Darkness at Noon

Chapter Seven - Domination

Janine wasn't aware how hard she had been gripping the steering wheel until Kylie made a soft comment wondering what the creaking noise was.

"Oh, uh, sorry..." Janine murmured, loosening her grip.

Right now it was just her and Kylie in her pink VW, while Roland had taken Eduardo and Garrett in his Mustang. They'd agreed that splitting up was a better idea for tracking and had acquired a pair of long-range radios from the mess back at the Firehouse to keep in touch with.

"It's alright." Kylie bit her lip, looking down at the PKE meter. It cast a green glow to her already pale complexion, giving her an eerie look.

"Anything?" Janine rolled to a stop behind an 18-wheeler.

"Faint, but it's getting a little stronger while we're headed this way. Maybe the Brooklyn Bridge?"

"This road'll take us all the way there." Janine hazarded a smile. "Maybe we can make a pit stop at my apartment and get something to eat, I'm starving."

"Sure, whatever." Kylie was back to being confrontational again. Great.

"What is your deal?" The words came out before she could stop them.

"I don't havea deal. What's your deal?" Kylie snapped back.

Okay, she deserved that. It didn't help cool her temper any though. "Oh, you've been shooting daggers at me since day one, you've got a problem with me and it's better to get it over and done with now before we're shooting at this...thing."

The truck started to move and Janine was quick to follow, then pass it. She could see Kylie glowering down at the PKE meter out of the corner of her eye.

"I...Don't have anyone. After Grandma Rose died no one in my family gave a shit about me. I started researching the occult because, I dunno, I wanted to make sure she was in a good place. Someplace better. I found Dr Spengler's book, and the foreword...Where he talks about death as being just a passage from one place to another, and how...Human spirits lingering behind is usually a result of leaving something unfinished, or unhappiness, or trauma... It just made everything seem okay again. Because Grandma Rose isn't here, she's just somewhere else, and since she never manifests she's probably happy wherever she is."

"Oh, Kylie..."

"Don't. Just don't even. That's it. That's my deal, and while its really none of your business, now you can trust me not to shoot you or something."

Janine chewed her lip for a moment, listening to the increasing tempo from the PKE meter as they approached the bridge. "I'm sorry, for what its worth."

"Yeah well..." Kylie ran a hand through her hair. The PKE gave an abrupt screech and the screen went black.

"Whoa!" Janine pulled over, flicking on her emergency lights. "What just happened?"

"I don't know! It just died all of a sudden!" Kylie twisted the dials, trying to get it to turn back on to no avail.

Janine grabbed the radio. "Roland, boys, our PKE just died on us. We're just off the Brooklyn Bridge, where are you?"

"We're in Brooklyn, heading back your way. Our meter's going nuts!" Garrett's voice came through. Eduardo was saying something she didn't quite get in the background.

"Eddie says its going all weird now and...Whoa! Roland, what the hell, man?"

There was a pause and Janine looked up long enough to see that traffic was gridlocked and people were running past them towards the city. She caught Kylie's eye, nodding at the back seat where they had their packs.

Kylie climbed over the partition and get one of the packs on, getting ready to spring into action.

"I think you girls ought to head onto the bridge, we'll meet you in the middle."

"Roger that." Janine clipped the radio to one of her pockets and climbed out, gathering her pack from Kylie as she exited the backseat.

"Alright, lets go kick some ghost butt." She smiled at her compatriot. "Promise not to shoot me?"

"I guess I can try." Kylie returned the smile weakly, a little pale at the thought of what they had to face now.

"Then lets get a move on." Janine turned and shoved her way through the oncoming crowd. "Ghostbusters, comin' though!"

Sure enough, around the center of the bridge Achira was perched on a brick support, watching the fleeing crowd with amusement.

She caught sight of Janine and Kylie as they made their way through the onslaught, howling in fury. "You dare to approach me! Achira, purveyor of the prophecy of plague, servant of the one who rides the pale horse!"

"Well, she can sure talk," Garrett said as he rolled up next to them. Behind him Roland and Eduardo followed, looking less enthusiastic.

"How are we going to bust her when she's way up there?" Roland asked.

"We just gotta get her down to this level." Janine replied.

"And we do that...how?" Eduardo grimaced up at the ranting creature.

"I...don't really know. We'll try shooting at her first. Fire on three." Janine armed her pack, glad for the comforting hum. The hairs on the back of her neck rose. Around her she heard the kids turning on their packs, waiting for her signal.

"Alright...One..."

Achira focused on them, stopping her rant.

"Two..."

She opened her maw wide and roared. Somehow the sound of it made Janine feel sick to her stomach.

"Th-"

That was the point at which Achira spat a glob of green, sticky mess at them, which instantly caught fire in midair.

"Look out!" Eduardo shrieked, jumping on Kylie and knocking her out of the way just in time. They scattered, finding cars to hide behind.

The goo splattered on the pavement and nearby cars, burning green and black and smelling like death.

"I didn't know she could do that! Did you know she could do that?" Garrett yelled from behind a battered old white Silica.

"Do you think I knew she could do that?" Janine screamed back.

"Hey, Eduardo, Kylie, are you okay?" Roland called, running over to hide with Janine. Eduardo and Kylie had taken shelter behind a truck in front of the them. Janine registered somewhere that his pack was making a worrisome noise.

"Eduardo broke his nose!" Kylie's voice called back. "I don't think he can do much right now!"

"Get him out of here then!" Janine told her. "Shit," she muttered under her breath. "Alright, where is she now..."

"There!" Garrett pointed to where Achira had landed under the support, stalking towards them with deadly intent.

"Roland, Garrett, with me!" Janine whipped around the corner of the car and fired at the ghost before she could react to her presence. The beam hit, but didn't hold her without anyone else to help steady her.

Eduardo and Kylie took the opportunity to make a hasty retreat, which Achira must have noticed as well because she spat another glob of fiery goo at them.

Roland came out from behind her and fired his beam as well, driving the creature away from their retreating friends until his pack began to make a high pitched whining noise, joined abruptly by a fast pitched wailing beep.

That was about when it hit Janine what the noise she had heard before was. "Roland, get that pack off!" She clawed at the straps, hauling it halfway off his shoulders before he could protest.

"What the hell are you-"

"A little help here guys!" Garrett yelled, having added his stream to their efforts.

Kylie came running back to them. "Roland, get that pack off, it's damaged on the back!"

Roland struggled out of the straps, holding it at arms length and looking at Janine desperately. "What do I do with it now!"

"Throw it off the bridge, I don't know!" Janine waved her arms, unable to think of another solution.

Roland ran to the side and gave the pack of a heave she hadn't thought he was capable of, dropping to the ground just in time.

Another green fireball sailed overhead and somehow everything seemed to just slow down. Kylie shrieked and grabbed a hold of Janine as they dropped behind the car. Garrett ducked beside them.

And then the entire bridge shook under the force of the blast. Everything went quiet, save for a tinny ringing sound Janine couldn't shake from her ears. A spray of mist washed over everything and the lights went out from the bridge clear back to the city. Dust mixed with the mist, casting everything in gray - what little she could see anyway.

"Everyone okay?" She asked. That was the point at which she realized she couldn't hear anything. She grabbed Kylie's arm and shook her, forcing her to her feet and making her look at her.

Kylie looked shaken, covered in gray muck, her eyes huge in her dirty face.

Janine pointed at Garrett, got a nod from the girl, and ran to check on Roland herself. The kid was moving, but probably dazed as much as the rest of them. She helped him over to the nearest car, so he'd have some shelter, before going to where she had last seen Eduardo.

Eduardo was sitting up against a car bumped, his head tilted forward and blood seeping through his fingers. At her touch he just waved her off, sliding the trap he had to her and shaking her head subtly. He was out commission.

Janine grabbed the trap and stepped back between the cars, looking for Achira again in the silence and darkness. Several cars were still running, doors open, so she reached in and turned on their brights as she found them.

The ghost had retreated a short distance and was watching them, her mouth twisted in a grin. She was saying something, but hell if Janine could hear it. She got up next to Garrett and Kylie and touched their shoulders, pointing at the ghost.

They each got their positron wands ready, aiming and firing without any direction.

Achira sidestepped the beams with far too much ease, throwing her head back with a laugh. Around her fluttered some kind of debris, swirling like a tornado. Then the debris came towards them, and in the light cast by the car lights Janine could see that they were not pieces of paper or dust, but winged little things that definitely did not look friendly.

She started shooting at them, but there were too many to shoot all at once. Kylie batted at her hair, knocking several out before they could bite her with evil looking needle-sharp teeth.

Achira approached them, casually slow.

Janine grabbed Kylie's shoulder and shook her head, pointing at Achira again. Kylie nodded, knocking another of the little bat-things off her shoulder and firing directly at Achira.

Garrett's stream joined hers, then Janine's own. Achira writhed in their beams, spitting more gooey fireballs as she could, fighting against them and halfway dragging them forward with the sheer force of her struggles.

Janine cut her beam just long enough to slide the trap forward while the other two hauled the ghost forward.

Kylie stomped on the trigger, bathing them in white light.

Domination is a song originally by Pantera, covered wonderfully by Apocalyptica.