Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
SETH LINDBERG
down, and rocks scattered through the air to slam into
Frick’s unconscious body. “That’s right, don’t get up.”
Tom checked the gun, uneasily. He turned to Ben.
“Which operative was it?”
Ben shook his head. “No one I’ve seen. She wore a
suit.”
“Weird,” said Anders. He saw the bruises beginning
to form on Frick’s face, even in the gloom of night. He
moved over, kneeling down to make sure he was okay.
“Is she gone now?”
“I think so. I think I spooked her good, the bitch.”
“Hold on,” said Tom. He was peering up at the
bridge. “There’s a car there.” He began to move through
the underbrush, up toward it. Anders looked up at the
bridge. He could make out a white sedan under the
flickering streetlight.
“This got fucked up real good, huh?” said Ben,
bitterly. “So, what the fuck is the scoop?”
Anders began to explain what he could of the story.
He got about halfway through when Ben stopped him.
“Hear that?”
“Hear what?” A small breeze filtered through the
trees, rustling the leaves slightly. It felt even colder.
“Oh, shit.” Ben’s voice sounded very, very small.
“Do you see it? I don’t.”
Anders looked around, desperately. The darkened
woods held only shadows. He thought he could see a
figure moving, darting in the underbrush, but… no.
That had to be his imagination playing tricks on him.
It wanted to see an enemy. The hackles on the back of
his neck were raised. And in the breeze, he could just
barely hear, or thought he could, some kind of babble.
A low, guttural mutter, a thousand voices. And
then, they faded away.
Ben’s look was of sheer panic. “I can hear it! It’s on
to us! Fuck!”
Anders turned to him. “Dematerialize and get the
hell out of here!”
( 134 )
6