30 Days

Day 27

Shinigami-sama looked at the reports on his desk, and then looked at Mira Naigus. The fallout was still there, no doubt about that, but the events surrounding the whole incident were becoming quite bizarre and illogical. Just a day after he had told Kami that those inside the zone would die, a report landed on the desk to the contrary.

"You're 100 percent on this?" he said.

"I've done the research. The only casualties were D'éclair and Ford but their deaths were not black blood related. Something bad is going on, sir, whatever it is it has got us bad." Mira said

"Well now I have to apologize the living hell out of Kami, other than that I think we can begin plans to take care of the book store guy." Shinigami-sama said.

"This brings me to my next point. How sure are we that Shroyer is in fact the one doing this?" Mira said.

"What do you mean?" He said.

"What is the probability that in fact there may be something more at work here? Have we ruled out Soul Evans 100 percent? Mira said.

"Stein's work on the subject is clear, Evans is not the source." Shinigami-sama said.

"No offense sir," Mira said, "But I have gone over Dr. Stein's studies and I'll be honest with you, they don't hold up."

"How so?" Shinigami-sama said.

"The data from his tests and the medical records for Mr. Evans doesn't mathematically add up to form quantifiable data. In other words sir, there may be a possibility that he may be behind all this." Mira said.

"Do you have any proof? " He said. Mira smiled and set a file on the desk, Shinigami-sama flipped open the folder and saw a statement from the bank where Shibusen funds were stored. On the top of the page was a deposit for ten million dollars, into a personal account for Shinigami-sama. Beside it read a name, Joseph Evans, Soul's Father.

"Care to explain this sir?" Mira said. Shinigami-sama felt the noose tighten. It was crashing down around him.

Inside the Fallout

Maka began to stir into consciousness, like drifting from a dazed, drugged sleep. Surprisingly enough she felt no pain, memories of the cabin, and the torture had faded like a dream. She moved her hand to touch her private areas to check for sutures but found nothing but wet, slick flesh and the sense that she had somehow wanted to go on and release some tension. The knock on the door stopped that. Moving her hand quickly back to the side of the bed, Maka looked and saw Steve standing there.

"Hi Maka," he said, "How are you feeling?" Maka smiled faintly.

"Fine. Where's Soul?" She said.

"Out in the waiting room, he's sleeping right now. I'd hate to wake him; he's been through so much." Steve said.

"Yes, we both have been through hell. It would be nice to get back home, back to normal." She said.

"I understand." Steve said and clasped her hand.

"The one thing I don't understand is why does everything happen to us 3, why not everyone else here?" Maka said. Steve smiled and patted her hand.

"It'll be all over soon, trust me." He said.

"How do you know?" She said.

"I know a lot of stuff Maka." Steve said. Maka looked at him, and saw a drop of black blood fall from his eye. Maka looked at him in horror.

"You, you're," Maka stammered.

"Don't worry Maka; Ni-san will take good care of you!" Steve said and pressed his lips to hers. She fought back, her hands fumbling for any weapon she could get. She found a digital alarm clock on the table and smashed it on his head. Steve reared back; Maka kicked him onto the floor and jumped off the bed. She ran towards the door, but Steve managed to grab her by the shoulder and try to force her back in. Maka took her left foot and began hammering it into his left shin, he wouldn't relent.

"You're not going anywhere bitch!" Steve hissed. Maka seized the hand that was on her shoulder and sunk her teeth into it, biting down hard. Black blood flowed as her teeth sunk into sinew and tendon before snapping the joint of his right index finger. Steve screamed his cry like a wounded animal, a loud bleat of pain. Maka let go and spat out a wad of flesh before racing down the hall. Steve clutched his wound and whimpered in pain.

"You're dead bitch! You're fucking dead!" He screamed. Maka heard him from down the hall. Racing towards the waiting room, she noticed that the hospital was vacant, the desks, the rooms, all devoid of any people, a lurching fear grew in the pit of Maka's stomach. She was alone with a psychopath.

Outside the Fallout

"I didn't mean for all this to happen." Shinigami-sama said.

"How is Joseph Evans involved?" Mira said.

"He's the founder of the Cthulhu Group." He said.

"What is that?" She said.

"It's a society for those who want to experience other realms beyond this one, darker realms, beyond space and time." He said

"What do they want with Soul, with Shibusen?" Mira said.

He began, "In 2008, I was contacted by a member of the group about obtaining several religious texts, one of which was the Necronomicon. I was told this was for a research project. I declined of course. Around the same time one of the members got in contact with Medusa Gorgon, she was doing some research into black blood and kishens. They were very interested in that so they asked her to present her research at a meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. They believed that her black blood was the key to allow people to enter these other realms. 2 months later Soul Evans became infected."

"In 2009 I received a report from our counter intelligence division that said "Mabaa aligns with society for possible ELE, Extinction Level Event. We had been told by several informants that Mabaa had been working with a guy in the Cthulhu group to release a massive amount of black blood into the world. They planned to try to get the soul of a person to resonate so highly that it would affect the entire planet. When Evan's Black Blood returned, they used a woman who was possessed by Medusa in our health department to give Soul a stimulant that would accelerate his soul wavelength. He went into the nurse's office 2 days before he became re inflicted for a flu shot. The rest is what is now going on."

"That doesn't explain Evan's payment to your account." Mira said.

"After Evans became infected, I told my son Kid, to take care of the problem. No more than two hours after he left, Joseph Evans called me and offered me the money to keep my people from killing his boy. He noted that I did nothing after I saw the report in 09 and that it could lead to a huge shit storm. He promised me recurring payments every week for a little over four weeks. I couldn't risk the academy over my mistake. I am not infallible Mira."

"You know when this gets out people will be asking for your head." She said.

"Let them come at me, I deserve this." He said. Shinigami-sama's intercom buzzed.

"Yes?" He said.

"There is a disturbance outside, some guy claiming to be Steve Shroyer is trying to get past security and is throwing a shit fit." A voice said. Mira looked at him.

"I'll handle it." He said and walked to the front desk.

"Can somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on here?" Steve said.

TBC