(6.1) Whispers

Chapter 6, Part 1

Russian, Nerd, Tank-top, Silent-guy and Hobo were better known as Dmitri, Sam, Drake, Johnathan and Kim respectively. At least, these were the names they gave to Angel as she took their statements, trying to figure out who in their backgrounds might send ghouls . I spent the time learning what I could about them, hoping that I might be able to determine my target out of the bunch. The problem with this was that every single one of them had had a supernatural, paranormal or just plain weird incident lately.

Benji didn’t do much of anything. He walked around the wreckage with a notepad, jotting things down and moving closer and further away. On more than one occasion, when an unconscious passenger interrupted his path, he would pocket his pad and pen, moving them until there wasn’t a single person within fifty feet of the wreckage.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, causing me to jump a little and take my attention away from Benji and back to Angel. “Sir? I have a few questions for you.” She was doing an excellent job of pretending to not know me, considering it had been less than a day that I’d had her naked in my apartment. The run-down that she’d given me about Department 7 had been enough to tell me that they were not the kind of organization that I wanted to have my contact information.

“No,” I said to her as I pulled out Detective Ward’s badge. “I have some questions for you. Just what the hell is going on here? Where are the actual police?”

“Detective,” She began, a small smirk crossing her lips. “I can assure you that the police have been notified and are on their way now to help secure the scene. If you’d like to wait to talk to them, then please have a seat next to the others until they get here.”

A something then crossed my mind. James. It was almost like someone was still talking to me but she was bypassing my ears.

“Wha-”

James, shut up, say okay, and go hang out with the other survivors.

“Okay…” I was confused now. The past has taught me that when I’m confused, it’s best to just do what you’re told until you start understanding things again.

So I took a seat on the side of the road, waiting patiently while my brain worked out things. Angel had walked away to talk to Benji, the two of them consulting over his little notepad. When she started walking back, Benji put his notepad away, placing both his hands on his cane before twitching slightly. I then heard rather than saw something being cut and a moment later, fuel began to pour away from us towards the center of the road.

“Ladies and gentlemen may I once again have your attention.” Angel said as she got close to us. “I have one more question I have to ask before the local law enforcement gets here.”

That was when the weird meter topped out as a few things happened. Sparks started to fly as Benji began slamming the end of his cane into the spilled fuel. Then there was a flash of light, but it wasn’t from Benji. It came from Angel, more specifically it came from her forehead.

Looking around, most of the survivors had their eyes rolled back into their heads. Whispers passed my ears telling me that we’d hit a pothole and we’d barely gotten out before the fuel tank ruptured.

James, if you want to stay alive, you need to close your eyes and fall.

I closed my eyes and fell, the whispers seeming to envelope me. There were other sounds that I could hear, sounds that were quickly drowned out by the whispering.

The sounds of an explosion and peeling tires barely entered into my consciousness before the whispers stopped. I sat up, my eyes opening to the still-burning remains of the bus. Angel, Benji, Dmitri, Drake, Johnathan, Kim and Sam were nowhere to be seen.

Sirens began to approach, and as I stood, I felt a cold lump appear in my pocket. I grabbed it, pulling it out and trying to figure out what it was.

My cell phone had been turned into a ball of ice with four words written in. I had enough time to read it once before the ice melted away, leaving my hand and arm completely soaked.

Kill them all.

-Mab