[Fiction] A Family Affair [Complete]

[Lou Anne Burgess]

Tuesday September 13, 2016

Labor Day weekend had been relaxing after the previous week’s depressing grind of paperwork. She had taken Rachel down to Rehoboth to their beach house and had spent a few days relaxing out on the boat or near the beach. The weather had been uncooperative and they couldn’t stay in Delaware long, but by not needing to worry about driving or flying there and back, they had far more of their weekend free than most of their fellow Beach goers. Going dancing had been perhaps the best part, especially since the rain couldn’t ruin that.

Feeling a need to unwind from her time in Baltimore, Lou Anne had relaxed most of the next week. She didn’t want to deal with patients or volunteering or traveling away from home. Being home for such a long stretch had reminded her of why she had wanted to move her practice back to Boston now that she was done with school. She had actually gone and played Tourist through the Historical sections of Boston on Wednesday, something she hadn’t had time to do in the past few years that she had lived here.

The forecast in Delaware for the weekend had been good weather and so they had planned a return. They left early on Friday afternoon and returned late Sunday night. Surprisingly, the town was nearly as busy as it had been for Labor Day. It wasn’t difficult to remember a time when on the weekend after Labor Day, only the locals and a few adventurous souls could be found there.

Everything was finally picked up from the various trips that had pulled them away and distracted them from domestic chores. It was the afternoon when Lou Anne finally could sit down at her desk and contemplate the mound of mail that demanded her attention. It had started accumulating when she was away in Maryland, but since then it had taken on such a life of its own that she wondered if the different letters were breeding to supplement the new influx of letters each day.

Clinics, research hospitals, hospitals, medical companies, as well as a few high profile companies and respectable institutions were scattered through the pile. She’d had a vague notion that this might happen but her talk with Neil had certainly prepared her for this. After the first few letters, she started playing a little game, sorting them by just how attractive the offer was. That done, she read each letter again to see if anything interested her.

One piqued her interest only in that they had quite adamantly turned her down to work there several years before. Their insurance company hadn’t wanted to deal with her volunteering with MSF and she was certain that they’d be even less enthusiastic about such arrangements given the salary they were proposing. She briefly considered toying with them and rejecting them over the issue, but her professionalism won out, she didn’t know what the future might bring after all.

She drafted a reply to send to some of the suitors in the pile but figured there was no tremendous hurry to get all of them answered. She still needed to figure her life out and the mail might help provide some insights.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

Thursday September 22, 2016

Maximum Security Wing, Maryland House of Corrections – Women’s Facility

Jessup, MD

The burly corrections officer kept a tight hold on Carla’s arm restraining Carla’s speed to something closer to her normal shuffle. It wasn’t often that Carla was eager to make it to a visiting session, but today was normally Lou Anne’s day to visit. And she very much wanted to see her sister. Carla was guided through the metal detector in the entry to the visiting room and maneuvered towards one of the booths. As soon as she saw Lou Anne, she stopped in her tracks. Officer Green hadn’t anticipated the stop and almost pulled her off her feet as she continued forward.

Carla didn’t see Lou Anne sitting on the other side of the reinforced glass, she saw a memory of her. She wracked her brain trying to remember when she’d last looked so young and so alive and couldn’t come up with anything. Nothing in recent past anyway. She vaguely remembered that Lou Anne had looked like that before she’d been arrested...a decade ago, more? She wasn’t certain. Lou Anne smiled at her, not an earth shattering one like some Novas were supposed to have, but more substantial than Carla could remember. Regaining her wits, Carla shuffled forward, took her seat in the booth and picked up the telephone receiver.

“Hey there kid, how’s life among the elite?” Carla began.

“Life’s busy, but I don’t know anything about the elite.”

“Nah, mom told me you erupted, that’s why you missed your last visit. She wouldn’t say what happened though, kept tearing up.” Carla studied the woman before her looking for changes beyond what was obvious.

“The short version is that I got shot while I was working in Africa; an Elite killed one of my patients.” Lou Anne’s face fell as she talked about what she obviously considered her failure.

“I’ve told you before kid, you can’t save everybody. Nobody’ll hold it against you.” Lou Anne smiled sadly. “Except you at least. So, somebody capped your patient and you too and you got what? You bullet proof now?”

“I don’t know if I’m bullet proof or not, I don’t really want to find out that badly. Bullet resistant I think I can manage though.” Lou Anne smiled nervously, Carla grinned. “I can heal faster, teleport and use telekinesis. In the grand scheme of things, I’m a lightweight.”

Carla snorted, whether in amusement or derision was difficult to tell. “Yer shittin’ me! You can teleport and you’ve got the mind over matter stuff. You know what I could do with that shi...?” Carla stopped in mid word. Her mind while dulled by years in prison had started to turn, she made herself frown, seemingly saddened by the thought. “So, you eating like a normal person now, or you have the nova sized appetite?” She could tell the answer by Lou Anne’s frown. “Ah, afraid you’re not gonna be a light weight in the weight department much longer huh? Guess you better get exercising again if yer gonna keep that skinny new figure.”

Lou Anne laughed. “Yeah, that’s been a hard transition, not the hardest, but unlike others you can’t escape that one.”

“So I guess you’ve got so many people coming to your office you use hundreds for toilet paper now right?” Carla had only seen the pain on Lou Anne’s face from people that were really badly hurt. Someone stabbed had that look, someone shot had that look, it didn’t make any sense.

“Actually, considering my specialty, my patients have fled faster than ...”

“...a pack of thieves when the cops show up?”

“Something like that.”

The two women sat in silence for a few minutes.

“So, when are you gonna get me out of here?” Carla smiled showing she was kidding.

“Oh, I thought maybe when you get out on parole I’d come pick you up.”

“Not before that huh? If you can ...” Carla moved her hands to show something disappearing. “You could get me out right?” She smiled, but she couldn’t quite force a kidding tone into her voice. It was too plaintive, too raw, too honest.

Lou Anne looked intensely uncomfortable. “You know I can’t do that Carla. It’s better to not even mention it.”

“Yeah, I know, I was just kidding.” She forced a chuckle which prompted a smile from Lou Anne. “So, you popped a few weeks ago now, what have you been doing since then?”

Lou Anne looked relieved to change the topic. “Ah, lets see. I finished off my practice and went to talk to a few people about options for figuring out what I’m going to do with my life. Since then I’ve been practicing teleporting so I can get to visit a friend later this year, working on my doctoral thesis in philosophy and answered three tons of mail. Would you believe the XWF actually sent me a recruitment letter?”

The look from Carla indicated that she didn’t believe it. “XWF? Do you even know how to fight?”

Lou Anne chuckled. “That was the first thing I thought. They wanted me as a paraphysician to treat their people when they’re hurt.”

“Well, that makes sense. You gonna do that? You did specialize in violence after all?”

“Uh, that’s not what I had in mind when I picked my specialty. XWF’s not anything I’m interested in.”

Carla nodded. “So how’s yer wife, uh – ?“

“Rachel.”

“Yeah, Rachel. How’s she taking this?”

Lou Anne hesitated, Carla had never approved of Lou Anne having anything to do with Rachel. She had always thought it unnatural and Lou Anne avoided mentioning anything that would normally upset Carla. “She’s taking it better than I am. No major problems so far.” Lou Anne unconsciously rapped her knuckles lightly on the side of her head.

“Cool. Say, you never sent me a picture of your wedding, got any to spare?”

Even more surprised, Lou Anne wondered what was going on. “Not really, why do you ask?”

“Just curious, I don’t remember what she looks like.”

“That might be because you never met her.”

“Yeah, well, she’s part of the family, I’ll be out in a few years. I have a right to know who’s gonna be at dinner don’t I?”

Lou Anne nodded. “Yes, I’ll see if I can find a picture for you.”

“Cool, so, you seen Wayne yet?”

The conversation went on a few minutes more but Lou Anne could tell that Carla’s had gone into pointless chit-chat mode. Certainly not a crime when you have so little contact with people on the outside of the prison. Officer Green’s return heralded the end of the visit. Carla hung up the phone and waved as best she could with her hands restrained. Lou Anne smiled and waved back.

Carla shuffled back to her cell at her normal pace. Her features were downcast. “Well, you don’t have to worry.” She told the Corrections Officer. “She’s not gonna spring me before the parole board does.” Officer Green gave a non-committal grunt. One way or another, she’s already helping me. She just doesn’t know it yet.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

September 30, 2016

Colorado Springs, Colorado

There was something extraordinarily refreshing about a shower at the end of a school week. Sure, he had a twelve hour shift tomorrow, but that was tomorrow. Tonight, meant chilling out with the entertainment console and indulging in some sort of delivered food. Delivery might not be healthy, but it was a respite from the Air Force’s institutional food and his own horrid cooking. Finished dressing in loafing about the house clothes, Captain Wayne Burgess went over to the pile of mail that he had brought in with him. It was the last responsibility he had before his leisure could truly begin.

He was surprised to find a letter from his oldest sister, Carla. She had been in jail for sixteen years now and Wayne could count the amount of contact with one hand, and have enough fingers left to finish off one of his students at the flight simulator of their choice. He treated the letter as if it were dangerous. He laid it on the table alone, looked it over, touching it only with a knife from the kitchen. He held it up to the light and could see mostly through it. Still not completely satisfied, he placed it back on the table and carefully slit the flap with the knife.

No doubt he’d have failed basic bomb handling with his performance, but it made him feel better. He opened the envelope carefully and extracted the single piece of paper. There was a red stamped image saying ‘Approved’ meaning that the prison’s censors had looked at the letter before it was mailed. He unfolded it and read.

Hey Wayne,

Lou Anne was in the other day. I guess you’ve heard she erupted. Got any juicy details on that, I can see you around someone with a big gun oh airforce guy, but not her. Anyway, we were talking about how Rachel was handling it and I realized that I’ve never actually seen a picture from their wedding. She didn’t think she had pictures left, but I figured you might.

So send me some pics baby brother. Whatever you’ve got of the family, you, Mom & Dad, even the little squab Patty since Mom can’t bring her here to visit. Houses are cool too, I want to know what life’s like on the outside. I guess yours is more like mine, the whole institutional thing. But I bet you’ve got a lot more comfortable digs than I do. So...cough ‘em up.

It’s only a few more years before I’m eligible for parole afterall. I want to see how things have changed out there for real, not just on TV. I can’t have a chip player, so they need to be printed somehow.

Pretty Please

Carla

Wayne shook his head. He was the youngest of the three of them that were around when she went to jail. She’d hardly wanted anything to do with him as long as he’d remembered, then suddenly she wants something and she’s all peaches and cream. Wayne remembered this routine well from growing up. He wasn’t going to jeopardize a Friday night for Carla; he’d get something put together for her next week some time. It would give him something different as a break. Maybe he would include some pictures of Patty, he didn’t think Carla had ever seen her.

He put the letter back in the envelope and stuck it into a priority mail slot on his desk. Then reached for the phone. “Yeah, Pizza City, I’d like to place a delivery order.”

[Lou Anne Burgess]

October 20, 2016

Maximum Security Wing, Maryland House of Corrections – Women’s Facility

Jessup, MD

Carla’s eyes darted over the picture of Lou Anne and Rachel. As she had done for the past week, she struggled to commit every detail to her memory. She knew that most people thought she was stupid, she counted on it actually. The truth was that Carla had been an excellent student and one of the smartest in her class before she had fallen in with a bad crowd and started down a road that lead to prison. Though not ‘photographic’ like Lou Anne’s, Carla’s memory was superior to many people’s. She had afterall played a game of chess with a prisoner in another cell block for the better part of a year with neither of them ever seeing board or writing a move down.

It was a shame that Estelle has been killed. For all of her intelligence, Estelle had never really understood her fellow prisoners or prison life enough to do what it took to survive. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that with some people, it didn’t matter if you didn’t swing that way, it didn’t matter if the Bible forbid it, it didn’t matter that you couldn’t stand to be near people like that. You did what they wanted, or you regretted it. Poor Estelle got her throat cut after quite a few other opportunities to change her tune.

Carla supposed Estelle’s death proved the difference between pure ‘book learnin’ and ‘street smarts’. Estelle was good for the book learning, but never did have the common sense that God gave a goat. Carla had come in book smart and somewhat street savvy, but she was a quick learner, she adapted and survived. She also kept a hell of a grudge. Josie McIntyre was the albatross around Carla’s neck. Josie McIntyre was what made prison unbearable, was the one that kept her from earning forgiveness for her crimes by pushing more and more on her. Josie McIntyre was going to find the fires of Hell relaxing after Carla was finally free to break off their relationship.

And poor Lou Anne, poor sweet Lou Anne, suckered into the same thing by That Whore Rachel. Lou Anne would get her out of here and then she’d save Lou Anne. Why her parents had let Rachel do this, she couldn’t fathom. Lou Anne wasn’t in prison, she was just bound for Hell for her living that way. But Carla would help her see the light, she’d save her from The Whore.

Wrapped up in absorbing the pictures and her own thoughts as she was, Carla was careless. “Whatcha looking at hun?” jolted her back to the reality of her cell. She had tried very hard for the past week to keep Josie from seeing the pictures. She’d hidden them as best she could and kept a magazine or something convenient to hide what she was looking at while she watched her peripherals to see if Josie was close. But she got wound up and careless and Josie saw her looking at the photos.

“Just some family photos they finally sent me.”

“Oh cool! Let me see!” Josie reached into the concealing magazine and plucked the pile of pictures from Carla’s grasp. Carla gritted her teeth as tightly as she could to control her anger. She took several measured breaths and brought the white hot back deep into herself so she could relax her bite. She plastered a saccharine smile on her face and answered all of Josie’s questions with the same loyal and maybe even loving tone of voice she had faked for so long.

She’s gonna get me out Josie, and then we’re through, just you wait and see.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

November 12, 2016

Warden’s Office, Maryland House of Corrections – Women’s Facility

Jessup, MD

Brenda Shell had been the Warden at Jessup for almost two decades. In that time there had been a few fights, but never one bad enough that had required her to come in to the office on a Saturday night. There was a first time for everything it seemed. Her husband waited down in the car for her to leave and go home, their night out with the Baltimore Symphony was now ruined.

The wine she’d drank with dinner allowed her to sit calmly in her desk and look over the files of the women involved.

Fights in prison populations were sadly normal. The level of violence Paige had mentioned tonight was an aberration, one that she normally read to be failings by the Warden of whatever institution was splashed across the headlines. Tonight, she was that Warden. Thankfully, the wine helped her nerves deal with that sad fact.

Two crisp raps on her door signaled Paige’s arrival. “Come in.” She called. The door opened and Paige Jones, the Chief Corrections Officer strode into the office, her normally neat uniform was disheveled and smeared with drying blood. Dayena Corcoran, the doctor that administered to this facility followed behind wearing green scrubs. The two women sat in the chairs across Brenda’s desk. Brenda turned her attention to Paige first.

“Fortunately it was a private fight, only three people involved. Smith, McIntyre and Burgess are in the infirmary right now. Once they’re free to go they’re all going in Solitary. What I’m hearing is that Smith just jumped in to try to save McIntyre, Burgess was going in tooth and nail. I’ve got a team working on cleaning the cell up now. I... I can’t remember seeing that much blood in such a small place outside a horror movie.” Paige stopped, she’d obviously said everything she could, she turned to look at Dayena to continue.

Taking her cue, Dayena began speaking. Her delivery was flat, as someone at least slightly in shock. “The types of wounds are consistent with what I normally see from a prison fight, particularly one where a makeshift knife was used. The savagery however is not normal, I’m running toxicology on all three to find out if any were high and on what.” She shuddered briefly. “McIntyre is dead, I won’t have the COD for sure until I do an autopsy, but blunt trauma to the head and blood loss are the most likely, just not sure which won that particular race.”

Moving on to a different topic, Dayena’s bearing relaxed slightly and she lost some of her pallor and shocked look. “Smith is suffering a few superficial cuts, two stab wounds and a concussion, I’m waiting on X-rays to determine how bad. She might not make it through the night if it’s bad enough.” Her brow furrowed. “Burgess was really hurt that badly, worst she has is a large clump of hair torn out. However, since the guards restrained her she’s been fighting the restraints and screaming how she’s going to kill Josie for what she did. I’ve given her a sedative to try to keep her from hurting herself more or making it look like we were unnecessarily brutal with her.”

Brenda nodded as Dayena rose to return to her patients. “Paige, get Burgess into solitary and document everything. Then sweep that cellblock for weapons. Depending on your staffing, either check the other cell blocks tonight, or have Julia check them tomorrow morning. I’ll be in around ten for a report.”

“Yes ma’am!” Paige stood and walked for the door. She was sure she’d be able to get one, maybe two cell blocks swept tonight. Brenda’s voice stopped her at the door before she could turn the knob to leave.

“Paige, what got to Dayena?”

Paige turned, “Uh, the violence done to McIntyre ma’am.” The normally unflappable Paige Jones blanched slightly as she recalled what they’d seen of Josie McIntyre. “It was a violation ma’am, a perversion of any kind of intimacy. It, it was just wrong.” Paige turned, when she spoke again, it was towards the door. “If you want more details, you’ll need to go to the morgue or read Dr. Corcoran’s report. I don’t want you blaming me for your nightmares.” Josie turned the handle and left, ready for the routine of sweeping the cellblock. She hoped the other guards were done cleaning the cell so there would be no reminder of tonight’s events among the general population. Better if the only reminders were in whatever rathole they stuck Burgess.

The door shut behind Josie leaving Warden Shell with the haunted looks from the two women. If both were so bothered, she didn’t want to know specifics. She’d need to know some of course, but she’d have Dayena give her a sanitized report for her report to the Department of Corrections. Leaving the office she hurried to the comfort of her car and her husband’s company. Maybe they could salvage the weekend and get tickets to tomorrow afternoon’s performance at the Meyerhoff. She would check when she got home, it might be the perfect cure to tonight’s problems. And it would help her relax so she could sleep.

* * * * *

Three guards carried the nearly unconscious woman into the solitary confinement wing. “...in hell Josie...gonna stop this from...never again...burn...kill you...” Two of the guards opened the solitary cell and lay her on the bed face down while they removed the hand cuffs. The third guard covered the prisoner with a stun gun. Blood dripped from the cuffs onto the floor as they withdrew. Their task done, they bagged the handcuffs as evidence and withdrew towards the general population area. While Carla’s drug addled voice continued it’s quiet rant.

In the darkness, Carla opened her eyes. She looked drugged, but not as badly as she was acting. She listened to their footfalls as they retreated down the hallway and silence became her companion.

In the darkness, quiet laughter welled forth. Muffled as it was by the slim pillow no guards heard it. “I hope you like your return to hell Josie. You died on me too soon, but that’s okay. I have other sources of revenge.” Carla, helped slightly by the drugs that the doctor had given her slipped into the sleep of the innocent and justified. Her last thoughts were a prayer, that in suppressing Lou Anne’s assistance, she wouldn’t heal too quickly and tip them off that she had help in planning her escape.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

November 29, 2016

Solitary Confinement - Maximum Security Wing, Maryland House of Corrections – Women’s Facility

Jessup, MD

Degradation, being forced to submit to someone else, to bring much hated pleasure to someone undeserving of it. Bile rose in her throat. One way or another, this was the last time. Please Lou Anne! Please Lou Anne, help me. Her free left hand searched the edge of the mattress.

* * * * *

“We, the jury find the defendant, Carla Burgess guilty ...”

“...ty years. You will be eligible for parole...”

* * * * *

The lights sure are bright today, are they shining a spotlight on me? No, that’s impossible. No one knows, relax Carla, relax. No one knows what I’m looking for here, no one can suspect, they wouldn’t let me in here if they did. Okay - login through the prison’s Opnet Filter. Go to the search page, so many things to check how about “heredity eruption”. Woo Hoo! Not blocked. I didn’t say anything out loud did I? No, no one’s looking over here, well, the guards are, but no special attention. Let’s see... <click> <click> <scroll-scroll-scroll> Ah! Paydirt!

* * * * *

“Here Carla, take this for later.” Ron handed her the pistol. She had practiced with it last week, but this was different, if she fired, it wouldn’t be a paper target. She took the gun reluctantly. “Hey, stop worrying. It’s not like we’re going there to try to kill her, we’re just gonna rob the place. Relax.” Ron’s embrace stripped her of her reservations as quickly as he stripped her of her clothes.

* * * * *

...our experiments lead us to conclude that the genetic markers for latency are passed down primarily through the mother’s side. There is no guarantee that children from the same maternal line however...

* * * * *

She raised her left hand, the handle of the shiv cool in her grip. Never again..never again... please Lou Anne, help me. She felt the blade on her throat. It ends now. Her hand moved and she felt the blade bite into her throat. Pain blossomed forth and clenched her jaws together. Josie’s agonizing scream made it all worthwhile, in fact, it sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine, a shiver which was not diminished by the savage blow to the head a moment later as Josie recovered from the savaging she has received. Warmth flooded Carla in a moment and she knew that it would be alright.

Then came fear...that they would find out and lock her up somewhere worse than this. She concentrated and pulled the warmth deep inside herself, locking it away as she felt the torn flesh of her throat finish closing. Josie was on top of her now, beating on her. Remembering the makeshift weapon in her hand, Carla began to fight back.

* * * * *

Carla awoke, a smile on her lips. She had a smile every morning now. No Josie to wake up to, and no sign that anyone suspected her of being anything more than she appeared. They had even taken her off suicide watch a few days ago. She looked at her reflection in the toilet bowl’s water. There was no scar or other mark on her throat. Doctor D had removed the bandages from her head yesterday, her scalp had healed from where Wilhelmina had tried to ... okay, succeeded in pulling her off of Josie.

Willie’d been an okay kid, maybe she could have saved her from Josie and that crowd, but you never knew. Better to send her on to Judgement. Maybe they’d look kindly on her for sacrificing herself trying to save Josie. Willie and Josie though had one thing she didn’t -- they were out of here and she was still confined. She thought back to the warmth from the fight with Josie. Soon. Soon, she’d know the guard’s schedules and she’d be able to find out some of what she could do. Then she could start planning. Lou Anne had given her the tools to escape, had saved her, now she had to save Lou Anne.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

December 5, 2016

Solitary Confinement - Maximum Security Wing, Maryland House of Corrections – Women’s Facility

Jessup, MD

No! Nooo! Noooooo! It’s not supposed to be like this. I’m freeing myself from my sins, not compounding them. Hot, fat tears rolled down Carla’s cheeks.

Just a few minutes ago she had released the inner warmth she had felt when she had cut her own throat. She had been startled, the tough, reinforced prison jumpsuit had become very uncomfortable, tight, full, as if something was trying to bust out the back. Given a few more moments it might have, but Carla couldn’t afford something obvious like that, and she had pulled the warmth back in. Wings? Have I earned my halo and wings? She had quickly stripped her clothes off and released the warmth again. She felt weight behind her and with just a slight effort she worked muscles she never knew and spread the wings as wide as the cramped cell would allow her.

But it wasn’t the downy white of story book angel’s wings. It wasn’t even the dashingly dangerous black wings of that Nova that trashed Gary a while back. The wings were leathery and the bones and veins were visible in them. They looked like a bat’s wings, like a demon’s wings. Sobs wracked her body as she dealt with Heaven’s rejection of her. She knew that she had fallen from where she was, but surely, up to now, there had been hope of redemption. Hope of being better.

She looked again at the cursed wings. She reached out and touched them, the leather was soft, but it was just so... so... disgusting. Something behind her moved and startled her, she leapt from the bed, worried that somehow someone was in the cell. The outstretched wings caught and bent at unintended angles as she leapt from the bed and turned. She hurriedly drew her wings in, a mistake she wouldn’t make again. There was no one and nothing in the bed or behind the bed. The stone wall was as flat and blank as it had ever been. She turned and sat again, putting her hand on her forehead from nervous habit. What she felt surprised her, rather than the smooth forehead she expected, she felt something hard and slightly sharp. Using her hands to feel her head she discovered two small horns. The darkness that shielded her from the guards now worked against her. She sent her hands roaming over her body to see what other changes there were. The source of the noise behind her became clear, a thin tail ending in what might have been a barb had it been stronger completed her change into what could only be some kind of demon.

She stifled the tears. There was no use for them. Had Heaven rejected her? Should she return Hell’s apparent embrace for all it was worth?

* * * * *

From WBAL’s Top News Stories

December 6, 2016

A five alarm fire ravaged several homes in the twenty four hundred block of Greenwood Road in Beltsville around two o'clock this morning. The fire apparently began in an abandoned home at 2416 Greenwood Road Click for history and spread to the two adjacent lots. Firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from spreading further, but all three houses were destroyed. Investigators have tentatively declared the blaze to have started when vagrants started a fire in the house for heat, four of whom were found dead in the ruins.

Historical Notes on 2416 Greenwood Road

June 15, 2000: Home owner murdered interrupting a burglary. Judith Glass (68) was killed by multiple gunshots. Ronald Harris (19), Dwayne Hurley (19), Valery Nakata (19), Carla Burgess (18), Scott Perry (17) and Genice Winchester (17) arrested for murder. All were tried as adults. Ronald Harris and Dwayne Hurley are serving life sentences without parole at the Maryland House of Corrections, Carla Burgess is serving a life sentence at the Women’s House of Corrections in Jessup, Scott Perry and Genice Winchester served seven years and were released on parole in 2007, Valery Nakata served ten years and was released in 2010. Valery Nakata is currently serving a twenty year sentence on unrelated charges at the Eastern Corrections Institute.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

December 9, 2016

Ellicott City, MD

Carla found that she had come to miss her mom’s visits. For one thing, they helped to mark out the advancement of the week. For another, it was someone to talk to other than Josie and the other girls in the cell block. Solitary confinement, even if it wasn’t truly confining was hard on the psyche and it was getting to Carla.

The other night had been a surprise, when the bum had startled her and she tried to throw him away with her mind, hands of fire had lifted him and thrown him. And then the fire, had come to her call. The burning had been glorious, and it hadn’t hurt her, that was the biggest surprise. The bums certainly didn’t find it painless, but that was okay, they were lazy. They deserved the fire for wallowing in their Sloth and their addictions. Now, she needed to learn to control the fire. That need lead her to a place that Josie had talked about incessantly; Rumors, her favorite bar before she’d ended up in lock-up.

It took much of Carla’s will to resist the urge to go into the building and send all of those sinners to hell. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed them, or at least one of them. She needed a place far enough away from the city that she could practice and find out for sure what she could do. Someplace outside with plenty of space and not too much in the way of neighbors. Maybe no one there could give her that, but she’d see what she could get.

Two women came out the front door supporting each other, no, not supporting each other, they weren’t that drunk, they were drooling all over each other. The last dregs of her dinner churned in her stomach as she watched them make their way to a Cadillac. Not them . She resumed her waiting and after another twenty minutes was rewarded for her patience. A lone blonde woman came out and opened the driver’s side door of a large, dirty van. She was alone.

She folded her wings tight around her and waited for the van to merge out into traffic. The noise and jostling of pulling onto the road should give Carla enough distraction. Seeing her chance, Carla teleported into the very back of the van. She laid down on the floor behind the last seat and pulled the warmth inside. No longer having to deal with her wings, she shifted to a more comfortable position to wait. The wait was almost longer than she could allow herself. Nearly an hour later, the van pulled to a stop. Carla waited while the woman left the van, and went into an unseen building.

She looked out the back window and teleported herself a few feet from the van. She surveyed the area. A slightly run down farm house. The sharp smell of dung stung her nose, she looked around and saw a few animals, she didn’t see another house, at least not with lights on anywhere nearby. There would be time for that later. Hurriedly, she teleported back to her cell, dormed and dressed to await the guard’s patrol.

* * * * *

The lights were all out when she returned. She looked in all of the downstairs windows selecting the best place to enter the house and a moment later, she was inside. Silently she walked through the ground floor making certain she was alone. She found a cellar door and investigated it, finally she crept up the steps to the second floor. One riser betrayed her and creaked. She waited several long minutes before continuing. Only one bedroom was occupied, a single person slept in a king size bed in the large bedroom. The woman’s even breathing was relaxing, it was a sound she’d not heard since she entered solitary. The disgust and the anger she’d kept under control at the bar and on the drive to this house couldn’t be contained any more. She looked around, found a small bundle of clothing and gagged the woman, then she picked her up savagely and carried her downstairs to the cellar.

The woman’s struggles were hardly noticeable. The grunts and attempts to talk or scream through the gag were like music. Carla didn’t realize her own, new strength until she threw her prisoner to the hard concrete floor. Bones snapped and Carla smiled as the woman began to scream in pain. Carla knelt down by the woman in all of her angelic glory. “There, there.” she cooed as if to comfort the woman. Her hand gently caressed the side of the woman’s head. “Shh.” She stroked the woman’s hair out of her face tenderly. The screams and sobbing subsided a bit. “We’re going to talk, just talk. But... If you scream or yell, I’m going to kill you. So just relax and you’ll be okay. Okay?” The woman nodded as tears spilled down her cheeks. Carla gently untied the gag and let the woman breath.

“You, you won’t hurt me?” She looked at Carla fully for the first time, Carla’s beauty took her breath away.

“Not as long as you cooperate.” Carla smiled sweetly. Inside the smile was anything but sweet.

* * * * *

Carla withdrew the flames into her body and stomped on the few still intact bones in the center of the corral. She knelt down taking the larger fragments in her hands and grinding them to powder. It was all that remained of Kelly and her horses. She wasn’t sure the crime lab would be able to identify it as human and horse bone now that she was done with it. The fact that Kelly lived all the way out here miles from anyone was just too good to be true. Sure, she’d be missed in a few days and the blood in the cellar couldn’t be hidden without destroying the whole house, but Carla felt secure that she had a safe place to work and practice for a few days.

She brushed her hands and stood. It was a good night. Kelly had taken the punishment she’d earned and had thanked her for purifying her soul by giving her food and civilian clothes. They might be a whore’s clothes, but they were so comfortable. She shrugged her shoulders marveling at the feel of something other than a prison jumpsuit sliding across her skin. Done with Kelly, she walked into the her house and to the kitchen. Her hunger for pain was well sated. Now she needed to feed her belly.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

December 16, 2016

University of Massachusetts - Amherst: Morrill Science Center Greenhouses

“And if I were a nova and asked your plants how you’re treating them, what exactly would they tell me, hmmm?”

“Dr. Brenford, I’ve done everything I could to get them to grow. They just refuse to do any – My god! What’s that?”

Dr. Rachel Brenford turned her attention away from the sickly plants on the student’s work bench to look out the transparent green house wall in the direction the horror stricken student was pointing. Screams and gasps erupted from other students as she took in a burning person, no, not a burning person. A person wreathed in fire moving purposely towards the main science center. “Lets assume we’re going to have a fire drill everyone. Get your things, and leave through the back door in a quiet manner. Don’t forget your plants, you can turn them in next week.” The calm with which her students left green house 4’s lab area wasn’t a testament to her leadership abilities or their trust in her. It was a testament to the power that she exerted to keep them calm.

Her students heading for safety she reached out with her mind to see what would be needed to stop the ambulatory flame that had just entered the science center. Where is that whore Rachel, I’m gonna make her suffer for what she’s done to Lou Anne. The rage shocked her but in the swirling vortex of hatred, she learned two other things. This was Lou Anne’s older sister, and far more than just Rachel were in danger.

* * * * *

Louis Flannery pressed the accelerator of his campus maintenance truck to the floorboard. The white pick-up truck surged forward towards the campus physical plant. He fumbled for his portable OpNet device as he swerved over the sidewalk and onto the grass. His horn sounded a long braying note to warn a group of students walking obliviously through the middle of the road.

* * * * *

The double doors of a lecture hall in the Morrill Science Center burst into flames as the flame wreathed body of what survivors would later describe as a succubus strode into the hall. Students in the back row, some half asleep leapt to their feet as their clothes began to smolder and the sprinkler system began showering the auditorium.

“Where is the Whore Rachel?” the flaming demon demanded of the room. “She teaches here.”

Ensnared by the beauty of the terrible creature but horrified of the flames spreading despite the best efforts of the sprinklers the students and the professor stood shock still, asking themselves if they knew a Rachel to give directions to.

* * * * *

Fire alarms had not yet gone off throughout the Morril Science center as Louis Flannery brought his truck to a screeching, sliding halt. The truck slid the last few inches as Louis killed the engine and sprung from the cab. He ran in the wide open garage door entrance as fast as his legs and heft would take him. The truck’s door hung wide open and his OpDevice lay forgotten on the ground beside the truck; An official with Dynergy asking cluelessly if he was there.

* * * * *

“You mean Doctor Brenford?” A small brunette currently resembling a drowned rat asked

“Yes.” A smile beamed from the demon’s face. “Yes, where is Doctor Brenford?” Her tone of her voice was soft even if it was spoken loud enough to hear over the water and hissing of steam.

“She’ll be at the meeting later, but I think she’s in the greenhouse right now.” A young man answered.

“And what meeting will she be missing?” The smile was still as bright as before, but the tone was different, cold, biting.

Fear filled him, but he was more afraid of what she might do if he didn’t answer. “Uh, the support group meeting, uh, GALA.”

So, she’s turning children as well. “It’s okay,” her voice became soft again and the smile brightened if that was possible. “God might understand it was her fault and not yours.” She raised her hand, pointing straight towards the instructor’s lab bench at the front of the room. A thick stream of fire lanced out from her and struck the lab bench. “But I wouldn’t bet on it.” It began to burn as she turned from the room. Time to find my prey.

All eyes in the room left her to focus on the gas taps built into the bench. Then, everyone scrambled to find some kind of cover.

* * * * *

Louis had barreled into two of his coworkers, but he kept going, yelling a half hearted sounding “sorry” behind him. Finally, he reached his destination, the utilities control center. Twenty years before, this would have been a dingy little room that might have had a few computers to control the phones and the circuit breakers for the main lines going to each building. Since the rise of the OpNet and increases in imbedded computing though, this room was a kind of nerve center for the whole campus.

This was a closed system of course, they couldn’t risk students, let alone unscrupulous hackers having any type of control of the campus’ utilities. All of the school’s alarms were shown here as well as in the security office. Phone computers routed calls, other computers monitored the flow of electricity allowing precise billing to each department. Most importantly for Louis, one computer controlled the flow of propane to the Science Center. Desperately he punched in his passwords to access the controls and gave the computer the commands to shut off all gas to Morrill Center and the green houses.

“Louis, what the fuck are you doing? There are classes in session.” Louis looked blankly at Francine for a moment, then came to his senses as if waking from a dream. Francine didn’t notice Louis’ awakening. She was paying attention now to the alarm board and the reports of water flowing through the science building’s sprinkler system. “I take it back Louis, you’re a hero.” She turned her attention to her telephone headset. “Yes, I’d like to report a fire, it looks like a bad one. U-Mass Amherst, the science building.”

* * * * *

Carla strode into the burning lobby of the building, some of the ceiling had fallen in and some poor fool had burned to death still standing up, probably impaled on and supported by the fallen support pieces. She smiled at the thought of his agony as she caught a glimpse of the greenhouses through the shimmer of heat and the flames. Then she stopped dead in her tracks as the fool moved.

She looked closer at the corpse and realized it wasn’t a burned corpse, actually, burned corpses looked good compared to this. The skin was a brownish purple and looked shriveled over a misshapen head and tentacles on the face, it was wearing a dress, no a robe would be a better word. The thing looked vaguely familiar, Ron had shown her pictures in his...what was it called...Monster Manual when they had first met. This thing or something like it had given her nightmares when he described how they lived deep underground and ate brains.

She threw a blast of flame at it figuring to kill it before it could eat her. She was here for a reason and fighting fantasy monsters wasn’t the reason. The flame gout seemed to hurt it some, but then Carla became afraid. She didn’t see its mouth move. Does it even have a mouth? Instead she heard its voice in her mind. /You should not be here. Go!/ Carla raised her hand to throw another blast of flame, but her arm stopped its aiming motion. /Your anger is misplaced and self-destructive. Leave on your own or I’ll force the issue./

Fuck you, you freak! I’ve got business here and you’re in my way. Now get out or my way or I’m having fried calamari.

/<chuckle> Very well. I won’t stand in your way./ Everything went black for Carla.

* * * * *

“Maryland house of corrections, Women’s facility Jessup. How may I direct your call?”

The voice was heavily accented, maybe modified electronically. “One of your prisoners, Carla Burgess has erupted, she’s already escaped more than once. She should be back in her cell now. Hurry.” <click>

“Damn radio stations and their crank calls.” The operator said to herself. “Hey Joe, I just got another crank call, probably from DC-101 again. Something about one of our people erupting.”

“Make a note in your report. And I’ll pass it on to the C.O.’s, they can look into it just in case.”

[Lou Anne Burgess]

December 16, 2016

Maximum Security Wing, Maryland House of Corrections – Women’s Facility

Jessup, MD

“What do you mean you thought it was a joke? In the future, if you get a call saying an inmate has erupted and escaped, tell us immediately! Is that clear?” Paige Jones screamed into her tactical headset as her team opened the door to the Solitary confinement section of the prison. The thick rubber gloves Paige wore protected her hands from potential leaks from the gel rounds loaded in her modified shot gun. The DMSO suspension inside would provide a fatal does of Moxinaquantamine to a baseline on contact but it was the only weapon on premises that might let them get the drop on a recently erupted Nova.

She and two other women armed with more conventional weapons hurried in a tight formation down the hallway towards inmate Brenford’s cell. “Twenty feet.” Even at this distance their worst fears were largely confirmed, they covered the remaining distance anyway, hoping some trick of the light had fooled their eyes. “She’s gone.” Officer Jones composed herself putting away her anger and letting her professionalism and training take over. “Send me a team to search the cell, we’re going to remain here in case she does come back for some reason. Maybe we can get a clue as to where she’s gone or what she’s doing. And find out where that call came from.”

“Ten-Four.”

* * * * *

/<chuckle> Very well. I won’t stand in your way./ Everything seemed to go black as Carla’s consciousness was swept from the foreground of her mind, she lazed in a dream state, thinking about going home and relaxing.

Some time later, Carla’s eyes opened and for the first time in a very long time, she didn’t know where she was. She had wanted to be home, dreamt of being home, but she had no home; only a cell number. Worse still, she didn’t recognize the room she woke up into. It looked a bit familiar, but she couldn’t place it. Was this her bedroom growing up? It came to her a few minutes later as she luxuriated in the soft bed and covers. This was her practice house.

She hadn’t recognized it because she had never lay in the bed. She hadn’t wanted to leave the police anything to identify her when they found the house so she’d been in this room only long enough to take her prey and to get some clothes which she’d promptly stashed in another, less conspicuous location. Was this house home? She thought for a moment and realized that it was the only place she might consider home. For the few hours of the few days she had practiced here, she had worn what she wanted, done what she wanted and actually relaxed. The last time that had happened was ... Just after she started seeing Ron. Her parents’ house hadn’t been home for more than a year before she was arrested. So, it made sense in a way that this might be home for her.

It was also dangerous. She left the comfort of the bed slowly so as not to make noise. Crime scene tape said that the police had investigated Kelly’s disappearance. She saw no sign of anyone here today. The fact that she hadn’t been interrogated in prison made Carla think she had successfully wiped away all traces of her presence, at least easy to track ones like her fingerprints before she left the last time. Since the power had been turned off, she returned to the bedroom and took Kelly’s watch. Damn! I’ve been gone too long, they have to know I’ve gotten out. Why did that bed have to be so comfortable?

They were hunting her. It was only a matter of time before they got her and there was still so much to do. What was it Dad always said? ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy?’ Lou Anne lapped that shit up, but I guess he was right. Where to go from here? Rachel was out of the question, the campus was undoubtedly swarming with cops. So where to next...

She pondered as she went through the clothing drawers, there was no longer any sense to hiding, and there was no sense to not being comfortable. Mom always said to wear clean underwear afterall. She dressed leisurely enjoying the soft materials and selecting clothes that looked comfortable. If there’s a next time, I’ll make sure the kill the bitch with the best wardrobe. After taking the last of Kelly’s stashed away money she regarded herself in the mirror. She looked good, better than she ever had. She looked better than anyone that she personally knew. It hurt that she had Josie and Kelly to thank for it. She put the unpleasant thought out of her mind enjoying the idea of their agony in hell.

She enjoyed one last moment in her ‘home’ and left on the hunt.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

December 16, 2016

Burgess Household, Columbia, MD

“Oh come on dad, please.”

“No, you’re too young and we don’t know anything about this, this, what was his name again?”

“Jack dear.”

“You two want me to hate you don’t you? I bet Lou Anne never got interrogated like this.”

“Let’s not drag that into a perfectly normal and traditional conversation young lady.”

Patty rolled her eyes. Her parents couldn’t understand what it was like to be her age. The fact that, as far as she knew, neither of her two older siblings had to go through this interrogation just made it all worse. “And if I was wanting to go out with, I don’t know, Jeannie, we’d be having this same conversation?”

“Well, we know who Jeannie is so it would be a slightly different one, but I think you’d be surprised at the similarities.”

Patty huffed her breath out in exasperation as she stood from the chair, turned and flounced out of the dining room. “What ever! Why don’t you just lock me up in prison, I’d probably have more freedom?”

The door bell ended the conversation. John Burgess went to the door and was surprised to see a police squad car parked outside and two men standing on the porch. “Mr. Burgess?”

“Yes, can I help you officers?”

“Carla Burgess escaped from prison this afternoon, we wanted to know if she’d attempted to make contact with you sir.”

There was no warning. The wooden floor of the porch exploded up behind the two men. A demonic form jumped up and reached for the first officer spinning his head around on his neck like a childproof cap on a medicine bottle. “No I haven’t. I thought I’d wait until you boys showed up and broke the ice actually.” The remaining policeman reached for his microphone as Carla grabbed a piece of broken floorboard and jammed the jagged edge through the soft flesh between his jaws and up into his brain. Mr. Burgess backed away from the screen swinging the heavy front door closed. He tried to work the locks as his hands started shaking.

“Martha, get Patty and run!”

* * * * *

John Burgess was not really a religious man. When he’d been dating Martha he had started to go to church with her, but she had known that it wasn’t quite as important to him as to her. Over the years he had tried to moderate Martha a little; the whole issue of Lou Anne and Rachel might have torn the family apart if he hadn’t. She had eventually conceded that perhaps their church was a bit too harsh. She had reluctantly agreed when he suggested a somewhat less conservative church denomination would be better after the rest of the family started to be attacked for not forcing Lou Anne to change back to their course.

Religious or not, John Burgess feared for his soul at the sight of the thing that had just killed the two policemen on his porch. But was that Carla? It resembled the last painting that Martha had done of her before she had gotten mixed up with that Ron fella. He knew her when he saw her; sure, she was stunningly beautiful, and disturbing, but otherwise recognizable from the painting. That fact made her other features all the more terrifying, the flat, black, soulless eyes; the horns and wings; the hideous dissonance in her voice that crackled with the fire of hell.

For almost two decades, he had nurtured his memory of Carla, his little first-born Angel. He had prayed – as much as he prayed for anyone – for her in prison. He had hoped that she would be better when she came out. Now he knew it was in vain. His Angel had truly fallen, and he was afraid.

“Martha, get Patty and run!”

* * * * *

“Martha, get Patty and run!”

She kicked at the door sending Mr. Burgess stumbling back, he hit the wall hard. “Not happy to see me Daddy?” She approached him, coming to a stop only inches in front of him. Carla asked with a look of feigned hurt on her face. “It’s been so long, I was hoping you’d give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and tell me how glad you are to see me.”

“Patty, come here now! Get your coat.” Mrs. Burgess called from the back door.

Carla turned her head looking through the doorway to the right. “Let’s go see Mom, what do you say?” She grabbed her father roughly by the throat and dragged him after her. Moving through the door she saw her mom motioning from the back door in the living room. She shifted her grip on her father, grabbing his belt and supporting him by his shoulder as she heaved him through the open doorway into the living room towards an easy chair. She followed close behind. A squeal of surprise erupted as Mr. Burgess went flying past his youngest daughter and came to a loud and violent stop as his mass reduced the recliner to a wrecked mess.

Carla came into the living room with her wings spread as wide as the doorway would allow. She wanted to terrify the pipsqueak her parents had to replace her. Patty was coming back to a fully upright position after bending and turning away from her father’s sudden flight in front of her. Carla grabbed the girl by the throat fully intending to kill her, not just herd her like she had done with her father. No sooner had Carla’s hand closed around Patty’s throat than she pulled her hand back, wisps of smoke trailing behind it. Patty, struggling against Carla’s grip threw herself back and lost her balance, landing in a heap on the floor. Carla looked at her hand, marked across the palm was a burn in the unmistakable shape of a cross. Carla stood transfixed by the burn mark, since she had killed Josie she had been the master of fire, she could not burn, and yet, the burn was raising a welt across her hand. Patty took the distraction to get to her feet and run for the front door. Martha saw and grabbed a cross from the wall while trying to help her hurt and disoriented husband to his feet.

Snapping back to reality, Carla looked around, Patty was out of sight and her mother was pulling her father out the back door. The sound of police sirens taunted Carla. She had come to her parent’s house, and they had all escaped. She hadn’t even confronted them about Lou Anne and Rachel. She hadn’t accomplished anything. She ran after her parents. As she did, she heard her mother’s voice. “...and call the police, I hear sirens but I don’t know if they’re coming here.”

“You bitch!” Flame erupted from Carla’s body as she advanced. Martha held up a large wooden cross out as if she were a hunter in a vampire movie. Carla recoiled, nausea welled in her throat as her fire abandoned her and she turned away from the symbol. She tried to blast fire blindly in that direction but for some reason couldn’t. She looked around desperate, the sirens were getting closer and her parents were getting away. A quick trip back into the house allowed her to pick up the more intact remains of the chair her father had crashed into and hurl them in her parents’ direction.

She was not on target enough to hurt them, but good enough to force her mother to duck. The sirens were very close now, she knew they were there for her. She gagged as the scent of roses filled the area. Behind her she heard Lou Anne calling her name and asking her to stop. Her mother was reaching for the cross she’d dropped. Carla sprinted knowing that at any moment she would be out of time. Some kind of resistance tried to stop her, Lou Anne’s telekinesis no doubt, but she broke it easily. She got her hands on her father, she didn’t bother dropping her speed as she started to overrun him. The two of them disappeared as Martha brought the Cross up to where Carla’s face had been.

Seeing her failure, her composure cracked, her body was wracked by choking sobs as she realized Carla had taken her husband away. Columbia Police and Maryland Troopers came streaming out through the open back door, their sidearms drawn. Mrs. Burgess wept and Patty’s voice could be heard from some distance away calling for her parents as Lou Anne clad in the robes and Aegis of Athena consulted her Portable OpDevice’s navigation feature. “Miss? Can we get a statement from you.”

Lou Anne looked away from the device as she realized they were asking her the question. “She has my Dad, and I’m trying to find where she’s gone. Any idea how to get to Long Corner?”

[Lou Anne Burgess]

December 16, 2016

Burgess Household, Columbia, MD

It had taken several precious minutes, but Lou Anne had her directions. Unfortunately, transporting a group of troopers had been the price of answering Lou Anne’s question. Not one to argue with the police who were afterall doing their jobs and trying to protect their communities, she agreed. Four Maryland State Troopers, had piled into one of their patrol cars. “Doctor Burgess, how long is this flight gonna be?”

Lou Anne smiled as she rested her hand on the car more for their benefit than her power’s. “I don’t fly.” She consulted the device in her other hand briefly using the satellite map to home in on her target and then looked around the street surrounding them, assessing her departure area.

“Then how are you getting there?”

The scent of roses filled a wide area around the squad car and a moment later, Lou Anne turned to the slightly confused Trooper to report. “We’re here.” Her humor evaporated though as she took in the yellow crime scene tape. The Troopers wasted no time in exiting the car and bringing their weapons out, Carla was after all a dangerous person. They had connected her to the attack in Amherst, and now apparently a murder here. Lou Anne had been in Amherst helping treat the wounded when her mother’s call had come in, she knew there were several dozen people dead, and perhaps a few hundred suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.

Lou Anne paused and opened her mind to the flows of energy around her. There was only one other power source in the area, and unless the previous owner had a power plant in their basement, it was Carla. “She’s in the basement.” The Troopers nodded acknowledgment and moved quickly, but silently towards the house. Lou Anne tried to take the lead, but was asked to follow them, for her own protection. Though she was probably better protected, she went along with their authority. Her only hope was the Carla had nearly exhausted her supply of quantum energy with all she had done recently.

They quietly opened the door, breaking the crime scene tape in the process. One of the shotgun wielding men moved in first, securing the first room while the others followed behind. They made their way to the cellar door, any creaks from their footsteps masked by shouting from under the house. “...let her do that? Huh? I know you must have made mom accept it because no one that read the Bible as much as mom would ever! Ever! Do you hear me? Let her daughter do something like that. You weak spirited little man! You were trying to push Patty that way too weren’t you. Giving her grief about John so you could make her start with this Jeannie slut. You ignored God’s laws and now you’re going to pay for it!”

They had made their way down into the cellar area. Lou Anne was too far back to see Carla clearly, she had to settle for the shadow cast by the light bulb. What she could see though, was that this was unlikely to go well for the Troopers. “Carla Burgess,” the lead Trooper said, “you are under arrest. Put your hands....” He pulled the trigger on the shotgun as she turned and a bolt of flame lanced out at him. The kevlar vest he wore gave very little protection from the flame, but perhaps offered some protection from the shotgun’s magazine exploding as the flame engulfed the weapon.

Lou Anne pulled the rear-most Trooper up the steps a little and pushed towards the exit, they were dead if Carla attacked them, Lou Anne might be, but she stood a better chance. She pushed her way down, wishing she could do several things at once. The other Troopers feeling her pass decided that they could arrest the fugitive just as well from someplace else and fled up the steps. Lou Anne took a deep breath and stepped over the lead man’s corpse and faced Carla. “Is there a problem Carla? Something you want to get off your chest?” Though her attention was turned in Carla’s direction, her eyes were looking past, at her father laying on the floor. She had seen enough war zones, enough victims of torture to know that he was either dead, or beyond her ability to help him and she felt an emotional knife go through her heart. Carla turned fully to face her as fire leapt out of every pore. The somewhat nice clothes she wore were shredded from the Trooper’s attack, and Lou Anne could see the wounds closing.

“Lou Anne, little sister, you’ve sinned.” She took in Lou Anne’s clothes and recognized them enough to realize that she could not possibly follow God, not dressed as some fiendish heathen goddess. “You’ve sinned, but we can fix that. You can make things right with God and repent your ways.” John Burgess’ body lifted in the air and turned, angling to go out through the now open, narrow basement window.

The ceiling beams above Carla were starting to burn.

“No Carla, we can’t fix it, because this isn’t about Me. This is about you. Let me help you. Please?”

Carla laughed, “Help me? You’ve already helped me. I couldn’t have gotten out without you, and now, I’m going to help you. I know that Harlot Rachel corrupted you, turned you away from a virtuous life with a man and lead you to what you’ve become. It’s not your fault. We can cleanse your soul of her taint.”

“What was her name Carla?”

Completely confused, Carla’s brow furrowed as she tried to understand the question. “What’s who’s name?”

“The woman,” she paused, “or women that did this to you. Was it your cell mate? Josie was her name right?”

“No! I don’t need more of your help, I’m going to help you now.” Emotions warred on Carla’s face for a moment, the defiant, hateful young woman that had broken out of jail seemed to win though and Lou Anne knew that she likely wasn’t going anywhere with trying to help Carla, not with the cellar rapidly turning into an inferno and breathing becoming difficult. Carla was still distracted enough for her backup plan though.

“I’m not repenting Carla, so where does that leave us?”

Shock registered on Carla’s face. There had never been any doubt that Lou Anne would welcome the salvation and turn away from her sinning ways. Lou Anne collected herself and pushed hard at Carla’s Solar Plexus with her mind. Surprised, and slightly hurt, Carla lost her breath as her diaphragm emptied her lungs and she flew back into the cinder block wall. Lou Anne summoned her shield for extra protection and reached forward, her hand blistering from the searing flames covering Carla’s skin as she grabbed hold and the two of them disappeared.

They reappeared over the cold water of the Atlantic, a few miles off the coast of Rehoboth Beach Delaware, about five feet above the water. Lou Anne let go of Carla and blew out her breath quickly, taking a big gulp of air just as the two women broke the surface. Carla was too confused to lash out and didn’t have the space to glide with her wings. Water boiled around Carla, adding to her confusion. Lou Anne weathered the stinging as her burned hand healed in the frigid salt water. She watched them sink a little further.

Once again they disappeared, but this time, a sizable volume of seawater went with them.

* * * * *

The Maryland State Troopers waited outside. The fire department had been called but hadn’t arrived yet. The local police having been notified of the fugitive’s whereabouts before they got here had responded and setup a perimeter. A State Police helicopter was inbound with a sniper whose rifle carried Moxinaquantamine injectors. They had recovered the body of Mr. Burgess and were also waiting now for the ambulance. The locals were given descriptions of the two women, so that they wouldn’t shoot the wrong sister in case Carla decided to show her face outside. Smoke was starting to billow from several windows and they thought there might be flames visible in the ground floor.

From nowhere, a flat-topped water bubble formed around the house. It wasn’t perfectly centered, but for a moment, it hung suspended in the air. Then gravity asserted itself and the bubble collapsed showering the ground leaving the distinct smell of the ocean. No sooner had the wall of water fallen than the windows and doors of the house burst open, water geysering out as fast as the openings would allow.

The no longer burning, but still winged form of Carla was the first solid mass to emerge from the triple windows in the living room. Her wings caught in the central window frame and she clawed at the window pulling herself through and breaking the frames. The force of the water propelled her a few meters from the house and she crawled out of the water, hacking and coughing water from her lungs. Lou Anne and her waterlogged robes followed. She likewise crawled on weak limbs away from the water while trying to breath.

The police pointed their weapons at Carla ordering her to surrender and put her hands behind her head. She looked at them, still coughing, trying to decide if she might be able to kill all of them before they opened fire. Several of them looked far more hopeful than they should and one of them was looking more at or above the house than at Carla. Over the rushing water and Lou Anne’s struggling for breath she heard a helicopter approaching. She put her hands behind her head and stood, then turned around so that she could see the same direction the police were looking. She heard some of them start to approach her, but before they touched her, she saw the tan police helicopter approaching.

Fire engulfed the approaching helicopter, and erupted forth once again from her skin. She turned intending to finish off the police and then her own dear sister before fleeing to some new safe place. An explosion enlarged Carla’s firestorm as the helicopter’s fuel tanks exploded. Hope died in the officer’s faces. The police opened fire, a few shots hit Carla ineffectually, but most hit the ground or the house behind her. Carla was almost on top of the nearest officer when she was blind sided by something large. She went flying to the side as she turned to confront the new attacker, and saw Kelly’s van hovering in the air, a burning, blackened dent showed where the top of the van had hit her. The emboldened police continued firing their weapons. Carla looked at Lou Anne, a curse on her lips as the van came at her again.

[Lou Anne Burgess]

Kelly Walter’s Horse Farm, Long Corner

near Mt. Airy, Md

December 16, 2016

The bullets tore at Carla’s clothes, most of them were missing or only striking her ineffectually. She hadn’t been seriously hurt since she had almost killed herself over a month ago. When she was hurt, she had felt a tingle as her various injuries healed themselves. She had been feeling it constantly since Lou Anne had sucker punched her in the basement. The van came at her again and just before it hit her, she smelled gas.

The explosion itself didn’t hurt physically, but she went flying back a ways and landed hard on the waterlogged ground. What did hurt was the actual impact from the van, and there was no tingle of rapidly knitting flesh, only the discomfort of torn flesh and bruised bone. Carla lay still pretending for a moment to have been knocked out while she tried to assess the situation.

The damned pigs kept firing, but over the water and the gunfire, she heard Lou Anne’s voice clearly. “She’s stopped regenerating!” They kept firing, some bullets hit her, perhaps a few more than before, but many still struck the ground around her. “Aren’t you going to try to arrest her?”

“Not until she’s stopped burning.”

I’ve got to get out of here. If they don’t kill me, they’re gonna put me away somewhere I can’t get away from. And I’m not going back. They can kill me first, I’m not going back. I’m Not Going Back. Ah, that’s it! She pulled the fire within again so that hopefully they would stop shooting.

Carla concentrated, there had to be a way to get out of this. They had all stopped firing, probably so they could reload. She heard them talking to their base, they were sending people that could hold her. Desperation gripped her, an image formed in her mind of a Nova Powered Josie forcing herself on Carla. She felt blood vessels burst as she desperately tried to be somewhere else...

“Doc, did you see that?! She’s bleeding from her eyes!.” The police were bringing their weapons to bear again.

* * * * *

...and suddenly Carla wasn’t lying in a cold field with seawater draining from her former home. She was in a warm, dry place. A blazing sun kissed her clammy skin and a warm, maybe even hot breeze tugged at the tatters her clothes had become. She sat up with difficulty, I didn't hurt this much when I killed Josie. She saw a sign pointing the way to the United States’ border. It’ll do for now.

* * * * *

Some of the police fired at the now vacant ground when Carla disappeared. “Well shit! Now we won’t get to be on TV.” One of the Mount Airy police stated flatly.

Lou Anne closed her eyes, she was nearly spent and didn’t think she could hurt Carla any more; what she had done already was hard enough for her. Her OpDevice vibrated and she took it from her sash. It’s a good thing I get the waterproofed and ruggedized ones for traveling in Africa. She switched to the message window. “She’s out of range. Sorry.”

Lou Anne’s heart sank. While the police milled about discussing their bad luck at not capturing the Nova psychopath and maybe being heroes on TV, Lou Anne walked to her father’s shattered corpse, knelt beside it on the cold, wet ground, and wept.