Chapter 11
"Look! There they are!"
From the broken and splintered doorway, Eduardo and Sidus could be seen still in combat with Lichmonde.
"Guess that must be the top guy?"
"May be. No harm in wondering."
"GUYS!" Eduardo ducked from another wild punch. "A little help here?"
Roland charged his proton gun. "On three!"
"THREE!"
Lichmonde saw the green beam of proton energy bearing down upon him and ducked.
More beams rained down, none successful.
One beam brushed against Lichmonde's wing and singed the feathers.
Lichmonde screeched with pain and charged blindly at the group.
"KYLIE! LOOK OUT!"
Eduardo stopped firing and leapt at the Gothic girl, bowling both of them out of harm's reach.
There was a loud roar of rage.
A blur of black fur whizzed past the group and launched itself at the raven.
Both beasts went tumbling into the desk, smashing it into unrecognizable splinters and fragments.
Sidus snarled and bit hard into the talon, finally succeeding in ripping the flesh.
Lichmonde grunted and punched the dog away.
"THREE!"
Lichmonde heard it come, but found no way to dodge.
Then they had him.
Encircled by the green proton energy, the fearsome raven had nowhere to escape to.
Kylie swung the trap out under the bird like a Frisbee.
Lichmonde's eyes widened reasonably.
He didn't know what that thing would do to him, but he wasn't planning on finding out.
Despite the proton beams, he focused all his energy into his inner being and soul.
His eyes glowed feral red. His pupils vanished as the orbs shone with anger.
Then he threw his head back and screamed.
"Trap it! Trap it!"
Kylie pushed the button.
With the delightful clang, the ghost trap opened and its light shone out.
The scream was raised by a dozen more decibels.
The torches got snuffed out at a rapid speed.
All the birds within the factory joined their leader in his cry of fear and agony.
There was a burst of white light that engulfed the entire room.
The Ghost Busters were brutally flung into the far end.
Then it all ended with a dramatic explosion.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Ugh......"
Kylie awoke to Sidus' tongue which was feverishly mopping her face. He didn't seize until she finally sat up and cleared her head.
"Is everyone okay?"
There was a movement beside her. "I'm not dead. That's for sure."
Squeaks were heard behind her as Garrett pulled his chair over to his self.
Then light returned to the dark room as Roland turned on the pke meter.
The earthen floors were gone. In their place was the regular concrete tiling.
Gone too were the medieval looking torches. Along the bare walls were the familiar windows.
As well as a light switch next to the broken door.
Wondering if the power was working, Eduardo flicked the switch.
Nothing happened.
"Let's just grab the trap and get out of here."
"I'll agree on that."
Kylie walked across the room to retrieve the trap.
Then she had the paranoid feeling that there were more people than usual in the room.
Next to the yellow metal ghost-cage huddled another figure.
"Hey Roland! Could you shine some light over here?"
Roland joined Kylie, and the light of the pke meter shone down on the figure.
It was a young teenage boy, probably around 15 or 16.
His eyes were perfectly spherical orbs.
His teeth gritted in a look of intense pain.
His arm had teeth marks, the blood still flowing.
He was dead.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The Ecto-1 pulled up in the Firehouse garage.
"That was one heck of a terrible experience."
"Do you think the cops will believe us?"
"We can only hope so."
Egon greeted his students at the door. "What happened back there? It's way past midnight, and you didn't respond when I called you on the car radio!"
"We were held up in the building." Kylie passed the ghost trap.
"Ghost birds." Roland presented Egon with his collection of feathers.
"Hmmmm......." Egon switched on the table lamp and held the feathers up to the light. ".....Fascinating......."
"So any idea why they're still glowing, Egon?"
"One possibility is that there are more out there. The second is that there is one individual of higher level that is on the loose."
"Cancel both. We already bagged Bird Almighty."
Kylie came back upstairs looking more pale than usual. "Um, guys?"
"Yeah?"
She held up the trap. "It's empty."
"Of course it's empty! You put the ghost into the containment unit!"
"No, it was empty from the very beginning."
A moment of silence ensued.
"He's still out there."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
A little later, around 7 in the morning......
"Tina! Look what I found!"
"Eww! Get it away from me!"
"Oh come on! Don't you find him cute?"
"MOOOOOOMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!! Mark brought a dead bird into the house!"
"He's not dead, you dummy! See, he's still breathing! Look!"
"MMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"MARCUS STEPHEN WALLACE! YOU TAKE THAT THING OUT OF THIS HOUSE NOW!!!"
"Aw, Mom!"
"YOU HEARD ME, YOUNG MAN! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO WITH IT! GET IT OUT OF HERE NOW!"
"Alright! Alright! I'm going!"
There was a loud slam of a door. A little boy with blond bristly hair walked down the stairs of the front porch. He looked at the black feathery mess still cradled in his palms. The bird's eyes were shut, and it looked badly hurt.
"Don't worry little guy, I'll take good care of you." / After all, Mom didn't say anything about him staying in the garage. /
The boy placed the bird into a shoebox with a dry washcloth he had pinched when his mother wasn't looking.
The Great Dane chained to a post near the back wall stood up and eyed the box.
"Look Duke! You've got a new friend. Maybe I can tame him and teach him tricks!"
The boy placed the box upon a corner of the workbench, out of the huge animal's reach.
Then he turned and ran back to the house to wash up.
As the door slammed shut for the second time, the box was gradually bathed in red light.
The Great Dane whimpered and cowered as far back as he could from the box.
The bird opened its eyes and glared at the air.
"I'll.....Be....Back....."
= * = * = * =
