The Awakened Pt. 06

It was intoxicating and scary at the same time. But who would know?

That depended on whether he'd missed anything. A system of record somewhere that he hadn't been able to recognise as being important. A calendar entry...a corporate nuance that he hadn't understood correctly from the lawyer's rather orderly mind.

His elation dimmed rapidly as he went through everything that he'd set in motion. In the end he found himself going round in circles and after deciding against a second desert called for the bill. The small Italian restaurant hadn't looked that promising from the outside but Edwin James had known it would be excellent and it was just what he'd wanted.

Leaving the restaurant he walked down Botolph Alley and through to St Dunstan in the East's ruins with its quiet surrounding gardens. He had always found the place to be an unusual mini-oasis in the middle of the city of London, and now enjoyed the respite from the constant mass of humanity that it provided.

Stark stone walls are all that remains of the old church but it retains a solemnity and majesty that he found reassuring and centring.

As he relaxed he tried to think through what was making the difference in the way that he was able to work with the powers that he had. Aldred had absorbed the powers of so many people to maintain the shield around himself. Surely he should have been far more powerful than Kane..? And therefore able to do so much more?

It was a conundrum and as Kane picked through the nodes of his mind he realised that Aldred had never assimilated information into nodes like that. He'd never truly taken the power. He hadn't analysed what was possible in the same way. His usage of the power was in much the same way as an incredibly inefficient engine might burn through fuel - he had simply thrown it as his shield construct.

And that was something that Kane was sure could be improved. Maybe it was the software engineer in him but he could see how it could be so much better. More efficient certainly but also more effective. What he couldn't see was how he could use it without attracting brain claws to him, like a bat signal to the entire spirit world that the buffet was open.

His mind began to wander.

He hoped that Gus and the team were doing well. It hadn't been that long since he'd spoken to them but old habits die hard and with his project manager hat on he couldn't help wondering how everything was going.

He finally cleared his mind.

It really was so peaceful there.

It allowed him to breathe and prepare himself for what he needed to do next. He turned off his phone to ensure that his movements couldn't be traced and then stood up from the wooden bench, his mind set.

Rested and ready, he made his way across London Bridge to Guy's Hospital. He decided to avoid the front entrance in an attempt to minimise appearing on any CCTV. Instead he walked around the building to the back until he found the delivery area. After a quick check around he spotted an open door with people moving boxes of supplies into the hospital. He ducked out of sight behind the delivery truck and pulled his spirit form free for a few brief seconds, checking that the inside was clear and camera free before walking in.

He found a fire escape and made his way up the stairs towards the first floor and the Critical Care Unit. He waited (physically) near the door until he could confirm that the corridor outside was clear and then went in, searching for an area that he could use.

He managed to find a storage cupboard and, trusting to luck at this stage, he shut the door behind him, blocking the handle with a broom, and made himself as comfortable as he could on the stacked rolls of toilet paper.

He was hugely careful that his cloak was as perfectly in place as it could be as he found his way into the spirit world. He knew from his discussions with Si that hospitals could be very dangerous places because of the number of brain claws that were sometimes the cause of the more serious cancers.

And Guy's Hospital is where the serious cases went.

He eased his spirit form through the window of the door, the uncomfortable feeling of passing through the glass was exacerbated by the reinforcing metal within it. And then his spirit form was into the critical care ward, moving carefully, on constant alert.

It looked like pretty much every other hospital ward in terms of layout and once he passed the nurses station there were a series of individual rooms with a wide range of life saving equipment in each of them. They were all occupied.

He began to breathe faster, his anxiety at what he planned to do gnawing at his composure.

The first three rooms contained very sick patients but no brain claws. The fourth contained a patient who was in the process of being moved. The nurses were transferring the patient into a wheelchair. As he made to move on he sensed the brain claw before he saw it - a small one locked into the throat of the patient sucking away the poor woman's life.

There were too many people around to do anything and he had to force himself to watch the nurses wheel the patient away.

He turned his attention to the rest of the rooms. There were two other small brain claws in the various other rooms but in the eleventh one was a younger man with an enormous brain claw locked onto his back.

It was obscene - leaching away at his life force even as the man was being fed various drugs to ease his appalling suffering.

To Kane's untutored eyes the man looked like he had very little time to live. He was reassured that there was a wide range of equipment nearby in case what he tried made things worse. He couldn't believe that he could make things much worse though - the man was destined to die if he did nothing.

Breathing deeply he gathered his courage for the very stupid thing that he was about to do.

Very aware of the other brain claws in the area he allowed a small but focused glow from his aura to appear like a small laser beam pointed at the brain claw.

The effect was electric.

The essence of the cancer patient must have almost been exhausted with the brain claw already in the process of withdrawing its tendrils and moving on to the next unfortunate. The glimpse of his aura had tendrils rapidly flickering in his direction and in seconds rather than the minutes he had thought might be needed the brain claw disengaged from the patient.

When he'd been planning how to do this, the timing of when exactly to attack the brain claw had been the most difficult decision. If he tried to damage it whilst it was locked in place on a human and presumably at its most vulnerable, then he assumed that all those tendrils would do unspeakable damage to the patient. It had been really painful when it had happened to him at the funeral. He had to make it disengage first. Much more dangerous for him but far safer for the patient.

Fortunately he had already begun to create a rift into the physical world because the horror shot towards him at unbelievable speed. This brain claw was no small, weak parasite. It was fully three feet long and possessed of extraordinary speed and power.

It fired towards him and all pretence of learning new and better ways of killing these things was gone as he ripped open a wide gap to the physical world allowing a cannon like jet of bubbling air to batter into the brain claw.

But it kept coming.

Stunned, Kane ripped harder, directing yet more air at the hideous thing. Parts of its carapace began to peel away and the howl of anger and hatred echoed through the spirit world as pieces of the creature began to dissolve before his sight.

Kane was really worried now. Were those cries likely to attract other brain claws? He hadn't thought of that! Idiot!

He also realised that the air being drawn from the physical world was acting as suction on all sorts of things from the physical world, dragging them towards the rip between worlds. The trolley holding the drip with the pain medications that went into the patient's arm was on wheels. The suction of air was so strong that it was only the tape and the needle in the patient's arm that prevented it from rolling across the floor and through the rift.

The blinds on the window were flapping at forty-five degrees towards the singularity. The bed covers were flapping from the massive change in pressure but were caught by the table that was over the patient's bed. Thankfully the bed wheels were locked in place!

Various personal effects and papers swirled through into the spirit world, lashing into the brain claw and carving off chunks of carapace as it howled its hate and hunger.

It took everything that Kane had to keep the jet of air pointed at the brain claw. It moved incredibly quickly, trying to jink from side to side to avoid the air that was such poison to it whilst still getting to him and the aura that was now blazing for all the spirit world to see.

Kane was vaguely aware of the alarms on the equipment by the bed as they were triggered by the patient's physical reaction to the removal of the brain claw.

The brain claw had almost completely lost its carapace that obviously offered far more protection than he could have guessed. The smaller one at the funeral had shrivelled and died from far less exposure. But it had been feeding on him at the time. Was that the difference? Did that make them more vulnerable. It was too late now.

Underneath that shell was a pulsing grey and purple...thing. It dropped to the edge of the jet of air and was almost past the rift before Kane could adjust when, with a surge of speed, it forced its way through.

Into the physical world.

Several things happened at the same time.

Kane panicked and closed the rift. His one weapon hadn't killed it and he was at a complete loss as to what to do. The purple and grey entity scuttled across the floor shrieking as it went, leaving streaks of ichor where the physical world burnt it anywhere that it touched.

The patient was spasming in the bed. The door flew open and three nurses rushed into the room to see the bedding in total disarray, the blinds crashing against the window, papers everywhere and the drip trolley in the centre of the room.

In amongst all this the evolved version of the brain claw huddled under the bed. It was difficult to see it with the nurses desperately working around the bed. It was about the size of a spaniel and it was crouched down on stumpy appendages. It didn't appear to have eyes or ears, just a sort of open mesh across one end of the body.

It wasn't moving and for a minute Kane thought that it was dead. But it had stopped screaming and...was it changing colour..?

The purple was fading and the grey was growing darker.

Ensuring that he was properly cloaked he turned and started to flee the scene of the crime. The machines continued to wail their alarm as he retreated and the poor patient continued to thrash against the pain of the withdrawal of the brain claw. Kane hoped that he might survive and that something good might come of this catastrophe.

He almost missed the two small brain claws flying around near him. They were hovering; searching. He mentally chastised himself for his lack of care and thought. At the same time he was terrified that the large brain claw was adapting to the physical world.

Why hadn't it died?

How had it survived? Was it something to do with the various treatments being fed into the patients? How could he force it back into the spirit world? His mind was whirring as he carefully drifted past the brain claws and headed back to his body.

There were shrieks from the room that he'd been in and cries of "rat". The large brain claw creature was suddenly barreling towards him. Right at him! Could it sense him? Could it hurt him from the physical world? Or was it just looking for a way out? Thankfully it was slower here but it still scuttled towards him at a pace.

Desperately he cast around for something he could use. Grasping at straws he spotted a fire extinguisher near the door. He [reached] and pulled the extinguisher off the wall and activated it at the horror that was scuttling towards him.

The blast of CO2 literally melted the abomination.

The gas almost seemed to be sucked into its mesh. Whether it was the temperature of it or the makeup of the gas itself it simply melted under the barrage leaving a puddle of viscous ooze. The relief was unbelievable.

The two small brain claws took the opportunity to hurl themselves at his now uncloaked spirit form. Kane dropped the extinguisher with a clang as he managed to open another rift between the worlds and the tendril trailing claws hurtled into the entrance door of the ward instead of grabbing on to him. Their horrible shrieks filled the air as the liquids from their dissolving bodies melted their way through the door, horrific gases billowing off them.

The ward was in absolute chaos, nurses spilling out of rooms, calls for security, shrieks of horror as they discovered some form of acid attack had taken place. The floor was steaming from the acrid liquid that was all that remained of the physical horror, while the doors were similarly suffering as the remains of the small brain claws reacted with the wood of the doors and melted into the surface causing a huge amount of heat to be released. The gases were beginning to make people cough and it was only the quick thinking of a cleaner who picked up the CO2 extinguisher that Kane had dropped that stopped a fire.

Kane quickly returned to his physical form. His 'experiment' had been a disaster.

He had no idea if the nurses had managed to save the patient or not. He'd totally misjudged the strength of the large brain claws and had put people at risk by allowing it into the physical world. And in the midst of all that he'd nearly died because he'd made assumptions about what would work against these monstrosities.

An unmitigated disaster.

He was weary, as much in spirit as he was physically as he sneaked out of the fire escape. It was no great surprise to see armed police arriving as he surreptitiously left the hospital grounds.

= = = = = = =

It was a [taste].

A [hunger].

A [need].

The faint outline that the [self] followed trailed hints of the glories within. The being moved slowly amongst the insignificant motes of light surrounding it, the unsatisfying dots around it, now, of no interest. Not after what the [self] caught glimpses of.

The urge to [feed] was almost overwhelming. But the risk! The being was a maelstrom of power. But seemingly with no understanding of its capabilities.

The [self] followed, desperate to [feed] and yet terrified of being ripped asunder and cast from the void.

After a period of [hunger] the being moved inside one of the structures and the [self] followed it, like a starving animal smelling the most delectable food ever made. Just that [scent] was enough to sustain it for a little longer.

The being rose rapidly higher, and [self] was able to move more freely the higher into the air that they travelled, its tendrils trailing, scenting for the wonders hidden by the being.

And then the being vanished as if it had never existed. The [self] howled its frustration and hunger, drifting around the structure, hunting for that [scent]. Answering howls jolted the [self] as a [swarm] looped around the exterior of the structure. They were many now. For a short period they could sustain themselves on the insignificant motes. The [self] was accepted into the [swarm] as they swirled into the structure through openings, sharing the [scent].

The excitement was palpable as was the frustration.

[They] hungered.

= = = = = = =

Kane postponed his other appointment for the day and instead tried to relax and think through what had happened. He was still shaking with reaction and was glad that he hadn't had to speak to anyone on the way to his room.

After a series of breathing exercises he ran a bath and finally began to relax. He eased into the spirit world to check on his cloak and was stunned to see a swarm of brain claws circling within his suite.

Hordes of them!

He went rigid in terror, unable to understand what had happened. Why were they here? How had they found him?

They were circling the clothes that he'd worn and had discarded on a chair by the bed. Their tendrils trailed and flickered, tasting, looking.

Hunting.

He frantically searched through his memories looking for any clue that might help him.

Aldred had built the shield but the power needed to fuel that was extreme. He hadn't had the chance to test his ideas to make it actually workable and it shouted from the rooftops who and what he was. It acted like a lightning rod. He couldn't endanger those around him like that. It had to be a thing of last resort.

And he would have to fuel his shield somehow. And unlike Aldred he didn't have a handy stash of Awakened people waiting to be sucked dry of their power.

He carefully manoeuvred around the spirit world bathroom, trying to find anything else that might help him. Opening rifts was no guarantee of killing them and with so many of them, how could he possibly get all of them with the blast? They were so damn quick and he felt drained after the experience in hospital as it was.

As he frantically searched he noticed one of the brain claws appeared to be...weakening..? Its flight was erratic; its tendrils hanging down.

Suddenly it was savagely attacked by a larger claw which latched on to it and literally drained it to a husk. The shrieking cry of the weaker one was hauntingly weak. The others seemed to ignore this cannibalism, their behaviour not changing for a moment.

What just happened?

Was there a reason that these creatures could be seen in their thousands like clouds high in the sky and yet closer to the ground there were fewer of them?

Was it risky for the claws to venture closer to the earth? Was their time somehow limited? Or their energy?

Could he take their energy? Like the weaker one, drained to a husk?

The thought made him nauseous. And so scared. How could he be certain? He knew what happened with a human having done it to his alter ego but...that was one person. Aldred had done it to plenty of people. He replayed the process in his mind, understanding what needed to be done, trying to refine it, desperately thinking of any alternative.

He waited for what seemed like hours. And then he realised that his body was shivering. The bath water! He would give himself hypothermia at this rate. He had to look after himself but he was terrified of moving and potentially exposing himself to the brain claws.

He couldn't wait any longer. With a last check of his cloak he pushed himself back into his shivering body and quickly got out of the cold water. He was shaking almost uncontrollably. He grabbed a towel from the towel rail and wrapped himself in it, grateful for the warmth from the heated rail that suddenly enveloped him.

Once he physically came under control he slipped back into the spirit world as smoothly as he could...and nearly cried out in panic. He was surrounded by the swarm. They could obviously sense something. Maybe with more of them there..? Or maybe he somehow still had traces of something from the afternoon's encounter..?

Knowing that he had to act he gathered himself, threw off the cloak and lashed out with his spirit arms and with his mind.

Bolts of brilliant yellow light illuminated the spirit world. The swarm were stopped dead in their tracks, skewered as if by the spikes of a golden sea urchin, pinning the shrieking creatures with savage skewers of light.

And he [pulled].

Power throbbed into his body in a thundering rush. Husks of brain claws fell lifeless to the floor, turning to dust. He saw a larger claw trying to flee and another ray of thirsting light stabbed into it.