CHAPTER 2

Steve came back over to Herbert. "Don't worry about him. Watch out for him though. There's one or two rumors going around about him."

"What rumors?"

Steve didn't answer. Dan hesitated, while the blonde furrowed his eyebrows. "I… He's a bit slimy in his methods. Just be careful around him."

"Slimy? How so?" He needed to know, especially with what conversation he had earlier.

"Just be careful." Dan repeated. The other gave a nod, before going over and checking Brittney's chart. "So where's she now?"

"Receiving a quick dose of chemotherapy right now. The cancer was bothering her, attacking her a bit more aggressively than we previous thought."

Herbert nodded.

"She should be coming back soon."

Another nod.

As if on cue, Brittney came back, two nurses accompanying her. Sigh. It is going to be a long day, Herbert thought, but it's going to be worth it.

A few hours had passed. The sun was barely peeking above the horizon, shining itself into a couple of the hospital's windows. It was beyond rush hour now, so the streets were manageable at this time. A cab pulled up in front of the hospital, casting a small shadow upon the sidewalk. A few staff members were standing outside, mingling a bit as they started to disperse. Herbert, of course, was amongst them- He eyed the taxi, quickly now getting in placing his bag in the other backseat then climbing in himself.

Slamming the door shut, his eyes glanced off to his right, seeing Dan now exiting the hospital, going to his left to go to his car. Dan's car…. God, he still had that old thing. It still even had those scratches on the bumper from when one of Herbert's experiments went awall. And-

The car lurched forward, snapping Herbert out of his thoughts as the driver started to talk to him. "So where to?"

"Uhm… the apartment complex off Corner Street."

The driver, a middle-aged man with already a few gray hairs, held out his hand. "That'd be $27.88, mate."

Herbert dug into his pocket, pulling out some money. "Keep the change."

The middle-aged man nodded. "So you're new around these parts? Mr…?"

"Phillips. And yes."

"I suppose you wouldn't mind a slight tour, then?" The man smiled, putting out his cigarette in middle of the console before he pulled at the steering wheel to go left out of the hospital's parking lot. The beeping of the turning signal filled the atmosphere, until it shut off and the other male spoke up.

"Go ahead." No objections. If anything, it would get his mind off Dan and onto the upcoming topic of getting the empty apartment in a few minutes.

The driver kept his eyes straight on the road; he knew this town like the back of his hand. "Now, we're soon coming up to the shopping part of the town. Both off to our left and right. Whatever you need—convenient stores, seafood bait specialties, clothing. There's a huge shopping mall complex somewhere off to the right. Far right."

Herbert glanced off into that direction, spotting a sign for it in blaring red letters. "Is there a place to buy chemicals?"

"Chemicals?"

"I'm interested in Chemistry."

The driver gave a noise of acknowledgement. "Nice, my son's into that stuff himself, actually. Yeah, there should be a store or two for that." He nodded up towards some approaching buildings. "Here we're coming across restaurants—Some are at the other end of the city." Glowing signs presented themselves around the duo—

Red Lobster, Phillips, Hoss's, Habachi, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and many more.

Herbert took a look around.

"After the restaurants comes the residential area… Great big old—" Then the driver tensed. They were driving right by a completely empty patch of land. It looked quite barren and—

What was that whispering within his mind?

It sounded like an old language, perhaps… Sumerian? Not even… Sounded more ancient than life itself.

Then it got to a point where Herbert had to slam his hands over his ears. The driver himself cringed heavily.

"W-What's that noise?!" Herbert had felt like he needed to yell. The driver shook his head, now speeding past the area, before slowing down again. If Herbert had looked off to his left, he'd notice another car speed past the area too.

Herbert let out a deep breath as he lowered his hands, throwing a glance out of the rear view mirror, as his hearing went back to normal—hearing car motors, birds chirping, even being able to focus on people's dead silence as they walked by the strange barren spot. "What's up with that barren spot?" He tried to run through all scientific explanations, but hopelessly came up with nothing.

"A cult." The driver paused and hesitated to say the rest, feeling the utmost dread even speaking about it. He let out a shaky breath. "Mate, I recommend you to be wary of that spot. Everyone who goes by that spot hears strange murmuring. Rumors goes it, people heard it since that night in 1903."

"That night?"

"Y-Yes. Five cultists, who had wanted that nasty book, the Necronomicon, went to do some strange ritual… To summon something. Something evil. The five weren't the same since, eventually disappearing, all by 1905."

Herbert always did feel a slight disturbance passing by the grimoire while in Miskatonic Univeristy's Library, more than once. He couldn't help but to snort with a small laugh. "You don't expect me to believe that book has that much power, do you? Only reason it has any power is because of our paranoia towards it, nothing more."

"… Maybe so… But don't you see? There's so much more to it then that, lad… The supernatural is very much here, and quite alive."

Herbert scoffed. "Imagination run wild, nothing other than that." He said condensingly.

"What are you? Atheist, or something?"

"Yes."

The driver hmm'ed. "Doubt you'd stay that way the longer you stay in Cooms."

"I'd better not stay then. Or perhaps squash any idiotic notions about the Necronomicon. Why must people act so idiotic?" He titled his head.

"Why are you so…?''

"So what?"

"You have a superiority complex, it seems." The driver shrugged.

"…So I've been told. Multiple times in fact."

"It isn't a good thing. You come across as an asshole." The driver said bluntly, now pulling up behind a braking truck. They were about a couple blocks now from the apartment complex.

An unpleasant chuckle and a cold smirk. "I've been called that as well." Then the smirk faded. "Just do your job and drive the car."

The driver furrowed his brows, looking in the rearview mirror at Herbert and shook his head.

An awkward silence fell onto the scene, as the former-prisoner looked outside to the fast-paced environment, as the stoplight turned green moments earlier.

Soon, the cab pulled up to the apartment complex, slowing now as the male parked as close as possible next to the curb. Herbert moved to get out, but the cigarette smoking man grabbed his arm, creating more pressure than necessary. His eyes flickered onto the doctor's own. "Remember. Be careful." He said in a whisper, before grunting, "Now get out."

Herbert scoffed lightly, gathering his medical bag as he climbed out of the vehicle. Grumbling about how rude people were underneath his breath, he shut the door and headed towards the building.

There were some plants hanging about various windows, and if one looked closely, they'd see curtains or blinds inside of screendoors. The building looked reasonably new too, probably built only a couple of years ago.

He however ignored all of this, though it was a nice advantage—no complaints could made in terms of its condition.

The only true plus was this building was nearby a cemetery. Perfect spot for specimens, to further his work.

His work…

He had made very important progress while in prison. He had found the mechanism that drove life itself—NPE, or Nanoplasmic Energy. When applied to freshly reanimated bodies within the prison, it had shown itself as imperfect.

But it showed him that he was close.

Extremely close.

He could almost taste success.

Complete success.

With a slight smirk at that thought, he looked back down and now walked into the complex with his head held high. Approaching the office off to the side, he knocked on the door, and the female landlord glanced up from some papers.

"Come in." She stated with a smile.

Herbert pushed open the door, nodding to her.

"How may I help you today?" She asked, smoothing out her clothes a bit, as she looked at him. He's cute…

"I called about the first floor apartment a couple of days ago?" Herbert then sat down in an offered seat across from her desk.

"Ah! Mr…? What was the name again?" She squinted her eyes in concentration.

"Phillips. Howard Phillips." Herbert quickly supplied.

"Ah, that's right!" She stood up, holding out her hand. "Mr. Phillips, I welcome you to Tillinghast Apartments! Here we will have a furnished apartment for you. I will give you a packet, which you can sign later when you're ready. I will be giving you the contract today as well. Lastly, I hope you enjoy your stay here!"

Herbert didn't take her hand, immediately. He honestly had enough of that during work at the hospital, even if he convinced the hospital to hire him on the spot. He half expected to be working, not socializing. Though having supplied a donation and having some sort of relationship with Doug Cotton had helped his case a lot. Herbert guessed acquaintances— he needed to look into it more.

He sighed, getting out of his thoughts as he shook her hand silently. Then— "I hear you have thick walls?"

"Hrm… Yes! So if you want to sleep with anyone…" She winked at him, then cleared her throat. "But yes. You can have all the privacy you want." She switched to a more professional tone.

Herbert stared. "…Good."

She winked once again. "Wouldn't you want dinner first?"

"Would you like me to go to a different complex, Miss…?"

She straightened up, furrowing her eyebrows. "No need for extreme measures, Mr. Phillips… And Jill Williams."

"Whatever is necessary." He had enough of people hitting on him in prison, and that had only been a very few times. He had eventually caught on.

"She purposefully leaned over her desk, so she could expose her chest more. "I see."

Herbert was unaffected as he glanced at her breasts that seemed to pop out of her shirt. "… That contract and packet?" He had to remind her.

"Right." Jill stopped, as she now fished through a file cabinet next to her desk. She pulled out both, handing them to the mad scientist.

Hebert picked them up, now glancing at both. Thick walls… that would benefit him greatly. It meant that his experiments could go forward. Though, he'd be conducting most of his research in the cemetery's mostly abandoned church. There had been rumors the church had been haunted, so they only used it during funeral services and nothing more. Some funeral services might just be missing their guest of honor…

Nothing could stop Herbert's research.

The thick walls would help with the aftermath of his experiments, in case if he wanted to drag them into his apartment.

He briefly read over the contract; after a few minutes, he ended up signing the document before him. Once done, he handed it off to Jill, who took it immediately.

"Alright!" Jill took the contract now, filing it away, then turned back to the blonde with a smile. "You're all good now. Rent will be due in two days, the beginning of the month."

She fished out a key, now handing it to the male. "Do you want me to show you your apartment?"

"Sure."

Jill got up and opened the door, and Herbert followed. Passing a few doors, Jill stopped at 10B. Before leaving, she stroked his shoulders and giggled.

"Enjoy your stay!"

Herbert grunted a response. She seemed like trouble already, but she would easy to manipulate if needed. With that thought in place, he went and unlocked the door to reveal the room inside. There lay out before him a full clean living room—two couches, a few tables, and a stand that could hold a TV.

He furrowed his brows— TVs must have advanced a lot over the years. It wasn't a big stand at all. The only TVs he saw were the clunky ones, not like the ones shown in the pamphlets on the stand.

He'd worry about it later though. He needed one for mostly show, and also to keep an eye out on the news.

A further exploration of the apartment revealed a kitchen, a study, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. The study could easily be turned into a miniature laboratory. The room was big enough afterall.

The bedroom, the master bedroom.

There was nothing but a night-stand within the room. It seemed almost symbolic of what he had done all those years ago, injecting himself with a weakened re-agent to stay awake to work on his research.

The withdrawal was absolutely hell when he went to prison. He couldn't tell about it to the staff members, neither complain about it for two full weeks.

Only after a month did the hell fully go away.

Though they probably did suspect him going through some sort of drug withdrawal… they just didn't know what.

He doubted that he should start up on it again. Though, it was most definitely tempting.

He was more than eager to get back to his work.

Scattering his thoughts then, he turned away from the bedroom. He needed to scope out the church.

Within minutes, he found himself outside, walking down the sidewalk. It was easily approaching 8 PM, and it showed on the streets. It had been a bit more crowded, only a good hour ago.

The sound echoed as the doubledoors swung inward. The church seemed well maintained, at least in the present room, as far as he could tell from his entry position. Herbert strided forward, his vision quickly meeting the eyes of a stone statue of Jesus.

The scientist wore a disdainful expression. "Mind control… Morals standing only on your words with your father's pathetic book. Your people, no wonder they've never gotten as far in their thought process in day-to-day life, whereas as I have."

He then brushed past the statue, ignoring the cross hanging on the other end of the room, near an altar. Rows upon rows of pews sat in front of the elaborate display.

Funny... my parents had always brought ME to church… See how that turned out? He let out an amused snort at the thought.

He crossed the room now and opened up a door off to the left of the altar, entering an open area. For a good 15 minutes, he searched rest of the church and finally came across a room that could pass off as a basement.

Perfect— all he really needed was to clean up the counters, and it would be ready. He sighed. He'd have to start from scratch all over again. His equipment was all gone. Some of his notebooks were missing, not turned in. Only one or two were actually; those were the ones when he was in Switzerland…

He frowned at that. He considered Grubber to have been a friend of his until the very end.

He glanced down with an unreadable expression. At least he had found the hidden notebooks a couple of days ago. They documented his research when he had been with Dan. He decided to keep them nevertheless.

They were still valuable with information.

He tossed a look off to his right. This room hadn't been touched in years, and it was one of the rooms in back of the church. It definitely wouldn't be found.

Then he looked towards the door. He'd have to get a few locks for it though…

He wasn't going to be sent to prison again.

Scanning the entire room with his dark eyes, he realized one thing:

This would be one hell of a weekend coming up.

Tomorrow was Friday—

He could begin starting to clean up for progression of his work.

Within a good half hour, he was back at his apartment with a bag of food in hand. He sighed through his nose, almost having sat down, suddenly hearing the doorbell.

"Who is it?" He called out, deciding to do so finally in a few moments.

"It's me! Dan Cain from the hospital."

He hadn't expected the man to visit. He was going to make the first move in a false, brand-new friendship.

"Coming." Herbert forced his voice to sound a bit cheery. The blonde set down the McDonalds bag and went to answer the door. He yanked it open, now coming face-to-face with his former-assistant.

"Hi, Herbert."

A/N: I'm too cruel to leave it on such a cliffhanger. :P Poor Herbert XD

Ah, totally had to put in a weird little fact about the town/city of Cooms. Kinda following suit of how Arkham had the Necronomicon residing right in Miskatonic Univeristy's Library. :P

Until next time, read and review! :)