667: Issue #2 "Activation"

Adam Baudin

I went back to spinning my set, but not before someone handed a microphone to the man who organized the party.

“Excuse me; can I get everyone’s attention?” He cleared his throat and the crowd ceased their noise as I paused my music.

“My name is Jeremy Beaumont and I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out to Missy and Violet’s Thirtieth Birthday bash.” The crowd erupted in hoots and hollers, accompanied by applause.

“It’s almost midnight, and when the clock strikes twelve these two beautiful ladies will enter a new decade of their lives and I want to ring it in with a big surprise!” The crowd got excited all over again.

I hadn’t seen Violet; she never came back. Her party was just going to go on without her.

A woman, who I could only assume was Missy, strode up and wrapped her long, tan arms around Mr. Beaumont’s waist. He smiled down at her, still holding the mic in the other hand.

I watched him signal to someone I couldn’t see as he pressed the microphone back to his lips.

“10…9…8…” He started to countdown. I checked my watch and it was indeed almost midnight.

“7…6…5…” The crowd had joined in with him and Missy was jumping up and down with excitement.

“4…3…2…” It was almost midnight. What sort of surprise did he have planned for the girls?

“One.” The number echoed in my head. Everything seemed to pause around me as a lazy fog crept into the cemetery from the gates. It was low at first, but as it billowed in, it began to thicken.

People were murmuring as they watched the mist roll by, but Mr. Beaumont just stood there silently, his arm wrapped around Missy’s waist. Her eyes were lit up with anticipation as the fog trailed over the party goers. It made its way to her and began winding around her body like some ethereal shroud.

“We need to go, Adam.” Henri snatched me by the arm and pulled me back from the booth.

“What the hell, dude?” I snapped out of surprise.

“I already have Nate in the car. This fog; the Shamans have seen it in their visions. It’s starting.” Henri pulled me further back. I watched as the mist had woven itself fully around Missy and was now settling from her body.

Her smile quickly faded and she started to gag, choking on nothing but the air around her.

“Now, Adam! We have to go now!” Henri urged me. I watched the fog slither its way down the path; it was as if it had a mind of its own.

“Violet’s here. I have to go find her.” Suddenly I wanted to save her again. That anger I had harbored didn’t last long.

“Where is she?” Henri’s eyes were wide as he stared over my shoulder.

“In the back of the cemetery.” I handed him my laptop; I needed that at least if I had to leave everything else behind. I knew better than to question Henri’s foresight.

“Go round the other side and steer clear of that fog; it brings something terrible with it.” Henri took my computer and ran off towards the exit as I heard a scream behind me.

Missy was now seizing on the ground and the people around her were panicking as something clearly painful took over their bodies. Jeremy didn’t do anything to help anyone and just watched, still as a statue, as others began to cough and sputter, not able to help her or themselves.

As much as I felt for them, I had to find Violet before that fog reached her too.

(*)

“Violet!” I bellowed, kicking dirt up behind me as I flew down the path I had taken earlier to find her.

I was soaked from head to toe in sweat as my body rose well above a safe temperature, but I had no time to stop and cool down.

“Violet!” I screamed again as I came to the spot where I had left her.

She wasn’t there.

This place was more of a maze than I thought. If she had gone down one of the many paths that were in front of me, the fog could have easily gotten to her already.

Then I heard a scream in the distance. And then another—but they weren’t coming from Violet’s direction.

“UUuuuauaaaaagh!” That one was Violet.

I sprinted off in the direction of her pained screams, but before I got to her they had stopped.

“Help me…please.” I heard a hushed voice on the other side of a metal fence that surrounded a private crypt.

But the fog had found me now.

It hadn’t just snuck up but had come at me from all directions.

“Violet!” I called out again and rushed in headlong, but not before the cloudy mist finally trapped me.

I threw my arms up instinctually to shield myself, but there was nothing I could do to fend off air as it slithered up my body.

Maybe it wasn’t fog at all, but some sort of nerve gas that Missy’s dick of a boyfriend had psychotically set off in the cemetery.

The fog had subsided, leaving me standing there, still able to look around. I charged forward again, hoping that I’d at least make it to Violet before the effects took hold.

I leapt the fence to find her on the other side; she was face down on the ground, her head turned away from me.

Before I could step forward to see if she was alive, the fog started working its magic. My body went rigid, my knees buckled and I began to seize violently only feet from Violet’s lifeless form.

I clenched my teeth as I felt the fire inside me explode like the volcano that it had become. Red-hot embers ripped through my muscles and melted bone as I felt my body turn to ash from the inside out.

The fancy gloves Henri had made me melted from my fingers and fused to the dirt on the ground around me.

Tiny cracks in my forearms started to form, bubbling and blistering as the blood ran like molten rock in my veins.

I couldn’t take the pain and I felt like I was going to bite my tongue off if I didn’t scream and let some of it out.

A growl erupted within me as I threw my hands to my face; it too burned like the charred flesh of my hands. My breathing was heavy as I struggled to keep myself conscious.

One last searing jolt, like a million hot knives to the gut, and then it all stopped.

My skin didn’t hurt anymore, my hands didn’t feel hot—I didn’t feel hot either.

Maybe Henri was wrong, maybe the fog had been a good thing; it seemed as if it had cured everything that ailed me.

I carefully peeled my body from the dirt path and pulled myself into a standing position. When my vision adjusted from the blinding agony I had just been in, I took a look at my hands, expecting to see flesh and bone.

But it was worse.

The charred skin and ember-filled veins had crept their way up my arms, almost to the elbow. Every time I breathed out, sparks of orange popped from my mouth. I threw my hands up to my face, but they didn’t burn the flesh there—because there wasn’t any.

Reptilian scales armored the sockets of my eyes and the skin of my forehead; the plates altering my vision somewhat.

My hair was tangled in something and when I reached up to fix the knot, I felt them.

Horns.

Hard spirals of keratin protruded from the crown of my head and curled back from my forehead.

My only instinct was to roar into the air like some feral animal.

What had I become? What had that fog done to me? Done to Violet? And Missy?

I could hear loud screams now: screams of agony and fear. I scooped Violet up in my arms, her body limp in my grip; she was practically dead weight, but she was breathing. I threw her over my shoulder and sprinted off towards the cemetery gates.

(*)

It sounded like people were being slaughtered.

Total chaos had broken out as Jeremy and Missy stood near the bar, watching as the people around them writhed in torment on the ground.

They were dying, all of them were dying. Their bodies had swelled up and boils had formed on every exposed surface of their skin. Flesh was splitting and blood had begun to seep from orifices.

I heard Violet stir in my arms.

“Don’t look,” I whispered as I ducked behind stone obelisks and cherubs until I came to the gates that still stood open.

Jeremy’s attention snapped in my direction as I slipped under a velvet rope blocking the front gate and began running towards the tree line in the dark.

I hoped that Henri was still waiting for me…

(*)

I effortlessly carried Violet down the dirt road for a quarter of a mile before I saw Henri’s truck. The headlights flashed at me, and the engine roared to life.

I picked up my pace and brought her right up to the passenger side where Nate sat.

“What the fuck?” He screamed and flailed himself backward into Henri.

I forgot that I didn’t look like myself, and felt sort of bad as I began to laugh at Nate’s apparent panic brought on by my disfigurement.

“You never listen to me, do you? I told you to steer clear of that fog!” Henri slammed his fist down on the steering wheel.

“Adam?” Nate’s eyes were so large; I thought they were going to pop out of his skull.

“Yes. Help me get Violet in to the truck.” I lowered my head through the window and Nate backed himself up again like a cornered cat.

“Help him, Nathaniel. Now is not the time to judge your friend.” Henri pinched the underside of Nate’s arm and he jerked, unlocking the door to come out and assist me.

“Is she alive?” Henri narrowed his eyes at me.

“Yeah.” I responded, holding her close against my chest.

“Does she look as ugly as you?” Henri picked at me, knowing that I already felt bad enough as it was.

“I haven’t checked anything on her. It was dark and she was facing away from me.” I spouted as Nate got into the bed of the truck and arranged some blankets and a tarp to set her down on.

Henri climbed in the bed with him and held out his hands to take Violet as I passed her off. He laid her out on the blankets as I leapt up in to the bed next to her.

“Looks like her hair went white from fright.” Violet’s head lulled to the side as Henri went to remove the hair from her face and see what damage had been done.

Her skin already had this weird dusty purple color to it, but when Henri moved the thick locks from her face, it surprised everyone.

“Jesus fuck! What the hell is going on?” Nate needed to stop being so hilariously scared, but at least he was for good reason.

Violet’s eyes were closed, all except the third one that was planted in the middle of her forehead. The hair on her head was virgin white, as were her eyelashes and eyebrows. Her skin seemed to glow a faint lavender under the blanket of stars above.

“Is she—is she looking at us?” Nate pointed at the beautiful indigo eye that sat in the middle of her forehead.

“No, she’s still unconscious, but we need to get the hell out of here before that girl and her crazy ass demonic boyfriend gets ahold of us.” Henri covered her with the blanket.

“But is she going to be okay?” I had been able to survive the ordeal and stay conscious, but her tiny body hadn’t been able to withstand the pain.

And the others…why had we reacted differently than they had?

“You stay in the bed with her; keep her warm until we get back to the city. Then we can start to figure out what the fuck happened to the both of you.” Henri jumped out of the bed of the truck followed closely by Nate.

I huddled Violet close to me and swaddled her in the wool blankets that had been provided. The engine of the truck roared loudly as Henri made a hasty U-turn in the dirt road and headed back to New Orleans.

The stars streaked by in the sky as I leaned in to the cab of the truck and wrapped Violet in my arms. I wasn’t able to save her from this, even though she had warned me not to. I had become a casualty because I couldn’t leave well enough alone.

But something in the back of my head asked me if it was worth it…

Happy fucking Birthday to us, Violet.

What the fuck are we going to do with these lives now?