Chapter 10

The police station was cold, dead and quiet. Gerald's truck was the only noise in Amber. As they drove slowly to the police station. The sun rising in the distance. If Amber wasn't a ghost town the previous day, It was now. Ben parked Gerald's truck outside the station and everyone got out. "What's the plan now, sheriff?" "We need a new plan. If Gerald survives do you think he'll keep attacking the town or do you think he just wants the cultists?" "I Don't know for sure yet. I'm gonna take his truck and head back to his cabin, look for some more clues. Maybe a way to fix him. maybe a way to kill him." "Okay good. Meet back here in a few hours." "I'm gonna head to my place. I need to grab some things." Sarah called, making her way down the empty sidewalk with the hunting rifle slung over her shoulder. "You want someone to come with you?" Cole yelled after her from the station steps. "No, I can handle this." She responded while not taking her eyes off her apartment building. A six story red brick building down the road from the station. It looked like a fire erupted from one of the balconies overnight before leaving a massive black burn mark up the building after it burned out. Her clothes were filthy and she was tired beyond belief. A trash can fell over behind her and she spun rifle ready. Her eyes gleamed her surroundings but saw nothing. She picked up her pace. Keeping her ears open. Sunshine or not, Amber still didn't feel safe enough to let her guard down.

A few blocks away Claude was waking up. His eyes creaked open and he felt like he was laying on something hard and uncomfortable. He rolled over and fell out of a tree freezing and naked. He observed his surroundings and saw nobody at all just like before. Across the street was a pawn shop he wasted no time approaching the lifeless shop. He tried the handle but it was locked. "Good thing there's trash cans all over the place." Claude muttered picking up a metal trash can, overturned the garbage bag on the sidewalk and threw it hard through the glass window. Claude stole a pair of jeans, sneakers and a large black hoodie. There was also a row of firearms hanging on the wall behind the counter. He took a small caliber rifle off the wall, a couple mags from behind the counter and loaded them with the bucket of .22 rounds underneath the counter. His eyes darting frantically at every noise he heard. He snapped the mag into the rifle unsure if he was still being hunted by cultists. He poked his head up and could see a woman in dark bloodstained clothes carrying a rifle. He kept his head down but slipped on a skateboard that was behind him, causing him to stumble backwards into a row of hanging guitars that fell down when he hit them. The woman turned to see what the noise was. "Holy shit is that Sarah? She's still alive!" Claude put the gun down and waved his arms. "Hey! Sarah, over here!"

Sarah couldn't Identify who was yelling her name at first before she recognized the voice. ���Claude?! What the hell is going on? Are you robbing Mrs Loomis's pawn shop?!" She ran to the broken window with a look of shock on her face. "I… well, it looks bad I'll give you that but I don't think she would mind considering the circumstances." "You put a trash can through her window." "It was cold!" I just woke up naked in that tree across the street, I don't even know what the hell is going on in this town but I'm ready to just up and leave town. You with me?" "What about Donny?" "Believe me, I'll find him first. I ain't leaving without him, But I also don't wanna stick around Amber much longer, something ain't right here." Sarah was baffled that Claude still had next to no idea what was happening. "Something isn't right in Amber Claude, The cultists, those creatures, you turning up naked every morning with no idea what's been going on." "All the more reason to leave." Claude said hopping through the shattered window, landing next to Sarah on the sidewalk. "Well I've gotta pick some stuff up from my place then I'm heading back to the police station, we're gonna fix what's going on In Amber." "What are you a deputy or something now?" Claude asked jokingly. "No but I'm gonna ask to be when we get back now that you bring that up. Hell anyone left alive could be a deputy at this point." she said with a laugh as they made their way down the street towards Sarah's building. They both called Donny's name but there was still no sign of the rottweiler anywhere in the dead city.

Abe drove the truck fast down the empty road towards lake squire, slowing down to pass stalled vehicles. And the bizarre road trap the cultists placed in the night. If it was dark out still, the trap would have been invisible until crashing into the black painted metal blockade with sharpened rebar spikes also painted black. "Fucking lunatics." Abe muttered ashing a cigarette out the window as he slowed down to drive off road to pass the bizarre deathtrap, driving back onto the road when he passed it. After a few more minutes of driving he came to the lake, Francis Callahan's lonely fishing shack, sitting on the lake. Abe parked the truck and made his way towards the path he had remembered since childhood when the cabin in the woods belonged to his father, then it was passed to him, when the unfortunate accident he thought killed his son occurred, he abandoned it, lived in Amber for a few more years before moving to Calgary until all this began. Abe took a long drag of his smoke before entering the dark forest.

Abe loaded the last of his silver bullets and clutched his thirty eight through the long beige pockets as he stepped through the snow which had several trails of large prints heading away from the cabin. Abe followed them back and reached the cabin as he finished his cigarette. He stepped up the creaking steps of the destroyed cabin, the grenade Cole threw inside had ruptured the furnace causing more wreckage than a grenade could do on its own. Abe went to push the door open but it just fell backwards. Abe stepped inside and let out a sigh. The family pictures on the wall were cinders next to cracked frames. The roof caved in near the back making the hallway and extra room inaccessible. 'Great, nothing but ash and charred wood.' Abe let out another sigh as he stepped into the living room. The roof above him creaked as if it would come down any second. He looked down at the rug. "Musty ass rug hasn't moved in years." Abe muttered, yanking it aside. Underneath was a large basement hatch with an iron pull handle. "Bingo." Abe said reaching for the hatch and pulling it open. A well used wooden ladder descended. Abe descended and nearly missed the first step.

He noticed the footholds were farther apart than a normal ladder, 'should have guessed. A normal ladder would get annoying at that height.' He thought quick as he caught his footing and carefully made his way down the spread apart steps on the ladder before reaching a dark basement. Abe pulled out a gold flip lighter to illuminate the basement. A large stone statue at the back of the basement. It looked like some creature waiting for him when he first saw it. It was hard to even decipher what it was aside from a mass of writhing tentacles covered in teeth. A screaming goat's head with eight eyes protruding from the mass as if the goat creature was being eaten alive but as he raised the lighter he noticed three more of the goat like heads sticking out of the top, though these didn't appear screaming like the first. They were staring down as if they could see Abe. "What the hell is this thing?" Abe observed with disgust as he made his way to a large table and chair both handmade from lumber and twine. There was a candle stick which Abe lit. as he put his lighter away he noticed several papers on the desk, some had writing, some gibberish, some had intricately detailed images of places, forests and castles of unknown origin. Others Frantic drawings of which little information could be obtained. "What the hell is all this Gerald… god I should have been able to stop this madness from taking you…" several pages had been torn from Gerald's journal and stacked in a neat pile at the top right of Gerald's over sized desk.

Gerald flipped through them and realized why they had been torn from the journal. They mentioned that thing that the crazy woman at the mountain was going on about. The first was dated the day before Abe thought Gerald Died, several dates in between. The last entry from two nights ago. Abe had been wanting to know what really happened to his son for years, but now that the answer was staring him in the face he wanted to set it on fire, forget any of this. And if he couldn't rescue his son, he would have no choice but to put him out of his misery, even though the thought seemed impossible. "I'm gonna fix this Gerald, and no monsters or freaks in masks can stop me." Gerald said through gritted teeth as he set the papers on fire. No truth about his son could save him from this if what he read about his changes in the other journal entries were true. Abe Lit the journal entries ablaze and set them on the dirt floor. He took one last spiteful look at the statue. "I'm getting my son back whether you like it or not." he said before grabbing the ladder. There was nothing of use here. He had to go home for the rest of his silver bullets before heading back to the police station.

Back at the station Cole was researching Vorvadoss and Shub Niggurath on the police database with little luck. It did however bring up information about the Nocturnis Infernis. They were founded in fifteen fifty in Spain, small sects across the world by different names. The only reason they could be accessed by police records was how frequently members were arrested, the strange alien names were keywords in multiple cases and there was a whole dossier written about the cultists from their mysterious origins to becoming infamous criminals wherever they went, how nobody in Amber found that out was a mystery in itself. "Guess nobody thought they were important enough to research." He scrolled down till he found the failed raid at the cultists death trap in the woods, and a picture of their former leader before Lisa Grisham. "Sheriff get over here your gonna wanna see this!" Ben looked up from the phone book next to his desk. He had been trying numbers in town all day to try and get a hold of some survivors. So far nobody picked up their phones. Ben ran downstairs to the dispatch office where Cole was doing his research when he heard him. "What is it?" he asked, stepping into the room. "It's about the cult, the former leader. Ben could barely understand. He was looking at Abe, or a man that looked like him down to the letter, aside from looking like a total psychopath. "Is that?" "No, that's what I thought. It's his father. Daniel Wilhem." "My god, you don't think he knows do you?" Ben asked bending over the computer screen for a better look. "Your guess is as good as mine sheriff." Cole responded, equally transfixed on the spitting image of the friendly old man who had been helping him. Though the mugshot of Daniel Wilhem was taken in Montana more than a few years before they appeared in Amber.

A few blocks away, Lydia was patrolling on foot with a rifle and a police radio. She always wanted to join the police and help keep Amber safe, though she never expected to be doing it like this, terrified with a rifle if the destroyed buildings weren't so new it would look like Stalingrad from her old world war two history books at home. She passed the pub formerly known as the Emerald and heard noise coming from inside. 'Possibly a jukebox, maybe someone took shelter inside.' she thought to herself as she cracked the door open before slamming it shut and backing away with her rifle. The noise was a broken TV that fell from the ceiling, or was pulled. Sitting where a man's head should have been in a pile of corpses. She quickly passed the building, another dead man half eaten to her right behind a parked car. Up ahead coming from her left behind the bar came a low groaning. Lydia readied the rifle as whatever it was got closer and louder. "Shit you scared me half to death." She said lowering the gun with a sigh of relief. A rottweiler with its tongue hanging out walked into the sidewalk in front of her and sat down panting. "Damn if you came running out I might have accidentally shot you." She approached the dog putting the gun over her shoulder on its strap. She patted his head and noticed his name on his collar. "Gotta survivor sheriff." She said pressing the button on the radio, "Great try to find anyone else and get back soon." "On it sheriff." She said with a smile. "Come on Donny, let's see if we can find your owner." the dog let out a happy bark and began to follow Lydia. As she walked further into town, going around several car wrecks as she searched the town for any other survivors, with little to no luck.

Claude and Sarah sat for a cup of coffee after arriving at her apartment. She opened the door, put on a fresh pot and went to change out of the bloody clothes she had been wearing and clean herself up. Claude pulled a mug out of the cupboard and poured himself a mug as the shower turned on in the bathroom. Claude downed at least three mugs of coffee in the ten minutes Sarah was in the bathroom. It helped him focus but even still his memories were blank. That lunatic kidnapped him and Donny and locked them in a room. The two police men showed up and he told them to run. Then everything went blank. Everything was just barely tangible and dreamlike, the memories coming as fast as they went but still no answers. Sarah came out a few minutes later in a large red hoodie and black sweatpants. She grabbed a fresh mug and sat down across from Claude. "You really don't know what's going on do you?" "No what the hell is going on in this town, Sarah?" "A lot. You know much about the cult?" "Just their name and reputation around. I really shouldn't be surprised they had anything to do with this but still it's all… a lot to take in. they always just struck me as a nuisance that would cause trouble and get chased out of Amber every couple years." "Yeah. Let's head back to the police station sheriff and the others are waiting. They'll be surprised I found somebody." "Why head to the station? Can't the police handle this on their own?" "Claude. You, me the sheriff, a cop, a secretary and an old man are the only living people in Amber left. The sheriff can fill you in when we get back if hell hasn't found a way to break loose again." Sarah said before finishing her coffee and grabbing a small backpack. With several old looking books inside. She zipped the bag up quickly before Claude could read them. "Lets go." "Y...yeah." Claude stuttered as he looked out the balcony door and six floors up he could see smoke from several burned out fires across the town. One apartment was still on fire a good distance away.

Outside the apartment building Sarah pulled a large desert eagle handgun out of the bag before closing it. "Jesus, where did you get that?" "I got it to deal with my ex if he didn't stay the hell away from me, could have used it last night that's for damn sure." "and you had that on you while we were at work at the cafe?" "Every shift until last month when the boss saw the handle sticking out of my purse in the staff room. I explained and he said he understood but If i didn't start leaving it at home he'd have to fire me. Made sense, the creep never showed his face so I figured what was the point. Would have been real helpful sooner if we weren't all trapped in the station since the attacks at the Meteor and the hospital." "damn…" "That's all you can say? Damn?" "You go missing whenever the monsters and cultists come out, I don't know if you're just lucky or the mastermind behind all this!" "Whoa take it easy I'm just as much in the dark on this as anyone." "then consider yourself lucky and leave the questions for the sheriff." they both remained silent for the rest of the walk to the station. It was almost noon when they got back.

Lydia and Donny were passing through an alley to cut their time in half when her heart sunk into her chest. Across the street walking to the station she could see the massive shape of Gerald lumbering away from her towards the station.. Donny growled when he saw him. "Down." She whispered to the dog who laid down with a small whine. "Lydia fumbled for her radio not losing track of the giant trench coat wearing monster. His head now looked like a bare skull when he stopped and turned, luckily not seeing them, he was looking around for someone. "Sheriff, it's me, Lydia. It's Gerald he's in Amber, and he's changed again." "What? Get back to the station. Now." Sharp barbed spines cut through the back of his massive jacket and his claw-like arm was practically dragging behind him as the other started to change like the other had the previous night. "He's heading for-" her words were cut off as Donny let out a flurry of barks as Lydia felt a hand grab her shoulder and spin her around. Lisa Grisham was holding a long jagged knife which she tried to stab into Lydia's eye but she blocked it with her gun before bashing Lisa in the face with the gun instantly knocking her unconscious as she hit the ground with a groan dropping her knife. Gerald turned again when he heard the noise and started for her direction. Almost every human trait was gone. The massive boots had been shredded and two long legs bent back like the wolf creatures only devoid of anything but oozing rotted looking grey flesh. lumbered towards her as the shredded coat blew in the wind behind him. "Donny run!" Lydia yelled as Gerald stopped and effortlessly picked a beat up green car over his head. Lydia was already running out the alley the way she came in as she heard the car strike the brick wall behind her. Donny was keeping pace with her as she ran down a different street to head to the station. The lumbering monster shaking the street with each step getting louder and quicker. She turned and saw she hadn't lost him and fired three bullets at him from almost a hundred feet away. The bullets lodged into different places on his skull which began to drip black blood. His eyes were hollow black sockets. He didn't slow down. Lydia turned and continued running catching up to Donny as they turned right at the end of the street.

Lisa stumbled to her feet. She hoped she looked dead enough for Gerald to ignore her and it worked. Shortly after entering the city limits Gerald began to change. "Could it be possible Shub Niggurath sensed Vorvadoss's plan? Everything is going wrong." Lisa groaned, grabbing the brick wall as Geralds steps and low roars could be heard in the far distance. 'She altered his body and mind undoing the short lived spell.' "Damn it there has to be a way to be rid of that monstrous shapeshifter." She carried herself with a limp as she bent for her knife and followed the thunderous steps. "That woman from last night will be dealt with eventually, better just make my way to the station before Gerald." Lisa limped into the street as she plotted her plan out loud, her mind had been bent and distorted over her years leading the Nocturnis Infernis which left her half insane. Her orange eyes rose to every noise around her as she stayed low and close to buildings to avoid being seen. Gerald was down the road to her left. 'They're leading him away. perfect .' she thought, turning right down the intersection towards the station which could be seen from it's clock tower at the end of the road.

Abe stared in awe at the computer screen. "I… I don't believe it." Abe stared at the face of his father who he hadn't seen in almost fifty years. He was taken and raised by his mother who hid the truth about his father his entire life. "Your father was their leader, almost his whole life. "I never knew about this… I thought he died when I was a kid, that's what my Ma always told me." "He's dead now Abe." Cole said looking up from the monitor. "That crazy sonofabitch." "He died when the police raided the death trap fortress we raided, only twenty years ago. It looks like Lisa Grisham the old sheriff killed him and then for some reason took his place." Ben said looking at the monitor. "You think they brainwashed her into taking his place?" Cole added. "With them? Anything is possible." Ben responded as Abe stumbled back, a look of pain and grief on his face as he stared at his father's image. The whole building. They heard the doors to the station slam open. "Stay sharp." Ben said readying his gun as he peaked out the dispatch office down the hall towards the lobby. Whoever came in went to the other side of the Lobby. Ben and the others crept out of the dispatch office guns ready. "Sheriff? Are you still here?" It was Sarah's voice. Everyone lowered their guns as they turned the corner and saw Sarah and Claude of all people in the lobby. "Jesus you scared us." Ben said as he saw them. Cole's eyes widened when he saw Claude. "Holy shit. He's one of those monsters'! One of those things that attacked the hospital!" "is this true?" Ben asked with narrow eyes on Claude." "I don't know what you're talking about, I don't remember anything!" "Claude do you remember the thing that attacked you?" "Yeah, now i remember… you think I'm one of those things?" "I saw you and your dog turn right before my eyes, you told Arnold and I to get the hell out of there and we did. You don't remember any of that?" "I remember telling you guys to run but I couldn't remember why and my head hurts like hell whenever I feel like I'm getting close to remembering before everything just fades away like when you forget a dream." Claude was shaken at the revelation that he was now one of the creatures that attacked him."

"Claude you were bitten by a shapeshifter, transformed into a werewolf. Now since it replicated the shape of a werewolf, it also replicated the curse of one. Which is how it was able to pass to you, and your dog." "Donny's one too?" "I'm afraid so. The only way to cure it is to kill the one that started all of this, my son. And we have to do it before you change again, tonight. We have six hours before the sun goes down so if we can find him, maybe silver can kill him like it did the wolf creatures. "But what about Delton, they put that plate on his head and the silver did nothing. "I think what they did to him was focus the shapeshifters' strength while removing the weaknesses. He was also under their control, instead of Gerald's." "How do you know that?" "Gerald controls them, we've seen them watch, wait and attack specific places, even people. Nothing was random. When we were leaving the mine Gerald didn't attack us. He wasn't after us and neither were the monsters. Gerald even left us an escape vehicle right next to the entrance. Why? Because I think there might be some humanity left." "So Francis was right. They knew the first Nocturnis Infernis hideout was probably a trap and followed us to the real one." Ben added. Claude was speechless. Before he could speak the room building shook. Something in the distance exploded as an unnatural groan filled the air. Something huge was outside and getting closer. "What the hell was that?" Cole shouted as the door swung open again.

Lydia sprinted alongside the dog while the monstrous skeletal figure in dark leather chased her on all fours. She quickly ran inside a parking garage and slammed the large metal shutter. Before it was indented seconds later by Gerald slamming his body into it. Donny and Lydia backed away from the metal shutter as a massive claw smashed through the shutter stretching and embedding itself in the wall behind her. The elongated flesh was covered in small yellow eyes that darted around the room, eventually all were staring furiously at the woman and dog. Behind the monstrous arm she saw several large green oxygen cylinders. Next to a gas tank. "This is gonna be a long shot Donny but get ready. "The dog let out a small whine as he backed away towards a large door. Lydia entered the door and fired at the gas cylinder, the bullet bounced off and hit one of the small eyes as the arm yanked back ripping the shutter apart like paper as the giant leather clad monster snarled at her through its skeletal grin. Lydia fired two more at the tanks and had a split second to slam the door and keep running as the room behind her exploded. The door she slammed flew off its hinges and hit her, sending her into a wall as loud wailing groans came from the garage. She pushed the heavy splintered door off her, luckily it took the brunt of the explosion and Donny dived through the glass window at the front of the customers area of the garage. The blaze spread into the air. Lydia picked herself up and rushed through the broken window as the building burned around her. Strange noises continued from the explosion, maybe it worked, maybe he was dying but she didn't want to stop and find out. "Come on!" Lydia groaned to the dog as she limped out the entrance of the flaming building. She could see the station down the road and ran, her body flowed with pain from the heavy door being blown into her. The creature let out a low roar as the building behind her completely crumbled behind her.

Lydia was followed by Donny as she slammed the door, blood was dripping from her lip and she looked like hell. "We need to hurry." Donny let out a happy bark when he saw Claude and wagged his tail as he ran to him. "Donny! You're alive!" Claude said, giving his dog a hug. The hair on his back raised when he remembered Donny was cursed just like he was. He had to help the others put a stop to this in any way he could. "Come on we need to get out of the station!" She yelled as the thunderous footsteps echoed outside setting off car alarms. Everyone made their way to the front doors before Lydia called. "Not that way, that monster is back. He's coming, we need to go through the back!" "Lead the way." Ben said as Lydia and the others took off down the hall and turned down a long hallway next to the dispatch office. They passed the clock tower stairwell and ran for the large red exit sign that hung at the end of the hallway. Cole was unfortunately the first one through the metal door. The others heard a loud gurgle before they too got through the door. What they saw when they got through made their blood cold. Cole, not watching where he was going, flew out the door carelessly into Lisa Grisham's knife. She didn't even need to stab him; she just raised the jagged blade and he ran carelessly into the blade which ran through his neck. "No!!" Ben screamed, raising his forty four. The cowardly woman used his body as a meat shield. Ben lowered his gun. "I'll get you, you fucking bitch." Ben snarled as the police station shook hard behind them. He didn't have a clear shot. The monster that used to be Gerald sprinted down the hall like a demon, tearing through the walls and roof as the massive hulking creature lumbered quickly on it's mutated arms and legs. It's blank dark eye sockets locked on them as if it could still see. Ben, Abe, Sarah, Lydia and Claude all ran left out of the station while Lisa ran right, dropping Cole's body on the sidewalk when she knew she wouldn't be shot. And disappeared into a building.

The hulking creature flew out of the building like a massive cannonball into the brick building behind it. Gerald pulled himself from the brick crater and roared mindlessly as it fought mentally over the scents of the final cultist and the other survivors. Ben and the others were gone. Gerald's rumbling steps walked around to the sidewalk next to Cole's corpse. He could smell something alive and afraid in the small green building around the corner where the dead cops blood trailed to. The massive creature raised its arms and smashed the building. It heard a woman's scream from inside. It wasn't about to let Lisa escape as Gerald tore the roof off and saw the fearful robed woman inside. Just as quick as he saw her he stretched an arm out, wrapping tightly around Lisa's midsection, tightening as her scream turned to a pained moan as Gerald lifted her to his massive skull like head before the screams began again. Gerald opened his jagged shark looking teeth and closed them around her head until the screams shaking the inside of his mouth silenced as it bit off her head as her blood and pieces of skull flowed across his black tongue and down the grey flesh of his throat. Gerald dropped the body with blood dripping from his jaws and continued his hunt for the others, sniffing the air and quickly picking up their scents towards the town square.

"Come on! Ben shouted as Abe Sarah, Claude and Lydia kept up as they exited an alley to a roundabout with a large fountain in the center. They didn't know where to run, they were just trying to get away from the massive inhuman creature. "What now sheriff?" Abe said with his small revolver shaking in the elderly man's hand. Sarah held her heavy handgun, Lydia loaded her rifle and Ben had his forty four ready. Claude raised the small twenty two rifle which was slung over his shoulder. "I don't know Abe, do you think you could kill him with those silver bullets?" "If I can't, sheriff we're all dead." Abe responded as the earthshaking steps resumed closing in on them as they circled the fountain with their guns ready for the hulking monster which leapt onto a roof looking down at them with tatters of leather trailing behind it as it held onto the building with all fours and roared down at the others who raised their guns.

Meanwhile, Delton stumbled into Amber, his head had been shaved and several painful scars were scattered across his head. He took the robes and boots off a dead cultist he found in the forest after waking up high in a tree next to the mine shaft naked. "What the fuck is going on?" He muttered listening to the loud crashes, gunshots and roars that came from the distance. After walking aimlessly and confused for about ten minutes he found a crashed police car. He recognized the plate numbers from a friend who went missing on the first night the monsters attacked Amber. Delton knew about a spare set of keys tucked inside the glove compartment and took them. Before starting the car he drove around to the trunk to find a weapon for protection from whatever that massive whale-like roar was in the distance. "Whoa, now you are not supposed to be there…" the dazed officer said with a grin as he picked up the large unexpected weapon and put it in the passenger seat loaded. As he closed the drivers side door. "Don't worry sheriff, I ain't dead yet." The dazed officer groaned as he started the car, before slamming on the gas towards the sound of the gunshots, he turned to the surprising weapon and flipped the safety on with a grin. "Don't need you going off on me." He said with a half insane sounding laugh and slammed on the gas pedal.