Chapter 15

15: Azaroth, the Collective scientist was suddenly struck with a horrifying thought.  He went to Temeron, the elder and voiced his concern.  "Temeron, back on Sypraxia we had our friend, Wondimyn put into suspended animation on board the Riven.  Who knows if the electronics of her sleep chamber survived the crash into the lake?"
  Zemostra came and put his hand on Azaroth's shoulder.  "I designed the suspended animation chamber to withstand almost any calamity.  It is right up against the Core Zone, which is the heart of the ship.  Remember, the computer is an artificial intelligence.  It will use every ounce of energy on board to keep life support going for our dear, sweet friend."
  Temeron turned to Azaroth.  "We can't keep this from Mina any longer.  We must tell her."
  Azaroth nodded his head thoughtfully.  "I'll send someone to find Damion.  He may be able to help rescue Wondimyn.  We don't know how much time we have so we must treat this with the utmost of urgency."
  Together the three of them went to find Mina.  She was in the gift store thumbing through a magazine.  Temeron approached her and asked if she would come sit with them in one of the conference rooms.  She agreed and they went.  Once they were all seated, she looked a bit unnerved.  Temeron faced her.  "We have something to tell you. It won't be easy for you to hear, but you must know."
  Now Mina was much more anxious.  She looked at each of the three Collective in turn.  "I can't imagine what it is that you might have to say to me, but I get the feeling I won't like it."
  Temeron had a look of calm resolve.  "We know where your mother is."
  Mina looked around as if she had lost something.  "Uh, my mother lives in Tucson.  Is she in any danger?"
  "The people who raised you were not your biological parents."
  "Well, yeah, I know.  They were my foster parents."
  "We know who your real mother is."
  Mina became absolutely still.  She didn't quite know how to process this information.  "Why would you know who my real mother is?"
  "She is a dear friend of ours who has lived with us on Sypraxia for all of your life."
  Mina had still not moved a single muscle.  Her eyes darted to the right.  "My mother is an alien?"
  "No, your mother is very much human.  Would you like to hear her story?"
  "Sure.  I don't think anything you say at this point would come as a surprise to me."
  Zemostra brought Repotox, the story teller, into the conference room.  He sat in a chair directly across from Mina.  "Your mother is a very special woman.  Our name for her is Wondimyn, which means one who spreads love.  We Collective have been coming to Earth for millenia.  In our many travels, we've tried to keep discovery of our existence from happening.
  "One fateful night, we landed in a forest clearing that we thought was devoid of people.  We were wrong.  There was a young lady there who had been praying.  She seemed in no way to be afraid of us.  She told us her name was Kaziah Soulever."
  Mina interrupted.  "So that's my real last name?  Soulever?  It's beautiful."
  Repotox smiled and continued.  "We told her where we were from and what we were doing here.  We were students of the human race.  We wanted to know all about humans.  She wanted to know all about us.  She promised to tell us everything she knew about humanity if we would take her to our home planet.  After much discussion among ourselves, we agreed and she boarded our craft.  We brought her to Sypraxia."
  Tears came to Mina's eyes.  "That is so amazing!"
  The story went into more detail.  "She taught us about your culture, history and God.  When she had told us everything she could about humanity, it was our turn to teach her about the Collective.  You see, we don't always communicate orally.  When we are together as a lake, we share our thoughts directly from mind to mind.  We invited Kaziah to swim in the lake.  She waded in and floated on her back.  All of our collected thoughts, joys, fears, loves, hopes, sorrows and stories flowed through her spirit like a river.
  "As the weeks passed, it was discovered that she had somehow become impregnated by her swim in our lake.  It was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to us.  She would give birth to offspring that were part human and part Collective.  About nine months later, you were born."
  "You mean.  You're saying.  You mean I'm half Collective?"  Mina looked stunned.
  "That is why you have the green aura of the Collective.  As you know, the Nocent have a red aura.  You are the only one of your kind in existence.  That is why you are a sensor.  It is also why Rend wanted you.  I'm glad we have been able to keep you safe.  Our name for you is Valodyn, which means one who brings together."
  "I can't believe I thought you had bad news for me."
  "Well, here comes the difficult part."  Temeron took over.  "When we were going to embark on our journey here to Earth, we took her on board our craft in a suspended animation chamber.  Our craft is now at the bottom of the lake by the copper mill.  Now, before you panic, Zemostra assures me that the computer is keeping her life support going for as long as possible.  Damion is on his way back here now to help us rescue her.  We will leave as soon as he arrives.  Don't worry, we will save your mother."
  Mina wasn't completely reassured, but she was resolved to keep an optimistic attitude.  Perhaps only faith could keep her mother safe.

Chapter 14

14: Calliope Baxter was a middle-aged woman with sad eyes.  She had been troubled for quite some time now, but didn't know who to talk to.  Finally, she decided that she couldn't hold it in anymore.  She approached Barney Abbot at the table where he was having lunch.  He invited her to have a seat and join him.
  "It's good to finally speak with you, Barney.  My name is Calliope."
  "Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Calliope.  Would you like any of these curly fries?  They're excellent."
  "No, thanks.  I'm not very hungry.  You see, actually I have something that's been bothering me since I heard it when we first came to this hotel."
  "Oh, I'm glad you came to me.  What's on your mind?"
  "It's about your son."
  Barney put his curly fry down, picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth.  He re-oriented his body to focus his entire attention on Calliope.  "Did you know Daniel?"
  "No.  But I need to know.  Kenn had said he was the Good Friday Killer."  She looked him squarely in the eyes. "Is that true?  Was he?"
  Barney inhaled deeply and let his breath out through his nose.  He never broke eye contact with her, but his countenance now reflected deep regret and emotional pain.  "Yes, he was."  His eyes welled up with an unexpected tumult of memories.  He took a sip of his soda to wet his suddenly dry throat.
  Calliope's eyes now focused on an imaginary point somewhere behind Barney's head.  A flurry of conflicting emotions contorted her face several times before she could speak again.  When she finally found her voice again, her cheeks weren't dry.  "Three years ago, my husband, Maxwell Baxter was on his way home from work.  He never made it home.  I spent that entire night calling every police station, hospital and friend in Marble Cliffs.  The next day, his car was found at the bottom of a wash.  His body was found several feet from the car behind a creosote bush.  A cross was carved into his chest and his body was completely drained of blood.  Everyone said it had to have been the Good Friday Killer.  My husband's killer was never found."
  "Yes, that was his M.O.  I'm sorry for your loss."  Barney knew the words were nothing compared to what this poor woman had been through.  "I tracked my son for years.  I took the job as senior editor of the newspaper so that I could use all the resources available to expose his terrible acts and hopefully bring him to justice.  He was always way ahead of me.  Seeing him here was the first contact I'd had with him for years.  I didn't know if I should kill him or hug him or both.  I was well aware of the atrocities he had committed.  It only hurt more that he was my son.  When I found out that he was filled with the spirits of the Collective, I didn't know if I could trust him, but I decided to give him a chance.  His sacrifice very well might have saved us all.  It doesn't erase anything he had done in his past, but that was his cross to bear."  Barney and Calliope sat silently for quite some time, each in their own world.
  In the ball room, Mendoron, the Collective military specialist, was training a group of people with some combat techniques.  Knowledge in hand to hand combat was going to be a matter of life or death in these grim days.  The Collective had an understandably fluid style of fighting.  For some it was difficult to learn, but Mendoron had an almost uncanny patience.  Through diligence and practice, all who wanted to learn became better with each little step along the path to mastery.
  In room 742, the Maine Eleven Company was setting up its equipment.  Jeffrey turned to Lowe.  "What up, chiznickel?  Hey, what did you say your uncle's address was again?"
  Lowe wasn't expecting the question so he took a second to respond.  "Um, lot 1408 at Casanova Mobile Homes."
  Jeffrey grabbed a nearby napkin and scribbled on it hurriedly with a hotel pen.  He started a sentence mid-thought.  "And you're staying in room 742, right?"
  Lowe looked at Jeffrey.  "Yeah, so?"
  Jeffrey continued.  "Well, if you subtract 742 from 1408 you're left with. . .666.  Spooky, huh?"
  Lowe punched Jeffrey on the shoulder.  "More like kooky, dumbass."  Just then a knock came at the door.  It was Lume, the Collective musician.  Jeffrey couldn't take his eyes off her.
  "Welcome to a Maine Eleven Company jam session.  Won't you please join us?"  Jeffrey bowed.
  Lowe shook his head.  "Jeffrey, you old smoothly."
  Jeffrey blushed and punched Lowe in the shoulder.  "Is everyone ready?"  Carrie nodded.  Alex gave a thumbs up. Lowe hefted his bass and slung it onto his shoulder.  Jeffrey tested his microphone once or twice.  Lume stood in a corner by the entertainment center.
  Carrie got a mid-tempo beat going.  Lowe started in with a smooth groove.  Alex strummed a chord progression to fit the bass line.  Lume closed her eyes.  She put her hands up and added an orchestral flourish to the musical endeavor.  Jeffrey let the beat permeate his senses.  As images filled his mind, he gave voice to them.  This spontaneous rapture of harmonic melodies continued well into the night.

Chapter 13

13: The five men were seated comfortably in Samuel Wine's living room.  Sam had a trick he wanted to show his guests.  "I found this out one day totally by accident.  I was on the phone with a friend and I was walking around my apartment while I was talking.  When I passed by a certain area in my living room, I heard a voice on the line other than the person I was talking to.  I asked if my friend if he heard it too.  Hell yeah he did and no, it wasn't coming from his side of the line.  It sure as hell wasn't coming from my end.
  "It was an EVP, an electronic voice phenomenon.  It was actually two distinct voices.  One voice was crying and kept saying the word no over and over again.  The other voice kept yelling at the first voice to shut up!  My friend and I were freaking out.  Never in my 45 years of living had I encountered such a thing.  The next day I decided to see if it was still there.  I called my friend again and he agreed to try to find the spot again.  I moved around the living room until, sure enough, there it was.  The crying and everything.
  Sauro looked disturbed and tried to shake off the creepy feeling.  Once he had sufficiently composed himself, he asked the question that he believed was on everyone's mind.  "Do you think those voices are connected to the hauntings in this place?"
  "No.  Those voices are what are called an imprint.  Sometimes, when there is an experience that brings about strong emotions such as fear, sadness or trauma, it can leave its mark at the spot in which it occurred.  For all we know, the people I heard on the phone are still alive.  A haunting, however, does involve the spirits of the dead who have not passed over into the light for some reason."
  Mickey shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.  "Okay.  Whatever.  But then what is going on here?  This place is haunted, but by whom or by what?"
  "I was getting to that.  I've only been able to get so much from down here.  If I went to the apartment on the fifth floor, I would be able to get more from touching the walls.  I also should try to communicate with the spirits that are stuck there.  I haven't done any of this yet because it wouldn't have been safe to do it alone.  It's only because of my spiritual awareness and knowledge that I've survived this haunting."
  Randy looked uneasy about the prospect of going back up there.  "Do we have to go there for your mojo to work?"
  Sam put his hands up.  "Don't worry.  We don't all have to go.  Perhaps if you and Ben want to stay down here, Mickey, Sauro and I can go up there.  But first, let me tell you what I've figured out so far.  I've been able to distinctly identify six different entities up there.  There is a young man, a young woman, an old lady, a little boy, a dog and a dark entity."
  Randy raised his hand.  "I've seen the old lady.  Her name is Ruth Verdi.  I also saw the dog and the dark one."
  Sam grabbed a notebook and a pen.  "Ruth Verdi, you say?"  Randy nodded.  Sam spelled the name out phonetically for future reference.  "Now, my story starts about three months ago.  I had changed from a daytime schedule at my job to an afternoon schedule.  My alarm clock used to wake me up every morning at 8 sharp.  Of course, when I switched schedules, I wanted to sleep in a little.  I figured I could wake up at noon, have lunch and still have plenty of time to get to work at 3pm.
  "Now here comes the weird part.  No matter how much I wanted to sleep in, I kept waking up just around 8 anyway. The first few days, I figured it was because I was so used to getting up at 8.  I thought perhaps that my body just needed to adjust to the new schedule.  But day after day I woke up around 8 o' clock.  I started noticing that it wasn't just 8-ish like I had thought.  It was consistently 8:14 I would wake up.  I tested it.  I'd wake up and immediately look at my clock.  8:14 every time.  I didn't understand what was going on until the spiritual disturbances began.  Then it clicked.  A significant event must have occurred at 8:14 in the morning.
  "I still have no idea what that event was, but I can't shake the nagging feeling that it's important.  It may even be the spirits trying to communicate with me.  That's about all I have so far.  Now, we must get up there for me to get more clues and piece this story together."
  Sam, Mickey and Sauro opened the door which led to the hallway, went out and closed the door behind them.  Ben and Randy stayed at Sam's apartment and tried not to worry.
  Meanwhile, at the hotel, a rescue group arrived with Lowe's uncle, Singh Ho Ping and his boyfriend, Bolly Wotso. Bolly was a half Samoan, half Ethiopian midget of medium build.  When Singh saw his nephew, Yong Lowe, his eyes lit up.  "Well, potato I have!  It's my favorite nephew!"  He reached up for a hug.
  Lowe stooped down to hug his uncle.  "Uncle Singh and Aunt Bolly!  I'm so glad you're safe!  I was so worried.  How are you, my avuncular compadre?"
  "I'm doing alright.  It's good to see you're OK.  How are your mother and father?"
  Lowe's head drooped.  With a trembling voice, he said, "They got into a car accident and they were both killed."
  Singh's eyes watered up.  "Oh, my dear, sweet, beautiful Ling!  My heart is ripping!"  Lowe embraced his uncle in a huge bear hug.  They both cried together for a while.  When Singh could breathe evenly enough to speak again, he realized he should also help his nephew mourn for his father.  "Your father, Tom, was a wonderful husband to my sister and a good father to you. I will miss him greatly."
  Lowe remained silent for a little while longer, but finally spoke.  "You're the only family I have left."  They held each other for comfort and then went to Lowe's room to rest.  It had been a long day.

Chapter 12

12: Temeron, the elder Collective had a group gathered around him who were eager to learn more about the religion of the Collective.  "It's called the Hierarchy of Sypraxus.  To begin with, it is important to note that the more solid something is, the less you need it.  Food is the least needed, then water, air and finally your spirit.  Life follows the example of these different states of matter.  Sypraxus is the ability to change at will between the different states of matter.  This is only possible through a deep understanding of the three stages of life. 
  "We all start in innocence.  For the Collective, we call that the solid stage.  During that time of your spiritual development, you are in ignorance and bliss.  You do not take notice of the problems of the world.  Some may even be in denial that problems even exist.  You are only in touch with your needs.  You tend to be more real. It takes nothing to be innocent.  You don't want anything to change.
  "The second stage comes when we start to notice the problems in the world.  We might become disillusioned or disenchanted.  We call that the liquid stage.  Everything seems to be bad.  We lose our innocense and begin to be aware of wants as opposed to mere needs.  We may become superficial or even hateful.  It takes your five senses to reach the second stage.  You want the world to change.
  "The third stage is enlightenment.  We call that the air stage.  At this stage you begin to have hope.  You begin to recognize that there is more than your eyes can perceive.  You begin to be aware of others' needs.  You become more deep.  It takes faith to reach the third stage.  You can be calm and at peace.  You want yourself to change.  Unfortunately, some people never get past the first stage.  Most people never get past the second stage. For some reason unknown to me, some people want to go back to the first stage after having reached the second. I must confess to you that I have never met anyone who has truly reached the third stage.  It would take an incredible amount of love and faith to reach the third stage.  The Sypratic Tome promises that there will be someone who will reach all states of matter: solid, liquid, gas and spirit.  We await their arrival eagerly."
  In a different part of the hotel, Jeffrey was sitting in front of a microwave reading a book.  Alexander approached him, intrigued by the wonderful aroma emanating from the microwave.  "Chuptu?" he asked Jeffrey.
  Jeffrey looked up from his book.  "What did you say?"
  "I said, what are you up to?"
  "Oh.  I'm microwaving some popcorn that I won in the raffle.  Want some?"
  Alex's eyes lit up.  "Sure, sounds good.  What are you reading?"
  Jeffrey showed the cover of the book to Alexander.  "I'm reading about a guy named Pavlov who trained his dogs to salivate when he rang a bell."
  A really confused look came across Alex's face.  "That's weird."
  Jeffrey shrugged.  "I guess it depends on how you look at it."  At that point, the microwave beeped.
  Alex rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation.  "Alright!  Popcorn's ready!"
  Jeffrey sighed and shook his head.  Then he put the book down and pulled the microwave door open to retrieve the bag.  Lowe walked into the room just as the two of them were munching.  He looked downcast.  With all the rescue parties coming back with survivors they had found, there were many tearful reunions, but there were still many loved ones missing.  One of those was Lowe's uncle.
  Jeffrey offered Lowe some popcorn, but Lowe was in no mood for any.  "Lowe, they did send a search party in the direction of your uncle's home.  You did give them his address, right?"
  "Yeah.  Him and his boyfriend live at Casanova Mobile Homes lot 1408."
  Jeffrey did a double take and suppressed a laugh.  "Casanova Mobile Homes?"  After a second, he shook it off.  What he was thinking wasn't appropriate to say at the moment.
  Alex swallowed a mouthful of popcorn.  "So your uncle's gay?"
  Lowe looked at Alex for a moment.  "If you laugh I will seriously hurt you."
  Alex shook his head.  "No, I won't laugh.  There's nothing funny about homosexuality."
  "Well, my uncle is a lesbian stuck in a man's body.  You see, he's gay, but his body just doesn't know it yet. In order to fit in with the homosexual crowd, he has a boyfriend for now until he can have the sex change operation.  Think of it as a reverse 'fag hag', as much as I hate that term."
  "I look forward to meeting him.  What does he do?" asked Alex.
  "He's the singer for a midget metal band called Bawdy Flies.  You know that T-shirt I wear that says 'Asian midget trannies are people too'?"
  "Oh yeah, I think that shirt's hilarious."
  "Well, it's not supposed to be funny.  It's my way of supporting my uncle.  His name is Singh Ho Ping, but his stage name is Urban Confucius."
  Alex's eyebrows went up.  "You uncle is Urban Confucius?  Dude, I've heard of him.  He did that one Christmas song or something.  I once saw his band perform dressed as female elves."
  "So you've heard 'Don We Now Our Gay Apparel'?  It was a minor local hit.  Got some air play."

Chapter 11

11: Mar stood outside the Wolf Cub Elementary school.  He had observed the Defectors for an entire day now.  These people were in desperate need of direction.  This man, this Richard Finestra as he was called, had no real leadership skills, but he seemed to revel in the power of his assumed position.  Once Mar showed up, Richard would not be willing to give up his place at the top.  There was one very simple solution to that.

  The gutter by the curb offered him a way onto the school grounds.  He had decided that a dramatic entrance was the approach he wanted to take.  The playground had a system of lawn sprinklers that were set to a timer.  Richard was currently sitting in a lawn chair right beside one of those sprinklers sipping lemonade.  Showtime.

  Moments later, a noisy spray of water gushed forth from the sprinkler and formed up in mid air into Mar's body. He looked Richard in the eyes and said, "Richard Finestra.  My name is Mar.  I will now be leading the Defectors."

  Richard's eyes went wide and his glass of lemonade fell with a dull thud onto the grass, splashing onto his leg. At the same time, his chair tipped so far back from his involuntary leg jerk that he fell backward.  As soon as he was able to scramble to his feet he ran for the door to the main school house.  Mar entered through the garden hose.  If it was a chase Richard wanted, Mar would be more than happy to oblige.

  Richard was hiding in the kitchen.  Mar quietly snuck out of the sink and tapped him on the shoulder.  Richard bugged out and fled, looking for another hiding place.  Mar was going to toy with him for a bit before engaging the kill switch.  Next, Richard chose the janitor's closet on the second floor.  This was too easy.  Mar came out of the utility sink and tapped him once again.  Richard actually let out a yelp and ran some more.  He ran up the stairs to the third, uppermost level and hid in a classroom.  One small problem.  There just happened to be a bathroom which opened into the classroom.  Easy pickings.

  Mar was through with games.  He sprayed out of the toilet and grabbed Richard by the ankles.  Richard struggled free, but fell backwards and went right through the glass of a window.  Mar watched as he plummeted three stories to his death in a shower of wood fragments and glass shards.  A guy named Finestra being defenestrated.  Mar just couldn't resist laughing at the irony of the whole thing.  That was a goddamn masterpiece and fuck it all, no one was around who could appreciate the true genius of it.  Mar sighed, shook his head and headed downstairs on foot to address his new army.

  The Defectors shied away from his approach.  There were many questions.  "Who are you?  Are you Rend?  We thought you were dead.  Why did you kill Richard?"

  Mar put his hands up to silence the crowd.  "No, I'm not Rend, though he was a good friend of mine.  I was sad to see him go.  I've been watching everything that has been going on.  I know about the Collective, about the Untaken, the Revenant and about you guys, the Defectors.  I figured it was about time to step in and take the reins.  My name is Mar.  I'm your leader now and I want nothing more than to destroy every last one of the Collective and the Untaken."

  At this, there were several nods of agreement.  The tension seemed to ease just a little.  "Now I killed that motherfucker out there because I didn't like the way he was running things.  The Revenant are an asset to us.  They can take care of the Untaken if there are sufficient numbers of them.  Richard was mindlessly destroying so many of them without even thinking about the fact that he could be using them if he was smart.  If he had a plan. If he had a goal.  If he had two fuckin' brain cells to rub together.  He also took you for granted."

  Heads were nodding more vigorously now.  Mar could see that he had them in his grasp.  "He should have been training you to fight so that you could mount your own attack against that damn hotel.  Well, that's what I'm here to do.  We will be a formidable army by the time I'm through with you.  Now let's get to work."  A small round of applause materialized and vanished quickly, but Mar could still see some fear in their eyes.

Chapter 10

10: The smell of fried chicken.  Randall Switter was just starting to come down from his adrenalin rush.  After watching Glen disappear, Randy had fled for his life.  Unseen hands had silently pulled him into a dark room.  Those hands belonged to Sam Wine.  Sam was the inhabitant of this apartment.  Apparently, he was cooking up some fried chicken.  It smelled delicious.
  "Randall, were there any others with you?"
  "Yeah, three guys outside and one upstairs.  I think Glen's dead, though."
  "Damn!  I had tried to stop you before you went up, but you ran up there as if your lives depended on it."
  "Yeah, Glen had to use the bathroom."
  "That's a damn shame.  Did you know him well?"
  "No.  We were put together as part of a rescue team to find survivors out here."
  "You two and the other three guys outside?"
  "Yeah.  They're keeping an eye out at the entrance to the building for any zombies."
  "You should go get them.  The zombies don't come here.  This place scares them.  It's haunted."
  "It figures.  I got zombies outside, ghosts inside.  Do you see the irony here?  We're stuck in the middle here with soulless bodies on the one hand and bodiless spirits on the other.  I don't know if I'd rather laugh or piss myself.  I think both."  Sam sat silently as Randy went to the others and told them about what had happened to Glen and then about finding Sam.  They agreed to come inside.
  After a round of introductions, the timer went off on the oven.  "If you'll excuse me for just one moment."  Sam went into the kitchen to check on the chicken.  He came back with a steaming platter full of fried chicken.
  "You know, it's too bad Lowe ain't here with us.  I hear that Chinese people really like fried chicken," said Ben.
  Randy looked confused.  "The Chinese?  I thought that was somebody else that really likes fried chicken."
  Ben nodded.  "Well, that's just a stereotype."
  "That looks like enough chicken for all of us," observed Mickey.
  "Yes, I have been saving it for a special occasion.  Today seemed to be just that day."
  "But you were all by yourself.  Why did you cook so much chicken?  And why is today so special?"
  "Oh well, you see, today is the day that you have come to my house."
  "But you couldn't have known that we were coming and how many of us there'd be."
  "Well that does take some explaining doesn't it?  Why don't we discuss it over dinner?"  Everyone agreed and helped themselves to some tender, juicy thighs and drumsticks.  There was also a fresh pot of coffee.  He prepared each of their coffees to their liking.  As usual, Sam took his with two sugars and a splash of cream.
  "There's no simpler way to put it except to say that I am a psychic."  Everyone at the table looked at each other, then to him.  "I knew you were coming today.  As I told Randy, I tried to keep him and Glen from going up the stairs, but I wasn't fast enough.  I knew Glen was going to die, but I failed to prevent that.  I did prepare enough chicken for him too, but unfortunately, we shall have to dine upon his portion as well."  Ben put down his fifth piece of chicken, suddenly not hungry any more.
  "How do you know you're a psychic?" asked Sauro.
  Sam took a sip of coffee.  "I don't know.  How do you know that you have the sense of smell?"
  Sauro's eyes went wide.  "Because I can smell things."  He swept imaginary crumbs off his lap.
  Sam nodded his head.  "Exactly.  I can sense things that aren't immediately obvious to most people.  I first became aware of this gift when I was seven.  My father was dying of stomach cancer.  Near the end, he asked me to come to the side of his bed to sit and talk to him.  He took my hand and asked how school was that day.  As I recanted the various details of my day, he was asking me questions here and there.  Then his voice seemed to stand up from the bed, walk around my chair and put his hand on my shoulder.  My hand was still holding his as his body lay in the bed.  I finally realized what had happened.  He had died some time during our conversation and his spirit had left his body.  I wept, but he told me to be strong.  We said our goodbyes and then he crossed over to the other side."  Sam used a toothpick to persuade some persistent chicken gristle out from between his teeth.

Chapter 9

9: Out in the desert, the battle raged on between the vampires and the zombies.  A female vampire named Amrita was shoulder to shoulder with her friend, Bufadora.  Every day it seemed as if there were more and more of these things.  Bufadora's fists were as tough as hammers and she smashed them together with a zombie's head between them.  The Scathing seemed to be spreading even beyond the city of Marble Cliffs, Arizona.

  "How is this getting around so fast?  Most of these people don't even have the chip.  Somehow it's gotten everywhere!  This virus must have ways of transmitting that we don't know about."

  Amrita thought back to life on Sypraxus when the Scathing was still rampant.  It had travelled from lake to lake infecting everyone in its path.  "It must have a way of becoming airborne," she postulated while kicking her heel through the face of a zombie.  "Before Dimojyn helped us to reconnect with our spirits, entire lakes were dying."

  "You do have a point, Amrita.  The Scathing travelled from lake to lake without any person being the medium."  Bufadora looked around the desert and noticed tiny flying bugs here and there.  These sand flies were something she hadn't noticed before.  "These little bugs seem to have no fear in landing on us.  We can swat them away, but what if they are carrying the Scathing in their bodies?"

  Amrita looked around at the sand flies.  "You're right.  We don't know for sure one way or the other.  We should bring some back to the hotel to examine them further."  She looked around at the other vampires.  "Bufadora, all of us Collective are immune to the Scathing, but the humans are not.  We should go now to tell the Untaken at the hotel."  Bufadora nodded and the two of them carefully caught a few of the sand flies, then headed off to warn the others to be wary of the flying bugs until more could be found out about them.