Author's Notes: I realize after the recent events of Boston that my mentioning potential bomb threats in this fanfic could be considered insensitive. Believe me I have no idea that there would be a bombing when I posted chapter 55. It was merely a way for Lina and company to get everyone out of the threatened buildings. I am not trying to make light of the horrible events in Boston. My heart goes out to those who were hurt and those that lost someone in Boston.
Ghost Slayers
Chapter Fifty-six
By Relm
It was always hard when you were rushing to get somewhere and the world was working against you. This was the case with the cars that left Ghost Slayers HQ. Things had started out fine but as news spread about the potential 'bombing' in the three buildings the traffic went crazy. Anyone in the buildings or around them rushed to get away. This alone shouldn't have caused all the traffic woes but it wasn't just people trying to get away that was the issue. Lots of people were also trying to get to these areas. Some were valid people like emergency workers but some were just plain stupid.
The stupid ones were mostly armed with cameras and a strong disregard for personal safety. Some wanted the thrill of seeing destruction or being in potential danger. Others wanted to record the scene with hopes of cashing in on the disaster. The last group was the most intrusive all, the media. With all their equipment and personnel they could really muck things up. Getting the scoop was their job but the news people didn't make things easier in these sort of situations.
Lina was cursing them all at that moment. Though the victims of the demonic thus far hadn't been too important Lina couldn't help but shake the feeling it was Philonel that was the intended target. She wanted to keep an open mind and not be thinking so narrowly but it was hard. Throw in the potential victim's hysterical younger daughter in the car and it upped the urge to keep that less than open minded way of thinking.
In that moment there wasn't much she was thankful for but she was thankful that Amelia had stopped verbally freaking out. It never helped the driver if his or her passengers were yelling in the car. Lina had to near scream herself to get Amelia to shut up. Amelia had done what Lina asked but that didn't stop the youngest Ghost Slayer from being beside herself in fear. From the time she shut up Amelia had her head down and her hands together in silent prayer. Until she knew that her father was safe Amelia wasn't going to stop praying.
BEEP BEEP!
"Move already!" Lina screamed out her window as she honked her horn. "If these idiots don't start moving I'm going to get out of the car and beat the crap out of them!" She fumed while she impatiently tapped the steering wheel.
"Lina I don't think the cars right in front of us are the problem. The tie up seems to be blocks away from here." Zelgadis pointed out to her. Because of how hysterical Amelia had been before they had even got into the car Lina had relegated Amelia to the backseat with Zelgadis sitting in front.
"I don't care! This is so frustrating!" Lina growled. "It's almost quicker to get out the car and walk the whole dammed way!"
"It would be but the equipment kinda creates an issue." Zelgadis agreed. A quick look outside also proved to be in favor of Lina's assumption. A couple elderly woman putting along with their walkers had already passed them even though Lina had been two blocks ahead of them previously.
Lina readjusted her rear view mirror in vain as though that would make the traffic go faster. It didn't obviously but Lina felt like she needed to do something instead of just sitting there doing nothing. Looking into said mirror show the sight of Amelia in the backseat with her head down. "Amelia how are you doing?"
Amelia didn't answer but Lina could see but from the soundness moving of Amelia's lips that she was still praying.
"Amelia have you tried calling your father?" Zelgadis wondered.
Amelia looked up at Zelgadis with weary eyes. "Many times. I tried his cell phone, office phone and even his home phone on the off chance that he didn't go to work today. He's not answering any of them."
"Well that doesn't mean anything bad has happened to him." Zelgadis was quick to point out. He could feel Lina's eyes glaring holes into his head at the prospect of making Amelia feel worse.
"I know. My Father always forgets his cell phone in his office and he's rarely in his office. He's always hard to get a hold off. Any time I've called him at work I've had to talk through his secretary to get my messages to him." Amelia explained. "Everyone at City Hall must be freaking out because I can't even get a hold of Father's secretary!"
"Amelia don't start! We're on our way and we'll stop the book before it attacks anyone else!" Lina sighed and brought her gaze back to the congested road ahead of her. "If I still had my police siren I'd so put it on so I can get all the damned cars out of the way."
"You had a police siren?"
"Yeah..." Lina grumbled. "Till the dumb police took it away from me."
"What's the game plan once we figure out where the book is?" Zelgadis wondered.
"I don't know. I've been trying to figure out what to do. The simplest solution would be to just destroy the book before it can attack anyone else. If the book is destroyed that could destroy whatever is inside it and hopefully return everyone's bodies back." Lina explained.
"Or destroying the book could free whatever is trapped inside causing a greater threat than in its current state." Zelgadis countered.
Lina glared at Zelgadis. "Kill joy."
"Well we need to be thinking about all the possibilities. Running in blindly with guns a blazing isn't exactly a good plan Lina." Zelgadis reminded her.
"Okay then what do you suppose we do then?!"
"Well wouldn't it make more sense to try and catch the book to study it?"
"Yes but It's not like we can safely catch the damned thing! It extends a red hand out of its pages to attack its victims! We wouldn't be even able to get close!" Lina exclaimed.
"What if you destroy the book and the thing inside and I and the others don't get our bodies back?"
Lina let out a deep sigh. "I don't know Zelgadis. Really I'm sorry but I don't. I would love to be able to tell you that everything is going to okay but I can't. I have no idea what is going to happen. This is completely out of my knowledge base and sadly there isn't an expert I can call to ask. I'm the expert in this area. And the only thing I can think of doing is taking some readings with my scanner and the shooting the damned thing with my gun. And if it's a spirit of some kind hopefully I can coax it out of the book and into a containment box."
"So even with the best case scenario the other guys and I could be stuck like ghosts for forever." Zelgadis concluded grimly.
"Zel..."
"Doesn't matter." Zelgadis decided. "You'll go in there and shoot the book. Even if nothing gets fixed with me, Gourry, Xellos and Val then at the very least I'll know that no one else will be in danger. That's the important thing right? That the rest of Sailune is safe?"
"Mister Zelgadis is so brave!" Amelia burst out into tears. "Miss Lina we must prevail! We can let Mister Zelgadis and the others be trapped into a bodiless fate! The powers of justice and truth shall be our weapons and we will vanquish all evil!"
"Amelia shut up..." Lina grumbled. She herself had been moved by Zelgadis' declaration but Amelia had effectively ruined the mood.
...
Mayor Sailune was quite possibly the most noble and self sacrificing person in the city. He knew of the danger he could be potentially be facing if he didn't get out of the building soon but still he stayed. As in their many safety drills Philonel usually appointed himself the safety captain. It a was duty he did with the utmost pride and one that most wished was delegated to someone else. There was many other people working in City Hall that could be the safety captain but no one else volunteered. For you see volunteering be the captain meant in the case of an evacuation you had to stay behind to make sure everyone was out of the building. This meant checking and double checking each room to see if they were devoid of people. It was a duty that ensured that everyone in the building got out safely but also put the captain at risk.
It was in this sort of a situation having a personnel list handy would be helpful. However given that many visitors came and went through City Hall everyday and didn't bother to properly sign the sign-in sheet it made having a list moot.
Room by room Philonel checked each room looking for stray people. For the most part the building seemed to be empty but he did find a few stragglers in a couple of the rooms. Those people had either been too engrossed in their work to hear the warning over the PA or had thought it was just a drill.
"Okay that clears this floor. Just six more to go." Philonel declared.
...
"I swear the traffic is getting WORSE!" Lina grumbled.
"Well if the media had gotten wind of this 'story' then they could all be going towards City Hall because it's the most important of the targets. At the very least if the 'real' bomb was in another building and went off the reporters would want to get Mayor Sailune's reaction to it." Zelgadis rationalized.
"Stupid media... STUPID PEOPLE! GET OFF THE ROAD!" Lina screamed out her window.
RING RING!
Lina fished her phone out and gave it a look. It was Filia. "Hello?" Lina answered while putting her phone on speakerphone.
"Hey Lina it's Filia." Filia's voice sounded less than impressed but then she was driving with Xellos in the car so that's bound to be expected.
"Filia are you at the community center already?!"
"Yes just swinging by it."
"Really?! Grrrr... We're still stuck in traffic! We're not even close to City Hall yet! Did Xellos get any reactions from the community center?"
"No. Though the stupid idiot did 'pretend' to have a reaction just to scare me. Makes wish I brought my taser gun with me so I could smack the damned fool."
"You'll be able to beat the crap out of Xellos all you want when we finally fix this whole mess."
"Assuming all goes well... Have you heard from Sylphiel yet?"
"No. With how bad the traffic is I'll bet Sylphiel and Gourry are stuck."
"No doubt. So since the book isn't at the community center do you want me to start heading towards the firehouse or City Hall?"
"More likely Sylphiel will get to the firehouse before you get anywhere close to either destination so just start heading towards City Hall. If it turns out the book is at the firehouse I'll call you right away."
"Okay. I'll talk to you soon."
"Bye." Lina hung up her phone. "Well at least that's one place we can write off." She mumbled to herself. Another quick look to the rear view mirror showed that Amelia was still silently praying in the backseat.
"In hindsight it might have been more beneficial to have all four of you take separate cars with one person just waiting in-between points to use as backup." Zelgadis rationalized.
Lina shot Zelgadis a sideways glance before leaning over to whisper to him. "You really think I can trust Amelia to go somewhere by herself right now?"
Zelgadis looked at the backseat and grimaced. "Point taken."
"We'll all get there in the end regardless who gets there first. As long as everyone heeds the bomb threat and evacuates the building we can take as much time as we need." Lina reminded Zelgadis.
"You know Lina I had a thought..."
Lina glared at Zelgadis again. "I know I'm going to regret asking this but what were you thinking Zel?"
"Maybe this book is going to end up at one of these three locations but that doesn't mean it has appeared or will appear right away."
"Your thinking makes me mad. Stop thinking." Lina threatened him.
"Seriously Lina we don't know how long it takes for the book to show up. It could take days, weeks or months even. It took for Xellos to get attacked after me. Yes the time seems to have shortened with each attack but still really we could be heading to these three locations and end up thinking they are not because no one reacts. But in reality they still could be though at a later time." Zelgadis explained.
"Stop talking!"
"But really Lina-"
"I DON'T CARE! EVERYONE IN THIS CAR WILL BE QUIET UNTIL I SAY SO!" Lina yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Yes Lina/Miss Lina." Zelgadis and Amelia said at the same time.
Inside in her head Lina was fuming. 'Damn that Zelgadis and his stupid logical thinking! As if I didn't already have enough to worry about!'
