--==Chapter 72: Here It Comes.--==

I probably owed Steve and Larry a favor. I hadn’t considered the horror show I’d be walking Alice and Jessica into. Anderson, Buck, and Denis had been removed, but there were still drying puddles of blood and awful on the floor and infesting the air.

Alice pushed Jessica out of the Shadow entrance behind me and swore. “Jesus. What happened here?”

Before I could come up with an answer, Jessica’s aura sputtered and flickered back into existence, and she began to stir.

I’d been wearing my preferred human shape when I exited the Shadow, but I was back in my werewolf form when I passed through the portal. It wasn’t really a surprise, but it was disappointing.

“Hmm? What? Where am I? Ohmygod!” Jessica yelped, jumping up from her chair on seeing me.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay, Jessica, calm down,” Alice said, touching Jessica’s arm to get her attention.

“Oh jeez, Alice, thank God. I saw that guy’s costume and panicked for a second. What happened?”

“A lot,” I said, and it was Nia’s voice that came out.

“Whoa, that’s not the voice I expected,” Jessica said.

Alice was giving me a weird look. “That’s Nia’s voice.”

“Like I said, a lot’s happened. Long story short, almost 80 days have passed since the town got surrounded. We’re stuck in a time loop that people mostly don’t remember. Jessica, you extra don’t remember because we had to erase your memories to stop you from being hunted by a monster.”

Jessica gave me an embarrassed smile like she wasn’t sure if she was missing the joke or if I was just out of my mind. “What?”

“No, he’s right. It’s not safe out there. We’re getting you to your car, and then we’re going monster hunting.”

Jessica might have taken more convincing to accept the story, except the bloody room removed the possibility that Alice was pulling some kind of joke.

I didn’t know the time, but from how Hands and Sori had acted, I knew there couldn’t be much time left before the day looped. I was also fresh out of weapons if we got attacked by a monster or a cultist.

The passage had automatically closed behind me when I’d left the Shadow Alcove. As it did, I felt the connection and an odd confidence that I could access it again as needed. The casual demonstration of something so fantastical also went a long way to prove to Jessica that the ordinary world of yesterday was gone.

"That's not a costume, is it?" Jessica said, her voice quietly terrified.

Confident that I could open and close the Shadow Alcove at will, I had the two women follow me back inside. “It's not safe to talk out here, but I get that you have questions, Jessica. Follow me, and I’ll take you somewhere safe that you can talk.”

Thankfully, with a little prodding from Alice, she followed.

Jessica looked out over the Stone ship after coming up from the hold. “The world has gone completely mad. How?”

“I wish I had all the answers. I have more than Alice, but that has to wait for a bit. I need to go check on your patient and threaten a bad guy.”

“Oh shit, you’re just a guy,” Jessica said in surprise as I returned to my real form.

“It’s a perk of this place,” I explained; then I had an idea. “Oh, you know what, wait here.”

I popped into the cabin, and there on the desk was a copy of the comic I’d drawn with Sori’s help. I probably could have just summoned it from thin air, but I was still getting the hang of things, and it was easier to imagine it might still be on the desk.

I left the cabin with the comic in hand and held it out to Jessica. “Here, you two go through this. It’ll explain some things, and Alice will know some others. This place should be pretty safe; just don’t go into the ocean, and if a floating eye appears and claims to be god, don’t believe a word he says.”

“Um, what?” Alice and Jessica said in unison.

“Just stay here. Read the comic. Explore if you want, or rake the zen garden. I’ll be back.”

Realistically, there wasn’t much else that absolutely needed to be taken care of this loop. If the day restarted, I wouldn’t lose much time. On the other hand, I was ready to leave the hospital. When I left the chapel, I avoided even looking at the stairwell I’d killed Jon in. I wondered if someone had moved his body too or if it was still lying there, cooling.

I took an elevator up a level to Surgery, but a search through the operating rooms didn’t turn up Mr. Peterson, even after I found the room with operating equipment still lying loose.

Without Alice to pull out his memory crystal before his head inexplicably healed closed—which was just another mystery I couldn’t begin to answer—he could have just woken up. Judging by the general disarray, I was guessing he’d still been here when his trauma monster showed up.

For better or worse, there was no sign of either. I could only hope we didn’t have another Bogey monster running around.

My next stop was to confront Crowseph.

They’d been faster and stronger than me before—and probably still were. But they’d also been wary of me as a Rememberer. Since I was in control of my Shadow again, I could permanently damage their hive-flock. I should be able to threaten them into leaving my people alone.

Eventually, they’d have to be dealt with, but I didn’t think I’d be able to manage it without a great deal of planning and support. I wasn’t sure how many minds had been collected, but I was sure they were many.

I wasn’t going to go in there without a weapon. The shotgun would be the better tool for the job, and if this went badly, it’s what I’d go with next time. Since that wouldn’t be an option for a bit yet, I decided to swing around to the Doctor’s break room and grab Anderson’s golf clubs. Besides, he had that Tam hat I liked. I might as well take it with me.

I half expected to run into cultists or someone’s trauma monster as I walked around the hospital, but it seemed like they’d mostly cleared out.

With the hat and clubs collected, I made my way back to the ER, stopping only to grab my bat and backpack from the lobby bathroom. I probably didn’t need all the weapons, but there was a comfort in it if I was facing that monster again.

A few minutes later, I kicked open the swinging door between the ICU and the ER, a golf club in each hand.

“Crowseph, you ass hole, we need to talk,” I shouted diplomatically in Nia’s alto tones.

Not so much as a feather rustled. There was no movement, no rhythmic cawing, or any cawing. There was, in fact, no sign of a single bird at all.

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I knew his giant crow-monster form could move and hit like a freight train, so I stayed on my toes as I walked deeper into the ER.

It was empty, save for three dead crow-like monsters piled on the floor in front of a stool. Sitting on the chair were three crystals; two were lifeless rocks crisscrossed with cracks that made them look ready to shatter. The third crystal glowed softly, and I’d bet my stolen hat that it was Alice’s.

I checked the rest of the ER to be sure, but it seemed like Crowseph had caught wind that I’d gotten my shadow back and cleared out before I could come back to settle things. He’d also left behind the most pressing reasons I had to chase him. I lamented, for a moment, that, had I come here first, things might have gone differently with Jessica and Maebe. I knew it was a fantasy and also too late, but I regretted the loss all the same.

I collected some supplies from the ER, just stuff I was sure I knew how to use. I was leaving the hospital and going out into a town overrun with fear and monsters. I wanted to be able to offer more than just violence everywhere I went. I didn’t have any medical training, but I knew the basics of first aid.

I walked out into the parking lot and toward the patrol car where this had all started.

Standing next to the patrol car, bat in hand, backpack filled with medical supplies and snacks, I used the only memory crystal I had to set my spawn point. The polished stone barely showed any signs of cracking, and I had hopes I could use it multiple times to get deeper into town, but that was for later. I had one last task to accomplish first, one more introduction to make.

I opened up the Shadow Alcove and walked through it. There were still multiple crystals sitting on the shelves. I didn’t know who they belonged to, but they could stay in storage until I did. I also realized I no longer needed to carry everything on my person. Between the Shadow Alcove and my Stone Ship, I could store anything that even might be useful.

“Alright, you two,” I said, walking up onto the ship. Come on out, I’ve got Alice’s crystal and a couple… uh, persons to introduce you to.”

Part of the reason I’d gone to the patrol car was because it felt appropriate to leave where I’d started. And partly because I wanted the Gremlins to have warning we were coming. They wouldn’t be able to see us with the Haze, but our voices would carry, and they should at least recognize Nia’s.

Last I’d seen them, I left them watching over Nia’s body. That almost brought me up short. She’d only been in the ether with her mind when Sori trapped her, but Hands had brought her out into the real world when they’d left. There were shenanigans afoot, but they probably weren’t anything to worry about… ‘probably.’

The two surgeons followed me out into the parking lot and looked around. Neither one had actually seen the Vortex up close or the Haze that visibly occluded the air at any distance wider than a hallway.

“Wow. It didn’t feel real, but we’re really trapped, aren’t we? Just like in California.” Jessica said.

“We’re so screwed,” Alice added.

I nodded my werewolf head. “Yes, and maybe. I don’t think things will ever be what they were. But we’ll get out of here. I really believe that. I have to. And things aren’t as bad as they seem. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that I wouldn’t have been able to nod in agreement, let alone speak. Things have gone strange but not hopeless. We have to work together, and we have to overcome our past. With that in mind, Alice. This is yours.”

Moving slowly, I pulled Alice’s trauma crystal from my pocket. I’d been curious to see if she’d feel it while it was stored away, and apparently, the answer was no.

When her eyes landed on it, she took an involuntary step back, and her breath hitched.

“Oh.” She said, her voice weak.

“What? What’s wrong.” Jessica asked with concern.

“This is a manifestation of something bad that happened to her. Something her mind doesn’t want to remember or even acknowledge. But, if she can face this terrible experience and accept it without becoming consumed by or fixated on it, it’ll change her. She’ll be able to remember the time loops going forward.”

Jessica looked scared enough for the both of them as she stared at the crystal. “What, what kind of memory? Why does she have to remember that? Isn’t there another way?”

“Yes, sort of. She can stay in my Shadow. You both can. You'll keep your memories if you’re in there when the day loops. But she’d have to stay in there to be safe. If I die and she’s outside, she won't be able to return to the Shadow without me. And I have died more times than I like to think about.”

“And if I stay in there, I can’t see or help Nia or my friends,” Alice said weakly. It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway.

She took several deep breaths, walked forward, and grabbed the stone before cringing and tensing up. She opened one eye and looked at me. “Is that it?”

“Press it to your head.”

She did, and then she screamed. Her scream lasted only a heartbeat before her mouth slammed shut, and she collapsed to the ground.

“Alice!” Jessica yelped and hurried to her side. Before she could get there, Alice stood back up.

She wasn’t any taller, but her aura had tripled in strength, making her radiant. Black feathers stuck up like a scattering of leaves in her hair and grew as a sleeve down her arms, disappearing under her shirt. Her eyes were also solid black, like the avian that had inspired them.

“Oh shit,” Jessica said, pulling her hand back.

“What? Is it bad?” Alice said, sounding nervous. I’d tensed up when I’d seen the feathers and black eyes. For a second, I thought I would have to take down another Bogey.

“You sort of have a Raven Queen situation going on. Long sleeves and sunglasses will let you get by, though,” I said. “How do you feel?”

“G-good. Strange. Did the world get foggy all of a sudden?” Alice asked.

I was a little caught off guard; I’d wondered if others could see the fog, nobody had mentioned it. I’d assumed it was because it wasn’t as noticeable indoors, but apparently, it just wasn’t visible at all. “Uh, yes and no. Something to table for the moment. There’s a married couple I want to introduce you to.”

My heart was beginning to beat faster, and I was feeling anxious. I didn’t think it was the idea of introducing the Gremlins. If anything, I was in a hurry to get to them because they had been good for my anxiety in the past.

Alice and Jessica followed me as I walked toward the bike path that the Gremlin hut was built near. “Mother, Father, I’ve brought guests.”

Mother and Father Gremlin were staring off into the city, but I couldn’t see what they were looking at.

“These are your parents?” Alice asked, as though she were trying to be careful not to put any judgment into her voice.

I giggled with Nia’s voice, which must have been extremely incongruous, “No, hilarious, but no. I mean, I’d take them over my real parents; they’re great. But it’s just the names they’ve given one another.”

“Oberon,” Father said. Mother was still pregnant, and in her smaller size, so it was easy to tell them apart. Neither turned to look. “Here it comes.”

A shiver went through me at their words, and I peered into the Haze, but I could only barely make out shadowy shapes of buildings in the distance.

“What are they looking at?” Alice asked.

“Oh my God,” Jessica whispered on top of her, her voice hushed and her whole body beginning to tremble. “Oh God. Oh, Lord Jesus.” Her eyes were wide, and her breathing started to come in ragged gasps

“What? Jessica, what is it.” Alice asked, trying to sound comforting.

Jessica just raised a trembling hand and pointed back toward the town.

A cacophonous crashing explosion washed over us, followed a moment later by a basso thrum, and the Haze suddenly cleared. Off in the distance, a twisted monster of fur and fangs stood at the height of skyscrapers and shoved over a high-rise.

I swore, “Oh shit.”

The sky flashed.

I was standing next to the patrol car, bat in hand, backpack filled with medical supplies and snacks.

--==

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