Something Hatched

  “Drop me off here, I’ll walk the rest of the way,” said Ian and Ed pulled over.

  “Are you sure?” Ed asked. “It’s another three kilometres,”

  “Yeah, I know,” he said and got out of the car. “I’ll meet you guys back at the Cage,”

  “I hate it when he does that,” said Dev as Ed drove off.

  “Yeah, as do I,”

            Ian walked down the street casually. He walked for two blocks before turning left and heading into the parking lot of a bar, after which he entered the bar.

            It was crowded and more of a club tonight than just a bar, there were hundreds of people dancing to some indie rock band Ian thought sounded like a bunch of tortured cats being roasted alive in a pit of hot curry. He squeezed through the crowd and made his way to a door at the back that lead to an alleyway.

            He looked around, saw a good corner to hide behind and did just that. Looking around he saw a wooden broom handle, he picked it up and held it up like a bat as he heard the door open. He timed the footsteps perfectly and as the person came around the corner, he smashed him in the face with the broom handle.

  “You're awake,” said Ian some time later as the man regained consciousness.

            He was a young man, no older than Ian himself, with short blond hair. He was dressed casually but had had a war axe strapped to his side before Ian relieved him of it.

  “You Others agents never did know how to properly follow us,” Ian said and sat on his heels to look at the man, who he had tied to a steel chair bolted into the floor.

            Ian had taken the man to a nearby laboratory by the looks of it, but not even Ian was sure what the place was. All he knew was that it would do for the interrogation.

  “Not talking? No need, at least not yet. I know who you are, agent De Beer. Never thought I’d meet another one, not after your father. You do look a lot like him,”

            The man just stared at Ian with cold murder in his eyes.

  “Still nothing? You married right after high school and you have two daughters. One eighteen and the other sixteen. Beautiful young women, would be a shame if anything happened to them,”

  “Don’t you dare touch them,” the man spat.

  “He has voice! And I’d see it put to use. You Others agents only understand one language and that is blackmail, so here’s how it’s going to work; you are going to do exactly as I say, and my friend will not harm your girls. I believe the party is rather lively tonight,” he said and dropped his phone on the man’s lap.

            On his phone was a live video feed of two girls, both red heads talking to someone unseen behind the camera. They were not in trouble and the eldest of the two seemed to be enjoying the conversation.

  “Now, I’m not heartless, De Beer, so this is what I’m going to promise you. I know where your girls go to school, my friend goes there two, he’s a rather apt agent, we recruited him to the Agency just before the Fall. He’ll keep them safe,”

            At this the man looked at him, puzzled. In drew the axe from the seethe and walked to behind the man. The man tried to follow him but he couldn’t turn his head far enough. He blinked as he heard the axe sailing through the air and opened them a few seconds later. Ian was standing in front of him, offering the man back his axe.

  “What is the meaning of this?” the Others agent asked.

  “After tonight we’re on the same side. If I could find them, so can They. Some of the agents sent to spy on us have been disappearing?”

  “How did you know?”

  “I didn’t, but I had a suspicion. The house across from mine was being used as a cover for Others spies, but They took care of them, I think,”

  “We’ve lost a few agents, but we thought it was your doing,”

  “Wish I could take the credit. How many do you have with you?”

  “None, they all went after your friends,”

  “How many?”

  “Three,”

  “Not enough for an assault,”

  “Are you insane?”

  “Not that I’m aware of, no,”

  “You might need to see a doctor, then, I’ve seen where They are keeping you, and it’s a fortress. Even if I had ten good agents I wouldn’t be able to take that mansion,”

  “I don’t need you to take it, just give me a decent distraction,” said Ian.

  “Many would die,”

  “Not if done right,”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “A hatchling of a plan, for the time being, but you’ll need to go to ground. You and the rest of your team, at least until I can contact you again,”

  “And when will that be?” asked the Others agent, getting to his feet and taking the axe from Ian at last.

  “If I knew, you would not have needed to wait,” Ian said, picking up his phone from the floor and walking past the agent to the door. “And don’t worry about your girls, or your wife, they are in good hands,” he added before leaving.

            JR woke as he felt the heat of the morning sun on his exposed skin. He was in a strange room and a strange bed with a naked woman lying on his stomach and her hand on a rather indecent organ of his.

            He remembered taking her out for dinner, then taking her to a club since she insisted on dancing. He remembered her suggesting he come over for coffee, and he remembered having sex with her. But there was a gap somewhere in his memory, somewhere in between the second and third rounds.

            He pushed the woman off of him as gently as possible without waking her and headed to the bathroom where he splashed his face with cold water and stared at his reflection. The crystallite veins that had crept up from his left arm were gone again as was the voice, but he knew it would not last.

            He dressed quickly and left quietly before the woman could wake. It was a rather extravagant apartment building with a lot of golden trimmings. He got into the elevator, hit the ground floor button and leaned back as the doors closed.

            JR closed his eyes and exhaled. Something grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the other side of the elevator a foot off the floor. JR opened his eyes and stared into his own eyes. A shadow of himself was holding him by the throat, only the shadow was translucent and appeared to be made from the same crystal that veined his arm.

  “She is mine!” the shadow said increasing the pressure.

            JR kicked at the shadow but his kicks had no effect. His vision started to blacken as he gasped for air. And then the doors opened.

            JR found himself on the floor with his back to the elevators right wall. Outside in the lobby, people were staring at him. He took a second to regain his breath and headed out of the elevator and into the street, where he took out his phone.

  “Hello,”

  “Ed,”

  “JR, what’s up, man. You okay?”

  “No,” said JR struggling to breath.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I…I think I’m losing it,” he said and ended the call.

  “What did he want?” asked Ian. They were in the lobby, this time Dev was doing the exploring.

            They had made sure to be back just before their curfew the previous night and all three of them had a very foreboding feeling at breakfast as Elizabeth and her bodyguard wasn’t there, and Ed had been up early.

  “We might have a problem,” said Ed.