Disclaimer/Author's note: Most of this chapter is taken from the BPRD Plague of Frogs. If you haven't read it, this is my attempt to put Mike Mignola's wonderful images into words. I don't want to ruin the comics for people, but it is rather vital to the story to have this chapter. I've made a few minor adjustments to make it fit with my story, so my apologies now to any one who will be upset with me mucking with Mr. Mignola's work. Again, the majority of this chapter is based on the comics. I'm just trying to stay as true to the comics and movie as I can, so please don't sue me. I give Mike Mignola full credit for the entire vision sequence. I bow down to the shear genius that is Mike Mignola and worship at his temple. (Don't believe me? Tell it to the Abe and Sammy toys I have on my keyboard.) At any rate, on with the show.
Guillermo spins around and barely manages to catch Maggie as she falls out of her chair. He's unable to completely stop her fall, but he does slow it enough so she doesn't get hurt. With a great deal of effort and pain, he finally gets her back into her seat as she continues to scream and cry hysterically. She throws her arms around him and desperately clings to him. In the pit of his stomach, he knows what's happened and it breaks his heart to see her have to go through this.
"He's dead," she sobs as her tears soak his clothing, confirming his fears.
It's the last thing anyone will hear her say for the next several days.
Abe's floating in a sea of nothingness, not sure which way is up or which way is down. A light in the distance pulls him towards it, calling to him. When he finally passes into the light, he's confronted with a building whose size boggles the mind bathed in an eternal light. It is ancient beyond time but it hasn't been worn by that time. The walls and pillars are covered in intricate patterns that beg to be studied further, but Abe doesn't seem to even notice them. Small schools of fish swim past him as if he wasn't there as he floats through an immense portal of the building with no effort from him and he enters a chamber that defies imagination.
Hovering in the center of the room is a being of incredible power and beauty. An orb at its center is transparent and has stripes plus the central part of the being can be seen through the thin membrane. Something that appears to be wings are spread out behind it as what looks to be a tail trails underneath it though gills are pulsing along the top portion just under the transparent orb. Hovering over all of this is a bright glowing ball that is so intense as to be impossible to look directly at.
Suddenly, the wings fold over the orb and the glowing ball as the tail curls up inside its protective embrace. Tighter and tighter the wings become until the being is cocooned within its own wings. The eternal light is now gone and the only light left is the glowing ball, though greatly dimmed, it can still be faintly seen in the center of the partially transparent cocoon, pulsing like a heartbeat.
In an instant, the building lies in ruins. Columns that once held up the ceiling lay crumpled on the ocean floor and the walls now show signs of time in their chipped and worn visage though the engravings are still noticeable, it's hard to see them in the dark.
A new light catches his attention as a diver in an ancient diving suit walks into the chamber. Though Abe can see him fairly clearly, the man in the suit doesn't see Abe, he only seems to have eyes for the cocoon that sits on end on a pile of calcified rubble, glowing softly. The man stares at his find for a few moments and then takes out a knife and chisels off the built up calcium that holds the cocoon to its pillar. A few minutes of chiseling and the man has his prize. Carrying it with great reverence, he turns and leaves the ruins without another glance.
Abe watches as the man returns to an ancient looking submarine. Shortly after the man disappears inside the behemoth, it begins to move off. Abe stands there in the ancient ruins as the machine floats away and disappears into the blue water.
Once more he is surrounded by darkness, but a few moments later, images begin to surround him. He's standing in a hallway with doors down one side and windows down the other. The corridor is lit by old fashion gas lamps placed at regular intervals down the hall. A moment later, the hall is filled with men and woman, all dressed in clothing reminiscent of the styles worn in the mid 1800s. He looks out the large window nearest him which is made up of many smaller panes of glass inside the large frame and sees people on the city street dressed in the same manner.
A flash of lightening and a roll of thunder draw his attention upwards and he sees the rain start to come down. But there is something else coming out of the sky besides water: Frogs.
The amphibians fall from the sky like a heavy rain causing people and animals to run in panic on the street below him. 'Plip,' 'plip,' 'plip' go the frogs as they land on the glass of a ventilation pane in the window. They come into the hall through at the top of the windows sending the people in the hall to flee in fear. 'Plap,' 'plap,' 'plap' go the small green creatures as they land on the floor. Abe watches them with casual interest until one lands right in front of him with a 'splap.' It looks up at him for a moment and then starts to hop down the hall going 'splap' all the way.
He follows it towards an open door down the hall and enters what appears to be a doctor's study. A desk sits in the middle of the room in front of a large bookcase. A human skeleton that's been wired together hangs from a hook in a corner. A model of a human head with part of the skull removed and exposing a model of a brain sits on the top of a set of drawers surrounded by specimen jars and various bottles of chemicals.
He walks past the desk and towards the bookcase. He can't say why he does it, but he walks into the shelves and passes right through them into an obvious secret passage. He follows the steps down until it appears that he's under the building. He passes under what looks to be hundreds of pipes carrying water and gas to various parts of the building.
He continues to follow the passage until he enters what can only be described as a secret laboratory. He walks past the various machines and contraptions including a pair of cylinders that are big enough for a man to stand in. He travels through the room to the other side to another passageway. A closed door at the end of the hall greets him but he ignores it as he walks through it.
He walks into a room that has cabinets, shelves and display cases line the walls all filled with various jars, models and books. In the center of the room a large semicircle shaped table dominates the space.
'Skritch' 'Skritch' 'Skritch' Four men sit in chairs around the arch of the table are writing something on a piece of paper in front of each of them. Standing at the flat edge of table is the man that was in the diver's suit patiently waiting and resting on a pedestal on the table in front of this man is the cocoon that's casting a soft blue-green glow around the room. From the collection of items around the room and the make and cloth of their clothes, it's very obvious that these men are well to do.
Abe steps up behind the man closest to him to see what he's writing and is mildly curious to see not words, but symbols drawn on the paper. A few minutes later, all of the papers are filled and the men put their pencils down. Each of them lays their hands on their drawings, closes their eyes and the standing man reaches out and lifts the cocoon from its resting place.
"UGHURRAAGAGA UMAA UTHU GAA ATHEMM UGATHAAR UGUGURATHAAAM UTH E MM UGG ATHAAA AGATHAAA ETT URAAA…" the standing man intones in a clear loud voice as the light in the cocoon starts to dim. "AGTHAA AMAA…AHH…"
He stops and stares for a moment at the now dark cocoon in his hands, his compatriots open their eyes to see what is wrong.
"What have I…" the standing man stutters in bewilderment.
"Eh?" asks one of the other men.
"What?" questions another.
"What's happening?" demands a man with a thick mustache.
"Caul! Put it down, you fool!" the thin bald man orders, standing up.
"Good lord," gasps the oldest man in the group.
"Down, man! Put it…," the fat bald man starts to command.
Before Caul has a chance to do anything there's a loud "KREK" and several large cracks appear in the cocoon.
"Oh god," Caul gasps as the cocoon crumbles to dust in his hands.
In the center of the still floating particles a glowing image hovers over Caul's hands as he stares at it in dumbfounded surprise. Abe can see it's a smaller version of the being he had seen in the chamber. As the dust settles in Caul's hands, the apparition disappears and Caul looks up, fear can clearly be seen on his face.
"No," he whispers. "God save me."
The others look at each other in bewilderment, clearly confused by their companion's behavior.
"STAY BACK!" Caul yells at the top of his voice. "BEGONE SPIRIT!"
"Caul!" shouts mustache man, trying to bring Caul to his senses.
"It's THERE!" Caul cries out as he points directly at Abe. "You don't see it?"
"It?" the mustache man asks.
"He's gone mad?" the thin bald man inquires.
"Good lord," the old man repeats.
"Where, Caul?" the fat bald man questions. "What is it?"
"How is it you do not see the thing?" Caul demands. "HOW?"
"Calm yourself, man," fat bald man tries to sooth.
"Unless…," Caul moans. "It's come for me. It is because of what I've done."
"Caul?" mustache man calls, trying to get the attention of what appears to be a hallucinating man away from his vision.
"You gentlemen, save yourselves," Caul orders. "Pursue these matters no further."
Abe feels drawn towards the man that can see him. For reasons that he cannot fathom, Abe moves towards Caul. Caul turns to face him, hands held up, but not to stop him or invite Abe in.
"Spirit, do what you…," Caul starts.
But the instant they come in contact with each other, Caul can say no more. He throws his head back in a silent scream as his eyes glow with an unearthly light. Then there is darkness once more. Through the darkness, Abe can hear voices.
"Caul?"
"Is he…"
"Good lord."
"What's happened to…"
"God."
Blurry shadows pass before Abe's eyes and he tries to focus on them. As near as he can tell, it's the men that were with Caul that are staring at him.
"His skin…"
"His eyes…"
"Water. Let us get him into water."
"Good lord."
Abe tries to fight off the darkness and the images of the men come and go. He tries to hold onto consciousness as their voices fill his head once more.
"They have killed Lincoln."
"No."
"Booth and Herold…"
"If they are taken alive, if they talk…"
"Corbett."
"We cannot risk…"
"We will have to go now…"
"What about Caul?"
"We cannot…"
"Leave him. Seal the room."
"When it's safe…we'll come back for him."
Once more, there is darkness.
Author's note: And there you have it folks, Abe's creation according to Mike Mignola. I hope I've done justice to his work, but it's so hard to put his incredible drawings into words. I invite everyone to read the comics since the art work is just stunning.