Canopus and Keel - The Hive.

by Stephen Jarrett

  “Well whoever is Skyclade, they are dead, right?” asked Drexel.

  Keel turned her back to Drexel and Canopus and looked up the cliff edge. It was going to take a while to get back to the town. “Not even close. She teleported them away. Powerful spell too. Must have used up most of her life-force.”

  Canopus, spat to the ground. “Let’s deal with him and her later. Right now, we know where Lillian Fox is and how to stop the hybrids. I say we go to the hospital, grab as much insulin as we can and take the angel down.”

  “Agreed,” nodded Keel. With Vince and the Red-girl away, it was the perfect time to destroy the angel once and for good.

  Drexel stretched. “Alright kids, I hope you’ve got some energy in you, cos back to town is quite a climb. “He pointed at Keel, “Unless you can teleport us, like this red chick you mentioned?”

  Keel snorted, “Have you ever tried to teleport?”

  “No, is it difficult?” asked Drexel.

  Keel shrugged, “No idea. Until today I didn’t even know it was possible.”

  “Then I guess we are climbing,” sighed Drexel.

  Canopus slapped Drexel on the shoulder, “Don’t worry old friend. Once we kill the angel, defeat the monsters and rescue the town, I’ll buy you a drink.”

  “When you say it like that, it almost sounds possible,” frowned Drexel.

  Keel held up her finger and was about to tell Drexel the probability of their success but she caught a glare from Canopus, so instead she just smiled and started to climb.

  TWENTY-EIGHT.

  The Red-girl stood in a circle of light next to a sleeping Vince. Outside the circle, never-ending darkness spread in all directions.

  “Wake up Vince.” said the Red-girl.

  Vince opened his eyes.

  ‘Where are we?” he asked.

  The Red-girl looked around. The darkness had disappeared. They were now sitting in an empty room with four doors, one on each wall.

  Vince sat up, yawned and rubbed his eyes. The last thing he remembered was the hospital and talking to the strange doctor. Looking down, he saw he was naked. “Where are my clothes?”

  “What do you feel you should be wearing?” replied the Red-girl.

  Vince thought for a second and then saw he was clothed in a black denim cowboy outfit with leather black boots, black leather waistcoat with a large silver sheriffs badge, a black derby hat on his head and around his waist, a black leather gun belt, holding two large silver Colt .45 revolvers.

  “Now that is more like it,” he said, smiling.

  The Red-girl said nothing, she just continued to stand in the center of the room, arms by her side, head slightly bowed.

  “So, this is inside of my mind? I’m not impressed.” Vince stood up and walked to each of the doors, each one was the same, white paneled wood, slightly warped. The walls between the doors were covered with a crisp pale blue and white striped wallpaper. “What do we do? Why are we here?”

  “That’s today’s first question. I brought you here, to protect me. The creature is looking for me and wants to devour me. But you can save me. You want to save me, don’t you Vince?”

  Vince nodded. “Of course. You’re going to help me find Debbie, you promised.”

  “I did.”

  Vince walked over to one of the doors. Now they looked different, heavy and well made, not like the thin doors you would find between apartment rooms, more like the kind of doors that were made to keep something in or out. Each door had a big colored, doorknob. The one that Vince was standing by was colored gold. “Should I open this door?” asked Vince, hand hovering close to the door knob.

  “Second question. Do you think you should open this door?”

  Vince thought for a second. “I think I do.” His hand touched the door knob, it didn't feel like metal, it felt like he was holding a hand of someone he knew, like his mother or father. It felt warm and comforting.

  “And you need the gun drawn?”

  Vince looked at his hands. His right hand was touching the door knob, in his left hand was a revolver. He found himself replying but wasn’t sure where the words had come from, “What if the creature is behind the door?”

  “Third question. Is the creature behind the door?”

  Vince pulled the door open. Standing in the doorframe was a woman, dressed in a wet, white gown, which clung to her bony body. Her thick hair, dark, wet and matted, hung over her face. Thick purple bruises decorated her neck. Carved into her wet, doughy flesh, was an S and a K. Vince could tell by her posture and the way that her skin and breasts hung, fat and drooping that she was old. Water from her gown was creating a puddle on the floor around her feet.

  The old lady looked up, green eyes with white pupils peered out through the strands of wet hair.

  Her mouth whispered the word “Skyclade.” But the voice wasn’t that of a woman, it was a man’s voice, Vince’s voice.

  Vince shut the door.

  Something didn't make sense to Vince. He had felt he had seen that woman before. He hit the side of his head with the revolver, just a few taps to clear the scratching inside his brain.

  “No more questions left. Find the creature.” said the Red-girl.

  “What is Skyclade?”

  “No more questions left. Find the creature.”

  Ignoring the Red-girl, who was standing motionless in the center of the room, he walked up to another door. This door too had a gold knob, but it was dented, old and worn. Vince placed his hand on the nob and then removed it. “I’m not ready to open this yet,” he said.

  “Maybe the creature is behind there?”

  Vince walked to another door and looked down at a wooden doorknob. It looked to Vince like chestnut. He remembered walking with his father, in a tall forest and his father singing a song to the trees, as he pulled his wagon.

  “I believe I will never see,

  a woman as lovely as a tree.

  Chestnut, birch, do you recall?

  Little birds that nested and left in fall.

  Old man oak, have you forgot?

  The man hanging from your branches, rope tied in a knot.

  Sweetgum, redgum, do you remember often?

  The wind against your bark, now you are a coffin;

  to hold the man,

  who died in fall.”

  He remembered his father would collect thick branches in the day and carve them into spoons around the stone fireplace at night, while his mother made a stew from what they caught that day, usually squirrel or rabbit. Squirrel was his favorite. He remembered his mother’s plump, smiling face. She had freckles like Vince. Like Dale. His name was Dale. Dale and his father would sell spoons in the market for one shilling. His mother would pick mushrooms in the forest. One day she didn't come back.

  Vince turned to the Red-girl, “I remember my Father and Mother. I would walk with my Father, his name was Nathaniel, we would collect wood. My Mother died, in the forest, she slipped on moss and cracked open her skull. I was seven at the time. My name was Dale. But we were dressed differently than today.” He tapped the gun against his head, the scratching was there again. “It was a long time ago.”

  “Is the creature behind this door?” the Red-girl asked, pointing at the door with the green doorknob.

  Vince turned the green doorknob and pulled open the door. He gazed at a gravel road and a parked police car. Afternoon sunlight shone into the room. Vince drew his silver revolvers and stepped through.

  Vince felt the gravel beneath his leather cowboy boots. He looked to the left and saw the road stretch off into the distance, large maple trees were evenly placed along the sides the of the road. Vince could tell by the reddish hue of the leaves that it was Mid-fall. To the right of Vince was a police car, a 1988 Ford LTD Crown Victoria. It was white and wide, with a blue and yellow stripe running across its body. The chunky, square police lights were flashing, but there was no sound. Vince cocked his head and listened, there was no sound anywhere. The Red-girl was
standing at the front of the police car. She was looking at something that was hidden from Vince’s view. Vince looked back past the Red-girl and down the gravel road. A figure was coming towards them. He held up his thumb and it covered the figure. He lowered his thumb and squinted. It looked like a large man and he estimated it would take ten to fifteen minutes to get to them.

  “What are you looking at?” he asked the Red-girl. She didn't respond and he knew it was because he asked a question, so he walked towards her instead. First, he saw three brown leather shoes sticking straight up from the gravel and one black socked foot. Its shoe had escaped and was lying on its side, next to the Red-girl’s red brogues. The socked foot and shoes belonged to legs and these legs belonged to two police officers. Both were lying on their backs, in the gravel, eyes open, arms stretched out, fingers taunt and frozen grasping for air. Scratched into their foreheads was the word ‘Skyclade.’

  “Officers Wildy and Dillworth,” whispered Vince. “They were good people.”

  “Yes. Skyclade killed them,” replied the Red-girl.

  Vince looked back at the figure moving towards them. “I think the creature is coming.”

  The Red-girl looked to where Vince was pointing. “Skyclade must kill it, then the angel.”

  “Am I Skyclade?” asked Vince.

  “We are Skyclade,” replied the Red-girl, allowing the question to pass. She held Vince’s hand and then disappeared.

  Skyclade opened his eyes, they burned the color of fire.

  It looked down at the silver revolvers in its hands and smiled. Guns were good. Guns could kill. Guns would show the world its name.

  It spotted the figure moving towards it and pointed the guns. The creature was a long way away, no bigger than a child’s hand.

  It fired the left gun.

  The bullet flew through the air and hit the creature in the shoulder. Black blood sprayed in the air.

  The creature kept moving forward.

  It fired the right gun and the bullet flew through the air and hit the creature in the same spot. The hole in the creatures’ shoulder widened.

  Skyclade fired again and again, bullet after bullet. Each time they hit the same place. The hole in the creature got wider and wider, skin and ligaments tore until the creature’s arm fell to the floor. Black blood spewed to the floor from the wound. The creature slipped and fell.

  Skyclade ran towards the creature and leapt high in the air, slamming down on the creature’s chest. It could feel bones snap beneath its boots, feel skin wrap around it soles. It peered into the creature’s black almond eyes. Black blood oozed from its large mouth. Skyclade held up its right index finger and watched as the nail grew to a sharp point. It held its finger to the creature’s forehead and scratched its name into the skin. When Skyclade was done, it stood up.

  “Now we get out,” said Skyclade.

  The road disappeared and Skyclade opened its eyes in Bonners Ferry.

  It remembered the town and all the killing that happened there. It saw that it was still dressed in black, denim and leather. It took off the hat on its head and threw it to the ground.

  Crowds of people were around Skyclade, all walking as if in a trance and all walking in the same direction down a long road.

  At the front of the crowd was a tall woman, that radiated power. She was holding the hands of two broken children.

  Skyclade turned to a man that was next to him and punched him in the throat, the man fell to the ground. The others ignored them and kept walking. Skyclade placed his bare foot into the man’s armpit and pulled on the man’s arm.

  First there was a loud crack and then the more Skyclade pulled, the more the sound became softer and wetter, until the arm tore free.

  Grasping the white arm bone, Skyclade pulled it from its skin cover and then broke the bone over its knee creating a large bone splinter. Holding its make-shift sword of bone, Skyclade started to swing, knocking man woman and child to the floor. It would get to the woman radiating power, it knew it had too. It would kill her and she would become the new Skyclade.

  TWENTY-NINE.

  Back at the Morgue entrance, exhausted from the climb, Keel watched crowds of people walking in the streets below, there were hundreds of them, all walking in the same direction and all walking at the same speed. Canopus and Drexel moved next to her.

  “That’s a lot of people. There a party we weren’t invited too?” asked Drexel, heaving for breath.

  “One hundred and forty-five residents and one angel, right there.” Keel traced her finger through the crowds of people to Lillian Fox. She was surrounded by six large monstrous hybrid creatures. From the distance, she couldn’t make out Lillian Fox’s face, but she could see her long dark hair and the arrogance of her stance.

  Keel felt her stomach churn. Finally, she found the angel. But how to get to her?

  “Where is everyone going?” asked Canopus.

  “She has them under her control, I’m guessing she is leading them to a feeding. Canopus there are children there too, a lot of them.”

  Canopus rubbed the stubble on his chin. “No way we are getting to her through the possessed residents. Plus, those hybrids are so huge, even I can see them.”

  “What the frig is that cowboy doing?” Drexel pointed to a figure at the back of the crowd, it was knocking the others down, with what looked like a large white club.

  Keel narrowed her eyes, “I think it’s Vince.”

  “Looks like he’s trying to get to Lillian Fox. You sure that’s him?” Canopus just saw moving blurs at this distance.

  Keel nodded. Suddenly, Vince leapt forty feet in the air and crashed down into the people below, knocking them over. Some got back up. Others wriggled like worms on the ground.

  “Skyclade,” whispered Keel.

  “Well, looks like he doesn't need our help after all to kill the angel,” grunted Drexel sitting on a rock. The sun was setting and the air was cool against his sweaty skin. He had done his part, he was safe and alive. Also, it looked like it was all going to work itself out, one way or another.

  Keel turned to Canopus, “Can you shoot him from here? We can’t have the Red-girl possess the angel.”

  Canopus squinted and shook his head, “Not even close.”

  Keel pulled out her handgun and held it with both hands, right eye closed. She pointed it first at the tiny figure of Lillian Fox, the two children, dangling from her grip squirmed. Keel placed her finger on the trigger and held her breath. Could she hit her? And if so, what would that really do, except reveal their position.

  She moved the gun to Skyclade, who was weaving in and out of the residents. The gun shook in her hands and she lowered it, breathing out. She felt helpless. She could see Lillian Fox and Skyclade but they were too far away to confront. Her leg started to twitch, so she squeezed the muscles, easing the tension. It had performed well in the climb, but she knew the healing spell was temporary. In a few days, she would start to feel the pain again.

  She looked at Canopus, studying his face as he leant against a tree, eyes closed. He looked tired, his skin had lost its color and hung loose on his cheekbones, he was obviously in pain. The stamina that he had was incredible for his age but he was pushing himself too hard. Since her father was taken from her, Canopus and his wife Beth had been like a father and mother to her, just like they promised they would, when her father, Canopus’ partner was taken from them. It was a safety net that she knew a lot of people didn't have. She always had a place to stay, when she felt overwhelmed with the world, as they kept a room for her. She never had to talk or explain herself but could just sit with Beth and enjoy the silence as Beth read her crime novels. Even Canopus constantly talking about her dating, was OK. She knew it came from his heart. He had always cared for her. She sighed. It was just hard for her to show those emotions and return them.

  She was always more comfortable with numbers than words. Calculating statistics, odds and equations was much easier to understand than music, poe
try and love.

  Drexel pointed to the crowd as it started to move in unison, “What the frig is happening now?”

  As the crowd parted, they revealed a path leading from Skyclade to Lillian Fox and her hybrids. For a few heartbeats Lillian Fox stared back at the figure walking towards her and then turned and walked away, dragging the children to what looked like a large sewer cover. The cover lifted in the air and Lillian Fox dropped the children into the hole. Stepping forward, she too floated down, her gown billowing around her. The other residents followed one by one, leaving just Skyclade and the monstrous hybrids standing in the street.

  Keel snapped back to attention. “Drexel, where does that hole go?”.

  It’s the old catacombs, they were used for cold storage to keep fish and fruit fresh, before refrigeration. Later they were used for Prohibition. If she’s down there, it’s going to be hard to find her, it’s like a maze.”

  “Are there many entrances?”

  “Yeah a few. They lead all over town. I have a map in my office.

  “Show me. We can also grab the insulin from your office. If she is preparing a feeding, it’s going to be the perfect time to take her down.”

  “Want me to go to the hospital and get extra?” asked Canopus.

  “Let’s stick together. Once we have looked at the map, we can plan a visit to the hospital, if we need to.” Keel looked back at Skyclade and the hybrids as they continued to circle each other, “Whoever or whatever wins that is going to be trouble for us. We need to be prepared.”

  Canopus nodded.

  Keel pulled out her father’s grimoire and started to turn the pages, hoping to find something that could help them, something she may have missed. As she studied, she walked past Canopus and Drexel and down the stone steps that led to the Sheriff’s dept. and Drexel’s office. As Canopus followed, Drexel pulled him aside and whispered in his ear, “In the same drawer as the insulin, I have a bottle of Jacky D with our names on it. Be a shame to waste it.”

  “Amen to that,” smiled Canopus.