Author's NB: Thanks for the r/vs peeps, usually my ramblings go unnoticed by the slash obsessed junkies.
Meirelle, thanks for your input and questions, firstly, the chapter with Kup started in my mind with no reference to Spotlight, then I remembered halfway through about that chapter and so I sort of built a bit around it, it could be a stand alone or the same experience, but I think he was relatively old on that world where he went nutso. As for the Ghost Buster's cut-outs, I saw them in the local video store and they were pretty ratty looking, so were probably as old as the movie!! (I hear there's a new movie coming out soon…)
Anyway, glad you guys are enjoying it. Thanks again.
Keep reading! (o^__^o)
Chapter Twenty Four
22nd December
1305hrs
A quiet breeze made its way up a gravel road that travelled around the western edge of the Autobot's city. A few of the remaining leaves were dislodged from branches and scuffed along the rough ground. The three humans stood along side Chip in front of their little Scooby Doo styled van, complete with custom paint job.
"So, in regard to all the death and dying and what not, where exactly is this place in relation to that place?"
Ainsley asked as she took a step towards the fence that looked a lot more flimsy then it actually was.
"Don't get too close to the fence".
Chip said as a warning more as a pedantic order.
"What will happen if we do?"
Wade asked as he reached a hand towards it, not intending to touch it.
"You'll get a hell of a stun that'll fry the skin right off your fingers".
"Seems a bit of dangerous kind of thing to have around an apparently human friendly species".
The woman replied.
"Yeah, well, they've had a change of management".
He took a few good thrusts of his wheels to get himself close to the woman.
"Its basically everywhere. Bots and humans alive died all over the place. Almost six months on they're still digging up bodies".
"Yeah… according to EMF there is a significant change in the fields around this location".
Ainsley stated as she held the small device up in the air moving about slowly.
"The AIC is registering a disruption".
Wade commented.
"What are those things?"
Chip asked as he suddenly realised he didn't know what they were talking about.
"EMF, it measures electro magnetic fields, ghosts can cause them, and the AIC, air ion counter picks up on disruptions to the ionic fields – ghosts can play around with them too".
Ethan asked as he walked a few metres up the road from the van.
"I take it this isn't an official request for assistance, that you're doing this under your own initiative?"
He asked Chip, still facing up the road towards the huge foreboding mountain up ahead.
"Yeah, well, sort of. There are a couple of Autobots who know of this, and one in particular knows I've taken this path, but the Leader of the Autobots and his officers don't have a clue, I think it's best not to get them involved, I don't think they'd understand or even want to investigate this line of thought".
Chip was at least honest.
"Where does this road lead?"
Ethan asked as he turned back to the wheelchair bound scientist.
"You know, I'm not quite sure, I haven't been around this area before, I just know its been ignored in the reconstruction as they have been concerning themselves more with closer locations that need rebuilding".
Chip answered.
"Alright, well, I'm getting some incredible readings from up this way".
Ethan began.
"Ainsley, get the cameras out of the van, Wade get the barometer and the recorder, I wanna see what we can get".
The leader of the little group started up the path.
"Come on Chip, let's go hunt some ghosties".
--
1347hrs
Chip was inwardly surprised at how long the road was, and outwardly starting to get sore, especially when the road got a bit rougher and especially when it started inclining. Eventually it had levelled out and they came to the end of it. It sat near the base of the ranges and was surrounded by trees. Some of which were very obviously damaged. A stack of dead trees was piled up in the left corner of the clearing and there were various stumps sticking out of the ground where the trees had once been connected.
The gravel road had started to become rather sparse in regards to shape, size and general stoniness. Grass was growing freshly up through various areas of the road. It surprised them how large the clearing was and how the road leading into it was more of a bottleneck. Chip rolled himself towards what looked like a mound of dirt that as only just beginning to show the signs of grass covering. What had grabbed his attention was the white stick jutting out.
"Eth, the readings are off the chart here!"
Wade announced as he moved around the change in the ground's colouring, walking along where the dirt mound began.
"He's bang on! I'll get some pix and start the recorder".
The woman stated as she removed the recorder from the pack around her waist and placed it on one of the greasy stumps.
On closer inspection he realised it wasn't a stick.
Chip wheeled back in shock and outwardly gasped. More from absolute surprise then any kind of frightened horror.
"What is it?"
The woman asked as she switched the record button down.
"I think this is a mass grave".
The three other humans approached what was holding the scientist's attention.
"Oh God. Is that a femur?"
Ainsley crouched down by it and reaching out gingerly stroked it with her fingers.
"Yeah, it is".
Wade said matter of factly.
"Did you know about this place?"
Ethan turned to Chip, he wasn't accusing him of anything, but his voice did sound a little uncertain about what was going on.
"I heard rumours of mass graves. That there were so many human body parts found after the attacks that the Autobots hurried up and buried them".
"Why wouldn't they hand them over to the authorities, it seems kinda odd that they'd keep human parts and not let the human culture deal with it".
Ainsley reported.
"Yeah, well, like I said before, change of management".
He wasn't sure if he believed himself, could Rodimus and Magnus be so callous as to just heap these human parts into a big hole and not say anything about it? What of Jazz? He had his finger on the pulse of human culture; surely he would have piped up about the importance of religious ceremony and the human respect for the dead – and their need for closure. Truth was, Chip didn't know what to think. He just sat there in his chair, the wheels muddy with hopefully only mud and stared at that white bone, poking out of the dark brown, a stark contrast and a creepy, morbid reminder or what the Decepticons were capable of. And perhaps even worse, what the Autobots were capable of.
"Well, I can give you a quick diagnosis right here, no wonder you have so much activity, the deceased could be angry at such a lack of respect, they could be wanting their parts to be reunited with their other remains, or they could be demanding just a marker".
Ethan expressed, a slight twinge of anger seeping from his voice as he spoke.
"Yeah, sometimes all it takes is for someone to say a prayer on their behalf".
Ainsley said softly as she looked down at what she then realised was a bone from a human finger, a dirty gold ring the clue that gave away its biological identity. She bent down and picked it up as she was aware of Wade saying a few prayers in Latin. Something she recognised that Toby at taught them. She picked up the finger and slipped the ring off onto the palm of her hand; she brushed a few of the heavy clumps of dirt from it and was able to make out the engraving.
"Lou & Steph forever, 1999".
She read it out solemnly.
"Obviously not".
Wade said suddenly.
"Unless they're both buried here".
"Steph, Lou, one or both of you have parts buried here. Please give us a sign if you need help or need peace".
Ethan spoke firmly, loudly, there was a rustle of the wind through the nearby trees but given that it was a breezy day and it had been accompanying them the whole way, it was probably just nature and not anything initiated by a ghostly power.
"We want to help! We want to know why this place is being so touched".
Ethan continued.
The earth gave way and the man fell down the small opening and into a mass of still rotting bodies. Ethan wasn't much effected by it and slowly pulled himself out of the biological sludge and up out of the hole.
"Would that class as a sign?"
Chip asked, unsure, and rather mortified as Ethan respectfully as possible removed the remains of a foot that had caught in the strap of one of his bags of equipment.
The man stood in front of the scientist and brushed off the dirt and shrugged.
"Could be, or it just could be the ground is so full of bodies that as they rotted it sunk slowly and its integrity was compromised".
If anything, Chip was impressed with the composure of the three of them; obviously they'd been in this sort of situation before.
The four then peered down into the hole, Wade shone a powerful torch into the bleak and what they saw would haunt the scientist for the rest of his life. Ainsley looked away with a real sadness in her eyes that such a mismatch of parts could be laid together and be called a final resting place. Wade was stoic about the whole thing and realised inwardly they were just the physical remains of those so unfortunate, their souls having departed long ago from such a frail prison of flesh. Ethan, well, he was more annoyed that he hadn't been more careful, but hoped, somewhat selfishly, that such a huge grave would provide many good paranormal readings.
"So what now?"
Ainsley asked.
"Well, let's get some more readings around here, and Chip, if its okay with you, I think we will leave a few pieces of recording equipment about so we might be able to pick up something. I'd also like to camp the van here tonight to keep an eye on things".
Ethan added.
"Sure, I came to you guys for help, so whatever you need just ask. I'll let a couple of the Autobots know so they don't think you're a spy or something".
"Yeah, that'd be good, I'd hate to get shot as a spy and end up in one of those graves".
Wade expressed.
"You guys camped out at "haunted" places or graves or whatever before?"
The scientist asked as he wheeled back slightly.
"Yeah quite a…"
The bodies, well, parts of the bodies, in the sludgy liquid they had produced that they now resided in sudden exploded upwards like a volcano, it rained down on the four of them, covering them with bits of bone and well rotted organs. All four of them heard it. All four of them would remember it. All four of them turned and left as quickly as legs and wheels would carry them.
GET OUT!!!
The voices screamed in unison and then everything was eerily quiet, but the four were too busy escaping down the hidden road.
They were about fifty metres from the grave when something hit Chip on the top of the head and whatever it was bounced down onto his lap, it was the face of a skull, the rest of had broken away somewhere and given the singe marks around the top of the forehead and the shattered optic ridge left no question as to how this unfortunate individual had met their death, or how the body had been damaged there after. Chip gasped in horror and quickly brushed the part of the fleshless face onto the ground, his wheels still moving with speed crushed over it. A small scream came from under his wheel and it chilled him to the bones. Another series of bones and sludge started to rain down upon them.
Up ahead, Ainsley started screaming and brushing at her hair to get the small bones of fingers, toes and vertebrae out of her hair. She stood still for a moment in an attempt to get the half rotten hand off her shoulder when Chip slammed into her, unable to stop and unable to see as a series of intestine, rotting, landed on his head and a loop or two caught on his glasses blocking his field of vision. He was thrown from his chair and knocked into Wade, Ainsley had already fallen the chair still propelling, moved over her until a radius bone caught in the spokes and stopped it dead. A huge cloud passed in front of the sun and Wade quickly realised as he looked up towards the impending darkness that it was no fluffy cloud moving along the afternoon sky as the wet started smacking him, it was lumpy with sharp pieces in it, he realised it was the rotten, coagulated blood and muck of those victims now drowning him with their rancid stench, the small bones and fragments of such mixed through prickling his skin.
GET OUT!!
The voices screamed again, the very sound they made caused a wave of nausea to pass over Ethan who was then hit rather hard in the back of the head with about twenty skulls and fragments of such, he went down hard and was knocked into the bleak cold of unconsciousness.
Wade found the strength, whether naturally or spurned on by fear, pushed himself up, grabbed the chair off a sobbing Ainsley, pulled her up and shoved her into a run, he then lugged up the scientist and threw him into his chair before pulling the still Ethan up, loosing his grip twice due to the slip of the sludge on his form. He then shouldered him and began to run.
"COME ON! LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
He screamed as he moved his legs as quickly as they would allow.
More sludge and bones started to rain down upon them. It made the ground uneven and slippery, all of them, including Chip found moments where they began to loose footing from the road.
GET OUT!!
It gave one last wave of rot and gore and then up ahead they noticed the lick of purple behind a few bushes. It was the van. They all inwardly thanked God, though Chip actually verbalised it. They made it to the van and Ainsley managed to regain herself enough composure to get the door open and help Wade place the still unconscious Ethan on the back floor. Wade literally picked up Chip and threw the slimy man into the back next to the lump that was Ethan, then he collapsed the chair as quick as anyone Chip had ever seen do it, and threw that in with him. Ainsley was already in the front of the van; Wade slammed the door and climbed in after the woman. She was struggling to get the keys in the ignition as her fingers were covered in the thickened liquids of the dead. She was swearing profusely and finally got it in, she turned the keys but nothing happened.
"Its dead, its fucking dead!!"
She squealed.
"Calm down! Try again!"
Wade shouted at her as he fumbled around for a cloth to wipe some of the excess off. He found one under the seat and handed it to the girl.
"WIPE THE KEYS! WIPE YOUR HANDS!"
He screamed, the terror of the situation beginning to sink into him. The van started to rock violently and loud banging sounds echoed from every panel.
"HOLY GOD!"
Chip roared from the back.
Ainsley grabbed the cloth and wiped the dark muck from her hands then gave revealed part of the key a quick clean; she found her grip was stronger on it once she used the cloth to hold it. Still, it did not start.
"Oh please God, just START!!"
She screamed to the sound of the motor beginning to turn over.
"OH thank the Lord God!"
She sighed with relief as she put the heavy machine into gear, but it wouldn't move.
"NOW WHAT??!!"
She slammed her hands on the steering wheel and put her head down on top of them forcefully and started to cry. Wade looked into the rear view mirror.
"We're stuck in mud! We're fucking stuck in fucking mud!!"
He growled.
The voices were around them now, whispering loudly all sorts of horrors. Most of it couldn't be distinguished, it sounded as if a large group of people were in another room and you stood outside trying to focus on just one individual conversation, but you could not. Chip felt a chill pass over his entire body, it was the first time in a long time he'd felt sensation on his legs, and it wasn't pleasant and he wished it would end. The whispers got louder, and the sounds of thumping were replaced by scratching.
The back window suddenly shattered, showering glass over Chip and the lump that was Ethan. The whispers that had been resigned to the outside came in like a torrent and wrapped each of them in the horrors the victims had faced in their final moments, it was a frightening chill that seeped in through their pores and didn't stop till it reached their very souls, which it subsequently polluted with its foulness.
"Oh GOD!"
Ainsley screamed from behind the steering wheel. Wade as out the door and behind the machine, he was pushing, screaming at her to give it the gas. Life suddenly tore through the metal and rubber and the tyres got enough traction that the van was up and out of the muck, spraying a good portion over Wade. The force also knocked him backwards; he could see them now, the owners of the voices. Standing over him. Forms of black and shades of gray with light blue eyes that stared at him longingly, with a sadness that he could not help but pity and could not help but turn his mind from, he whimpered as their eyes relayed to him further pain as vast as the ocean.
"Oh please, God, just make them leave me be!"
He sobbed as he rolled over into the foetal position, in the soggy, stinking mud, the van speeding away along the uneven road.
Chip screamed at Ainsley to stop and go get Wade but she was too panicked, he was certainly in no condition to do it, but somewhere in the next twelve metres she found the ability to brake, get out, and run back to the weeping man.
"Wade!! Get up Wade!!"
She pulled him from the muck.
"NO! Go away! Just leave me! Please! Just leave me be! OH GOD!!"
His sobs were so pathetic, so deep; she'd never heard anything more miserable or horrific.
"Please Wade, I can't go without you!"
Somewhere in those words Wade found the strength to get up and limp with her back to the van, the voices still wrapping themselves around every part of their minds. She got in the driver's seat, he in the passengers, and all of them stinking; she drove back to the main road.
The voices followed them for another ten minutes before the left them. Their departure from them was so sudden it was five minutes of silence that they realised they were gone.