No Darker Fate

by John Corwin

"Leave them alone," a woman's voice shouted. "I've called the cops."

  The ghoul didn't care. It charged Alexia while Lucas was prying himself out of the windshield. She fired a shot and dove between a VW Beetle and a truck. The ghoul slammed against the VW Beetle. The car rocked up on two tires and hung for a second before toppling to rest against the truck. Alexia crawled out from the space on the other side.

  Lucas grabbed the chrome bumper the ghoul had hit him with and blitzed the creature from behind. The ghoul spun just as Lucas took a swing. The bumper clanged and vibrated in his hands with the impact. The ghoul's body slammed into a black Trans Am, cratering the door. Onlookers cheered. Lucas continued his onslaught. Something glinted in his path. He scooped up the ender. Pinned the ghoul to the car. It moaned. He pressed the ender into its armpit and pressed the trigger.

  The ghoul's eyes widened and its mouth stretched open in a silent screech before it slumped. Lucas dragged the body out of the parking lot and into the woods. Random shouts and screams came from the people watching from their windows. Once out of sight of the windows, he dropped the body and grabbed three stones from a gutter drain in the back. His body seemed on automatic pilot.

  "What are you doing?" Alexia asked, coming up behind him.

  He knelt to place the stones. A strong arm grabbed his elbow.

  "Stop." It was Phillip.

  Alexia gasped. "Where did you come from?"

  Lucas dropped the stones.

  "The legend was true," Phillip said. "This is catastrophic."

  "Legend?" Alexia asked.

  "How do we keep it totally dead?" Lucas asked.

  "I don't know," Phillip said. "We need to go. My arbiter can help. He'll cut your bonds to whatever rogue has done this. Then we can see about repairing the damage."

  "Arbiter? Rogue? What's going on here?" Alexia said, wedging herself between them.

  Phillip pushed her aside like one might shove a sack of feathers. She stumbled back and landed on her butt. Lucas fought the urge to punch Phillip. He reached down to help Alexia up. She brushed his hand aside and sprang to her feet.

  "You son of a bitch," she said, glaring razors at Phillip.

  Phillip dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "We need to go. The chum authorities will be here soon."

  "Not yet," Lucas said. Adrenaline still roared in his veins. It was all he could do not to put stones on the ghoul's face or tear it apart. He went inside his apartment and grabbed the chain he'd used on himself. He wrapped it around the ghoul's arms and waist then snapped the heavy duty padlock on it. He dragged the unconscious creature along the sidewalk and chained it to a thick steel bike rack that was embedded in the concrete. That should hold it for a while.

  Alexia came up to him. "Where are you going?"

  "I don't know. Away from here. Phillip has people who can help me."

  "You need to turn yourself in before you kill someone else."

  "You think I wanted to kill those people?" he asked, the adrenaline still pulsing through him.

  She took his hand and squeezed. Sadness touched her eyes. "Please. There's something more going on here. I can't explain it, but I can feel it. I'm meant to help you."

  The adrenaline and rage subsided. He felt incredibly tired and her hand felt so soft. He took in those marvelous eyes of hers one more time before separating his hand from hers. "I can't. I have to go with him."

  Phillip approached as sirens wailed a short distance away. "We have no time. Take my hand."

  "Take me," Alexia said. "Please. I have so many questions."

  "Best you forget everything and get out of this mess," Phillip said. "The factions probably already know about it and will cleanse anyone associated with it."

  "Cleanse?"

  "Execute." Phillip grabbed Lucas's hand. "Don't let go. We need physical contact for this to work. If you feel ill, squeeze three times and I'll stop."

  "I thought you could take us there instantly."

  "I'm afraid I can only do it in hops. It may make you dizzy."

  "You're not going anywhere," Alexia said, the muzzle of her gun aiming at Phillip's head.

  Phillip smiled. "Goodbye."

  Lucas's guts lurched. He and Phillip were standing atop the apartment buildings but in the decayed world. Alexia stood below looking around bewildered. She had a faint glow about her.

  "She's special," Lucas said. He knew where he'd seen her before. The fight with the female ghoul. That had been Alexia he'd saved.

  Phillip looked at her. "You're right. She's almost one of us."

  "Almost?"

  "An arbiter has to attune or activate her for her abilities to be active. Then he can imprint the Covenant and initiate her."

  "That's what someone did to me?"

  "I believe so."

  Lucas motioned at the dismal surroundings. "What is this place?"

  "The Blight. Nobody knows exactly what it is except a nastier version of our own world. Wait 'til you see chum. They'll really make you sick."

  "Chum?"

  "The Normals. Anyone who's not a Scion. That's most of humanity, if you consider chum to be human."

  Lucas remembered the horrid creatures he'd seen and it made sense. The man from the bar had been a Scion and the other people were chum. "You think chum are animals?"

  "Believe me, they look human, but they're not. Why else would they look the way they do in the Blight?"

  "It makes sense to me now. Last time I saw people in this place—"

  Phillip's eyes narrowed. "How did you see this place?"

  "A few times when I was forced to kill."

  "That arbiter must have a seeker as well. Only seekers can look into or enter the Blight."

  "Unless a seeker takes someone with them?"

  "Exactly. If I left you, you'd be trapped here with no way out."

  "How do you enter and leave?"

  "It's hard to explain, but I create scars. I don't know if I make them, or if they're already there. Any time I look, there's always one right in front of me."

  Lucas remembered the slits and cracks of white when he'd looked inside the Blight. Those must be the scars.

  "So I'm definitely an executor, and executors can't enter the Blight alone?"

  "Yes. Look, I'd like to answer more questions, but my arbiter is anxious to help you. I suggest we move on because it's a long journey and I need the light for maximum hops. I have to enter Normal before each hop, so you might become disoriented."

  Lucas nodded.

  They stepped through a black scar in the air and entered Normal. Another step forward. They lurched. Now they were atop a tall building he'd seen on the skyline. Another step, another lurch, and they were across the city. The hops continued. Each one made Lucas's stomach feel worse. Blight and Normal seemed to meld together into one long blur like a slideshow on fast forward. He noticed that they had to enter Normal before each hop. Dark memories flitted through Lucas's mind. He remembered chasing the teenage girl through the town. He remembered hopping like this after the last ghoul. Somehow he could do this despite Phillip's explanation that executors couldn't. Maybe Phillip was wrong about him. Maybe he was a seeker. Then again, he'd used the stones.

  The last hop landed them in front of a dense forest. Phillip released his hand. Lucas fell to his knees and vomited a thin stream of acid. He stayed on his knees for a minute before pushing himself up.

  "That was rough."

  "I'm amazed you made it all the way without a stop. Most initiates get sick after a couple of hops."

  "Believe me, I've been holding in that puke for a while."

  Phillip motioned him forward and they approached a small cottage in a clearing. Once inside, he opened a door and went down a steep flight of stairs and into an earthen basement. Thick wooden beams braced the walls and ceiling. The basement seemed more extensive than the house above.

  Two men emerged from a dark tunnel behind them.

  "Hi," Lucas said.

  "That him?" asked o
ne of the men.

  Phillip nodded. Lucas followed him into a room where a stout cage with thick gridded bars stood. The cage door hung open. Lucas felt the heat of danger against his back too late. The men clamped his arms in their steel grips. Before he could react, they hurled him into the cage and bolted it shut. His strength roared back. Lucas smashed against the bars, but it was futile. He hadn't recharged or eaten since his fight with the ghoul and his strength waned so suddenly that he slumped.

  "What the hell are you doing, Phillip?" he said, yelling.

  "This is for your own good," Phillip said. "The arbiter will be here shortly. Until then, welcome to your new home."

  Chapter 22

  Alexia scoured Lucas Fowler's apartment for clues. Aside from a pantry full of canned tuna fish, canned vegetables, and several pounds of carrots, nothing of informational value was there. His computer had pictures of David Young and Maria Wood on it, both saved on the desktop. A third picture looked remarkably like the young black ghoul chained up outside. Since his apartment was so sparsely furnished, it didn't take her long to discover he didn't have a camera capable of taking the high resolution pictures on his desktop. That didn't mean anything, but it interested her nonetheless.

  She'd phoned Victor and told him about the events of the day. He was outraged that she hadn't told him sooner. She didn't bother offering excuses. If he tried to pull anything on her, she had his secret contacts to use as blackmail. Outside, the two police who'd arrived at the scene minutes after Lucas's departure were puzzling over the unconscious ghoul. Alexia told them to wait for backup. The cops were aware of the incidents with the coroner's van and at the morgue so they listened and agreed. In the meantime, she scanned Lucas's computer for any other clues.

  She found a file labeled "family" and opened it. An image that looked right out of a comic book appeared. The characters were roughly sketched, giving them an eerie quality. The first frame showed a man walking down a hallway in a house. The next, a door smashing in. A red-faced man with crazed eyes rushed through the door. The boy dove, grabbed a gun, and shot dead the intruder just as he was attacking an older woman.

  Was Lucas a comic book illustrator or had he downloaded this from somewhere?

  Gun shots echoed outside. A window somewhere shattered. A man screamed in agony while another shouted curses. Alexia ducked as another bullet pierced the air, sounding closer than it was. Staying low, she rushed outside. The police car was dented and coated in blood. Chunks of flesh slid down the hood. Half a policeman jutted from the windshield of an overturned Toyota. Two ghouls circled their chained mate. They chanted to each other in fragmented sentences, the words unintelligible from this distance. Perhaps from any distance.

  Alexia crouched behind a bush and watched, her limbs weak with fear. The chained ghoul shook himself awake groggily. Whatever drug was on the stiletto that Lucas had used must have been powerful to knock those creatures out. The ghoul formerly known as Maria Wood looked terrible. Her brown hair was clumped and filthy. She had a bald bloody patch on one side. Her head jerked spasmodically like an over-caffeinated squirrel on constant alert. She still wore the remains of her black dress, now matted with crusted blood and God knew what else.

  David Young wore only a pair of torn pants. His once fleshy frame had thinned considerably to the point where his ribs were visible. The chained ghoul, whoever he was, had on a torn shirt and boxers. Alexia had been so preoccupied with survival during the fight between him and Lucas that she hadn't taken note of his bizarre attire. None of the ghouls seemed aware of those things.

  Young and Wood grabbed the chain and jerked. His grunts and her tortured screams echoed across the parking lot as they tugged away. Young stopped pulling, stared at the chain, and screeched like an attacking eagle.

  How had they ended up together? Why weren't they tearing each other apart? Alexia wished for a sniper rifle or a fifty caliber Barrett M107. She might get in one headshot at this distance with her pistol, but what then? The ghouls could move faster than she could blink. She clenched the butt of her gun, feeling impotent. Lucas and Phillip had the ability to stop these creatures, and they'd abandoned her. Two more police had died, and once the backups arrived, they'd probably share the same fate.

  She dialed 911 on her cell and told the operator who she was. After several transfers, she reached Detective Evans. From the background noise, she could tell he was in a car.

  She gave him Lucas's address and explained the situation.

  "Three of them? Holy shit. We were on our way to deal with the one. I've got a chopper inbound and a team of snipers. That should be enough."

  "You better hurry. They're trying to free their companion." Or whatever they were to each other.

  As if in response, the beats of a chopper on approach grew in volume after she ended the call with Evans. The third ghoul pushed itself up slowly. It motioned to the other two and pointed at the bike rack. Together, they grasped the chain and gave a long steady pull. The concrete around the bike rack cracked. The ghouls shifted their grips from the chain to the bike rack. With the extra leverage, they tugged on the rack. Cracks raced along the concrete slab. It parted and one leg of the steel rack ripped free of the cement.

  A police chopper thundered overhead. The ghouls stared up at it. David Young cowered. Maria Wood screamed and wriggled under a car. Young grabbed loose bits of debris and hurled them at the chopper. Only the third ghoul seemed unfazed. The chain was looped into the bike rack, so even freeing it from the cement wouldn't free the ghoul. He stomped his foot and shouted gibberish at the other ghouls.

  "This is the police. Get on the ground with your hands on your head or we will open fire," one of the cops in the chopper said over the loudspeaker.

  Wood finally crawled from underneath the car. The nameless ghoul pointed at the steel bar holding the chain to the bike rack. The three ghouls pried at the bar from two directions. It bent, snapped free of its welds. The chain dropped loose. The third ghoul pointed at the chopper as it swung low.

  "Final warning," the police said.

  A black truck roared into the parking lot. SWAT members in full combat gear poured from the back, shouting orders. Another half-dozen squad cars squealed in behind it, blocking the exits. Young grabbed the bike rack and flung it at the chopper. It whipped through the air, spinning like a bizarre boomerang. The pilot pulled away but the rack slammed into the right landing skid and hooked it. The chopper wobbled. It veered straight for an electrical pole.

  The pilot corrected course. His shouts echoed from the loudspeaker. Maria Wood shrieked. She held the bloody corpse of one of the cops they'd killed earlier. She whipped it around by the leg and launched it with terrifying precision. The corpse shattered the chopper's windshield and slammed into the pilot. The chopper swayed. The copilot overcorrected and it lurched sideways, nosedived into one of the apartment buildings. The rotors hacked into the roof. Insulation and roof tiles exploded into the air from the impact. Residents ran screaming from the building. The chopper's engine overheated and shut down. Steam poured from cracks in the housing.

  SWAT snipers opened fire on the ghouls. Young took one in the shoulder and went down. The nameless ghoul and Wood grabbed the side of a Ford sedan and flipped it on its side as a shield. They grabbed Young. Alexia fired a shot at Wood's head. The bullet grazed her cheek, leaving an angry red streak. She screamed and charged but the third ghoul stopped her. With deadly calm, he glared at Alexia as if memorizing her face. His face reddened and his eyes focused on the area in front of him.

  The very fabric of the air ripped open. A massive clap of thunder rippled across the parking lot, shattering windows. Alexia's ears rang. Rays of sickly orange light and soot erupted from the gaping crack in the air. Young, holding his shoulder and wailing, ran into the crack and vanished. Wood ran through next. The third ghoul gave Alexia one last look and followed.

  She stumbled toward the light. Something flashed and thunder exploded. The shockwave knocked the ca
r over and sent Alexia tumbling backward. Dead calm settled over the scene. Dazed residents wandered from their apartments. Some of the evacuees from the damaged building were lying unconscious or nearly so on the ground. Police were assisting each other and looking for the vanished ghouls. With the car shielding their view, they hadn't seen what Alexia had. They didn't know the truth.

  These creatures were demons. They'd opened a gate into Hell and escaped. Alexia holstered her weapon and sat on Lucas's doorstep. Victor was right about the supernatural. Even with all that had happened, she'd reasoned it away with scientific explanations. Not this. Not anymore.

  A fire truck raced into the parking lot, sirens wailing. The firemen grabbed a ladder and raced to help the chopper occupants. Amazingly, they'd all survived.

  Victor, red-faced and lock-jawed stalked over. "Sciouris, you're finished. I told you to keep me informed. Now I've missed it. I've fucking missed it all."

  Alexia bounced up and jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "Be glad you missed it. I almost died." An exaggeration, of course, but she couldn't be taken off the case now. Not with demons running loose.

  "I'm going to make sure you never work as anything more than a house maid."

  Alexia opened her mouth to give him a tongue lashing he'd never forget then stopped. The original police car was still sitting in place right behind the overturned vehicle the ghouls had used as shelter. Before anyone else could think to check it, she rushed over. Most of the cops were helping the chopper pilots and civilians so they didn't give her a second glance. She looked at the windshield and saw the digital recorder mounted there. After flipping open the back of the unit, she pulled out the tiny memory card and closed the camera's data port.

  Victor tried to snatch it from her, but she held it away. "We're watching this together." She led him inside Lucas's apartment.

  The camera had captured almost everything. The squad car was parked far enough back that its angle encompassed the bike rack and the apartments behind it. The murders of the original two police were not recorded. Only their screams could be heard. The ghouls' odd speech was captured as well. With analysis, she might be able to make sense of their short fragments. It obviously meant something since they'd successfully communicated.