04 – Got a Live One Here

“Just got the word over the police scanner ten minutes ago,” Rick said as Erika hurried into the back of his van. “They haven’t even deemed it a ‘gas leak’ yet, publicly.”

Erika let out a small sigh as she buckled herself into the seat. Being around other people certainly felt better after that little scare in the park. She was a bit surprised at how many people she was around, however.

Leslie wasn’t here, but Anna sat in the passenger seat, and Sofia was next to Erika on the rear bench. Erika figured Anna would have used her motorcycle at the very least. They must have all been together before the report came in.

“How do you know it’s one of the disturbances?” Erika asked as Rick peeled off.

Sofia let out a slight yelp as Rick took a turn just a little too hard. Even Erika grasped hold of the overhead handle. The van didn’t quite go up on two wheels, but it wasn’t far off.

“Pattern matching,” Rick said. “Similar phone calls to the police of random attacks, strange noises, and general problems occurred before each of the other ‘gas leaks’ I’ve investigated. If this isn’t one, something strange is going on anyway.”

Anna tilted her head half over her shoulder. “I’d like to get a specimen. Living, if possible.”

“Specimen?”

“Anna? We can’t do that.”

“That sounds like a bad idea.”

Erika glanced between Rick and Sofia. All three spoke at the same time. Deciding that she had the most experience with these things, she went ahead and continued speaking. “The human-like creatures we’ve found all have the same mouth as the little maggots. The distorted skin around the lips almost makes it look like the maggots burrowed into people like… Parasite-class beings. I’m not sure if they reproduce, but even one seems like a risk to keep as a pet,” she said, earning a hearty nod from Sofia.

“The samples you brought back degraded quickly, turning to some ashen dust,” Anna said in a completely flat tone of voice. “We won’t learn anything about them if we can’t get one alive.”

“Loco ass bitch,” Sofia snapped. “We don’t know how strong they are or if they secrete some acid that will eat through whatever dog kennel you want to put it into. You’re just asking for trouble.”

“We’ll keep it at the arcade. Rick can watch it.”

“Excuse me? I don’t live there. And I don’t want to babysit a maggot that turns people into lamprey vampires.”

“I’m protesting, again,” Sofia said. “This isn’t ghost hunting. Who was it? The Art? Didn’t she say to keep our noses out of this?”

“I don’t know that we should trust that thing,” Rick said with a small shudder. “It looked like an evolved version of these monsters, all wormy and inhabiting a porcelain doll.”

“Actually,” Erika said slowly. “I asked The Fixer. He doesn’t know about The Art specifically, but The Art mentioned working for The Eclipse, who are apparently some kind of de facto government for nonhuman entities in Chicago. Says they’re the only reason monsters aren’t causing even more disappearances or whatever.”

Sofia stiffened as Erika spoke, sucking in a short but audible breath. Based on everything so far, Erika got the impression that Sofia didn’t exactly like The Fixer. Perhaps not the person, but the concept. As a religious person already ill at ease with ghosts, it wasn’t that surprising.

“Government? There’s a whole monster government?” Anna asked, twisting fully in her seat to look back at Erika. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about it? Do they know about ghosts?”

“’Course they do,” Rick said, drumming his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as he waited for a red light. “That’s what The Art said, right? ‘There is no afterlife here.’ Called us The Hunters, like it knew about us too.”

“Rude not to introduce themselves,” Anna huffed, settling back into her seat. “They clearly aren’t capable of managing ghost hunting. If they knew about us and about ghosts, they probably could have given us so much information to make all our lives easier.”

“Maybe they’re the ones summoning the ghosts,” Rick said. “Or maybe ghosts are just other members of their little government.”

“No.”

Erika looked to Sofia, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean, they’re a government? If ghosts were citizens or whatever, they would protect them, not just leave us running around exorcising them.”

“Fair enough,” Rick said with a shrug. “Still might be summoning them, leaving them out just to watch us run around like we’re entertainment for them.” He paused as he pulled the van over to the side of the road.

Outside the window, the sides of nearby buildings were lit up with all the flashing colors of emergency vehicles. It was late, but people were gathered around with their phones out, gawking at nothing in particular. Aside from emergency vehicles, there wasn’t any obvious sign of anything wrong.

Most of the vehicles were gathered around an entrance to the subway.

Erika had a bad feeling about that one.

Rick turned around in his seat and dug into a large plastic bag he pulled from the glove compartment. He flipped through a few black leather wallet-looking things before he started handing them out to Anna, Sofia, and finally Erika. She accepted it and flipped it open to find a shiny silver badge reading Department of Public Health, Chicago with a little Inspector written beneath. A fake name, Candice Botten, was listed alongside a few other fake details and a little picture.

“This isn’t me,” Erika said, looking up from the fake badge with a frown.

“I asked for a picture with formal clothes, and I got you bearing your midriff, so I went and found some goth girl online who looked official enough.”

“Well, sorry all my suits and ties burned up in a fire…” Erika said, curling her lip in a sneer. “Isn’t this the chick from NCIS? No way this gets me through security at an elementary school carnival, let alone some police cordon.”

“Nobody’s going to be analyzing it,” Rick said, passing out smaller, plastic badges that hung from lanyards, “just flash it if they ask and carry on with the rest of us. And if anyone questions our attire, just say there wasn’t exactly time to get dressed in official clothes when we were called in.”

A glance at their clothes showed nobody had dressed up either. Anna wore black leather pants and a crop top with a leather jacket thrown over the top. Sofia was in jeans with a denim jacket and a flowery blouse. Rick hadn’t changed out of his Hawaiian button-up.

“This is never going to work,” Erika muttered, looping the lanyard around her neck. “When we get hauled off to prison, I’m not breaking the rest of you out.”

“Just play it cool.” Rick pulled one last thing from his bag. Small plastic oxygen masks, the kind ambulances would use in an emergency before getting patients to a proper oxygen setup at a hospital. Thin tubes led down to little black fabric baggies, each with a little canister inside. “They’re empty, so hopefully there isn’t an actual gas leak,” Rick explained as Erika started investigating hers.

“They smell like ass,” Sofia said after pressing the mask to her mouth. With a grimace, she threw the bag over one shoulder and then hooked the mask to a little clip attached to the strap.

Deciding not to take a whiff if she could help it, Erika copied Sofia’s actions. The mask really didn’t help her look more like she was supposed to be here, if she had to be honest. If anything, she felt it drew attention. Erika waited a moment, expecting hard hats or high-vis vests or something else, but the only other thing Rick grabbed was his cardboard shipping tube hiding his sword. When everyone started exiting the van, she sighed and joined them.

The most awkward bunch of health inspectors ever to walk the streets of Chicago approached the subway entrance. At least, Erika expected awkwardness. What she saw instead was Rick taking charge, walking right up to one of the officers trying to ward the public away from the area while Anna kept hot on his heels, backing him up. Even Sofia, who had only been with The Hunters for a few months, pulled up her badge without hesitation or faltering.

“—don’t care who you are. My orders are to keep everyone out.” Officer Kennel—assuming the name on his uniform was accurate—didn’t even glance at Sofia’s badge before he turned back to Rick. The officer was fully kitted out with a ballistic vest, flashlight, badge, and a body camera aimed directly at them.

Erika pursed her lips at the sight of the camera. There was no obvious indicator as to whether it was on or not. No little glowing light or anything. Something about it made Erika uneasy. She could always cut the ID card and badge later, but still…

“I don’t believe this,” Rick said, pulling out his phone. He turned aside, taking a few steps away before he started loudly talking into it, sounding as if he were speaking with some supervisor.

“Look, Officer Kennel,” Anna said, taking over for Rick. “There is a high possibility that the disturbance in the tunnels is related to the recent string of gas leaks. Unless your fellow officers down there are equipped to handle it, they could be in very real danger of asphyxiation. Do you know what hypoxia is like?” she asked.

It didn’t look like Kennel cared. He was about to bark something out when Anna just plowed on ahead, talking over him.

“It isn’t painful. It isn’t long and drawn out. You’ll be walking into a low-oxygen environment. You’ll take a breath, but because it isn’t carbon dioxide-rich, your brain won’t trigger that desperate need for fresh air. Your brain will just get a little less oxygen as it continues running through the portion still in your bloodstream. Your second breath is the same. No oxygen, but no carbon dioxide either. You’ll feel lightheaded, but it’s too late. By the time you try for your third breath—” Anna snapped her fingers. “Lights out. You collapse like a puppet with its strings cut. You aren’t quite dead, but your brain lacks the oxygen to keep you conscious. Unless someone drags you into an oxygen-rich environment in a hurry, your body will continue breathing for about a minute until asphyxiation shuts it down completely.”

“We’re all trying to save lives here, Officer,” Sofia said, her voice much softer than Erika was used to. It felt like she was trying to hide her accent as well. “You keep the general public out and let us through. We’ll make sure your fellow officers are safe down there.” She paused a moment, then added, “Call your sergeant if you have to, but please, for everyone’s sake, be quick about it.”

Erika hesitated. Rick was still yelling into his phone—which she was fairly certain wasn’t even on—while Anna stood about like she didn’t care one way or another. Sofia taking up the compassionate route made it feel like they had all the angles covered. Had they practiced this?

She wasn’t a social engineer, and it looked like he was giving some consideration to their request for access. If she opened her mouth, she would probably end up breaking him out of that slightly dazed consideration he was in.

A crackle of static did the breaking for her, making Kennel hop in place as his radio came to life. He had an earpiece in, but the static noise was loud enough to hear even from a few steps away. The words on the other end weren’t.

“Say again?” Kennel said, hand shooting to press his earbud further into his ear. “Repeat last—monsters? What are you—”

“Hallucinations,” Erika said, spotting her chance to do something. She even gave a knowing nod.

“It isn’t inert gas after all,” Anna agreed.

Rick barked out a clipped, “Okay, folks. We’re moving.” He angrily pocketed his phone, shoving right past Kennel without even looking at the officer.

“Hey! You can’t—”

“Your people could be dying down there,” Erika snapped, following after the others. The mask bounced against her chest as she took the steps into the subway two at a time, feeling like the ceiling overhead was even lower than normal. She didn’t want to get left behind, and Rick looked more like he was running away than leading the charge.

“Dios mío,” Sofia muttered to herself, “me duele el corazón…”

“He isn’t following,” Anna said in a deadpan tone. “He did report something on his radio right as we left. Not sure if it is about us or trying to figure out what is going on down here.”

“I don’t like this,” Sofia said, checking her own phone. She tapped a few times on the screen before scowling. “Monsters and trigger-happy pigs in tight tunnels? Joderme.”

“At least the lights are on,” Erika said.

“Idiot. Pendejo. Stupid. You trying to jinx us?”

“Ghosts might be real, but jinxing surely isn’t,” Erika said. She waited a moment, glancing around, almost expecting a sudden blackout. When nothing happened, she shot Sofia a tight grin. “See?”

Sofia shook her head, grumbling Spanish under her breath that Erika didn’t catch.

At the bottom of the stairs, the platform stretched onward for a short distance with tracks on either side. Erika didn’t often ride the subway. Something about the place creeped her out even when there weren’t monsters about. The narrow platform, the short fall onto the tracks, and the crowd of people all standing about. Maybe it was some lingering trauma from some repressed childhood memory, but she always felt like someone was about to shove her onto the tracks.

Now, without any people around besides the other Hunters, Erika still didn’t feel at ease. The long central curved ceiling with its flickering white fluorescent lights, scattered, yellowed lights on the edges of the platform, and those empty tunnels that stretched on and on and on…

Subways were just eerie in general.

“Shouldn’t there be people around?” Sofia asked as they spread out, each member of their group peering down one direction or another. “Where are the other cops?”

“Probably in the tunnels,” Rick said from across the platform. “They’ve shut down the downtown lines—all of them—for the time being, likely so people can move in the tunnels. Found someone streaming their evacuation—”

“Over here!” Anna called.

Hearing the urgency in her voice, Erika quickly turned and hurried across to the far end of the platform. Anna stood on the edge, peering down.

Someone was on the tracks, draped across several of them, dressed in a policeman’s uniform. Blood slowly dribbled from a large gash on his neck. Anna was about to hop down when Erika grabbed her arm.

“Aren’t those rails electrified?”

“If they were, the guy would be cooking,” she said, pointing. “You can tell which ones are hot based on the little insulator studs keeping them raised. He’s in full contact with one.”

“She’s still right,” Rick said, undoing a spool of nylon rope he pulled from his cargo pants pockets. “Even if they are off, we don’t know when they might turn them back on.”

He hopped down and, after carefully looping the rope behind the officer, handed the ends up to Erika and Anna.

“Not supposed to move the injured,” Anna muttered. Nevertheless, with Rick carefully guiding the officer’s body and keeping the ropes from slipping, she and Erika dragged him off the hot track and into the center area of the rails.

As soon as the officer was clear, Anna hopped down and applied pressure to the wound on the man’s neck. She recruited Sofia to act as an assistant, getting some medical supplies from the kit she wore on her hip.

“He’s still alive,” Anna said in a neutral tone as she tried to bandage him up. Her medical kit wasn’t a full surgery station, so there wasn’t too much she could do. “Lost a lot of blood. Might have a stroke from it, might just die.”

Rick, climbing back on top of the platform, started jogging toward the stairs. “I’ll get Kennel,” he called out as he moved. “He can help carry the guy up. There were ambulances up there.”

Erika watched them work, frowning to herself. Even as Rick ran off, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something felt off. “They wouldn’t send a lone cop down here, right? Where’s his partner? Or his squad? Or whoever he was with.”

“There’s a blood trail,” Sofia said, bringing Erika’s attention back down to the tracks. She pointed off, down the tunnel. “Maybe he crawled back, wounded?”

Squinting, Erika peered down the tunnel. It seemed to stretch on until reaching the vanishing point. She could see a bit of blood mixed with the dirt and dust covering the tracks and the trail the officer might have left while dragging himself along. But…

There, a slight movement against the dimly lit walls. Like a shadow moving in the darkness between lights. Was that a door in the subway wall?

Could it be one of those masked people? Or those lamprey-mouthed monsters?

Erika hopped down onto the tracks, hoping Rick was right about both the electricity being off and the trains not moving. She could break a lot of things, but wasn’t sure if she could brake a speeding train.

“I think I see something moving,” she said, pulling her baseball bat out from under her coat. “I’ll check it out.”

“Alone?” Anna hissed. “Something cut this guy’s throat half out.”

“Yeah, well—”

“I’ll go with her,” Sofia said with the slightest of sighs.

Erika raised an eyebrow at the woman. She wasn’t upset to have company, but she wasn’t sure how much help Sofia would actually be. Erika was fairly confident in herself. If someone like The Stalker were here, she would be reassured with someone at her back. Sofia?

She was just a regular person.

A noise echoed down the tunnel. Like a lingering sound of a door slamming shut.

With a glance at Sofia, Erika started moving.

She didn’t want to lose whatever it was.

The Mummy was The Fixer’s enemy, they were interested in her specifically, and they had gone and made themselves everyone’s problems with all these gas-leak incidents. Erika didn’t know exactly what The Fixer would need to dismantle their operation, but she knew it started with interrogating someone who knew something about it.

So she headed down the tunnel, bat resting on her shoulder.