Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lamprolign" data-source="post: 1077888" data-attributes="member: 7860">025Images of sorrow, pictures of delightThings that go to make up a lifeEndless days of summer longer nights of gloomWaiting for the morning lightScenes of unimportance, photos in a frameThings that go to make up a life- Genesis, Home By The SeaThe gentle crackle of burning logs, along with heat emanating from the tiny fireplace, lulled Asher into a semi-conscious state.  His mind wandered.  Why am I still sitting here?  Why did I bring Becky here instead of calling an ambulance like a sane person?    Asher studied Becky's sleeping face.  She was very much as he remembered her from years ago.  Perhaps there were a few lines around the eyes that hadn't been there, but there was a statuesque symmetry to her features that remained unchanged.A long time ago, Asher thought.  Seeing her again, I remember why I had such a crush on her.  He wondered at what she had gone through, having a family and then losing it.  Family  had been a foreign concept to him when he'd first come to the Haven.  In those days he railed against fate, God, society, anything or anyone he could blame for his lot.With time, and more patience than he now thought mortally possible, the Sister had brought him into the fold, made him feel that he belonged there.  She insisted that he had a gift waiting to awaken.  He'd stepped into a world that most regarded as myth.  His ruminations were interrupted by the click of the door latch."Why are you still here?"  Poe looked at Asher through narrowed eyes."And when were you left in charge?"  Asher's response equaled the acid in Poe's voice.  "My business is my own. Take your 'dark and dangerous' act somewhere else.""Why don't you do something more useful, like helping Gabe and Mary find the little girl?""I don't see you out looking.""It's still daylight, <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />."****"Holy <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />!"  Gabe exclaimed softly.Craters pocketed the asphalt, just as Chris described it.  Everywhere there were scorch marks, some in improbable places.  Three nearby houses were burnt entirely to the ground.  Several more were only singed around the edges.  "We did all this?""The power should never have to be used this way."  Mary's voice was distressed.  "This is the kind of thing the Sister warns us about.  The craft can cause so much harm when loosed."  Gabe remained silent.  While not as dramatic as Sarah's display of power in the restaurant parking lot, the end was the same.  Looking to the abandoned house, Gabe noticed immediately that it stood relatively untouched, with only its yard surrounded by crime tape.  This was a huge scene to process.  He was mildly surprised that there were not still people on-site.  Sloppy.  They've got a bunch of chiefs and not enough Indians to go around.  Bureaucrats and politics!  No wonder Chris is freaking.Skirting around the police tape, Gabe made his way to the backyard of the abandoned house.  A few sets of footprints broke the dirty snow pack leading from the narrow alley between the houses to the open back door.  Gabe stepped cautiously into the house, pausing to let his eyes adjust to the gloom permeating the abode.  He heard the scratching of rodents scurrying for shelter from the behemoth in their midst.  The air was redolent with mildew and rat urine.  "Uhg.""What an incredible smell you've discovered." "Aren't you a little young to be quoting Star Wars?""Huh?""Never mind," Gabe grumbled.A uniform coating of pale dust covered the floor and countertops.  As Gabe's eyes adjusted he could see footprints in the dust.  Most were large, adult-sized, but near a corner of what was once a living room he saw a child's footprint.  Only one.  Any others were obliterated by the larger prints.  In the corner a crude nest had been made of old newspapers and other detritus. Gabe clenched his jaw.  He imagined the child, cold and alone, huddling amidst the scant comfort her crude bed could provide.  Grim determination hardened Gabe's face as he continued to examine the scene.A refracted beam of sunlight caught his attention.  Broken glass lay beneath one of the few windows not covered by plywood.  Shards of glass strewn inside the house indicated that whatever had broken the window had been traveling inward.  The wooden frame still held a jagged fringe of crystalline teeth.  A bit of rag dangled there.Gabe examined it closely.  Loom-woven wool.  He could not discern its original color through the grime that permeated the weave.  The grime itself looked like ash of some kind.  He leaned close to the article and sniffed.  Gabe's brow furrowed at the smell, smoke, not wood smoke or diesel, something else.  His mind cast back through years of memories...coal?  "Well, well, look what we got here."Gabe snapped upright, whirling at the familiar gravelly voice."I know you weren't just on your way for breakfast this time, Ansgar."  Jake Brewer hoisted his bulk through the open back door.  "What are you doing here?"Gabe regarded the detective for a long moment before responding.  "This is damn near in my backyard, Brewer, and I'm not the sort to just sit around while a scene gets bungled like this one."  "Bungled, huh?"  Brewer grunted.  "I suppose you're the only one with the brains to process a scene?""From what I've seen here, yeah, I am," Gabe answered brusquely.  "Why don't you grace me with your brilliance, Sherlock?"Gabe's hackles rose at the detective's remark.  "For starters, no one bothered to tape off this house, and I can tell from the five minutes I've been in here that only a cursory sweep was made.  Look at this window."  Gabe pointed toward the maw of splintered glass."Yeah?""Someone broke though this window recently.  There's no dust on the edges of the pieces.  Oh, and look at this."  Gabe's voice filled with sarcasm.  "A piece of cloth caught on the pretty glass in the frame.  Hmmm.  Now, I know it's a lot to ask to catch every little detail at a crime scene, especially one as out of sight as this one...""It's a piece of cloth.  Big deal.""This piece of cloth could tell you where it's been.  It's coated in ash...""This whole <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />ing block was on fire last night, Ansgar!  Of course it's coated in ash.""How many coal fires were here last night?""Coal?""Yes, coal."  Gabe stepped to one side of the window.  "Smell it.  Everything that burns leaves a distinctive odor.  That's not burning house or diesel or napalm.  It's coal.""So what?  Just what the hell does that tell you?""Nothing by itself, but if the same level of attention was given to the rest of the scene, then there's no telling what else might have been missed.""Well, then it's a good thing that the Amazing Ansgar is here to save us poor bungling morons from our own incompetence!"Gabe snatched the piece of cloth from the window.  "And look at the material itsel..."  He stopped abruptly as the image of the stocky detective before him blurred and dissolved, a watercolor painting washing away.  Gabe stood in a dark alley.  Flickering light warped shadows back and forth across the aging brick walls.  A few yards ahead he saw its source.  Flames leaped above the rim of a steel drum around which huddled three hunched silhouettes.  They leaned close to the fire, speaking in hushed voices."Hatch disappeared last night.""Maybe he just moved on.""Elmer said he saw someone grab him.""Who would want any of us?"I don't know.  I just know I'm scared."The fire burned lower in the barrel.  One of the speakers raised his hand toward the barrel and the flames shot up."How'd you do that, man?!""I don't know.  I just think about the fire getting higher and it does.""That's pretty cool!""Hasn't done me a damn bit of good.""It's still cool.  And handy on a night like this."Gabe watched, perplexed by this vision.  He heard a scuffing noise, shoes scraping across pavement.  He heard Mary's sharp intake of breath.  She backed into him.  A shuffling form moved into his field of view from behind.  He recognized the disjointed movements of a ghoul.  Two more ghouls emerged from the shadows on the opposite side of the circle of light emanating from the barrel.  They converged quickly on the trio.  One man turned in time to see the unnatural shape moving toward him.  His gurgled scream cut short as the ghoul neatly twisted his head completely backwards.  The second unfortunate was dispatched with equal efficiency.  The remaining man, the one who had manipulated the fire, backed into the arms of the third.  Its gnarled hand snapped over the man's mouth.  The man struggled a moment, then went limp.  The ghoul tossed the raggedy bundle over its shoulder and swiftly vanished into the shadows with its compatriots.  "Oh my God!"  Mary gasped.  "Someone is harvesting to make ghouls!"© 2003 Austin Hale</blockquote>

Verification