Fume
The man anxiously weaved through the narrow alleys and twisting streets of the village, pausing before each rickety door and knocking anxiously. Sometimes there was no response, other times hushed voices would stir from within.
"It's him."
"What, the husband of that thing? That witch- "
"Quiet! What do we do?
"Ignore him-his family's nothing but bad news…." The voices faded as he sprinted down the street, the wuthering zephyrs lifting his patched tan robe high. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he slammed into another door. In the distance, he heard a high-pitched wail, and his heartbeat faster.
"Damn you all!" He yelled, bashing his fists against the door. "Your kinsman begs for aid, and you begrudge him even a moment of your time!" Red, blistered skin turned dark and wet as his fists anxiously beat upon the splintered wood.
The door opened, and he nearly fell into the darkness within. Precariously balancing on the balls of his feet, he gulped anxiously as a burly figure emerged from within. In the darkness, steel glinted off the barrel of the rifle.
"There's good reason we don't associate with you anymore." A brown goblet of spit landed near the desperate man's foot. "Now if you don't quit, I will make sure the last sound you hear is the crack of my rifle."
Despite facing down the barrel of a gun, the desperate man knew he couldn't back down. His only weapon in this situation was reason.
"Would I humble myself at your feet for no reason, especially after you cast my wife and I out? I need your help, just this once, once in five years!"
"Go to Riaz sahib's haveli if you're that desperate-don't bother us decent folk. There's work to be done in the fields tomorrow morning." The rifleman growled.
"Riaz Sahib? Riaz Sahib? If you reject me so, then what makes you think Riaz sahib will entertain me?"
"If you're so desperate to keep arguing with this- "There was an audible click and the desperate man drew back "-then you are mad enough to go to the haveli. Now go before I make up my mind."
With that the door slammed shut, and the wails in the distance grew louder. Swallowing his spit, he continued uphill, his breathing growing ragged. There was no hope-he would just have to go to the haveli.
"What other choice do I have?"
Soon he emerged from the stinking streets and sidestepped a sewage-filled ditch as he made his way to the main wall. A big green sign was posted next to the dirt road leading to the gate, but his eyes could not decipher the message upon it. For all he knew it said, "Step past this to get shot."
For a moment he hesitated at the sign, but the wail wafted upwards, and he walked forward. Step by step, heartbeat by heartbeat, his will wore down as the wails echoed in his ears.
The door swung open, and he expected some guard or servant there to shoo him off. Instead-
"Malik Riaz Sahib!" The man fell to his knees before him and kept his head low. Meanwhile, the person addressed strode forth, clad in a jet-black silk suit and wearing polished brown leather shoes.
"What brings you to my house this time in the night, Rizvi?" Riaz asked, polishing his nails with a black handkerchief.
"Sir please, my wife needs transport to the hospital, she- "
"Is your wife better than the other, more loyal retainer's wives that she requires my vehicle? Can she not take the raksha?"
"Sir, no rakshas this time of the night- "
"I know that." Riaz snapped, walking around the kneeling man. "Very well, I'll get the driver to prepare the SUV. I shall be coming along too."
"You will, Sir?" Rizvi spoke, gratitude filling his voice. "Thank you, Sir." He reached out to touch the tip of the shoe, only for the Sahib to retract his foot.
"Don't spoil my shoe. You know why I do this, and I hope your wife doesn't fail her duty this time around. Otherwise…." Riaz left the threat dangling as he whipped out his phone.
The ride was silent and tinged with fatal tension. Rizvi gathered himself in his cloak, hoping the dirt of his clothes did not adhere to the seats. His wife lay in the back, groaning, while Riaz sat in the front passengers' seat. When they arrived, the driver wasted no time in removing the impoverished couple from the vehicle, while Riaz strode towards the E.R. keeping a large distance between the pair. The staff bowed in deference as he passed; and Rizvi could only marvel at the gleaming electric lighting of the hospital as his wife leaned heavily upon him.
From within the delivery clinic, the wails grew higher in pitch, then became screams, and then there was silence. During the passing hours Rizvi huddled on the floor, and Riaz reclined on a seat while sipping tea the staff had prepared for him.
"I'm sorry to have to treat you this way, Rizvi. I really am." He spoke up, just as the morning sun began to dawn. Rizvi could not believe his ears-what was Sahib saying? "But you understand how it is-you and your wife are very…...difficult cases. Unprecedented." Rizvi did not understand, but he merely nodded his head. Just then, the doors swung open and the doctor signaled the pair.
Riaz folded his newspaper and put away the teacup. "Cases like these have popped up all over the globe. And we're about to have one in this village-not counting the earlier mishap, of course."
They walked down the hallway, towards the gleaming lights in the end. Rizvi was still trying to wrap his head around the what Sahib said-what did he mean, internationally? For the simple farmer his world was the village of Adderpur and the occasional jaunt to the big city of Lahore. The idea of a vast and uncharted world out there was…. frightening. But not more frightening than what they were about to behold.
The doctor, and the accompanying nurses beheld the mewling blob with a mixture of revulsion and fear. No-one stepped close to the thing occupying the bloody space between the mother's legs, instead observing from afar. Fumes wafted towards the fluorescent light dangling from the ceiling.
Only Riaz kept walking, his eyes fixated on the thing-the child. If it could be called that-a messy crimson patchwork of pipes and pistons extended from its leg and arm joints, letting out tiny bursts of steam. The mother had long since fainted, else she might've kicked the newborn off onto the floor in fright.
"How fascinating!" The landlord's eyes glimmered with excitement, as he reached for the kid. Ignoring the blood, he raised the bloody infant high. Meanwhile, Rizvi only watched in indescribable horror along with the doctor and the nurses. This-thing had given his beloved such pain, had inhabited her womb, the parasite…. his thoughts ran feverish with various things he'd do to the little devil. And suddenly, the truth behind the first child became clear, and why it never breathed past the first night in its cradle.
"Rizvi, why do you look so afraid?" Riaz gloated "Look upon your fine son! It is indeed a day to be proud, for your family has distinguished itself once again! A living specimen!" The corners of his lips curled up into a disgusting smile as he turned to face the gibbering farmer. Raising the baby high, he proudly proclaimed.
"A Quirk user!"