Spliced

Since she’d left the pool room Cat had found her way back to the lower floor where they’d found the last body. She hadn’t really been thinking where she was going but this was as good as anything. Maybe she’d draw the creature out, although she hoped Amanda was wrong and it wasn’t a namon. She didn’t think it was but she couldn’t put her finger on why. Her gut just seemed to be telling her otherwise. She would find it, whatever it was, justify her reasoning later. Work would keep her mind off the things she didn’t want to be reminded of.

She was halfway down the long hallway that led to the ‘Hall of the Dead’ when a light behind her flickered out. She froze and spun around, one hand hovered over her sidearm. Something made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Her gut was telling her to get out of there but she hesitated, wanting to be sure, wanting to see what was coming. Wanting something to fight. Another light flickered then went out. She reached for the nearest door and to her surprise found it unlocked. She slipped inside and shut it behind her. Turning around she found herself face to face with two men, dressed head to toe in black, armed and surprised.

The bigger one started to reach for his gun. Cat was in no mood to talk. Reacting fast she rushed the bigger guy, kneeing him in the balls before he knew what was happening. He fell to the floor, unconscious from the pain. The second guy was more prepared but Cat was well trained. And lucky. This guy was about her size, making him an easier match. He ran at her. Cat dodged a few blows, and managed to almost pull him off balance. He’d been trained well at some point. He knew how to fight but he obviously lacked the discipline to train regularly. His moves were rushed and forceful. Cat moved more like the water she so feared. Fluid, fast and relaxed. She used his strength against him. She waited for him to make a mistake then she landed a solid blow to his windpipe and down he went.

She took a deep breath and turned back to the door. She stepped over one of the men and reached for the handle. She paused a second, listening, then pushed the door open an inch and peered out. The hallway was pitch black. She heard something moving in the darkness off to the left, back towards the elevator. A scratching sound. She quickly shut the door and noticing it had a bolt she locked it. She waited until she was sure nothing was coming then she turned back around to see where she was.

It was a file room and but not a big one. Grey cabinets lined the walls and she could walk from side of the room to the other with only a few large steps. In one corner there was a printer and next to it a plain desk with a computer. A single bulb hanging from the ceiling was all that was needed to light the room. Cat hoped it wouldn’t go out like the hall lights had. She briefly considered turning it off to make it less likely she’d be noticed by whatever was outside the room but she wanted to keep an eye on the unconscious men. It would be no good if they woke up and she didn’t notice. Besides there didn’t appear to be a gap between the base of the door and the floor. It was likely no light would get out.

Cat stepped over the unconscious men again. She checked their pulses. They were alive. They’d probably have a headache when the woke up though. Oh well, they knew the risks of their job and one of them had pointed a gun at her. She spared little sympathy or thought to what she might have done in the same situation, instead focusing on her next move. Someone had left a pile of recently printed sheets on the printer. That was probably what they had been in the room for. She picked them up and frowned. The face at the top and centre of the page was one she recognised, Amanda. Below the photo was a bunch of details about her. Her name, age, address, and some observational notes and a list of dates with details about what Amanda had been doing that day. Cat flipped through a few pages. There was another one, the same, only this time the subject was Sirius. A few pages on Cat found notes about herself and a photo. She flipped through the whole stack. They were two or three sheets on each of them, Tanya as well, and two other men she didn’t recognise. It wasn’t unusual for someone who was hiring them to look into their history. Even the surveillance wasn’t unheard of. Paranoid clients sometimes liked to be sure of who they were hiring. It unsettled Cat that she hadn’t noticed it though. She though back trying to pick through the people she’d encountered in the last few weeks and made a mental note to be more observant in future.

Cat put the sheets down and decided to shift her attention to the computer. She moved the mouse. Nothing happened. Was it dead? Off? Should she push the button? While she was deliberating the screen suddenly flickered to life. She was presented with the same documents that had been printed. She minimized them all, checking to see if anything else was open. A USB folder was all that remained open on the screen. The folder she was in was titled ‘surveillance.’ In it were maybe a hundred or so files all labelled with the name of a person. They were ordered by date. Theirs were the most recent. She found one for Tanya a few rows down. She scrolled even further down and found a ‘Fred’ and a ‘Bradley.’ She looked for Trevor’s name but couldn’t find it. Cat frowned and clicked on a random file. She was prompted for a password. She sighed. Where was Indi when you needed her? She looked back at the door. Where were the others? She hoped they hadn’t followed her down and gotten caught in the hallway with whatever was out there. Safety in numbers though. Perhaps? Maybe it was safe now?

She walked over to the door. Stopped and listened. Hearing nothing she unlocked the bolt. As quietly as she could she turned the handle and pulled the door open a tiny gap. Movement was the first thing she saw. She slammed the door shut. Paused. There had been light though. She opened the door to see Falco standing in the brightly lit hallway. He looked at her in surprise. She stared back at him saying nothing then noticed another new feature in the corridor, a blood trail which led past the door and down the hallway.

Falco finally seemed to get over his surprise “Cat! We thought . . .” he glanced down at the blood trail, worry and guilt playing across his face. “I am so sorry.”

Cat glared at him “Give me one good reason why I should care?”

His eyes widened and he looked so at a loss and sorry that it took the energy out of some of Cat’s anger.

“Cat . . . I,” Falco started to apologise again.

“Oh forget it. Just don’t do it again,” Cat interrupted deciding she didn’t really want to see him groveling. She’d actually prefer to forget the whole ordeal, just pretend it never happened.

Falco gave a weak nod.

“Falco!” Indi’s voice yelled from further down the hall, and around a corner.

Falco spared a quick glance at Cat before he headed off down the hallway to join Indi. Cat took a moment to close the door to the room then she followed closely behind Falco. Hopefully the unconscious men woke up with memory loss.

When they reached Indi they finally got to see what had made the trail of blood. Another body, much like the one they had seen yesterday. It had been dragged for almost the entire length of the hallway. At some point along the way something had ripped it. Shreds and pieces of flesh lay scattered a few metres leading up to it. Despite the mess Cat was surprised there wasn’t more blood. It was almost as if something had consumed most of it first, sucked it dry, and spat it back out. Indi was crouched over the remains staring at something intently. Wolf and Zephyr stood a little bit further back, watching her. Zephyr was glancing around nervously like he was worried the thing might come back.

Wolf appeared lost in thought. His look of concentration broke when he saw Cat walking up with Falco. He didn’t say anything but his whole posture relaxed slightly.

In contrast Zephyr appeared to tense up even more. The guilt on his face was obvious and he avoided looking at Cat directly.

“Cat!” Indi exclaimed happily.

Cat stared at Zephyr intently for a moment, taking some pleasure in his discomfort, then turned her attention to Indi and the corpse.

“What are you looking at?” she asked.

Indi pointed to something, a piece of bone, which type of bone, Cat couldn’t tell.

“You see those marks?” Indi asked.

Cat peered closer then nodded.

“They’re bite marks,” Indi explained.

“Too sharp to be a person” Falco observed, leaning in to have a look as well.

Cat laughed.“Was that ever a possibility?”

Falco shrugged “Everything’s a possibility until you rule it out. And it still doesn’t mean that a human didn’t do this.”

“Well it’s definitely not a vampire” Indi stated.

Wolf snorted. “What makes you say that?”

“Vampires don’t make such a mess.” She frowned as a couple of blurry lights danced their way across her vision. She shook her head.

“There’s always exceptions,” Wolf replied a little too defensively.

Indi shook her head again. “Unlikely, it’s more likely it was a Werewolf.” She spoke in a matter-of-factually tone that tapered off at the end. Her head had started to hurt and she was afraid she might pass out right on top of the corpse, so she stood up and took a step back from it.

“Could it be a Werewolf?” Cat asked Wolf in serious tone.

Wolf’s brow knotted in irritation but then he relaxed and seemed to think for a moment. He sighed. “It’s possible but not likely. The teeth marks don’t look right, too sharp, too close together, and then there’s the lack of blood.”

“Lack of blood?” Zephyr’s eyebrows shot up then knotted in confusion as he looked at their surroundings, but no one answered him.

Wolf glanced sideways at Indi who was frowning. “There’s too many teeth marks for a vampire,” she argued.

Wolf nodded in agreement. He wasn’t going to argue. She didn’t want it to be a Vampire any more than he wanted it to be a Werewolf, and she was right; there were too many sharp teeth marks for a Vampire. He shot her another glance. Was she swaying a little?

“What about a namon?” Falco asked.

“It’s not a namon,” Cat said before Wolf could answer.

Wolf raised his eyebrows in question.

“Well I think, whatever it is there’s more than one,” Indi said blinking a couple of times. She gave her head a shake, trying to clear her vision again and took wobbly step back.

Falco narrowed his eyes at her. She looked paler than usual. “How do you know?” he asked. He took a step towards her in case she was going to pass out again.

“There’s different sized teeth marks,” Indi replied softly, as if not completely focused. She blinked again but the spots had taken over. A moment later she felt hands holding her up. Had she passed out? Fallen over? She wasn’t sure. She must have stumbled a little. She shook her head and her vision cleared somewhat. Falco was standing next to her, his arm under hers, keeping her on her feet somewhat. She found her balance and managed to put more weight through her feet. Falco kept his arm around her. Her head felt sore and she was a little disorientated.

“You okay?” Falco asked.

“Yeah,” she replied quietly and with little conviction.

“Why don’t you sit down,” Wolf suggested. “Did Tanya have any idea why you fainted earlier?”

Indi shook her head. “No.” She stopped there unable to think of anything else to say that would turn the attention away from her. “I’m fine,” she mumbled, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

“Maybe we should head back upstairs,” Falco suggested. “Regroup with the others.”

Indi winced as a sharp pain shot through her skull. Her head went from cold and clammy to on fire in an instant. She brought both her hands up to her head. “Ow.”

Falco grabbed hold of her better, keeping her from falling to the ground. Concern filled his face.

Somewhere down the hall alight flickered. It drew Cat’s attention immediately.

“We need to move!” Cat commanded.

“What?” Falco asked.

“The lights. That’s what happened before.” She threw a meaningful glance at the body on the floor.

Wolf nodded then paused. The flickering lights were between them and the direction of the elevators. “Where to?”

“This way,” Cat started to move down the corridor.

“Towards it?” Zephyr asked, his voice going up a notch.

“To the room I was in before. Just around the corner. It’s unlocked. Quick!”

Indi whimpered in pain. Falco scooped her up in his arms. They moved as fast as they could down the hallway. Cat led the way. Zephyr kept pace with Cat, not wanting to be at the front or at the back. Wolf jogged along behind everyone, making sure Falco and Indi didn’t get left behind. They passed under a few lights that had gone out already. When they reached the door Cat pushed it open and they all piled inside. Cat bolted it behind them. The men who Cat had left in here before were now gone. They must have woken up. Thankfully in their rush to leave they had forgotten to lock the room again. Cat hadn’t even considered that it might have been locked this time.

Falco set Indi down and she curled into a ball on the floor, hands holding her head and moaning in pain. He sat down behind her and propped her up, so she was sitting between his legs and he could wrap his arms around her in a hug.

Something ran past the door outside. Indi stopped moaning and Falco felt her slip into unconsciousness. He checked she was breathing and once confirmed he relaxed a little. He was glad she wasn’t feeling any pain now at least. Even though she was out cold he rubbed her shoulders comfortingly. Her head rested against his chest.

Cat stood, gun out, to one side of the door. Just in case. Something else ran past the door, paused the turned around. They could hear it moving just outside. Scuffling, sniffing, a low growl. No one dared breathe. Zephyr cowered as far away as he could get from the door. Wolf stood in the middle of the room, tensed and ready to face anything that came through the door. Eventually the thing ran off. They heard sounds every now and again, mostly far off footsteps, at one point a scream. Slowly the noises they heard came less frequently until several minutes later only silence remained. No one risked breaking it until eventually Indi stirred. Her eyelids fluttered. She shifted position slightly and grabbed at her head giving a small moan.

Cat reached for the door handle.

“No” Indi cried. “Don’t. Don’t open it.” She struggled to focus.

“We have to at some point,” Cat replied but she hesitated.

“It’s still out there,” Indi replied.

“Maybe we should wait a bit longer,” Zephyr suggested.

“A namon could break through doors?” Cat frowned as she removed her hand from the door handle.

“So you were right, it’s not a namon,” Wolf said.

“How do you know it’s still out there?” Cat asked Indi.

Indi shook her head and shrugged. She pressed against Falco, fearfully trying to make herself smaller.

It was enough to send chills down Cat’s spine, and so she waited.

Falco could feel Indi shaking. He wrapped his arms around her and planted a gentle kiss on the side of head. After a while she seemed to calm down.

“I think, maybe, I think it’s gone,” Indi said.

“You think?” Cat repeated.

“Open it” Wolf said. He was watching Indi with a curious look on his face.

Cat hesitated then reached for the handle. She pulled the door open, only an inch and she did it quickly. The lights were on again. Cat walked out, still holding the gun. The hallway looked much the same as before, bloodstains and all. Wolf entered the hallway behind her.

Inside the room Falco helped Indi to her feet. She’d been crying and she wiped at her cheeks with the sleeves of her jersey. Still she stood up straight.

“You alright?” he asked.

She nodded and raised her chin defiantly.

Wolf was frowning.

“What is it?” Cat asked him sensing that he had a theory.

He shook his head. “I’m not sure yet. Probably nothing.”

Cat rolled her eyes.

“Let’s get out of here,” Zephyr suggested.

“Where are the others?” Cat asked

Wolf’s expression darkened and Cat felt that she wasn’t going to like the answer.

He hesitated then almost winced as he replied. “Downstairs.”

Cat snorted. Of course they were. Figured.

“We split up, to try and find you. Amanda thought that’s where you might have gone,” he elaborated, somewhat regretting that plan.

Cat clenched her jaw. “Well I guess we better go find them before those things do.”