Jacobin Castan

Detective Jacobin Castan was on the floor, his body hurt all over, his nose assaulted by the foulest smell he had ever experienced. Using one of his crutches, he struggled to unravel the tentacle wrapped around his left leg. He whacked the disgusting appendage using every ounce of strength he could squeeze, struggling to stay conscious.

But it was futile.

The other of the pair of crutches he had was lost to the tentacles, already broken into pieces. And his already injured leg was going to be next—his body as well—if he couldn’t escape soon.

“Let go of Jacob!” Linette yelled. She quickly emptied her gun into the main body that sprouted the mass of tentacles. Her gun clicked empty. She didn’t have any more bullets to reload, all used up in killing the other Adumbrae. “Why won’t this frigging thing die!” It lashed towards her, catching her midsection and flinging her against the wall.

“No! Lin—!” he began to exclaim, but the coil on his leg tightened. His cast cracked in several places. “Ahh! Help us!”

“Here they are.” Lt. Tetterton showed up at the end of the corridor, a red firefighter’s axe raised over his head. “There’s another bastard here!” He charged at the tentacle monster writhing on the floor, leaping over Castan, avoiding the grotesque limbs that tried to catch him. Swinging the blade down at its center, a war cry left his lips as if he was on an ancient battlefield.

The tentacle around Castan’s leg loosened. He immediately inserted the end of his crutch into the coil to try and stop it from closing again. Pulling out his leg should be his next move, but the pain was too great. He was nauseous, his breathing shallow.

“Take this! And this!” Lt. Tetterton didn’t let up with his attacks. He swung his axe at the tentacles that reached for him. Black slime gushed from the cuts. A couple more cops showed up, peppering the dying monster with more bullets.

Castan felt hands up his armpits. Linette pulled him up and dragged him away, freeing his leg right before the Adumbrae’s body convulsed in its death throes; the crutch left behind in its grasp was snapped in half.

And then it finally stopped moving.

“Man, that was close,” said Linette. She sat beside him, inhaling deeply. Then she gagged at the terrible odor that filled the corridor.

He wiped away the filthy slime on his face, steadying his shaking hand as best as he could so Linette wouldn’t notice. He wore a brave face and controlled his wavering voice. “Thanks for the save, Linette.”

“Friggin’ hell. I never imagined I’d face this crap when I woke up this morning.” She took out a handkerchief and helped him wipe off the black goo. “It might be dumb to ask, but are you okay?”

“Still living.” That really wasn’t an answer to the question. To change the topic, he said, “Sorry for what happened to the crutches. Those are your brother’s, right? I’ll pay for—”

“Don’t you worry about that; those were just gathering dust in his garage. What’s important is that we’re alive…” Her voice trailed away, her expression showing the unspoken words, ‘for now.’ She slowly shook her head. “Between this tentacle guy, that frog-looking thing, and the huge mouth ball, I thought we were done for.”

Lt. Tetterton barked orders at his men, “What’s in this room? You two, get that large bookshelf and pull it out here. Use it to cover the broken windows. Elmer, check the Admin people. See how they’re doing. Shem, make sure this thing and that thing over there are dead, then all of you work together and store their bodies in this room. Ah, there’s another one by the potted fern. We don’t want the other bastards who might get in eating these corpses.”

“Sir, thank you for saving me,” Castan said, managing to sit up and lean against the wall as the axe-wielding police officer passed. “Me and Linette both; we were toast here on our own.” Linette echoed his words of gratitude.

Lt. Tetterton waved it off. “We got each other’s backs. I say you detectives did a hell of a good job fighting three of these creatures, even killing two.”

“That was all luck, sir,” Linette explained. “The frog-thing somehow got in this floor through the window, and the mouth ball chased after it to eat it. We shot at them while they were busy fighting each other. I don’t think we did as much damage as they did to themselves.”

“It was that tentacle guy who gave us trouble,” Castan said, jabbing his thumb in the direction of what was nearly the cause of his untimely death. Cops were pulling it by its tentacles into a side room.

“That reminds me,” Lt. Tetterton said. “I must also extend my gratitude on behalf of Saffy and the other secretaries. I passed by them hiding under the tables of their cubicles. They told me what you did, and to hurry and help you.”

“We owe them too then,” spoke Linette. “Swell that they’re safe.”

Castan nodded. “I was worried some other Adumbrae managed to get inside.”

“Adumbrae?” Lt. Tetterton said in an amused tone. “These are not Adumbrae.”

“They’re not? What do you—?"

“Hold it!” Professor Deslys, the fair scientist and teacher working for EFU, followed the cops that showed up.

Castan came to know her when everyone in the AIU department of the building gathered to defend themselves as the PCM members broke in followed by monsters, but they weren’t able to talk to each other. From conversations, she was apparently the wife of Dr. Cornelio; he had talked to him a couple of times for help in past investigations, but he didn’t know anything else about him other than that. Professor Deslys, from what he had overheard, seemed to be looking for her husband and had the misfortune of being in this precinct when they were attacked.

“Let me examine it,” she told the men dragging the body. They turned at Lt. Tetterton, who gave them a nod of approval. She took some gadgets out of her coat and searched the monster corpse, not minding the gruesome sight and odor.

“Sir, what do you mean this isn’t an Adumbrae?” Castan asked as he observed Professor Deslys' work while muttering to herself. “This obviously looks like one.”

“An Adumbrae?” Lt. Tetterton tapped his foot on the tiled floor, the hard soles of his boot making a loud noise. “Looks like a monster to me,” he growled, “but a monster doesn’t automatically translate to an Adumbrae.” He picked up a limp tentacle that had a couple of cuts from his axe. “See this? It didn’t regenerate these wounds. I noticed this with the other creatures we fought on the first floor. They grow and mutate, but they don’t regenerate. I have my share fighting Adumbrae before I transferred to this city, and these bastards, the smaller ones like our pals here, are way easier to kill than your average SBM. They also don’t seem to have a brain and the works.”

“I kept shooting its head,” Linette said, “but it was still moving. I thought this was a Spontaneous Breach Manifestation, so I shot where the brain was likeliest to be.”

“I see why you assumed that, detective,” Lt. Tetterton said. “And you had the appropriate response of aiming for its head; SBMs, especially the low-level ones, retain a humanoid nervous system, including its orientation inside the body. These creatures, on the other hand, don’t appear to have a central nervous system.”

“So that’s why it didn’t die. What should we do then?”

“Just inflict sufficient trauma to this…growth,” Professor Deslys said, stretching her hands over the pile of tentacles. “I might be wrong, but I believe this is the ‘brain’—yes, that’s one way of looking at it. This growth is likely a different entity that latches on to a host, this person, for example—whoever he was before this dreadful thing happened to him—and mutated, almost like an Adumbrae, but not quite.”

“They’re providing an artificial conduit to have a pseudo-seeding?” mused Lt. Tetterton, with a frown on his face.

“A possibility. Frightening if true. That’s a feasible explanation to the madness that’s happening.”

The two of them discussed technical terms. Castan and Linette looked at each other; she shrugged at him and rolled her eyes. “Pardon me,” he cut in. “You’re saying this isn’t a seeding outbreak like what happened at that condominium building a few days ago?”

“Given what we’re seeing now, that incident might not be a seeding outbreak either,” said Lt. Tetterton. He kicked the deceased monster beside them. “Our tentacle pal over here, we killed two like it on the first floor and four that were running across the parking area. I heard they also found similar monsters under the ruins of that condo you mentioned. People don’t mutate in a similar way when they succumb to the Adumbrae. It’s like our fingerprints; no two are the same, just like no two people are the same, even identical twins.

“My take on the situation—an educated guess if you will; I did have BID training—is that there’s an Adumbrae out there, one powerful sunnovabitch, turning people into…this. I swear, if some goddamn bastard is trying to make a Cocoon in my city—”

“Interesting theory,” Professor Deslys said. “And the mind-controlled protestors? You reckon those are connected to all of this?”

“Mind control?” Castan blurted out. “That is just crazy talk.”

“They’re trying to avoid prosecution by saying they didn’t know what they were doing,” Linette added.

Before the monsters came, the hordes of protestors, mostly consisting of PCM members, stormed the police station. They used their numbers to break through the barricades, not batting an eye at their dead comrades piled high after the captain ordered the officers under his command to use the necessary force to defend themselves. And when they finally entered the building, the monsters followed them, feasting upon them.

Auron Cohenn, the leader of the Protector’s of the City Movement, was among those who broke into the precinct. With the monsters’ appearance, he had a timely change of heart and led his people to join forces with the police and drive out the monsters. After repelling the first wave, Auron and the survivors of his group surrendered themselves and were now crammed into the detention cells of the main building. Some of them said they didn’t know what was happening and how they ended up here. Others insisted they were mind-controlled. All too obvious excuses to disclaim any criminal responsibility for their acts.

“But what if they’re telling the truth?” Professor Deslys said. “If there’s an Adumbrae creating these monsters, one controlling the minds of people isn’t too far-fetched.” She drifted to scientific talk that only Lt. Tetterton could understand. Castan and Linette simply listened, nodding every now and then to show interest. The professor concluded, “The people under this hypothetical Adumbrae’s control might also be the same that transform into monsters.”

“If that’s the case,” Lt. Tetterton spoke, “I should go—”

A cellphone beeped. Various ringtones going off followed it. All of them checked their phones.

They were all surprised because they couldn’t use their phones before due to some sort of jammer was blocking the signal. Telephone lines were also cut by the protestors, isolating the precinct from outside help. They tried looking for the signal jammer among the protestors, and they found two metal boxes, which they sent off to be investigated by the technicians of the AIU.

“The signal is back?” Castan said. “Linette, look at Mulberry’s message. He’s saying the EFU Hospital is under attack by Adumbrae! We haven’t questioned Julie—”

“I know! I also received his message. And Cheska, my brother’s officemate, is asking me for help because a cousin of hers is confined there. I don’t know what to tell her!”

“It’s the same thing that’s happening to us.” Castan turned to Lt. Tetterton. “Sir, there has to be a connect—Sir?” The lieutenant was focused on his phone. It kept on beeping as it received more and more messages. Professor Deslys was also receiving a slew of messages. Her expression change from confusion, to surprise, to worry. The mass messages warning system of the city did send several advisories, but these seemed to be different.

“Kenneth?” Lt. Tetterton said. “What the hell are these messages from him? These are all saying the same thing.”

Professor Deslys grabbed Lt. Tetterton’s sleeve. “We should go to his office! Tell me where it is.”

“Sir, what’s happening?”

“My husband! He sent me dozens of messages that we’ll find help in his office.”

“He sent the same to me,” Lt. Tetterton said. "This means Kenneth is alive." He tried to push away the hysterical Professor Deslys. It was a surprising transformation from calm and collected, analyzing monster corpses like it was simply routine, to an anxious wreck after a mention of her husband. The lieutenant stammered, “Professor, calm—"

“Sir! Lt. Tetterton, sir!” One of the technicians of the AIU was running towards them.

“Out with it, Johann. What have you found out about those darned metal boxes?”

“Nothing much, sir. They were generating an energy field. We were able to turn it off, but we’re not sure what it does. I have a hunch that it affects the monsters, it might be drawing them to us. I say monsters because I don’t think they’re Adumbrae. We tested some of the bodies—”

“I came to the same conclusion myself. Back up to that other thing you said. Do you mean to say that those crazy PCM clowns had a device that attracts the monsters?”

“Kenneth’s office!” Professor Deslys interjected.

“Sir, it’s just my hunch about the metal boxes. We can’t exactly capture one of the monsters outside and test it. We might end up calling a bunch more of them. That’s why we turned it off.”

“I see. Let me—"

“Let’s go to his office!”

“Everyone shut up! Let me think for a minute. If that metal box has a connection to the monsters and some of the protestors are also related to the same monsters—"

“Sorry, sir, but there’s something more,” Johann meekly said, flinching as he interrupted his superior, already expecting to get yelled at. But Lt. Tetterton let him continue. “While we were testing that box, something exploded in the next room,” he said.

Castan tried to recall the layout of the building that he managed to visit as they were fighting for their lives. That was the room where Ramello and the SVS were. Obviously, they couldn’t stay in the main building where the PCM group was held; that was just looking for trouble. “Did something happen to Ramello?” he urgently asked. “And the SVS members too,” he threw in as an afterthought, although he didn’t care for them. “Are they okay?”

“It was just a small explosion,” was the technician’s reply, allaying his fears. “Some had minor injuries. The source of the explosion is what’s important. One of the SVS members had a signal jammer. Our testing with that metal box might've had affected it somehow.”

“What?” Lt. Tetterton scratched his temple. “They’re working with the PCM? I thought they were enemies. This is getting—”

“We should go to Kenneth's office!”

“Johann, lead Professor Deslys here to wherever she wants to go. I’m going to the holding cells and check if those PCM clowns are up to something funny. Detectives, how about you? I assume you want to go and check your boy, Ramello? Jacobin, you better stay with Saffy down the hallway seeing your sorry state.”

“I can—”

“No,” Linette firmly said. “I’ll go. You stay. You lost your crutches. I’m not going to carry your ass down the stairs, you’ll slow me down. And you’ll be safe here.”

“I-I’ll just guard the windows in case other monsters try to come.” He never felt this helpless.

“Since we already have the signal back, I’ll call you and tell you what’s happening.”

And then they all split up: Castan staying on the corridor on the second floor, peeking outside through a small part of the window not blocked by shelves; Lt. Tetterton and his men rushed to the holding cells; Linette followed Johann and Professor Deslys because Dr. Cornelio’s office was on the way to the labs and the other rooms in the basement.

Linette told Castan over that phone that she left Professor Deslys and Johann, who was forced by the former to help her search the office for anything suspicious, and continued down to the lower level. “Ramello!” he heard Linette call out, having put the phone on loudspeaker. “Ramello, where are you?”

“Here!”

Castan let out a deep sigh of relief. It was faint, but he was sure it was Ramello’s voice. Thank the Mother Core. He wondered if perhaps he should go back to church if he survived this day. He had too many close encounters with death.

“Linette, is that you? I’m here!”

“Oh my god,” Linette gasped. “What happened to your forehead?”

“What happened to Ramello?” Castan shouted on the phone. “Ramello, can you hear me? Are you—Linette let me talk—”

“Calm down there, Jacob,” she shot back.

“Ugh, my head," said Ramello. "One of the SVS was a traitor. That guy with the jammer—Reginus said he’s a new member—he attacked the people working here and went off with a metal box. I’m not…I don’t know what it is. I tried to stop him. He hit me with the box. The cops and other guys here chased him.”

“We didn’t meet anyone,” said Linette. “Isn’t this the only way up or—?”

“You probably just missed them. I stayed behind to protect the SVS.”

Castan pinned his phone between his ear and shoulder. Then he grabbed the window sill and forced himself to stand up, but he fell in a heap, his body too weak. The phone dropped to the floor. He looked at both ends of the hallway. There was no one to help him.

And he couldn’t help himself.

He wanted to find the man who stole the mysterious metal box. If it was indeed some sort of signal to the monsters as the technician had surmised, then they should find it as soon as possible before it was turned on.

“I’m going back up there, Jacob,” blared the phone on the floor. “Wait for me! Don’t do anything stupid, you hear me?”

But Castan wasn’t able to immediately respond. Cries and roars were coming from outside the window. In a kneeling position, supporting himself by hooking his arms around a window bar to keep himself upright, he looked out and saw another wave of monsters gathering.

“Jacob? What’s going on there? I’m on my way.”

“They’re coming!” He shouted as loud as he could so that not only Linette but also others nearby would hear. “The monsters are coming again!”

The police officers on the first floor opened fire. Castan couldn’t hear his own voice. He couldn’t hear Linette’s voice on the phone. The battle raged on, the gunfire and explosions, the roars of the monsters, it swallowed the sound of everything else.

Several of the monsters fell dead before they could reach the building, but still more came. From the corner of his vision a huge tree monster appeared pushing a pick-up truck. It came right up to the building. He couldn’t see what it was doing below. Then he heard helicopter engines.

“BID!” he exclaimed, relief was in his voice, although he was sure Linette couldn’t hear him. “The BID is here!” He heard a helicopter land on the roof, while the other one joined the fight. The BID agents were shooting the monsters below.

“Jacob!” Linette finally returned. "Jacob, are you okay?!"

Behind her were Ramello, Johann, and Professor Deslys. Castan frowned, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. What was the professor carry—?

CRASH!

Something huge smashed through the broken windows, destroying the bookshelf covering it. Castan crawled away, gritting his teeth as pain shot up his body. A shower of splinters. Growls and snarls behind him. He didn’t dare look back. Crawl! Crawl away!

“Jacob!” Linette tried to fire her gun, but it was out of bullets. She cursed and threw it. Without any hesitation, she sprinted to him. “Get away from it!”

He didn’t know what ‘it’ was. And he didn’t want to know. There was a roar. A large shadow gliding on the floor caught up to him. It was right above! Descending upon him...

Time crawled to a snail's pace. He closed his eyes tight. It was finally his end—

Fwoom!

He was covered by copious amounts of viscous liquid. His nose told him it was the black slime from the monsters. Two heavy thuds on either side of him. He gingerly opened his eyes. There were two large lumps of flesh on his left and right side, the halves of the monster that was about to kill him. "Holy Mother Core," he whispered.

“What the hell was that? Jacob!”

He looked up. Professor Deslys had overtaken Linette, running past him and the monster corpse. He twisted his body to see where she went, catching a glimpse of the professor as she jumped out of the building through the hole on the wall, carrying a massive object that had a long pole and a wide circular head.

Was that an axe?