Ultimate Primal Forces #01 - Blood Red Blues Pt .1

[Deleted]

Primal Forces
#1
Blood Orchard

Blood Red Blues Pt 1

This issue does contain some swears. If you don't like that sort of thing, don't read any further...

Siegleville Apartment Block,
4.40am
Forty feet from 'Green' & 'Red' Zones

'All I'm saying is that this sort of thing puts the shits up me.'

William McIntyre leant against the apartment blocks door frame. It was old brickwork, a 1920's build. He could feel the yawning of the metal frameworks inside, where it had been rebuilt years back, without much thought or care for the original structure. Clearly, the people who'd rebuilt it cared as much as he did.

'Of course it does.'

Acting Captain Nick Kelly looked back at his young protégé. The young man was barely into his twenties, and antagonised him constantly, but he had fought with courage in the War, and that earned him some leeway. Even if his features were those of a young man. Blonde hair, a strong jaw. He was every bit the young man Nick wished himself to be when he were William's age.

'We're from Light, Nick.'

'Captain,' Nick corrected as he pushed a key into the door lock. The lock jammed and almost moaned as he tried to unlock it. 'Will?'

Will stepped forward, putting his palm over the lock and switching on his Electromagnetic powers. A short shunt of force pushed the lock out of it's wooden frame and bounced it across the inside floor.

'Like I say, we're from Light, Nick. We shouldn't be this close to the Red or Green Zones.'

Nick sighed and checked over his shoulder before he removed his dark glasses. Will looked away, as he always did, when Nick used his powers in full view.

'Move that vagrant will you?' Nick asked.

Will's eyes adjusted for a moment. A homeless man sat just slightly round the corner of the apartment block, watching then out of the corner of his eye. Will puffed his chest up and pulled the badge from his pocket.

'Excuse me, sir. We're going to need you to move along to somewhere else.'

'Yeah? I'm happy here. Y'can't make me go,' The man said. Will cocked his head to the side and pushed his badge closer to the man's face. 'United States Government says that I can. So, you gonna make me call it down on you, or you going to take a slow stroll down to the next corner?'

'Yeah, yeah,' the Homeless man got to his feet, making sure his hood continued to obscure his face. The only thing visible was a well kept, but bushy, blonde beard. 'I'm a veteran you know.'

'Yeah, me too.'

Will turn back to his acting Captain and gave him the thumbs up.

'You can do your thing now, Stevie Wonder.'

Despite Will's constant jibes, Nick was happy, for the most part, with his abilities. It wasn't as flashy as Will's connection to the Lights. Will was brute force, but Nick enjoyed the subtlety’s of his abilities. Nick's brain had learned to use the 'Lights' in a different manner to Williams, he could 'see' through the entire Electromagnetic Spectrum.

'You put those sockets away yet?' Will asked.

'Not yet,' Nick said, 'And it's Captain when we're in the field. I shouldn't have to keep reminding you.'

'I shouldn't have to look at your weird sockets when you do your thing, Nick. Buddy should be here instead of me.'

'We're over worked and under staffed, Will. We go where we need to. You don't see Buddy complaining about having to head into the Ember's do you?' Nick sighed. His vision wasn't picking anything up. Scanning over the Electromagnetic wavelengths, through infra-red, magnetic fields and even radio, he found nothing. He pushed back his lank, dark hair and replaced his glasses. Flecks of grey were beginning to show the stress of the last year in his stubble.

'Nobody goes into the Embers, Nick.'

'Captain,' Nick corrected again. He drew his side-arm and held it low, pushing the door open with his shoulder. 'Some-thing’s shielding this building from us. I think there's a full on Parliamentary incursion behind this door.'

'Acting Captain,' Will said. Nick gave him a short glare. 'Probably shouldn't have blown the bladdy doors off then?'

'Firstly, I don't want to hear you try to do a British accent again, Will. It's not only distracting, but it's unprofessional and downright awful. Secondly, will you dial it down here, McIntyre? I can't see shit with you glowing like a Roman candle.'

'Oh,' Will said. He pulled his EM field down a few levels. The door handle on the floor stopped rattling, which was the first indication either of them had that it was making any noise. A hushed silence spread over the house and street, with only the hint of something breathing in the background. Something huge.

'Yeah. So, why're we here again?' Will asked.

'You didn't read the call out?'

'I didn't.'

Nick sighed. The pair moved up the only stairwell. The downstairs was a simple corridor with a coat rack and a set of stairs leading above. There were leaves all over the floor, but contrasted with the stench of rotting meat.

'The Green, I think. Though given the proximity of the two, we're not sure. Doesn't smell very Green.'

'No, smells like Rot. Decay Incursion?' Will suggested.

'Maybe. Incursive, definitely,' Nick aimed the gun at the door up the flight of stairs. It was cracked and appeared to be smeared with blood and tree sap. 'In three, Will.'

'1...2....'

---

Siegleville SPD District Office,
Town Centre
5.00am

He hates the Red Zone. It always smells of two things, sex and blood. A heady combination that sends his connection to it through the roof. There is a reason why they say you can't go home again, and that phrase is especially applicable to those with an Elemental connection. He could feel his boil starting to boil, and his body reacting to the stimulation of his sight, and his smell.

The other hated part of the Red Zone, aside from the complete removal of any biological and non-biological matter and it's replacement with beating organs, rivers of blood and great, puffy buildings of puss and skin, was the constant temperature gradient. It was always thirty seven and a half degrees. Human body temperature.

He couldn't remember precisely why he was in the Red Zone. Something he was tailing, but the area around him was slowly driving his crazy. He tried to dial back his powers, but they were bursting beneath the surface of his body – his blood crying out to be spilled and let loose into the world.

Feeling the urge inside of him, as well as the throbbing of the blood bursting to bleed through his pores, he breaks into a run for the edge of the Zone. He knows that as soon as he exits the environment, he'll calm down. He'll revert to being just another slightly above normal human being who doesn't need to exorcise his entire vascular system over the ground once he makes the edge of the Red Zones influence.

Barrelling forwards, Buddy Baker barely notices what's in front of him. His shoulder clips the edge of the first vertical post, sending him spinning out of control and crashing into the ground. He twists a few times in the dusty skin that lined the ground of the Red Zone, his left arm and leg outside the influence of the Red's sphere, instantly cooling down. Buddy gasped, looking up.

The vertical post led up into the air, eight or nine feet. It was home-made from pieces of ply. Around six feet up, the horizontal post stretch out another six feet. It was a cross.

Hanging limpy, with blood, drool and a distended tongue from it's mouth, was a humanoid coyote. It's feet, knees, elbows and hands had been nailed to the cross, for all to see. Facing into the Red Zone, Buddy assumed it was a warning.
A warning that tilted towards him, the putrefying creature pitching down, it's innards spilling from it's split stomach over Buddy's face.

---

'SHIT!'

Buddy nearly fell backwards from his chair onto the floor, waking up with a start. His mobile was vibrating and ringing on his desk, causing a racket that wasn't there moments ago, despite his disturbed sleep.

He managed to peel himself away from his chair, which was coated with a thick scab. He grit his teeth in pain, as the first layer of exposed skin tore itself from it's moorings, as it did every morning.

'Yeah?' Buddy said. His voice was hoarse.

'Buddy? Good Morning, Sunshine.'

He smirked and leant back in his chair.

'Ellen. Hi honey. How are you this morning?'

'Oh, you know. How are you? You don't sound so great. Did I wake you?'

'Nah,' he lied, 'Just working.'

'Sure. I'm just headed to bed. I had a...'

'Deadline. I know, the publisher needs your finished paintings by Tuesday.'

'Ah, such the attentive husband,' Ellen paused. 'I miss you.'

Buddy sighed down the phone and closed his eyes. He needed some coffee.

'I miss you too, you know I don't want to do this right? It's just...for the best. Nocturnal emissions are one thing but...'

'Yeah, waking up in five pints of your husbands blood doesn't exactly make the mornings something to look forward to. Dinner at Seven, okay?'

'Yeah. I'll be there. Kids okay?'

'Maxine misses you. I think Cliff does too, but, who can tell. He's fifteen.'

'Yeah. Probably too busy with girls.'

'Or boys, Buddy. Don't be a stick in the mud.'

Buddy groaned and leant forward against his desk.

'Yeah,' Buddy said. The door to his office swung open, revealing an irritated looking agent holding it. A worried looking Indian woman walked through. Buddy slapped his forehead.

'Balls! Ellen I need to go. I'll see you tonight – Seven, Okay?'

'Okay. Love you, Buddy.'

'Love you,' Buddy closed his phone and opened his arms in apology, 'Chandi, I am so sorry.'

The woman bowed her head in acknowledgement.

'Do not worry. I was not waiting long before I decided that I should get some other form of transport.'

Buddy shook his head and pulled the rest of his body from the chair, doing his best to try and cover up the huge scab that coated the edges of his chair and the front of his desk.

'I am really sorry, though. I was supposed to pick you up from the airport an hour ago. I fell asleep and..'

'So I can see,' Chandi said, gesturing towards the scab, 'Are you hurt?'

Buddy cringed and rubbed the back of his head.

'No, I'm...' Buddy scratched his fringe, trying to formulate the words, 'I have some issues. Some fall out with my connection to the Parliament after the War.'

Chandi nodded quietly. She offered a hand to Buddy.

'You can explain later. Berhnard Baker, I am Chandi Gupta. It is a pleasure you finally meet you. Our correspondence via email and phone did not prepare me for how isolated Siegleville is and how fractured it has become.'

'No, it's never quite the same seeing it in the flesh is it?' Buddy agreed. He released her hand and headed back around his desk. She smelled like Lily's, which was odd because Buddy always smelt of sweat and body odour when he'd been on a plane. She was very attractive. A tall figure, slender, with shoulder length hair. She held herself in a confident way, despite how polite and shy her other body language suggested she was. Buddy internally scolded himself for being slightly surprised by her wearing a business suit instead of something he might have deemed more traditional. 'It's been quiet for a little while. We're down to a staff of about fifteen at the moment, mostly part timers like the guy who held the door open for you.'

'Stephen,' Chandi corrected.

'Yeah. Steve,' Buddy said. 'I should probably give you a little tour of the area after I've had some coffee. You eaten?'

'I have not. I would like to at some point today,' Chandi said. Buddy smiled to himself.

'Yeah, me too. So, you're here for?' Buddy shuffled through some pages on his cluttered desk.

'Research, predominately. There have been a number of odd incursions in India of late and I need to try to understand if they are isolated to our country, or if they are indications of what is to come elsewhere.'

'Odd in what way?'

Chandi held herself quiet for a moment.

'I am afraid that only further research will indicate whether they are truly odd or just...unexpected. So much of what we have experienced thus far has been odd, who is to say that this is not just another variant of that?'

Buddy shrugged, wiping sleep from his eyes.

'Hey? Who am I to question the scientist, right?'

The phone on Buddy's desk began to vibrate again. Chandi looked over at it, while Buddy tried to ignore it buzzing in the background.

'Are you not going to answer it?'

Exhaling heavily, Buddy walked to his desk.

'You learn that you answer every other phone call in this place, otherwise, you'd go mad.'

Buddy picked up the phone.

'Yeah, Baker,' he answered. His face dropped immediately. He pulled open his draw, wrenching the fire-arm and badge from it and dropping them on the desk. 'Keep your shit together, Nick. I'm on my way. Just keep away from the house, Okay? Try and contain it as much as possible, and for god sakes, keep the general public away from this.'

Chandi stood in silence, not sure where to look. Buddy slammed the phone into his pocket, and snatched the gun and badge from his desk. He wrapped his hand around her arm and yanked her through the door.

'Congrats, Agent Gupta. We're going to get you field tested today.'