“Your face is slipping. Keep it on with nails and tack.”
I flinched as the words were hissed from just beyond the rosewood walls followed by the scuttling sound of clawed feet. It felt like the Aberrant had access to my subconscious, sifting through it to try and find something to hurt me.
A dark shape slithered under a door in the corner of my vision and I didn’t say anything to the others. I had to have trust that Kay and Isipho and these well-trained soldiers would see the real threats because I couldn’t anymore, not after I believed the radio was speaking to me.
We entered a dim ballroom.
The polished hardwood made the sound of our footsteps bounce off the tall ceiling and into the far corners of the entirely empty room. Long vertical windows were covered in metal plating, making it look a bit like we were in the hold of a ship. The chandeliers weren’t on so the floor lighting was the only source of illumination.
The whispers receded, as if the ghosts were truly living behind the walls.
Had this ballroom ever seen an event? Did Organ hold dances for the test subjects? Or perhaps the Aberrants? I tried to imagine a humorous scene of monsters shuffling a waltz but it quickly morphed in my mind’s eye into a hellscape of people suffering at the hands of the monsters. Figures I wouldn’t be in the headspace for levity.
After the ballroom, we entered another series of smaller rooms with bookshelves and furniture so pristine they likely had never been sat in.
For the time being, the voices remained as insubstantial whispers and I saw no more hallucinations of the broken-neck-man. I hoped that it would stay that way but I also suspected that it was a sign of more horrible things to come.
Beside me, Kay drew in a sharp breath.
“Someone’s coming,” she whispered loudly enough for those in front to hear it. Everyone froze and she pointed. “From the door to the right.”
The soldiers sprung into action, taking up shooting positions around the room. The parasitized soldier, Jason, scaled up a bookshelf right next to the door, so that he would be above them when the door opened. The non-combatant Shapers and Conrad were ushered behind an extended bookshelf that shielded them from the indicated door. I joined them and peered around the corner.
Silence.
And then the slow creak of wood settling, the sound of someone unsuccessfully trying to avoid any noise by slowly placing their foot down. The doorknob turned at a glacial pace and then the door swung open. Three people crept into the room, a few butterflies trailing behind them that they tried to shoo away with hand motions without touching them.
Two women, one with graying hair and one with red scratch marks all along her arms. A young teenage boy followed behind, with deep bruising all over his face. They all wore gray clothes too large for their frames.
Jason dropped from the bookshelf and shut the door behind them.
The sound prompted the boy and one of the woman to crouch down and cower. Only the older woman stayed standing, fists clenched to her sides.
“Don’t move!” Jason barked at them. “Any action will be taken as aggression.”
The trio remained still. Everyone emerged from their hiding spots once it became clear that there was no immediate threat.
“They don’t look like Organ agents,” Capiz said. “Hostages?”
“Experiments,” Conrad answered. “Organ doesn’t keep bodies around without utilizing them. Am I wrong?” he directed this at the older woman.
She shook her head. “Is it over?” she asked. It sounded like she hadn’t spoken in years. “Do we finally get to leave?”
Conrad turned away from her. “Restrain them and let’s keep moving.”
Outrage bubbled up from my stomach and I started to speak at the same time Jason did. He fell silent and let me continue.
“Can’t we just show them the way out?”
Conrad scoffed. “They were freed for a reason. We can’t trust them not to be Shapers primed to stab us in the back the moment we aren’t paying attention.”
“They’ve been kept here and tortured for who knows how long. It won’t take more than a few minutes to retrace our steps to the exit. And Isipho could check…” I looked around for him.
The others noticed his absence too. Then Capiz made a small noise and fell onto her butt, staring at the spot we had hidden behind the bookshelf.
I rushed to check. Isipho was there, pressed into the corner. My legs grew weak as I saw the blood.
He had his hand held to his neck. His eyes were wide and the pupils were vibrating in place. Blood pumped between his fingers rhythmically, like a failing dam.
A soldier bumped me as they hurried past and I staggered to the side before collapsing onto a chair.
My view of Isipho was obscured as the soldiers laid him down. I stared blankly as his blood seeped into the carpet, taking over the patterns and textures.
Large hands grabbed hold of my shirt and dragged me upwards where I was met with the blazing eyes of Conrad.
“Who?” he spat. “Was it you?”
I just shook my head, unable to properly defend myself.
“Who was close to him? Did anyone see who was nearby?”” He twisted his neck to look around and I saw the veins pulsing against his skin.
A chilling thought crossed my mind: Was it possible the Aberrant had harmed Isipho through me?
My thoughts were blurring together and it was hard to remember if there was any moment in that encounter where my awareness had faltered. There was no way, right? I would have noticed something off. And that was assuming that the Aberrant could take full control.
Conrad released me and I caught myself on the chair.
“Useless,” he hissed. “Go then. Take the test subjects and leave. You’ve been acting unpredictably ever since we entered. With you gone, I’ll at least have one less traitor to worry about.”
“But Kay-”
“She stays with us. She has actually proven useful and level-headed, unlike yourself.”
I was going to protest, but Kay shook her head. Her face was pale. “Go, Nick. Make sure the victims get out safely. They need me here.”
“I’ll come back,” I said quietly.
“I’ll go with him.”
Conrad frowned at Jason as he came up to us. The soldier shrugged as he wiped the visor of his helmet with a cloth.
“If Marrow is the traitor, I’m at least capable of contesting him in strength. We’ll lead the victims outside and return with some info on the outside battle. And you’re aware of my background, sir. Surely that makes me at least a bit more trustworthy.”
“Your background makes me more suspicious, not less. But fine.” Conrad turned and strode towards where everyone gathered around Isipho.
Jason turned to me. “We’ll make this quick, yeah? So we can get back to protecting the others.”
I nodded, already worrying about Kay’s safety. But maybe it would be better for me to distance myself and figure out a solution to the Aberrant.
Jason gathered the trio of test subjects and led them back out to the ballroom. I took one last look towards Isipho before I followed.
My head was pounding.
“How long have you been here?” Jason asked the boy as we walked through the vast, empty space.
“I don’t know. A long time.”
“Do you remember your parents?”
“Yes,” was the quiet reply.
“That’s good. Do you miss them?”
The boy nodded and his shoulders shook. Jason tousled his hair gently.
“It’s okay, let it out. It’s good that you miss them. Not everyone has a place to return to afterwards. I’m sure they’ll be overjoyed to find out that you’re alive and well. So chin up, buddy.”
The boy sniffled and nodded.
“One of them is faking.”
That line was stuck on loop in my head. Wilson had spoken to someone before he revealed himself. I thought it had been Conrad, but what if it had been someone else?
I couldn’t fail here. I needed to get back to Kay. Which meant I had to be vigilant, even of these people.
I took stock of each of them. The more composed older woman. The younger one who was rubbing her wrists incessantly, marking her skin red. The boy who was putting on a brave face, reminding me of AJ.
The younger woman and the boy kept their distance from the older one and the nervous woman kept glancing back at me. Was she trying to send me a message?
“Take it from me, kid,” Jason said while leading the trio into the next room, “the best thing you can do is put this all behind you. Take your time. Be a kid. Have fun and make memories. Don’t go looking for the reason this happened to you. There is none. Watch your step.”
Jason pointed out the blood stains to avoid as we got closer to the exit.
I nearly tripped as I saw a stain last second and had to readjust my footing.
Stupid. I was too stuck in my own head. I hadn’t recalled there being so many red splotches all over this room. Especially right along our path to the next door…
My eyes traced the line of stains and then I saw a drop fall from the boy.
“Hey, stop,” I called out.
The group paused and turned to me.
The bruising on the boy’s face had turned a deeper purple and blood was seeping out from the cracked skin.
I pointed to my face. “You’re bleeding. Jason, do you have any bandages? We don’t want to make avoiding the traps any harder than it already is.”
Jason procured a roll of gauze and wrapped up the boy’s head, leaving nothing but his eyes exposed. The bandages began to turn colour as they soaked up the blood.
“We’re almost there,” Jason said.
We entered the room with the grand staircase. The strange rope of flesh hadn’t moved from where it was draped across the room. The nervous women stared with wide eyes at the crystalline spikes emerging from the carpet and the painting.
My gaze was drawn to the bannister of the second floor where I had first seen movement and there it was again. This time it was standing. Knobby hands curled over the bannister. The neck swung from side to side, eyes hanging below the mouth. Then it raised a hand, pointing to the trio.
I looked. The boy stumbled and placed his hand down on the stairs. Right on a bloodstain.
Nothing happened. The boy quickly picked himself up.
The two women had seen it too. The younger woman with scratches all over her arms pointed a trembling finger at the boy. “Monster!” she screamed. “He’s one of them!”
Jason spun around. “What happened?”
“H- hold on,” I said, watching the boy carefully. “The boy didn’t trigger the bloodstain trap.”
I couldn’t read the boy’s expression with his face covered in bandages.
“Let me…” I reached down and cautiously extended an antler. The second the tip touched the stain, a crystalline spike shot out with such force that it snapped the branch. Crack. The woman only wailed louder as the older woman tried to quiet her.
I straightened and walked towards the boy. His eyes widened.
Jason got in my way. “Woah, hold on, Marrow.”
“He’s responsible for the traps. They must not trigger when the blood is still touching him.”
Jason pushed back, speaking loudly over the hysterical screaming of the woman. “That doesn’t mean he’s working for Organ. They could have used him.”
I felt the Aberrant’s eyes on me, prickling my skin like acid. Was the boy smiling underneath those bandages?
Then the hysterical woman threw herself at us, eyes bugging out of her head.
Jason’s hand snapped out, striking her. Her head kicked back and she spun, blood streaming from her nose before she fell into an unmoving heap.
The older woman took a step back in surprise and a spike pierced straight through her foot. She gasped in pain.
My headache started to feel like it would split my skull open. “What the fuck was that?” I yelled at Jason.
“S-sorry, the parasite reacted before I could hold it back.”
His eyes were distorted through the visor. My armour bristled at my skin, begging to come out. Why was everyone here looking at me like I was crazy?
A single whisper behind the walls had returned instead of many.
“There’s an easy fix to all this.”
Now I chose to listen.
I wet my lips. “Sorry. I’m going to eat a piece of each of you. It’s the only way to know for sure.”
I tried to move past the soldier and he blocked me with an arm. “Nick,” he said warningly, “let’s not do anything drastic. Something is going on right now that’s making us all high strung.”
“I’m calm.”
“You’re not. Your eyes are bouncing off the walls. You won’t look at me for more than a second. And I’m not gonna lie, that shit in the theatre was disturbing. Anyone would be cautious of you after that.”
I shook my head. Everyone’s body proportions looked all off. Heads too big, the smallest changes in expressions carrying far too much weight. “Conrad was right. The captives were released for a reason.”
“Okay but that doesn’t mean we have to do anything about it. Let’s just lead them outside. I have a lot of respect for you, Nick. I don’t want to fight. Let me take them outside. I can carry the wounded one.”
The way he was using my real name rubbed me the wrong way.
“Fine.” I went to the older lady who was sobbing as she held the ankle of the foot that had been skewered. She flinched when I came near and looked her in the eyes. I grabbed her foot and slid it up the spike. Blood began to pour over my hands from the wound as she went pale. The flame under my skin licked up the blood, took some flesh too. I gave some back, pushing myself into her flesh, closing the hole with ivory stitching.
My back had been to Jason, so he hadn’t seen. I kept a straight face as I sifted through the memories. There was nothing incriminating. She had been picked off the streets of Montreal. She had no home and no supports, so no one noticed when she disappeared.
I moved over to the unconscious woman. While touching her neck, checking for a pulse, I surreptitiously did the same thing as before. Memories surged and I cut off the fire before I could be overwhelmed. Nothing here either. No animosity, no instructions, only fear.
Turning to Jason, I motioned him over. He hesitated. He had been nearby when Wilson had started talking to someone.
“Do you know CPR? I can’t find a pulse,” I lied.
He moved over quickly and removed his gloves before unclipping the strap of his helmet so he could pull down the mask around his mouth. He used his knife to cut away the woman’s shirt. From behind, I could see a sliver of the nape of his neck between the helmet and his clothing. I stuck my fingers there and pulled.
The soldier twisted as I reeled back and my fingers caught his helmet, knocking it off.
A man that seemed impossibly tall, the sight of his weathered fists was all too common. A simple life of tasks and little love; care for the animals, scoop the shit, carry the hay, fill the trough. Never so much as a “good job”. I needed a reason, any reason, to run and never look back. Any bit of strength, the belief that the outside might be better.
And then one day it came, in the form of someone who stood up to the man. Sparking a little hope inside. I had nurtured it carefully like a hot ember, waiting for the day it might ignite.
A knife gouged my hand deeply, ripping me from the dream.
The soldier stood, knife raised, the other hand held to the back of his neck. Blue eyes gazed solemnly at me from under a mop of tangled black hair.
“Why?” I uttered, barely finding the words. The thing on the second floor was getting larger. It pressed in on my vision like a melting film reel. Warm blood slid between my fingers.
“Why do you know me?”
The soldier said nothing.
“I don’t recognize you! I don’t know you!” I shouted.
“You don’t recognize me ‘cause I’m all grown up,” he said with a small smile with no life behind it. “Still, it hurts a bit to hear that. You really came and trashed the place and left without so much as a goodbye. Not that I had any love for the farm. But it didn’t really leave me with any closure, never knowing what happened after I got scooped up by the EMTs. Only got a straight answer months later about my dad dying that night.”
My head felt so mucked up. “Jason?!” I said incredulously. “That Jason? From Cathrow Farm? But you’re-”
“An adult? Yeah. I heard you were the one who locked up Jenson, the Witch with forced maturation powers? He had gotten his hands on us. We lived ten years in an hour. Turns out Organ has tendrils in the foster care system too.”
Shame burned my face. “Sorry,” I whispered, feeling the inadequacy of the word.
Jason bent down and lifted up the unconscious woman. “Why? It’s done. Dusted. Besides, it’s not like we really knew each other. I didn’t want you to feel like you owed me anything.”
“If only we’d come sooner or dealt with the aftermath of Cathrow differently.”
Jason’s voice turned harsh, “What-ifs make me sick, Nick. Don’t waste your time with them. Now, I’m going to take these people to the exit and make sure that they can get away safely. Let’s hope I don’t repeat the cycle, hm?”
I said nothing, my eyes lowering to the floor.
“You can count on me, Nick. Take care of yourself.”
They left, the little boy supporting the injured woman.
Then I was alone with the Aberrant for the first time.
“What do you want?” I whispered.
It stared mercilessly down at me, savoring my every moment without an answer.