The neighborhood was only beginning to wake as he made his way through it. He forced a smile onto his face as he nodded to thedies walking their dogs. He saw a busier street up ahead. Behind him, he heard sirens going by.
Now all he needed was to find a ce to g down a cab.
He shuddered. OK, maybe he should speak to someone about what he’d just witnessed too. He increased the speed of his walk.
***********
Xiong hiked to the top of the mountain behind his vige once a week to visit the shrine he built on the teau. He kept it tidy, did a little sweeping, reced the incense and candles, and when necessary did some repairs on the small structure. He would have loved to have built a full-size temple, but that would have been pushing his luck. The shrine was small enough to be ignored by the local government.
His old bones ached from the arduous climb as he finally stepped onto the small t area, but he knew the ache just meant he was still alive.
This morning, the air on the teau was fresh and crisp. Certainly cleaner than the air trapped in the valley below. The factories down the road spewed their smoke in a constant exhtion, filling the valley with their smudge. Three years earlier, Xiong lost his wife to lung disease. He sent his children away to his brother’s farm before the smoke could take them as well. He remained behind as he had to take care of his home and the shrine.
Taking deep breaths of the clean mountain air, he did his morning exercises and smiled at the rising sun. It was going to be a beautiful day.
He collected the broom from the tiny shed he’d built off to the side by some bushes and swept the stone tiles surrounding the shrine. Each of these stones he’d personally carried and ced. Then he dusted the shrine itself.
As he worked, a shadow crept across the teau. He nced towards the sun and saw arge fluffy cloud approaching. Its shadow was quite dark, so he assumed it was heavy with rain. He would be grateful if the rain cleaned the air in his valley, even if for just a little while.
From this elevation, the iing cloud looked like it might just skim over the top of the shrine. Xiong paused his work to watch it move, and his wrinkled brow added one more wrinkle as he realized he couldn’t feel the breeze pushing it along. Such arge cloud would need a stiff wind to move.
Hearing an odd rumble behind him, Xiong just had time to look over his shoulder to see a slightly smaller cloud rushing up the mountain from the valley below. He stared wide-eyed as the surprisingly solid cloud rushed over his head and clipped the point of the spire on the temple. The fluffy stuff seemed to shudder as it lifted higher to avoid the now jagged point.
Xiong felt a mist coat him and realized it wasing from the tear in the cloud. The cloud’s wound?
He turned his eyes to follow the movement and saw the iing cloud appear to slow, but it made no other evasive moves.
Xiong stared in wonder as he realized the clouds were behaving more like living creatures, which was very odd. He had the strangest sensation of watching two male lions fighting for dominance.
The tworge masses reached each other, but there was no sh of teeth or baring of ws. Instead, they began to bulge upwards, and his perception once more swung back to reality as this looked very much like regr storm clouds building and climbing skywards if a little faster than usual.
He heard deep rumbles, and the ground shook from frequencies too low to hear but easily felt. More and more of the mist settled down on Xiong, drenching him. Every hair on his body began to stand up as an enormous charge built in the sky above the teau.
He knew he should run, but his body was too old for such youthful exercise. Besides, he was feelingfortable here on the mountaintop. Even the rain warmed him when he’d expected it to give him a chill. So he turned and sat on the base of the shrine facing out over the valley below as the battling clouds drifted above his head.
The charge continued to build, and Xiong chuckled now at how it tickled him.
The mist continued to fall, and Xiong sighed and watched the valley below with a smile.
A terrible crack and boom shook the mountain as lightning ripped down through the smaller cloud, tearing it apart.
The shrine was the final destination for all that energy. The small structure exploded as the powerful bolt yed over the entire area with its white-hot sma. The light showsted for almost twenty seconds then therge cloud drifted down into the valley.
Late in the afternoon, two of Xiong’s neighbors climbed the mountain trail, worried about their friend. They’d seen the terrible storm raging at the top of the mountain and grew worried when he didn’t return.
When they reached the top, they prepared themselves for the worst, and it appeared to be true. The wooden shrine was gone, sted into small charred splinters. Aside from the stone base, there was nothing left. The stone tiles had odd scorch marks and abstract lines etched into them from the storm’s unleashed energies.
They heard a gentle scraping sound and cried out in surprise as they finally saw its source.
Late afternoon sun glistening from its outer surface, a stunningly beautiful being was patiently sweeping bits of shrine into small piles. It had the appearance of multicolored ss, and while it captured and reflected the sunlight, light shone from its core. It paused to turn and look at the two men who watched with wide eyes. Their eyes grew wider with recognition.
Xiong smiled and waved to his friends then turned back to his slow sweeping.
Such a mess! He had so much to do!
-=-
Heller was on edge and had been for a couple of days.
The people from the CDC had checked Edmund out for biological poisons, testing him for a variety of potential causes. From what Heller was overhearing, the results wereing back negative. The man was healthy- except for being blind to light and seeing sound waves.
Today a group from the government wasing in to meet with Edmund and to transfer him out. He’d been ordered to be present as he was a familiar voice for Edmund and it should keep him calm. He was terrified to be in the same room as the red-eyed monster!
Edmund was his childhood nightmares brought to life. He had to thank his grandpa for telling him those horrible stories when he was so young and impressionable. Jerk!
Karl entered the antechamber outside the containment room and smiled in relief at seeing Heller. He looked over to ensure the inte to the containment room was off.
“Heller! d you could make it! I’ll be thrilled when this whole thing is over, and we can get back to business.”
“Yes sir,” Heller responded, biting back thement that he’d been ordered to be here.
“Did theyplete the task of removing the carcass of that thing from the cooling pool?” Karl asked.
He nodded. “Yesterday. It was highly radioactive which makes Edmund’sck of radiation poisoning so much more confusing.”
Karl nodded with a worried look.
The double doors leading from the admin wing opened, and three broad-shouldered men and one tall woman entered, all wearing police uniforms. These officers were the security detail for the government officials. The woman walked over and checked Karl and Heller’s credentials. Heller was startled then entranced by the intensity of her almond-shaped eyes, one of which was light amber while the other was a deep shade of blue. It almost felt like she was looking through his mor but he knew that was impossible. She quietly thanked them for their cooperation and spoke into the mic on her shoulder. Heller had extensively traveled, so he recognized her subtle ent as Egyptian.
She turned and nodded to the other officers before taking up station at the side of the room facing the window into the decontamination chamber. A group of four men wearing dark suits and grim expressions entered and moved to shake Karl’s hand. Arnd wasst to arrive and was checked out by one of the big officers by the door before he was allowed to join Heller.
“Shit! I almost missed this!” the man whispered to Heller.
“I wish I could have,” Heller sighed. Arnd looked at him with raised brows, so Heller continued. “Those red eyes of his give me the creeps!” Arnd snorted in amusement. Heller subtly moved to put Arnd between him and the door to Edmund’s room.
Karl moved to the inte to get things moving along. They’d rigged a curtain across the window and only opened it when Edmund said he ready.
Pressing the button, Karl nced at the group and leaned towards the mic. “Good morning Edmund. Are you ready?”From N?velDrama.Org.
A weird crunching sound came from the speaker. Then silence.
“Karl?”
Heller shivered at the odd slurring from Edmund.
“May I open the curtain? You havepany,” Karl asked.
“Oh… oh god. Karl, it was trying to kill me. I had to…”
Karl looked back at the group with concern. He reached forward and opened the curtains.
There was blood sshed across the inside of the ss. In the middle of the room was Edmund, standing over the corpse of one of the cleaning staff. The man’s throat was ripped open.
Edmund was making his little tick sounds as he looked at his hands. His fingertips now sported hooked ws, dripping gore and blood.
One of the officers immediately reached over and turned the inte off. The female police officer spoke into her mic, and the double doors opened once more. The four government officials were hustled away by officers who’d been waiting in the hallway. The doors closed immediately, and the policeman turned the inte back on.
They could hear Edmund panting, and Heller saw his teeth had grown in length as well. His jaws dripped with blood.
“What happened Edmund?” Karl asked carefully.
“It’s a monster, Karl. It came in the room to kill me. I- I had to defend myself.”
“Are… are you eating him?” Karl gasped.
“IT! IT! It’s not a man! It’s a monster!” Edmund yelled, clearly shaken by his actions.