“You’re sure about this one Jack?” Pip asked nervously.
The odd couple were sitting at the bus stop across the street from the Santa Somabra City Hall and municipal building.
“Oh course I’m sure about it. What do we have to lose? Our lives?” Jack laughed to himself. “We aren’t going to make that much of a fuss we aren’t even going to go inside, just gonna’ put on a little show and then it’s BANG back to the hotel for bed.
“But, Jack it’s the city hall… There are coppers n’ such around.”
“Pip… “ Jack said, growing impatient with his fiendish companion, “I know they’re are ‘coppers n’ such’ around. I know it’s the city hall… It’s my plan, Pip. I already KNOW anything you could tell me.”
“Sorry, Jack” Pip squeaked.
“Listen Pip, just have fun out there all right. Let loose.”
“Got it, Jack.”
“Alright, showtime.” Jack said as he got up from his seat and walked forward, cradling in his hand the same tome he’d used back at the hotel.
——————
It was a quiet night around Town Hall, at least that’s what Officer Peneta` thought as he made his rounds around the old building. He had seen a disfigured man in a grey suit and a woman dressed as a maid walking together earlier, but the couple was one of the least strange he’d ever seen so he thought nothing of it.
As he returned to the front entrance of the building he noticed someone drawing with chalk on the brickwork promenade. Hoodlums had defaced it before, writing sexual comments about various city political figures. Grabbing his flashlight and turning it on, Officer Peneta` moved to shoo whoever it was off, there shouldn’t be a need for anything more than that. That was the last thought Officer Penata` had before he looked down to see a black obsidian dagger piercing through his chest cavity.
——————
“Okay Pip, just set the good officer’s body down in the center of the circle and we’ll get started. The more attention we draw the better it should get.”
“What do ya’ mean, Jack?” Pip asked quizzically.
“Well Pip, we’re not going actually summon a fear demon, because well that would suck for everyone. No we’re going to summon a ‘visage’ if you will of fear. A sort of distortion of reality that will make people think they’re seeing something terrifying, when really there isn’t anything here except some bright lights and smoke.”
“Ah, very clever.” Pip nodded.
“I know it’s clever, Pip. It’s my idea.” Jack said flatly before standing above the Officer’s body and pulling out a small leather sack. He reached inside and pulled from it a pair of human eyes, the heart of an elf, and a few dead mice. Tossing them lazily onto the officer’s body he cleared his throat, “Noli timere, korak mar timul yrzingkt rah sheobahkt!”
There wasn’t a bang or a boom or some grand seismic shake, but simply a pop as the chalk drawn lines of McDonough's mystic handiwork began to change color and glow. After a few brief moments a thick purple fog began to roll into the area.
McDonough paced up and down the promenade while Pip sat on a nearby bench, chewing on a couple knuckles he’d brought with him from the hotel. The two waited patiently for the first fog to thicken before moving off to find a better vantage point.
——————
Officers Lowell and Morris were the first ones to see it as they exited the municipal building, it was huge. A giant octopus like creature clung to the side of an apartment building across the street, around it lay the bodies of some of their colleagues. The shooting began shortly their after with Lowell and Morris aiming at the individual limbs of the creature, however their shots seemed to have no effect.
——————
Susan Crawford awoke to the sound of gunfire, normally this wouldn’t be so abnormal in a city like Santa Somabra, but this time the gunfire was coming from right outside her apartment. There was a crash as the bedroom windows shattered, the sounds of bullets whizzing past her. She hit the floor and crawled to the phone line in the kitchen. Pulling the telephone to her ear she dialed 911 on the rotary. She raised herself in a semi-crouched position in an attempt to see out the window. What she saw terrified her, a fiendish looking creature with red eyes and dark blue skin. He was larger than an ogre and four times as ugly. It was firing what looked like an automatic weapon, killing innocent people on the streets.
——————
Hector Servantes` was driving his pickup truck headed home after working a nine hour shift as the waste disposal plant when he passed by city hall. He slammed on the breaks as he saw a young woman crawling her way across the street as she bled helplessly. He turned his head and a saw a group of what appeared to be undead men and women ripping to shreds the bodies of anyone unfortunate enough to walk by.
Hector kept a shotgun in the back of his truck and it wasn’t long before he rushed to grab it. Training it on a group of the undead, he began to fire. Overcome with fear and a sense of violence, Hector shot as many as he could, but their numbers never seemed to thin.
———————-
“I wonder what they’re all seeing” McDonough said as he watched from the rooftop of a nearby office building.
“Seems the coppers are here now, I bet you they start shootin` each other soon enough.” Pip said leaving against the half-wall ledge of the rooftop. “Think I can get one of their bodies, leave this handmaid body behind?”
“Why not?” McDonough said walking off towards the fire escape. “Spoils of war and all that.” He paused at the top of the fire escape as he heard a woman’s scream from the direction of city hall. “I’m going to head back. It’s been a late night. You stay here and enjoy the show.”
McDonough descended the fire escape calmly and when he finally reached the bottom, he couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t want to smile, but he did, something inside him tried to fight against it, but he was happy. As he walked down the alley he began to whistle an ominous tune.
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