(an original series by Simone Ciucci)
It was a couple of months ago, I remember those days well, because they changed my life forever.
It all began on a rainy day in fall, not many beasts
were showing up and the ones that did were easily eliminated before they got to
hurt anyone.
It is unusual for us hunters to have such an easy season.
Everyone was feeling great, though I did not
I knew, I felt it, something somewhere was bound to
happen, something bigger than usual.
The hospital of the city seemed to be going crazy,
everyone claimed they had been seeing strange shadows in the hallways, and
others said they had heard sounds, and food had kept disappearing.
I disguised myself as a sanitary agent, my fake duty
was to check if a closed section of the structure was secure for the nearby
patients.
At the beginning, everything seemed to go as usual or, at least, I saw nothing. The head
nurse was giving me a tour when I found an excuse to be on my own, something on
the line of: “could you bring me something to drink while I do the paper work”
though I do not really remember.
When she was out of sight, I broke the plastic seals
that divided the abandoned hall from the main structure.
I immediately felt like the temperature inside the
hall was incredibly low, I could see my breath becoming steam-like just after a
few meters in.
The hall was really in bad conditions mainly because
they did not have the funds to complete the job.
There where cables dangling from the ceiling and dust
on the floor, the walls where half completed, with some wide gaps prolonging
for almost 3 meters, some tools were still there near the stairs together with
white paint and pieces of plywood in various places and sizes.
When I walked near the stairs, I heard something, at
the beginning it was not easy to hear, but after descending a few steps down, I
could hear the cries of a baby.
Wondering if it was a trap to lure people, I decided
to take my time, being careful while grabbing my handgun.
The way a wendigo mimicked a human voice lured me out
of my tent one night was a good lesson for this experience
The cries got louder and louder as I got down to the
lowest floor. The area was dark, I had a flashlight but it could have given out
my position, so I preferred keeping my guard up and trust the keenness of my
senses, hoping not to be attacked from behind.
I entered a long dark hallway, the place was even
colder then upstairs, it felt also humid, the walls where dripping wet and the
ceiling was leaking from different random places.
On the right I found an opened door, the cries seemed
to come from there, though I am sure that the closer I got the more I was able
to hear a second voice. It felt as if it was singing a lullaby of sorts, though
I don’t remember the words.
I peeked through the door and as I did it, the singing
stopped. I looked back and on my sides to make sure that whatever that was, was
not now planning to take me by surprise. I did not see anything, still unsure
of my decision to keep going, I entered the room, it was big very big, I
suspect it may have been the old morgue when that area was still in use.
The baby I thought was a distraction or a bait, seemed
to be safe, on a pile of pillows and blankets that made its bed, I did not
really see any creature acting kindly to an easy prey such as a baby so maybe
there was something more than a mindless
monster lurking in there.
I checked closely, the baby seemed to have stopped
crying for a while. Though I had not
noticed at first, I found out the little one to be a girl. She was acting
normally, sucking the corner of the
blanket that covered her body. The area around her was warm after looking closely
I saw a pair of heaters. Why would a monster be taking care of a baby like
this? Is it, instead, a human being?
I decided that, whatever the case, I had to run away with that
baby and give her back to her parents or whoever could take real care of her. But
as I lowered my arms to take her, all the little lights that where in the room
began to flicker.
I felt a cold shiver behind my back which went through
my spine.
It was behind me…
“D-don’t…”
I immediately turned back, emptying my gun onto the thing that stood
behind me. The bright flashes of the gun blinded my sight as I instinctively aimed half the shoots at the
head and the other half where I supposed the heart would be.
As my sight adjusted again, I could see the horror that stood in front of me: the strange being was standing
high on its numerous legs, which
appeared insectoid in anatomy but made of flesh and bones, covered by a slimy
layer of pale skin. The body also looked like the legs, though its torso was somewhat similar to the
one of a human, but with many ribs, more than ours, two long alien-looking arms
were folded in to a mantis-like position.
The back of its head was elongated, enough to reach its
back. It had no face.
“Don’t… hur-r-hurt her…”
It said with an indescribable voice, as I looked
closely, I realized my gun shoots had gone right past it and hit the wet wall,
leaving six big marks.
“What are you?” I said holding my ground with courage,
although it was but a mere illusion.
The thing gave me a tilt of its head as it spoke
again, “I…Don’t know…”
“Do you want to hurt me?” I reply.
“No…T-The Baaaby…” it said while indicating the little
girl.
“Are you…Taking care of her?”
It just nodded
“Have you been stealing from the hospital to keep her
safe?”
It nodded again
“Have you hurt anyone?”
“N-No!” it said “I…cannot…hurt”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I… cannot”
“Well that doesn’t help us at all. Listen, I’m not going to hurt anyone, not you nor the
baby, but you’ll have to explain exactly what you are doing here in our city”
It looked at me for a second before backing off and
sitting down. It still looked at me, probably inviting me to do the same.
I sat on the dusty floor as well “So, do you have a
name?”
“N-no”
“Fine, so when I shot you” - The more I think about it
the more I believe I could not have made it sound worst.- “You dodged the bullets?”
“No”
“Did they pass through your body?”
“Not sure”
“Can you phase through walls?”
“Yes”
“Good, so I don’t want to lie to you, if you are what
I think you are, I’ll have to either eliminate you or take you back to where
you came from. Understood?”
“And the B-baby?”
“She will be safe I’ll found her a family and…”
“No…”
“Excuse me what?”
“No”
“You mean I can’t give her back to her parents?”
“They do not want her… they do not love her…they tried
to get rid of her…” Its speech was getting better the more it spoke
“Could you tell me exactly how you found her?”
“…I heard cries, pain…she was going to the tree, but I
grabbed her…”
“The tree?”
“Yes”
“Interesting, please go on”
“I gave her back to her shell…she was small, so
small…fragile… couldn’t leave her… I brought her here, I made her grow strong,
and I …I must keep her safe”
“So you have been here for …how long?”
“ I do not know”
The baby girl started crying again, the thing
immediately reacted, it moved like a cloud of smoke from one position to the
other in an instant.
It took her between its disgusting arms and started
singing the same lullaby I had heard before. It was incredible to think that
such a horrifying creature could sing so
beautifully.
I stood up as well, I put my hand on its back, no longer talking like a hunter but like a friend.
“She can’t stay here…” It looked at me. I could feel
sadness even though it had no face to convey the expression.
“You can’t stay
here”
It looked at me strangely before saying,
“You are good, you’ll raise her well”
“You are good, you’ll raise her well”
I had not heard it talk so clearly till that moment.
“Me?”
“Yes, it has to
be you”
“You wouldn’t leave her!?”
It nodded.
“I see…” I stretched my arm to the creature to hold
its hand “It’s a hunter’s promise, no
man, beast or god can break it”
It looked at my hand before extending its own.
“She will be
happy with you”
“Well, buddy, I truly hope so”
It gave me the baby, her face somehow made my body
tremble. I still wonder if that is what a father feels when he first sees his
child.
Before going away, the creature turns to me again, for
the last time
“I see darkness in your future, evil created by your
own hands will come for you, and you will not escape it. She will be safe
though. Please, give her beautiful
memories before you join the tree…”
“Wait! Future… what do you…” I managed to shout before
being interrupted by a great beam of light that blinded me. When I was able to
see again, it was not there anymore.
It has been a week since then.
When I discover what that thing tried to tell me, it will probably be too late, but there is no
time to think about that now.
Right now Serena, my little daughter, needs her good
hunter.
Nothing else matters now.
SIMONE (5scA)
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