DREAMWEAVER

Chapter Seven: The Dreamscape

The first thing that Corth noticed was how cold he felt; then he opened his eyes and found he was in the middle of a snowstorm on a featureless glacier, surrounded by nothing but white flakes that whipped into his eyes and clogged his nose, half filling his lungs before he could move. Coughing and spluttering he fell to the floor, his arms disappearing into the foot deep powder that covered the icy surface of the glacier. The arctic weather was already turning his exposed skin blue after only seconds of exposure when strong arms gripped him and pulled Corth upright, shaking him to clear off the snow that had fallen on him so quickly, foul-smelling furs were wrapped tightly around him bringing almost instant warmth that brought his sense up quickly. ‘Caley?’ he shouted over the noise of the blowing wind, squinting through half-closed eyes to focus on the dark figure, but they shook their fur-swathed head in reply.

‘Veifan,’ he replied loudly over the whistling noise all around them, pulling back his hood to reveal a young version of the face that Corth had met earlier, white hair replaced by blonde, he was even taller and more well built to Corth’s eyes, ‘you see me now in my living state,’ he shouted over the wind, ‘this my homeland!’ Reaching into the pelts that covered him from head to toe Veifan pulled out a flask and passed it to Corth; ‘That will keep you warm for now, go to my house, yes?’ he said, pointing towards a cabin that Corth hadn’t noticed before, ‘I bring Caley there but need to find her quick, dangerous for you two here.’ With that he was striding away, taking large powerful steps over the deep snow field, somehow knowing where Caley was even though Corth could barely see twenty feet in front of him. Unscrewing the lid on the flask he took a sip of the drink within and spluttered on the bitter taste as it hit his throat, then the warmth spread from his mouth, down his throat and into his body; warm enough to move he pushed his way through the snow to the cabin.

Corth’s sleeping body was now on the floor, the shaking that had been racking him as his dream took hold had knocked him to the ground. Even as he moved from the snow into the cabin’s warmth in his dream his skin started to flush bright red and a small bead of sweat formed on his forehead.

Caley’s arrival in Veifan’s world was unluckier than Corth’s; either by her own pessimism or the translation of distance between the two agents in each realm, but when she arrived it was ten feet above the layer of snow on the glacier; when Veifan found her she was half buried in snow and in deep shock. Cursing loudly he lifted her bodily from the snow, producing more furs from nowhere again to wrap her and try to put warmth back into her cool frame; turning around he started ploughing through the snow again, once again wondering why older people always showed up wearing the clothes they fell asleep in, kids always wore clothing suitable to their dreams.

Whereas Corth struggled as he stepped through the snow Veifan was able to move swiftly through, this dreamscape was his home and he could adapt it at will to suit him; the cabin was something he added on seeing Corth’s arrival, if he had realised soon enough he could have woven another environment into the dreamscape that would have been more suitable but for now they were stuck in his arctic homeland. He arrived at the cabin and kicked the door open to find Corth huddled by the fire, still wrapped up in the furs that he had thrown on the man when he found him; ‘You take Caley!’ Veifan said, ‘is too hot for me by fire, take her quick!’ Corth untangled himself from the furs and managed to move himself over to Veifan quickly as the Dreamweaver kicked the door shut, stopping the snow from blowing in.

Caley hadn’t suffered as much in the real world as Corth did, lying in the middle of the bed the fall and impact only made her body bounce briefly before the effects of the cold became apparent, shivers ran up and down her length, within seconds her fingertips had turned blue and soon her lips had as well, and soon her breath was emerging as a small cloud as if she was outside on a cold day. When Corth moved her by the fire in the dreamscape her skin also started to turn back to a normal hue, but the shivers continued to shake her for a good few minutes.

‘I told you in your realm,’ Veifan said to Corth, sitting down on a chair by the door where he could look out into the snow, away from the fire where Corth was still sat, watching over Caley’s sleeping form, ‘most of the time I am looking after the children in nightmares, I am used to them being prepared for their dreams – with you adults – gah’ He made the complaint with a wave of his arm, ‘It like you forget what your imagination for when you get old, no more fun for you, only memories of the past – you cannot make believe anymore.’ Pulling off a layer of furs the Dreamweaver stood, revealing a powerful frame that would have intimidated Corth had he ever met the man in the real world, as it was he had no trouble believing this was a dream at all and this didn’t disillusion him in the slightest. Obviously Veifan in this reality was how he had been in his prime, from what little he had managed to say to them in Julia’s flat Corth guessed the Dreamweaver and others of his kind had been around for millennia.

‘So what else can you tell us about this Scalmeare?’ Corth asked, reaching down to mop some sweat from Caley’s brow as she dozed, ‘Forget that, tell me how she’s asleep here and back in the flat, I mean – where the hell are we?’

Veifan chuckled as he crossed the lodge, dropping his furs in a pile on the floor and opening a cabinet opposite the door curiously, poking around inside; ‘You are guests in my dreamscape,’ he said, pulling out a bottle with an appreciative laugh, ‘to you this just your mind, yes? To me it is another world, one in which I have lived for nearly two thousand years now.’ Pulling the stop from the bottle he took a swig and sat down in a chair by the fire, devoid of the furs it wasn’t as unbearable for him, ‘Myself, I never understood how our worlds work, only that we left the real world to come here, my entire race, when your kind had no need of us anymore. But here, in this place, we can journey more than in your world; this realm is mine, but borders with other Dreamweavers are everywhere, many different worlds just a day’s march away.’

‘And our dreams?’ Corth prompted, ‘how do they get into your world?’

‘Ever changing is our dreamscape,’ Veifan replied with a smile, ‘in part our own choices, in other parts it is one of your kind who shapes it – but as long as there are dreams our world exists.’

‘What,’ Caley coughed from the floor, making Corth jump as she spoke suddenly, ‘what about the nightmares? What’s their place in this?’

‘As your desires shape this place, so do your fears,’ Veifan said with a shrug, ‘so it has always been with your kind and so it will always be. But there are other things too, yes? This Scalmeare, this Nightmare, it gets in where there are gaps in the dreamscape, puts itself into the dreams of your kind to corrupt them, to draw out the fear and terror so it may feed and live on.’ He spat viciously at this point and stood abruptly, walking over to another cabinet in the lodge and throwing it open; rooting around inside he pulled out a roll of thick parchment and brought it back over to the two agents. Caley sat up, pushing away the furs that were around her as the fire’s warmth did its job and then leant forward to watch as Veifan unfolded the parchment on the floor. On it was a sketch that seemed to twist and blur in front of their very eyes; coloured regions shrunk or enlarged, their borders moving in and out at will, countless smaller spaces of colour popped in and out so quickly it was if a million small lights were blinking at them although it was all just flickering dots of paint.

‘Each small paint stroke a dream of your kind,’ Veifan explained, pointing at the map with a stocky finger, ‘they move in and out of this realm so quick you see? But we can go in to some – here,’ he pointed at a dot that was slightly larger and swollen, ‘here a Dreamweaver looking in,’ he looked at the two agents with his deep green eyes, ‘here a dream is being guarded against a nightmare, yes?’ He got two slightly confused nods in return but that seemed to make Veifan happy as he continued explaining, this time pointing to the large white region that was spread over one corner of the map, ‘My realm here, all my own dreamscape to live in, where I work from. See how smaller dreams appear on borders? I can walk into them without your kind knowing I am there; to check, is to see if it safe for the person, if there fears I try to stop them, replace all with good.’

‘There are so many,’ Caley said, her eyes sparkling as they reflected all the different colours that were dancing in front of her, ‘how do you know which ones to look at?’

‘This map,’ Veifan gestured at the cloth, spreading his fingers wide and running them over the surface, ‘this just a representation for you; all this in my mind really, it how I know everything that is going on, like a guide for me.’ He smiled as he spoke, his beard and whiskers turning upward and his eyes lighting up and the two Norma Parare agents found themselves smiling as well at the Dreamweaver’s infectious enthusiasm. Letting the pleasant silence hang in the air for a minute Veifan cleared his throat before continuing, pointing at various different spots on the map; ‘You see the different colours, yes, how they are brighter and darker? These bright colours like our homes, white like mine,’ he said, pointing to a small dot that shone bright white in the sea of colour, ‘these ones are good, full of joy and wonder; could be good dream or happy memory if is older person like you; when colours start to darken, then is trouble.’ Pointing at several spaces on the map he showed several places where the brighter colours had darker patches; reds were closer to browns, blues looked more like purples; ‘These all places where my kind needed,’ he said with an affirming nod, ‘we never get them all; time move faster out there in your world, to us you are here for seconds so we must go quick.’ As if to prove his point several of the dots blinked out quickly, before they could change, while just a few others brightened before fading away.

‘So what’s that supposed to be then?’ Corth asked, his voice low as he pointed at the section of the map he hadn’t taken his eyes from since noticing. His finger was hovering over the centre of the map where a large black region was present – never moving or shifting around as the others did – except for the occasional sudden and violent shift on the map, inward or outward.

Veifan’s eyes narrowed until they had gone from their jovial green to dark slits that seemed without colour; reaching out with one hand he pushed Corth’s away, staring at the spot on the map with anger and suspicion. ‘That is realm of Nightmares,’ he said quietly, and they could detect the anger simmering below his low voice, ‘where Scalmeare and its kind find sanctuary from us, the one place I cannot go, or my companions. That place is of darkness, hate and fear; all evil in your dreams goes to that place – for Scalmeare it life, energy, all it needs to keep hunting in real world,’ he sighed and then turned to look at Corth and Caley, spreading his fingers over the black spot so it was encompassed beneath his hand; ‘here is where the children attacked by Scalmeare are taken. When it enters their dreams Scalmeare trap their mind in here, in this darkness, keeping them scared to give it power.’

‘But why, what does it do for it?’ Caley asked, ‘what does it need the power for?’

‘That’s how Scalmeare gets into our world,’ Corth said, cutting off Veifan before the Dreamweaver could explain, instead getting a grim nod from him, ‘the energy lets it escape from this realm and get back to Huddleston, or wherever, to attack more people. The one place it can freely hunt without you or any other Dreamweaver getting to it,’ he continued, watching the black spot on the map, ‘then it just comes and hides back here.’

‘Always it has done so,’ Veifan said, getting up now and roaming around the lodge, swinging his giant fists around impatiently, ‘any time we have met it in a dream it goes to one place or other, never has a Dreamweaver fought it and stopped it.’ Letting out a deep sigh he walked to the window of the cabin and stared out into the snowstorm, ‘Now it different, yes? With you in your realm and me here, we hunt Scalmeare in both realms for first time; may be that we can defeat it and stop this evil here.’ Veifan turned around to look at the two humans where they sat by the fire, ‘Together we stop it and bring children back, if you are able?’

‘You hunt here and we hunt there,’ Corth said, nodding to himself before standing up, ‘and what happens if it goes back into the nightmare realm?’

‘I and my kind cannot go there,’ Veifan said, shrugging his giant shoulders and giving them both a piercing look.

‘Sure, but we can,’ Caley said, a wry look on her face as she looked from Corth to the Dreamweaver, ‘you want us to go after it should that happen?’

‘You may not get Scalmeare,’ Veifan said back to her, ‘but if you rescue the trapped ones, the children, you stop him going to your world – for you this is enough, yes?’

‘But what about you and the other Dreamweavers?’ Corth asked, holding up one hand before Caley could answer Veifan, ‘if we trap Scalmeare here you won’t be able to fight it if you can’t get to it.’

‘You forget our purpose, Corth,’ Veifan said, smiling grimly and spreading his arms wide, ‘all my kind, all Dreamweavers, we are here for your kind; this why we exist. Scalmeare trapped here is good enough; we will fight it other ways, as long as children, all of you are safe.’ Leaning down and pulling on his furs again Veifan walked back over to them, reaching out with his giant hands to take both of them by the shoulders, ‘Understand; you are more important than we are, this how we see things, you not make us see otherwise, although some have tried.’ Holding them for a second longer Veifan nodded strongly and then turned away, walking to the other side of the lodge to yet another cabinet that seemed to have appeared while they were talking; opening it he found two packs that bulged which he removed and brought back over, handing one to each of them. ‘You put these on now,’ he ordered, ‘next time you are in this realm they will be here with you already, let me work my skill to do so,’ he added with a satisfied looking grin.

‘So what do you want us to do now?’ Corth asked, hefting the pack on to his shoulders, unsurprised that despite the size of it he felt almost no weight on his shoulders, ‘How do we begin to hunt Scalmeare?’

‘You have some time of your day left,’ Veifan said, explaining when they both looked confused, ‘time move quicker in your world, remember – one dream here is whole night in your world, you here with me for half hour is like half your day.’ Walking to the door he flung it open and let the cold wind fly through the cabin as Caley and Corth threw their furs on hurriedly, snow started to pile up almost instantly on the floor of the lodge and the noise of wind grew so that Veifan was shouting now. ‘Scalmeare will next attack in centre of pattern it makes,’ he said, pulling his own furs about him as the cabin began to fade away, disappearing into the dreamscape, ‘it draws shapes that will give greater power, you find centre you find next child!’ The snowstorm was raging about them now as the temporary shelter vanished entirely, ‘I next see you here,’ Veifan yelled over the howling wind, ‘find the child! WAKE UP!’

The two Norma Parare agents didn’t even have time to say goodbye to Veifan before they awoke and faded from his vision, leaving the Dreamweaver standing by himself, a massive figure in the middle of a raging snowstorm. Breathing deeply he let a satisfied look appear on his face as he closed his eyes briefly, looking into his mind for the next place he was needed in the dreamscape, after a few seconds he turned and trudged through the snow, disappearing into the whiteout almost instantly.

Corth woke up with his face buried in the rug, and a pool of sweat gathered around his face; ‘Yeah,’ Caley muttered, perched on the arm of the chair so she could look down at him, ‘that’s pretty much the most disgusting thing I’ve seen.’ Grunting back a retort Corth stood up and wiped a hand over his face, grimacing as he tried to dry his face off but only managed to spread the moisture around a bit. ‘Thought you were going to keep sleeping forever, so I did,’ Caley commented, holding up a tea towel and offering it to him, ‘way you kept snoring on and on.’

‘Some of us old types need our rest,’ Corth mumbled through the towel as he cleaned his face, ‘what time is it?’

‘Veifan wasn’t lying,’ Caley said, glancing down at her watch, ‘I reckon we’ve got a few hours until full darkness again, we’ve been asleep most of the day right enough.’

‘Ah crap,’ Corth muttered, tossing the towel back to her and pulling the mobile phone from his jacket to turn on the screen, ‘we’re overdue; “you have ten missed calls from Winters”,’ he read with a sour look.

‘Sure but you were dozing long enough to have missed more,’ Caley said, ‘you want me to call in?’

‘Go for it,’ Corth said, grateful for the offer, ‘he’ll be less likely to be pissed at you for long, I’ll give Julia a call to see if they’ve turned up anything useful, doubt it’ll top what Veifan told us though.’ Leaving Caley to call in from the lounge he walked into the kitchen and found a phone on the wall with a list of numbers beside it, as he’d seen earlier the chief inspector was nothing if not prepared. Dialling through directly he only had to wait a minute and then a very tired voice answered from the other end, ‘As it’s my house calling it’s either Mr. Corth or Miss Torrin phoning,’ Julia said, ‘either that or you broke into the wrong house.’

‘It’s Corth, your house is safe,’ he replied, ‘we didn’t put that many holes in it while we were practising shooting or nothing.’ Sitting down on the counter he turned on the tap when he saw Veifan’s plate was slowly moulding in the sink, ‘So, any new leads from your end?’ There was a slight pause before Julia replied and Corth heard paper shuffling about on the desk; ‘The autopsy on Sergeant Clifton came back, death was due to massive blood loss and oxygen, caused by the stab wounds he received to the lower abdomen which collapsed his lungs and caused massive internal bleeding. The team processed the crime scene for another couple of hours after you left, they didn’t turn up anything new – those marks were all over the little girl’s window just like the others, no footprints around but those strange divots were all around the area where you found Ted.’ There was another delay and Corth heard more paper moving around on Julia’s end as well as a deep sigh, ‘That’s all we’ve got at the moment, did you have any luck while you were sleeping?’

‘Funny you should say that,’ Corth said warily, aware of the fatigue that Julia was experiencing, ‘we had a lead turn up overnight, should be able to lead us to the next site where this thing is going to strike next.’ Standing up he could hear Caley speaking quite loudly from the next room, her accent becoming more apparent as her voice got louder; looking through the doorway from the kitchen Corth caught her attention as got a roll of her eyes in response as she waved the mobile around theatrically. Nodding back and holding a hand up in apology Corth moved back into the kitchen, keeping the phone to his ear; ‘Chief Inspector Bryson,’ he continued, using Julia’s formal title, ‘would you be willing to continue aiding us in this investigation or are we on our own now.’ There was no pause this time; ‘Huddleston’s finest are still with you if you need us,’ Julia said, her voice strong, ‘this thing you’re after killed Ted without mercy, it’s got to be stopped and we’re going to stop it.’

‘Couldn’t have put it better myself,’ Corth replied, ‘I’ll phone you back with more details soon, I’ve got to call in first, we’ve been out of contact with our department for too long.’ He added that part even though Caley was calling in already and hung up the phone after uttering a swift goodbye, walking back into the lounge he signalled to Caley to throw him the phone which she did quickly with a look of relief on her face. Corth caught the mobile and held it away from his ear as Winters’ voice blared out of the speaker; ‘…call from the Police Commissioner complaining about lack of information and no cooperation with local jurisdiction resulting in the death of a uniformed officer. Do you realise what that does to us, Miss Torrin? All kind of nonsense and fuss that will make any Norma Parare operation in a major town or city impossible to keep in the dark from now on, not mentioning the fact that the Prime Minister will be calling me soon with yet another complaint. Well, what do you have to say?’ the tirade from the DCI ceased and Corth coughed slightly to clue Winters into his presence.

‘We were offered support by the local chief inspector, Charles,’ Corth said, emphasising his own seniority by calling Winters by his first name, ‘which we accepted under conditions as outlined in all security services’ doctrines; regrettably while engaging a demon the police office, Sergeant Edward Clifton, was attacked and killed by the aggressor who also through me into a wall. And Charles, this was after we shot it in the head three times with no visible effects, so maybe you should explain to the Commissioner why he can take his jurisdiction and shove it up his–’ ‘Richard!’ Winters cut in, ‘you know it’s not as simple as that, in our position we are expected to maintain a proper conduct – I know you have struggled with it before, but this time… Richard, this Sergeant Clifton fellow was gutted in the middle of the street.’

‘I know!’ Corth snapped back, ‘I was there, Charles, so was Caley – we got to watch this thing skewer him and then run away unharmed. Now you tell me we aren’t going after this thing and I’ll go to the Prime Minister myself, you know I still get clout with my service record; Charles, it’s a demon, full-fledged power and everything, and we aren’t the only ones after it either.’ Corth added the last part knowing that the DCI’s interest would override his caution, if there was one thing that Winters hated more than one of his operations going south it was the idea that another agency might be after the same target. This wasn’t strictly true, of course, Veifan was an independent in every way but that bit Corth would leave out; ‘If it’s those god awful Americans from the company you can tell them to clear out,’ Winters said, his voice gritty, ‘we can handle our own affairs, they have no permission from us to go after this creature. Bring it in, Richard; I’ll handle the fallout, if you can’t bring it in then send this demon back to whatever hell it came from.’ There was a slight pause and then Corth heard the noise of Winters’ cane tapping on the ground as the DCI started walking away from the phone on his desk, presumably to go and notify someone about the change of plans, ‘My apologies to Agent Torrin as well, tell her that if she gets those beastly Yanks out of the picture I’ll personally take her out to dinner at La Maison.’ Corth chuckled briefly before replying, ‘I’m sure she’d rather just go for a pint Charles, Lion out,’ he finished with his nickname, cutting off the conversation and turning back to Caley as he pocketed the phone. ‘As long as we can find some Americans to blame for this we’re okay,’ he said with a semi-serious tone, ‘but I reckon killing Scalmeare would be a better move, let’s get to the van, we need the map.’

‘Right so,’ Caley replied, picking up his jacket and throwing it to him, ‘what’s that I heard about someone taking me to dinner?’ she asked with a grin; Corth just shook his head in reply, picking up his Mark 23s from the table and carrying them in the holsters as he went. ‘Sure that’s what I thought,’ she said lightly, walking back into the spare bedroom to get her coat and guns, unlike Corth she put both holsters on before leaving; even though it was still light outside she was still cautious.

‘In history of your bad ideas,’ the other Dreamweaver said to Veifan, looking sideways at him where they sat by a shallow river, dangling their legs in the water, ‘this probably the worst.’ Veifan was still clad in his arctic furs even though it was a warmer climate in this Dreamweaver’s home, the other man was wearing a simple robe that was identical to the one Veifan wore in the other realm. ‘Veifan, you and I are old ones, we have known Scalmeare all our lives, now you think we stop it just like that?’

‘Don’t be mad, Doral,’ Veifan said back with a chuckle, ‘you know will not be that easy, but now we have help from humans, at last they can help themselves and us.’ Reaching down from the riverbank he pulled a smooth stone from the bottom, enjoying the sensation of the water flowing over his fingers and the way the mud tried to keep the stone in place; Doral’s home was much richer in detail than his own and Veifan enjoyed visiting the other Dreamweaver when time allowed. ‘I just need to know that you will help if called, you and others, will you help?’

‘Scalmeare still greatest threat we have known after all this time,’ Doral replied, picking up a stone himself and then flinging it down the length of the stream, watching with satisfaction as it skipped perfectly until it sank without a trace. ‘For that reason, we all help, but you have to lead.’

‘Then let us hope these humans are ready,’ Veifan said, pulling himself up onto his feet and shaking the furs on his legs to try and get the moisture off, finally resorting to shutting his eyes briefly and changing them entirely with a simple thought. ‘I told them how to find Scalmeare’s next victim, they will keep him out of their world then chase him here to get the children, good plan?’

‘Good plan,’ Doral agreed with a nod, flinging another stone downriver, ‘but all plans good at start, getting to end is always problem.’

‘Then let us get to end,’ Veifan said, holding out a hand at his side which was lost in a flash of light for an instant, then the rune staff was back in his grip again and he turned away, opening a door that had materialised behind him and stepping through it, some flakes of snow flying in around the side as he did.

‘Always with the snow,’ Doral muttered, waving a hand over the small drift beside him and melting it away.

Instead of turning on the Tracker 6.0 program again Corth brought up a map of the town on the computer screen and started mapping in the locations of the attacks, now including number forty-two on Sycamore Road; it created a pentagram that covered the entirety of Huddleston as the program had earlier predicted. ‘So Veifan says we’ll find the Scalmeare’s next victim in this space here,’ Corth said to Caley who was sitting at the fold down table, loading all the guns and ammunition slides with rounds that carried holy water. She turned round to look at the screen and the pentagon that Corth was pointing at, ‘that’s a space containing about five hundred houses if I’m any judge.’

‘Jesus,’ Caley muttered softly, trying to imagine how many people would be in that area, let alone the number of children there, ‘where’d I leave my needle?’

‘Keep loading,’ Corth replied, pulling out his mobile and dialling the number for the police station again, ‘I’ll let the locals know where to start putting up a cordon, like as not it will actually help to have them warn everyone inside that Ted’s killer is on the loose there, parents will keep the kids close to them if they can.’ Caley nodded in agreement then turned back to the other table, picking up another ammunition clip and a handful of bullets with holy water-filled tips she started slotting them into the slide again.

‘Chief Inspector Bryson please,’ Corth said into the phone, wishing he’d had the presence of mind to write down the direct line number when he had called from her house, ‘it’s Agent Corth calling in, I’ve got some more news.’ Holding a hand to the phone he turned round to Caley while he was waiting for a connection; ‘Make sure you load the shotgun too,’ he said, ‘this thing hits harder than a vampire so we’ll need something that can hit back.’ There was a crackled in his ear as Julia came on the line; ‘Sounds ominous,’ she said with a small hint of annoyance, ‘you have some more information now?’ taking his hand away Corth continued talking to the chief inspector. ‘We’ve got an area to target; it’s inside the square formed by these roads in the centre of town; West Way, Farmer’s Road, Vanner Close and Hailey Road.’ In the background Corth heard paper unfolding, presumably as Julia pulled up a local map, ‘You’re talking about six hundred houses give or take,’ she said over the phone, ‘even if I get all my constables patrolling we’d never cover the neighbourhood.’

‘I hear you,’ Corth said, putting the phone down and turning it to speaker so that Caley could listen in and he could work the laptop hands free; ‘if our information is good it’ll be the central houses where the attacker is likely to go for, they’re in the middle of all five other incidents and that increases the chance of a follow up there.’ Tapping on the keyboards he pulled up a closer view of the map, ‘I figure that cuts the number of houses in half, if we take the census for Huddleston...’ he trailed off as he switched windows on the pc to bring up Caley’s search from the day before, ‘…that’s one hundred houses or so which could be likely targets.’ He winced slightly at the number but was relieved when Julia didn’t make any objection straight away, ‘We can cover them on foot if we have a few hours, but sundown is soon, we’ll never get them all in time and my instinct says this thing is going to go for sooner rather than later this time.’

‘Right enough,’ Caley said, ‘now it knows we’re here to try and stop it,’ she pushed another shell into the breech of the shotgun with a thoughtful expression on her face, ‘we can slow it down right from the start though,’ she continued, turning around to face Corth and the phone. ‘You tell people to put up covers over their bedroom windows, this thing wants to look in – can’t if they’re covered up, can he now?’

‘She’s right,’ Corth agreed, ‘can you get a message out to people in that area?’ he asked into the phone; ‘Everyone who can should put up coverings over their windows, inside and out if possible.’ There was a crackling noise on the phone as the door opened at Julia’s end before she spoke; ‘Just give us a list; I’ve got someone here writing it down, we’ll draft a notice and get them through doors and on the radio.’ Corth tapped at the laptop a couple of times to pull up a map of the area again and then started to speak into the mobile; ‘Covers on all bedroom windows or rooms where people will be sleeping is a good start, if there’s a room without windows where the family can spend the night that’s even better, no one out after dark but I guess the curfew covers that anyway. If any of your constables comes across this thing do not attempt to arrest it or impede it, just put out a call to us or the Armed Response Unit, if any of them come across it then my advice is they attempt to blow it to hell.’

‘It would help if we had a description,’ Julia interjected over the phone, ‘all we managed to get last night was “big” from Caley. Not that it’s useless but something better will help.’ Caley coughed briefly and shrugged her shoulders as Corth shot her a look, he had told her not to let the locals know anything other than it was something they weren’t prepared for, any of them, when it killed Ted. ‘You aren’t going to like it but here’s a rough idea,’ he began, thinking back himself to what he had seen; ‘It is big, Agent Torrin was right on that, I’d say about eight feet tall standing but it walks in a crouch, maybe six foot when it’s like that. You’ve got black body armour over the legs, chest and arms, and some kind of face mask on the front, black visor; pretty much you’re looking for a guy wearing a suit of black armour. It moves fast, so if the ARU does come across it they’ll have to be quick, anything else?’ he asked Caley, spinning around in his chair to look at her.

‘The legs and arms are really thin,’ she said, taking a small breath before continuing, ‘you’ve got blades on both arms, about a foot each in length, that’s what they used on Sergeant Clifton. There’s one spot on the back of the head where there’s no armour at all, that’d be the weak point if you’re going for a kill shot,’ she paused again before adding on another comment, ‘and I’d go for a kill shot, sure enough, it’ll take something to put this thing down, and it needs to go down.’

‘Second that,’ Corth said immediately, ‘this is probably the most lethal target we’ve ever come across, in my case that’s saying a lot,’ he added, aware that Julia knew Caley was on her first assignment. There was a brief conversation at the other end of the phone that he lost in the static and then Julia’s voice came over the speaker again, accompanied by the sound of the door closing; ‘The notice will go out in about ten minutes, I’ll brief everyone who’s going in sometime in the next half an hour and I’ll send the Armed Response Unit out as well, it won’t hurt to have them roving about. Everyone will be briefed on you two as well, simple descriptions of your clothes and the van only, but keep your ARU badges handy as well, just in case.’

‘There’s one other thing,’ Corth said, ‘but it’s probably better that only you hear this to start with,’ he added quickly, making sure Julia didn’t call her assistant back in. ‘You probably want some paramedics on a dedicated call, I’ve seen what this thing can do and we’ve not got the first aid kit if it decides to have a go at us or someone else. And I’d put someone on the hospital ward as well, you’ll want to monitor the children tonight.’ There was a brief pause as Julia took this in before replying; ‘What are you expecting, Agent Corth?’ she threw his title in, making him aware that she was now paying more attention to his advice. ‘I’m expecting…’ he began before trailing off, biting his lip for a second before continuing, ‘I don’t know what I’m expecting to happen, Julia, that’s the truth; this could either bring all the kids out of their comas or put me and Caley into one, or leave us dead. But I’ll tell you one thing that I do know; it ends tonight.’