Eternal Maze

by Alexie Aaron

  ~

  Mike and Burt hurried to the command area and restocked on road flares and topped off their gas can from the generator’s backup supply. Between Ted and the sheriff, they were given the grim situation upstairs in regards to Jones and DeMarco. Mia’s instincts were spot on. The two alpha males, Mike and Burt, were silent about giving her any credit. Jealous and spiteful Beth was the only one to voice it. “She really is amazing. Mia should have been at the graveyard. She would have known if Jones and DeMarco were there when we burned their bodies. The mission could have been postponed until we were sure. Now she’s dealing with those murdering bastards by herself. Taking all the credit.”

  They had reached their rendezvous and were waiting for whatever Mia had planned.

  “Mia hates graveyards,” Burt said dismissively. His conscience was screaming douchebag at him. He did his best to ignore it. “Don’t worry about her, she has Murphy.”

  Mike looked at him and then at Beth. “You two need counseling.” Mike raised his hand before either of them could speak. “I think when each of you was touched by evil - Burt in the hollow, Beth at Lucky’s - you changed. It’s as if the bad parts of your personalities, normally dormant, were enhanced, as if evil ramped up the negative. Burt, you became this ego-driven asshole. Yes, I know, a lot like me. Beth, you became possessive of Ted and took anything Mia did as a personal attack on you, or your imaginary relationship with Ted. I thought you and Mia had talked, but here you are again, taking the piss out of someone who has only been kind to you.”

  Beth and Burt wanted to argue with him, but he had made some valid points. They had seen where the mere presence of evil had effected a change on people. Burt and Beth had been touched by evil entities. Did the evil rub off and move through them, changing them into people they themselves no longer recognized?

  “So, you, the only one Mia doesn’t get along with, are standing here defending her,” Burt pointed out. “You have nothing to gain by being her friend.”

  “Guys, I’m your friend. But I don’t like either of you much these days. Ted’s the only one who I recognize. In the beginning I was the ego-driven asshole. That was until my ma took me to the verbal woodpile and beat the crap out of me. Burt, you were the compassionate, understanding, new age male that helped Mia with her transition from the fear driven social misfit to being able to use her gifts. Beth, I’m sorry if I and the others didn’t see you as the capable feminine woman you are. But Mia did and took your side in every fight. You have gifts and intelligence that are different but certainly as impressive as Mia’s. She sees you as a friend, and I believe prior to Lucky’s you reciprocated the friendship.”

  “Yes, I did,” Beth confessed.

  Mike put his hand on Beth’s shoulder and said, “For you the change was immediate.”

  “Burt, you saw it. I know you did, but you were more into stirring the shit with Mia than trying to help Beth.”

  “That’s not exactly…”

  “Let me finish,” Mike cut him off. “Burt, your change came on you slowly. In the beginning there was this and that, but I thought it was because we had signed a contract and your hobby became your career. At the Hoffman’s you were more concerned with getting it all on film instead of taking care of the victims. That is so not you. You started to bristle at everything we did. Mia caught the worst of it. You screamed at her for swearing? If that girl didn’t cuss, she wouldn’t know how to express herself. At Lucky’s you almost got us killed. My nose will never be the same. And tonight you just acted like it’s Mia’s fault that you sent her up those stairs. I was there when Ryan had her on the elevator team after you insisted we didn’t need her in the graveyard because we could take care of everything there. I didn’t say anything because the plan still seemed sound.”

  Burt shifted uncomfortably as Beth turned and glared at him.

  “She had been running all day. OOBing too. You know what that takes out of her. And you pull a dick move like this. Well, I’m sorry, but you deserve to weed the back forty with my ma standing over you with a wooden spoon for that maneuver. You may have jeopardized the mission with your pettiness. One of those cops or Mia could be killed tonight. And, buddy, I’m going to lay that on your doorstep.”

  Burt and Beth were silent. Mike hoped that they were thinking. He touched his earpiece and reported to Ted that they had arrived and were ready for whatever Mia had in mind.

  “Roger, Big Kahuna, I will relay the information,” Ted responded.

  His voice sounded funny to Mike. Could he have been listening in all along? Mike dismissed the thought.

  Ted had been listening because he had all the PEEPs earpieces live with each other a few moments before. He clicked off the program and talked to Mia.

  “You heard all that?”

  “Shallow pools have deceptive depths,” Mia said, her voice sounding sad. “He makes some good points. I should consult Father Santos to see if he could help them with whatever is changing their personalities.”

  “Maybe now they know, they can work it out for themselves.”

  “I hope so, but evil has a strong pull. Thank you, Ted, for standing by me. I guess I owe that fathead Mike an apology.”

  “Don’t let any of them know you heard the conversation or I’m toast,” Ted pleaded.

  “Teddy bear, I’ll take it to my grave, which may be today. Murphy and I just reached the room. Wish me luck. And now would be the time to put all us PEEPs back on live with each other,” Mia suggested strongly.

  “Good luck, Rebel Leader, may the force be with you,” Ted said.

  Mia laughed and responded, “And also with you.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The attic space in the hospital seemed to have had a myriad of uses. Whit and his crew stumbled across discarded furniture and stacks of moldy files. A few walls of cheap construction, partitioning off the west end, made seeing the other side of the attic impossible. There was no electricity, although there were breaks in the roof large enough to let moonlight in, which gave the attic an eerie atmosphere. There was flooring on the west end of the attic, but as they neared the center, it became less and less. The narrow pathway was cracked and riddled with holes. His team had to resort to walking single file which made them vulnerable to attack.

  Whit trained his light on the floorboards and followed the footsteps that dragged through the dust and spider webs. He instructed his team to stop and move their lights to either side of them. The man in the rear was responsible for stopping and looking behind him. Karl Todd was used to the attic. He may have hidey holes all over the place. They didn’t need him coming up behind them.

  Whit’s job was to flush out Karl and drive him towards the other end where Deputy Alar’s group was waiting. They would maintain radio silence unless they were being attacked by entities.

  Butch examined the room they had entered. It was set up like a hospital ward. There were several rusted beds, empty of bedding, setting between small dressers. Is this where the staff slept? He was horrified at the idea of spending the night in an active asylum, let alone being housed in the attic. Perhaps this was before OSHA existed. The health and safety of the workers seemed to have low priority at St. Joseph’s. He worked a tapping code between his team. Two taps look right, four taps look left. Deputy Martin asked for them to be silent. He wanted to move Karl in their direction. Butch felt a sense of pride that this out of town deputy trusted him with the capture of the suspect.

  He carefully opened the large door on the west end of the room. Beyond was a maze of partitions. Tiny rooms holding papers, books and piles of old linen. June took it upon herself to probe the piles with a broom handle she came across. He admired the control she had when several jabs resulted in a family of mice scattering.

  Butch moved out of the maze and took in the dark mass of the attic before him. He moved carefully from the north side to the south and found that the only exit on the east end was the door to the room behind him. He decided in that room they would
make their stand. They would maintain silence and surprise Karl Todd if he made it that far. He checked his watch. It had just turned midnight. He looked around himself and wondered if any of them in their wildest imaginations could have thought that they would be spending Halloween in the attic of a haunted asylum.

  Mia twisted the knob, and the door swung inward quietly. The care taken in the outfitting of Dorothy Marie Todd’s shrine extended to the oiling of hinges and the cleaning of the carpeted floor. Murphy moved past Mia, checking the corners of the room. Mia stood and faced the corpse on the bed. It would be up to her to move it. Her plan was to toss it from the window and have Burt and company burn the remains. If that didn’t stop the reemergence of the orderlies, then everything in that room would be tossed on Dorothy’s long overdue funeral pyre.

  Mia switched on the light and walked over and raised the shade. An uncomfortable thought passed through her mind. Was this the only window without bars? She knew the front of the building was barred, but her memory of her flight around the back didn’t include the condition of the windows there. Was it an oversight or had they been removed? Well that was something she would ruminate about later. Right now she had a corpse to move.

  Mia set the shotgun down and drew out her gloves from her back pocket. The salt encrusted leather work gloves were too clumsy to wear normally. She certainly couldn’t fire a shotgun with them on. But Mia also knew that she could not bear to touch the leather and bone body with her bare hands. Being a sensitive, she feared a barrage of memories would be attached to the thing, and there was the gross factor to consider.

  She walked over to the large bed and avoided looking too closely at the dozens of dolls on the bed. Dolls had eyes, and doll eyes had a way of unnerving her. The Hoffman doll came to mind. She pushed the memory away and lowered the coverlet.

  Whit heard him before he saw the large bulk before him. “Stop right there! Karl Todd, I’m arresting…”

  A missile of rusted metal sailed at Whit. He twisted to the side. It missed him and the patrolman behind him by inches.

  “MOTHER!” Karl screamed. His words echoing off the beamed ceiling. “MOTHER!” he bellowed again.

  Mia thought she heard a scream. It was deep and mournful. She felt a rustling on the bed. She looked up and was sickened to see that Dorothy’s long dead corpse was animating. She saw it turn its head and look up at the ceiling and then at Mia.

  Dorothy opened her sightless eyes and stared at the intruder in her room. “What a pretty doll,” she said.

  Mia stepped back in alarm. How the hell was this thing talking? She looked at Murphy, and he shook his head in amazement.

  “Where’s my son?” the scratchy voice asked.

  “I think he’s just stepped out,” Mia answered. “Are you Dorothy Marie Todd?”

  “Why yes I am.”

  “Are you aware that you are dead?”

  “I never really died, young woman. My pets kept me alive.”

  Mia’s eyes widened as Jones and DeMarco appeared on either side of the bed.

  “They rubbed oil on my flesh and chanted old words. We had many a gay old time while they searched for my body, didn’t we lads?”

  Jones smiled and DeMarco nodded.

  There was another scream coming from the attic.

  “Karl,” she explained. “He’s always been a handful. He tries hard. He brings me gifts. Are you one of his gifts?”

  “No, I’m just visiting.”

  “That would explain the lack of ribbon around your neck. Karl really loves his red ribbons,” she told Mia and started to laugh. Her laugh was more of a cackle.

  The corpse looked beyond Mia. “Who let that dirty farmer in here? Bad enough I have to hear them plow, harvest, and plant, over and over again. I will not suffer to look at him. DeMarco show him out!”

  The orderly took a step towards Murphy, and Mia stepped between them.

  “He’s with me,” Mia said, as she carefully eased off her gloves and inched towards her shotgun.

  “You better start rethinking your friends, young woman. Farmers are the dullest creatures. Weather, weather, weather, is all they think about. Boring, pah!” She waved her desiccated hand towards the door. “Get out!”

  Both Jones and DeMarco came at Mia at once. She dove for the shotgun and twisted in time to place a well-aimed shot of rock salt into Jones. DeMarco got his hands around Mia’s neck. She kicked and twisted to allow Murphy room.

  CRACK! He hewed the ghost from top to bottom. DeMarco dissipated with a smile because he knew he was coming back.

  Mia knew she had only moments. She grabbed her gloves and jammed them on her hands. She launched herself at Dorothy, took her by the midsection, and pulled her from the bed. The corpse was strong, its boney hands clawed at Mia’s to free itself. But Mia held on. She muscled the wiggling mass towards the window. Dorothy’s hands caught the sides of the window and pushed back. Mia lost her balance and fell backwards.

  Dorothy smiled and laughed as she stood looking down at her. From her body emerged Jones and DeMarco. “Kill them, kill them now!”

  Murphy charged over swinging his axe. It missed the orderlies and sliced through the air. But it did cause the men to step back. Mia was on her feet and launched herself at Dorothy.

  Dorothy’s body took the punch of Mia’s head to her midsection. She buckled backwards. She landed on the sill. Mia grabbed her kicking legs and pulled up. Dorothy hung on to both sides of the window. Mia felt Jones’s hands on her throat but kept pushing until Dorothy’s hands lost purchase.

  Burt, Mike and Beth waited four stories below the window. They had seen the shade rise, showing a lit room beyond. They were in no position to see into the room, but its light shone out of the darkness like a beacon in the night.

  The PEEPs team saw movement at the window.

  “Get ready.”

  Mike watched open-mouthed as Mia appeared to be throwing a live body out of the window.

  As it fell, its arms clawed the air. The closer it got to the ground, the realization hit that this was not a person per se, but a dried up husk of a body.

  Mia pushed backward with her legs and rolled with the entity still attached to her neck.

  CRACK!

  Murphy sunk his axe into the back of Mia’s attacker. He howled a long death scream before disappearing.

  Mia scrambled to her feet knowing there was still another entity to deal with. And depending on Burt’s activities below, there may be another too soon.

  She saw DeMarco at the window looking down. He looked at her and saw Murphy approach. With a smile he jumped out. Murphy followed.

  “Heads up, monster on his way down!” Mia called out the window, forgetting the communication earpiece was live.

  Burt could not believe the thing that had descended on them. It wore a silky nightgown, and even after a four-story fall, it was still moving. Beth stood slack-jawed for a moment. Mike grabbed the gas can and began dousing it with petrol while it crawled and clawed its way towards Beth. It opened its mouth and asked, “Are you a doll?”

  Beth pushed backwards and felt hands go around her throat. She didn’t have time to scream.

  CRACK!

  Beth felt the fingers let go and vanish.

  Burt lit a road flare and warned, “Stand back!” He dropped it on the thing. It burst into flames but didn’t stop moving. It got to its feet and laughed. Out of the fire came three voices. Two of them chanted in chorus, “She lives, she lives, she lives!” The other cooed, “My lads.”

  Burt lit another hot, florescent flare and tossed it at the withering mass of dried skin and moldy bones. It lodged in the center of the figure. The fire flared up.

  CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

  Murphy’s axe sounded again.

  They watched as the head and legs were cleaved from the body. The smoldering mass fell to the ground.

  Mike tossed more gas on the seared remains. Burt lit a third flare and tossed it on the pile. The fire continued to burn
. It burned hot.

  Mia watched the scene from her perch on the windowsill. She saw Murphy save Beth. She saw him move in when the fire wasn’t doing the job and chop at Dorothy as if she were a mighty elm. When the evil fell, Murphy stood by with his axe on his shoulder. He looked up at Mia, and she gave him a thumbs up.

  ~

  Karl ran into the darkness. Jumping from one wood beam to the next. “MOTHER,” he cried again. Where were Jones and DeMarco? They promised his mother to protect him always. Now there were people after him, and he didn’t do nothing wrong. He visited his mother every day. Bringing her presents and sitting with her while he ate his chili. He cleaned her room, making sure that no vermin got into her space. He even killed for her. He couldn’t figure out why the cops were after him, he was a good boy.

  Karl increased his speed and smiled as his pursuers were left far behind. Soon he would make the other exit. He would have the whole building to hide in. In the cellar, no one would find him in the cellar.

  Butch heard him panting as he turned the knob on the door. He waited until the monster was inside the room before springing the trap.

  “Halt! You are under arrest. Stand still,” Butch ordered.

  Karl stood still. He blinked as several lights illuminated him. A stocky man holding a gun approached him. He was spouting some gibberish that gave Karl a headache. He ran at the man, swatted his gun away, picked him up and threw him in the direction of the lights in the room. He then turned around and made his way back into the dark of the attic.

  Whit saw Karl exit the door. He turned off his light and waited. Karl ran right at him. Whit caught hold of the man and wrestled him to the ground. Karl twisted out of Whit’s grasp and kicked out, sending the deputy flying. Whit hit a ceiling joist hard.

  Karl got up, and before he could step to safety, he fell through the floor.