Jack And Anna - Back To Winnipeg

5. Creeptacular-2

“I do.”

“Then I’ll let you decide who we start with.”

With a thoughtful frown, Arthur considered the question. “Carrie Randall,” he said at last. “I always got along well with her. And she’s a real down-to-earth type. Wouldn’t make a report unless she was sure she saw something.”

“Sounds good.”

“We could split up,” Arthur suggested. “Visit multiple houses.”

Anna scowled, shaking her head. “No, we’re keeping this low-pro,” she insisted. “We start a neighbourhood canvassing program for the paranormal, and word will get back to the police. That’s not something we want.”

Arthur accepted that without complaint.

The few details she had been given spelled out an uncomfortable narrative. Hill had been assigned to this case when the strange calls started coming in. After a few days of investigating with no results, he had confided in Arthur that something wasn’t quite right out near Pollock Island.

Arthur had taken it upon himself to do a little digging. Most likely because he was desperate for something to do with all his free time. She wasn’t sure what had convinced him to reach out to Jack, but he clearly believed that there was something strange going on here.

The door groaned when Anna pushed it open. She was grateful to be out of that cramped, little car even if it did mean giving up the cool, air conditioned cabin. The heat wasn’t quite so bad here in Winnipeg. Not as muggy.

Jack climbed out of the car with a great big grin, taking in the sights and the sounds. “God, how long has it been since I last came here?” he wondered aloud.

“You’ve been to this part of town?”

He flinched, startled by her question, and turned to admire the towering trees at the end of the road. “Peter used to love hiking out here,” he explained. “Took us an hour to get here on our bikes.”

“You father’s friend Peter?”

“No, that’s Pete,” Jack clarified. “Peter is his son. It’s a stupid Earth convention where people name their kids after themselves.”

Carrie lived in a tiny, white house with a trio of maple trees growing out of its neatly-trimmed lawn. It was a homey, little place – almost a cottage – with a gabled roof and a purple front door.

Arthur was the first to approach, climbing the steps to the porch and ringing the bell. A moment later, the door swung inward to reveal a woman of average height with glasses and a touch of gray in her dark hair. “Art!” she exclaimed, her face lighting up. “So nice of you to stop by! And who are your friends?”

“This is Anna Lenai,” Arthur said, gesturing to her. “And this is Jack-”

“Lenai,” Jack cut in, offering his hand. “We’re from Leyria.”

Carrie inspected him for a moment before her welcoming smile returned. “Well, isn’t that nice! Art, you didn’t tell me you had friends from so far away! Did you know this man has been a saint to our community?”

Jack was taken aback, his brow furrowing in surprise. “No, I didn’t,” he replied. “Art didn’t tell us very much about his career.” Anna could tell how much that bothered him. His strained relationship with his father had always been a sore spot. For years, he had tried to bury it, but this trip was opening up old wounds.

“I used to patrol this area,” Arthur explained.

“Oh, he’s been with us for years!” Carrie added. “I remember that night after the Twin Towers fell. Everyone was so afraid. But Arthur and his partner came by the church and told us there was no reason to think anything would happen here in Winnipeg. And he was right, of course. But it was such a shock!”

With the initial pleasantries over, Arthur was quick to get down to business. His momentary frown vanished almost before she noticed its presence, replaced by the stern, flat expression of a policeman doing his job. “Carrie, I was hoping we could ask you a few more questions about your report from last week.”

“Sure, sure!” Carrie said eagerly. “Come on in! I saw it again, you know.”

Anna exchanged a glance with Jack.

The house was as cute on the inside as it was on the outside. The living room had paintings of puppies on its pale-blue walls. A cozy little couch faced the front window, and a basket of fake flowers sat on the wooden coffee table.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Carrie asked as she retreated into the kitchen. “I have some nice iced tea.”

Anna took a comfy, white chair in the corner, crossing one leg over the other and waiting patiently for the other woman to return. Jack and Arthur were content to stand, at least for the time being. Which was a bit of a misstep in her eyes. Carrie was offering hospitality. The best way to put her at ease would be to graciously accept. She could tell that Seth agreed with that assessment.

It wasn’t long before their host returned with a tray of drinks and another friendly smile. “There now,” she said, setting it down on the table. “So, you’re investigating the creature?”

“We just want to make sure that everyone is safe,” Anna said. “Could you tell us a bit about what you saw?”

Clamping one hand onto the back of her neck, Carrie grimaced as she thought it over. “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain,” she began. “At first, I didn’t know what it was. About two weeks ago, I was looking out my back window when I saw two points of yellow light in the trees behind my house. It took me a few minutes to realize they were eyes. So, I grabbed a flashlight, and I went out to shoo it away.”

“That was brave of you,” Anna remarked.

“Brave or stupid,” Carrie said. “Not much difference between the two. I had no idea what I was dealing with, whether it was dangerous. The eyes were too high off the ground for it to be a dog or a wolf or anything like that. I figured it had to be at least six feet tall. But as soon as I got out there, it ran off.

“Well, I thought that was the end of it. Went back to my routine. After a day or two, I thought maybe I imagined the whole thing. But then it came back. This time, when I went out there, it didn’t leave. I managed to shine my light on it for a few seconds.”

Every trace of the affable woman who had greeted them at the door was gone. Carrie was visibly distraught now: shuddering as she drew a breath through parted lips. “It was big like a gorilla, covered in brown fur. But it walked on two feet. When I shone the flashlight, it just stared at me. Like it was saying it could come and snap me in half anytime it wanted.

“It stayed for only a few seconds, and then it went back into the woods. But there was something in the way it moved. I got the feeling that it wanted me to know it was choosing to leave. I didn’t drive it away.”

choosingJack stood by the window with the kind of look you only got when you found something grody in the back of your refrigerator. “Hold on,” he interjected. “I just want to make sure I’m getting this right. Are you telling us you saw Bigfoot?”

Carrie lowered herself onto the couch, sitting with her hands on the cushion and her shoulders hunched up. Her face contorted as she struggled to find the words. “Don’t know if it was Bigfoot. But it was something.”

Bending forward to retrieve a glass of iced tea, Anna lifted it in thanks before she took a sip. It was quite good. She enjoyed the subtle hint of raspberry. “Was that before or after you made your report?”

was“Before,” Carrie said quickly. “But it came back after I talked to Arthur last week. Stood in the yard this time, looking at me through the window.”

Anna didn’t like how this was going. With each visit, the creature grew bolder. How long before it decided to enter the house? Assuming, of course, that there was a creature. She hadn’t ruled out some form of telepathic manipulation.

was“Carrie, this is very important,” she began. “Have you had any strange dreams lately? Or a feeling that someone is intruding on your thoughts?”

The other woman shook her head.

“Could you excuse us for a moment?” Anna rose from her chair and gestured to the front door. “My friends and I need to talk.”

“Okay.”

The chill in Anna’s veins faded when she returned to the porch. Out here, in the warm sunlight, tales of strange creatures seemed a little less sinister. She, Arthur and Jack came together in a little cluster, all frowning.

“So, what do you think?” Arthur asked.

Anna wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know,” she murmured. “Normally, in a case like this, I’d refer Carrie to a medical professional. When an ordinary human experiences multiple telepathic intrusions, their acetylcholine levels go up. If we could test for that…”

Standing next to her with his hands folded behind his back, Jack replied with cold laughter and a sharp glance toward the window. “I’m thinking that plan’s a no. We’ve been one hundred percent resource free ever since we went freelance.”

“Is there any technology that can block telepathy?” Arthur inquired.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Anna said. “The Overseers might have something, but raiding one of their abandoned facilities and stealing some of their tech would be a huge undertaking. And then we’re looking at several months of experiments just to figure out what it does.”

The Overseers used organic technology; their ships and buildings were living organisms. None of their devices had interfaces that any human could understand. Many linked directly to your nervous system, and if you weren’t careful, they might just h****k your brain in the process.

With a sigh of frustration, Anna jerked her head toward the door. “Come on,” she said. “We should go back inside.”

Carrie was still sitting on the couch when they returned, staring dejectedly out the window. She let out a ragged breath. “Is there anything you can do to make that thing go away?”

“I’m not sure,” Anna admitted with some reluctance. “Would you mind if we took a look around your backyard?”

“Be my guest.”

The yard wasn’t very big: just a patch of grass surrounded by trees that seemed eager to reclaim the land. Their long, thick branches cast shadows upon the house. If a telepath was behind all this craziness, they couldn’t have picked a more ominous setting. But at least the birds were chirping! The bubbling waters of the nearby La Salle River served as a backdrop to their songs.

Anna stood on the wooden deck, rolling up her sleeve to expose the multi-tool on her left wrist. With deft fingers, she tapped away at the screen, ordering the device to engage its scanning protocol. “Jack?”

Her partner did the same with his multi-tool. Together, they should be able to detect any anomalies.

The wooden steps creaked as Anna descended them. She moved through the backyard with a purpose, enjoying the touch of cool air on her skin. As she neared the edge of the forest, she paused.

Jack had moved off to the other side of the yard, scanning a cluster of trees with his multi-tool. Arthur remained on the deck. No doubt, he was feeling somewhat obsolete; he didn’t have fancy, Leyrian technology to help search for clues.

Sadly, Anna didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Her readings were exactly what she would have expected: an ambient temperature of twenty-six degrees centigrade, an atmosphere composed of nitrogen and oxygen with trace amounts of argon, methane and, of course, carbon dioxide. No anomalous sources of radiation. Everything seemed perfectly normal.

On a hunch, she expanded the scan parameters to include SlipSpace. Her multi-tool started beeping, but she ignored it. Something else had caught her eye.

There, in the gap between two gnarled trees, was a footprint. And not just any footprint! This one had two prominent toes and an almost triangular heel. She crouched down to examine it, her blood running cold as her worst fears were confirmed; she knew of only one bipedal organism that would make a mark like that.

Rising slowly, Anna drew in a rasping breath. “Jack!” she yelled. “I need you!” Her husband ran to join her and Arthur as well. Both men looked like they expected Carrie’s ape creature to leap out of the trees and attack them.

“What is it?” Jack asked.

“I think we found the culprit,” she said, pointing at the footprint. “It’s the Overseers.”

Doubt crept into her mind when she saw the confusion on her partner’s face. “How exactly did you reach that conclusion?” Jack blurted. “I’m not seeing anything to indicate the presence of Overseers.”

“Look!” she shouted, pointing insistently.

“Anna, that’s not an Overseer footprint.”

Rounding on him, she stood there with her mouth hanging open, blinking several times as she tried to process what he had just said. “What? Of course, it…Okay, then what do you see?”

Jack’s puzzled expression did very little to put her mind at ease. “It looks almost like an elephant footprint,” he said. “Circular with little, rounded toes. Frankly, I can’t imagine how a creature that big could move around in a forest without everyone knowing it was there.”

She turned to Arthur.

The elder Hunter looked very uncomfortable, his face pale, his eyes searching for an escape. Finally, when it became clear that she wouldn’t back off until she got an answer, he mumbled, “I don’t see either of those things.”

“Then what do you see?”

Arthur went to the very distinct, two-toed footprint and crouched beside it. “A man’s bootprint,” he said. “Standard tread. The kind you’d see on any TAC officer’s shoe. If not for you two, I would have sworn that there was a person creeping around back here.”

person“So, we all see something different,” Jack breathed. “How is that possible?”

“Telepathy?” Arthur suggested.

Anna shook her head vigorously. “No,” she said. “Our Nassai act as a natural defence against telepathic intrusions. We would feel it if anyone tried to pierce that barrier. Besides, the strain of creating three separate illusions and projecting them into three minds, two of which are protected? I can’t think of any telepath who could manage that. Not with this level of consistency.”

“Then what is it?” Arthur asked.

“I have no idea.”