“Stay back,” Snow said to Cadence, who had stepped forward to help him. “Just in case,” he added with a bit of a smile as he got to his feet. He was glad to be free of the damned thing and owed Aiden a debt for doing all he did.
Aiden saw Snow disappear and looked around. “Sorry that took so long, man,” he said to no one in particular.
*****
Andy overtook Teeny as they ran for the gallows building in the prison yard. He threw open the door and held it for Teeny. He undid the holster latch out of habit and looked to Teeny.
“You stay behind me until I say it’s clear. Got it?”
Teeny nodded, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. Fear for Liam had overtaken her, as she hadn’t been able to raise him on the radio as they had run.
Andy opened the door to the viewing room and left Teeny there to hold it open as he went down the small corridor. “Shit,” he said. “Clear, get over here.”
Teeny wasted no time in running after Detective Halleran, and her eyes widened as she saw the destruction in the room. The seats, which had been bolted to the floor, stood in the same place they always had. But the room was littered in broken glass.
Andy had already crossed where the glass had once been installed, his footsteps crunching the broken shards on the way. The light of his flashlight illuminated the fallen form of Liam on the concrete floor beneath the gallows.
“Liam!” Teeny yelled and ran over to where he was.
“Careful of the glass,” Andy said, and while he was aware his voice was sharper than he meant for it to be, he also knew that if he didn’t warn her and make sure she heard him, he might have two injured people to get out of here.
“Oh my God, his leg,” Teeny breathed, seeing the grotesque shape it was in. She used her flashlight and looked up, seeing the open floor above them.
“His weight must have made the hinges on the floor give out or something,” Andy said. He took out his cell phone and called 911. As it rang, he looked around for signs of Cadence, not knowing that she had teleported out as soon as he had gotten to Liam’s side. “Look, I’m calling an ambulance. I need you to go tell Aiden to direct them through to here, okay?”
“I can do better than that,” Teeny replied, pulling her hand radio out of her pocket. “I’m not leaving Liam.”
*****
Whatever was going on in the gallows room, Aiden knew it had to be a sticky situation. Andy Halleran would not have just come barreling in on his own for no reason asking about that specific room. However, he had no idea if it was something serious, or if it was some kind of distraction Cadence had created to pull Teeny away from the box to get Snow out.
What Aiden did know was that there was real danger here. He could feel it in the atmosphere, piling up. The way his flashlight didn’t seem to send the shadows away as much as it had earlier in the evening. The oppression he felt bearing down on his shoulders. The anger and hatred he had felt when whoever that Pruitt ghost was had touched him. That spot still hurt on his chest.
Cadence and Snow knew there was a danger too. The only difference was they could see it. The few ghosts that remained in the prison, the intelligent ones, at any rate, were gathering around them in the rotunda. Bits and pieces of darkness were slipping in as well, coming from the direction of the gallows room. Whatever Roy had done had set them free.
“Weren’t there more of them earlier?” Cadence looked at the handful of ghosts, and she was sure there had been more in the cafeteria when they had been in there with the investigators.
“Yes,” Snow said with a nod.
“And still no sign of Pruitt,” Cadence said, her voice quiet.
“Yes, well, I’ve a feeling we haven’t seen the last of him. He might just need a little time to get over being punched that hard by a woman.” Snow did nothing to hide the smile of pleasure from the memory of Cadence walloping Pruitt in the face brought.
Cadence grinned a little as well. “Yeah well, at least this time, I got to facilitate your rescue for once, instead of the other way around.”
“Don’t worry darlin’.” Roy’s drawl came from behind a couple of the prisoner spirits. He still had a silvery smear of blood on his face from his nose and lip where Cadence had punched him. “I’m sure yer gonna need rescuin’ in just a little bit here.”
Aiden was busying himself with packing up some of the equipment when his radio screeched to life, startling him.
“Aiden, it’s Teeny, you copy? Over.”
He pulled the radio from his pocket. “Yeah, Teeny, I copy. What’s going on?”
Teeny’s voice crackled a little as it came through the speaker of the radio, and Aiden could hear the emotion behind her words, even though he had no idea what was going on. “We have an ambulance inbound, send them back to the gallows building. Over.”
“Ambulance? You guys need me to help?”
“No, stay there,” said Teeny. “Just send them back here. I’ll catch you up soon. Out.”
Aiden looked at the now silent radio in his hand and pocketed it with a sigh. Something had apparently gone very wrong with Liam. He only hoped it wasn’t something too bad.
“Where are all your charges, Mr. Pruitt?” Snow leveled his icy gaze at the mustachioed guard. “Given the way you’ve behaved tonight, I can’t imagine they are all in their cells, behaving nicely.”
“These are my charges,” Roy said with a shrug.
“No, we checked the counts a couple of days ago to prepare for this particular place,” Cadence said. “Not counting residual there should be roughly thirty active spirits here including you. I see seven.”
“Did you kill them, Mr. Pruitt?” Snow asked the question as Roy began to walk around them.
“Gonna definitely kill you two, so what does it matter what happened to them?” Roy sneered and made a lunging move towards Cadence, but backed off as she pulled her knife.
“It matters, and if you’re going to kill us, what’s the harm in telling us,” Cadence said with a shrug.
“Let’s just say they been set free an’ leave it at that,” Roy said, giving the nod to his group of prisoners. “Kill the old man first. The girl is mine.”
The six prisoner spirits that were left ran for Snow, who teleported to the other side of the box, standing between it and the hallway out to the yard and gallows room. The bits and pieces of dark souls that had been set free from the gallows room were swirling around the hallways and rotunda area.
Cadence teleported to Aiden and touched his arm. He stiffened but then relaxed as he recognized the touch. Her other hand held her knife, and she didn’t take her eyes off of Roy as he began to come after her. She quickly teleported away, materializing near Snow who almost took a swing at her thinking she was one of the prisoners.
“Sorry,” he said, then turned his attention and fist to the next nearest one.
Cadence didn’t bother with fisticuffs. She’d had her fill with this place and the spirits in it. As one of the prisoners ran at her, she let him impale himself on the knife. His eyes widened with almost comical shock at what had just happened.
“Might want to get the fuck back in your cell, inmate,” she said in a growl.
The prisoner didn’t argue, he just did as she said. This caused a couple of the other prisoner’s to pause. Snow had already beaten two others into submission, and they were unconscious on the floor. The two inmates who had paused teleported back to their cells as well.
The three left standing in the rotunda besides Roy reacted a little differently. One tried to grab one of the unconscious ones, but Snow stepped over the prone man and shook his head at the prisoner. The man backed off, throwing his hands up in the air. As Snow bent down to put the prone prisoner in handcuffs, another one thought he had an opening and materialized a lead pipe into his hand. He ran and jumped, aiming to bring the pipe down on Snow’s head.
The pipe made contact but not with the back of Snow’s head. It hit Cadence’s knife. Both Cadence and the inmate
felt the reverberations of that impact up their arms. She looked the man square in the eyes and said, “Boo.” He teleported away as did the other prisoner, who had managed to get the second unconscious inmate away as well.
Snow stood over the now handcuffed unconscious prisoner, Cadence standing beside him as they both looked at Roy. “I honestly would suggest that you simply allow us to take you into custody at this point, Mr. Pruitt,” Snow said.
“That ain’t gonna happen,” Roy said.
“Drop this one off,” Cadence said, nudging the handcuffed one with her foot as she spoke to Snow. “I can handle him.”
“Cadence,” Snow said, shaking his head.
“No. I have this. Trust me,” she said firmly.
Roy chortled. “Whoo, boy wouldya look at that. The filly thinks she can handle me, huh?”
Snow frowned. He didn’t like the idea of leaving Cadence alone, especially since this was her first case back after being so severely injured. But he knew the look in her eyes. He knew she had a plan. He also knew she felt the need to prove herself. So he nodded to her and disappeared with the prisoner.
Cadence looked over at Roy as he spoke. “Girly, you got no idea what you just let yourself in for.”
She smiled as sirens could be heard approaching. She was still on the other side of the box from Roy, and Aiden was still packing the gear up, working on the camera that had been near the box, oblivious to the spiritual goings-on around him. She held up two fingers, the back of them facing Roy as she channeled her favorite character from the old Mortal Kombat movie.
“Let’s dance,” she said.
Roy teleported right in front of her, but she was prepared for that. She lashed out with her knife, and he danced away but not before she got a good slice in across his forearm.
“You’ll―” he began, but she cut him off.
“What? I’ll pay for that? You assholes really need to find better material,” she said. “Try answering a few questions for a change. What are you up to here? Where do you keep buzzing off to?”
He growled and came at her again, this time not trying to grab her, but with fists flying. She teleported to the other side of the box, close to where Aiden was working on taking down the tripod for the camera. He let out a roar of frustration that even Aiden heard as he paused in his work, looking around.
“You’ll tire out before I do,” Roy said, his voice a growl. “I know yer hurt. An’ I know you’ve been puttin’ out a lot of energy tonight. Then it won’t matter what’s goin’ on in the rec room. You’ll just be a smear of silver blood on the floor.”
“Then what are you waiting for? I’m right here, tired and injured,” she said. It wasn’t a lie. She was definitely feeling the drain on her energy, and the stinging in her feet was becoming more persistent. “But thanks for the heads up about the rec room,” she added with a sweet smile.
He teleported behind her, which was a move she hadn’t expected. He pushed her down onto the floor from behind, and she rolled to one side, her leg passing through Aiden’s leg. Roy moved to pounce on her, and as he landed, she mustered everything she had and threw him at the box while yelling “AIDEN!”
Aiden knew his cue and dove for the box, flipping the control switches and bringing the box back to electrically humming life. Roy became visible inside the box, imprisoned as well. He blinked in surprise and took a step back as the prison guard roared once more in frustration and anger. Roy began trying to beat his way through the force field walls of the box, only to meet with the same resistance and pain that Snow had gotten when he had tried.
“Aww,” Cadence said, feigning sadness and pity. “Beaten by a girl. An injured and tired girl at that. Must be a big blow to that huge macho ego of yours.”
“You goddamn whore,” Roy bellowed. “You have no idea how much trouble you are in right now.”
“None, I would say,” Snow said, materializing beside his partner. He walked to the box and passed into the field.
“Snow, what are you doing?” Cadence asked.
Aiden made his way towards the entrance of the prison, letting Cade and Snow deal with the other ghosts on their own. The sirens had become loud, and he could see red lights bouncing off the walls in the lobby.
“I’m taking him in,” Snow said, his voice calm as he clamped handcuffs on Roy. “Be so kind as to short out the box so I can leave it before the medics get in here.”
Cadence nodded, knowing time was short. She took a moment and took aim with her knife, throwing it into the control box. Sparks flew out of the box, and the field went down. As it did Snow disappeared with Roy.
“Straight back, through the doors,” Aiden’s voice said, echoing down the hallway from the rotunda. Hurried footsteps echoed as well, and Cadence watched as the EMS team hustled with the gurney.
Aiden followed behind a little slower, but paused in the rotunda, noticing that the box was dark once more. “Cadence if you still do that dream thing I would like to put in a request for one because I would love to know what the hell was really going on here tonight.” He then hurried to catch up to the EMS team.
Snow materialized once more beside Cadence. “That was a damned good job, Riley,” he said.
“Thanks,” she smiled. “Pruitt did let something slip.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” Cade said. “And it makes sense. What is the one room that none of us bothered going into because of its reputation?”
“The rec room,” Snow answered. “Is that where he has been disappearing to?”
“From what he said that’s what I would guess,” she said.
“Shall we check it out?” Snow didn’t wait for a reply. He knew Cadence far too well. He knew she wouldn’t leave this place without checking it out.
“Absolutely,” Cade said, following Snow.
“What’s gone on while I’ve been tied up?” Snow gestured towards the hallway that led out to the gallows.
A noise drew their attention that way before Cadence could answer. The EMS team was hurrying as fast as they could with their rolling gurney, which was now occupied by an unconscious Liam. Teeny and Aiden followed, and Teeny didn’t even notice that her experimental box was turned off.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital, thanks Aiden,” she said, tossing him the keys. Aiden stopped in the rotunda, and Andy stopped beside him as they both watched the woman and EMS team head out.
“You have any idea what happened back there?” Andy asked.
“No, I was here with Teeny. Liam went off on his own,” Aiden said. “How did you know to come in and where to go? Riley?”
Andy nodded as he watched the lights of the ambulance begin to recede as they drove away. He then turned to Aiden. “Yeah. I don’t know how, but she managed to get me on the radio and let me know there was trouble, and someone needed help in there.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, his brain still working on figuring out the ghost stuff. “Come on. Let’s lock this place back up. Their producer can come to get their stuff in the morning.”
“Sounds good to me, I can’t wait to get out of here,” Aiden said.
“Neither can I,” Cadence said. “But we have one more stop first.”
Snow and Cadence crossed the distance to the rec room, passing through the barricade and the door without a problem. Cade was moving slower than usual, and Snow was worried about her. He was also quite aware that he had not fully regained feeling in his arm from trying to punch his way out of the force field. He had a feeling they would both be paying a visit to Ramon later.
They stopped in unison as they entered the rec room. Rusted pipes hung down from the ceiling, plenty of room to hang people from, like in the history Derrick had given the day before. Cobwebs and dust covered every corner and any piece of furniture left. Most of the furniture was in place against the door, a further obstruction to those trying to enter the room. This left most of the floor clear of furniture. The floor, itself, had been destroyed. The dirt underneath the flooring r
emained and had a circle dug into it.
The circle was large enough for a couple of people to fit in comfortably. Snow and Cadence walked closer, trying to find anything special about it. There were no candles, no other symbols, no special stones. It was just a circle in the dirt.
“I wouldn’t get too close.”
The voice came from behind them, and both Cadence and Snow whirled around, Cadence with her arm already cocked back, ready to punch. The man between them and the door was wearing an inmate’s uniform. He had short black hair and was clean-shaven. He threw up his hands in a defensive gesture.
“I don’t mean harm, I swear,” he said. Cadence recognized him as one of the inmates who had backed off when she had stabbed the other one.
“You didn’t seem to not mean harm earlier,” Cade said, putting her arm back down.
“I had orders,” he shrugged. “They don’t mean anything now that Pruitt is gone.”
“What’s your name?” It was Snow who asked the question.
“Roland,” the inmate said.
“Who gave you orders?” Cade watched Roland, wary of the man as she spoke.
“Pruitt. Now that he’s gone I can’t get out, so that’s not worth defending anymore,” Roland said with a gesture to the circle.
“Portals,” Snow said, his voice a soft murmur. “And they’re not taking me with them.”
Cadence looked over at Snow, an eyebrow lifted in curiosity. “What?”
“The madman in the solitary cell that attacked the young lady,” Snow said. He knew inmates were getting out through some kind of portal and was getting upset that he was getting left behind.”
“Digger?” Roland laughed and shook his head. “Yeah even Roy, rotten as he’d become, wouldn’t let Digger out of this place.”
Snow shook his head and looked back over at Roland. “How was Pruitt transporting people? There is nothing special about this circle.”
“It’s less to do with this circle and more to do with what’s on the other side of the portal when it’s opened. I have no idea how Pruitt did what he did, but he was getting us out. The rumor was we were getting to take over bodies and live again,” Roland said.
The Dead Show Page 18
