Bard Constantine
The Aberration
How strange to have failed as a social creature — even criminals do not fail that way — they are the law's ''Loyal Opposition,'' so to speak. But the insane are always mere guests on earth, eternal strangers carrying around broken decalogues that they cannot read.
Discordia
The first word that came to mind was chaos.
Fire trucks, police cars and ambulances swamped the entire vicinity. Dark, angry smoke billowed, artificial clouds that blackened what was supposed to be a glorious sunrise. Emergency crews scurried back and forth, faces streaked with soot and sweat.
Searching for survivors.
The entire mill was devastated, torn apart as though by precise military bombardment. Fire hoses soaked the remains, trying to contain the roaring flames that sprang from the building’s gaping wounds.
Police captain James Forrester stepped onto the grounds, immediately soiling his shoes in the sucking mud. His eyes took in the scene without blinking.
“Jesus Christ…”
One of the officers approached. His face still bore the bleary-eyed look of trying to catch up to being roused from dreams to harsh reality. The captain looked down at him, then back to the disaster site.
“Officer Graham.”
“Captain.”
“What in God’s name happened?”
“Hard to tell, sir. For the moment they’re saying it was a mill explosion.”
Forrester frowned. “I’ve seen a damaged mill before. This… looks like a war zone.” He rubbed between his eyes. “Any witnesses? Hell, any survivors?”
“None so far. The plant supervisor was working late last night. He never made it home. The explosion took place right before third shift was set to arrive at 11 o’clock. All second shift employees are unaccounted for.”
Forrester suppressed a groan. “How many were on that shift?”
“Six employees, counting the supervisor.”
“Only six? In a mill this big?”
“Well, the mill is mostly self-regulated. The majority of employees are on first shift. Second and third shifts load trucks, keep an eye on things, and change wheat blends when necessary. Computer stuff.”
“I heard units were called to this location earlier yesterday.”
“That’s right. They had a jumper. Suicide.”
“Suicide. And now this.” Forrester frowned. “I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking maybe the jumper might not have jumped after all.”
“You think he might have discovered someone setting up this explosion and got killed for it?”
“Yeah, but what I think doesn’t amount to nothing if we can’t find any evidence.” He took in the disaster area. “And that won’t be easy in all of this.”
He noticed a small crowd of people gathered anxiously behind a police curtail.
“Family?”
Graham nodded. “Yeah. Families and friends of five of the six missing employees. They haven’t been too much trouble. Just want some answers. Want to know what happened.”
Forrester sighed. “Yeah. Don’t we all.”
They turned as a trio of black SUVs pulled up and parked alongside the police units.
Graham looked up at Forrester. “What are the Feds doing here?”
Forrester’s jaw clenched as he eyed the agents who exited from the vehicles. “Standard procedure for an explosion of this magnitude. Always possible that terrorists might be involved.”
A pair of agents noticed Forrester and strode toward them. He took another look around at the damage. “Hell, they can have it. I don’t like this. Not one bit.”
“Say what, Captain?”
Captain Forrester’s gesture took in the whole disaster area. “Something like this. It’s rotten, mark my words. A case like this never ends. No answers. Just more questions…”
He stared beyond the wreckage at the surrounding thicket. A raven fluttered from the branches, cawing loudly. The woods were tangled, smothered in smoke and distorted shadows…
Somnambulism
Everything was indistinct. Even the light was discolored; pale and grainy. Guy staggered through the twisted thicket, looking around frantically. Hot blood streamed down his face from… something. He couldn’t remember. All he knew was that he had to keep going. Keep moving…
His clothing consisted of patched together furs and scraggly leather, torn and spattered in black ichor. The onyx blood coated the intricately carved bladed spear he carried as well. He stumbled through thick mud, boots squelching with every step. His nostrils flared, plugged with the rank odor of mildew and decay so strong that his eyes watered.
The shadows around him had eyes, pale lights that trailed him, encircled him. Garbled voices whispered, promised threats of blood and torment while bony, gnarled hands grasped from the darkness. Jagged claws sprang from their fingertips; yearning, longing for just a scratch, just a taste of his blood…
He struck viciously with the spear. The twisted limbs recoiled from the blade, vanishing in the heavy gloom. The voices grew quiet, quelled as though in anticipation.
Mist ghosted from Guy’s lips even as sweat and blood dripped from his brow. He limped forward until he reached a clearing. The thicket opened to a view of a silhouetted mountain, darker than black and looking out of place somehow. It was as if it had been hurled there from somewhere else, somewhere where mountains spoke with the voices of angry gods. The sky was lost to thick roiling clouds that circled the peak at impossible speeds. Lightning flickered unceasingly, scarring the air in electric flashes while thunder struck like heavy blows to the chest.
Guy could only stare with his mouth agape. A voice whispered in his ear, carried on the howling winds that whirled around him.
“The Aberration is here.”
The Aberration is here…
Guy Mann opened his eyes.
Every blind was closed but the sun invaded through the cracks anyway, casting pale light into the barely furnished room. Guy blinked uncertainly. The dream was always insubstantial, a sidewalk chalk drawing washed away by awakening. Yet hazy as it was, it always felt more real than the world on the other side of his eyelids.
He gazed at the newspaper and magazine clippings that wallpapered his room. There was a pattern there, something he needed to see. They featured massive sinkholes, strange lights in the sky, abandoned villages and towns among other bizarre events. Mysterious beast sightings, unexplained abductions, inexplicable weather…
He rose and walked down the hallway, stepping over haphazardly stacked boxes overflowing with binders and tattered papers. Books and magazines were scattered across the counters and tables, all featuring articles on mythology, religion, and paranormal phenomenon. Collections of ancient medallions and religious artifacts were collected and carefully labeled in various cabinets.
He entered the bathroom. For a long time he stared at his face in the mirror. A normal face. The face of an everyman. Somewhere behind the bruise-colored shadows beneath his eyes and the empty mask on his face, a normal man once existed. A normal man.
A man he couldn’t remember…
The clock ticked.
Bare-chested and in sweatpants, he engaged in his routine workout. Push-ups, crunches, chin-ups, mixed martial arts. Repetition was his ally to disregard the muted shadow of isolation. He sculpted his body like Michelangelo might a statuette, losing himself in the fire of muscle stress and tendon strain.
The clock ticked.
He tended to his sanctuary with fanatical dedication: vacuuming, dusting, restacking his endless paperwork and organizing his books and magazines.