Chapter 15 #3
Mal didn’t need any convincing—he wanted to help Des in any way he could.
If Walters needed a distraction, he was going to get one.
He stuffed any remaining anger away and searched for that which did not belong.
Within seconds the whites of his eyes turned black, his irises turned into white circles, and shadows gnawed at his edges.
He realized that this was going to be slightly trickier than usual.
He’d always held out his hands above the body he was trying to reanimate, but now his hands were indisposed, so he had no idea what do to.
He remembered his shadows, the creatures and monsters that emerged when he was scaring the lamp-man.
They’d crept away from him; maybe he could use them to cover the distance.
He breathed deep, happy not to be amidst a panic attack, and gave more of himself over to the other within him.
He felt the creeping black rise from the tips of his fingers, coating his arms up to his elbows; at least, he hoped it was his transformation and not excess sewer water.
He urged the darkness to crawl toward the body waiting on a stretcher in the street.
He watched as a shadow clawed its way out of the car and toward the body.
To Mal it seemed so obvious, but no one gave the shadowy creature a second look.
It bobbled along, then jumped up and dove headfirst into the body.
Mal felt a terrible rush and took a sharp, harsh breath in, as if for the first time; he watched as the body bag began to breath in time with his new, harsher breaths.
This wasn’t going to be his usual resurrection.
Mal urged the body to sit up, and sit up it did.
Men and women in uniform recoiled in shock as the body bag sprang to life with a stiff motion.
Walters slunk into the shadows near the armored van housing Des.
Several officers came closer to the bag, hesitant and curious; most eyed the bag and stayed several meters back.
The body began to writhe around, fighting with the bag, flailing and rocking the stretcher.
“What are you doing?” Yu said, shoved up next to Mal.
“I’m distracting them,” Mal said, as if it were obvious.
“I can see that,” Yu replied. “What I mean is, why are you making it just flail around?”
“Because I have no idea what I’m doing!”
The body lurched off the stretcher and onto the floor.
The SWAT team were now pointing their guns at the body and were slowly creeping their way up to the bag.
Most everyone else had dispersed farther back and were trying to stop onlookers from filming the scene.
One of the SWAT team nodded to another, prompting them to edge even closer.
With every step they took, Mal caused the corpse to flail.
The officer jumped out of his skin with every rigid twitch it made.
Mal was surprised they hadn’t shot it yet.
Slowly, the officer reached down and started to unzip the bag.
Mal recognized the officer as part of the SWAT team that had arrested Des.
Mal was going to enjoy this more than he should.
Tense and terrified, the officer unzipped the bag and revealed the lifeless body of one of the criminals with burned-out eyes.
Mal held his breath, making sure the body remained as still as possible.
The officer brought his face down to inspect the corpse; as everyone had expected, it was dead.
The officer righted himself and shrugged to the others as if to say, It’s just a dead body.
The SWAT team lowered their guns and a wave of relief spread across the watching crowd.
Mal smiled, and so did the eyeless corpse at the officers feet.
The corpse leaped into the air and flung its arms around the calm officer’s shoulders, clinging on as if he were a mechanical bull.
The officer screamed like a little girl as Mal made the corpse grunt and scream with its half-inflated lungs.
Panic and terror filled the eyes and mouths of the SWAT team.
Mal found himself chuckling at the panic, and heard a terrifying echo of his chuckle coming from the swinging corpse.
The officer was now inadvertently wearing the corpse like a fabulous, nightmare-inducing scarf.
Another officer bravely stepped up to assist his friend and received a flying boot to the face as the corpse’s legs flung about in the fray.
Walters came back over to the car and knocked on the window.
The force of the taps said “cut it out.” Mal let go of the part of him that didn’t belong.
The yelling and panic took a few seconds to subside, as the now-inanimate body slumped off the shoulders of the officer.
Upon hitting the ground it was promptly shot from every angle.
The hail of gunfire felt like victory to Mal, as he stared into the back of the empty armored van.
Des had escaped. It was a short-lived victory, however, as soon an officer jumped into the front seat of their squad car.
As the engine started, Mal wondered what fresh hell the Dunwich judicial system had in store for him.
Mal smiled. At least Des wouldn’t be joining him there.