'Get him away from me!' the old man roared. 'He's dead! He's come after me!' He screamed in fear.
Kyle's wounded arm bled over the old man's sheets as he struggled to keep the guy down on the bed. 'Somebody help me!'
Nurses and two doctors in scrubs ran over to the old man's bed. Then an electrical strike strobed the floor and the lights in the emergency room went out.
14
Michael stared at the specter that hung in the air behind Jim Valenti. The 'ghost' stood almost ten feet tall, looking even taller because the creature had to bend and stoop to fit under the basement ceiling. Loose cloth clung to the specter, folds that barely covered the emaciated figure and flapped in the wind. Dark circles surrounded the black eyes, and the creature was bald.
Staring at the creature, Michael felt certain the thing had stepped out of some horror movie, not a grave. The static-charged air whipped through the garage, and sparks leaped across some of the boxes of ore samples.
'Michael!' Valenti yelled across the roaring winds. 'Get the girl out of here!' He tried to step forward, but the winds sucked him back into the basement room. The door slammed shut with a sudden fierceness that swallowed the beam from the flashlight Valenti carried.
Suddenly aware that Kelli was screaming, fighting, and clinging to him all at the same time, Michael guided her out of the garage. The garage door slipped free of the jammed position it had been in and dropped back down with a heavy clank behind them.
Spotting Valenti's truck parked in front of the house, Michael sprinted for the vehicle, half carrying Kelli as she struggled to keep up. When he reached the truck, he shoved the girl inside. 'You'll be safe here,' Michael said.
'Where are you going?' Kelli demanded.
'To help Valenti.'
'You can't leave me here!'
Michael closed the door and said, 'Keep your head down,' and ran back to Wilkins's garage. He narrowed his eyes against the spinning grit and dust that rose from the garage floor. The wind slashed him with icy talons.
Summoning the energy that was part of his alien heritage, Michael threw out a hand. The energy struck the garage door and forced it back up into the tracks. However, the garage door only traveled something less than three feet.
Michael threw himself under the garage door's edge, sliding and rolling like a base runner stealing second. He pushed himself up on the other side, summoning more energy and creating a ball of light in his left palm. The light illuminated the garage.
Lightning struck the Willis jeep, causing the vehicle to rock violently for a moment. A black singe marked the place where the lightning had struck.
The static electricity discharge still raced through Michael, but somehow seemed dimmer. Either whatever was causing the buildup was dying down, or using his powers was negating the effects. He increased the size of the ball of light in his hand, amazed at how the electrical disturbance retreated before him.
'Valenti!' Michael yelled.
'Here!' Valenti yelled back. 'Door's stuck. I can't get it open.'
'Step back from the door,' Michael ordered, then focused his energy on the door. When the force he generated smashed into the door, the basement door blew open.
Valenti lay inside, covering his head with one arm and holding the flashlight he'd taken from Kelli. He glanced up at Michael.
Without hesitation but with an acquired knowledge of what one of the creatures was capable of, Michael crossed the room, watching as the elongated and emaciated form of the poorly robed man turned toward him.
'Do you see it?' Valenti asked.
'Yeah,' Michael replied, watching the creature floating through the air. The wraps that covered the ghost flapped in the wind. The dead face remained emotionless, the mouth and eyes all open in perfect black circles. 'Don't you?'
'No,' Valenti answered.
Even as Michael wondered about that, and wondered what he was going to do, the thing changed shape, mor-phing into a young woman with a broken face.
Valenti cursed and backed away from the creature.
'Do you see it now?' Michael asked.
'Yeah,' Valenti answered hoarsely. 'That's the first woman I ever saw murdered after I became a deputy.'
Feeling braver and more certain of himself, Michael shook his head. Sand and grit still whirled in the room, stinging his eyes and scratching at his face and arms. He had to speak loudly to be heard over the wind. 'That's not a ghost. That's something else. Something that can change forms. That isn't what it was a moment ago. I never heard of a ghost that could do that.'
'Jim Valenti,' the ghostly woman said. She stood straight and still despite the winds cycling within the darkened basement. 'You could have saved me. You could have prevented my death. I died because you didn't take me out of that house and away from my husband.'
Valenti stared at the ghost. Panic darted through his eyes, but he stood his ground.
'It's not real,' Michael said, sensing that the ghost was somehow touching Valenti's fear, making it stronger. 'It's not a ghost; it's something else.'
'It looks pretty real to me,' Valenti said. His eyes never left the ghost walking toward him. 'I tried to save her. I got her to leave her husband once, but she went back. And when she did, he killed her.'
The ghost continued walking toward Valenti. It flickered like an image on an old black-and-white movie. A hand lifted, pointing, then a huge spark of electricity flashed from the fingertips.
The electricity caught Valenti in the chest and knocked him back against the wall. A cry of pain tore from his lips.
A silver shine tracked across the basement floor, drawing Michael's eye. He missed whatever caused the shine, and thought maybe it was an ore sample that might have been in the basement, but he noticed the crowbar that Valenti had dropped.
'You killed me,' the ghost-thing told Valenti, closing in on him. Electricity sparked at her fingertips as she moved toward him relentlessly.
A desperate idea formed in Michael's head as he stared at the crowbar. He picked the curved piece of metal from the basement floor and turned to the ghost. Grabbing the crowbar like a baseball bat, he swung at the ghost's back. The crowbar passed through the ghost's body.
Okay, Michael thought, the Neanderthal approach is definitely out. He fell to his knees and stabbed the straightest end of the crowbar into the basement's stone floor.
'You are responsible for my death, Jim Valenti,' the ghost said, reaching for him. 'And you harbor the Outsiders. They don't belong here. They've already brought death to this community. More will follow. They are not like your people. The Outsiders will never care about your people.'
Valenti stood his ground and tried to shove against the ghost. His hands passed through the thing, then a massive surge of electricity dropped him to the floor.
On his knees, both fists around the crowbar, Michael poured his energy into the metal length. The crowbar started glowing red. He pictured the energy pulling at the ghost, and willed the power to suck the thing into the ground, whatever it was.
Abruptly the ghost jerked back from Valenti, feet skidding against the stone floor.
'Nooooo!' the ghost howled as it continued sliding toward the crowbar. The creature whirled around.
Michael kept pouring his energy into the crowbar.
The ghost levered an accusing arm toward him. 'You will die, Outsider! You will die! You can't remain
