IV. Macabre
"Here, wear this," Ms. Tsukuda said, tossing her a white cloth vest with a small red cross stitched into the left breast.
Running her hand over it, Misaya was about to ask why she needed it, when a sudden shock, like a lightning bolt, flashed up her spine, and, dropping the vest, falling back into the dirt, her body went stiff. Eyes wide, she laid there staring at the evening sky, numb for a moment before her senses kicked back in.
Lifting a hand to block out the bleeding light of the sun, the world around her vision seemed to collapse. Cave in on itself and blur back into focus as she gasped, and her fingers were still shaking when she heard Ms. Tsukuda call to her, and her shell-shocked eyes darted to the woman as she hopped down from the bed of her truck. A ringing in her ears muffled whatever she was saying until she strode over, boots crushing gravel, and bent down.
"Sorry 'bout that," she said, picking up the vest and dusting it off. "Forgot you're one of 'em for the time being."
Wincing as she rubbed her back, a lingering static running through, Misaya shot her a nasty glare. "Just… what… the fuck… was that?"
"It was suppose to be protection," the woman replied as she threw the vest back on the bed of her truck then slipped off her dank tanktop. Breathing a sigh of relief, she said, "Figured you could use some, but I, uh," she chuckled and turned her head to the side, scratching her cheek, "Well, you know…"
Glowering at her the same as in the morning, Misaya grumbled. "More like you're trying to kill me."
"Nah, if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be toast," the woman said, looking back with a grin. Her hair was now a black mat that smelled like wet rat and dangled down across her shoulders, "Though, hey, think of it this way: at least the vest didn't do any serious damage, yeah?"
As she then put a sweaty hand on her shoulder, blocking out the sun's harsh gaze, Misaya met her cheer with leer, shrugged her off and got to her feet, but, when she tried to walk away, stumbled. A piercing noise like a calf was getting shafted up the arse bleated through her skull and she held her head, grimacing with a shudder.
"What you're experiencing are the effects placed on all Templar gear." Ms. Tsukuda informed ahead of her. Motioning for her to follow, she went in without waiting.
Giving a parting glance at the truck, Misaya spat. Wading her way through the front door of Ms. Tsukuda's house, she was assaulted once again by the smell—the inside of her truck ten times worse—and, covering her nose, opted to hover near the doorway while the woman rifled through her belongings. Haphazardly tossing crap left and right buried underneath a swamp of cigarettes and booze, she tore through a heaped together mass of clothing and came up with a fur collared denim jacket.
"This'll keep you safe. Kinda." Throwing it to her, she went back to digging. "It's lined with laminated Kevlar."
Misaya caught it one handed. "And that means?"
"You might not die as fast if you get slashed." Hastily putting on a new shirt, Ms. Tsukuda then went out to her truck with something else in her hands, set it down, and grabbed that vest. Tying it around her chest via the straps, she took whatever she else she'd set down, and draped it across her shoulders—a white and red robe to match—and continued talking while fastening it at the waist, "Same as this. Except mine are thicker—and they're spiritually-augmented."
A short silence followed. Then, "Huh?"
She lit up, "Ah! I'm glad you asked! You see…" She launched into it being made of blessed fabrics, to protect against the unholy, or whatever dungeons & dragon, military mumbo jumbo nerd shit she was spewing from her mouth. Like she was some kind of walking, armoured tank—and that was all Misaya bothered to hear as she realised night was fast approaching.
Instead of assholing around with this loose-lipped bitch she should be ripping out her father's throat. Crushing his skull like she'd fractured his wrist. Breaking every bone in his body for every beating taken. Stomping him into a bloody mess while the medicine was still in her system.
Rife with anger, she was about to scream and yell and tell the woman how fucking stupid her "standard-issue Templar tunic, cloak, and cape" looked when someone pulled up in a car. She spun to see Mrs. Ike stepping out from the passenger side, parting her weather worn long hair behind her ears as she thanked the driver and turned back to them with a grave expression on her slightly wrinkled face, still garbed in her church attire minus the cap.
"I need to speak with you both about tonight."
—§•φ•§—
Awkwardly squished together in a triangle formation on the bed of Ms. Tsukuda's truck because her house was obviously not an option, Misaya hung her arms over the side and stared up at the moon overhead as the two older women spoke with one another. She was still pissed, and, rapping on the metal, had half a mind to deal with her father without help, but, after hearing that he was gone from their home, she could do nothing but wait until one of them revealed where he was hiding, one ear focused on any snippets of their conversation that were actually worth her time.
Those came when Mrs. Ike was finished relaying to them that a large number of the villagers that'd gone missing and mysteriously reappeared without incident over the course of the three months since she and her father had first arrived on the island were actually reanimated corpses, and that the only reason she'd found this out was because one of the villagers who'd recently died in her care from a fever turned to ash the moment he did.
Misaya's thoughts flashed back to the instruments on the table in the basement, and a knot formed in her stomach, as she finally joined in. "He just fell apart?"
Ms. Tsukuda flicked a lighter and answered, words muffled by the cigarette she proceeded to light. "Yeah, zombies tend to do that."
Mrs. Ike rested a hand on her lap, "Their makeup is more complex than merely flesh eating corpses back from the dead."
"The first stage of the process."
"Process?"
"The process to becoming what you have already achieved, hon."
"A bloodsucker. Endgame, sister." Ms Tsukuda replied, blowing smoke and taking the lead again, "I've told you a bit of the experiments he's done back at the church, remember?" Tapping it over the side of her truck, she continued, "It's all for his goal of creating the perfect artificial Dead Apostle. The medicine he's created is what he's been giving to them to speed up the process, a transition from mindless familiar to superhuman entity. The guy who died was only just starting down that road." She shrugged. "Well, he was already dead to begin with, so I guess—"
"Izumi!" Mrs. Ike rebuked. "The unfortunate soul," she then whispered, crossing herself.
"Dead… Apostle…?" Misaya traced a finger around one of her red eyes.
"An artificial one, but yeah. I'm not sure if you've ever seen how the village has been having a crisis of missing people and animals over the last three months...? Well, there's your reason. Also, when I broke into your house, I discovered a passage that runs through the basement."
Lips pursed a bit as she looked to the side with a grumble, Misaya's mind flashed back to her basement once again. This time, to the hole in the wall that her father had made and the scratching noises. That was a passage to somewhere? Then, it might be where her father was currently hold up! Swallowing, she rubbed her throat, but didn't show her wicked excitement. "Never cared enough to notice."
"He's extended an old tunnel system used during World War II, and, if my assumption is right, it should lead underneath the military base."
The military base? It was like this was all straight out of some cheesy horror flick. "What about it?"
The woman took a moment or two to respond, and Misaya felt the woman's eyes shift in her direction, "The bounded field around your house. I'm sure you felt it too at one, or several, points in time—a blanket so thick it smothered the area in an unmistakable dark presence."
Misaya narrowed her eyes. Did she mean the veil? So, it was a real thing, too, and not her wild imagination or some superficial bullshit? Called a bounded field? Turning her head slightly to eye her, she wondered what else she truly knew behind that obnoxious side of hers, but didn't offer any comment.
"Well, it's now gone. Which means he's jumped ship."
He must have ran away with his tail between his legs. Not that she was surprised.
"Which also means that the magecraft used to conceal everything is gone, too." Standing up, Ms. Tsukuda then nonchalantly stepped over the side of her truck bed and fell feet first to the ground below.
"Izumi, are you truly going now?" Mrs. Ike asked, leaning over the side, "What if he's lying in wait or—!?"
Looking back over her shoulder, Ms. Tsukuda flashed a smile, "All the better, then!"
"But what if—!"
"Come on Misaya! We're gonna pay your dad a visit!"
Not needing to be told twice, Misaya hurried after her.
Finally.
—§•φ•§—
After a time of travelling on foot through the woods behind her house, the two of them had reached the backdoor. It was still ajar from her flight last night, and Ms. Tsukuda pressed her body close to it, peeking into the hallway. "I don't sense anyone, but… just in case…" Pulling a chain necklace with a metal cross at the end from those Templar robes she'd put on earlier, she mumbled something to it before slipping into the house.
Misaya went straight in after, matching her step for step until they reached the basement, and, as the two of them stood above the door, it was wide open. So, it was true—her father really had fled like a coward—but, Ms. Tsukuda apparently now had the same idea as Mrs. Ike, for that same metal cross from before appeared again.
She wrapped the chain around her hand so that the cross itself was pressed into her palm, and held it out, fingers curled as they creaked their way down the steps and came into the room. Though, nobody sprang out to try and catch them by surprise and she let it dangle at her side as they glanced around. Everything was same as the previous night, even the hole.
Approaching it, Ms. Tsukuda lit another cigarette, stepping to the side, "Smell that?"
Lifting her nose, Misaya nearly lost it right then and there. A stench more potent than anything ever tore through her sinuses, clogging the back of her throat when she opened her mouth to gag as she spun away from the hole. Exhaling through her nostrils loudly, one eye closed as the other watered, this was definitely something about the medicine she was not thankful for.
How hadn't she noticed it before?!
"Oh, and the smell will only get worse from here on. Meaning, get ready to hold your lunch again." With that little warning, Ms. Tsukuda then went through the hole.
Pulling herself from the floor, this must have been what she'd been talking about with the magecraft or whatever being gone, she hastened to fall in line, wiping her eyes and spitting a sweet taste from her mouth. The space was humid, damp, and stuffy as she struggled to fend off the stench wafting through from somewhere much further ahead, many times stronger within the cave, or whatever this place was, than outside it, when Ms. Tsukuda spoke up again.
"We should be careful from here on."
"Why?" she replied, nose and mouth covered.
"So we don't attract unwanted attention. I mean," the woman gave a chuckle, "Isn't that obvious?"
Misaya ignored the jab, and felt in her pocket for the two bottles remaining. She had only a few hours remaining until the next one, and gnashed her teeth. There was no time for being secretive about it now, especially considering he was probably anticipating their arrival—not that she wanted give him the credit, but if he did of their—"Oaf!" She bumped into Ms. Tsukuda's backside, but before she could tell her to move it, the woman's free hand reached back for her to take.
"Grab my hand," she whispered. "Now."
"Why should I?"
"Do it!"
Once she did, begrudgingly, Ms. Tsukuda held out the metal cross again same as before and whispered to it. Immediately after, something passed over them, and Misaya took a sharp breath, feeling whatever it was as it coiled around her like a snake, and, as it tightened, the two of them becoming shrouded in a veil similar to the one that'd been around her house.
A bounded field.
Though, this one was calmer. Relaxing, even, and, looking up at the woman as she still held onto the metal cross, Misaya waited for her to say something, but all Ms. Tsukuda did was put a finger to her lips and point forward, letting go of her hand as they then went further down the tunnel until they came to cells carved into the rock on either side.
Inside of each were the rotting remains of various animals, their blood and juices mixing together and coating the floor, while on the walls were chains above and below for hands and feet, empty, and, coming to the last row, she now knew where the chicken from yesterday morning had disappeared to.
Visible to her eyes, it was surrounded by scraps of meat and bone, innards hanging out. Recently killed.
Behind it was an ugly and deformed man with scaly skin. His feet in irons clanked against the floor as he slowly swayed, blood running down his gore splashed chin.
"Take a look. This is another fruit of your father's labours," Ms. Tsukuda said as she nodded toward him, a new cigarette in her mouth. "The second stage—a ghoul."
Head cocked to the side, clouded red eyes staring straight at them, letting out a grunt, he sniffed the air.
Coming forward, she touched the metal cross to his forehead, ignoring the hissing and attempts he made trying to grab at her. "May the Lord have mercy on your soul, you poor bastard," she said, as some kind of… energy… surged through her arm and exploded from her palm in the instant she closed her hand around his head. Pulling free with a wet crunch, she shook brain matter from her fist as the the man's skull was now just a cup of bloody pulp above the jaw and, half-headless, he twitched, went still, then slumped.
Mesmerized by the shocking display of brutality, Misaya bent down to get a closer look. Stifling a laugh, she would do much worse to her father when the time came, eyes watching the man's blackish blood flow like a waterfall, and swiped a bit that settled on his tongue, rubbing it between her fingers. Sniffing it, she was going to ask why it was so… foul… when she noticed something squirming out from his throat.
Though, before it could come to a head, Ms. Tsukuda quickly pulled her away by the collar and stomped his head into oblivion. With his neck caved in, she then rammed her fist into the man's chest and ripped out his heart—a pulsing, cancerous mess that spurted black—and squeezed. As the heart burst, spewing some dark sludge-like shit all over the floor, the woman thrust out her hand and cross and burned the remains to grisly scorched stains and wiped the cross on her sleeve with a sigh.
"Well that was unexpected."
"What was?"
"Oh, nothing. It's nothing. Just... Anyway, we're near the final stretch, so look sharp!" she said back, changing the subject, "The bounded field I placed around both of us should keep us from being detected, but if you do anything stupid then it's both our heads. So shut your trap and keep it zipped till we get there, understand?"
"Whatever."
Giving the cell a parting glance before joining her outside and folding her arms behind her head as they continued on, she obliged. In the end, what Ms. Tsukuda was concerned over was of no significance to her, and she smiled devilishly. All that mattered was what was soon to come.
Next stop, murder.
A / N: I had writer's block (and it still lingers).