Apexology: Horror

by Anthology

  Melanie paused and glanced up at Rees, then at the one-way mirror. She realized she’d done this and self-consciously forced herself to refocus on Rees. He motioned lazily with a hand, “Go on, dear,” he said. Her uneasiness wasn’t lost on Rees.

  “You had no qualms about performing the services for the women. None of the moral issues ever crossed your mind?”

  “Women have always possessed the right to choose how to manage their bodies; Roe v. Wade just legalized it. Would it be possible if I could trouble you for a Root Beer, Dr. Caffy?”

  “Certainly,” Melanie replied and glanced towards the observation mirror. “Mr. Rees would like a Root Beer and I would like water, if you would be so kind.”

  “Now, where were we,” James continued. “Ah, yes, my illustrious career. By the time I became aware of the supposed creature I had performed over two thousand procedures. Now to most people, I was already a murderer. C’EST rien que de la merde…”

  “Excuse me?” Melanie interjected, her pen poised.

  “It’s just a bunch of crap, if you will,” James explained.

  “You could look at what you did as murder, depending on the ideology of the person evaluating your previous line of work.”

  “Exactly. Everything we do as human beings is right in our own eyes. It is society that taints our freedoms and labels our morals.”

  “So, what you did was right?” Melanie said slowly. “It was just society that condemned you?”

  “My dear Caffy, I was misguided. But, hypothetically, if you’ll indulge me, you still fail to see my ideology. What I did? It was dreadful, yes. The women were merely vessels, doomed to usher in his reign. They were fated to die, much like spawning salmon. I merely hastened the process. Fate chose me to discover…well, you know whom. I acted ascetically in conscience.”

  “You use Fate instead of God as the reason you killed those women,” Melanie stated.

  “Is there a difference?”

  “Between what?”

  “Don’t play dense with me, Melanie,” James replied with a smile. “Is there a difference between Fate and God? To most people they are one and the same.”

  “Are they the same to you?”

  “I think they are two sides of one coin. Not necessarily the same, but part of the same substance. Then again, maybe even I don't believe in all the nonsense coming out of my mouth," Rees finished with a snide grin and wink.

  "Then or now?"

  "I'll let you decide, Doc."

  "Yog-Sothoth, as you call it. Explain the process to me once more, if you would, hypothetically, of course," Caffy prodded, pen poised.

  "Evil never vanishes. It never dies either. It's a constant in this realm. The original Evil, Lucifer, if you will, or whatever you parents instilled in your belief structure, is just a label.”

  “You use the term, evil,” Melanie pointed out. “Which implies you’re the opposite, correct?”

  “I’m neutral, actually,” James smiled. “Actually, when you strip away all the labels; Evil is merely energy. Humans have always been compelled to name the unknown. Lucifer, Satan, Pan. The list is endless. Evil goes by many names. All of them could be correct. All of them could be wrong. That's not for me to decide," James sighed as he snuffed the cigarette.

  "But it was up to you," Melanie ventured, choosing her words carefully. "To kill those pregnant women who came to you for help. Patients that trusted their doctor not to harm them."

  "It wasn't up to me!" James exploded. "I tried to ignore the knowledge that was revealed to me. I honestly did. For months, I struggled. For years, yes, years, Dr. Caffy, I put my fucking head in the proverbial sand. It wasn’t my problem. Surely, someone else would discover what I'd discovered. They would have the intestinal fortitude to do what must be done.”

  “There’s always a choice,” Caffy pointed out carefully.

  “Is there? Really?” James grunted. “Merely an illusion. We are but pawns, my dear.”

  Melanie held her pen up in front of her. “I can choose to lay this pen down. Or I can choose not to.”

  “Yes, but the choice has already been predetermined. So there is no choice,” Rees smiled.

  “Predetermined,” Caffy returned the smile. “You’ve spoken about that quite a few times. All choices have already been made. They’ve been laid out through the musings of Fate.”

  “So, you have been listening. Correct. When all has already been predetermined, then choice ceases to exist. An illusion,” Rees replied.

  “You mentioned this concept when you were apprehended and during our other interviews,” Melanie observed as she leafed through her notes. “Preordination.”

  “Like I said, I was chosen for this burden. I resisted it for as long as I could. I’ll never know how much Evil seeped through due to my inaction. Only time will tell.”

  “The women...you killed,” Caffy prodded. “There was never a definite pattern. That’s why it took so long for you be caught. I’ve asked before and the police as well, but you’ve never elaborated. Would you like to now?”

  “Melanie,” James whispered. “There’s no hope that you’ll let me out, is there?”

  “There’s always hope, James. If you can prove to me you’ve successfully rehabilitated...then...we go from there,” she responded gravely, then, “If you were released...would you pick up where you left off?”

  “I may have believed what I told you in the past...but now? I’ve been in here for six years and the world is still spinning. Things would not be as pleasant as they are now. So, perhaps I was misguided. I’ve had many a night to contemplate my actions. Trust me, I’ve turned my doings over and over in my mind. Trying to see if I was justified. Trying to determine if I was wrong. All I can tell you, Dr. Caffy, is this...the world is still spinning,” James finished softly.

  Melanie nodded and jotted down a few lines on the paper before her. “You told me the first time we met you were trying to prevent the Old Ones from being born. That’s why you killed the pregnant women. They were being used to usher in Their birth.”

  James chuckled as he lit another cigarette. He leaned back in the chair and gazed at the ceiling as if trying to decipher shapes in the curling smoke. Melanie was about to intrude on his thoughts, when he returned his gaze to the room and her.

  “The stains of yesterday will always haunt me, Doctor.” He offered a strained smile. “Once Evil gets your scent, it always keeps tabs on you. Like a cat scents a rat? He may not kill the rat right off, but he never loses track of where the rat is. When he wants to kill the rat, he knows where to find it.”

  “Elaborate on that,” Melanie urged.

  “The Old Ones know that I know,” Rees explained. “Once upon a time, I believed They would kill me eventually for trying. But alas, I’m still here. Let’s just say I sleep very well at night.”

  “Why those particular women? They had nothing in common. Why them?”

  “Evil is omnipresent. A preacher I knew once explained it this way: God is omnipresent, so the Devil copycatted that. Like two sides of the same coin, Lucifer has many of the same qualities as God does. Is it because they are one and the same? Nobody can answer that question in this life, at least no one I know of.

  “One thing Evil is, though, it’s methodical. You might ask...I know the Behavioral guys from Quantico were really interested...is why I just didn’t kill the one woman that carried the damned entity. I killed forty-seven. Was it because I didn’t know which one was the right one? No. Methodical, Evil is part of Fate. It’s a part of everything. It’s energy that has to go somewhere. In reality, it is neither good nor evil, to put it simply. The effects? Well, harmful or helpful to mankind, that could be quantified in moral terms, I imagine. It’s essential to all that is life. Good could not exist without Evil. Negative without the Positive? Balance, Doctor. Without it, this world would not exist.

  “Evil, or whoever controls it, The Old Ones, something else, who knows? The point is, if something does not control it
…Evil itself…realizes that its mechanisms will and are thwarted every single day. So, it doesn’t put all of its eggs in one basket, to steal a saying. Maybe there were forty-seven manifestations? It’s a given in nature. Why are there millions of sperm, when only one is needed to fertilize the egg? Not all of them make it—,”

  “So, you’re saying that all forty-seven of your victims deserved to die?” Melanie interjected.

  “If I had missed even one of them,” Rees said. “They’d be walking the earth now. That is…” He smiled and raised his hands. “If I still believed what I believed then. Hypothetically, of course.”

  “Of course,” Caffy agreed and returned the smile. “Now, explain this to me: Yog-Sothoth? Is he…it…the devil?”

  Rees grimaced as Melanie spoke the monster’s name, but held his peace. “I’m not even sure it has a sex,” he said after a few moments. “I’m not even sure its actions can be put into terms of good and evil. It wants to destroy mankind, so, that’s pretty evil, right? I’ve had a lot of time to read in this place. Mind you, I researched the hell out of this thing’s existence, searching for every shred of mention in books, ex cetra.”

  “And what did you discover?” Melanie prodded.

  “It is extra-dimensional. It exists outside our time and space. It, he, she, whatever it is, sees all, knows all.”

  “Almost sounds like you’re describing the Christian idea of God,” Melanie interrupted.

  Rees sighed and snubbed out his cigarette. “God did destroy the Earth at one point, didn’t he?” he offered with a sly smile. “I saw it once, in Dunwich,” he said suddenly.

  “What? Yog-Sothoth?”

  “Melanie, please…easy with the name checking,” James laughed nervously. “There’s a hole in reality there. That’s why the town was built there. It is the only place where reality is thin enough for it to pass through to our dimension, but for some reason it can’t on its own. What do you know about the Illuminati?”

  “They’re some ancient cult that supposedly some of our founding fathers were a part of.” Caffy rattled off.

  “If it ever passes through to our reality, it can only be contained in a pentagon,” Rees explained. “The Illuminati managed to eventually imprison it in the Pentagon at one time, and it fed off traffic fatality deaths for a time.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Melanie laughed.

  “Just what I’ve read.” Rees shrugged and waved away Caffy’s laughter.

  As James spoke with Melanie, he kept a part of his mind open for the stirring he sensed on the other side of the glass. Yog-Sothoth’s essence throbbed like a cancer, calling out to him. Taunting him. He’d made it a point not to glance in that direction through the entire interview, but he never forgot what was gestating just a few feet from him. Fate was giving him another chance, even from within these walls. The thing chattered and moaned the evil it was destined to inflict on mankind, safe and secure within the woman…for the time being.

  “My, that was quite a speech,” Rees laughed and took the can of soda from the tech that’d just entered. “You get the highlights written down?” he taunted playfully.

  Melanie smiled stiffly and tented her fingers. “You know, if I find you competent, you’ll be put on trial for your crimes,” she countered.

  “Yes, there is that,” he replied gamely. “Something’s bothering you, you’re here, but not really.”

  “Oh? You always were observant,” Melanie said uncomfortably. “James, I’ll be honest with you. I’m repulsed by what you’ve done, but on the other hand, you are an extremely intelligent man…it’s a shame you chose a different path.”

  “What is it?”

  “What?” Melanie dodged and involuntarily glanced at the mirror.

  James sat back and followed her gaze. “Dr. Hewlett,” he said simply. “Me, too.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “She gives me the creeps too,” James explained, barely above a whisper.

  “What did she say to you?” Melanie tried once more.

  Rees sat back in his chair and began playing with the manacles encircling his wrists.

  Melanie stood and walked over to the mirror. She studied her reflection as she contemplated her next move. She could feel Hewlett’s eyes on her and she fought to maintain her blank expression. “James? What did she say to you?”

  The manacle chains clanked against the tabletop as he rearranged himself, but Melanie didn’t turn around. She knew he’d stood.

  “When she touched you, you felt it, didn’t you?” he asked.

  Melanie did turn at this. “I shook her hand and I felt like she was digging around inside my head,” she admitted hesitantly.

  James reached forward and turned the recording microphone off in one swift motion. “We haven’t much time,” James said, his voice urgent. “She’s carrying enough to make a devil.”

  “James…” Melanie stopped short as she realized what Rees had just said. “I’ve heard that phrase before,” she whispered.

  “Shut up and listen to me. You know I’m right, or at the very least, you realize there’s something wrong with that woman!”

  “James, turn on the microphone,” Melanie deflected the question.

  “Ah,” Rees said as understanding lit up his face. “I should’ve known. Why, this is just priceless.” He turned to the mirror and smiled approvingly. “You work in mysterious ways, don’t you?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “My dear Melanie,” James said in a fatherly voice. His tone made Melanie extremely uncomfortable. “I’ve been keeping up with what’s been going on in your life. I sensed a long time ago you and I were destined, I just didn’t know the how or the when.”

  “Sit down, James,” Melanie ordered.

  “You see it don’t you?” James said as the room around them fluttered in and out. “The town is calling to me.”

  Melanie had indeed noticed the room waver, but she wasn’t about to admit it. “What’s so special about Dunwich?” she said instead.

  “It is the crux,” Rees replied. “It’s why I brought all the women back there. They became what they really were there. Up on the hill, at the altar of ancient stones, it was the only place they showed their true form and were vulnerable to me.”

  The door opened and Dr. Hewlett rushed in. “What’s the meaning of this? Mr. Rees, sit down,” she spat coldly. “Dr. Caffy, step outside with me? This nonsense has gone on long enough!”

  Hewlett didn’t wait for an answer and slammed the door behind her. Melanie glanced at the observation mirror and came to a decision. She hurried over before reason could interrupt her. She pushed a button on the wall beside the window’s frame and the mirror abruptly grew opaque, and then she rushed over to the table and grabbed her chair and placed it beneath the door’s knob, just as the techs began banging to force the door.

  “Whatever you have to say? You’ve got about thirty seconds,” Melanie said as she eyed the door warily.

  13

  Melanie couldn’t believe what she’d just done. Quite possibly her license would be called into question by the review board, not to mention, her time at Mowman Facility would certainly come to a end. Yet, she felt compelled to hear Rees out, because she had felt something when Hewlett touched her and she’d seen the room and the bathroom change. Crazy as it sounded, she couldn’t seem to control the reasonable side of herself and it was scaring the crap out of her.

  Abruptly, the banging on the other side of the door ceased. A silence seemed to settle around them. James glanced around and nodded. “It’s here,” he stated.

  “What are you talking about?” Melanie asked, the beginnings of barely restrained panic in her voice.

  “Open the door,” James said.

  Melanie eyed him warily, but made no move to remove the chair. “What’s going on?” she asked, though she really didn’t want to know the answer.

  Something hit the door on the opposite side with a splatter. Melanie screamed and
leapt back as blood began seeping under the door.

  “Do you mind?” James asked, holding up his manacled wrists. “All bets are off now.”

  “I don’t have the keys,” Melanie answered as another crash sounded against the door shuddering it in its frame. “They’re out there.”

  James nodded and shuffled over to where Melanie was standing. “The way the room’s been changing, I suspect Yog-Sothoth is manifesting Dunwich just outside that door. I can’t go to him, so he’s coming to me.”

  “You’re crazy, you know that?” Melanie quipped. She removed the chair and flung the door open…and screamed.

  The drab hallway of the facility was no longer there. In its place, a blood-covered street now resided. What was left of the techs was smeared across the building on the far side. A dense fog rolled and Melanie could just make out hideous shapes flitting this way and that. No, she realized quickly. There were impressions of shapes, as if they were invisible, merely displacing the fog with their movements.