Ghost-Ish- Lazarus Page 3

  I didn't have time to try to make out whatever it was in the dark, the black feathers covering it making it just a shadow in the darkness.

  I dove to my feet and charged as I hissed back at it, “I'm ready for you this time. Let's dance, asshole!” I swung upward then over and spun to strike at it backhanded with my bat. Those needle-sharp claws deflected each blow. Then we moved out of the shadows into a sliver of light from a streetlight on the road beyond, and I faltered.

  It was... it was terrifying, but at the same time, it was quite possibly the most beautiful creature I have ever seen that I was facing off with. Part of me still wanted it to be a hoax, some jerk in a costume trying to scare people, but the feminine avian vision that stood before me was no hoax.

  Her birdlike head cocked in an inhuman manner like she didn't understand my sudden hesitance. She had a hooked beak like a hawk or eagle, and those glossy black feathers seemed to drape over her back like a cape of obsidian silk. The shapely curves of the petite creature left little to the imagination with the little feathers covering her skin, following every contour.

  It was like the picture from Seattle... only... smaller?

  The talons instead of feet snapped me back to my current peril, the claws of them were leaving furrows in the pavement below them. I shook my head as it circled me, looking for an opening as I said, “It's going to be a shame to mess up something so pretty.”

  She took a half step back and cocked her head the other way in a very birdlike manner. I thought I could see a little confusion in her features though they were hidden by silky feathers.

  I swung my bat, and she caught it in a... human hand? I blinked. In place of the raven or crow creature, was a short young woman dressed in bike leathers head to toe, and her black hair glistened like her feathers had. Good god, she was gorgeous.

  She let go of the bat when I went to kick her in the stomach. Then I was moving back under the flurry of punches and kicks as she pressed the attack with some sort of mixed martial arts as she spoke more about me than to me, “You're not like Abigail's other toys. You seem more free thinking. But you don't feel right. Just what the fuck are you?” It was a raspy voice, like that of a smoker, and lower than a tiny thing like her would be expected to have.

  I ducked under a sweeping kick and came up under it, panicking a little as I realized I was severely outmatched. But outmatched doesn't mean much when you grew up where fighting dirty was how you survived. I thrust the end of my bat forward and into her gut, but she was already dodging back so only took part of the force.

  She took a single step toward the wall and then almost impossibly, a step up the wall as she spun in the air over me with savage glee on her face as she landed on my other side and struck out with a kick. I anticipated that when she had executed the incredible display of acrobatics and caught my bat under her leg, and I grabbed her leg and lifted as I stepped toward her.

  I said as she hopped backward, “Don't bring that flashy martial arts shit here, we don't accept it here in the Bronx. Now tell me why you're hunting me before I have to mess up that pretty little face of...”

  I oofed and was flying back to hit the alley wall, pain flaring from both the odd spinning and leaping kick that extracted her trapped foot, and the impact with that unyielding brick wall. She looked almost embarrassed as she dove at me. Was she blushing?

  Her hand turned into a feathered claw as she landed on top of me. Straddling me she said, “You're fuckin' fun. I'm sorry I gotta do this.”

  Then she slashed her hand at my chest, with a grasping motion. I grabbed her... hand? With both of mine and I barely slowed her. Just how strong was this small woman? One claw was just touching my jacket when I screamed out in frustration and twisted to the side, taking her with me.

  Then I was on top of her, and I grabbed both of her arms as I snapped, “I don't let girls try to kill me on the first date.” My eyes widened as she started moving both arms toward me, I was barely slowing her down.

  She whispered, “Sorry.”

  Then I glurked, realizing too late she had been distracting me with her hands as a taloned foot buried claws in my belly and she yanked back. And we were someplace else. I scrambled back from her in the nothingness that surrounded us. There were no walls no floor or ceiling, just a white nothingness.

  She took on a form that was half that bird creature, half human as she stood and staggered back from me a couple steps as she looked around. “What...? This isn't right? Where is your final path? Why didn't I live your memories for judgment?”

  I stood slowly and looked around, it was frightening how much nothing, how much silence there was. It was so quiet I could actually hear her heartbeat under the sounds of her breathing. Ok, we weren't dead, so where were we?

  I looked down at my gut as I remembered her claw, but there was no damage, she hadn't taken more of myself from me. I remembered to breathe to look more alive and asked dumbly, “What is this? Where are we?”

  Her eyes snapped to mine like she had forgotten I was here. She asked, not cruelly, “What... are you? I can't read your soul, but I brought it here. Your heart doesn't beat. You're not one of Abigail's Zombies... I can't smell decaying flesh. Is this some new voodoo of hers?” Then she looked past me.

  I hesitated to take my eyes from her to look back in that endless nothing, and I gasped. I saw... us, in the alley, she had that claw-like foot... inside... of my belly. Had she somehow taken us out of time? Wait she said she took my soul to this place.

  I almost growled at myself for just sitting there, but my eyes widened when it was as if my will for myself to move cut through whatever maddening time dilation we were in. My body started moving, levering the mini ninja away, until my body was able to get a leg between us and I willed myself to kick her in the chest, knocking her back from me, her claw losing its metaphysical grip.

  And as soon as she fell back, we seemed to snap out of that maddening nothing like a rubber band and both sprawled onto the alley floor.

  Her eyes were wide in shock and disbelief as she asked, “How?” She rolled gracefully to her feet with inhuman agility. “That's... impossible!” She took another one of those fighting stances that told me she had to have had years of intense training in some sort of martial arts discipline. She whispered again with a smile on her lips, “What the fuck are you?”

  I snagged my bat from the ground as I stood and hauled back on the bat. Her eyes glittered in glee as we both tensed to rush each other. But instead, with a clang, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she slumped to the ground, revealing Matt in his wheelchair behind her, panting hard, with a tire iron in his hand.

  He had followed me here?

  I blinked at him, not knowing what to say.

  He saw my disbelief, and he smirked. “I got your back, Cam.” Then he frowned as he looked between the slight woman and me and growled out, “Now can someone explain to me just what the hell just happened here. She isn't... human. And you Cam, you're not even breathing hard. I about busted a gut trying to keep up with you. Are you... are you like her?”

  I was at a loss as to what to say. He was staring at my chest. I looked down to see my hoodie had become unzipped in the fight and my shirt was torn. Shit! I could see through the hole in my chest. I quickly zipped my hoodie back up not meeting his eyes.

  I shook my head. “No, I'm not like her. I mean... I... I don't change into some sort of bird. I'm just me... I was me... I...”

  He held up a hand, shaking his head to stop me, understanding and the shadow of a pain he relived every day dancing in his haunted eyes. “No, you don't have to say anything. I know who you are. You champion all of us back under the tracks. That's enough. We all have our secrets.”

  Secrets. He was right. Me, Ferret, and even him. He was just going to leave it at that? He saw... he knew that... I wasn't really human anymore, but he didn't care?

  Before I could say anything, not that I could think of anything to say
anyway, he pointed his tire iron down at the short biker chick who could turn into a bird and pull people out of reality. “What do we do with her?”

  I almost blurted out a manic giggle at the absurdity of that. What could we do? If we released her, she would just hunt me down again. We couldn't go to the police, or they would find out about me. The way Matt was slapping the tire iron in his palm told me he'd 'make the problem go away' if I said the word. We weren't killers. And I wouldn't even entertain such a... final... solution. Well, Matt probably was, but in the name of peace, fighting for our country. There was a difference.

  I shrugged and said the only thing I could, “Maybe we can talk to her, find out why I'm in her crosshairs and who sent her? Diplomacy never hurts... much... very often. Well shit, what do you think?”

  He shrugged. “We could get her back to our shelters and question her when she wakes. I hit her pretty hard since the things she was doing required abnormal strength. And those claws...”

  What? Kidnap her? I looked around, we didn't really have much choice, or she'd just hunt me down again. I looked down at her. God, she was beautiful and looked more innocent and peaceful now instead of scary and badass. I nodded, and he said, “Help me load her onto my chair.”

  I helped lift her onto his lap, and some keys fell out of her leather jacket pocket. I pondered that a moment as I squatted to pick up the keys. When she was all bird-ed up. Where did her clothes go? I mean, I saw her arms turn into those pseudo-wings and became covered in fathers. By the laws of conservation of matter... wait, did whatever she could do, somehow borrow the mass of the matter around her to make those feathers and wings while she was in that form?

  I glanced at the keys and hesitated when I stood. A Harley key? I grinned at the key then the motorcycle twenty feet away. Ohhhh yeahhhhh. I smirked and said, “Just a second.” Then went over and mounted the bike, slid the key into the ignition and the metal beast roared to life. I smirked at the limp woman in Matt's lap as he covered her with his blanket. “Too bad she was out to kill me. The cutie had good taste.”

  I prompted, “You got her?” He nodded, and I said, “Ok, I'll meet you back home.” Home? I guess it was home, wasn't it? He winked and mock saluted. Good god, his arms were huge. I'd have to guess that before he lost his legs, the man had to have been like six foot four or something.

  I idled the bike past him. It was just like the ones dad's buddies used to boost and let me ride when I was a young teen. Once I pulled out onto the street, I looked back to see Matt wheeling toward the road, and I opened up the metal lioness between my legs. The engine roared her battle cry, and the back tire squealed, burning rubber as I held the front brake. Then I released it and found myself rocketing down the street, the front tire leaving the ground for a moment until the bike caught up with the torque.

  I don't know why by my eyes started to tear up. I felt... free. Like I was flying.

  Maybe that was it. For just a moment, I didn't feel static anymore. I felt alive.

  Chapter 3 – Rin

  I shut off the motor and silently coasted the bike into our makeshift community a couple minutes later. Next to my shelter, I parked and quietly moved the kickstand down. I waved at the few people still milling about by the burn barrels and then leaned against the bike, my eyes scanning the night for Matt.

  I had to smile. He may have lost his legs, but the man hadn't lost any courage. He had come to help me. I have an odd family surrounding me now, but they were just that... my family. People started murmuring when Matt appeared out of the darkness, wheeling through the shadows.

  I winced when I heard Ferret getting up and quietly slipping out of our shelter. She hesitated a moment when she saw the motorcycle, then wrapped in a blanket she scurried up to me, her eyes questioning. I hugged her to me and gave her a squish and urged, “Go back to bed.”

  It was useless, her eyes were already on Matt as he rolled up to us. Then her eyes widened when he saw the girl bundled under the blanket on his lap. The few people milling about the fires started gravitating toward us.

  Matt told her quickly, “This is the one who's been hunting for Cam today. She attacked her.”

  The others heard this and the young girl's eyes first widened more, before the shock of an unconscious girl being there was replaced with narrowed eyes. This interloper had come into our neighborhood, hunting one of her friends.

  I didn't want her involved in this unpleasantness. I still didn't know what we were going to do. I hugged her again, trying to lead her back to our shelter. “Come on, hon, just get back to sleep, we just have some questions for her.”

  She resisted, but Lashon sort of materialized from the shadows, placing her withered black hands on the young one's shoulders and said to me, “I'll take care of her while you...” She left it open, and my pseudo-sister glared at me for the smile on my face.

  Yeah, I own that... I was smug because she knows that I know she can't disappoint the old matriarch of our group. The woman has lived on the streets of New York coming on a half-century now. And her health was failing, which worried Ferret immensely. It told me she had lived through someone's health failing and possibly worse at some time in her short life.

  Lashon's shelter was a hybrid of my construction and a simple lean-to that rested against one of the steel supports of the elevated tracks. We've been slowly trying to upgrade everyone's shelters as materials become available. And most of the new materials are scrounged up by Ferret.

  The girl gave me a pouty glare as she allowed the silver-haired seventy something lead her away from the impending unpleasantness.

  I gave her a pouty frown back, and she smirked. Good. Why did I feel like the bad guy? The unconscious girl moaned as if in answer. Oh yeah, there's that. Was I the bad guy? No... she came hunting me, and attacked me, and tried to kill me... or something.

  If my conscience was clear, then why did I feel like the bad guy?

  We looked around all the inquiring faces, and I sighed. “I'll take her inside, Matt. Thanks for having my back.”

  He nodded and said, “I'll sit out here.” He made some hand signals in a couple directions, and our other two displaced military people moved swiftly to our camp perimeter. At least I think Lewis was military. He's never said a word to me, and he woke up screaming most mornings, but he moved swiftly just then and bled into the shadows.

  I still didn't know what we were going to do with the girl. It wasn't like I had the fuzzy morals to disappear her. The idea of hurting her made my stomach churn.

  I uncovered her and looked at her sleeping face. Why do the goddamn cute ones always have to be psycho? I wondered if the petite ninja knew how pretty she was, or if it was just another weapon she used against people.

  I grunted as I pulled her off of Matt's lap then dragged her inside, she moaned again. It was crowded with one of us laying on my pile of blankets. I entertained the thought of tying her hands, but if my theory about the borrowed mass and matter was correct, I couldn't hope to restrain her.

  I turned her head, and the corner of my lips twitched at how soft her skin was for someone who could hit like a sledgehammer. I winced at the large knot at the base of her skull, then squinted, it looked as if it were receding as I watched. I switched on an LED light to see the swelling going down as I watched.

  There was a little blood, but I didn't see the cut it came from, so I took a rag and poured a little water from a bottle onto it and wiped down her neck. All there was was the discolored shrinking knot and smooth, pale skin under the blood. Was she... healing as I watched?

  I finished cleaning her neck and then froze when I realized her chest had stopped rising and falling. I looked over to see her awake, her eyes watching me carefully in confusion. Her smoky voice cut right through me as she asked slowly, “Why are you helping me? Is this the fuckin' twilight zone?”

  I smirked at her, relieved that she wasn't going to go batshit crazy and try to end me again... at least not yet.
“Well since I'm sort of responsible for knocking you out, it was the least I could do to clean your wound before I beat the shit out of you again for attacking me.”

  She smirked this time, her eyes twinkling in good humor as she looked around. “Again? As I remember, I was kicking your ass.” Then she froze, and her eyes narrowed. “You're no zombie, nor are you a ghost. So why are you sooo... wrong?”

  I narrowed my eyes at that, and she held up a hand. “Not that there is anything wrong with wrong, mind you.”

  Ok, she was funny. I muttered, “And you're normal? Is that the bar we're shooting for here? I have questions. First is, why the hell were you hunting me? Attacking me?”

  She sputtered, “Hunting? Attacking...?” She hesitated then narrowed her eyes. “Oh... those things.”

  I growled, “Yes, those things.”

  She looked at her arms. “I'd expect to be restrained.”

  I exhaled. “Like that would do any good when you shifted to whatever birdbrain thing you shift into and borrow mass from the restraints?”

  She cocked her head in a very birdlike manner, then mumbled, “Whosie whatsit? Borrow mass from... oh. Is that what happens? I always wondered where my clothes went. Are you some sort of braniac zombie?”

  I winced, and she noted it. I wondered if I were some sort of undead creature now... but I didn't have a hankering for brainz.

  Her head cocked the other way in that avian manner she had, confusion creasing her brow, her full lips turning down in a frown. Then she brightened like she was trying to turn my mood back around. “Nah, as soon as I, what did you call it? Shifted? The restraints would be back, just like my clothes.” Then she screwed up her face and added, “Though if my hands were in a different position, then I guess.”

  She held up a finger. “I'd like to change my answer. Yeah, I'd borrow that mass and escape. And I see how ditzy this sounds now, so ixnay with the birdbrain comments.”