Chapter 9 – The Will of the Wisp/Echoes of Evil/Bad Reflections
Christine and David cowered together next to the pinball machine in the game room of the Riverside Motel after having run all night from the things in the street. David was the first to wake up and noticed that his sister was coming around. She turned her head and looked around the room, half in a daze, yet still feeling the anxiety of all that had gone on that night. This was their only place of shelter, and she needed the security that there was nothing there.
"Are they gone?" David asked, knowing his sister could sense things like this better than he could.
"Yeah," she said, relieved, "They're all gone."
"What were they?" David asked rhetorically, "They weren't at all like the ghosts mom and dad fight."
"Demons," Christine answered with a chill, "the same ones we hear about in the church and synagogue. There are some ghosts here; I sensed a ghostly presence off of that girl."
"Which reminds me," David began, "what do you think she wants anyway? Since we've been following her, she's lead us to nothing but those freakish monsters. I mean, we could make our own Cloverfield movie if I had brought my camera."
"Heh," Christine said, trying to make light of the situation, "That was a good movie wasn't it."
David smiled and said, "Yeah… 'Something else, also terrible.'" They both laughed; neither one of them really knew what else to do but joke around.
"Nah, but seriously," Christine said, "I have a strong feeling that girl is trying to help us in some way, and my feelings are generally correct. You know, I did get whatever mom and all the girls at school have."
"Yeah," David said, "that is a bit of a relief. By the way, is Micky's mom out of the hospital yet? I always thought his mom was cool, even if she was mean sometimes."
"She's out now," Christine said, cringing at the very suggestion that her brother thought Vicky Chang was cool, let alone that she was out of the hospital, "That's why Micky's crying out for attention so much. His dad has to take care of his mom while she's home."
"That makes sense," David says, "No wonder he's become such a jerk."
"Alright," Christine said, standing to her feet, "We better keep moving."
"Yeah," David said, also getting up, "but where do we go from here?"
"It's marked here on the map I picked up," Christine said, holding the town map up. There was a circle around the Midwich Elementary School, which was just down the street from their location. "Every other place we tried has been blocked off by a ditch. Maybe this'll help. Maybe it's from that girl."
The two thus proceeded out of the room and through the iron gates of the motel. The air was still cool, and fog grew thick around the sidewalks and rooftops. The street itself seemed to provide a clearer path, yet still terminated with more fog. Yet, their path was clear, and they proceeded towards their goal. They ran along the dark asphalt of Midwich Street, their shoes clamping and making echoes down the vastness of the road. Christine began to get a bad feeling, along with a tremendously pounding headache, yet she continued to run. Out of the fog came the image of something that looked like a skinned cow, yet its head and forelegs were dragging across the ground, its hind legs alone agonizingly pushing it along.
"What the heck is that?" David asked softly, trying not to draw too much attention.
"I don't know," Christine said in a normal tone, seeming as if in a daze, "but I almost feel sorry for it. The poor thing." Just then, the thing let out a roar and lunged straight for her, flailing its fat body and limp neck like a giant, lifeless turkey.
"Look out!" David called out and grabbed for her, pulling her out of its way. He looked at her for a moment before pulling her to her feet. "What were you thinking? Is there something wrong?" She looked at him like she had no idea what he was talking about, but then shook it off.
"I'm sorry," Christine said, coming to, "I'm not sure what happened there." The thing roared behind them, cueing them to continue on. They kept running.
They ran for a few minutes longer, feeling the muscles pull in their legs. They stopped to take a breath for a moment, only to notice that just ahead were the stairs leading to the school door and the girl standing in front of them. She turned to notice them and beckoned them on.
"Look," Christine said, "She wants us to come." Once the Fentons rose back up, they continued forward.
They stopped short, however, when they heard the storm siren sound off through the air, wailing like a banshee across the town. The ghostly girl seemed as if to cower in fear of some unseen presence that looked to overtake her. All of a sudden, everything went black.
"David," Christine said, "can you see anything?"
"No," David said, "Going ghost." With that, he transformed, just like his father.
"Going ghost," Christine repeated, and transformed likewise. Both of them then generated green light from their hands in order to see. What they now faced, however, was not the street but more of the rusted metal grating they had encountered whenever they first went through the hole in the house. The metallic smell of dead blood and roasted flesh filled the air.
"Oh no," Christine said, "Not more of this." Just then, from right behind them came the whispering voice, repeating the word, "Receiver," again and again. The kids turned around to see what looked like a giant ball of fur with two large sad baby doll faces at the top, held up by two large arms. One of these arms was pointing directly at David while the whispers seemed to come from nowhere. Before David could react, the creature lunged for him, grabbing him up in the extended hand.
"David!" Christine shouted as David screamed. She then flew up into the air and began firing green bolts at it, noticing more of the same creatures coming in to surround him. What she didn't notice was that her breath began to get cold as a ghost floated in from behind her, moaning as it grabbed her up. She let out one final scream as both were whisked away into the inky blackness of the Otherworld.
…………….
Danny and Danielle continued to look at the map. The light of the flashlight gleamed across the glossy page Danny held in his hand. A red circle ran around examination room two.
"It looks like we're headed to exam room two on the second floor," Danielle said.
"And the best way is the stairs," Danny followed.
"Let's go," Danielle finished. With that they headed out the door into the hallway. No sooner had they set foot on the linoleum then they heard the sirens sound across the town, making their way across the lake to the South Veil area. Everything became dark again. With Danny's flashlight, however, the pair was able to see the floor and walls seeming to rot or fall away entirely. What were left were the familiar iron, rust, and blood that covered the walls floors and ceiling.
Shaking in every limb, Danielle muttered, "Not again."
"We've got to keep moving," Danny said after a pause. The two then proceeded slowly to the left, down the hallway, passing doors that looked like they had been melted to the rest of the wall. Or were they made of flesh? It was impossible to tell.
They rounded the corner to get to the stairs. The door, however, was shut tight, not because of a broken lock, but also because it was missing a knob, covered in more of the melted fleshy material that lined the wall.
"Crap," Danielle said, frustrated as ever, still frightened and nervous, "Now what the hell do we do?"
"Look," Danny said, interrupting her fluster, "there's an elevator just down the hall. We can get to the second floor from there.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Danielle said. With that, the two turned around and stepped into the dark hallway of the group cells. "Turn off your light," Danielle whispered as they entered.
"Why," Danny said plainly.
"Just do it," Danielle said still whispering. He flicked the light off, and the two stood there in the darkness. While their eyes were adjusting, they both could hear sounds as those of some growling, unknown animal lurking in the various rooms to their right. The sound echoed in their ears, digging into their eardrums right to their brain. Still shaking, they both took a small breath and stood still, allowing their eyes to finally adjust enough for them to barely see the grimy walls of the hallway. They both then began to slowly walk down this maddening hallway until they could see some strange, large shapes standing in the middle, huddled together. Danny's breath became hot as he could slowly make out the curved bodies of these things, which appeared at first to be humanoid. He then made the mistake of turning his light on. Upon doing so, he could now see that they wore the visage of human nurses, save for that they had only lumps of flesh for faces, and were now marching towards him, holding syringes and scalpels.
"Turn it off." Danielle said, agitated. Danny proceeded as instructed, and the faceless nurses halted. From behind them, however, they both heard what sounded like women growling. They both turned around to see the door to C1 fall down and a horde of the faceless nurses fall out and begin creeping towards them.
Danielle screamed in both terror and frustration.
"I've had it," she shouted, "Going ghost." She then transformed, instantly began lodging a barrage of energy blasts at the ones blocking them from the elevator, knocking each one over with a sickening thud, and dragged Danny along as she flew to the opened elevator door. The bodies twitched and moaned, creating a harsh grating within Danny's brain. Upon entering, Danielle pressed the number two button and then proceeded to rapidly press the door close button. Right before the door could close, however, one of the flesh-faced nurses stuck a scalpel through the door and cut Danielle along the shoulder. She screeched in pain and fell to her knees to avoid any further injury, yet the door had already shut.
Danny found something on the floor elevator after turning the light back on. It was a red pocket radio, the speaker quietly making a static noise. He picked it up just as the elevator started moving.
"Why did you do that?" Danielle said.
"I'm sorry," Danny said, "It was an accident." He pocketed the radio. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Danielle said, holding her shoulder, "Just try to be more careful when I get a feeling next time, okay?" Her attention soon turned from the small cut to the coughing fit that then ensued from her throat. It was enough to nearly floor her and lasted for a full minute.
"Dani," Danny said, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah," Danielle said, "It's just a cough."
"Good to see you're both still in shape to fight," a voice from the radio bellowed.
"Vlad," Danny said, recognizing it instantly, "Somehow I knew you'd be up to this shit again."
"Just to let you know, Danny," Vlad said, "you may have come for your kids, but I believe you'll be searching in vain when they're dead. You see, we have them now, and in a few hours, the ritual will begin."
"You hurt them," Danny growled, "and so help me, I'll pull your lungs straight out of your throat."
"Oh," Vlad asked surprised, "Does the heroic Danny Phantom have it in him to do that?" His voice cackled, echoing off the elevator walls. The radio fell silent, and the doors opened.
Danielle coughed a few more times and looked up at Danny. He was facing the floor, looking as if in anguish.
"It'll be okay, Danny," Danielle said, getting up to pat her cousin's shoulders, "We'll find them."
"Yeah," Danny said, looking up, "We've come this far. Can't stop now." With that, they both proceeded out of the elevator into the next darkened hallway. They then proceeded onward through the darkness, this time without incident, yet still the eeriness did not let up, nor did the stench of coagulated blood. As they made it to the exam room door, it looked as if something was written on it in more of the bloody graffiti. Danny turned on the light to see that it read this: "There's a lot of me inside you…Maybe you're AFRAID to see."
Danny, with some hesitance, opened the door to see a large, darkened room with one light hanging down from the ceiling. Along the blackened floors, however, scurried creatures that resembled a cross between dogs and little children. As Danny focused on these bizarre monsters, a large blade came out of nowhere and impaled one of the beasts. The blade then brought the beast into the air and flung it into one of many cages that also hung from the ceiling. What then caught both of their eyes was the figure holding the blade; this monstrosity looked humanoid, yet had what looked like a large, triangle shaped piece of metal for a head and a blood stained smock. It then continued to stab the smaller creatures and launch them into the cages.
Whenever Danny looked at this creature, he got a sudden flashing image in his head of his alternate future self, that thing that he dreaded he would one day become. Danielle got a similar flash, that of Vlad Masters, the man who spawned her and forced her to do things outside of her will.
"That thing is us," Danielle muttered.
Danny shook off the hypnotic effect of looking at the monster and noticed his goal on the floor. There was a key on the floor, shining up through the darkness.
"Going ghost," he shouted and transformed. "Dani, get the key. I'll distract him." He began firing bolts at the metal triangle of this Red Pyramid Thing. The bolts, however, had little effect on Pyramid Head, merely instigating him to swing the gigantic blade at Danny. Danny went incorporeal to avoid the blast but still knew that this was just a once in awhile thing in this town, deciding to try and simply avoid the blade from now on.
Danielle came to as well and flew towards the creature's feet, picking up the key as she went. She looked down at the tag attached to it, the word 'Stairs' reading across it.
"Hey," Danielle shouted, "I've got it. Let's go."
"Right on," Danny said, firing one last blast at the creature before the two flew out the door and ran through the next door on their right to get to the stairs. They then shut it behind them in order to perhaps stall the Red Pyramid Thing for a few moments.
"Hey," the familiar voice of the nurse, Lisa, came from their right as they turned around to face the stairs, "It's good to see you've found the key."
"Lisa," Danielle said, "What's going on?"
"Listen," Lisa said, "you have to get to the roof. I'm tired of serving the order, continually living in this Hell without the blessing of death. I've left a clue up there on how to get to the other church, the one where they're holding the kids." Just as she spoke this, a roaring sound came from behind her, and before she could react, the revving blades of a chainsaw came barreling through her chest. She screamed in agony as her blood flew across the hall. Danny and Danielle stood petrified with shock. Lisa let out one last groan before evaporating into the air, revealing the wielder of the chainsaw, a man with long, ratty blonde hair and a dark, blood stained top coat. He looked up at them with an evil face as Danny let out a breath of cold air. This man was a ghost, obviously. Either way, both Danny and Danielle knew they were almost out of power. There was no use fighting this guy or that Red Pyramid Thing behind them. They powered down, turned the key, and ran through the door, shutting it behind them.
The Fentons then ran up the stairs, hearing loud thumps behind them. They finally reached to door and frantically turned the knob to open it. The area, while dark, was bathed in a red glow from a large rune on the floor of the roof. The design looked like a large circle, and inside the circle was a large triangle with several bizarre runes floating in it. They stepped out onto the design, hypnotized by the atmosphere. Just then, the door behind them flew off its hinges. They turned to see what caused it; it was none other than the blade of Pyramid Head, who was now lumbering through the doorway. The Fentons backed away, but to no avail. Pyramid Head swung his sword yet again, this time towards the two, and just before the blade collided, the siren sounded yet again, ringing through the air and fading far into the blackness.
The Red Pyramid Thing vanished, as did nearly everything else. The world was lighter now, only filled with fog yet again and without the smell of rust and blood. The Fentons stood together, holding each other, not knowing what else to do.
"Are you okay?" Danny asked.
"Yeah," Danielle said, coughing a few more times. She then went to the center of the roof and found a map of the town. She picked it up, noticing a circle around the antique store in the old district. She continued to cough a few more times, hoarse, ragged ones that sounded as if to tear her tonsils straight out. Danny noticed her looking down into her hand for a moment.
"What are you looking at?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said, trying to hide her hand.
"Dammit, Dani," he retorted, "let me see." She then sullenly held out her hand to show what she had coughed up: green ectoplasm.
