Fallen Age: Golden Age, Interlude: The Girl

He was running. He was running and sobbing, because…

IT was after him. More terrifying than even the guys in special projects, but he didn't know about them. He was just a reporter. 

But then the eyes opened up in the walls of my house. Then the whispers started then… 

So he'd gotten into his car, but it had died halfway out of town. He'd taken his special briefcase with the information about some of his coworkers and the bearer bonds, so that if he had to, he could leave.

So he'd run out of the car, and the goddamned fog was thicker than soup. And he heard…

A soft laughter. Scary laughter.

He ran, but where the fuck was the road, he'd have to hit—

And that was when Dave slammed right into…

A gravestone? What the fuck, there weren't any graveyards around here. It was a bright neighborhood… he'd have to have gotten turned around—

"Oh Dave… How you got here is the least of your worries…"

He screamed, turning around and throwing his briefcase. The small figure simply ducked her head.

It was a kid. He took a deep breath. Just a kid. "I don't know what—"

His voice died as the fog started to take form. Started to become… things. Terrifying things. And on the wind, the scent of rot and decay.

She stepped forward, and she couldn't be very old, not much over twelve. She was wearing some kind of weird Victorian style dress, all black, with a veil. But she had… in the dim light of the moon, her shadow seemed to reach out and twist. And now the shapes behind her were become more real. He whimpered and reached for his pepper spray.

"Really?" The girl's voice was amused. "Trust me, spectres endure far, far, worse… some of them know you, you know that? It didn't take me long at all to drop your name…

"I… I'm just a reporter—"

"Mary-Ann Roberts. Suicide. You knew the accusations were false, but they made for… what were you telling your friends, right, 'good fucking ratings'." The girl's voice rose slightly. "They were. So good that everyone believed she'd abused her students…and when the case was dropped, the accusers were found to be lying, well that could hurt the station, so you made certain those stories never saw the light of day. She killed herself… But trust me, she has many things she wants to talk to you about."

"She's… she's dead."

"Ah, but there's dead… and then there's dead."

Things were walking in the fog around them, and Dave had already pissed himself.

"Nothing to say, Dave… how about… Linda Callahan."

"I… I don't…"

"No. That name doesn't exist anymore. But your news station lent its power to a few landlords fighting to evict some renters so they could build new high-priced apartments, and one… well, one burned. Odd that. And all the fire alarms failed. And a little girl named Linda got out… But your good friends called you and told you that you were going to report that nobody lived."

"It was a favor…"

"Yes. It was. I remember the water in my mouth as their thugs pushed me under. I suppose they figured it would look more natural for a girl to drown, especially with Dave…" She shook her head. "But the little girl called out, and something spoke to her, it asked her if she was willing to grant her name to it, in return for… well, the power of the grave, and now here we are."

"What… What…" She was looking at him, and her face… there was something about it, something unnatural. Something terrifying.

And then behind her, one of those shapes walked out of the mist and Dave screamed again. It was rotted, maggots crawling over it but…

That was another story I was told to kill! The Mayor's kid had gotten a little to eager with one of his classmates, some big-titted cheerleader, and when she'd said no he'd knocked her down, and she'd smashed her brains out. The girl was dead, so it wasn't going to hurt if he just said she ran away when they put her into the swamp. She was dead!

But He saw the clothing, stained and rotted, and remembered the bimbo's mom putting them up all over the town and pissing people off…

But now… she was here. She was here.

"Don't mind Wendy." The girl smiled, and now the shadows rose up around her, writhing like living things. "That's just her body. Her spirit… well, that waits for you… When I take you down to the sunless lands. So very many people want to discuss your news work…"

"No… I have money…"

"What do the dead want with money?" She tilted her head. "But it's true… I do have some use for it. I might be persuaded to let you live out the rest of your natural life, but at that point, you will have to face all the choices you made…"

I can get out of this. Whatever this was, I have connections.

"Wha—what do you want?"

"What do I want? Oh, you can't give me that." Her face changed, becoming less human. "Mom and Dad never came to the sunless lands. Good for them, but I would like to hear their voices again. But… What you will give me? Everything. When I ask for money, you will give it. When I tell you to get into your car, drive somewhere, and pick up something, you will do it. When I tell you to fight to keep a story running, or kill a story, or slant your reporting, you will do it."

"But my bosse—"

"Who are you more afraid of?"

"I… I'll do it."

"That is not how we swear our oaths." She held out a dainty hand, and shivering, Dave took it. It was cool, but not clammy, and that somehow made things worse. "Do you agree to the the terms I have lain out. Freely?"

If it gets me out of this graveyard. "I do."

And then he felt something just latch on to him, some kind of connection as black light swirled around.

"What was that?"

"Really Dave, you need to ask these questions before making oaths. That was an oath, which I sanctified in the name of the Neverborn. Break it, and you will beg to be back in this graveyard. Drive home now. I'll be in touch. After all. I am the Speaker For the Dead." She turned and lept out into the night, and moments later the zombies followed her…

And the fog rose and left him standing in a completely empty clearing, no sign of any graveyard around him.

Dave took some time to get home. He locked every door and turned on every light.

But it didn't help.