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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4486890" data-attributes="member: 3285">Last Rites: Part 2 – The Terror BeginsRUNVILLE, MA—Runville was tiny and isolated.  A narrow, lumpy dead-end road wound through dreary marshes that often flooded the road in the winter.  Inland, the road joined a state highway.The town was carved out of the bluff below, well above the sea but the streets were built on tiers like a lopsided wedding cake.  Below the fishermen, who lived on the lowest level, was a shingle-covered beach and a sheltering cove.  The Springer Mansion was the sole exception, a sprawling manor that included a private dock to the shore. A lighthouse, situated on a notorious shoal a few miles out into the Atlantic, gave a baleful glare as it rotated its all-seeing eye into the chilling fog. The team arrived at a cabin on the highest level of Runville, starkly illuminated by the lights of the county sheriff’s vehicle.  "This is the town where Robert said the three remaining cultists were hiding out," Hammer whispered to Jim-Bean. Sheriff Maurice Talbott was on the scene, along with his deputy, Toby Ettringer.  A grossly bloody sheet was lifted into a nearby ambulance. Hammer flashed his badge.  "Federal agent.  What have we got?"“Two kids in one of the cabins nearby here," said Talbott to Hammer. "One was knifed in the head, the other looks like her head was crushed.”  He shot Hammer a sideways glance. “If the Feds are snooping around then that confirms my worst suspicions. This is a serial killer we got on our hands, huh?” He shook his head.  “Hard to believe a little girl like that could do so much harm.”"Lucinda Ennis is the suspect?" asked Jim-Bean. Talbott nodded. “We’ve got all officers, all units and stations within a fifty-mile radius alerted about this wacko kid. Lucy came running into the sheriff’s office, claiming that her father was alive.  She said she dug up his body and poured something over it, some crazy potion she got from her boyfriend.  Lucy said her father came back to life, but she couldn’t control him. When we didn’t immediately agree to help her, she made a grab for one of our rifles. Locked her ass up.  Should have stayed there too.”  “Locked her up?  How did she get out?” asked Hammer. “We were told to let her out.” Talbott took his hat off and scratched his head.  “We even took her to the Eternal Rest cemetery to prove that her father was still dead, but that wasn’t enough for her either.  Lucy said someone covered up her father’s grave.”  Talbott shook his head.  “I don’t find it amusing that the nut house Lucy belonged to thought she was responsible enough to be released into the Doc’s care here.” "What nuthouse is that?" asked Guppy quietly."Arkham Asylum," said a familiar soft voice behind them.Tablott looked over Guppy's shoulder him a glare.  “Where’s my manners?  This here’s Dr. Alan Ettringer, a psychiatrist from Arkham Asylum.  We released Lucy into his custody.”Jim-Bean was very still.  Did Ettringer even remember him?If Ettringer recognized Jim-Bean he didn't show it.  He looked distinctly uncomfortable.  “If I may have a word with you please?” he whispered to Hammer. The doctor took him aside. “I believe that Lucy’s psychokinetic powers are rapidly spiraling out of control.  She claims to have resurrected her father.  Her psychokinesis and delusions are clearly tied together. When she heard that her sister’s murder was cult-related, she started ranting and raving about avenging Sophia through her neglectful father.  I fear she’s using her powers to kill whomever she thinks is tied to the cult.” Hammer nodded.  "Thanks, Doc.  We'll keep it under advisement."“Sheriff!” shouted one of the officers. “Get over here!”Talbott took off into the woods toward his deputy's voice. He moved rapidly through the maze of trees and brush.“Sheriff, over here!” shouted the deputy.  Deputy Colone waved a flashlight. Running up to his ashen-faced deputy, Sheriff Talbott looked down at what Colone held out. In his hand was a pair of blood-splattered goggles.  Talbott looked at him. “Is that all you found?” “I wish it was,” replied the deputy. He shined his flashlight at the ground. A severed arm was illuminated in the flashlight beam.  It wore an Army fatigue sleeve. The beam moved over a couple of yards to a hacked-off leg, also in fatigues. Both lawmen stared stoically down at the body parts. "Stupid paintball kids," said Talbott, shaking his head.  "They're not supposed to play out here, but they never listen."The Sheriff's team started cordoning off the area. Hammer huddled the other agents around him.  "So this Lucy person finds out the cultists sacrificed her sister when she was at the orphanage.  She reanimates her father and goes on a rampage."Jim-Bean picked up the goggles.  “Lucy’s father did this.”“You mean the dead man?” asked Talbott.Jim-Bean nodded.  “Looks like she was telling the truth.  He did it with a chainsaw.”“A chainsaw?” Talbott laughed.  “Hell, there are a thousand easier ways to kill a man than with a chainsaw.  You know how strong ya gotta be to chop off a limb like that?”“Very strong,” said Jim-Bean.  “Look around for footprints.  Lucy unearthed him recently from his grave, so there should be dirt from the graveyard.”Talbott stared at him.  “You can tell all that from a pair of goggles?”“Forensics,” was all Jim-Bean said. "If what Jim-Bean said is true," said Archive, “the three cultists are in grave danger.”"What were their names again?" asked Hammer."David Flaherty, Katrina Smith, and Bernadette Springer.""We'd better get over to Flaherty's place—""Don't bother." The sheriff stalked over to Hammer. "They just found David Flaherty.  Somebody ripped his head clean off.”Hammer checked his watch.  "All right, time's ticking for the other two.  Let's get to Smith's place. Move, people, move!"“I’ll go with you,” said Ettringer.  “I may be the only one who can control her.”</blockquote>

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