"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague."

~Edgar Allan Poe

Seventeen

SLAM!

It caught nearly everyone's attention in the main room of the police station. Officers and civilians alike were curious as to the reason for the commotion up front, but most of their views were obscured by the glass partition and the large, oak reception desk that overlooked the main foyer. Jeanette Bainbridge, going on sixty with twenty years at her post, was probably the least disturbed of anyone. Throughout her time as the main receptionist, Jeanette had seen all sorts of people and activities. Whether they were criminals being literally dragged in by officers, or that time that some crazy guy had opened fire into the ceiling, only to realize this was a police station and not the bank. In fact, anytime someone came in, Jeanette now did a quick scan to see if they had a gun. Neither of the three that entered did, so she wasn't very impressed and went back to her Sudoku book.

While she wasn't listening, she did notice a slightly hysterical tone in the young lady's voice while trying to explain something to the other woman. The guy kept looking down at his leg and wound up hopping over to the bench against the wall where Mr. Perez, a regular complainant, sat waiting for an officer to take down his latest grievance. She couldn't completely see from where she was sitting, but it looked like the guy pulled his pants leg up, which may have been the cause for Mr. Perez to get up from where he was seated. The older man approached Jeanette, which caused the receptionist to sigh while closing her book.

"An officer will be out to take your statement shortly, Mr. Perez," Jeanette stated robotically for what was probably the sixtieth time in their history of interactions, "thank you for your patience and please take a seat."

"I'm not sitting next to some guy who's bleeding all over the place. Who knows what diseases he has, or if some crazy dog bit him, what if he has rabies? I'm not getting rabies; God only knows with all the crazy stuff happening around this town with this crazy weather and these hop heads all killing each other…"

Jeanette began to tune him out after craning her head and neck to get another look at the guy in question. The two women were still talking now in hushed tones, and with his pants leg up, she could see blood dripping down to his ankle. She knew that the other officers had heard them come in, but nobody was approaching them to help or find out what was going on. Heaving a heavy sigh, she stood up and moved her body half-way out from behind the large desk.

"Excuse me; you have to check-in with the front if you need some assistance."

"Yeah we need some fuckin' assistance alright." Paul replied to the woman in between winces.

Jeanette frowned. "There's no need for that sort of language, young man. Were you attacked by an animal?"

"We don't know what it was, but that definitely doesn't look like a dog bite." Karen replied while stepping towards the front desk, "You may want to get an officer outside to look, it'd be bad if there was some exotic animal was attacking people in front of the police station."

"A wild animal?!" Mr. Perez exclaimed, looking wild-eyed between Paul and Jeanette. "That's even worse!" He points a finger at Karen. "Hey, aren't you that reporter?"

"Yes, that's right," Karen steps forward with her hand extended, "I'm Karen London from Channel…"

Perez ignores her hand and turns back to Jeanette, "You don't want Miss London to report that the police are letting a wild animal assault citizens in front of the police station, do you?"

Jeanette looks over to Karen, who responds with a shrug, then looks over to Paul having his leg looked at by the younger girl with them. Dawn had a wad of tissues that she had taken from the desk and was just dabbing at the wound. Blood still seeped down the man's leg despite her best efforts, and the color was draining from his face over time. Jeanette bent down behind her desk to pull out a first aid kit, then came around and handed it to the girl.

"Clean it with the wipes in there," Jeanette commented and looked around the partition behind the front desk, seeing a balding, middle-aged officer staring at his computer screen, "hey Maitland, your services are required."

"Sorry Jeanette," Maitland replied without taking his eyes off the monitor, "I'm completely swamped in filling out these reports."

The receptionist took a few steps towards the officer, squinting over his right shoulder for a few seconds before scoffing. "Reports my left foot! You're watching football highlights; I can see them in the reflection of the window."

Maitland looked up, his eyes following the direction Jeanette was pointing. He narrowed his eyes at the reflection but then started to laugh, giving the older woman a shrug. "Yeah, you got me. I just didn't wanna get up. The rookie's free though. Hey rookie!"

Across the room, a young, dark-haired officer was busy filling out some papers. "I have a name, Maitland." The young officer responded without halting his work.

"Yeah I know you do," Maitland responded, adjusting his belt before slowly getting to his feet, "and when you've been here long enough, maybe I'll bother to learn it. A citizen needs assistance up front. Do you need me to hold your hand?"

The question dripped with insincerity and sarcasm, and the sigh elicited from the young man showed that it got to him. He smacked his pen down and rose to his feet, heading over to Jeanette and trying his best to ignore the cackles that came from Maitland. The officer smoothed out his hair as he strode towards the front, his eyes darting between Jeanette and the people in the lobby.

"Are they all here together?"

"No," Perez piped up before Jeanette could say anything, "but my issue can wait. These three were just attacked by some wild animal in front of the station. That poor man is bleeding to death…"

"I'm not bleeding to death…" Paul responded wearily while Dawn helped to wrap his leg.

"…and you lazy bums aren't doing anything about this threat." Mr. Perez continued without a beat. "What do we pay you for? To protect and serve, right? Well now there's a mountain lion or something outside that almost killed that guy and severed the heads off those two lovely ladies' shoulders…"

"Woah, slow down, sir." The officer raised a hand to finally cut off Mr. Perez. He looked towards Paul and the women, a flash of recognition in his eyes as he stopped on Karen. "Miss London, right? Did you see what attacked you all?"

Karen shook her head. "No, Officer…"

"Vidal."

"Officer Vidal," Karen responded, motioning back over to Dawn and Paul, "we were just on our way inside and something bit Paul. It's tough to see anything out there, but we don't think it was a dog.

"And it wasn't a mountain lion, was it?" Vidal asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"Whatever it was, I don't think it was that big. Unless it was like a baby mountain lion."

"The bite didn't really look like a cat or a dog." Dawn offered, putting the finishing touch on the wrap for Paul. "It was like, circular, and there were more teeth marks. Like a hundred tiny bites. Is Will Carroll still here?"

"Those bites didn't feel tiny…" Paul grumbled as he gingerly rose to his feet.

"Carroll?" Maitland asked with a raised eyebrow, "what do you want with him? An exclusive or something? Or are ya sweet on that drug lord?"

"He's not a drug lord!" Dawn responded as her hands balled up into fists at her sides.

Maitland just scoffed at the response and shook his head. "Yeah it figures. Always some crazy broads that get off on being with a criminal."

"Alright, alright," Vidal piped up, "we need to call animal control and get your friend to a hospital, so they can look at that bite just in case. And to answer your question, yes ma'am; Carroll's still here but he's not available for interviews right now."

"Our phones have been down for the last hour or so, right before Rutledge brought those kids in." Jeanette stated while reaching for her cell phone on the desk. "My cell phone doesn't have reception either."

"Neither does mine." Karen replied while putting her phone away.

Officer Vidal turns back to the main room to see a half dozen officers, none of which seem to be working. He starts towards the back of the room, seeing Maitland talking with Sergeant Faraday. The sergeant was a little younger than Maitland, and a fitness junkie. He was probably in better shape than anyone else at the precinct. He was also known to be somewhat of a joker around the station, but Vidal found him to be all-business when it came to the job. In Vidal's mind, he was the best option to go for help since the station's captain was on leave recovering from open heart surgery.

"Hey sergeant, can I borrow Maitland for a minute?" Vidal asked.

"You really do need someone to hold your hand after all, huh?" Maitland asked with a smirk as he poured himself a coffee.

"Sir," Vidal pressed on while ignoring Maitland's comment, "there's a man at the front who was bitten by an animal. The bite didn't look like a dog or a cat, and they didn't see what it was. We don't know what's out there or what kind of danger it poses to the rest of the community. Phone lines are down so we can't call animal control. I'm thinking we get this thing to bite one of us with a blanket around our arm and the other one hits it with a taser."

"If you think I'm letting myself get bit by some…"

"I'll be the one with the blanket around my arm then," Vidal countered, looking square at Maitland, "I wouldn't want you to get your hands too dirty, princess."

"You little shit…"

Maitland stepped forward, but Sergeant Faraday swiped his arm down against his chest to stop him. "Alright, that's enough; both of you. If we can't reach animal control, then clearly it falls on us to handle this. It's not a bad idea Vidal. Help him out Maitland, and take Jacobs with you."

"Doesn't seem like your call to make Faraday." Maitland replied. "Why don't you help the kid?"

"Captain's out and Rutledge is in with the suspect still. I'm ranking officer in the station. Deal with it." Faraday responded, giving Vidal a wink and sending them off. Maitland grumbled but did what was needed. Within a few minutes, all parties were ready to put the plan to action. Vidal found a fire blanket and duct taped it around his left arm, while Maitland and Jacobs flanked him. Jacobs carried a taser, while Maitland unholstered his pistol in case the threat was larger than they anticipated. Everyone in the station seemingly forgot about the interrogation of Will Carroll in favor of finding out what bit Paul and how successful this trap would be.

"Get the camera ready Paul." Karen ordered, prompting Paul to unpack it and start setting up. Dawn grabbed Paul under the crook of his elbow to help get into position for an over the shoulder view behind the officers. Both Dawn and Karen then slid behind Paul, making the already wounded man more nervous.

Vidal signaled with his arm for the news crew to take a couple of steps back and they complied. Jacobs pulled the door open slowly, while Maitland took point with his gun and Vidal followed close behind. Jacobs stepped outside with them and Paul took a few steps closer once the three officers were outside. There was so much fog that the camera could only make out the backs of Jacobs and Vidal; Maitland was no longer in the shot. Karen pressed into Paul's back to edge him to the door's frame. He planted his feet and shot a glance over his shoulder, "If you think I'm taking another step, you're nuts!"

"Keep it down back there!" Maitland ironically shouted from somewhere in front of them. "Can't see shit out here. Vidal, you got a flashlight?"

"How's that supposed to help during the day?" Vidal questioned.

"…shut up, rookie." Maitland muttered, loud enough to be heard by the media crew behind the officers.

Dawn took a step back from Karen and Paul to see that the fog was starting to enter the police station, crawling along the floor at a speed that made it feel alive. Outside, the fog had seemed stagnant and more of an annoyance rather than a threat. The way it moved through the station seemed like some unknown force was hungry to devour any area that was previously untouched. An overwhelming sense of dread gripped her suddenly, causing her to gasp audibly. The sound caught Karen's attention, which was then captivated by the blanketing haze that was now completely concealing their feet. Sergeant Faraday lifted his foot up as it approached him, a perplexed look on his face. The elderly Mr. Perez scampered up and stood on a chair, fearfully pointing at the ground. Even Jeanette, who was very rarely impressed, couldn't help but stare in awe at what had entered her precinct.

Dawn couldn't help but turn to look towards the back of the station. She knew that Will was somewhere around. Was he somehow connected to all the weirdness around Willamette? Was he really a drug dealer? And was he really involved with the recent deaths? Before today, she would have said that the guy she met and came to know wasn't capable of anything he was accused of. Everyone else seemed so sure of his guilt though. Maybe her feelings caused her to have temporary blinders when it came to see anything other than the good in him. The part of her that wanted to follow in Karen London's footsteps was disappointed. One of the first rules of being a reporter was always to be impartial; otherwise she might as well write for a tabloid. Lost in her thoughts, she found herself inching towards the back of the station. A hand clamping down on her shoulder brought her back.

"Hey," Sergeant Faraday said, "you okay miss?"

Dawn just nodded and looked back towards the lobby. Karen was clinging to Paul's back once again, peering over his shoulder through the camera, although it was hard to imagine she was seeing much. Dawn made her way back to them, followed closely by Faraday. Even though the fog was still rolling in, the clarity outside wasn't improving at all. The four of them stared silently at nothing for a few moments.

"You all good out there?!" Faraday bellowed, the volume of his voice causing Paul to flinch.

"I guess so, Sarge," Vidal responded from somewhere not too far away, "but I can't see shit. Maitland…Jacobs…you guys have anything?"

"Rookie, I don't even know where the fuck I am right now." Maitland replied.

"Alright, just follow the sound of my voice and get back inside," Faraday responded and motioned the news crew to take a few steps back to let the officers back inside. "Sorry folks, but it's too dangerous for them to be out there potentially looking for a wild animal if their visibility is compromised. Are you feeling okay, sir?"

Paul shrugged and headed back to the bench and lugged the camera off his shoulder. "Well I'm not feeling feverish or foaming at the mouth," Paul responded while looking at the floor, "hey what's with all the fog in here?"

"What the fuck is that?!"

Everyone in the precinct turned their attention to the door just in time to see Officers Maitland and Jacobs running into the lobby. Maitland slammed the door behind him and pressed his back against it, breathing heavily and shaking his head.

"No…mountain lion…," Maitland said between breaths while keeping the door barricaded with his sizable girth, "…it ran…over my foot! It's like a big freaking snake or something!"

"That didn't look like a snake bite." Paul responded while pointing down at his leg.

"Yeah well then, it's like, a gigantic eel, does that make you feel better?!" Maitland replied, panic in his voice being replaced by annoyance.

"Calm down, Maitland." Faraday ordered before looking over to the younger officer who followed inside. "Jacobs, did you see anything? Where's Vidal?"

Jacobs' shoulders slumped as he shook his head. "I didn't see anything sir," he started while pointing over to Maitland, "I heard shouting and ran over to see what was going on. I just saw Maitland runnin' inside and figured I should do the same. I didn't see Vidal at all, sir."

By now a couple of the other officers from the back of the room started to gather with everyone else in the lobby. Panic began to simmer amongst the occupants, with a few kicks to the fog which had nestled and hung eerily still about a foot off the ground. Mr. Perez was joined on the chairs by Paul, who scrambled up the best he could, resetting his camera over his shoulder. Sergeant Faraday looked around as if assessing the situation. There were four other officers other than himself, and five civilians, counting Jeanette.

"Okay everyone," Faraday started, projecting a deep, booming voice throughout the room, "all civilians need to move to the back. That includes you, Jeanette. In fact, maybe it'll be best if you show them all into the conference room until we get this situation under control."

"Oh, c'mon Sergeant," Karen started to protest, "we're not going to be in the way. Besides, how great would it look for you if we caught this all on film? Sergeant Faraday saves the day; that'd look great on screen, wouldn't it?"

Faraday immediately shakes his head and motions to the back of the room. "No chance Miss London, now please make your way to the conference room."

"Technically it's our right…" Karen starts.

Karen and Faraday begin to go back and forth, and soon the rest of the room is talking over one another. Jeanette extends her hand to Mr. Perez, who reluctantly takes it after a moment of consideration, and proceeds to hurry towards the back with the receptionist. Jacobs heads over to take Dawn gently by the arm, which Dawn jerks away, despite the non-threatening intent of the officer's action. Maitland joins in on the argument with his sergeant and the news reporter, as the other officers in the back head towards the front. In fact, unless someone was looking directly downward, it would have been easy to miss the shadow darting between their feet. Everyone is too busy arguing and taking action to notice the carefree movements underneath the layer of fog; everyone except the cameraman, who was still standing on his seat.

"There's something moving along the ground!" Paul exclaimed.

All sound and movement come to a halt for seconds that cause the lobby to temporarily freeze in time. Everyone looks down, most of them spinning in a small circle to check their immediate perimeter. Paul successfully motions to get Karen's attention to follow suit and stand on the chair next to him, and Dawn rushes over to follow their lead. Karen pulls Dawn up to share the chair, while Jeanette and Mr. Perez continue towards the back.

"Does anyone see anything?" Faraday demands with authority.

Nobody responds, either they don't see anything, or they are too focused to acknowledge Faraday said anything. Clearing his throat, Faraday barks again. "Jacobs! What've you got over there, anything?"

Before Jacobs can respond, his posture changes and he yells out in pain. He drops down to the ground as if consumed by the fog, and for the next few seconds all that is heard are a terrified series of shouts and cries. Most are presumably from Jacobs, but they also come from the frightened Mr. Perez as well.

"Jacobs!" Faraday shouts and starts towards where Jacobs was standing. He only takes three steps before the young officer shoots back to his feet. A shriek escapes Dawn as she sees the officer, who is holding his left hand to that side of his head, trying desperately not to hold in the blood that seeps through his fingers and pools around his palm, dripping steadily down his arm.

"Sergeant…" Jacobs begins, then weakly extends that same hand out to Faraday.

The sergeant's eyes go wide, and he unconsciously takes a step back. A collective gasp ripples through the room, as even though the blood is shooting out of the side of the officer's head, they can see the hole where his ear used to be. All the color drains out of his face and onto the floor next to him and he falters when he tries to step forward. Still reaching out to Faraday, he stumbles to a knee, his body now obscured by the fog once more. Whether it is fear or uncertainty, nobody makes a move to help him, not even when another grunt is heard from the now kneeling officer.

"Jacobs?" Faraday asks in more of a statement than question. He takes a step closer again, as one hand unclasps his holster and he slowly raises his gun. Behind him, Maitland does the same. "Jacobs?!"

The officer rises back up to his feet and screams are emitted from everyone in the room. Whatever was slithering around their feet and whatever took a chunk out of the cameraman was now in full view, and it was attached from the bridge of the officer's nose all the way down to his jaw. Jacobs' eyes were wide and crossed, his hands frantically working to free himself of the beast's clutches. The officer spun in a circle before losing his balance and spilling over one of the desks. Kicking his feet against the end of the desk, he lies prone and struggling with the four-foot-long thing, trying to move its body from side to side, but making no progress.

Faraday finally makes a move towards Jacobs, shouting over his shoulder. "Maitland, come on!"

The wide-eyed Maitland gulped, then furiously shook his head. "No way! What if that thing's poisonous?"

Faraday scowled but was already looking past Maitland at the officers in the back. "Royster, get up here!"

The young officer in question darted past Maitland and both he and Faraday tried to grab the cylindrical creature. Their hands kept slipping from the surface of its body, and Jacobs' thrashing didn't help matters.

Sgt. Faraday unholstered his gun. "Royster, try to keep it level."
"Seriously?!" The young officer asked as he just struggled to maintain a grip on the thing.

Before anything else could happen, the creature stopped thrashing about and detached itself from Jacobs, disappearing into the murky fog which reached knee level in the station. All eyes were on the ground, so they initially failed to see Officer Jacobs stop thrashing and lie motionless on the desk.

"Oh my God!" A cry from Mr. Perez rang out from near the back. "His face!"

Where Jacobs' face had been was now completely void of skin from the temples down, including holes where his nose had been. Blood ran down the sides of his face. Almost everyone's reaction was to turn away, with some of them retching. Everyone but Faraday, who was looking along the ground to find the slithering eel-lie creature.

"Eyes on the ground officers!" Faraday barked out, now holding his sidearm with both hands out in front of him.

Royster, Maitland, and the other officer in the back unholstered their weapons, doing their best to imitate their Sergeant in his search. Along the side of the wall, Karen, Paul and Dawn carefully traversed the room from their chairs to stand on the two desks nearest to them, with Dawn doing her best to assist Paul. Near the back of the room, Jeanette was trying her best to corral Mr. Perez into one of the back rooms, but the older man was now sinking down into a chair and clutching at his chest.

"Oh crap," Jeanette cried out, "Sarge, Mr. Perez is having a heart attack or something!"

"Or something? Is it a heart attack?" Faraday asked while sweeping the area.

"How should I know? I'm not an EMT, I answer the darn phones!" Jeanette responded back, trying to fan Mr. Perez down with a manila folder.

"Let me go see," Maitland responded, turning towards the two, "it could just be nerves or indigestion or…"

Before Maitland could take a step, the creature shot up and attached itself to his left wrist. With a startled yell, the officer smashed his arm back and forth against a nearby file cabinet, trying to shake the thing off. Faraday turned, but before he could react to Maitland, another cry came from Royster, who was climbing on top of the main desk, another one of those things latched on near his right knee. The younger officer near Royster tried to assist, so Faraday turned his attention back to the senior officer.

With a quick scan of the room, the sergeant's eyes landed on the fire axe towards the back in the glass casing next to the extinguisher. He dashed across the room as quickly as he could, using his elbow to smash the glass, and his uniform sleeve to clear all the pieces away.

"I'm coming Maitland!" Faraday called out. "Try to keep it steady!"

Panic had set in though, and Maitland was doing everything but keep the creature steady. After he had seen what the thing did to Jacobs, Maitland was determined to get it off him as soon as possible. With his free hand, he brought his pistol up to the creature's head, not caring if he shot himself in the arm. At that moment, another creature emerged from the mist and grabbed his right elbow, jerking his arm away. Maitland kept a firm grip on the gun and instinctively pulled the trigger, which sent a bullet right into Sgt. Faraday's chest. Shock immediately etched onto Faraday's chest as he found himself going down onto his back. He could barely make out the ceiling through the layer of fog he found himself under, but it was the last thing he saw.