Council of Peacocks

by M Joseph Murphy

  Jessica shook her head. “You don’t go after Wisdom. Even these morons know that. I can smell it in their brains. They will come right for us and the other Anomalies, but they will eliminate anyone that gets in their way.”

  “Except Wisdom.” Todd was starting to show signs of weariness. His eyes twitched and sweat poured freely from his damp hair.

  “Oh.” Jessica let the sound drop from her mouth. It was soft, barely audible but the word filled the elevator like a large, heavy object.

  “I can feel it too,” Amy said. “They have started to kill people.”

  “Most of them don’t even know anything about us. Todd, please try to make this go a little faster. It’s not that I’m scared or anything but I…I just don’t want…”

  The elevator stopped abruptly and everyone let out a short yelp.

  David wiped his own forehead. Until that moment he had not realized he was sweating. Part of him wondered if this was some sort of bizarre test. The only thing that convinced him it was all completely real was the messages his brain kept sending him. While he could not decode them all, the general meaning was clear. Somewhere nearby, people were dying and people were screaming.

  The elevator door opened.

  ***

  Ezekiel Scratch was a security guard. He had no particular love for the work and he certainly felt little or no honor in the profession. Still, he did not think about quitting daily as so many people do at their jobs. People checked in with him when they entered the building at 333 Bay St. It was a big building, lots of visitors, and most of them really had no clue how to make their way around. It was his job to point them in the right direction. As security jobs go it was one of the best. He did not have to wander around some warehouse with a flashlight pretending to watch for thieves and vandals as he tried to stay awake. He did not work with money or anything valuable, so the risk of robbery was barely calculable. Here he was able to interact with people, see the light of day and be home each night to Dianna and the kids.

  Downtown Toronto is also one of the most peaceful cities of its size in the world. It does not attract the same type of crazies as New York or Los Angeles, and its murder rate is next to non-existent compared to places like Chicago and Detroit. In the five years Ezekiel had worked on Bay Street the most violence he had seen was a freshly-fired accountant point his finger at his former boss and threaten to break his skull for letting him go. The guy never followed up on the threat. Violence outside the hockey rink just did not come natural to Canadians.

  Which is why it took him a long time to realize the gunshots and the screams around him were real.

  Then the elevator gave a sharp 'Ding!' A group of muscular men and women in dark suits rushed off the elevator touting large rifles and handguns. For a moment, Ezekiel wondered if they were just filming some movie here again. The absence of cameras and the very real smell of blood made it hard to believe the comfortable lie.

  Ezekiel rose from his hiding spot and started to follow after the people with guns. That is what security guards do, he thought. Then a woman with a blond crop-cut and a lot of firepower told him to stay back. She pointed out a coffee stand where a few people who worked in the building were hiding.

  “Protect them,” the blond woman said.

  He crouched down and did just that. For five minutes there was nothing but screaming and gunshots. Then a relative silence.

  “What are they doing now?”

  Ezekiel checked his gun again, to make sure the safety was off. It was the third time he had checked since the shooting started. As before, it was ready to fire. He had never shot a gun at another person, although he was not sure the things he saw qualified as people.

  “Zeek, I said what the hell are they doing? Can you see?”

  Ezekiel looked at the people huddled in the corner with him. Then he looked back down the hallway that led to the lobby. He saw the three ‘things’ causing all the damage. Bodies and bullet shells littered the floor. He watched as one of the three ‘things’ (he could not bring himself to use the word monster) lifted the body of a young man up by the legs and tossed it two hundred feet down the hall. Another picked up a white-haired Chinese woman, bit into her neck and started to chew.

  “Don’t ask.” Ezekiel swallowed hard. He was proud of himself for not fainting. “Besides, I can’t see much. It’s starting to get smoky.” He said this to the woman who owned the coffee stand. He had bought coffee from her every morning since he had started the job. He had no idea what her name was, and no clue as to how she knew his. In the moment, he forgot he wore a nametag. “I think they’ve started a fire.”

  “A fire!” She stood up and Ezekiel grabbed her arm to pull her back down.

  “It doesn’t look big. For Christ sakes you can’t go out there. You didn’t see what they are.

  The woman took a strong grip on his hand, tore it from her arm and got back up. “Don’t you be grabbing me! I am not your property and you are definitely not my knight in shining armor. Shouldn’t you be out there stopping this? You’re a security guard, aren’t you? Or are the uniform and flimsy badge just for show? And of course I’ve seen what they are. Just a bunch of guys in suits. They came off the elevator. You were there when they did.”

  Ezekiel shook his head. “That wasn’t them. There are only three of them. They came in the front door and they…”

  “There’s only three?” She grabbed her purse and started to walk away. “We outnumber them even here. You can do what you like but I’m not staying here.”

  An African-Canadian man behind her, still gripping his cappuccino, spoke up.

  “Melinda, for Christ’s sake, get down!”

  “I am not getting down,” the woman said. “I’m getting out. There’s got to be a fire door around here. We can….”

  She was cut off by another round of gunshots. The woman flattened herself against the floor several feet away from any sign of protection. Ezekiel, the black man and the two women still behind the coffee stand shrieked. Ezekiel nearly dropped his gun. He was sweating through his uniform now and he could barely keep his stands steady. But the coffee-stand lady was right. He did have a job to do. He took several sharp breaths and then got out from behind the coffee stand to protect the stranger.

  He pointed his gun at the spot where the hallway met the foyer. He could not see much except shadows and smoke, but he could hear the chaos. His teeth felt fragile as he clenched his jaw. Sweat dripped into his eye. He did not dare take the time to wipe it away. Something could show up in that moment. If it did, he wanted both of his hands on the trigger.

  The gunshots were coming pretty steadily now. In fact, they seemed to be getting louder. That could only mean the fight was coming into the elevator area.

  The coffee-stand lady lay face down on the ground, holding her purse up to guard her forehead.

  “Miss, get up.” Ezekiel knelt down beside her, still pointing the gun as stiffly as he could. “We’ve got to….”

  He stopped.

  Shapes came out of the smoke, walking backwards. They moved very slowly, gracefully, the shooting and the screaming little more than an annoyance. When they were free of the smoke, one of them turned around and looked directly at Ezekiel.

  Ezekiel stared back.

  He felt as if the gun was going to drop out of his hand at any moment. The only thing that kept it there was the knowledge that the safety was not on and he had no way of knowing if or where the bullet would go.

  “Mother of god.” He wanted to look away but found that he could not move. A deer in headlights. He was frozen, watching the shadows move through the smoke into solid objects. Then the evil thing turned away from him, faced the nearest elevator and ripped the metal doors open with its hands. Steel tore like paper. Ezekiel looked down at his gun. Sweat ran onto his lips now. What kind of person could turn their back on a gun? But then again, what kind of person….

  “…has wings?”

  The other two winged creatures turned
to look at him now, their eyes empty holes of red-trimmed white light. All three appeared to be male but their facial features slipped when he focused on them. One moment they were blond Caucasians, the next their skin was covered in green scales. One snapped his fingers and the area connecting the foyer with the elevator area suddenly disappeared. A wall of darkness appeared where once there was only smoke. It seemed especially dark against the luminescent white of their wings. The second the darkness settled in place, Ezekiel could no longer hear the gunshots and screaming from the other room.

  The first winged man now had all the metal torn away from the elevator door. There was no sign of the actual carriage but that did not stop them from stepping inside. One by one they jumped into the elevator shaft. And flew up.

  Ezekiel flipped the safety on his gun, placed it quietly beside the coffee-stand woman and ran toward the back doors.

  ***

  “Damn!” Elaine pounded the butt of her shotgun against the wall of swirling blackness for a third time. It was getting hard to breathe with all the smoke in the air. Most of the civilians ran out into the streets as soon as they caught a good look at the Edimmu. The rest were currently being escorted out by her security team. She turned on the two-way radio installed in the collar of her trench coat and called Wisdom.

  “Yes?” His voice sounded tinny and even more inhuman than normal.

  “They’re inside. They’ve put up some sort of wall. We can’t follow. Are the others away?”

  “Should be,” Wisdom’s voice came back. “Don’t worry about the Edimmu. I will take care of them. Get the others and leave the building. I can’t guarantee it will still be standing when this fight is over.”

  “Affirmative.”

  She turned off the radio and motioned for the rest of her security team to get out of the building. Elaine had served Wisdom for over ten years. In all that time, she had never actually seen him in action. Each time they had encountered an Edimmu or Council member, the bad guys had always made a hasty retreat. There was something in Wisdom even the inhuman feared.

  She prayed, for all their sakes, Wisdom lived up to his reputation.

  ***

  David was the first to walk out onto the roof. Three helicopters were there, but each of their blades had been shattered like glass. Black smoke poured out of their interiors like liquid sewage overflowing from a toilet. Near the edge of the building, a pocket of strangers stared at the metallic corpses. He recognized some of them from the common room yesterday. Perhaps these were the rest. He did not, however, see Garnet.

  “What should we do now, Jessica?” Amy asked.

  “How the hell should I know?”

  “Ms. Ryerson did put you in charge. Any clue?” Todd took a step toward the helicopter.

  Jessica stomped her foot and her face became a mixture of wrinkles and tense expressions.

  “They’re coming up the elevator shaft.” Bethany stared into the heart of the building. “They know we’re here. We can’t stay. We have to get down.”

  Jessica stared at the helicopters and the other Anomalies. “Todd, can you stop the elevators from working?”

  “They’re not taking the elevators,” Bethany said. “They’re flying up the elevator shafts.”

  “What do you mean, flying?” David asked.

  “She means they’re flying,” Todd said. “Keep up. They’re in the main elevator shafts, right? Good. They don’t connect with the roof. We’re safe for now.”

  “Safe isn’t exactly the word I would use.”

  The five of them spun around as soon as they heard the new voice. A short woman in a white jacket with matching pants walked out of from the black smoke. The smoke did not seem to touch her. If anything, it moved out of her way.

  David felt fire spring to his fingertips. His head buzzed so loudly he could almost see the noise. Beside him, Jessica suddenly seemed a few inches taller and her hair blew backwards in a wind that had not been there a moment ago.

  “Relax, children.” The woman kept walking toward them. “It’s not me you need to fear. I’m a friend. Promise.”

  “If you’re a friend, why did you blow up our helicopters?” Amy hid behind Jessica but spoke with confidence.

  “Not what you would call a bright girl, are you?” The woman was only a few feet before them now. “I didn’t. That was our dear friends below. The thing you have to ask yourselves is why creatures who can fly, who flew up here to destroy the helicopters before going all Matrix-like on the lobby, didn’t just fly up to the 13th floor in the first place.”

  “Good question. Why?” Bethany chewed on her nails and studied the woman with surprising calm.

  “Because they want to make a statement.” David walked past Jessica to stand in front of the woman in white. “Is that it? They want to destroy the building one floor at a time as a show of strength or something?”

  “Close,” the woman in white said. “But not as close as I expected. Maybe Wisdom is expecting too much of you lot. Actually, shouldn’t there be two more of you? Where are Jared and Garnet?”

  It was in that moment they realized Jared was no longer amongst them.

  “Damn it!” Jessica pushed her way past David and stood immediately in front of the woman. “Where did he go? Did anyone see him in the elevator? And who are you? Did Mr. Wisdom send you here?”

  The woman laughed. “Of course Wisdom sent me. Call me Echo. Most people do. Wisdom and I go way back. But we really do not have time for this right now. You’re not safe here and Wisdom is not going to be able to protect you.”

  “And you can?” David asked.

  The woman looked down into the building. “Doubtful. Not if we stay here. Hence the need for speedy retreat.”

  “What about Wisdom? Is he going to be okay?”

  The woman looked at David closely. “Wisdom can take care of himself, but not if he has to watch out for you guys as well. I am supposed to take the 48 of you somewhere the Edimmu won’t be looking. We can all hide out for a few days, throw these losers off our trail and then my babysitting chores are over. It’s just a shame the other two aren’t here.”

  David looked behind Echo. “And how are you going to get out us out of here? Do you have a spare helicopter handy?”

  Echo shook her head. “That’s a little too primitive for me. Wisdom may like all this blending-in crap but I prefer a much more direct approach.” She pressed her left arm out and flexed her wrist. Ten feet away the air sliced open and a multi-colored oval appeared out of the air. It was at least nine feet tall and three feet wide. “Do close your mouths, children. Although I’m sure Wisdom has not been completely forthcoming about the true nature of things, you all realize there are people out there able to do things other people can’t. This is one of the things I can do. Now go on, step through there. It will take you to the safe house before you can say ‘Beam me up, Scotty.’”

  ***

  Wisdom felt a hole open in the space-time fabric nearby. He took a deep breath and smiled.

  “Echo. Right on time.”

  He stood in front of the elevator shafts on the top floor and took off his jacket and tie. He was nervous the first time he lived these events. Just a little. You never really know when you step into a fight if you will win or not. Even when you are stronger and faster than your opponent, there is always the element of chance. This time there was no trepidation. He knew he would win because he had already done it.

  The elevator door opened, slowly at first as fingers fought steel, then, with a sudden final violence, the shaft was completely visible. Wisdom smirked and spread his arms, palms out and parallel at waist level. Then he called forth the power of Hellfire and Brimstone.

  ***

  “Can you believe this crap?” Sammy Laymon took a bite of his Polish sausage and spoke to his sister who was putting sauerkraut on her own. “First she’s all about ‘You don’t show me enough affection’ and ‘I want more of a commitment,’ then she starts with this whole handcuff-bon
dage and 'wanting to be with a woman' type stuff. She’s just so confusing. I’m not sure if I want to institutionalize her or marry her.”

  “I told you she was a psycho.” Catherine gave the hot dog vendor a $20 and waited for the change. “Can you see what’s happening over there?”

  Sammy shook his head. “They’ve got the whole thing blocked off. I haven’t seen this many police since the Pope came for that Catholic youth thing a few years back.”

  “You’re comparing explosions and tragedy to the Catholics? When was the last time you were in church? Do you want to head over to see if we can see anything?”

  “If we can get through the crowds. Do you even know where the whatever-it-is is at?”

  She shook her head. Traffic was stopped all around them. The roads had been closed off and pockets of people, like stones in a stream, pointed fingers all the way up to Yonge St. Sammy saw smoke fill the air, heard the roar of fire and police sirens, but he could not see what everyone was pointing at.

  At first.

  Then they saw black smoke pouring out of a window at the top of a nearby building.

  “Must be quite the fire,” Catherine said as she saw it, too. “Take my advice, dump her. Do you really want someone like that raising your children?”

  “Well…”

  He never finished the sentence.

  At that moment the top of the building exploded. Red and orange light mixed with bright yellow flames, shattering the windows. It started to rain glass and burning shrapnel down on the crowds.

  Then the screaming started.

  And the running.

  ***

  Wisdom walked through the flames as the ceiling fell around him. He stepped on the skull of the first Edimmu he had killed. It crumpled beneath his foot.

  As soon as the Hellfire started burning their flesh, the three monsters dropped their human disguises and took on their natural reptilian form. They stood over eight feet tall, grey-green lizards in man-made suits. Their wings, oily black like wet vultures, twitched and spasmed as the fire spread. Wisdom reached into the flames and turned flicking fire into a solid steel spear. He used it to pin the second Edimmu to the wall. It still screamed that inhuman wail unique to these creatures long after the others fell silent.