Mystery Noir

Down Below Part 7

One of the girls at the farm, Laura, was a medic.

And after a shower she met me in a spare bedroom and inspected my wounds a little more closely, bandaging me up till I could barely move my arms. When I gave her an unimpressed look, she returned it with a glare of her own.

"You're lucky they're not worse. You're not going to turn into one of those things on us, are you?" She was trying to joke, but I could see the concern in her eyes.

"Nah, most infections in the supernatural world are harder to spread than rabies." I offered, shuddering at the thought of turning into one of those creatures.

I was pretty sure I was fine, and considering that Penny had not been concerned, knowing the most about them, I told myself there was nothing to worry about. "It actually requires a transfusion of their blood in order to cause you to suffer from more than blood loss."

"Right." Laura shook her head, flushing a little bit. "I mean... what they said they saw... you guys saw out there..."

"Penny filling you guys in?" I asked as I pulled on the clothing I had borrowed while mine was laundered.

Just a pair of sweats and an oversized t-shirt.

I followed Laura into the living room to find that most everyone else was wearing around the same thing, the whirr of the washing machine telling me that everyone was taking advantage of my need for a clothing wash.

Penny was standing in front of a portable whiteboard and giving the group an impromptu lesson on the Caddaja, most of which the two of us had already gone over while researching in my hotel room over pizza. I glanced around the room and noticed that the tv was on, showing night vision video of the property around the farm, though thankfully there was no movement that I could see.

I glanced over to the door and noticed a couple people, a man and a woman, were still wearing their gear with their rifles hanging easily off a sling on their chest. We had not gone far into the hills when we had found the Caddaja and we knew that there was at least one left out there, it was smart that some people remained on guard.

"They eat humans. They hunt usually independently, according to legend, but it has been said they nest underground. They can be killed much like we can. Other than the females." Penny was reviewing what she had said, pointing to her approximation of a snake bodied, horned monster thing. "They need to be decapitated and burned. But the females supposedly nest in solitary caves and are rarely seen, so as long as we don't have to be crawling into some dark holes, we'll be fine with guns."

"We'll pack the blades, lighter fluid and matches anyways." Matt offered, though his jaw was clenched, his face etched with worry. "Bonnie could be alive, with Carmen. Bonnie is smart, she'd figure out that they were better at hearing than seeing. She'd have kept them both safe. We just need to find her."

There were nods around the room, fierce looks and murmured agreement, and there didn't appear to be a single person that believed in the woman's ability to survive. I watched them slowly disperse to the kitchen, where someone mentioned that there was food for everyone.

Penny stepped up in front of me and offered me a smile. "You gonna live?"

"Yeah, though I feel like a mummy." I searched her face, looking for something, any indication that she was worried.

I saw it.

"They have faith. Apparently, she's an amazing woman. I just can't figure out why she hasn't made it back home." Penny whispered, before handing me my phone. "It's been going off. Unknown numbers, a few of them, actually."