All Souls Day

Matt Casey heard himself sigh, and he heard himself moan. He felt weird. Not in pain exactly, but something wasn't right. He tried opening his eyes, but everything was black, he blinked, still nothing, and he started to panic. He tried to think back, but his memory was foggy. Still, it seemed somebody had to be with him. Frantically he started to call out, and was surprised to hear how weak his voice sounded, "Severide? Kelly? Kelly!"

He felt a presence near him, and he heard Severide's voice, it sounded like he was standing over Casey.

"It's alright, Casey, everything's going to be alright, just calm down."

"Kelly...what's going on? I can't see!"

"It's okay, buddy, you're in the hospital. You got bandages over your eyes."

"What?" Casey heard his voice go up an octave in fear.

Severide was quick to reassure him, "It's alright, it's alright, you had an accident, but you're going to be fine."

Casey tried to shake his head, but he had trouble moving it.

"What aren't you telling me?" Casey asked, feeling a knot of fear building up in his stomach.

Severide might've been able to fake a calm, cool and collective voice, but the undercurrent of worry in his tone was still unmistakable despite his best attempts.

"Casey, you're going to be fine."

"Kelly!" Casey tried to scream but couldn't, "What's wrong with me?"

"I promise, I'll explain it all to you later...but right now, the doctors are going to give you something to relax, you need to rest and let them do their job."

"Kelly!"

"I promise, I'll tell you all about it when you wake up," Severide told him.

Casey tried to shake his head again and heard the pitch of his own tone waver all across the map with unconcentrated terror, "No, don't go, don't leave me, tell me what's going on!"

"Buddy, you have to hold still right now, everything's going to be fine," Kelly replied.

"Kelly!" Casey felt a sob work its way up from his chest that he didn't know was there.

He felt Severide's hand on the back of his head, but it felt weird, like there was something between his hand and Casey's hair, but he couldn't tell what it was. He reached up with both hands trying to find Severide and grab hold of his hand, but his hands felt very strange, he couldn't tell what it was, but they felt bulky and padded and he couldn't bend his fingers.

"You're going to be fine, Casey," Kelly tried to assure him. "You just need to go to sleep so your body can heal."

"Kelly..."

But even Casey could hear his own voice slipping away. This wasn't sedation, they were putting him in a medically induced coma, something was seriously wrong and they didn't want him conscious for it. He continued to futilely beg Severide to tell him what was going on, to stay with him, but he felt himself drifting further, and further, and further away, the last thing he heard was the muffled sound of Severide's assurances everything would be alright.


Kelly Severide maintained the best composure he could for Casey's sake, then he held himself together just long enough to leave the wing of Chicago Med that Casey was being treated in, and he just got to the hall before he broke down sobbing. Otis and Cruz had been standing by for any news and they both turned at the sound of the Squad lieutenant bawling as he doubled over and pressed a hand to his mouth to futilely try and stifle the screaming sobs that were tearing loose from the confines of his chest and throat. They were on him in a flash and pulled him up and locked their arms around him in an awkward group hug, what happened tonight had left them all shaken and in need of reassurance of each other's presence.

"How is he?" Otis barely managed to get out.

Kelly shook his head and closed his eyes as he tried to push the last image of Casey from his mind. They'd seen plenty of people in this position before, but excluding children, nothing was worse than when it was one of their own.

Cruz's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Breathe, Severide, you're turning purple!"

Kelly sucked in a large breath but all that accomplished was letting out another series of high pitched wails as he leaned against the two other men for support. It was several minutes before he could pull himself together enough to even talk.

"He looks horrible," Severide told them as he pulled away from them, "I just keep hearing him screaming."

The firemen saw Will Halstead headed their way, he'd been the one to initially examine Casey when he was brought in.

"Will, tell me he's going to be alright," Severide pleaded desperately.

"Kelly, he's going to have some of the best doctors in this state working on him, they will do every-"

"Don't tell me they'll do their best, that's all you ever tell people, tell me he's going to be alright!" Kelly screamed at the doctor.

Will maintained his calm disposition and responded, "I can appreciate how hard this is, Kelly. Matt's looking at a very long and painful recovery, but assuming there are no complications, in a few months he should be fine."

"Months?" Otis asked.

"Oh man," Cruz groaned. Instinctively, they knew that that was what they were looking at, but it hadn't really clicked for them until now.

"We will keep you updated on his condition," Will told Severide, "we will let you know if there's any improvement. We're going to keep him in a medically induced coma for the time being so that his body can heal with as little physical and emotional strain on it as possible."

There were a few further words before Will left, Severide felt his legs getting weak and he leaned against the wall for support and sighed, "I can't take this."

"Me either," Otis said, "it's just like all the others."


One week earlier-

It was the morning after Halloween and 2nd Watch was just getting started. Everybody had gotten changed into their uniforms and were ready to face the freezing cold day. From the apparatus floor they could see the sun was just starting to come up in an otherwise gray and dreary sky. Also from where they stood, they could see somebody heading their way. At first glance, nothing seemed unusual, but as the person got closer, the firefighters could make out that it was a young woman, possibly a teenage girl, who appeared to be zombie walking towards the fire house.

"Whoa, looks like somebody partied too hard last night," Otis said jokingly.

As the girl got closer to the firehouse, they noticed that something was off about her. For one thing, it was barely 30 degrees out with the windchill and she had no jacket, she just wore a thin T-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. Her wavy brown hair was pressed flat on one side of her head and and standing up on the other like she'd just woken up, but her eyes looked like she hadn't slept in days. As she inched her way closer, 'zombie walk' didn't seem quite appropriate, more to the point, mummy walking, one foot dragging behind her and one arm pressed against her chest, the other was outstretched as if in invitation to them, who started to suspect this was more than just a high school kid coming down off a wild night partying.

She inched her way up the apron and got within ten feet of the firefighters and croaked out a half audible, "Help..." then another, slightly more coherent, "help," and then she stopped walking, and fell on her knees and landed flat on her face.

That sent all of them running to see what was the matter. And as they reached the girl, they all saw that the back of her shirt had large rips clear across the fabric, the skinny strands in between the rips that were still intact were covered in half dried blood, stemming from the four large cuts across the girl's back that all trailed from one side to the other in a diagonal line, and all of them looking like something very large had clawed clear through her shirt and flesh.

"What the hell is that?" Otis asked.

Casey grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it up for a better look. Whatever it was had made four perfect claw marks from her right shoulder down to her left flank and ripped clear through her shirt and the back of her bra. He had no idea what made the marks, but whoever or whatever it was had been determined, there were no hesitation marks, just clean across.

Sylvie rushed out pulling on a pair of gloves to examine the girl. She was hypothermic from being out in the cold all night and bordering on unconsciousness, the cuts on her back, unsightly and painful to be sure, were actually little more than superficial and should quickly heal. They got the girl strapped on a gurney and loaded up in Ambo which tore out for Med with lights flashing and siren blaring.

There hadn't been time to focus on what just happened or even ask what it was all about, because then the bells went off and a dispatch message came through about a fire. They got the address, suited up in their turnout gear and took off. The address wasn't one they were familiar with, and when they pulled up to the old cemetery, Casey was scratching his head if this wasn't one last minute Halloween prank on the CFD.

However, they quickly found it was definitely not a prank call, as there was a fire somewhere in the middle of the cemetery, but it was not a large one and was easily put out with a couple of extinguishers

"What the hell was that?" Herrmann asked when it was finally out. "Who the hell comes to a graveyard and sets somebody's final resting place on fire?"

"Must've been somebody not well liked," Cruz commented as they stood around the burn site.

Otis tried to get a closer look at the tombstone to see if it was anybody they knew, but the stone was too old and faded to make anything out. Glancing around he saw that all of them were old, this was a burnt out part of town where nobody had lived for years, and he guessed the same was true for being buried out there. He turned back to the others to shake his head, then he saw something.

"Hey guys," he called absently as he looked straight ahead, "You see that?"

The others looked around to see what he was talking about, but nothing stuck out.

"See what, Otis?" Casey asked.

Brian went over to another set of tombstones and took something off of one. It was a jean jacket that had been bunched up on the stone. He grabbed it by the collar and let it fall into its regular shape, and revealed four large tears in the back.

"Look familiar?" he asked.

The others looked at it in awe and confusion, nobody able to make any sense of it.

"What the hell went on here?" Herrmann asked under his breath.

That's what they all wanted to know. Casey looked back at the blackened remains where the fire was. It hadn't been burning long, it had been relatively contained. That girl back at the firehouse had clearly been out in the elements all night, and it didn't seem likely that that mutilated jacket could've been anybody but hers, but someone had only recently come here, piled up a bunch of garbage and started that fire. And who called it in? And what were the odds that call would come in just as she was being transported to Med? Casey especially had an unshakable feeling that something was amiss, he didn't know what it was, but he decided to check in back at 51. As they loaded up their equipment he took out his phone and made a quick call to Severide.

"Everything okay there?" he asked.

"Yeah, why? What's up?" Kelly asked.

"This call we got," Casey said as he looked around the cemetery, as if he was expecting to find the answer just laying around somewhere. "I can't put my finger on it, but I have a feeling it was just to get us out of the firehouse. Are you sure everything's okay there?"

"Yeah," Severide answered, "nothing's happening."

"Alright, we should be back soon, all the same, keep an eye out for anything strange."

"Casey," Severide replied in an unamused tone, "it's Chicago the day after Halloween, you might as well say 'don't breathe'."

Casey hung up, and a minute later Otis came around, still holding the jacket.

"Lieutenant, if I might say something."

"What is it, Otis?"

"There's probably no connection, but this reminds me of something," Brian said.

"Let me guess," Casey said, "Nightmare on Elm Street?"

"No, actually, an old folktale from Norway."

Casey raised one eyebrow inquisitively.

"I have a cousin," Brian explained. "Anyway, the story goes a woman wakes up early one morning and thinks she's overslept for church, so she rushes through the dark streets, cuts across the cemetery to get to the church, it's dark inside, she sits down, place is full of people she's never seen. Finally comes across a familiar face, problem is the woman's been dead for months. Then she looks around and realizes she's stumbled on a church service for the dead, the pews are filled with ghosts and skeletons, her deceased friend warns her to leave right after the service if she wants to live. Needless to say trying to sneak out doesn't work, the ghosts chase her out of the church, through the cemetery, tear away her hat and coat, and chase her until she reaches the street, then they disappear. She starts to seriously wonder if she's just dreamt the whole thing...then later a friend comes over with the shredded remnants of her coat and hat which were found in the cemetery."

Casey tried to take in what Brian was saying, but it didn't really click.

"You think she was attacked by a ghost?"

"I'm not sure, all I know is as far as coincidences go, you couldn't set it up much better, old cemetery," Brian pointed across the street, "very old church that probably hasn't seen any use in 20 years, granted it would probably have to be a Norwegian ghost for it to all come together."

"Otis," Casey said in a 'get to the point' tone.

"I'm just saying something seems very off here," Brian told him.

"Only one thing?" Casey replied.


By lunch, everybody had gotten their food and gathered around the common room to eat. Casey sat at the table and just stared straight ahead, his eyes not focusing on anything.

"Hey Casey, you alright?" Severide asked.

"Huh?" The Truck lieutenant's eyes still didn't register with anything.

Now the others started to notice as well. Otis chimed in, "What's the matter, lieutenant, Voight slash your tires again?"

"Huh?" Casey blinked and slowly started to come around, then shook his head, "No, just thinking about that call earlier."

"So what happened anyway?" Kelly asked.

"I don't know," Casey said as he poked at his food with his fork, "We stopped by Med, apparently they found out who the girl was, called her parents, they were there, identified the jacket as hers, have no idea what happened, they were waiting for the doctor to get done looking at her."

"You think she set the fire at the cemetery?" Tony asked.

Casey shook his head, "It's a five mile drive from there to here, moving on foot and in her condition, that fire would've burnt out long before we got there if she did it."

"And I'm just guessing she didn't maul herself either," Otis commented, "so the question is...what the hell happened?"


That afternoon Casey was in his office writing up a report when he heard his door open. Generally everybody knew to knock before entering, so this sudden intrusion caught him off guard and he about jumped up from his chair. He turned and saw that it wasn't anybody from 51, but instead it was Antonio Dawson, who looked like hell, and before Casey could say anything, the Intelligence detective raised a warning finger to be quiet, and marched over to Casey's bunk and said as he promptly plopped down on it, "I need to close my eyes for two minutes before I talk to anyone else."

Casey turned around in his chair and looked at the cop on his bed and said, "I've heard this expression before, never actually seen anyone that it fits."

Antonio had his face buried in the pillow but grunted something that actually sounded like he was asking Casey what it was.

"'You look like the morning after Halloween', so I guess you're having a day like we are," Casey said.

Antonio picked his head up and responded, "Try a whole week."

"So what're you doing here?"

Antonio turned over and sat up on the bed and asked Casey, "You guys had that teen girl collapse out front today, right?"

"Yeah, how is she?"

"Hell if I know," Antonio said, "found out who she is though. Lena Bryant, age 17, senior in high school, parents said she was supposed to go to a Halloween party with friends last night. Her friends say she never showed up, and it sounds like it was just a cover story to go somewhere else. So far nobody has any idea where she was really going. Did she say anything before she collapsed?"

Casey thought back. "'Help'."

"That's it?" Antonio asked.

"She was pretty out of it."

"Did anybody else hear her say it?" Antonio asked.

"Yeah, we were all out there," Casey said, "why?"

"She's not talking," he answered.

That surprised Casey. "She's not saying who attacked her?"

"She's not saying anything, Casey. The doctor, the cops, her parents, they've all been in to see her, she's not said one word to any of them. I thought I'd double check she was actually verbal before the shock set in."

"Not much, but yeah."

"Well, doctors got her body temperature up, she's got her whole back bandaged up, physically she's recovering, but nobody can figure out why the hell she's not talking," Antonio said.

"And...Intelligence is looking into this why exactly?" Casey asked.

Antonio sighed. "There's a possibility it's connected to a few homicides we've been investigating the past week."

"What?"

"The injuries she sustained don't really match, but they're not entirely out of the ballpark either," Antonio explained. "Three drug dealers, all of whom have been a major pain in Narcotics' ass for years, all killed in a week. So far we can't find any connection between them and this girl, but we'll find out more later, there was some kind of screw up with her tox screen at the hospital so we have to wait to find out if she had anything in her system. If she was on something, that might be the connection, if not we're back to square one. Get this though, the third dealer was laying dead out in his own yard for two days before anybody called it in, apparently everybody just thought it was a clever Halloween decoration...until he started to decay anyway."

Casey grunted and remarked, "That's brutal."

"Everybody has their hands full today, lot of reports of people who didn't come home after last night, a lot of them teenagers, I remember when Halloween night was the busiest part of the season."

The bells went off and another call was coming from dispatch about a house fire.

"Every day is the busiest part of the season for us," Casey said as he got up to leave.