The Specter Rising

by James Aspen

  CHAPTER TWO

  “SORRY AGAIN FOR being late,” Paul said. The click of the lock latching behind the last customer was a welcome relief.

  Rachel didn’t look up and mopping behind the counter. “It’s okay, it had just gotten busy when you showed up.”

  “Good,” he said. His eyes lingered on her.

  Even covered in grime from a long, busy shift, he thought she was beautiful. Her curly brown hair was pulled back into a bun, now loose and tattered with locks escaping her band. Her hazel eyes darted back and forth, following the motion of the mop. A hint of her tattooed bicep peaked from beneath the thin t-shirt under her work apron. The first time he saw it, he fell in love instantly. It was a complex myriad of interstellar objects - planets and nebulas swirling together in a wave of color. Strong, smart, and confident, she was everything he wanted in a girlfriend.

  But he never could quite get the courage to ask her out.

  “Hey, do you mind if I duck out early?” she asked, looking up suddenly. Paul looked away, trying his best not to get caught staring.

  “Sure, I’ll finish up. I owe you anyway.” He struggled to keep his voice as nonchalant as he could, his heart racing. “Got somewhere to be?”

  “Oh, you owe me more than that.” She shot him a not-so-serious glare and then looked her eyes flicked away, unable to meet his eyes. “I’ve got to get home and wash up for a date with Bryan.”

  It hit him in the gut.

  “Bryan? Really?! But… I thought you hated him?”

  She shrugged. “He’s okay.” She locked eyes with him. “Besides, he asked. No one else has asked me out for a long time. So… I thought I’d give him a shot.”

  Great, I was late there, too.

  “I’ll handle things here. Go. Enjoy your date.” He hoped his voice didn’t sound as forced as he imagined it did.

  Rachel hesitated. He felt her eyes burning into him as he wiped down tables. He ignored her, trying not to show how upset he was. He knew his pain was directed at himself for waiting so long, it wasn’t fair for him to take it out on her, anyway. He looked up and flashed his best smile, the one he used on customers all day.

  “Go on ahead, I’ve got this. Have a good time.”

  She smiled back, and his tension faded. “I’ll try. I bet he’ll try to drag me to a lame sports bar or something.”

  He laughed. “Or maybe he’ll drag you to that new theme bar on Main St. The one with that makes the servers dress up like ‘sexy’ nurses.”

  “Oh god. I hope not,” she groaned. She tossed her apron in the hamper, her eyes gleaming as she looked back at him. “See ya tomorrow?”

  “Of course. I’ll make it on time. I swear.”

  “Sure you will. I’ll call you earlier this time,” she said. She waved at him as she walked out the staff door, leaving him with the quiet emptiness of the coffee shop.

  ***

  The stars sparkled above as he left Grind’s empty parking lot. The city was quiet save for the faint croaking of tree frogs in Kinsey Park. Things died down pretty quickly in Franklin after 9 pm, like most small towns. There were some bars closer to the college campus, but he didn’t like venturing there anymore, even when he was lonely. They were filled with the same crowd having the same conversations they’d been having for years, or new batches of first-year students getting wild with their fake ids.

  No, he’d rather take the long way home. He needed the time to think. Maybe he’d figure out why he couldn’t ever seem to move towards what he wanted, figure out how he’d gotten to be such a hermit, but he doubted it.

  The streets were empty most nights, so he walked in the middle of the street. He wanted a smooth surface ahead so he could marvel at the stars without tripping over cracked and uneven sidewalks. The expansive arm of The Milky Way reached out over the park in the clear night sky. Paul remembered seeing the spiral arm of the galaxy more clearly when he was young, but it wasn’t completely hidden by light pollution. Not yet, anyway. Franklin had more growing to do first.

  Is anyone watching us out there? he thought. He imagined a young alien on some faraway world, peering at the starry sky with the same sense of wonder. I wonder if they feel as small and alone as I do.

  He spotted the steady light of Venus, bright as it rose over the tree line. Paul’s father had pointed it out to him when he was eight, in one of his rare moments of tender sobriety. He told Paul all about the clouds of poisonous gas spiraling over the planet. His father claimed there could have been life on it too, if it wasn’t for the planet’s slow rotation. Paul has never really been convinced of the veracity of his father’s claim, but he smiled as he remembered hours spent drawing the creatures he imagined on Venus. His version of Venus had neon-colored plants with wavy fronds as tall as buildings. Enormous creatures hid beneath the fronds, behemoths with strange spindly legs way too thin to support their body weight. He wondered what happened to those drawings, the slightly grotesque results of his imagination.

  Paul never quite lost that sense of wonder. The feeling boiled up whenever he watched the night sky. Most clear nights, he’d strain his neck staring at the twinkling stars on his walk home. He knew he spent too much time wishing he was among the stars for someone his age, but it was a part of his youth he hoped he never let go of.

  For years, he’d begged his father to send him to space camp, but the money was never there. Instead, he worked hard, telling himself he could be an astronaut if he put in the effort. But his grades were always mediocre, and he never thought he could join the Air Force. When he was young, he wanted to be extraordinary, to rocket into space and see a bright world below. By the time Paul was ready for college, he had accepted he was average in every way and settled for community college in his hometown. Now, he settled on making a decent cup of coffee, his biology degree gathering dust on his desk, unhung and unused.

  He relished the calm walks home from work; the chance to enjoy the splendor of the cosmos helped him unwind. By the time he go home, Paul was usually feeling better about his situation. He might not be where he dreamed he’d be as a kid, but life was still full of majesty.

  The thought comforted Paul as he turned down the alley towards his apartment, and made it all the more disorienting when the street exploded around him.

  CHAPTER THREE

  BRIGHT RED FLASHES shot from the dark park and splashed against parked cars and buildings. The flashes melted through metal and ignited gas tanks, showering the street in fire and heat. Paul cowered from the blasts by instinct alone, his mind not quite processing what was happening. He ran towards the alley, red bolts of destructive light vaporizing asphalt all around him.

  “Get down, you fool!” a woman shouted behind him.

  Paul turned towards the sound of boots clattering on the pavement, rushing towards him, dumbfounded. He got a glimpse of her dark cloak before she slammed into him, running at full speed. The air flew from his lungs as she sent him sprawling to the ground by the alley. Pain clouded his vision as red blasts gouged into the pavement where he had been standing, searing him with molten flecks of stone and tar.

  Frozen with terror, and reeling from impact, Paul could barely move. The woman grabbed him and dragged him into the alley, away from the destructive flashes. She pulled his flailing body along the cobblestone and tossed him against the building as if he was a sack of potatoes. She propped him up, gently pressing a hand to his chest to steady him.

  “Are you injured, human?” she asked, checking him for burns in a blur of motion.

  Human, what…? His eyes widened when he saw the woman who saved him wasn’t a woman at all. At least, not a human one, anyway.

  Her dark gray hooded cloak and black jumpsuit hid most of her features, but even under the dull streetlight Paul could see pale grayish purple cheeks peeking from her hood. Her colorful hand poked at his chest and arms as she checked him for injury. Her skin rippled and changed with waves of darker purples and reds that flickered across the surface of her skin rhy
thmically.

  Her bright green eyes were slightly larger than a human’s and wider set between the thin bony ridge of her small nose. They flickered with an iridescent glow, catching the light of the alley’s streetlamp like a mirror. The shimmer, along with the slender, angular shape of her eyes, gave her a predatory look.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the Varanul,” she growled. Razor sharp canines flashed brightly in the low light.

  With a smooth motion, she unclasped her cloak and let it fall to the ground when she stood. Quickly, she drew a small weapon from the holster on her right thigh and held it at the ready. Paul had seen nothing like it, but its exotic shape screamed ‘laser gun’ to him. Simultaneously, she unsheathed a short but sinister-looking blade from the sheathe behind her left shoulder. The short blade was as black as obsidian and wickedly curved. It reminded Paul of a thicker katana with nasty-looking barbs along the dull edge. She flicked a switch on its hilt and the curved edge of the blade glowed fuchsia with a flickering hum of energy.

  The mysterious being glanced around the corner, gave Paul a quick nod, and disappeared with a flurry of movement.

  With a few short heartbeats, Paul’s entire world had changed. His hands started shaking as his adrenaline wore off and shock set in, his mind racing to understand what was happening.

  What the hell is going on?

  Loud blasts and bursts of light answered from around the corner, coupled with the peal of metal and rock being blasted to dust. The high pitched blare of blaster fire harmonized with harsh, guttural shouts and wailing, angry gurgles of something in pain to build a horrific scene of chaos in his mind. He cowered away, sliding deeper into the alley, horrified by the imagined horror of what the strange woman was facing.

  Seconds later, the sounds of battle subsided. After a moment of silent anxiety, Paul peeked around the corner to see if she had survived, trembling.

  The street was dotted with smoking holes and bricks were scattered along the sidewalk where they had fallen from buildings. Dark masses were scattered among the wreckage of burned-out cars, enormous bodies laying in heaps where they had fallen. Some smoldered and smoked, letting off an acrid odor of burned flesh. Others lay in pools of what he assumed was blood, a slowly expanding pool of orange around their gray, scaly bodies.

  The street was quiet.

  Too quiet.

  His skin crawled, and he imagined someone, or something, watching him. He clamored behind the building just as a creature unlike anything he had seen dropped into the alley across from him.

  It was vaguely humanoid, but didn’t quite stand as upright and was twice as bulky. Even with its hunched over stance, it towered above him. It glared down at him with three sets of eyes that glowed a dull red against its slate gray scales. Its face was elongated and angular, its curves accented by sharp, bony ridges that connected to knots of bony plate on its head.

  The thing snarled, its vertical mouth slit opening sideways and revealing a third lower jaw bristling with fangs. The creature’s reptilian hiss stirred a primal fear deep in Paul’s brain. The creature looked like it could rip him in half. Bulging muscles rippled out beneath shards of matte black metal armor protecting its torso.

  “Rath hr’al,” the thing said. Its deep voice dismissive and mocking. Paul sensed deep disdain emanating from the creature as it casually lifted a menacing-looking rifle towards him.

  A bright flash of fuchsia blurred past the creature and half of its weapon clattered to the cobblestone. The woman appeared between Paul and the creature, small beside its hulking form as she raised her blaster. The beast roared and pummeled her with the sparking remnants of its rifle, sending her flailing back. Her blaster clamored to the ground beside the creature as the woman landed in a heap, her body hitting the ground with a sickening thud. Ripples of dark red flashed across her skin.

  The thing kicked her sidearm away and tossed the tattered remains of its own weapon aside. Its roaring challenge deafened Paul and made him want to curl into a tiny ball. The woman scrambled to her feet and repositioned herself between the beast and Paul. She held her glowing blade in a backhanded grip, the bright fuchsia edge of her ebony blade casting a dull glow over her back.

  The creature flicked its muscular arms to its side, spreading its fingers wide as short, curved talons sprouted from their tips. It snarled and swiped at her wildly, fueled by rage. Still unsteady from the blow, the woman couldn’t avoid the creature's attack. She cried out as its talons sliced across her stomach. She dropped into a roll, narrowly avoiding the second swipe from the creature’s other set of vicious claws.

  Paul scrambled to his feet and ran from the fighting beings, mind racing. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the woman gracefully recover from her roll. Using her momentum, she sliced the creature’s side with a fluid motion before spinning out of reach, sending sprays of orange blood splattering to the cobblestone. The beast tried to track her movement with reckless swipes, but she dodged with a confident ease.

  Though the creature was more terrifying, Paul could see the woman was faster and far more skilled than the lumbering beast. Now that she had regained her footing, she seemed unconcerned about the outcome of the brawl. Even the waves of colors rippling across her skin had faded into a steady pulse of blues that portrayed a calm serenity along her skin. Curiosity compelled Paul to stop and watch, feeling secure enough now that he was down the alley.

  The creature wailed loudly and swiped at the woman, trying to get in close for a killing slice of its talons, but she was too fast for it. With fluid, dancer-like movements, she slipped away from its grasp and left it with another slice from her blade as she spun and whirled around. It growled and tried to grab her in its arms, but she dropped to her knees and sliced the creature’s left leg with a smooth slash. The glowing blade cut through its thick leg and bone like it was thin paper, and the thing let out a guttural howl. She tumbled from the creature’s grasp in a smooth roll as it dropped. Its arms still flailed to catch her as it fell, orange blood already pooling around the severed leg twitching on the cobblestone.

  The thing hit the ground with a loud plop as she finished her roll and brought her blade around to face it. She paused low to the ground in a combat ready crouch. Her blade dripped with a sickening orange ooze beside her, and its flickering glow illuminated deep purple pulses racing across her skin. The thing wailed and growled as it struggled, refusing to quit trying to slice her even as it lay beaten. She stood and casually stepped from the creature's slow advance. She looked down at it with a grim expression as it struggled along the ground, snarling and swiping at her legs. She spun her blade casually in one hand, her stance confident and cool.

  “When will you attack?” she snarled at the creature.

  “Rgarh da th’rok,” the thing barked at her. Paul didn’t understand a word of it, but its defiant tone was clear.

  With blinding speed, the woman stepped forward and sliced a clawed hand off the creature with a slash of her blade. The thing howled, but still swiped with its remaining hand.

  She jumped away from its flailing easily. Thick drops of orange blood splashed against the alleyway as she set her blade at the ready at her side again.

  “When will you attack?” she asked again, voice calmer. “Tell me or your death with be as slow as I can make it.”

  The thing spat at her and continued its ineffective clamoring.

  Her shoulders sank, and she muttered something that sounded like a curse. Shaking her head, she casually stepped to the creature, avoiding its good arm with little effort.

  “Never mind. I don’t have time for this,” she growled. With unceremonious precision, the woman crouched and decapitated the snarling thing in a smooth motion. It jerked and thrashed spasmodically for a moment, and then settled down, dead. Her stance wavered as she flicked a switch on the hilt of her blade, and its glowing edge faded to black. She wiped the blood from her blade and sheathed it, staring down at the body grimly.

  The alien w
oman was unsteady as she turned towards Paul. Stumbling into the glow of the streetlight, she scooped up her other weapon. As she placed it back in its holster, Paul saw light blue blood oozing from the talon wound across her stomach. The skin surrounding her wound rippling in dark red waves. A few holes in her clothing also oozed blue, and he realized that had taken a few blasts from those things’ weapons.

  She looked up at Paul and her eyes grew wider, in an expression he assumed was surprise. She cocked her head at him. “Why didn’t you run, human?”

  Paul looked around, realizing he had been standing there watching two creatures battle it out in an alley. He felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment. If she hadn't won, that other one would have torn through him seconds later. The smart thing would have been to run away and never look back. To keep running until he was safely at home at his apartment, where he could pretend it had all been a crazy dream. Instead, he had stood there with his mouth hanging open.

  “I don’t know,” he stammered, searching for something to say as he walked towards her. He said the first thing that came to mind.

  “You were amazing!” he shouted. He immediately felt stupid. Really Paul, that’s the best you can do?!

  She looked at the blood oozing over her hand from her stomach. “Not good enough, apparently.”

  His eyes widened. “I’ll go call for help. I'll get you an ambulance!”

  She stepped forward frantically and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards her. “No! No authorities, I’ll be fine, just….” She paused and looked around quickly before leveling her wide-set green eyes at him. “Do you have a place I can rest awhile?”

  Paul looked down at her stomach and paled at the sight of the blue blood oozing between her fingers. “But, you’re bleeding bad.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, a disconcertingly human reaction on a decidedly alien face. “I’m fine, but I’ll wrap it up real quick so we can get moving,” she said.