distracted. Before I could react, Robbie was standing next to me, knocking me to the ground and disappearing.

  You fear the unknown. You fear made up bogeymen because they make it easier for you to live in a world with so much to fear.

  He appeared before me in a wisp of smoke.

  “Like this boy. A strapping young lad, in the prime of his life.”

  He darted for me, quickly punching me in the head and the stomach, easily wrenching the hammer from my hands. I punched him and flung him to the ground. He looked up at me, laughing.

  “Afraid of the dark! Pitiful, right?”

  He jumped up at me, knocking me down. I punched him in the back and stomach with everything I had.

  And this! He was back in my head. This! So many people fear death, not because it means a cessation of life, but because they fear that this is what they have waiting for them on the other side! Is this why you fight me, Ben? Because you fear you’re going here?

  “No!” I said, defiantly, kicking him in the ribs and knocking him to the ground. He looked up at me, smiling wickedly.

  “Do you fear death because you think you’ll find your father in a place like this?”

  A fire had been building in me ever since he’d gotten into my head. I thought I could control it. I thought I could keep cool for the sake of the group. As soon as he mentioned my father, that fire exploded within me. I was no longer in control of myself. It felt good.

  I jumped on him, punching him in the face repeatedly as he laughed, imagining Patrick, Madison, Mina’s dad beneath me. He wouldn’t stop laughing; if anything he got louder. I had to shut him up. I wrapped my hands around his neck, pressing my thumbs into his throat with all my might. Despite his thrashing and his fighting to get free from me, Robbie York grinned up at me the entire time. I smashed his head into the ground, trying to make it go away.