Marshall Conrad - A Superhero Tale

Chapter 16

"What happens on the summer solstice?" Stella asked, as she helped me to my feet.

The room was spinning and I staggered like I was going to pass out.

"All hell is going to break loose," I coughed. My clothes smelled like I'd slept next to a campfire and the stench of blood clung inside my nostrils as I steadied myself on Stella's shoulder. "That's all I know for sure. I need a drink of water."

"Let's get you into some dry clothes," she said, as she carefully led me away from the makeshift cairn in the center of the floor. "I've seen some amazing feats of magic in my life, but I've never seen a person from the near world vanish into thin air like that. I'd say your attempt at communicating with the rocks was an unqualified success. Not bad for a guy who didn't know what he was doing."

"Yeah, that was first for me." I sat down at the dinette in the corner. "I feel like someone kicked the crap out of me."

She poured a glass of water and slid it across the table. "What's the meaning behind the rocks? What did you see?"

I gulped back the water and handed her the empty glass. My vision was blurry and my head screamed like a freight train. "Your guess is as good as mine. This is unseen world stuff and my base of operations is the city of Greenfield."

"Tell me what you witnessed!" she demanded.

"Death." I pulled my socks back onto my feet. "The entire city was on fire. The air reeked of smoke and burning corpses. Mobs of people were stabbing and shooting one another all over town. It was complete anarchy."

"Mobs of people—you mean, like zombies? Jeez, I hope not." Stella flashed a worried look. "I ran into a zombie horde in Littletown, where the Cheevers hold court over the Grassland Peasantry. They're killing machines."

I gave her a confused look for a long moment."Okay, I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the living dead," she said.

"Gotcha. Well these weren't zombies, then. Just mobs of people killing each other with everything from machetes to baseball bats." I rubbed my eyes. "A huge booming voice told me that the gate was open and I was alone. It said it would feed on the longest day, so I have to assume it was talking about the summer solstice."

"That's less than a week from now," said Stella. "What about the rocks?"

I glanced at the cairn and remembered what Stella told me about spirals when we first met. "You said that spirals are a symbol of rebirth or resurrection didn't you?"

"Yes, that's a standard belief in many cultures both here and in the unseen world."

"Ingrid said that something called a Púca was responsible for the killings."

"That's right. She also told you that the Púca's host is living among us."

"And that he had many followers," I added. "I'm no expert, but I'd say the spirals are a message aimed squarely at human beings."

"Why?"

"Because the symbol has been found at the scene of two murders, and Sheriff Neuman said that spiral symbols were appearing all over town."

"Right. I get it. You also found a spiral rock when you stopped that abduction and you found a spiral scribbling on the picture of your neighbor."

"So what makes average people become mass murderers?" I asked. "Ingrid said that fear is the only thing that matters to a Púca—maybe the spirals and the graphic nature of the murders are supposed to scare the living shit out of people."