ShowerKrogan

  This cemetery was not a pce where the dead enjoyed their peaceful rest. In the dead of night, the iron gates of the cemetery groaned in protest as a cloaked figure pushed them open. The groaning echoed throughout the hundreds of rows of headstones like a death rattle. A thick and unnatural fog began to seep from the figure and spread across the graveyard.

  A crow cawed from its perch on a dying, leafless oak tree, its cry a harsh, grating sound—a warning to the world of an unnatural presence. But there was no one around to heed the warning and no one was around to stop the horrific pn that the cloaked figure was about to set in motion.

  The air seemed to stir in anticipation of what was to come. As the figure moved deeper into the cemetery, the unseen eyes of the dead seemed to follow the figure’s every step, as if waiting for the figure’s command.

  The figure came to a stop at the center of the graveyard and looked over the nd of the dead surrounding it. The figure lifted one hand, palm up toward the sky. The other hand reached out toward the tombstones. A slight green glow emanating from an unseen force in the sky drifted down into the outstretched palm.

  After a brief dey, the green light came spilling from the figure’s other hand and flooded the graveyard, seeping into each grave. Once the figure was sure the light had entered every grave, they lowered their hood to reveal a scarred and hairless human male face, and he spoke in a deep, raspy, resonant voice. His voice shook with excitement and anticipation of the horrors to come.

  “Awaken. Excitāre. Rise. Surgere. Hunger. Fames. Feed. Vescere.”

  He lowered his hands as he finished speaking, and the green light dissipated. He stood still for several seconds, surveying the graves for any movement. After a full minute, he growled and lifted his hands back into the air. As he did, the ground at a nearby grave started shifting. Movement could be seen beneath the dirt before an arm dripping with decaying flesh erupted from the earth, reaching straight up from the ground. Movement at another grave began shortly after. Then another and another. Arms began to sprout from the ground like the dead buried beneath were blossoming flowers.

  Satisfied with the progress, the figure snapped his fingers a single time. A green orb appeared before him and expanded into a portal the size of the man. A cloaked feminine figure stepped out of the portal and gnced at the dead climbing from their graves.

  “So, it begins,” she said, turning to walk back through the portal. “Move with haste. We have many more graveyards to visit tonight. Then we can watch from safety as this world falls apart and ours can be saved.”

  She disappeared into the quivering portal as it began to shrink. With a quick gnce back, the cloaked man saw the dead cwing their way back to the nd of the living. A few corpses even stood on their own and were walking toward him. He let out a soft ugh and stepped toward the portal, only for a skeletal hand to burst from the earth and grab his cloak, bringing him to a stop.

  “Hey, knock it off,” he said and tried to pull the cloak out of the undead hand. The grip was awfully tight for something without muscles. He yanked a few more times and succeeded in pulling half the body out of the grave. Now, one arm, a head, neck, and partially decayed female body down to her chest protruded from the grave. Her jaw detached and fell back into the grave when she looked up at him.

  “Ugh. Gross!” The cloaked man tried kicking at the hand but the undead creature held on. She tried to pull herself to the man to bite at him despite missing the bottom half of her mouth. “Enough of this!”

  The man stomped on the face of the creature and his foot broke through the face and out the other side of her skull. Bits of white chunks of skull scattered across the grave and a pink squishy mass enveloped his foot. Some kind of goo discharged from the now motionless corpse and soaked the man’s leg up to the knee.

  While gagging, the man tried to shake the brains off his foot and ended up sliding across a rather rge chunk of brain. He shouted in surprise and disgust and slipped backward into the portal, which closed itself behind him.

  The next morning

  “Hey, man! Watch your step, asshole!” A man on his bike sped past me as I was stepping off the sidewalk to cross the street. I might have been staring at my phone; who knew? The important thing to do here was just to apologize and move on.

  I jerked my foot back onto the sidewalk and yelled back, “I’m on the sidewalk, dick! Bite me!”

  “Your mother also likes to be bitten!” the man hollered as he turned at an intersection and pedaled off.

  “Well, I haven’t seen her in years, and it would be nice if she would reach out!” I shouted back and was answered with the man’s middle finger.

  “People are so grumpy in the morning,” I mumbled to myself and rubbed my face to try to wipe the sleepiness away. I stepped off the sidewalk to attempt to cross the street again; only this time, I remembered to look both ways before stepping out into the street.

  Only a few more blocks to go. I hoped Mal was there; she wasn’t answering her phone. I was sure she was fine; they were mad at me, not her. But I wouldn’t put it past them to do something to her to get back at me. It was so stupid to ever let her get involved. Just because I’d known her my whole life did not mean I needed to drag her down with me. But I was getting out, and so was she. She just didn’t know it yet.

  As I walked through another intersection, a loud crack echoed from somewhere within the giant buildings towering over me.

  It was a little early in the day to be firing off guns or fireworks. I didn’t bother to break my stride. That didn’t sound close, so I was not going to worry about it. I had more pressing issues, and, this was a bit of a sad thought, it was not that uncommon to hear gunshots around here.

  Maybe it was a car backfiring? A lot of people were probably heading to work around that time. That’s probably what it was.

  That was what I chose to believe. But that belief began to falter when two more loud bangs sounded off a little closer than before.

  Hmm. Not likely a car with those two going off consecutively like that. I picked up my pace a little and kept my head up, my eyes bouncing from point to point, looking for anything unusual.

  Still probably nothing. I was more paranoid about having to face the gang I recently left. Getting out was not as easy as getting in. I was nervous, but it would be fine. We had an agreement and they’d respect it. Hopefully.

  I needed to calm down before speaking with anyone. Couldn’t show weakness.

  I heard someone shouting from a few streets over. That made me pause and I turned toward the source of the sound. I couldn’t see anything, and no one else walking down the street seemed to be reacting much. Maybe it was just me?

  There was a tingling sensation at the top of my neck, just below the back of my skull. I pced two fingers on the impnt that lived there. Smooth to the touch and warm, as always. Static engulfed my hearing and an unintelligible female voice tried to speak, but her voice couldn’t break through the static.

  “Becca?” I asked out loud and only momentarily considered how crazy I must look. “Are you trying to talk to me?”

  I was answered with more static. I focused my listening and tried to make out anything she might be trying to tell me. I could hear some choppy speech as her voice cut in and out, but I could not make out anything she was trying to say. I thought I heard the word ‘doctor’ at one point.

  Was the doctor trying to reach me? I checked my phone, but there was no missed call or waiting text. If the doctor was having Becca reach out to me through the impnt, it might have been important, but so was what I was doing. I needed to get to Mal and hurry back to see what Becca was trying to tell me.

  Police sirens joined the chorus of unnerving sounds flooding the normally quiet morning. I reached down to my hip and tapped the handgun I had clipped to my side. It was an old habit to hear sirens and reach for my firearm, but it was a comfort to have it at the moment.

  The ever-increasing sounds of gunshots spurred my movement toward the warehouse. A few minutes ter, I was walking in the alley along the side of the warehouse. A well-built man standing outside a bck metal door gave me an acknowledging gesture, but waited by the door. The cracks and shouting were growing louder as I approached the door. Maybe there was a Halloween parade? It seemed early in the day for that, but it seemed like the most likely possibility.

  “Grayson, my dude!” the man said as I closed the distance between us. He was in dark jeans and a hoodie with the hood up covering his face, but I knew his voice.

  “What’s up, Ned?” I said as we csped hands. Ned was a few good inches shorter than me, but was twice as wide. He was so big he would have to turn sideways to squeeze through some smaller doorframes. When he wasn’t guarding the warehouse then he was in the gym. I wasn’t even sure he had a pce to live.

  “Didn’t think I’d be seeing you around here since ya ran off with that hot doctor dy,” Ned said. He looked around the alley as if he was waiting for the doctor to pop out of thin air.

  “Yeah, I’ll be honest. I’m only back to try to talk with Mal. Haven’t seen her since I left, and can’t get a hold of her. She here today?” I asked.

  “Yeah, my dude, I’m pretty sure she crashed here st night. A lot of them did. Peter is in there throwing one of his tantrums and being annoying, but I’m sure most will be happy to see ya; just don’t go giving Boss any lip or something. Yeah?” Ned reached back to open the door for me.

  “No worries, man, just in and out. I need to get back. Doc is trying to reach me, I think, but my phone is acting up. You hear all that noise this morning?” I asked Ned as I stepped inside the warehouse. He followed me in and shut the door behind us.

  “Yeah, but it’s a full moon and on Halloween of all days. People definitely gonna be out there acting a fool. I wouldn’t worry about it,” Ned said, jerking his head to direct me further into the warehouse. “I’ll be here when you’re ready to leave.”

  “Cool, thanks, man,” I said and turned away from him. The warehouse was dimly lit and mostly empty, aside from some boxes in the back in front of two rge garage doors. It was a rge room, and I could see a few silhouettes shuffling behind the boxes. I headed that way to see if Mal was back there. I made it halfway across the room before I was noticed.

  “Grayson EmCee! Welcome back home,” a deep voice boomed from within the darkness. A rge man materialized beside me and cpped me on the shoulder. He was wearing dark jeans and a bck T-shirt. His buzz cut, dark skin, and full, well-kept beard made him easy to recognize, even in the dim lighting.

  “Sup, Boss. How are things?” I asked as I scanned the warehouse for Mal. More sirens, screaming, and what sounded like gunshots could be heard from outside, but being inside the warehouse dampened the noise enough to ignore.

  “We haven’t been able to sell off the st of the product you secured for us, so if you’re here for your final cut, it won’t be today. Unless you’re coming back for good?” Boss said without removing his hand from my shoulder, and his toothy smile was visible even in the dark. “You know I would welcome you back like family.”

  “I appreciate it, but that’s not what I’m here for. I just wanted to speak with Mal,” I said and dipped my shoulder down so his hand slid off. Boss let his hand fall without resisting.

  “Sad to hear. We lost a lot of respect when you left. We’re losing territory. Others don’t fear us as much without the threat of your crazy ass. But you got all emotional. You shoot one wrong guy and—“

  “I just said I am NOT here for that. I am only here to talk to Mal. Is she here?” My tone was more curt than I would generally allow when speaking with Boss, but I needed to cut this short before one of us said the wrong thing and set off the other.

  “Right. Right,” he said and scratched his beard as his smile drooped into a frown. “You know, when a woman isn’t answering your calls, that’s a sign. If you’re not coming back to us, I can’t have you harassing one of us.”

  “She asked me to call her, but now won’t, or can’t, answer. I just want to make sure she’s good and I’ll be out of your hair…well, not your hair, I guess,” I said and gestured toward his ck of hair. He was not amused.

  A high-pitched male voice whined from somewhere in the shadows, “Guys, can we please focus? It’s not the time for a break. Hey, why are you walking away from me? I said it’s NOT time for a break! Stop eating all my Pop-Tarts!”

  Ugh. Peter. The self-procimed second-in-command behind Boss. He was some rich kid who dreamed of earning street cred by running with a rough crowd and somehow ended up with our group. No one listened to him but the dummy kept throwing money around to help us out when we needed it, so Boss kept him and humored his delusions of controlling some things. When Peter told you to do something, you smiled and nodded and then continued on doing whatever you wanted.

  “You know, EmCee,” Boss started. He rubbed his bald head and sighed hard. “She’s seen the real you now. She knows what you are. Childhood friends can only go so far, and she knows to avoid something like you.”

  My mouth bent into a snarl and I took a step toward him.

  He held up a hand to signal me to stop, fshed a confident smile, and continued speaking, “And we’re letting you leave us out of respect for what you’ve done for us. Plus, I know you’ll be back eventually. You can’t hide your true nature for long. That doctor will see through you and kick you out, just like all those foster families did, and then you’ll come crawling back begging for your pce among us.”

  Becca: Grayson? Can you hear me?

  A feminine monotone voice entered my thoughts. Perfect timing, because I was about to snap on Boss and have the entire warehouse rush me.

  “Becca?” I said out loud and cocked my head to the side to try to hear better. “I can hear you now. Were you trying to reach me before?”

  “You talking to that doctor dy?” Boss asked and looked in my ear like he was trying to find my headphones.

  I waved him off and waited for Becca to reply.

  Becca: Grayson. If you can hear me, return to the facility immediately. There is an incident taking pce, and Dr. Ava needs to ensure your safety.

  “I can hear you, Becca. What is happening?” I asked the voice.

  Something hit the door where I had entered the warehouse. The sound of the impact bounced around the mostly empty room. I jumped and looked toward the door.

  Becca spoke again.

  Becca: Grayson. If you can hear me, return to the facility immediately. The city is dangerous, and we need you here.

  “I can hear her, but she can’t hear me,” I muttered to myself and looked around the room, trying to find Mal.

  There was another loud thud as someone hit the door again.

  “Boy, it sure would be nice if we had someone watching the door,” Boss said, staring at Ned.

  Ned stared back for a moment before he opened his eyes wide and said, “Oh. That’s me!” He started moving back to the door.

  “Yes, you. The doorman. The one that’s supposed to stand outside the door and watch who is approaching,” Boss said, running his hands down his face.

  “Hold off, Ned. There may be something happening out there,” I said as Ned reached out for the door.

  He paused, and something hit against the door again.

  A nky man with short light-brown hair and a too-thin goatee, swinging around a bronze pocket watch and wearing the same outfit as the rest of the group, but somehow made it look posh, approached us. He looked a little like the douche version of Shaggy with short hair and no awesome talking dog. With his whiny voice, he said, “Ned, why aren’t you outside the door? That is your job.”

  We all ignored him. ThAt Is YoUr JoB. Ugh, Peter.

  “Ned, open the damn door. We don’t have anything to hide in here, and EmCee here needs to be getting back to his precious doctor,” Boss said and signaled to Ned to open the warehouse door.

  Becca: Grayson. This is URGENT! If you can hear me, return to the facility immediately! Respond if you can. The doctor is heading out to find you.

  “Please wait, Ned! Something weird is happening. I’m being told it’s dangerous, to the point the doctor leaving the facility and is out there trying to find me.” I pulled out my phone and tried to call the doctor. The call dropped before ringing once. I tried it again and got the same result.

  “Cssic horror movie shit, phone won’t work,” I said and shoved the phone back into my pocket. “Is anyone getting a signal?”

  “If your phone doesn’t work, how is someone telling you something dangerous is going down?” Boss asked, crossing his arms on his chest as he stared down his nose at me.

  I turned my back to him and lifted up my hair to reveal what looked like a small blue screen on the back of my neck, just below my skull.

  “Look, I need to make this quick. This is a connection I have with an AI being developed by the doctor. This allows Becca, the AI, to communicate with me directly. In theory, I should be able to communicate with her no matter the distance or electromagnetic interference in the air and all that with a simple thought directed at her. But it’s far from perfect. I need to speak out loud to communicate back to her, and right now, it has issues when I’m outside a few miles of the facility. Before I came in here, I could not hear her. Now I can, but she can’t hear me,” I expined in one breath, and then I let go of my hair and turned to face Boss.

  He just looked at me like he was trying to decide if I was joking or not. One side of his mouth curled into a sneer. He said, “What the hell did you let them do to you, Grayson? You have some computer in your head? Not only that, but you call it by a name and call it ‘she’ and ‘her’, like it’s a person? You left our group, who have cared for you since you were barely a teenager, for this…” He gestured with both hands at my neck. “Shit?”

  “I really don’t have time to get into this whole discussion. It was either that or my life was over anyway,” I said and started walking away from Boss. “Becca, I can hear you. Is there a safe way to head back?”

  There was more banging on the door.

  “Just open the damn thing!” Boss shouted at Ned.

  “Yes, open it immediately!” Peter joined in and was swinging his pocket watch around with increasing velocity.

  Ugh, Peter.

  “Shut up, Peter!” Boss snapped.

  Ned shrugged and started to open the door. Before he did, I finally saw Mal in the corner of the warehouse, leaning against the wall and staring at nothing. She had one arm across her body and was grabbing her opposite elbow.

  “Mal!” I shouted and jogged over to her.

  She was wearing her usual bck hoodie with jeans. The bck hoodie and jeans might as well be the group's official uniform since it seemed to be everyone’s go-to. Her wavy red hair fell over her shoulders and down part of her chest. She was quite a bit shorter than I was; the top of her head did not even reach my chest. She lifted her head slowly as I approached. She blinked hard a few times as if shaking herself out of a daze.

  “Oh. Hey, Grayson,” she said and returned to staring at the wall.

  “You alright?” I asked her and put a hand on her shoulder. I knew she was sad that I was stepping away from everything here, but this seemed like something more.

  “Yeah,” she pulled her sleeve over her hand and used it to dab at her eyes. “You leaving has caused some issues in the group, and I’m paying the price. But it’s fine. You just… shouldn’t come back here again,” she said while keeping her eyes locked onto the wall.

  Something hit the garage door hard. It made everyone jump and fall silent. All miscelneous noise in the warehouse fell to a hush. The sounds from outside were growing louder now. The sounds of gunshots were more consistent, and emergency vehicle sirens were bring in all directions.

  The banging on the door persisted. Whatever was out there was not giving up.

  “Come with me,” I said under my breath to her. My voice carried in the silent warehouse but everyone was too distracted to listen to us. “You can leave this life and stay with me and the doctor. She already said it’s okay. You don’t have to live like this anymore.”

  “It’s fine. Really,” she said. Mal looked up toward my face without making eye contact, and the corners of her mouth lifted enough to try to fake a smile.

  I opened my mouth to try to convince her when the bring emergency warning began bsting from every phone in the warehouse.

  SHELTER IN PLACE ORDER ISSUED. STAY INSIDE. LOCK ALL DOORS AND WINDOWS. ISOLATE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. DO NOT LET ANYONE IN.

  Oh, sure, now my phone worked. I stared at my phone for a few moments, trying to process what I was reading. I’d never seen an alert like this. Before anyone else could say anything, the high-pitched crescendo of outside arms came piercing through the shocked silence of the warehouse.

  “Tornado siren?” I asked out loud to myself. It was not in the traditional tornado season, but they were not impossible this time of year. However, there were no storms in the area. A desperate attempt to get people to take shelter?

  Another hard bang against the garage doors, and a bit of sunlight leaked through as the metal garage door bent a few inches. Banging continued against the alley door without stopping.

  “Ned!” Boss yelled. “Just open the damn thing and make this stop!”

  “Right now, Ned!” Peter said and ripped his pocket watch out of the air mid-swing.

  “Shut the fuck up, Peter!” Boss screamed at him. “Now, Ned!”

  “Are you crazy?!” I shouted at them. “Don’t!”

  But Ned had already begun to open the door and life would never be the same.