When You Have a Doubt There is No Doubt

136.

"Something stinks of bullshit."

"I swear Gilbert I washed the van." Gilbert chuckled.

"No not that, this whole job is rotten. Wanda is the kind of busy body who would know someone named Duffy owning a building in her neighborhood, let alone this building, and the job we were called in for are Vorbos, not exactly a difficult pest, the kind of thing you'd bring something minimally for." Clarissa felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"So screw the job?"

"Nah we're doing it, but its not the job we were hired to do I can tell you that." Gilbert gathered up a variety of supplies from the van, and handed Clarissa a couple different quivers of arrows. "We're just not going in there un prepared."

"Unlike the last couple jobs."

"Exactly unlike the last couple jobs, but that's how this job goes, you over prepare, you under prepare, you proper prepare, just a lot of preparing, now that word doesn't make sense anymore." Gilbert walked up the steps to the entrance and paused. He could just turn around and ignore the job.

"Want to just walk away?"

"Kind of, but not really, I'm remembering when I was a kid there was this old broken down house near where I lived, plenty of stories from other kids about evil things there."

"Was it haunted or something?"

"Don't really know, I left the area when I was twelve, and when I came back with more knowledge about the way the world really is, the house was gone and some luxury condos were there."

"Haunted condos!"

"Only by the spirits of gentrification, the real monster." Gilbert ascended the steps and opened the door inside. It looked like a run down building, no furniture, carpets or any proof those things ever existed inside. It didn't look any scarier than run down properties everywhere. Clarissa shrugged and stepped inside with Gilbert and the whole room changed. Immediately they were in a fancy lobby with a concierge up front smiling at them.

"Ghosts?" Clarissa looked back to the still open door and wanted to leave.

"Nah ghosts feels different than this, this is something else."

"Do come in if you're the exterminator we called for you're right on time." The way the concierge said time sent a shiver up Gilbert's back, he went to go out the door, but it slammed shut on him.

"Shit."

Fear of the Known

135.

"I'm just glad you're feeling better." Clarissa had taken a couple days of sleeping and vomitting, but she seemed mostly on the mend. Gilbert felt better about that immediately.

"We deal with lots of ugly awful things Gilbert, but I'm pretty sure this was just the flu."

"I mean I saw alien, shit haunted me Clarissa."

"'Gilbert nothing's going to burst out of me." They were on their way to a simple extermination in Detroit. Some kind of minor imp infestation that the owner was worried was a signal of something worse. Gilbert's main concern was the van getting booted in Detroit, he couldn't remember if he paid all his parking tickets.

"Well all the same stay away from spaghetti for a bit."

"GILBERT!" Clarissa didn't like the implication Gilbert thought something was growing inside of her. She felt fine, other than obviously having to deal with Gilbert for another long car ride.

"So what's Detroit like?"

"Been years since I've been there, it was pretty bad last time I was in town, but I heard it got better, or got worse, you know how it is shit sucks everywhere."

"Well that's charming."

"I will tell you one thing I'm really worried about."

"What's that?"

"Meter maids." Clarissa laughed.

"I'm serious there is a lady named Wanda, last time I was there she tagged the van with so many violations I think it almost wiped out the money I made on the job, I think we might still owe fines, so if you see one coming watch out."

"Sure sure, whatever Gilbert."

****

Gilbert made sure the van was in a proper space, he even took a ruler out to verify distance from the curb. Clarissa found it funny up until Wanda showed up. She couldn't believe Wanda was real, let alone as horrifying as Gilbert had said.

"Mr. Dunkley."

"Officer Wanda, its a pleasure to see you today." Gilbert could feel the sweat already forming.

"Don't you Officer Wanda me Mr. Dunkley I remember you, I see you still drive the same beat up Van, you do have a new worker with you, other guy retire."

"Yes M'am he wanted to work a ranch."

"Uh huh, and what are you doing in my fine city of Detroit."

"Business M'am got a work order from a Mr. Duffy to clear out this building." The building was a long abandoned apartment building though it still looked to be in decent shape despite no one living there. When Wanda looked at it she paused for a second.

"Duffy, I don't know no Duffy." She tapped one overly long fingernail on her clip board, and then walked around the van to make sure things were on the up and up.

"Wanda do you have an apb out on me or something, you showed up awfully fast."

"I live in this neighborhood Mr. Dunkley, when I saw your van again I knew I had to check to make sure you were doing," She paused for a moment lost in a thought, she was looking at the building again, "Right."

Gilbert noticed Wanda was kind of just standing there now tranfixed. "Wanda?"

"You know I've always seen this building and never been in, funny I don't recall anyone ever living here in fifty years, but its been here this whole time, not aging, just looking scary, but not too scary, the kind of place you'd invite someone into on a dare." Wanda was walking up the steps, Gilbert and Clarissa hurried after her. "I wonder what its like inside..." Gilbert grabbed her arm and she shocked out of her thought ready to shout at him, but then her face went pale when she saw how close she was to walking inside. She stumbled down the steps and got in her car and left Clarissa and Gilbert to stare after her as she drove off.

"So that happened." Clarissa broke the silence and Gilbert chuckled.

"Yeah that happened, come on lets get our stuff and get out of here before she comes to her senses and finds my tires are not properly stiped or something."

Nothing Good Comes From You

134.

"I should have known this was your fault Trezlan." Gilbert had mostly been caught up to speed, his stomach still hurt with hunger, but everyone had decided it was best to leave city limits and rejoin the world first.

"That's a fine way of trying to blame this all on me because that creature and me are from the same place."

"Isn't that enough?" Clarissa was sleeping in the back, she'd been tired since almost becoming one with the bugs, Gilbert worried something might be growing in her that he didn't see, but he was waiting till later to make that determination.

"I don't blame everything that happens on wherever you're from Gilbert! This is planetism."

"Not a word Trezlan."

"Where I'm from it totally is."

"I'm sure the land of bullshitia is really missing you right now."

"You are such a hateful person Gilbert, and as a fellow black man..."

"Stop that shit right here, A. You may share the same skin color as me, but you aren't my fellow fucking anything, and B. Fuck you."

"Hateful old man, I'll happily outlive you."

"With your stupidity I'm surprised you lived as long as you have, what was even going on in Bend to begin with?"

"Oh now that my mind is clear I can recall I found a summoning circle in a basement right before that thing screwed with my mind. I guess some people who don't like you thought they'd bring something down to kill you should those walker skins fail, and then they ended up becoming bug food because you shouldn't summon shit you don't know."

"Right like playing with Necromancy."

"Cheap shot Gilbert, aren't you worried about your assistant?"

Gilbert looked back briefly at Clarissa as she slept, "Terribly so."

"You know I can."

"Do fucking nothing, I'll figure it out."

"Touchy touchy."

"Trezlan when I drop you off I don't want to hear from you for a very very long time."

"Well the feeling is mutal Gilbert, feeling is mutual."

****

Gilbert pulled away from the shop and I felt my anger rising, I made sure to write in my journal he was such a dick. It's weird writing in english but such is the way things are until I can get home, eventually. Still the girl is probably sick or worse, and he'll need my help, the only issue of course is how to get him to accept it without him trying to kill me. And why is this always an issue for me?

I Thought My Parents Sucked

133.

"God it feels like we've been arguing for days." Trezlan's voice was hoarse, his body weak. Gilbert didn't even seem to be listening to him anymore. He did notice there were multiple empty bottles of water at his feet, he didn't bring them, but he didn't notice Clarissa there either.

"If you'd just listen to me Trezlan." But Trezlan wasn't listening to Gilbert anymore, the pain of standing hit him all at once. Trezlan collapsed in the dirt.

"What the hell happened to us Gilbert?"

"Some kind of your nonesense." Gilbert seemed unaffected by the time advancement. Trezlan figured whatever had gotten him stuck there would keep working, but Trezlan had caught up with things and it was high time to sort out what in the five fires was going on. Trezlan didn't trust driving back, and so he walked back to town, once there he saw the pest people creatures. They were still banging on the door from when Clarissa had been run off.

"Well not the first time I've seen shit like this." Was his thought as he brought up some fire, burning always worked on bugs, they made a nice crackle when you cooked them. The first four went down without too much trouble aside from the smell, it was a horrible smell. That only summoned more of the creatures. Trezlan was caught wondering how he'd missed them his first time through, he admitted to himself but wouldn't to anyone else he might have been a bit sloppy in checking.

He figured the ones banging on the door must have been doing it because of Clarissa having gone into the building, so he followed after her. Unfortunately she'd locked the door from the other side, but Trezlan had fire magic, he cooked the hinges and knocked the door down, since he was confident if more of the bug people came he could cook their asses too. The smell was rotten as he climbed the steps, each foot fall made him want to retreat, but he knew Clarissa had come up there and so he had to follow. At the top he saw it, a large bug creature it had wrapped a tentacle around Clarissa, a larva of its near by ready to be attached.

"INTERLOPER!!!" The thought hit him in the head with a scathing pain.

"I knew just fucking knew that something like you would cross over."

"Necromancer, your mind is not unknown to us, but know that if you harm me the girl dies she is one with the family now."

"Unlikely, not until you fully attach one of your rotten spawn, which won't be happening." Trezlan had fought one of these creatures before, smaller and less entrenched, but still the same disgusting smell. Being able to trap people's minds was new, but maybe that was something it had learned since arriving on earth.

"You won't be doing anything." He felt a pain in his head, shooting at first and then spreading from there. And then Trezlan felt a sudden need to argue with Gilbert back at the van. He was mildly surprised Gilbert was actually right next to him and carrying some kind of grenade. He threw it towards the center of the room and Trezlan was shaken from the mind control immediately, the screaming of the mother creature caught Trezlan, Clarissa, and Gilbert off guard it was an intense stabbing pain. Gilbert ran to free Clarissa from the mother parasite, its rapid thrashing was quickly destroying the room they were in, plus the fire from Gilbert's grenade. They ran down the stairs the death throes of the creature in their heads. Once again in the light of day did they finally relax.

"So nice of you two to wander off with out me." Gilbert's words brought both Clarissa and Trezlan to give him a stink eye.

A Most Ingenious Trap

132.

Clarissa just didn't understand how the two idiots couldn't understand how they had been repeating each other over and over again for two whole days, their bodies already showing the time their minds did not recognize. She worried she too was losing her mind, and her assumption that they couldn't see it was also just a replay of the events. But she'd been able to do things, effect things, she had marked on a sign the days they'd been there just to tell herself time was advancing.

"You can't save them." The voice caused Clarissa to jump. She had been so lost in her own fears and thoughts she didn't even notice the ragged looking woman in front of her. Her clothes were torn, her skin showed signs of self harm, the eyes a crazy gleam.

"Who are you?"

"You're all dead, it wants you here, it trapped all of us for you and now its got you!" She pulled a knife and sliced her throat in front of Clarissa. Clarissa didn't even react, the woman killed herself in a horror of blood and all Clarissa could do was shrug and think "God today sucks" she'd become so desensitized to the work as an exterminator watching someone kill themselves was just another day. It did alert Clarissa there was definitely something causing this, and potentially other crazy people in the town of bend she might have to deal with. She made a journey back to the van where Trezlan and Gilbert were playing out their road show, made sure to give them both water again as she'd been doing the last few days, and loaded up on weapons and ointments to take down whatever was in town.

Trezlan had claimed he'd used a lot of rituals in town and Clarissa could see the results of them. Just weird blood writing scrolled on to everything. She assumed that was Trezlan and not the creature. She had hoped Trezlan failed because he couldn't see the creature, and less the creature was too powerful. Clarissa had made it back to the center of town when she saw them. They looked almost to be human at first, just shambling towards her. It wasn't until she could make out the insect like creatures attached to their heads she witnessed the full horror approaching her.

There were five of them at first, and then more as Clarissa stood there in horror. The woman killing herself wasn't an issue. Some kind of parasite moving people against their will? This was true terror. She put some arrows in the nearest ones and they went down without too much trouble. The remaining alive released a high pitch scream that hurt her ears at a distance. With the screaming the shambling corpses picked up their pace at approaching her. Clarissa made for the nearest building she could find, which had the door mercifully open. She got inside and slammed it shut locking the door behind her. The parasites slammed on the door over and over trying to get in, but it was a hard metal security door she felt safe at least.

Clarissa had shut herself into a two story building, she cursed herself for not fully exploring the town prior. Hoping at the time to fix Gilbert and Trezlan she didn't bother to find out anything about Bend much to her detriment. She now had the parasites and whatever was controlling them to contend with. As she hesitantly walked up the stairs, she could smell something in the building that had her neck hairs stand up. When she got to the top of the stairs the smell was almost overwhelming and she could see why.

At the top were more parasites latched on to people, draining them. They were connected to the former walls of the building like some grotesque alien like nightmare. Clarissa almost screamed, but was afraid that would alert the creatures. In the center of the loft like second floor was what Clarissa assumed was the "mother" of the creatures, a bloated bile spewing creature that was giving birth and decorating at the same time.

"Welcome child." The voice was in her head, the creature looked at her it's several hundred eyes. "Welcome to the family."