EHB Issue #31 (part 3)

Part One Begins Here;

The rain was coming down in fistfuls by the time they pulled into the front parking lot of the Family Tree In-Home Health Care Companions, a retirement home in an expansive colonial house, three stories, with heavy brown wood siding and green trim. The place had a thick yard, un-mowed for some time, and the shrubs running along under the window sills and hanging flower boxes stood untrimmed. The glow of lights shone through the front door panes from the lobby. The rain was streaming so rapidly the age-old gutters could be seen spilling over everywhere. The manor house streamed waterfalls from the multitude of overhangs and window bays.

After telling the Uber driver not to go far, "We may not be long." said Mettle, handing over a three twenties to the driver, they bolted out of the car and under the short roof over the entry doors. They could see lights on in the lobby. The door was unlocked and they both walked in. Worn wood flooring creaked under  the woven rug in the middle of the room.  Mettle discreetly rung out her cap.

Nobody was in the lobby but swinging doors on the other side of the room blocked any further look into the home. A door stood closed in each wall to the left and right of them. The walls were mostly covered by a grey and blue wallpaper with antique-like scrolling , a bit yellow in places, and white chunky plaster moldings crowned the tops. A reception desk sat in the northeast corner of the room. A set of stairs going up to the second floor.  Began right behind the desk.

Giving Alex a raised eyebrow, Mettle crossed the room and looked over the reception desk. There was spiral-bound notebook on top of a pile of miscellaneous papers and delivered mail. Alex kept his hands in his pockets but moved closer to the swinging doors. 

"Its a feeding schedule for 30-40 residents." Mettle murmured.

"What are they serving?"

"I don't know. Its just numbers. Like Abraham Mercer is getting a number six today. Mabel Gerard will be having number one..." 

The sound of something being moved, or slammed stopped Mettle short. Both looked towards the swinging doors. The sound came from that direction, muffled, as if it had come from down a hall or other room out back. Mettle set the notebook back down and followed Alex as he pushed open the doors and went into the hall beyond. Well lit, a wider hall crossed perpendicular in front of him. An exit sign pointing in their direction was fastened above a fire extinguisher. The halls smelled of floor cleaner, but no further sound could be heard. At the intersection Alex called out.

"Hello, anyone there? Hello?" 

Nothing, except the murmur of the furnace and the falling rain could be heard. It rang against the leaded glass which looked out to a central patio where all the inner rooms seemed to face into. 

Alex flipped a coin and turned right. A greater common room was to his right. Where the hall turned north again doors to the kitchen and dinning room code be seen.  Striding through the hall Alex stopped at the first door and opened it. A darkened room, shades drawn. The glow of a heart monitor could be seen and the bed was occupied by an elderly gentleman, bald, breathing and asleep. Mettle turned on the light. The sleeping man did not stir. They proceeded down the hall, opening each door they passed. More residents, elderly, in bed sleeping, hooked up to a heart monitor. Alex, at one point, opened up an old lady's eyelid and clicked on his cigarette lighter. He waved it back and forth. Nothing.

"I don't know what is wrong with these people," he said. 

"I don't think we should touch them," said Mettle. "Forcibly trying to wake them up, I don't know? Could cause them harm."

"You agree this isn't normal, right?" Alex inquired. 

"Hell no! There is definitely EE activity behind this and it is not for the good. You can bet on that." Mettle answered. 

The end of the hall turned again into a perpendicular hallway extending to their left. You could see the end of the matching parallel hall that way. More doors to the rooms of residents lined each side. To their right the hall stopped short at a fire door, presumably leading outside. In the north wall, ten feet before the fire door was an open door. Light spilled into the hall and the sounds of a radio could be heard. 

Alex called hello again and walked up to the door. It was an office and it was unoccupied. the radio playing was perched on top of a file cabinet. A computer on the desk was still on, and a cold cup of tea sat untouched. 

"To hell with it, I'm going to try and wake one of these elderly folks up. I need more information." Alex announced while the two poked around the office. 

"I don't advise it, but I won't stop you. I'm going to go through some of the files and rifle the desk."

Alex stepped out and went down the hall three doors and opened the fourth. This one had a large, heavy set man with a good start on a beard. Under the sheets he was naked. The heart monitor indicated he was alive, but the breath was shallow, you had to lean close to hear it. He examined the mans arms. Injections had been given to his right arm on a regular basis and he had a tattoo just above the elbow and needle marks. Alex stood up, walked over to the door he had left open and swung it closed. On the back was a similar mark as the tattoo carved into the back of the door with a knife. Alex snapped a picture with his phone. He turned the doorknob to leave, but just then the old man sat up.

"Hello, you all right? Do you know where you are?" Alex asked, one hand still on the doorknob. The old man didn't reply but swung his legs off the bed and stood up on shaky, spindly legs. His crotch was obscured by the his prodigious gut. Drool flowed out of his mouth and he lunged for Alex. Alex quickly stepped out of the room and closed the door on the man. The old man started tugging on the doorknob. 

The other doors in the hall began to open. Out stepped additional elderly, naked and vacant eyed, all turning in Alex's direction and walking towards him.

He backed up to the office where Mettle was taking some notes and stuffing some papers into her pockets. "We got a problem, the old folks have woken up and they are coming at me here."

"What?" Mettle stepped into the hall with Alex. "Getting weirder."

"Welcome to my world," he replied. "I can't restrain them all without hurting some of them."

"I got this." Mettle replied. She lifted up her arms and with the force of her magnetic control ripped the exposed pipes for the fire sprinklers from the ceiling and pulled them down to create a make-shift barricade. The crowd of elderly crushed up against the pipes, oblivious to the water which now sprayed all over the hall from the ends of the ripped pipes.

"We should leave," Mettle said.

"Not yet," Alex replied, "I found some marks on them, and the doors. Not sure for who or what but it is an Infernal mark. Possession and corruption. Now I know what I'm looking for I've located the source. Its below us. In the basement, I reckon." 

"We leave by the fire door. We can then double back to the front door. Behind the reception desk there is a door under the stairs. Got to be stairs to the basement."

Mettle pulled more pipes down and reinforce the barricade. There were easily twenty or more souls by now clawing at the pipes in attempt to move them. Still, they made no noise. The fire door was locked.

"That's not to code." Mettle mentioned as she forced it open with a flick of her hand. Her magnetic power making the thrumming sound it always does when she used it. They found the front door had now been locked, "Someone was here, we just missed them." They both agreed.

The front door was easily forced with more magnetic manipulation and they crossed the lobby again, accessed the cellar door and descended. It was a damp concrete basement with the cement walls painted white. Partitions had been built to create storage spaces, but one padlocked door opened into a larger, unfinished space. It looked like the oldest part of the cellar. Granite rocks, joints smeared with old, crumbling concrete made up the foundation walls and the floor was dirt. In the middle of the floor was a small obelisk, Three feet tall. It once was plastered, a small ring remained near the bottom. There were marks on the plaster. These marks were matched with more being carved into the rough sandstone where the plaster had worn away a long time ago. 

"This thing is radiating infernal energy. For those who know the right incantations they can unleash its corrupting energy and create dangerous effects." Alex explained. “You’ll find the marks I was mentioning on the back of the door.”

Mettle examined the back of the door. “Yup, you got some strange symbols carved all over it. Can you stop it, stop this?”

“Yes, but we are probably going to have a lot of confused old people when I am done.”

“We’ll deal with it. I found some info from the office. Whoever is behind this has bought a lot of ammunition. The hell I’m going to let anyone turn Capitol City into a warzone again.”

“Okay. This might freak you out.” Alex began rolling up the sleeves on his rain jacket and he loosened his tie.