Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (69 page)

“Alright
Suzy,” he began. “I need you to go and ask those officers a few questions.”

“What
are you talking about?”

“Just
ask them about the girl, say you were her friend and you’re scared and worried
about her,” Jason told her. “Please, just distract them. I need to sneak into
the sewers using that opening,” he indicated to the manhole cover in the
distance. “Keep their eyes on you and away from it for a minute and then head
back home, alright?”

Suzy
nodded and quickly made her way toward the officers. Jason rushed past her and
stopped nearby the intended point of entry. He waited for his sister-in-law to
draw attention before he lifted the cover and slipped into the hole without as
much as a sound.

The
cover wasn’t locked. That might mean something, assuming all of the other
coverings are locked. I’ve never taken the time to notice. But at the very
least it wasn’t locked, meaning someone could have come down here.

Jason’s
initial encounter with the subterranean corridors caused his bowls to wrench.
Damn,
I guess it really is a sewer. I should have known it would reek, but this feels
like a bit much.
He stood in calf-high sewage, something he silently
apologized to Audrey for. There was enveloping darkness in every direction and
though Jason’s first thought was to light a torch he reprimanded himself.
There’s
most likely a fair amount of methane in these tunnels and I can’t imagine an
explosion would be all too productive. Not only would I give myself away, but I
could possibly damage these tunnels and maybe even cripple the city or some of
the buildings above.
Jason tried his best to peer through the absolute
darkness and found light from the surface crept through some of the storm
drains.
It isn’t much but I’ll have to work with it for now.

He
walked as softly as he could manage through the oval passageways, though each
step forced a change in the current and echoed throughout the labyrinth.
Patience
Jason. Take your time. You don’t know where you’re headed or if anyone’s
lurking about waiting for you. You’ll be safe either way.

A
light pierced the shadows afar off down the tunnel. Jason stopped and listened
for a moment before he concluded that he was truly alone.
There’s no one
there. Nothing aside from mice, rats, but that’s normal, right? It must be.
He crept along until he met the light and found the pathway open up to a large
underground room. It split into a dozen lanes in each direction, two of which
supported what seemed to be a river of sewage.

He
could have gone anywhere.
He might not even be here anymore. Jason followed the
stream of waste until it emptied into the river of sewage and climbed onto a
dry platform.
Where would he go? Out of all of these trails which one houses
him? Damn it. He knows these tunnels and I’m struggling to simply keep track of
where I came in from.
He studied the walkways one by one but failed to
determine which his target took.
Another dead end.

Jason
swore under his breath and took another glance around. He noticed a few of the
rats that passed by all run down one corridor. He paused and listened to the
scratches of their footsteps down the stone tunnel until he heard their
scurried pace slow to a stop.
What did they find?
After a moment Jason
realized they were all gnawing on something.
What is that?

The
dimly lit room kept a small pile of human remains consisting of what Jason
believed was an ear, a hand, and excess skin. It all lay clumped together near
a corner, with a large amount of blood spread across the stone floor and walls.
This is…horrible. Am I already too late? No, this…
He examined the
remains again.
This wouldn’t be from her…but possibly the last few victims?

Some
of the rats scampered off when Jason neared while others remained undeterred as
they nibbled off morsels of the decaying flesh.
These are different though.
Older, possibly.
One of the rats dashed away and took Jason’s attention
with it momentarily. The vermin followed a trail of blood down another tunnel.
Too
much blood for a few rodents. What’s down there? More remains or something
worse?

Jason
followed the trail until he reached a dead end. He looked up and found another
manhole cover.
Another dead end?
With as much care as he could afford,
Jason lifted the steel plate from underneath and peered out into the street. It
was deserted and in front of a condemned building with a chain link fence
around its perimeter. Jason returned to the surface and flew over the fence
before he crept into the building.

It
was dark in the building but with the ambient light from outside he could see
remains of old condoms, a worn and stained mattress, some dirty and torn
clothes, empty beer bottles, hundreds of cigarette butts, and other discarded
trash. Although the building was silent Jason did hear someone above him.
Two
people. One pacing and the other…struggling, bound? Trapped? Could this be it
Jason? You have to hurry!
Jason raced upstairs and burst through the door
to discover the two individuals he heard from a flight below. The missing girl,
Lily Meyers, sat bound and gagged in a chair in a corner away from Jason. The
man who paced in the center of the room came to an abrupt halt.

Jason
quickly scanned the room and found two cots made up opposite the captive young
woman, one of which was piled with various medical tools Jason didn’t
recognize. A long table stood before the unknown man which was nearly free of
clutter, aside from a lamp, a few tools, and some worn leather bound books.
Emptied syringes, medical waste bags, and soiled bandages littered the floor
near the poor girl.
This is it, now, how to handle this…

“Is
that you Jason?”

Jason
stopped cold and immediately felt his pulse throbbing once more.
No, no no
no, no it can’t be.

The
man walked toward a bit of light in the room and revealed himself. “You don’t
remember me, do you? It was so long ago and-and you, and we, we have been busy,
haven’t we Jason? You’ve become something else, something wonderful, frightful
even. But I, I have been about my Lord’s work, his bidding.”

The
killer started toward the girl when Jason barked, “Who the hell are you?”

He
stopped. “Jason…” the shadowed figure turned to face him, “You don’t remember
me at all?”

It
can’t be. It can’t…it, why? Why the hell, what in the hell, why why why damn it
why?

Jason
cleared his throat and whispered, “Joshua.”

The
elderly man stepped forward and revealed his distorted form. Joshua Todd stood
hunched over and although Jason couldn’t make out his features completely, but
he saw the pale gray face of his opponent. Todd’s face and arms were covered in
surgical scars and between those marks were areas of skin from the various
victims he’d captured and killed. His head held no hair beyond the occasional
patches of whatever hair remained from whoever he once scalped.

Todd
grinned and showed crooked yellow and blackened teeth through his parched lips.
“I’ve waited for you for some time my boy.” He struggled to breathe for a
moment before he continued, “I found you in the hospital and heard about your
recovery and thought about the benefits it could have for someone like me, but
you proved too difficult to kill then. And I tried as you may recall, but I
didn’t know what I needed to possess to kill you then Jason.” The killer
wheezed for a breath before he pressed on, “Jason, I’m dying, as you can tell.
And I believe you can help me, in one way or another.”

“What
are you…why the hell would I ever help you Todd?” Jason barked.

Todd
stuck his hand in his pocket and retrieved a small notepad. “You will help me
because that is what we must do, what we are called to do, my boy.”

“What?”

“We
were called,” he repeated. “Chosen to do the Lord’s work.”

Jason
studied him and asked what he meant. “Do you think you have some sort of link
to God, Joshua?”

Todd
nodded his head slowly and told Jason he had a task to complete. “One of the
Lord’s angels came to me Jason. His name was…” the man paused for a moment, in
thought, desperately trying to recall the forgotten name, “Oh what was it?
Ramiel? No…Raphael? Or was it Remliel? In any case, the angel came and told me
to punish the wicked, but when he came I was aged, I was dying and I didn’t
know how to follow his commandment. So I searched and searched for a cure, for
an answer, and I found, or rather, I discovered my purpose in life. A purpose
beyond medicine, past saving mortal lives…saving eternal beings.”

He’s
unstable. I need to save her, but he’s…he’s…

“How
do you save them Joshua?”

The
elderly man waved a finger in the air and told Jason to have patience. “I was a
far younger man when I was called, yet I was dying. Age had over taken me and
my body, it decayed and found corruption. I needed to serve the Lord though,
and I knew if he called me there was some way to do as he asked of me. I was a
doctor Jason, a very good one too, but I was…I was seduced by dark, frightening
things. I was almost lost until He sent one of his servants, his angels to me.
I was instructed to usher the damned to another life, one where they might
begin again and learn to be peaceful, better people. 

“It
was a cold night in early autumn when I found my enlightenment,” Todd
continued. “I happened upon a young inebriated man who spent his evening at a
pub with some of his friends. As I walked past, he caught my attention. There
stood a young, hulking individual who squandered his health, wellness, and
life, and I was envious. And at that moment Jason,” he looked Jason in the eye
to ensure he heard him clearly, “At that moment a thought arrived. What should
stop me from taking what was his, or anyone else’s for that that matter? The
youth waste their strength and vigor and supply little purpose to the world. So
selfish and self-centered,” he sighed. “It was that very moment when I grew to
understand everything all at once.

“It
was long past midnight when my prey left his party. He stumbled home on his own
through the lamp lit streets. Most of the townspeople were long since asleep
and left the roads wide open and vacant. I kept close to my subject, studying
him, dissecting him. The brute stood two heads taller than I and appeared to
weigh twice as much too. I remember keeping my hands deep in my pockets, but
not to battle the cold. I gripped tight to a steel knife I purchased to perform
my Lord’s work, though I trembled greatly at the prospect of making my first
sacrifice.

“The
subject wandered far from the main part of town and onto worn dirt roads. The
light from the city faded soon too and then not only my task but the shadows
and sounds of the night frightened me. I found myself fingering the blade,
memorizing how it opened, how long it was, how it felt, how heavy it was…” he
paused. Joshua slowly reached into his pocket and continued, “It must have been
a half an hour before I summoned the courage to creep up behind him. I looked
all around, through the fields of tall grass and up and down the road. My heart
slammed into my chest over and over and I could hear it from within me. I
stared at my prey, knowing he could hear me, knowing he could hear my ill heart
too.

“The
man stopped and struggled to wheel around and face me. He asked what I wanted,
but I could not bring myself to utter a single word. There before me stood a
giant of a man, someone who could with little effort stop my feeble hand from
performing its necessary duties. But without warning came a sign. A crow cried
out from the brush beside us and though fright overtook us both, I reacted in
terror and plunged the knife into his wretched heart.”

Joshua
stopped there as he pulled out a worn and rusty knife. He held it in the palm
of his flat hand. “He screamed as I drove the blade into his chest over and
over and over again until his cries died out in the night. I’d completed my
master’s wishes for the first time. It felt exhilarating. But fear seeped back
in as I dreaded that someone, some passerby might have heard the commotion.

“It
took all of what little strength I had left but I hid the body deep in the tall
grass, far from the road. I waited for the space of an hour, listening to the
chirps of insects, the occasional footstep of a woodland creature, and my own thunderous
heart. My eyes remained open wide, piercing the veil of night in search of any
possible attackers or villagers who might have come after me for my prize.”
Todd took a moment to collect his thoughts before he resumed his tale, “I
needed time to think about how I was to steal the man’s youth, his life,
something I worried I had already carelessly discarded. But enlightenment
continued to pour into my soul and I knew all I needed to. Using the blade I
started from the underside of the man’s left arm and sliced deep, thick cuts of
his flesh and muscle. I collected as much as I believed I could carry without
attracting attention and stole away to my home. His remains were discovered
early that morning and the brutality of the event led to a manhunt, though they
never found the right man, as you can see.

“I
spent the next day in hiding, receiving no patients or visitors. I obsessed
over how to use what I’d stolen before it fell away into waste. It began to
worry me, as the flesh and meat sat in a bloody heap on a stool in the deepest
room in my home. It ate at my mind and heart and I could not bear to be away
from it, even for a moment, in fear that someone could uncover my act and
accuse me of the slaying. I remained in the complete darkness of my home all
that next night, sitting quietly on the floor beside my bounty. Sleep pestered
me as did my desire for food and water, but all I could think of was the need,
the craving for an answer, for a way to keep this stolen power for myself. So I
pressed onward and remained there, beside my prize.