Cauldron Book II Part 2

Before I could react, my attacker was on me. I did the usual: roll him over me and kick him off.

But this "him" was like an "it" - a human-sized cross between a greyhound and a seal! It hadn't shown up as a living human when I scanned it. That's one reason I thought it was dead. The other reason was, they were pretending to bury it... Okay, it's really some weird dog, that they disguised to look like a dead human just to fool me.

I ran away from the mansion and jumped a line of shrubs, toward the nearest large building. On my helmet map it was marked "Nashville-Davidson County Government". But it was just a maintenance warehouse!

I was ahead of the dog for then, because it couldn't jump over the bushes like I had. But it could run faster than I could. I had to go to ground.

One loading dock had its door open. I jumped in and considered my weapons. I had a siren, two smoke and two gas grenades, plus finally two flashbangs. Nothing I could actually shoot with, though, aside from my flare and my rappel gear.

The dog flashed across the yard. I threw one of my flashbangs at it, just in reflex. But it was too fast to care. Dammit! I had to get to someplace I could defend. So I backed into a corner of the loading dock bay.

Then Holly came in. "Summer! Are you all right?"

"Winter! Can you get back to the mansion?"

"I'm right next door at the golf course. They were trying to cut across -"

"Give history later! Track me back here now!"

"Uh, my tracker's busted."

"Dammit! Head for where it says County Government just north of there, then!"

"My map's busted too."

"Shit! Do you know where you are?"

"Yeah, it's... Uh, wait, the map just came on. I'm on the way."

Then my helmet map said, Incoming - Fast! Okay, not some warehouse guy. I shot my flare at it without even looking.

I heard a high-pitched scream. I smelled burning flesh. I heard a low-pitched sound that sounded like a snarl, but like it came from whales. And I saw a thing that looked like a seal with fists. Eww, not quite a dog.

I aimed my rappel gear and said, "There's more here!" I could swear, the seal-thing flinched.

Then Holly came in again! "Ready to the west of you."

"Go north! It's a war zone here! Cut him off at the warehouse doors!"

But then the seal-thing ran. Holly didn't catch it.

Then Liz and Margaret-Jean reported in. They were on their way. I had them go to the mansion. But it was too late. Aside from the hole I saw being dug for the ambush, the place was deserted.

...

After the nightly debrief, I had Holly take her helmet down to the night-shift maintenance tech in-hotel. Then, down time. Which meant, hot tub time. Even the Sheraton Nashville Downtown where we were staying couldn't always get decent food in, but it could still run the hot tub.

But Holly flinched! "Um, could I try something different tonight? Salt water's supposed to be good for you."

"Holly, we're from Seattle! When's the last time you swam in salt water?"

"Um, I went to Bermuda once..."

Then the phone from our tech Brett rang. I said, "Holly, if you've got the salt, knock yourself out in the bathtub." Then I went to answer the phone.

"Agent Morgan, I looked at Agent McGraw's helmet. It was fine. No damage."

"Glitch?" I trust Brett.

"Not likely. Do you know how multiply redundant our systems are?"

"But they fail all the time!"

"But at least we can tell they're broken when they do."

"Well, yeah. I finally get it... Thanks. Hold on to the helmet for now. And get a med tech to our room."

Holly knows how to read her helmet maps. She loves the hot tub. And real Seattle girls go to California or Hawaii to swim in the ocean! I was starting to think, Holly'd been brain-wiped by the EMP gun or something.

The bathroom door was closed. Holly was saying softly, "Calm. Calm. Belong."

I knocked. "Holly, are you really all right?"

"I'm fine. Leave me alone. (and more softly) Let me belong!"

"Uh, Holly, this is me, Summer. I'm on your side. What's going on?"

"Nothing!"

"Holly, please tell me what's going on."

"Arrh!" I heard thrashing from inside the bathroom. It sounded like a seizure! Where was that med tech?

I kicked the door in. I saw a seal-dog creature in the tub - just like the one I fought today!

"No! No No No!" I couldn't take it any more.