Purgatech: Adrian's Ghost-hunting Angst

Chapter Nineteen: Jesus Gonna Be Here

So now what, Adrian thought.

The only man that had the real potential to save the day was handless. That being said, Adrian still believed that Benjamin Stone would be able to pull them through this, even if he was without a hand. Now, it was just to put Tommy to rest and then they would be heading after the big one.

The Old Hag proved to be the biggest problem, not that the now handless Ben seemed to care. He refused Adrian’s help, apart from the initial EMP blast that Adrian was sure would send him to the morgue for cauterizing a wound with it. Either that or that he’d already lost so much blood.

Still, Ben’s cigar stuck between his teeth as he leaned down and picked up from the floor, his severed hand, jamming it into his back pocket and making headway towards the door where moments before Tommy stood.

“That little b***h took my hand,” Ben finally spoke, realizing that Adrian must have been in some kind of shock for him. It was peculiar to Adrian, of course, that Ben had no care about the hand that was gone, the blood he had lost and his near definite need for medical attention, “So I’m going to take his God damned ear.”

How Ben was going to do this, neither of them would be able to guess. Ben was talking big, not because he wanted to seem tough in a devastating situation, but because he wanted that ear. He was a war hero, once, and would later recall that this was one of his preferred methods at showing his opposition that he was not one to go toe to toe with.

And Ben wasn’t. He enlisted at sixteen, when he found his father was an abandoning the family and this his mother, the w***e, was sleeping with everyone in the neighborhood. He felt alone, abandoned and afraid; hearing somewhere that the military would make a man out of you, he thought he’d go and enlist. It was a game, at first, with no notable signs of war on the horizon. It was to hurt his parents more than anything else, but shortly after enlisting, the war in Iraq took off and he was sent to fight.

He went in a boy but came out the man he was today.

“In spite of all the danger,” Ben sang under his breath, “In spite of all that may be. I’ll do anything for you, anything you want me to.” He finished singing, the words turning into a low hum, walking forward.

“Adrian, I dropped the gun. Can you get it for me?” Ben asked. He wasn’t sure how he forgot to reclaim the weapon after what happened but assumed it was due to a hysteria induced by his hand being cut off. A weakness, shock, Ben would never give the impression that something was ever bad. Especially not to a man like Adrian Beck, who already showed his fear against the ghosts. If they backed down now, they would have never rid the world of these two ghosts and that would not go down well for either.

“Of course,” Adrian bent over, picked up the stunner and handed it to Ben, “What’s the plan?”

“Same plan. I’ve only got the one, so the EMP is all on you. You nail that piece of s**t and I’m gonna ram twenty CC’s of electric fever in his earlobe.” Both Adrian and Ben knew that he’d never be able to get the chance of claiming the ghost boy’s ear, so the closest thing he could do was get a stunner into it. It would be a small, personal, victory that Ben would forever hold close to his heart. A hand for an ear, it was oddly biblical and Adrian respected the symbolism of it all.

“Sounds like a plan.” Adrian didn’t know what else to say but that.

Ben walked into the room where he saw Tommy. He assumed that the boy took the room on because of all the art supplies and general childlike theme that was set up here. Entering, a room that Adrian hadn’t dared go in since Eliza left, the pair saw what Tommy had been getting up to since his time alone there. The general Disney paintings that Eliza freely sprawled across the walls had all been modified. Simba, Timone, and Pumba all had their places, it was one of Eliza’s childhood favorites, but they took on a more sinister look. The Lion’s teeth bore, with hollow eyes that showed blood dripping, facing the terrified warthog and his meerkat friend.

“Well, this has taken a turn,” Adrian said abruptly, looking around the room. It was dark, gloomy, and reminiscent of a time long ago forgotten. The curtains were drawn, something that Eliza never did in here, and kept all sunlight out. The room smelled damp, though there were no waterlines nearing it, nor was there any rain that could have come in, since there was a drought starting to build in the town of Evergreen.

“I loved Lion King,” Ben shook his head, “Even more reason to put the little s**t in his place.” He finished, looking around the room a little longer. Tommy didn’t come, however, no presence of him was felt. Adrian took the phone that Purgatech gave him from a pocket, something that he thought he should when he was led to believe he’d be going on a ghost hunting mission and turned on the app. Again, the room showed no signs of ghostly presence. There were no blips on the screen, it was all just empty.

“Think it’s possible that we took them all out somehow? The shockwave was enough to destroy the trio?” Adrian asked, almost too excited for the setting.

“No.” The answer he expected but did not want, “The EMP isn’t strong enough to restrain ghosts that aren’t under its direct control and the stun gun needs to come in direct contact with them.”

This again, was news Adrian did not want to hear, but it was as the pair walked around the room, trying to find anything that could show them a sign that Tommy was present that he heard the blip on the cell phone, a giggling child and the words that haunted him, since the first time they came, six months ago:

“Come play with me, Adrian.”

“The hallway.” Ben turned and made his way to the door, where the giggling of Tommy became ever more evident, with the pitter patter of gentle footsteps making their way down the staircase.

“The chase is on,” Ben looked to Adrian with a smug grin on his face, before darting down the hallway. Adrian, who wanted to follow the rules set out for him by Ben, moved quickly to keep up with the man. There was no way, even if the rule hadn’t been stay close, that Adrian would move too far away from his protector. It would have been foolish, he thought, to try and take on a ghost by himself.

Adrian and Ben made their way down the flight of stairs, noticing Tommy’s small form move into the kitchen, following him there, too. Entering the kitchen, again, yielded no sign of the boy. They looked, at first, around and outside. The barriers of the physical world did nothing to ghosts, it seemed, which gave Adrian the idea that looking outside would be a good option.

He didn’t see the boy. The pool, which had taken the worst of Adrian’s neglect, growing copious amounts of fungi, algae, and bacteria over the six month period, saw no activity apart from the ever-present threat of a thousand flies and mosquitoes coming to visit. His eyes darted across the backyard, between trees and plants, with no sign of Tommy.

“She’s out there.” Came from Adrian’s mouth, however, Ben quickly coming to his side to see her.

“That’s the hag alright,” Ben said, the old woman’s eyes never moving off Adrian.

“Should we get her?” Adrian asked.

“Let’s focus on the kid first. He’s got to be here somewhere and we don’t want to bite off more than we can chew, especially if they double team us.” Ben turned around once more, and as he did, Tommy launched from a corner in the wall, landing on top of Ben, fierce claws, scratching away at his face. The sneak attack was accompanied by the high pitched squeal that only a child could utter, and Adrian returned to the present confused by the commotion.

“Where the hell did he even come from?” Adrian asked. Ben was more preoccupied with the child who clawed at his face, no doubt to strip him of his eyes, to answer the question. It seemed, however, that Tommy became physical for the attack, and Ben through fists of his own back, which struck the boy’s head from side to side.

“Uhm,” Ben began, straining at the weight of the boy, “EMP or something?”

Adrian didn’t even consider this course of action while he watched Tommy attack Ben. The intensity of his screeching never coming to an end through his attack.

“Right,” In the hysterics of the situation, Adrian didn’t even consider his actions, raising the stun gun and pulling the trigger. Before it could strike Tommy, however, Ben managed to fling him overhead, slamming the boy's body into the ground, but unluckily for him, getting the rods of the stun guns launcher pinned to his leg.

He wriggled and squirmed on the floor for a while, waiting for Adrian to remove his finger from the trigger, but in his own shock at the situation and what he was doing to the man, Adrian didn’t consider releasing the trigger that continued to pump electricity into Ben.

But soon it was over. Ben’s contorting and wriggling, murmuring obscenities and crazed rumblings subsided. Tommy, who was somehow winded from the blow, did not move from where he lay until he realized Ben was an easy target again. Ben, who was, in fact, an easy target, knew that there was nothing he could do to remedy this situation and waited for Tommy to get him.

“I’ve got you,” Adrian shouted, drawing the EMP from his side again, and as Tommy launched to get on Ben again, he was met with an already firing EMP gun, that pinned him into place. Ben too, did not move, which worried Adrian. How now, would Tommy be put to rest? He was too far away from Ben’s attached hand to grab the stunner that was clenched between his fingers, and he couldn’t release Tommy, since the EMP seemed to have a similar effect on Tommy, as the stun gun had on Ben.

“Oh s**t, oh s**t, oh s**t,” Was all Adrian could say, holding the ghost in place. But soon, this too, came to an end. In his quiet contemplating and readying himself for how he was going to deal with the situation, Adrian neglected his friend who may have been dead from the initial shock of his hand, and now the twenty CC’s of Electric Fever that was thrust upon him, to notice that Ben had stood, brought the gun just over Adrian’s shoulder and fired the stun gun at Tommy. One pin did, in fact, strike his ear, which made the boy scream and shout as he faded from existence.

“To out of three, that’s a good start to the day,” Ben said. To Adrian’s relief, it seemed that there were no hard feelings towards the situation. That was, until, from behind the rotten Hag’s hand rested on Ben’s shoulder.

“Oh s**t,” He said, as the Old Hag pulling him backward and launching him through the door that led into the kitchen. Ben knocked his head against the wall, a droplet of blood moving down his neck, but he was determined to claim this victory if no others:

He drew the shotgun and through dazed eyes, while the Old Hag moved towards Adrian, he fired the first shot which struck the Hag and got pinned in place. Her eyes showed shock, in that moment, and Adrian considered she would die here, but still, she stood.

“I’ll be back for you.” The Old Hag said, turning to Ben, who squeezed the trigger again. It was too late, the Old Hag was upon him, her foot kicking the barrel to face down the hall. His second shot missed and now, Benjamin Stone was at the mercy of the Old Hag.