Plague Rising

File #5

It had been several days since the fiasco at the storage unit. We had several crates of Life's Blood serum, a few pieces of lab equipment, and more censored paperwork. There were several project names listed and very few patient names. It was bittersweet because we managed to close a few cold cases, giving a lot of families closure, but they were definitely confirmed to be deceased. I was still triangulating the location of the active location, hoping it wasn't already ransacked by this obscure figure that clearly had it out for Syntec. We were at the Bureau late and I was about to fall asleep at the computer when Craig tapped my shoulder.

"Ah!" I admittedly squeaked.

"You fall asleep on my keyboard and drool on it, you're buying me a new one." He was feigning being stern about it because I could see him trying to conceal a smile.

"Knowing you it would take my entire consulting fee to pay for it." I dabbed my eyes, trying to keep from smearing my eye makeup. "I'm getting a coffee. Keep checking for any places that could be the Syntec location, eh?"

"On it."

I trotted out of the office to make a coffee when I opened my phone to see if I missed anything. The moment I looked, a video call came in from Jo! I answered and she was peering out the window with the Cranberry Falcon stick in hand.

"Uh, hey hon." I said.

"Shh!" Jo bid me. "Something's going on out by the shed." She whispered. Jo flipped the camera and I could see the door to the shed was open! I always padlock that thing, but there it was, the door hanging open! It might've been hard to see, except the motion light was on above the door. I wanted to ask so many questions, but I was afraid of making too much noise. Jo had me peeking through a slit in the curtain to keep hidden and then I saw it!

Out of the shed walked a shrouded figure in a ratty coat. The hood on the coat was up but despite that, I could see a red glow. I could also see a glimmer in their hands... or... it was their hands! The figure had something in their metallic grip. I zoomed in and could see that they had a bottle of serum that I'd kept from last year! I could also see the design of the mechanical hands to boot! I would have analyzed that further but I was distracted by catching a glimpse of the figure's mask. By now, I'm sure you realize that I was gazing upon a Phantom, but this one was far different from Ben. The mask looked like a similar design with normal frame-shaped eyes but the whole mask was covered with a dog skull! A fake one I hoped, but given what we'd seen so far, I'm not so sure. The Phantom took the bottle and installed it into one of the hoses in the mask! They threw down the bottle and adjusted the mask but suddenly looked alert. They looked toward the street and leaped to the side on all fours like a stalking animal.

"Where did it go?" Jo whispered shakily. We both recoiled with a shriek when the glowing red eyes appeared glaring into the window! The phone fell to the ground and I could hear a shrill scraping noise.

I pocketed my phone and ran full speed to the car, knocking several officers over on the way! I couldn't even focus, I was in such a panic! My adrenaline was spiking and I could barely see through my tears as I sped back home, coming to a screeching halt in front of the house!

"Hon!" I screamed as I ran to the back door. I stormed in and saw her in the living room with her field hockey stick. "Are you okay!?"