by Ryan Sova
Nephal answered, “Yes, she escaped. She also killed the guards that were watching her and changed them into undead.”
Nephal’s words startled a man in the room, “How do you know such things!” he demanded.
Nephal answered, “I saw it happen in a dream. When I woke, I rushed to Atonick’s room and warned him just as the undead were arriving at the inn.”
King Noah commented, “Apparently Atonick was right about the two of you, but that is a matter for some other time. Right now we have to deal with the situation at hand. Atonick told me that three of the undead escaped the inn. We must track them down and destroy them before they can spread their death to other towns and villages.”
The woman standing next to King Noah had a confused and startled look on her face as she spoke. “This turn of events is unexpected?”
The woman then turned her head and addressed King Noah directly, “How is it that you did not foresee this coming?”
King Noah answered, “Time is a very fickle thing, Heragald. There are thousands upon thousands of possible futures for each and every moment of time. Even the most minute, insignificant of details can make all the difference in how the future will play out. I had hoped that we would have more time to prepare for this calamity, but as chance would have it, it is here now.”
King Noah immediately began speaking in the language of magic. His chant lasted for the space of nearly one minute, at which point King Noah traced two symbols in the air in front of him. An overview image of Cambridge and several miles of its surrounding forests appeared in front of King Noah.
King Noah shaped this image with his hands and moved it down at a level that was even with his head. The overview image of Cambridge bore the resemblance of a futuristic hologram. It was transparent but yet could be easily seen by all who were in the room. The image had been shaped by King Noah into a square screen that was now hovering just above his eye level.
King Noah called everyone’s attention to the image that he had just conjured and began speaking, “We know that there are three of them out there. While it is possible that they are still in the town, I highly doubt it. My guess would be that they are somewhere in the woods nearby the town. We will divide into five groups of three and will search the woods to the north, south, east, and west of here. I will remain here with Heragald and Talmadge in case they double back to the town.”
King Noah drew a circle on the image with his finger and then continued, “This will be our search radius. Use a combination of teleportation and low altitude flying to cover the woods in haste and remember, search with your feelings, not with your eyes.”
One of the men in the room interrupted King Noah and said, “If we find them, do you want us to try and capture them?”
King Noah responded, “No. If anything, what has just happened here should stand as a testament as to how dangerous these things are. I am not going to underestimate them a second time. If you find them, destroy them.”
Heragald, the woman standing next to King Noah, added to King Noah’s remarks, “Also, let’s not forget that there is plenty of dangerous wildlife out there. We need to be sure that they didn’t turn any of these creatures or we will soon be fighting the entire jungle.”
“Quite right Heragald! Ladies and gentlemen, this is a search and destroy mission. Anything that is supposed to be dead needs to be returned to that state of being. Use any means at your disposal to make this happen. We have one and only one chance to contain this plague before it becomes uncontrollable and wipes out our entire nation.” Once King Noah had finished his speech the overview image of Cambridge disappeared.
There was a short moment of discussion amongst the various people in the room followed by chanting. The magical chant was carried out in almost complete unison by nearly everyone in the room. At the end of the chant, several flashes of light appeared and the vast majority of people who had just been crowding Atonick’s room vanished as quickly as they came.
Once everyone in the room had left, Nephal noticed that there were still three visitors that were with them in Atonick’s room. The visitors were King Noah, Heragald, and a man. Based on King Noah’s speech, Nephal assumed that the man’s name was Talmadge.
Nephal noticed that both Heragald and Talmadge had the type of runes that glowed embroidered onto their robes. While he was not exactly sure as to what these differences meant, he assumed that it must be some kind of rank or class system. These two sorcerers must be very high ranking, Nephal speculated.
Heragald looked at Nephal and Eliak and said, “Let’s get Atonick to his bed. He has had enough adventure for one day.”
Heragald carried a fierce commanding presence. While she was clearly junior in rank to King Noah, her mere appearance made her a far more intimidating person than the king. She looked like she might have once been a very beautiful woman, but that beauty was now fading with time. She was in her early sixties and had grey hair with blue eyes.
Nephal and Eliak helped Atonick to his feet and started leading him to his bed. As they were leading Atonick to his bed, King Noah, Heragald, and Talmadge started heading for the door. Before they left, King Noah addressed Nephal and Eliak, “Stay here with Atonick until we return.”
Eliak nodded in understanding. Nephal prepared to do the same when another familiar chill went down his spine. The feeling startled Nephal so much that he almost dropped Atonick.
Nephal whipped his head towards King Noah as they were exiting the room and yelled, “THE DEAD ARE HERE AGAIN!!! I CAN FEEL THEM!!!”
King Noah, Heragald, and Talmadge returned to the room in alarm. Heragald had a confused look on her face and turned to King Noah saying, “I thought that these men were supposed to be able to sense the dead?”
King Noah then commented, “The dead are not here Nephal. I don’t know what you are feeling but it is not the dead,” and with that, the three exited the room.
Nephal didn’t know what to say, he could still feel it, just as clearly as he did when the dead first arrived at the inn.
As Nephal was carried away in his thoughts, Eliak turned to him and said, “They are right Nephal, I can’t feel anything either. I don’t know what you are feeling right now but it can’t be the dead.”
Nephal stood where he was, the feeling of terror still poring over him. He could not understand what was happening. He had felt this feeling before, many times now. This was the first time though that Eliak didn’t share in this horror feeling with him. Why can’t anyone else feel this, Nephal quietly wondered?
Eliak spoke to Nephal, “Come on Nephal, there is nothing here. Let’s get Atonick to his bed. I’m tired of holding him.
Atonick interjected in a whisper, “He’s right Nephal. I don’t know what you are feeling right now but it is not the dead.”
Nephal was still confused over this terror that he had suddenly started feeling, but he knew that they had to be right. Nephal pushed the fears aside and started leading Atonick to his bed again.
“You need to wake up now.”
Nephal stood paralyzed again, the man’s voice that he had just heard didn’t sound like anyone that he knew.
Nephal addressed Eliak and Atonick again in alarm, “Who said that?”
Eliak looked confused, “Who said what? No one said anything Nephal.”
“Garry, you need to wake up now. Your life is in danger.”
Nephal was now more puzzled than ever, “Who is Garry?” he asked.
Eliak answered in an annoyed voice, “I don’t know Nephal, but can we get Atonick to his bed please.”
The voice screamed in a loud deafening pitch. “GARRY!!!!!!!”
****
Garry woke up and immediately searched his bedroom by looking around the room. After a quick scan of his surroundings, he noticed that he was alone in his bedroom. Where did that voice come from, Garry wondered?
It took only a few seconds upon waking up for Garry’s conscious mind to realize that his horror feeling was still h
ere, in the present. Garry suddenly focused all his attention on listening for any sign of intruders that might be in his apartment right now. Everything was quiet except for the sound of rattling coming from his front door.
Garry was petrified. He continued listening, hoping that his mind was playing some cruel trick on him. Within seconds though, he realized that this was not a figment of his imagination, someone was really trying to break into the apartment right now. The horror that Garry could feel in his gut also unequivocally told him that this person was not a member of the living.
Garry jumped to his feet and quickly scanned the room. He momentary considered his chances at calling for help, screaming to the entire apartment complex at the top of his lungs, but then immediately realized what had already occurred to him yesterday. No one in this apartment complex is going to respond to me screaming, they are too used to my nightly episodes.
It suddenly became clear to Garry that the only way he was going to survive this was if he got out of the apartment right now, before the undead had a chance to break in. Fortunately for Garry, his apartment was on the first floor. Garry quickly spotted a window by his bed, and after a moment of reflection, he determined this to be his best option for escape. He immediately unlocked and opened the window. As he was opening the window, a fear crept into his mind that maybe someone was also outside by his window, waiting for him to try and escape. Garry hesitated a moment, then pushed these fears out of his mind. I don’t know what is out there, but I do know what is coming for me here if I stay, Garry reasoned to himself.
Garry put one foot outside of his window then paused. My phone, he thought. I might need to call the police if they chase me. Garry could still hear rattling at the door. There’s still time! With that thought, Garry darted back into his apartment and grabbed his phone that was still sitting on his dresser. Upon grabbing his phone, he quickly darted back to the window and climbed out as quickly as he could. Garry then turned back to his open bedroom window. I need to close this window before I make a run for it, or she will immediately know where I went.
As Garry was closing the window, he heard the sound of the front door open followed immediately by the whispered voice of Detective Klaben saying, “Quickly now, before he wakes!”
Two sets of loud banging footsteps quickly approaching the bedroom indicated to Garry that two people were running towards his bedroom right now. Garry knew that he had less than a second to disappear from sight or they would most definitely see him standing in the window. Without thinking, Garry quickly dropped to the ground. While lying on the ground, Garry was at least three feet below the bottom of the bedroom window and out of sight to his intruders.
In the seconds just after prostrating himself on the ground, Garry gasped in terror. Did I close the window? An image entered Garry’s mind of Detective Klaben entering his room, immediately noticing the open window and rushing to it to chase after Garry, only to realize that he was still here, huddled on the ground next to the building.
Garry’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a man’s voice from inside his bedroom, “He’s not here?”
Detective Klaben’s voice followed the man’s, “Sheets are still warm. He didn’t get far. Search the apartment in case he’s hiding somewhere.”
Garry continued to lay prostrate on the ground as quietly as he could. His heart was pounding and his breaths were coming rapidly. Garry tried his best to calm his breathing so as to not be heard by his unexpected visitors. There was a noise of doors opening and closing and objects being moved inside Garry’s apartment. Garry assumed that this meant that he had successfully closed the window before he was forced to drop to the ground.
After a few seconds, Garry managed to will himself enough courage to look at the bedroom window above him. The window was still open, but only a crack. Garry realized that this was the reason that he could still hear everything going on in his apartment so well. Garry also noticed that the window was not left so far open as to draw any attention, so Detective Klaben probably didn’t realize that it was open when she first entered his room.
This assumption was confirmed by Detective Klaben’s next statement, “Randy, he’s not here. See that, he escaped out the window.”
“Then let’s go after him,” Randy replied.
Detective Klaben responded, “He’s long gone by now. You took too long with the lock.”
Randy responded, “I’m not a damn locksmith, dear wife. Be grateful that I could open it at all.”
There was a slight pause and then Randy continued, “You see! This is why we should have brought the boys with us. They could have watched the escape routes and let us know when he tried to run.”
Detective Klaben responded, “They may be dead now, but that does not change the fact that they are still just as immature as they were when they were alive. I don’t trust them to be intelligent enough, or let’s just say quiet enough for this kind of work.”
Randy responded, “Then why did you turn them if we can’t use them?”
Detective Klaben responded, “Because the loyalty they now have for the Master makes them easier for us to control.”
There was a short pause, then Randy spoke, “Well then, what are we going to do now. His car is still here, we could just wait for him to return.”
There was another short pause, then Detective Klaben responded in an alarmed tone, “Did you see his phone anywhere?”
Randy responded, “No.”
Detective Klaben continued, “Then it is with him. He could be on the phone with police right now as we speak. We need to get out of here. We can’t be here when the police arrive.”
Garry continued to listen on the ground where he was laying. He could hear the sound of footsteps heading through his apartment to the front door, followed by the sound of his front door closing. The unearthly terror feeling gradually subsided as the two undead left Garry’s apartment.
Everything went silent after Randy and Detective Klaben left. Garry breathed a sigh of relief but stayed frozen where he was. They could still be around here somewhere, Garry reasoned. Then Garry heard the sound of a car ignition. That is probably them leaving now, he thought.
After the car had left the apartment complex, Garry still stayed frozen where he was. Maybe this is a trick. Maybe one of them stayed behind, Garry’s paranoid mind kept saying. Terrified as he was, Garry still felt relatively safe hiding where he was. If someone was outside looking for him, the bushes and shrubbery that lined the outside of the apartment complex would provide an excellent cover for him. The only way that someone was going to spot him was if they walked right up to him and peered over the shrubbery.
It would be another several hours before Garry would gain the courage to leave his hiding spot by the window. In this amount of time, Garry was able to reflect. I should be dead right now. There was no way that I would have woken from that dream in time to save myself on my own.
Who warned me? Who did that man’s voice belong to? He was not in the past or the present, but yet I could hear his voice somehow? Who is this man who just saved my life?
CHAPTER 10
Daylight was just starting to break when Garry finally regained the courage to leave his hiding spot by the window and enter his apartment. Garry quietly surveyed his apartment and his bedroom, reflecting again on the events from last night. One thing was abundantly clear to him. I can’t stay in this apartment for a moment longer.
Garry realized that moving to a new location was not going to necessarily make his problems go away. After all, it would not be very hard for a police detective to find out where he moved to. But even so, there were still some advantages to leaving this apartment. Moving away from this neighborhood would mean that he would be around a new set of people, people who had not become so accustomed to hearing Garry’s night terrors, people who might actually call the police if they heard Garry screaming for his life in the middle of the night. Detective Klaben would know this too and would be much more car
eful in her future attempts at murder.
Where do I start, Garry wondered as he started formulating his plan of escape? Just picking up and moving would take a significant amount of effort on his part. He would need to know where he was going first before he could just run to his car. He would also need to pack up all of his belongings at the apartment at some point, a task that Garry knew would take him several hours by himself. He would also need to search out apartments in the area and start making phone calls to see who has vacancies and even if there are vacancies he might not be able to move into his new place right away. As Garry was considering all of these things another question came to Garry’s mind, can I afford to just pack up and leave?
Garry started considering this when something occurred to him. My retirement check, is it still here? It didn’t take much thought for Garry to realize that a check for five-thousand dollars would make a big difference to his present condition. Garry searched his memory trying to remember where he placed the check after returning home from his surprise retirement party on Monday night. If Detective Klaben and her husband made off with that check I’m screwed, Garry’s mind desperately told himself.
Then it finally occurred to Garry where he left the check. The kitchen table, that’s where it should be. Garry quickly made his way to the kitchen, hoping that the check was still there. Once Garry reached the kitchen table, he exhaled in relief.
“It’s still here,” Garry softly said out loud to himself.
Garry sat down at his kitchen table and turned on his computer. He then logged into his online banking account. Garry observed how much money he currently had in his accounts. In his checking account Garry had four-hundred and three dollars with another seven-hundred and thirty-eight dollars in his savings account. So in total, I have about one-thousand-one-hundred dollars in the bank right now. Add my retirement check and I will have six-thousand-one-hundred dollars to spend.
