The doctor shook my hand. His grip was strong for an old man. His grin was infectious.
'Nice to meet you.' He pumped my arm vigorously. 'Considerable facial scaring. Claws, yes?'
'Werewolf,' I said, self-consciously touching my face. 'I pushed him out of a tall building.'
'You must be the lad from Dallas then. Good show on that one. I knew as soon as I saw the report that you would become a Hunter, though I would not have minded having you here for my research-werewolf encounter, survivor's guilt, and a near-death experience, all in one patient. My, but that would make a splendid paper. Perhaps if you have the time you could give me a blow-by-blow account, maybe tell me about any psychosomatic problems you have faced since, obviously not lack of appetite. Ha!' He punched me lightly in the stomach. 'Perhaps bad dreams or sexual dysfunction then?'
Julie snickered at my discomfort. Luckily I was spared any further quizzing by the arrival of the other Doctor Nelson. She was a small, thin, birdlike woman. She was probably about the same age as her husband, but the main thing that they had in common was the enormously thick glasses. She also hugged Julie, but before they could even converse, Doctor Joan called the group of patients over.
'Look, everybody. These two people are from Monster Hunter International. They are real live Monster Hunters.' I waved sheepishly. Some of the patients oohed and aahed. Others held back, and sullenly smoked cigarettes.
'You are so brave.'
'Hunters saved my life.'
'You were my savior.'
'Thank you.'
Probing hands grabbed at me. I was hugged and kissed on the cheeks, and tears fell onto my clothing. I was stunned by the outpouring of emotion, and mostly tried to keep my hands on my concealed weapons. I did not want to find out if any of the patients were feeling suicidal or homicidal. Finally the crowd drew back, leaving Julie and me disheveled and tear-stained. It was a strange experience to be thanked by total strangers for things which I had never done.
'Where were you people when my kids were getting torn apart?' one of the patients snarled. He was a middle-aged man who did not look comfortable in casual clothing.
'Now now, Barney. The Hunters are only human. They can't be everywhere. They can only do their best. We can all learn from that example.' The female Doctor Nelson clapped her hands. 'Okay, everyone, the sharing circle is done for today. It's lunchtime. Today we are having meatloaf.'
'Bah.' The man named Barney spit on the ground in my general direction and stormed away. The group dispersed.
'What's his problem?' I asked.
'He must not like meatloaf,' Lucius Nelson answered.
The interior of the asylum was much warmer and friendlier than the gothic exterior. The Nelsons had remodeled the building until it looked less like a state-run ward, and more like a comfortable and relaxing place to live. The walls were painted warm colors, and the staff was courteous and friendly. Julie had gone with Doctor Joan to see her father. She had understandably not wanted my company for the painful meeting. If we were needed, Doctor Lucius had his beeper.
I was getting the tour. 'Those patients you met are some of the more well-adjusted people we have staying here. Most of them are on the verge of really dealing with their issues. Hopefully some of them will be able to return to the world soon. We also, I'm afraid, have others who are not doing so well. This common area is made up of people who are no longer really a danger to themselves or others. The other sections have greater security.'
'Which one is Ray Shackleford in?'
'Maximum security. He is actually a ward of the state, and only released into our custody because of the nature of our facility. We are required to keep him locked up and guarded.'
'Is Julie going to be safe?' I could not help but ask.
'I saw that girl beat an Indonesian blood fiend into submission when she was sixteen years old. I'm not worried. But just in case, Ray has been restrained. I would have administered drugs, but I'm guessing that you want him lucid.' He adjusted his suspenders. 'I wish that MHI would have called and warned us you were coming.'
'It was kind of a surprise decision.' I shrugged. Some of the patients were playing Ping-Pong. One of them had scars that made my own look miniscule.
'Well, I'm glad that Julie is finally speaking with her father. I just hope that she has prepared herself for this. It could be potentially traumatic.' He chuckled softly. 'That is why my wife went with her instead of me. She is the loving one.'
He pointed at other patients as we continued walking. 'Part of the problem we face here is the whole government-mandated secrecy about monsters. Many of our patients were put into regular mental health facilities after their encounters, before we were able to find out about them and bring them here. Unfortunately, when a severely traumatized individual is taken in for treatment, and they are already struggling with the reality of what they have experienced, regular doctors are not much help. Can you imagine going to a normal psychologist and explaining that your boss turned into a werewolf and tried to eat you?' He did not wait for me to answer. 'They would think that you were delusional and they would pump you full of drugs. You know what you saw. They don't think that is possible, so after a while the sane and healthy patient begins to doubt their own memories, that leads to insecurity and that snowballs into all sorts of mental problems. If you can't trust your own memory, what can you trust?'
'I got security camera video,' I replied.
'Ha. Like most of these poor people get to see anything like that. Damn quacks can ignore piles of evidence, because they are sure that monsters are only figments of our subconscious. I've read huge textbooks explaining how the werewolf and vampire legends, that date back to the dawn of recorded civilization and span every single culture on the planet, are neatly explained by mass hysteria, religious fervor, vain attempts at understanding natural pathological psychoses, or even hallucinations caused by ergot in bad rye bread. Ha. Joan and I were staking vampires while we were still in medschool, so our methods are a little unorthodox in the scientific community. Learn this, Mr. Pitt, there are three kinds of people in the world: people who can't believe in anything, suckers who believe in everything, and a few of us who can face the truth.'
We stopped in front of a large security door. A hulking orderly nodded at us, and Doctor Nelson scanned his badge to get us through. We entered a long corridor, lined with steel doors with small window slits. Screaming, crying and gibbering nonsense echoed through the hall. It gave me shivers.
'This ward is for people who have had serious monster trauma and are not coping with it well. They are suicidal, violent, or unable to distinguish reality from fantasy.' We stopped before a door. I peered through the slit. A man was sitting cross-legged in the corner. He was wearing a straitjacket, and he was softly beating his head against the padded wall. He was humming 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' over and over again. Drool was running down his chin, and forming a puddle on the floor.
'Believe it or not, Carlos here was a Monster Hunter. He worked for MHI up until about fifteen years ago. He was one of our team leads in New England. Brilliant man, great Hunter, good leader.'
'What happened?' I asked softly. Carlos cocked his head to the side as if listening to something very far away. After a few seconds he went back to humming.
'Have you ever read any H.P. Lovecraft, Mr. Pitt?'
'Please, just call me Owen. I read a little bit when I was a kid, why?' I did not say that his stories had given me nightmares.
'Lovecraft was no Hunter, but he heard the stories, and he did his research. He had a pretty good idea of what was out there. If you remember, a common theme in his work was the protagonist's gradual descent into madness over a period of being exposed to the darkness of the other side. There are things out there which man is not meant to ever see or understand. Poor Carlos here is a perfect example.'
'What did he see?'
'Nobody knows. His whole team went missing, and he was found wandering in the countryside, naked and confused. Just keep that in mind as you continue your career, Owen. There are some things that are best just left alone.'
We exited the ward, leaving Carlos and the others to their songs.
