"A Haunting We Will Go"
by ValleyA
Chapter One
October 29th
A brisk October wind howled past Detective Peter Caine as if it was a banshee's cry heralding the arrival of Death's chariot into this realm, chilling the souls of any living witnesses to its fearsome shriek and awesome might. And the wind did chill him, his fingers felt like claws of ice as they fought to maintain their grip on his straining umbrella.
Trudging through the heavy downpour inundating the city, Peter had to hike his way to the 101st precinct, grumbling all the while. He was doing a pretty good job of holding onto his umbrella, considering there were gale force winds tugging at its frame, but he'd long since given up on the notion of staying dry.
Peter started toward the staircase leading into the station house when another brutal gust of wind blasted past him and his umbrella. He managed to hold onto the thing long enough to watch it invert, then shred as it was whipped about in the merciless wind.
"Son of a bitch!" Peter exclaimed as he threw the now useless device on the ground.
The uncaring wind continued to hurl huge sheets of rain at him. He cursed, then kicked the poor abused and misshapen umbrella off the sidewalk, so that it landed with a thud against the side of the building.
A moment later, it disappeared into a rapidly growing pool of runoff water from a nearby storm drain. Peter shook his head in exasperation as large raindrops pelted his face, adding insult to injury. With a sudden shift in attitude, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back to allow the rain to fully hit his face and he smiled devilishly as he flipped off the storm overhead with a hand gesture of boyhood satisfaction.
He proceeded inside, hoping for a belligerent felon to go ten rounds with him. At least, it would be a release for his pent-up frustration against the forces of Mother Nature.
oOoOoOoOo
Detective Jody Powell took a moment to pass out some Halloween candy to some of her coworkers before stepping onto a small ladder. She had one last strand of orange and black streamers to finish draping diagonally across the lobby and staple into place before she was done.
She held the long section of streamers twisted in her hand as she surveyed her decorations with a more discerning eye. They were even better this year than they'd been before. The lobby and bullpen areas had a festive look, ready to welcome Halloween in a few days.
There was one section left to finish, then her self-appointed decorating tasks would be complete. She heard the whoosh of wind and rain, which accompanied the opening of the front door, and knew someone was coming in from the blustering rainstorm outside. The streamers fluttered with the sudden breeze and she had to work a little harder to keep from dropping them.
All it took was one look at how soaked Peter was as he came through the front door to send her into a fit of giggles, but a second glance caused her laughter to die in her throat as her partner's intense glare sent icy daggers of death through her.
Peter didn't say a single word as he stomped past her, his wet hair plastered to his forehead and water dripping off the end of his chin and nose. He proceeded past Sergeant Broderick at the front desk, then walked through the dangling streamers still in her hand as if they weren't even there. His pace never slowed as the fragile streams of paper pulled tight against his chest, then tore into separate pieces that fluttered to the floor with his passing. He entered the bullpen area without ever looking back.
Jody stammered in shock, finally yelling in outrage, and she shouted, "HEY!"
Peter usually growled at her as she decorated for the October holiday, but this time, he threw his hands up into the air and shouted, "I! HATE! HALLOWEEN!"
Jody got one snipe in before he disappeared from her view, "Yeah, well, I'm not real happy with you right now either, partner!"
Peter ignored her and shook the water from his arms like a wet dog, oblivious to anyone or anything standing nearby, then he frowned at the passing stream of construction workers carrying equipment into the basement. The heavy traffic blocked his route to his desk as he glared and paced, rather than simply waiting in place.
"What's this? A speedy bypass route to the city construction depot?" Peter muttered, still shaking off the water still dripping down his arms.
"Now, Peter, be nice," Blake said, the remnants of his head cold clearly present, as he refilled his coffee cup. "We are all city employees here – all part of one big happy family."
Maybe it was his lingering cold which made Blake's devil horns emerge, because he didn't seem able to resist his next comment as he eyed Peter's drenched appearance and gestured with his ever present coffee cup. "You know, Pete, there's a drip mat in the back for umbrellas where you can stand until you've finished drip-drying."
Peter's glare now turned on Blake, who looked more like a kindly college English instructor than a cop. He just smiled back in smug satisfaction. Peter opened his mouth to throw a nasty quip back at him, but then decided Blake wasn't worth the effort at the moment.
Instead, Peter shed his water-logged jacket and hung it up with all of the other dripping coats on a nearby coat rack. He ran his icy fingers through his soggy hair in an attempt to make himself halfway presentable, even though he knew it wouldn't help much and went to pour himself a cup of coffee when Blake stopped him, sounding genuinely apologetic this time. "Uh, sorry, Pete, I took the last cup. A new pot will be ready in a couple of minutes."
Peter's gaze turned deadly. He'd really wanted that cup of coffee to help warm him up. Blake took note of the glare, because he added, "You can have mine, if you want, Petey."
Blake held out his already sipped-on cup for as an offering, only to pause and sneeze. Peter licked his lips as the steaming cup of coffe seemed to call his name, but he thought better of it. The last thing he needed was to catch Blake's cold.
Peter shook his head and groused, "I'll just wait for a fresh pot."
Peter went to his desk and sighed. He stared at the unruly pile of paperwork he'd left from the night before. He stretched a bit, wishing he had gotten more sleep. It had been another night filled with dreams about skeletons, impending danger and death.
Knowing the paperwork wasn't going to do itself, he sat down at his desk and was soon engrossed in his reports. He barely noticed Blake's passing presence. The heavenly scent of fresh coffee wafting from the cup on his desk did catch his attention, though. Blake must have slipped it under his nose after the last pot had finished brewing.
Peter smiled and gave Blake a grateful nod as he took a sip of the still too hot coffee and sighed in contentment. Another moment and Peter was back to his paperwork.
oOoOoOoOo
The procession of city construction workers passing through on their way to the basement didn't escape Frank Strenlich's watchful eye as he surveyed each one of them with a prevailing air of suspicion.
Captain Karen Simms sauntered up to his side and smiled as she whispered, "You know, chief, those people are not the enemy."
Frank never shifted his gaze as he replied, "I know, Captain, but I don't like strangers traipsing through my department."
"It will only be for a few weeks until they complete the renovations to the basement. It's a win-win situation. We get a new base of operations for our precinct's computer systems, freeing up more room for office space and provide a larger conference room."
Frank gritted his teeth as Simms mentioned the 'C' word. Computers. God, how he hated them. "If you say so, Captain," he replied politely, though Simms eyed him for a moment.
"Try to relax, Chief," Simms said finally as she sighed and returned to her office.
After a moment, the last of the construction workers disappeared into the basement and Frank gave up his vigil. He grabbed the files he needed and headed for his own office.
oOoOoOoOo
The construction crew had dug down into the foundation of the basement to complete the necessary renovations when the ground underneath gave way. Rock, earth and rubble tumbled into a cavern about thirty feet deep. Luckily, no one was caught in the collapse.
George Yingst, the foreman for this city work detail, sent his second-in-command, Jaime Gomez, down through the opening armed with a heavy-duty flashlight and orders to report back on what he saw there. Jaime relied on the meager light from his hard hat as he rappeled down below using some adapted mountain climbing gear one of his men had in their truck. When Jaime switched on his large handheld flashlight, he was amazed to find an extensive area carved out of the bedrock.
He stared in amazement at a wide tunnel about a hundred feet long and twenty feet wide. He released himself from his cable and began to walk around and whistled softly to himself. This tunnel was not a natural occurrence; it was definitely manmade. He even noticed some rusty tools leaning against one wall.
"Jaime? What do you see down there?" the foreman's voice took on a mechanical tone as it echoed over the radio in the huge, empty cavern.
Jaime started to reach for the hand mike clipped to his utility vest when something else caught his eye. George sounded pretty agitated as he said, "Gomez, respond."
Jaime meant to reply, but then his eyes narrowed. He stepped closer to what had caught his attention for a better look and saw two skeletons, lying side by side within two piles of old and dusty clothing. The realization they were definitely human remains caused Jaime to back up so quickly he almost stumbled.
Jaime searched for the cable he'd discarded after his descent, then followed its length upwards with his flashlight until he spied the opening above it. Suddenly, he heard his supervisor bellow at him over his hand mike, and realized George must have been calling to him for a while. "Gomez, I'll have your ass in a sling if you don't answer me now! Damn it, what the hell is going on down there?"
Jaime finally grabbed his hand mike and spoke into it in his usual understated manner, "Uh, boss, I think you better come down here. You might wanna grab one of those cops from up above, too. I just found some skeletons – they're human and I think they've been dead for a long while."
oOoOoOoOo
After Strenlich got wind of the construction crew's discovery, he sent Peter and Jody down to the site to check it out. Peter's dark mood hadn't improved as the morning progressed, but neither had Jody's, so it was a quiet team of detectives who followed the work crew into the nether regions below.
Once Peter disconnected himself from his line, he walked over to where the others were standing around the skeletons. Glancing back, he saw a beefy construction worker helping Jody with her line. It seemed like he was giving her a lot more attention than the situation required and Jody was enjoying the encounter, so Peter opted to go straight to work.
He squatted beside the skeletons, shining his flashlight over the dull bones. He felt a presence beside him and saw Jody leaning over his shoulder, still not talking to him.
Frowning, a fragment from Peter's dream the previous night flashed across his thoughts. His head whipped up as the frightening recollection became clearer in his thoughts – it had something to do with bones and skeletons. In fact, this whole scenario seemed very familiar and dangerous at the same time.
With that startling revelation, he knew Jody was in danger. His reached up and pulled her back from the bones, as if they had suddenly become a coiled collection of cobras ready to attack. Jody's expression conveyed a mixture of surprise, irritation, and concern, especially when Peter stopped rather abruptly after jerking her away.
Peter felt a tickling at the back of his mind and he stiffened as it continued to grow. Strangely, Jody had stiffened in her stance, too, then a blinding white light exploded inside Peter's mind without warning and the world around them disintegrated.
oOoOoOoOo
George Yingst, the construction foreman, and his men migrated over to where they'd found a brick wall at the one end of the tunnel as they waited for the detectives to do their thing. "Hope this doesn't take long or else we'll be way behind schedule," George muttered.
His gaze went to the brick wall as he spoke. It seemed completely out of place and its purpose unknown. Nothing like that was on any of the blueprints he'd seen. Then again, this whole cavern wasn't on the blue prints, either.
Without warning, every flashlight in the cavern went out at the same time.
Accompanying the abrupt darkness came a chilling whirlwind, one which blasted everyone from their feet. Even before their bodies had time to hit the ground, an unholy scream filled the huge grotto. It was a howling lament, the kind George had never heard before and prayed never to hear again. It wailed into the frigid air nearly curdling George's blood as he stared out into the awful darkness.
George, a man nearly the size of Shaquille O'Neal and also African-American origin, reached for his hand mike intending to call for help, only to find it wouldn't work.
A few of the guys had managed to get to their feet despite the windstorm still blasting around them. George tried to walk in the general direction of the cables that linked them to the rest of the world, but he became lost in the pitch-black darkness.
The freezing temperatures stiffened George's movements as, if his joints had become iced over during his attempts to move. Two tours in Viet Nam had never prepared him for anything as bizarre as this.
Just as quickly as the lights had gone out, they came back on. They shone with a sudden, glaring intensity that startled George and the rest of his crew.
"What the hell was that?" George muttered, being the first of the group to speak.
The hand mike still in his grip squawked to life along with the flashlights. "Boss? Boss, can you hear me? Respond if you can!"
George tried to appear calm as he activated his hand mike and spoke into it, "Yingst here. We're fine. What's your status?" His graveled voice sounded surprisingly strong.
He was amazed how quickly the cavern seemed to warm up with the reactivation of the flashlights. He looked upward as he heard Milo Milanski, speak in a breathless, agitated manner. "Everything went dead up here for a minute. When it came back on, I was worried about you folks stuck down there."
"Same thing happened down here. We – "
George was interrupted by his assistant crew chief, Jaime Gomez, "Uh, boss, I think we've got another problem here. You better call for some paramedics... "
George turned and was stunned to see the two police detectives who had accompanied them down into the tunnel were lying unconscious beside each other, mere inches from the two skeletons. The complexions of the two cops were ash-white while their lips were nearly tinged blue.
"Boss, their skin is ice cold," Gomez said as he pulled off his jacket and placed it over the female officer who was dressed in lighter clothing than the man beside her.
One of the other men kneeling beside Jaime quickly removed his sweatshirt jacket and draped it over the unconscious detective as Gomez took the woman's limp hand in his and rubbed it briskly, trying to give her additional body heat.
George scowled with concern and glanced upward. "Ah, shit! Milanski? Call for the paramedics now! We've got some unconscious cops down here in the middle of everything else!"
As he heard Milanski shout orders, George rubbed a hand over his bald head and sighed deeply. It was turning into one hell of a day.
oOoOoOoOo
"Peter?"
Distantly, Caine heard his name being called several times. With each repetition, the disembodied voice calling to him seemed to become more upset. He glanced up with half-lidded eyes to see Kermit leaning close to him. "Peter? Peter, can you hear me?"
Before he could answer, he started to shiver violently. "C-cold," he managed to stammer in a hoarsely whispered tone.
Kermit bent to tuck in the pile of blankets thrown over him more tightly.
"I know you are, Peter, but just sit tight. Help's on the way."
Peter tried to sit up as he grew more alert, only to have Kermit push him back down none too gently and growl, "Hold it right there, Superman. I said there's help on the way to check you two out."
"Two? W-who else?" Peter rasped.
He turned his head slightly and caught a glimpse of another body beside him. He recognized Jody's curly blonde hair and shifted enough to see Powell's eyelids were fighting to stay open just like his own were doing.
"Jody?" Peter tried to rise again, only to be shoved back down.
"I said wait," Kermit snarled. "Don't make me say it again."
Peter's head sagged back down to the ground wearily, unable to continue to push against Kermit's hand. Kermit seemed to relax a little once Peter stopped trying to fight against him and glanced back over at Strenlich and Jody as he asked, "How's she doing, chief?"
The burly ex-marine shook his head as he tried calling Jody's name again. Frank rocked back on his heels. "Whatever hit them sure knocked them for a loop," Frank replied grimly.
Kermit's jaw tightened with concern and he bent down closer to Peter. "Peter? What happened?"
Peter took a deep breath, trying to sort things out in his head. Finally, he opened his eyes slightly and looked up at Kermit. "D-Damned if I know. We w-were looking at the sk-skeletons when, all of a sudden, t-the lights went out. And I guess, so did we."
Rubbing a throbbing temple as his shivering tampered off, Peter asked, "W-was anyone else affected?"
Kermit shook his head. "Nope, only you two."
"Great," Peter sighed, closing his eyes again.
By the time the paramedics arrived, Peter felt almost human. His skin was still icy cold compared to Kermit's hands, but at least his brain was functioning again. Jody remained pale and just as icy cold to the touch as he was, but it was their exhaustion seemed to be the most irritating aftereffect.
"No, I don't want to go to the hospital," Peter said emphatically. "I'm fine. Just a little tired and cold. It's no big deal."
Jody nodded in agreement. "It would be a waste of time. I'm not going either."
Frank and Kermit eyed the two of them. Frank said, "You need to go to the hospital to be checked out."
"For what? To be told I'm cold and tired? Come on, Frank."
Kermit said, "Both of you were unconscious."
Peter shook his head, but it was Jody that answered him. "We're fine, honestly. Not sure what happened, but we are fine."
Jody's voice was husky and she kept her blanket tightly clutched around her shoulders, yet there was enough of her usual determination shining through to help ease Peter's concern for her.
Frank sighed as he thought. Finally, he said, "I'm not going to order you to go to the hospital, but you're going to take the rest of the day off, and that's final."
Then his expression grew more stern as he stared at both of them. "If either one of you start to feel worse, you better get your ass to the hospital, or you'll hear about it from me!"
Kermit shook his head, but didn't say anything as they got to their feet to head up top. Peter knew he was worried, but it wasn't Kermit's way to hover. Thank God for that, Peter thought with a tired grin. All he wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed.
oOoOoOoOo