Better Off Dead

Chapter Eighteen: A Familiar and Sickening Sound

Before meeting the others for dinner, I quietly laid out my spoils on the dresser. The money was about two hundred dollars. But the feeling? Priceless.

I put the mugger mugged cash in my own wallet, as one does. Although I was kind of proud of my accomplishment, I decided not to tell anyone about it. Nothing good could come of admitting to bone-breaking and theft. Even if it was a really cool bone-breaking theft.

I met the others at the table like nothing happened.

"How would you all like to be detectives?" Devon had called for a dinner meeting, but given the theatrical quality of his speech, I doubted he was serious. But it sounded exciting and got everyone's attention, and the three of us waited to hear more. "I just spoke to Dr. Fisher. Someone else went missing a few days ago. Same scenario. Presumed dead. They would like us to keep this amongst ourselves, given the illegal and unethical nature of the thing. Given that there are multiple people who have been given the serum, the company is concerned about them escaping the island and being found out. We will track down and administer the cure to each one. Quietly keep a lid on this. Are you all in?"

We all nodded. Why the hell not? And did it honestly change our lives all that much? I was already in shock and denial about the murder, what was one more thing to worry about?

And to add even more levity to the situation, 'escaping the island' makes them sound like dinosaurs. I had a funny image in my head of people dressed up like dinos and had to consciously will myself not to laugh. It's tough to portray a balance between a passably friendly zombie and a homicidal maniac. It's a fine line.

Liam nodded knowingly. "Crime fighting team."

Taylor scoffed. "We are so not a crime-fighting team."

"We have a superhero."

"No, we do not." Devon very helpfully added.

"Well, she could be a superhero."

I really couldn't. I was so far from being a hero. Honestly, I'd just made things varying degrees of worse for everyone I'd been in contact with. You could argue that I have superpowers, I'll give you that, but come on. Healing does not make you Wolverine.

After dinner, I found the donut box sitting on the kitchen counter. Just sitting there. All alone. I opened the box and found half a dozen donuts remaining and they looked tasty.

Now, were these donuts mine? Technically no. But kitchen rules state that if something is left on the counter all day it is eventually up for grabs. And anyway, you always want to eat donuts on day one. I was being the responsible party and disposing of the delicacies by gobbling them all up. Taking one for the team. Or six.

A minute later I was standing next to an empty donut box. Taylor walked in, mumbling to herself.

"Old donuts aren't necessarily the most delicious thing, but I could use the sugar..." Then she saw the empty donut box, and me standing next to it. "Did you just eat half a dozen donuts?"

I gave my best innocent look and shook my head.

She crossed her arms. "I don't have to be the world's greatest detective to figure this one out. You're standing next to an empty box and you have crumbs on your shirt. At least three different kinds of donut crumbs, because I can identify them all. Whatever. I'm having cake."

Taylor took out a cake from the fridge and carved off an enormous slice like someone hacking meat off a roast pig.

How did I not know there was cake? I live here.

I was just about to grab a chunk of cake for myself when Liam grabbed me. Time for the next adventure. Great.

The rest of that cake was mine.

We chose a target at random again, having little idea what to look for, and started tracking it down. The map feature took us to a building, but we had to use the directional sensor for a precise location of what might be a murderer. It really did look like a motion sensor in a video game. It was one sci-fi beeping sound away from being terrifying.

I just had to sneak in and see if it was Dr. Moore or the serum. No big deal. Take a look and leave. The front door was unlocked, so that made it easy. I saw the dot on my tracker and knew exactly where to look.

I crept inside. It was dark, but there was a light on in another room, offering a faint glow. I silently moved forward, then froze. I didn't see any telltale shadows, but there was the sound of scratching coming from another room, a lot of scratching. A piece of furniture fell over. The sound of things knocking into each other. A familiar and sickening CRACK. The sound of something being dragged. Or someone.

It took a tiny step back and knocked into a table. Something fell off it with a thud. The sounds in the other room stopped.

It was okay. It was fine. If something were to come towards me, I would see its shadow on the wall. Nothing could sneak up on me.

There was a soft sound of something dragging along the wall behind me. Turns out there was a door in the dark.

I searched for the nearest hiding place, found an armchair, and dove behind it. I scrunched myself up as small as possible, squeezed my eyes shut, and covered my mouth with my hands. I listened.

The soft, slithering sound moved down the wall toward the table I'd run into. It stopped. There was the sound of something tapping lightly on the table, on the floor, on something that made a tinkling sound. I think it was what I'd knocked over, a trinket or small vase. There was more tapping around the area. It sounded like fingernails tapping on a desk.

I didn't realize I'd been holding my breath until I ran out of it. I was desperate to breathe but didn't think I could do so silently. I sat there in the dark, suffocating myself, waiting for something to happen. Or not happen. Preferably that one.

The tapping stopped. There was the sound of someone running a hand over the top of the chair. My chair. My hiding place. It switched to softtapping. It moved down the arm of the chair.

A dog started barking outside, then a few more. The sounds next to me stopped. For a moment it was quiet.

There was that soft, dragging sound, circling around to the other room. As quietly as I could, I breathed in. And waited. Nothing came after me. The dragging sound picked up in the other room. A door opened. Then nothing.