“What were you thinking?!” I scolded Ren, who stood on their tail, arms crossed in defiance.
No song was sung. No, instead, Ren passed a piece of paper. On it, a poorly scrawled message wrote: “something is stalking you. We wanted to help.”
Well, I had my suspicions, but hearing someone else confirm them was concerning. “How do you know?” I whispered, hoping whatever means the Doctor was spying through couldn’t pick up whispers.
This time, Ren broke into their standard song. [Tal’s superphages went out of control. He sent something, something big. Something powerful. Something you can’t handle.]
“Any ideas as to what exactly ‘it,’” I made air quotes, “is?” Ren shook their head. Just peachy.
Ted decided to barge into our room, having apparently been listening in. “Cyr, if these things cam track the rogue experiments, that’s huge. It is also a huge threat to our secrecy,” Ted glared from Ren to myself, back and forth.
The idiot had a point. If Ren and Tal could escape without a trace, then appear miles away, not only could there be anything lurking in the shadows. That meant any allied rejects could turn coat and vanish at any instant.
“Ren, please don’t do this again” I pleaded, before considering what I was asking.
Ren’s tail flicked, much like how I tapped my foot. I was almost proud in a weird way.
“Yes, Ren?” I pressed, dreading what came next.
[How can you two expect me, or any of us, to stay on the bench while you throw your lives away. We have suffered the most here. We have as much a right, if not more, to get that bastard.]
I resonated with that dedication wholeheartedly. Though I did not wish to see Ren, nor that bumbling troll, in harm’s way. I could not, in good faith, ask any of them to face off against the Doctor. They could easily lose their lives, or worse, be captured again.
“The siren’s spoken,” Ted groaned, massaging the bridge of his nose. “How on god’s green earth did a twenty foot tall green skinned giant sneak around, unseen?!” Ted sighed while chuckling. The bags under his eyes never looked so pronounced than in that moment. I did not know his age at the time, but my estimation added about fifteen years in that moment.
As if to answer that question, a slithering smacking sound came from the bathroom. Ren held up a razor sharp claw instructing us to wait. Ren then snaked to the bathroom. A wrenching creek filled the hospital room, followed by a stomach churning SQUICK and squelching sounds.
Ren emerged from the bathroom, trailed by a rust covered hand, scuttling across the tile floor. A vine like wire trailed behind the hand, occasionally pulsing a bright mucus green. With each throb, the hand grew in size.
The gravelly, childlike voice of Tal erupted through the drain. “Cyr is safe, yes? Hi Cyr! I am plumbing problem!”
Ted slapped my center back, a look of horror and amusement playing at the corners of his stone face. “I am never using the restroom here. Ever.”
“Me fit everywhere!” Tal announced emphatically.
“I’m going to be sick,” Ted held a hand over his mouth. So much for a strong stomach.
Bill chose then to speak up. “What the shit is this, Cyr?!”
Ted turned to Bill, who had been cowering deeper and deeper in the corner. “Welcome aboard, Cyr here will brief you. I’m getting a drink. Cyr, don’t die. Ren, Tal, don’t slink away. Bill, don’t shoot anyone. If you do, aim for Cyr’s good leg.” And with that, Ted slicked through the door and disappeared.
Over the next few hours, from one in the morning to nearly four, I explained the Doctor, how I had extracted Ren and Tal, and my leg. Bill silently listened to it all, seemingly in a near catatonic state. I suppose it does sound insane, and even more so after witnessing the proof of it firsthand.
Speaking of his hand, the wounds he sustained weren’t too serious. Though he lost some of his mobility, he shouldn’t struggle too much in his day to day.
I carefully approached Bill, crouching down and extending my hand. Bill tried to retreat further into his corner, though failed. I gently placed my hand on Bill’s good shoulder, looking into his eyes.
“The Doctor is sick and is destroying people’s lives. Please, we need all the help we can get.” My lip trembled involuntarily, though a warm, comforting hand patted my back.
“It will be o kay” the croaking troll assured. Hearing the same creature that wanted to tear my limbs apart attempt to comfort me was… confusing to say the least.
“I-I-I need some tuh-time,” Bill stammered, shivering beneath my hand.
“Poor baby!” That damned voice crackled from all around the room. A stampede of footsteps crashed down the hall.
“BACK. NOW!” Tal burst the rest of his form up and into the room, pressing their entire weight against the door and wall. Tal’s head tore through the ceiling, shattering some of the dropped ceiling tiles and sending dust everywhere.
Bill and I choked on the contaminated air, Ren glowed erratically. The hospital lighting fell dim, leaving our only light source as the strobelight that was Ren.
“What’s the mat-ter?” The unhinged Doctor chortled. “K912, is that you? Your phages are still active? Remarkable. I simply must observe them, perhaps I overlooked something?” The Doctor rambled.
Tal trembled with a fury I had never seen, not even when I shot out their knees and head. Cold sweat trickled down my cheek in beads. My heart pounced harder and harder, my blood burned in my veins. A green tint flashed beneath my skin briefly, though I paid it little mind.
“My precious test subject, it seems you’ve been tainted!” The Doctor wailed. “That won’t do. That simply won’t do!” His incessant words bounced off the walls, violating our ears. “No no no no NO! UNACCEPTABLE!” The Doctor rambled on. Ren flashed darker and brighter colors, a telltale sign that they were terrified.
Muffled banging came from the hall. Tal said “it too… strong… Ren… help!”
[Follow!]
Claws emerged from Ren’s fingertips, then dragged them across the ground in a rough circle. The tile fell away, and Ren dove through the hole.
I pulled Bill to the edge, and pushed him in. I hopped in afterwards. Ren had already carved another hole, which Bill crawled towards. We continued down the floors, until we reached the ground level. No rooms we fell through were occupied. Each bed was in disarray, some flipped over and on their side. One bed was halfway out the window.
We ran out of the building, loading into my second armored truck. I had the key in a compartment in my leg, which I pulled out as I leapt to the driver’s seat.
“Bill, each cabinet back there has a different weapon. Use what you’re comfortable with. Protect Ren.” I spat orders to the back of the truck, where Bill and Ren were situated. I tossed my jacket to Ren, to cover their flashing lower half.
In stressful situations, Ren would lose control over their light.
“What the hell!” Bill blurted, fumbling with different knobs and handles, scanning each weapon while grunting and voicing his confusion.
“Two of ‘em have a green barrels. They can put a buffalo down for a week. Don’t slip on the rounds, they’ll knock you out,” I advised, shifting the car in gear and flooring it.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Bill grunted, as he was tossed around. Ren stayed silent, curled up beneath my jacket.
We did not get gar before the car was rammed into. We were thrown from the road, the truck rolled once, then landed in its side.
Bill and I were hurled from our positions in the truck, landing hard on our sides. I think Bill was knocked unconscious. Ren wasted no time, slicing a hole through the floor of the truck, a viscous song kicking up like a cyclone.
I crawled through up and out of the driver’s door, scanning for what had crashed into us. All I saw were deep four toed prints, as if a hole puncher had been used across the pavement.
Ren lit up the immediate radius, and I scanned around using the flashlight I had started carrying. The entire block was devoid of life. In the craze I had failed to notice the destroyed buildings and flattened vehicles that lined the road.
A deafening CRSHHHK exploded off to our left. A blood chilling howl came from above. Ren bared their webbed mouth, growling.
“Down here, detective!” The Doctor’s voice mocked from beneath our feet. No, from one of my feet.
“My leg!” I spat, realizing where the voice was broadcasting from. I really liked having two legs, but I couldn’t allow the Doctor to abuse it. I knelt down, beginning to undo the socket. I felt around. I found nothing. The prosthetic was flush with my leg. It was stuck. “Ren, take it off!” I begged, sticking the leg out and squeezing my eyes shut.
[No time… It is impossible…] Ren’s song denied my plea, casting a localized aurora borealis from their webbed mouth.
“Shit” I muttered under my breath, suddenly aware of something rapidly moving off to our right. I swiveled my M1911 and flashlight to the right, then shuddered at what I saw.
A bulbous gray form charged towards us. Its gnashing maw caught bricks and a street sign, absolutely flattening the rubble. Surprisingly, hilariously, as the swollen thing crossed into Ren’s range, it stumbled and planted its open gullet in the ground, carving out five feet as it slid. It began snoring in a croaking, snotty sort of snore, as though it was heavily congested.
In response, Ren gave a thumbs up, then pointed up on our left. The deer skull thing was looming overhead, a fire of starving fury behind its hollow eyes.
[Wendigo… use fire] Ren advised, tensing up and flicking their tail nervously.
I pried the back doors open, finding the still unconscious Bill half buried in cases and firearms. I reached for the incendiary fed rifle, then quickly returned to Ren’s side.
The wendigo still stood atop the building, peering down at us. I took aim, but just as I was about to pull the trigger, it acted. The wendigo hurled a picked clean skeleton down between Ren and I, then huffed.
“Bury this one. Candice was young.” The wendigo demanded, disappearing into the night.
To be entirely honest, I’d forgotten all about her. Normal people weren’t much of a concern when monsters like Ren, Tal, this hippo thing, and the Wendigo were out there. Not to mention the damned Doctor.