Son of Tesla

SON OF TESLA: Chapter 45

NO MATTER HOW BRIGHT the lights were, the shadows always found a way to creep into them.

It was nearly 6:00 P.M. on the east coast, and Gillian Fletch huddled against the wall of the shabby motel room, her eyes wide and red-rimmed. All day, she'd been seeing things. Strange things. At first, they only appeared at the corners of her vision. Soon, though, they were everywhere. But the worst ones, those stayed in the shadows, squirming and writhing in the darkness.

She didn't know what they were, and somehow she got the feeling she didn't want to find out.

After leaving the hospital with the little Parson girl, she'd driven straight back to her apartment. But just as she was about to get out of the car, she stopped herself. Something tugged at her, warning her not to go home. The things in the black cloaks might come for her. Or something else. Suddenly, nothing felt safe.

So she'd revved the engine and headed for a nearby Motel 6. Maybe just for a night. She knew she should have stayed at the hospital and waited for the police, but that same strange urge had told her to run.

After a few hours at the motel, the girl had begun to wake up. She'd been disoriented at first, of course. As far as Gillian knew, the last place the girl remembered being was her own house.

"Where am I?" she'd asked, looking around the dingy room with a wild, scared look in her eyes. She saw Gillian sitting in a chair beside the bed. "Who are you? Where's my mom?"

She looked like she was on the verge of tears. Gillian quickly slid out of the chair, sat on the bed beside her, and put an arm over the girl's shoulder. Despite her confusion, the girl leaned into it.

It had taken awhile, but Gillian had finally managed to explain what happened – how she'd shown up at the hospital, the man with the dark hair who'd dropped her off, leaving in the morning. She left out the part where the figures in the black cloak had pressed their hands to her mother's skull for a quarter of an hour. That detail could come later. Maybe.

Finally, the girl – her name was Ashley, Gillian learned – had insisted that Gillian take her back to the hospital, back to her mom. Gillian tried to reason with her, but Ashley began to grow hysterical. She'd swept past Gillian, strangely beautiful with a strong look of defiance etched into the features on her young face, and stormed out the door.

Gillian chased after her, but there was a shopping mall beside the motel, and Ashley made a beeline straight for its crowded parking lot. Soon, Gillian had lost her. Not knowing what else to do, she'd gone back to the motel room.

That was when the hallucinations had started.

Now it had been hours since Ashley had left, and Gillian still hadn't managed to sleep, despite the exhausting night she'd been through.

Below the bed, a long, spider-like gray leg curled out from under the bed. Six more followed it. Gillian had seen this one before. Most of the time it just sat still, just slowly coiled and uncoiled its maybe two dozen thin legs in an endless repetition. As far as she could tell, it didn't have a mouth. Or a head. Or anything except legs.

Every now and then, though, it did move. Like it did now. With a skittering pitter-patter, the whole mass of legs slid out from under the bed and raced across the room, where it simply ran right through the wall and disappeared.

Bang!

Gillian uttered a cry and jumped. It was just a knock on the door. Bang! Bang! It came again. Hesitantly, Gillian stepped toward it, still crouched low to the ground. At the door, she rose just enough to put an eye to the peephole. At first she didn't see anything, then she noticed a shock of golden blonde hair just at the lower rim of the view port.

Gillian tore off the door chain and whisked Ashley into the room, then carefully shut the door behind her and re-engaged all the locks. Only then did she kneel in front of Ashley. The girl was crying.

"What's wrong?" Gillian asked, pushing bangs off the girl's forehead.

"There's an army at the hospital," Ashley said, her voice quaking. "I couldn't get in. They told me to leave. I didn't know what else to do, so I came back here." Her lip trembled.

"Oh honey, it's okay. We'll stay here until we hear something, and then we'll find your mom. I promise." Ashley had been staring into Gillian's eyes as she spoke, and now the girl nodded. Her lip trembled again, but then it froze. Her eyes went wide, staring not at Gillian, but behind her. A piercing scream tore from her mouth, and her finger raised to point over Gillian's shoulder.

Gillian spun. It was halfway through the wall and stepping into the room. This one was new – a tall, gangly figure with a torso made of some kind of coiled fiber. It took a long, reaching stride beside the bed and Gillian saw that its knees bent backwards instead of forward.

She quickly sat down and clamped a hand over Ashley's mouth.

"It's okay," she whispered soothingly. "It's okay. It doesn't know we're here. I don't think it can see us." Together, the two watched the thing walk straight through the opposite wall and out of the room. Then Gillian turned to Ashley.

"You can see them, too?"

Silently, the girl nodded.

Gillian ran a hand through Ashley's hair again.

"It's okay, hun. You're safe with me. I'll take care of you."

Thanks for reading my story! Please VOTE and let me know what you think of it so far, then check out Chapter 46!