...Happy Halloween.
~The Dead Of The Night~
~Friday, Halloween Day
The darkness falls across the city in a domino effect, as large buildings cast their shadow against the next and the next then the next, deepening black as they crawl across the city. Their shadows creep through the streets almost unnoticed, as lights come on everywhere, to neutralize the feeling of inadequacy people have when trying to cope with the dark.
But when you have nothing to show in the light, you are more adept in the dark. The darkness is pure to your being, true to your need, and critical to your existence. And so go the creatures of the night...beyond the light, skirting the shadows, using senses more important than vision. They know the darkness. They are the sound you hear, the smell wafting towards you, the thing you feel close by...in the dark. The things we know exist...but hide from, in the light. ----
***
[Roll Call, Halloween Day, 3:13 p.m.]
Lieu is talking to the group of officers, some taking notes, others staring blankly ahead, while others, Boscorelli in particular, looking bored and bothered by the lecture, appearing to not be listening.
"It's Halloween...and you know what that means. I want all the patrol cars to drive through the neighborhoods and make themselves visible. Watch out for the kids as they go trick-or-treating and keep an eye out for vandalism."
"Great...now we have to baby sit for all the little crumb snatchers, while they beg for candy and terrorize the neighborhood. They should do away with this stupid holiday...we have better things to do."
Lieu continues, " Units 55-Adam, Boyd and Charlie, you'll be on that detail. We've also had a rash of transient murders, and the mayor is starting to get heat for it...so we've been ordered to run spot checks at all the normal hangouts of the transients in the five-five. And since Bosco doesn't like protecting our cities children, 55-David can take this detail."
Bosco pipes in, "Homeless hangouts? So ya want us to look...where, under every park bench, in every gutter..."
"We want you to check the abandoned buildings in the area. Sort of like 'well being' checks. Someone is murdering the homeless. And however you may feel about it...they are human beings."
"Oh c'mon Lieu...I mean...who really cares if they're being off-ed or not. They are like the living dead. Someone is doin us...and them, a favor."
Faith gives Bosco a dirty look. "Bosco...ya just can't keep your mouth shut."
Lieu gives Faith an apologetic look as they head out on patrol.
*** [8:19 p.m.]
Bosco holds the door as Faith emerges from the building. "It's getting dark ...that's it."
"That's what?" She asks, brushing dust off her sleeve
"That's the last building I'm checking tonight for this hobo helping hand. It's dangerous enough to wander through those abandoned buildings during the day, I'm not gonna risk falling through a hole in the floor in the dark."
"I'm not gonna argue with you there. Let's just cruise in the RMP. There are enough of them laying around the alleys. We'll just check on them." She plucks a cob web off his hair as they walk back to the car.
*** [9:39 p.m.]
As Bosco drives, she shines the spotlight down each alley. If she spots a human form, they pull into the ally and make sure the person's ok.
"There...I see one down there. He ain't movin." She says.
Bosco stops the car and backs up to the alley. "Forget it...we can't fit down there."
"We'll fit." She insists.
"Shine the light again...there's too much crap down in there."
"All right...damn it." She opens the door and steps out.
"Hey, hey, hey...what are ya doin?"
"I'm walking down there. Are you comin with me?"
"No...I'll wait here. Let me know if the bum's dead...I'll call it in." he says, unwrapping a Snickers bar.
"You're gonna make me go down there alone?"
"I'm not making you do anything. I'd rather you stay in the car."
"Well someone's gotta check it out."
"Then go...knock yourself out."
She gives a disgusted sigh and slams the door, then shines her flashlight down the alley. Nothing is moving, including the dark mound that appears to be a person laying against the wall near the end of the alley.
She lights the ground in front of her to keep from stumbling over the garbage that litters the alley. Items appear in the beam of her light as she walks. A patch of gray, becoming white and suddenly a flash of yellow paper as the beam washes over it, then it disappears again into the dark behind her.
Halfway down, she lifts the flashlight up from the ground and shines it at the dark image again, to be sure that the dark hadn't played a trick on her, giving human form to a bag of old clothes. But now she can see hair, the back of someone's head. It's definitely a person sprawled out on the ground.
"Hello?" She calls out. "This is the police. Are you alright over there?"
Bosco watches as she slowly makes her way down the alley. The light almost dances in the darkness, bouncing along the ground as she walks. Then he sees her point it straight out to the end of the alley as if she spotted something. Suddenly, he sees the light flash around frantically, as if it were trying to light the whole alley at once. As if someone were trying to wrestle it away from her.
He snaps to attention. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as a surge of adrenaline flashes through him, preparing him for impending danger. He grabs the radio as he struggles to undo his seat belt, and fumbles with the door latch to get out of the car.
"Faith...are you alright?" He yells into the radio.
No answer.
"Faith...what is it? What's happening?" He hops out of the car, ready to run to her.
"I fell over a box." Comes her annoyed reply. "I'm alright."
"Jesus...you scared the hell out of me." He leans on the open car door and smiles at the visual he just conjured up, of her falling. "Hurry up and check him, will ya." He prompts into the radio.
"This would be easier if there were two flashlights down here." She retorts back to him.
Ignoring her hint, he asks, "Can you see him? Does he look ok?"
There is a long pause before she responds. "Bos...I see blood. I think he's dead."
"Crap." He turns his head to the radio again. "Should I call for EMS or for the coroner?"
She finally reaches the guy and crouches down shining her light on him. He is laying face down, with his head on his out stretched arm. There is blood in his hair and on his clothes, and also splatters of blood on the pavement around him. She grabs his left arm and rolls him onto his back. His face is beaten severely.
She gets a shiver as she reaches her fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse. It is exceptionally dark in this end of the alley, and she starts to get the creeps. Suddenly there is a noise...something shuffling across the pavement, just out of the beam of her light. She straightens up and quickly shines the light in a circle around her, listening for any sound in the dark, spot-lighting certain dark objects, straining to see any movement.
There's nothing there.
She lets out a big sigh. "Oh boy. I'm wierden myself out here." She says out loud, with a nervous laugh. She reaches down again to take the man's pulse, shining the light back to his face. His eyes spring open, his hand shoots up into her face, and he lets out a loud wailing moan.
She screams out and falls backwards.
"What's wrong? Are you ok?" Bosco starts to enter the alley.
"Bosco! Call for a bus...he's still alive." She calls into the radio.
She hears a noise behind her, and spins the light around. Two transients are emerging into the alley from behind a door. When the light hits them, they raise their hands to cover their eyes, and turn back, disappearing behind the door again. In the quick flash of the light, she noticed they were both spotted with blood.
"Stop right there!" She yells. "Stop!" She raises to her feet, and heads to the door. "Bosco...did you see them?" she calls out.
"Yeah!" He yells as he hurries towards her.
"They were covered in blood." She tells him, as she reaches the door. "I'm going after them. I need you here."
She hears him call for a bus and for backup, his voice sounding breathy as he runs to catch up with her. She opens the door and shines her light in. There is a long stair leading down into the darkness below. She takes a peek back, to be sure that Bosco is close before she enters, calling into the abyss; "This is the police. I want you to stop where you are." She shines the light down inside and catches a glimpse of them at the bottom of the stairs. They are looking up at her, and stepping slowly backwards. "I'm not going to hurt you. I need you to stay right there so I can talk to you."
Drawing her weapon, she starts her descent, flashing the light back and forth from her footing on the stairs, to the room in front of her, catching the two hobo's in her beam. She yells again for them to stay where they are, and tries to keep them in her light as much as she can. She hears water dripping inside the void beyond her, echoing monotonously through the emptiness, almost explaining the lunacy of the people that reside here.
They start talking nonsense to her, a schizophrenic drabble about judgment day, and heaven on earth being in the underground subway. A rat scampers by their feet and it excites them. Wide-eye, they explain to her that rats are God's spies, talking quickly over each other, that we are being judged on how we treat the most vile of God's creatures.
They are standing with their hands in the air in a surrender pose, squinting their eyes from the light, that she is shining purposely to keep them blinded, giving herself the advantage. She yells over their ramblings, for them to stop talking, and listen to her.
"I need you to turn around and face the wall."
Bosco yells down to her. "Yokas...did you catch them? Are you bringing them up?"
"I'm gonna need you down here." She yells over her shoulder. Then she turns her attention back to the bums. "Put your hands against the wall." As she pats them down she asks, "How did you get the blood on you?" but they continue rambling on.
Bosco yells from the top of the stairs. "Yokas...how's it goen?"
She turns to flash the light in his direction. "I really need you down h..." is all she gets out. The beam illuminates a wall of people, standing corpse-like, silently encircling her, arms reaching for her ...only a foot away in the darkness. She lets out a partial scream, as a hand closes over her mouth from behind.
He hears her stifled scream and freezes on the steps. Fear ripples through him, making his legs tremble and go weak. He grabs the stair rail. His fear of the dark, is now magnified by the fear that something terrible is happening to his partner deep inside of it. This time he knows...something is really happening.
She feels what seems like fifty pairs of hands, grab her...wrap her up...and push her to the ground. Her arms and legs are pinned to the floor at so many points that she can't even squirm. She can taste salt from the dirty hand that is pressing hard over her mouth as she tries to scream through it. The flashlight is pulled out of her left hand, and someone is trying to pull the gun from her right hand. She desperately tries to keep it, wrapping her finger around the trigger.
"Faith..." Bosco screams. "Faith...what is it!" He tries to take another step. He can hear her muffled voice yelling his name. He can hear something shuffling in the dark. The memory of the corpse from yesterday lunging at him in the dark, and the memories from his childhood, come rushing back to him. He tries to shine his light towards her but his hand won't let go of the rail. He clings to it like a child cringing in the dark from the boogieman. Like he did as a child.
Her gun fires several times, drowning out her screams and the sound of her finger breaking, as they twist the gun out of her hand. She can feel her equipment being removed amidst the pain of them kneeling on her arms and legs to free their hands to grope her. They dig through her pockets and pull off her boots. They remove her watch and even the clip in her hair.
When her gun goes off, it flashes in the dark like a strobe, freezing white ghoulish faces in the air, piercing the darkness and burning an image into Bosco' mind...a scene from 'Night Of The Living Dead'. Bosco realizes that there is a sea of people down there...and Faith is drowning in the middle of them.
They are transients...it doesn't matter how many...they are just people. Bosco repeats that to himself over and over until his fear releases him. He starts again down the stairs screaming, "Get away from her! Faith I'm coming! Get off of her!"
Thoughts run through his mind. 'How many are there...A warning shot may hit her...Has she been hurt...I should call in a 10-13... As he rushes down the steps, holding his gun in one hand, and the flashlight in the other, he reaches for his radio to relay the urgency for backup.
In his panic, he fumbles to pull his radio out with his left hand, and he drops the flashlight. It tumbles in slow motion. He watches it hit the rail and flip downwards, sending the beam across his feet quickly...but in that brief second he sees a pair of hands reaching through the steps. In that same instant he feels his leg get snagged by them, stopping it in mid step. He feels his body falling forward over the step he didn't take.
He yells out in frustration as he prepares for the impact. His arms flail in the darkness, and as his chest hits the steps, his left arm tucks under the stair, in an attempt to stop himself from tumbling. Instead, his weight and momentum rip at his arm, hyper extending it with a loud pop. He yells out again, this time in pain. He flips one more time, and stops with a dull thud on the dirt floor.
***
***
~The Dead Of The Night~
~Friday, Halloween Day
The darkness falls across the city in a domino effect, as large buildings cast their shadow against the next and the next then the next, deepening black as they crawl across the city. Their shadows creep through the streets almost unnoticed, as lights come on everywhere, to neutralize the feeling of inadequacy people have when trying to cope with the dark.
But when you have nothing to show in the light, you are more adept in the dark. The darkness is pure to your being, true to your need, and critical to your existence. And so go the creatures of the night...beyond the light, skirting the shadows, using senses more important than vision. They know the darkness. They are the sound you hear, the smell wafting towards you, the thing you feel close by...in the dark. The things we know exist...but hide from, in the light. ----
***
[Roll Call, Halloween Day, 3:13 p.m.]
Lieu is talking to the group of officers, some taking notes, others staring blankly ahead, while others, Boscorelli in particular, looking bored and bothered by the lecture, appearing to not be listening.
"It's Halloween...and you know what that means. I want all the patrol cars to drive through the neighborhoods and make themselves visible. Watch out for the kids as they go trick-or-treating and keep an eye out for vandalism."
"Great...now we have to baby sit for all the little crumb snatchers, while they beg for candy and terrorize the neighborhood. They should do away with this stupid holiday...we have better things to do."
Lieu continues, " Units 55-Adam, Boyd and Charlie, you'll be on that detail. We've also had a rash of transient murders, and the mayor is starting to get heat for it...so we've been ordered to run spot checks at all the normal hangouts of the transients in the five-five. And since Bosco doesn't like protecting our cities children, 55-David can take this detail."
Bosco pipes in, "Homeless hangouts? So ya want us to look...where, under every park bench, in every gutter..."
"We want you to check the abandoned buildings in the area. Sort of like 'well being' checks. Someone is murdering the homeless. And however you may feel about it...they are human beings."
"Oh c'mon Lieu...I mean...who really cares if they're being off-ed or not. They are like the living dead. Someone is doin us...and them, a favor."
Faith gives Bosco a dirty look. "Bosco...ya just can't keep your mouth shut."
Lieu gives Faith an apologetic look as they head out on patrol.
*** [8:19 p.m.]
Bosco holds the door as Faith emerges from the building. "It's getting dark ...that's it."
"That's what?" She asks, brushing dust off her sleeve
"That's the last building I'm checking tonight for this hobo helping hand. It's dangerous enough to wander through those abandoned buildings during the day, I'm not gonna risk falling through a hole in the floor in the dark."
"I'm not gonna argue with you there. Let's just cruise in the RMP. There are enough of them laying around the alleys. We'll just check on them." She plucks a cob web off his hair as they walk back to the car.
*** [9:39 p.m.]
As Bosco drives, she shines the spotlight down each alley. If she spots a human form, they pull into the ally and make sure the person's ok.
"There...I see one down there. He ain't movin." She says.
Bosco stops the car and backs up to the alley. "Forget it...we can't fit down there."
"We'll fit." She insists.
"Shine the light again...there's too much crap down in there."
"All right...damn it." She opens the door and steps out.
"Hey, hey, hey...what are ya doin?"
"I'm walking down there. Are you comin with me?"
"No...I'll wait here. Let me know if the bum's dead...I'll call it in." he says, unwrapping a Snickers bar.
"You're gonna make me go down there alone?"
"I'm not making you do anything. I'd rather you stay in the car."
"Well someone's gotta check it out."
"Then go...knock yourself out."
She gives a disgusted sigh and slams the door, then shines her flashlight down the alley. Nothing is moving, including the dark mound that appears to be a person laying against the wall near the end of the alley.
She lights the ground in front of her to keep from stumbling over the garbage that litters the alley. Items appear in the beam of her light as she walks. A patch of gray, becoming white and suddenly a flash of yellow paper as the beam washes over it, then it disappears again into the dark behind her.
Halfway down, she lifts the flashlight up from the ground and shines it at the dark image again, to be sure that the dark hadn't played a trick on her, giving human form to a bag of old clothes. But now she can see hair, the back of someone's head. It's definitely a person sprawled out on the ground.
"Hello?" She calls out. "This is the police. Are you alright over there?"
Bosco watches as she slowly makes her way down the alley. The light almost dances in the darkness, bouncing along the ground as she walks. Then he sees her point it straight out to the end of the alley as if she spotted something. Suddenly, he sees the light flash around frantically, as if it were trying to light the whole alley at once. As if someone were trying to wrestle it away from her.
He snaps to attention. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up, as a surge of adrenaline flashes through him, preparing him for impending danger. He grabs the radio as he struggles to undo his seat belt, and fumbles with the door latch to get out of the car.
"Faith...are you alright?" He yells into the radio.
No answer.
"Faith...what is it? What's happening?" He hops out of the car, ready to run to her.
"I fell over a box." Comes her annoyed reply. "I'm alright."
"Jesus...you scared the hell out of me." He leans on the open car door and smiles at the visual he just conjured up, of her falling. "Hurry up and check him, will ya." He prompts into the radio.
"This would be easier if there were two flashlights down here." She retorts back to him.
Ignoring her hint, he asks, "Can you see him? Does he look ok?"
There is a long pause before she responds. "Bos...I see blood. I think he's dead."
"Crap." He turns his head to the radio again. "Should I call for EMS or for the coroner?"
She finally reaches the guy and crouches down shining her light on him. He is laying face down, with his head on his out stretched arm. There is blood in his hair and on his clothes, and also splatters of blood on the pavement around him. She grabs his left arm and rolls him onto his back. His face is beaten severely.
She gets a shiver as she reaches her fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse. It is exceptionally dark in this end of the alley, and she starts to get the creeps. Suddenly there is a noise...something shuffling across the pavement, just out of the beam of her light. She straightens up and quickly shines the light in a circle around her, listening for any sound in the dark, spot-lighting certain dark objects, straining to see any movement.
There's nothing there.
She lets out a big sigh. "Oh boy. I'm wierden myself out here." She says out loud, with a nervous laugh. She reaches down again to take the man's pulse, shining the light back to his face. His eyes spring open, his hand shoots up into her face, and he lets out a loud wailing moan.
She screams out and falls backwards.
"What's wrong? Are you ok?" Bosco starts to enter the alley.
"Bosco! Call for a bus...he's still alive." She calls into the radio.
She hears a noise behind her, and spins the light around. Two transients are emerging into the alley from behind a door. When the light hits them, they raise their hands to cover their eyes, and turn back, disappearing behind the door again. In the quick flash of the light, she noticed they were both spotted with blood.
"Stop right there!" She yells. "Stop!" She raises to her feet, and heads to the door. "Bosco...did you see them?" she calls out.
"Yeah!" He yells as he hurries towards her.
"They were covered in blood." She tells him, as she reaches the door. "I'm going after them. I need you here."
She hears him call for a bus and for backup, his voice sounding breathy as he runs to catch up with her. She opens the door and shines her light in. There is a long stair leading down into the darkness below. She takes a peek back, to be sure that Bosco is close before she enters, calling into the abyss; "This is the police. I want you to stop where you are." She shines the light down inside and catches a glimpse of them at the bottom of the stairs. They are looking up at her, and stepping slowly backwards. "I'm not going to hurt you. I need you to stay right there so I can talk to you."
Drawing her weapon, she starts her descent, flashing the light back and forth from her footing on the stairs, to the room in front of her, catching the two hobo's in her beam. She yells again for them to stay where they are, and tries to keep them in her light as much as she can. She hears water dripping inside the void beyond her, echoing monotonously through the emptiness, almost explaining the lunacy of the people that reside here.
They start talking nonsense to her, a schizophrenic drabble about judgment day, and heaven on earth being in the underground subway. A rat scampers by their feet and it excites them. Wide-eye, they explain to her that rats are God's spies, talking quickly over each other, that we are being judged on how we treat the most vile of God's creatures.
They are standing with their hands in the air in a surrender pose, squinting their eyes from the light, that she is shining purposely to keep them blinded, giving herself the advantage. She yells over their ramblings, for them to stop talking, and listen to her.
"I need you to turn around and face the wall."
Bosco yells down to her. "Yokas...did you catch them? Are you bringing them up?"
"I'm gonna need you down here." She yells over her shoulder. Then she turns her attention back to the bums. "Put your hands against the wall." As she pats them down she asks, "How did you get the blood on you?" but they continue rambling on.
Bosco yells from the top of the stairs. "Yokas...how's it goen?"
She turns to flash the light in his direction. "I really need you down h..." is all she gets out. The beam illuminates a wall of people, standing corpse-like, silently encircling her, arms reaching for her ...only a foot away in the darkness. She lets out a partial scream, as a hand closes over her mouth from behind.
He hears her stifled scream and freezes on the steps. Fear ripples through him, making his legs tremble and go weak. He grabs the stair rail. His fear of the dark, is now magnified by the fear that something terrible is happening to his partner deep inside of it. This time he knows...something is really happening.
She feels what seems like fifty pairs of hands, grab her...wrap her up...and push her to the ground. Her arms and legs are pinned to the floor at so many points that she can't even squirm. She can taste salt from the dirty hand that is pressing hard over her mouth as she tries to scream through it. The flashlight is pulled out of her left hand, and someone is trying to pull the gun from her right hand. She desperately tries to keep it, wrapping her finger around the trigger.
"Faith..." Bosco screams. "Faith...what is it!" He tries to take another step. He can hear her muffled voice yelling his name. He can hear something shuffling in the dark. The memory of the corpse from yesterday lunging at him in the dark, and the memories from his childhood, come rushing back to him. He tries to shine his light towards her but his hand won't let go of the rail. He clings to it like a child cringing in the dark from the boogieman. Like he did as a child.
Her gun fires several times, drowning out her screams and the sound of her finger breaking, as they twist the gun out of her hand. She can feel her equipment being removed amidst the pain of them kneeling on her arms and legs to free their hands to grope her. They dig through her pockets and pull off her boots. They remove her watch and even the clip in her hair.
When her gun goes off, it flashes in the dark like a strobe, freezing white ghoulish faces in the air, piercing the darkness and burning an image into Bosco' mind...a scene from 'Night Of The Living Dead'. Bosco realizes that there is a sea of people down there...and Faith is drowning in the middle of them.
They are transients...it doesn't matter how many...they are just people. Bosco repeats that to himself over and over until his fear releases him. He starts again down the stairs screaming, "Get away from her! Faith I'm coming! Get off of her!"
Thoughts run through his mind. 'How many are there...A warning shot may hit her...Has she been hurt...I should call in a 10-13... As he rushes down the steps, holding his gun in one hand, and the flashlight in the other, he reaches for his radio to relay the urgency for backup.
In his panic, he fumbles to pull his radio out with his left hand, and he drops the flashlight. It tumbles in slow motion. He watches it hit the rail and flip downwards, sending the beam across his feet quickly...but in that brief second he sees a pair of hands reaching through the steps. In that same instant he feels his leg get snagged by them, stopping it in mid step. He feels his body falling forward over the step he didn't take.
He yells out in frustration as he prepares for the impact. His arms flail in the darkness, and as his chest hits the steps, his left arm tucks under the stair, in an attempt to stop himself from tumbling. Instead, his weight and momentum rip at his arm, hyper extending it with a loud pop. He yells out again, this time in pain. He flips one more time, and stops with a dull thud on the dirt floor.
***
***