Emily 8 (4/3/2016)

 *Sirens*, the metal door closes, trapping these six people together in the corner office of a ten story building. A plane looking caucasian possibly of French descent man, short brown hair, nothing special about him sits at a desk beside a taller man, four others are there two women, two men. The plain looking man is deep in thought.

  He speaks, "Becky...this...is everyone you could find?"

  "Yeah, Peter," says Becky, "everyone, with the radios down...and both Bob and Hector...Lost...it looks like just about everyone scattered during the storm, anyone else not....taken."

   The other woman shouts, "How we do we know they're lost?"

   "They brought two Trojans in," says Becky, "one of which I personally saw with my own two fucking eyes fight hand to hand with that fucking snake bitch! That's how I fucking know! and you know what....fuck Bob and Hector! Fucking rapist assholes is all they were..."

   "Shut your fucking mouth," says one of the two men sitting beside them while Peter and the tall man stand at the end of the table, "Hector was my friend he wouldn't...."

   "But he'd watch," says Peter coldly, "watch,"

   He tosses a strange device in the air that turns into a monitor.

  "What the fuck is that," says the second of the two men.

  "alien technology," says Peter, "told you people I wasn't from the same Earth as you...don't remember the aliens...Grunaga...maybe Ju-el...it doesn't matter. I have each of the bases under surveilance. It wasn't just about not dragging about large radio equipment."

   The monitor shows the scene in Bob's radio room...hear everything too.

   "What the fuck..." says the man, "wait...Greg was a Trojan? He didn't have a fucking mark on him!"

   "Not a Trojan," says the tall man known as Robert, "Greg was a doll....its...something else these demons can do to us...turn us into their playthings, it picked up on the same trick the Trojan critters had with the zombies...looks to me like Greg, Bob, and Hector all snapped at the same time with this...branding revelation..."

  "Sure," says Becky, "make fucking excuses, but I know why so many ran away from Hector's bases..."

  "You need to shut the fuck up," growls the man from before.

  "Or what Bill," says Becky, "you going to rape me like your buddy...Hector!"

  *GUN SHOT*, the source being Peter's gun.

  "I don't want to waste anymore ammo," says Peter, "its just as we told you all before, we are up against powerful enemies, holding us captive here, experimenting on us for their own twisted purposes. Immitating Hell....its just completly fucked up. Human conciousnesses inside these weird...bodies for them to toy with. It is a war and if we don't learn to cooperate...if we don't stick together...they win."

   "They've already won man," says the second of the two men.

   "don't snap Rick," says Bill, "I'm about ready to myself...but...please take down that monitor sir."

  "Of course," says Peter bringing down the image, freeze framed on the scene of the one they call Sky Alpha flying out of the building.

  "It did it," says Rick, "they control the weather, they destroy buildings and put them back in big flashes, doors that go anywhere...monsters everywhere...this city...isn't safe...but its the safest place there is...three blocks away...mothman....twelve blocks away...suburbs...death traps everywhere...hospital...death trap...clown train...death trap...country side...monsters...forests...monsters...that town....worst monsters...what are we even doing!"

   He stands up and yells, "What are we even doing?! Look at us! Six fucking people! It took out the radios....they're using...monsters that look just like us now....but...are as strong as the other Alphas....Human form Alphas..."

  Peter nods his head, "That's a good word for them...Human Form Alphas...good job Rick...we have a name for our new enemy..."

  Peter's tone is oddly soothing, "Know the enemy, they didn't want us banding together...they didn't want us talking...its all psychological. They want us alone...for whatever their twisted experiments are...they want us to not trust each other, they keep bringing in new arrivals...we find them...we recruit them. I've said for ages now we need to stop forcing people to stay...it puts us in danger...they run...and now this new threat...it looks like us...it can act like us...and it knows us...if they can do this to us...they can see our memories when they capture us. If someone doesn't want to join...don't force them...if they run then they know where are bases are...however...our first course of action...we...you take these."

   He hands them small devices, "it took some effort on mine and Robert's part to build these out of the junk they have here that is made to immitate junk from Earth...was going to hand them out to the commanders. Each of you take two...all I have is twelve. Find who you can, get at least one other person to take one and go find others...no doubt some loners are still out there. These aliens...these Apex Demons and their Alpha pets...they...they want to take their toys away...well we got our own."

   ******

   A night spent in a gas station shop's back room, a Safe Room, a far cry from the comfort of the apartment. The next day Vicky and Emily continue their exploration, the neighborhood, the sub-urb is larger than it looked from the city.

   "Woah," says Emily as they come upon a post office, there is a statue on the roof, a massive dragon statue.

   As they walk past they start to hear heavy breathing, followed by their collar markings glowing. From above a very loud and yet somehow noble voice says, "My apologies madams,"

  They look up to see the dragon looking down at them, a similar glow around its neck. The massive head dips, despite its stone apperance it is indeed flexible, a short bow. Emily and Vicky nod back as they quickly, but not too quickly walk on by.

  "Is it just me," says Vicky, "or does everything but us have hidden markings?"

  "Well not everything is...a pet," says Emily, "not that...has anything to do with...that..."

  "Yeah..." says Vicky, "I wander if they also have to worry about the critters and such..."

  "Yes," comes the dragon statue turning to look at them, "the pigeons are especially annoying madams."

  Emily smiles and nearly cries.

  "Emily?" asks Vicky.

  "We just met a dragon," whispers Emily, "and it didn't try to eat us..I am...I really wish I could post this."

   As they bow again and continue down the road, spotting a large super-store chain....to which Emily cracks the joke, "They have locations everywhere...even in Hell.."

  "Ya'know," says Vicky, "I saw a Star Bucks back in the city...but seriously..this place...and coffee...that can't be a good mix."

   "Its a shame," says Vicky as they tredge across the parking lot, which seem so much larger without any cars and having been on foot the whole time, "that you can't post about any of this, being able to use computers...e-mail...chat...would have made communications so much easier...better than the radios."

   Emily pauses as the approach the front doors, "the computers work."

  "What?" asks Vicky.

  "Yeah," says Emily, "the Mistress has one...I used it my first night...even got on facebook...social...site, did they have it back in two thousand four? Any way, yeah...pretty sure my family and friends think I'm dead given how they reacted..."

  "Hold on," says Vicky, "you...made contact with Earth...your...mine...maybe...Earth...with a computer?"

   "Yeah," says Emily.

  "why didn't you bring this up before?"

  Emily feels her forehead, "I don't think she liked that I did that...pretty sure I got banned from facebook...if not the computer entirely..."

  "Hmm," says Vicky, "it might have just been her computer...but we never tried them...the office building computers were always intranet computers...half of which were alarms or booby trapped in some way...we made a rule to avoid them...or trash them when we saw them...I wander."

   ******

  The inside of the super-store is massive, but aside from being empty looks like any other, there is even a garden section open and a seasonal with Fourth of July stuff out.

   "Lots of places to hide," says Vicky looking up and around, and...hear that?"

   There is the sound of people talking and music.

   "Electronic department," says Emily pointing off in the distance, "you can see the tv from here..."

   Emily smiles, "you think this is where she gets the movies from?"

   "That would solve one mystery," says Vicky as they make their way back, cautiously looking around the corner of each aisle, eyeing each display.

   "No jack in the boxes so far," says Vicky as they approach the very well stocked electronics department, "but given the houses are traps...I wander if this place would react if we tried to walk out of here with anything."

   "good point," says Emily down hearted, "sucks too...I mean they have sterios, game consoles...we could get so much stuff to kill time than just movies and shows...provided none of these are the tape from the Ring."

  As they walk into the movies aisle their collars start to glow and they hear a bell.

  "Oh poo," comes a cutsey voice, "you're pets."

  "Whose there?" asks Vicky looking behind them at the sight of a glowing collar and a ghostly bell connected to it in the air.

   It vanishes as a cat-like human-woman creature appears from thin air. Brown stripes and despite being covered in fur a very attractive body, although the claws, tail, cat ears, and cat eyes are off putting to Vicky, she's known people who would be jaw dropped and throw themselves at this things feet. The glow around their necks vanish as does the one around the cat-creature's, with no signs of the marking.

   "Seriously," says Vicky, "does everyone's marking hide but our's?"

   "Huh?" says the cat creature tilting its head, "under fur...white...kind of grey..."

   "Wait..." says Vicky, "so that's why we couldn't see the dra..."

   The cat steps forwards and points at their necks, "Not my master....no...oooh...you pets of stormy one. How fun, she come here often and get stuff here...send you huh?"

   The cat creature *shrugs* and perks her ears up, "He's near..."

   "Who?" asks Vicky.

  "Damned," says the cat with a wicked smile and the gaze of a predator, "been lost in here for a month..."

  Emily points at the front door visible from where they are, "lost...there's a door right there."

  "Not every entrance is an exit," whispers the cat crouching and turning away, "we...free passage...hunt now."

  It licks its lips, bares its fangs and leaps up high into the ware house like beams these stores have and vanishes.

   "Well...that was weird," says Emily holding up the ziplock baggy full of restraints she was given before, "you think these would try to crush some CDs if I put them in here? I could really dance, used to all the time back home."

   Vicky *giggles*, "we got pockets just in case, sounds like fun...I'm going to check out some movies from the last ten years I've missed that arn't cartoons...or super-heroes."

   As Emily goes a few aisles down towards the music she remarks, "Oh don't act like you didn't like them."

  As Emily vanishes around a corner, the end of the aisle Vicky is in ripples and a disheveled man appears as though from a portal.

  "Oh shit," thinks Vicky, "free passage...if we weren't....mini-star gates on aisles...turns a place like this into a maze where you can constantly see the exit..diabolic."

  "Who...who are you?" asks the man staring wide eyed at her.

  "Oh shit," says Vicky, "I recognize you...you were that new arrival...the one..."

  She whispers, "I wander if she had red markings on red scales...and that's why I couldn't see them...also kind of small and in a weird spot..."

  "What are you whispering..." practically hisses the man.

   "Okay," says Vicky, "I'm not going to hurt you...I'm...I'm not with those guys who put you in the hospital...that was you right? I heard..."

   The man starts to bang his fist on his thigh and pace, "Snake...monsters...came in here...not houses...not stupid...but night...big...big...big...big monster....gargoyles...ducks...ducks with teeth."

  "that answers that," thinks Vicky.

  The man continues, "I...I'm a doctor..."

  He holds up his arm, "See it....I can see it...they think we can't see it don't they...where it bites me...it stalks me...its game...it laughs...it pounces...pins we down...bites out chunks of my arms...eats them...leaves...laughing...always laughing...I..."

  He starts to kind of laugh-cry, "I actually offered it sex in exchange for passage...it ripped out my intestines that time...it smacked me in the face with my own dick....left me on floor in restroom...still there...gore on the floor...still there....it...hunts me..."

   He is still pacing and banging his thigh with his fist, "want out...it taunts me...please..."

   Emily comes around the corner holding some CDs, "Woah..." she says seeing the disheveled man, "didn't know..."

  "You couldn't hear him ranting just three aisles over?" asks Vicky.

  "No," says Emily, "I was going to ask you why you couldn't hear me yelling, just saw you standing here, couldn't see that guy...looks like he as behind that display."

   The man is staring wide eyed at Emily, "No....n...n....NO! You arn't here!"

  Emily and Vicky exchange glances.

  The man takes a few steps forward, "No...you arn't here! You can't be here!"

  "What...are you talking about?" asks Emily as she holds up the bag and drops some CDs in it.

  "Stay back!" shouts the man falling backwards into a display of kid's movies knocking a bunch on the floor, "you know me? I...you can't...y...y...you can't be here!"

   "Why do you keep saying that," whispers Emily, "who...are you?...you...look...familiar..."

  Emily's gaze is steely, full of hate, Vicky can see this, but it doesn't sound like Emily is aware of it.

  He points at the bag, "My name...that...that's my name..."

  "That explains why Stone Al...Stone Apex...gave us the bag...this guy says he's a doctor...and her pet is tormenting him."

  "So I should give the bag to that cat-girl?" asks Emily, "sure, I'll just put the CDs in my pocket.."

  As she opens the bag the man backs up near the end of the aisle, the ripple starting making him stop, he is actually backe up against a corner.

  "Pl..please," whispers the man, "I...I didn't...you arn't...you can't be in Hell!"

  "Because I'd go to heaven?" offers Emily.

  The man through his fingers looks at her, "because you arn't dead!"

  Emily and Vicky look at each other and Emily at the man's face. Her gaze is locked, her eyes, the white of her eyes that is, are turning blue and glowing.

  "Not dead," says the man, "I know...I'm the one...keeping you alive!"

  He starts to pace again, banging his thigh with his fist, "My life's work...they messed up your oxygen tank...dead...for hours..brain damage...but I...I could fix it!"

   He paces closer, "micro-chips...I...I'm a neurologist...and I...micro-chips to reconnect nerve cells...a lengthy process...but it works...we did it with rats and pigeons...even monkeys and a chimp...hours of lack of oxygen...brain damage...they were...they were brought back."

 He paces a little closer, "autonomic nervous system damaged...had to have a contant electric surge in the chip to keep the lungs and heart working...they said...they said it would trigger the entire nervous system...constant pain...but...its just the body...you wouldn't feel it..."

   "I did..." whispers Emily, "I...remember..."

  The man runs to run and grabs her arms, only to scream in horror and run back into a display as he palms are sizzling and melting.

  "What the fuck?" says Vicky looking at Emily's arms and the man's hands like he had just dipped them in acid.

   "I remember..." whispers Emily, she stares at him in anger, "I remember everything...I...killed you."

  She turns to Vicky, "I killed him! Oh my God..."

  "You were strapped to a bed," growls the man sitting on the floor as he drags his hands across the floor, scraping off the melted flesh in twin rows of blood and sloshed off skin and muscle. He holds up his hands as they repair themselves.

   "I..." he mutters, his tone clearly showing he has snapped back, and he glares up at her, "I...was sitting in the room...I had just adjusted the equipment...you...were in a vegetative state...you couldn't..."

  "I could see my body..." says Emily, "you...are Doctor Thomas O'Mallory...I watched you...I heard you..."

   "I was trying to save you..." he mutters, "and...wait...out of body experience? That's bullshit!"

  "You made them turn off my oxygen...you paid them...you wanted proof...someone to...experiment on..."

  "Lies!" shouts Thomas.

  Emily's eyes are glowing with a ghostly light from within, "I saw everything...heard everything...I wandered the halls...more than a year...my family crying...my...mom...I wanted revenge...to get strong...I did...I...killed you..."

  She looks at her hands, one still holding the bag. She takes out the CDs quietly and sets them on a shelf, "I grabbed your heart...I vowed...to drag you to Hell...I....I forgot...I let go on the way...down..."

   Vicky thinks to herself, "so much for my denial"

  The glowing stops and she throws the bag at him much to his surprise, "I commited murder! Asshole! But you..."

  She points at him yelling, "you tortured me! Tortured people and animals you sick fuck! Just for what? To have a news article on Yahoo like twenty pages down under the Kardashians' asses and the latest political bullshit!?"

   She stands tall, *takes a deep breath* and says in a steely tone, "strap those on yourself...asshole."

   Vicky breaks the silence, "well this explains why you threw up watching Agents of SHIELD."

  Emily starts laughing as they walk from the aisle, "Oh my God....it really does."

  She starts crying, "thanks,"

  Vicky wraps her arm around her, "come on spirit of vengence there was a movie rental place across the street, we an probably get some stuff from there...the shelves replensished themselves from the back when I took this off."

  She holds up a copy of, [Godzilla 2014]

  As they walk from the aisle not looking back Thomas yells out, "Wait...hold on..."

 Giving chase however upon exiting the aisle he finds himself...no longer in the super-store but in a room in the hospital identical to the one where he had kept Emily.

  Back in the super store the bag of restrains sits on the floor, the cat creature drops down and picks it up. She *sniffs* the air, "fresh meat....tasty fresh meat..."

  She *sniffs* around the edges of the aisle, "I know where you went fresh meat, we not done playing..."

  She leaps into the air, crawling across the cieling and openign a sky light to exit onto the roof, carrying the bag with her.

   Outside Emily notices that Vicky looks to be more concerned than she is, Emily surprises her with a sudden passionate kiss.

  "Woah," says Vicky as Emily has the taller woman against the wall, "not like you...to..."

  They kiss again, tongues dancing like serpents, Vicky ready to fuck her right there on the sidewalk in broad daylight.

  "Feel better?" asks Emily,

   "Yeah," says Vicky kissing down her neck and opening her shirt.

  "You...you looked...like..."

  As Vicky opens Emily's blouse with one hand, her other has found it ways down her pants practically squeezing her womanhood.

   Vicky takes a deep breath and just holds Emily, "thinking about how I could have died...and why I'd be in Hell...the ghost thing..."

   Emily jumps as Vicky wiggles her fingers and nibbles at her ear, "the blue glowing regeneration...and not being digested instantly by that snake like it looks to do to everyone else...given the timing...maybe she can't digest ghosts properly."

   Vicky has turned Emily against the wall and is pulling down her pants, "speaking of," she says pulling down the panties and practically diving in, her tongue dividing Emily's pussy lips.

  Emily grips the odd surface of the super-store's walls, looking between the empty parking lot in the middle of the day and Vicky's head, her mouth going wild in Emily's pussy, bringing her to orgasm right there beside the entrance to a super store.

   Emily sits down right there, pants around her ankles as Vicky holds her, not expecting or wanting anything in return. Just sitting there, Vicky may be distracted by thoughts of how she died, but if one vengeful kills by someone's ghost is enough to go to Hell...then there is no doubt how she ended up there, even if she's not sure how she could have died. But seeing your own killer, your tormentor, and remembering all that...especially BEING the vengeful monster part..

  Vicky kisses Emily on the head and gets up as Emily pulls her pants up. Vicky walks over the soda machine and brings back a coke bottle...which oddly tastes like coke, for Emily and one for herself.

   "Thanks," says Emily as they just sit there watching small birds fly about the parking lot.

  The silence broken as Vicky says, "ten bucks says those sparrow also do something stupid."

 They sit there and laugh and enjoy each other's company.