Inanimate (48 page)

“
You
know how to use that?”

MacNamee was looking at the black
shotgun in her hands as he asked the question.

“
Never used one before, but I
figure now’s a good time to learn. The sergeant said the recoil’s a
bitch, but if I hit my target…”

“
If…” MacNamee
said with a
smile.

Again, Anne smirked. She always had had
a fondness for smart men, particularly smart men who looked as good
as MacNamee did.

“
What
did you choose?” Anne
asked.

MacNamee sheepishly held up a light
handgun.

“
It was this or a
water pistol” he
joked, finding comfort in the fact that he was still able
to.

Anne
looked around the dim office. Brian,
Tony, Matthew and Jessica were all asleep. Fatigue had trumped
their fear already. The only one apart from them who was still
awake was Murdoch. But his trance like state did not suggest
wakefulness.

“
Are you alright
detective?”

Anne asked this even though she knew it
was stupid. Murdoch turned to her and forced a smile.

“
I just wish I could’ve helped
him. I just wish I could have helped both of them, you know? I
should have been with them.”

“
And while you were there someone
else might have died in his place, and you would still blame
yourself. It’s hard to hear I know, but you can’t be everywhere at
once.”

The con
fidence of Anne’s response eased
Murdoch’s guilt only a little. MacNamee said nothing, he couldn’t.
He agreed with Murdoch’s guilt, he felt it for Greta. However he
did not want his silence to be probed by Anne so he spoke quietly,
there were people sleeping after all.

“
What do you think the chances
are of us making it out of here?”

Anne
looked down at Jessica, making sure
she was asleep before responding.

“
Slim
.”

Murdoch nodded solemnly. MacNamee
snickered nervously.

“
Well hopefully we
can do something to
increase those odds eh?”

“
Not with that little thing in
your hand
s”
Anne quipped, drawing chuckles from both Murdoch and
MacNamee.

“
Quiet!”
Came Jacobs’ voice from the doorway.
He and Oates had heard something. A shrill laugh was now echoing
through the station, it sent a chill down Oates’ spine. The thought
that someone could find amusement in this horrific situation scared
him to no end. By now, everyone was awake; no one could sleep
through that laugh. Oates and Jacobs both watched the double doors
ahead of them, the same doors Brian came through from the second
floor. Quietly, Murdoch slipped out to provide backup to his boss.
A long moment dragged on. Nothing happened but the men were still
tense. The low temporary walls around the desks did not block their
views, but they did provide excellent cover for the creatures to
hide behind and, even without talking, all three men recognized
that. Jacobs and Oates started moving outwards in opposite
directions. Suddenly, heavy footsteps coming from the basement
staircase caused them both to stop.

All three men turned to face the
stairs
. The
sound grew louder, something was coming up.

“
This is it. Get
ready”

Jacobs whispered to Murdoch as he aimed
his gun towards the precarious staircase. All three men waited in
anticipation, the sound of the footsteps were a sharp contrast to
the silence that engulfed the main room now. A loud crash broke all
their tension. Basket burst through the double doors, sending both
slamming into the wall. In unison, all three men turned and opened
fire but, as they did so, all three dummies came charging from the
staircase. Conflicted shots rang out in the room as the men’s
attentions were split. As Basket and the Dummies disappeared behind
the desks and temporary walls, silence fell once again. Jacobs was
very nervous now. Not only were the creatures in the room with
them, but they were using tactics, working together. This thought
unsettled him, he would have preferred them to be mindless killers,
at least they would have been easier to destroy.

Anne and MacNamee moved out of the office
silently to offer support. A high-pitched zipping noise startled
Oates who turned towards the office window to see Tony had raised
the blinds. Tony, Matthew and Brian were all at the window
watching, sharing cowardly looks with those on the outside. With
only a few simple gestures, Jacobs and Oates communicated their
intentions to the group. The sergeant took Murdoch and moved
carefully moved round the right hand side of the desk area, keeping
his back firmly against the wall. Oates moved round to the left but
he was poorly covered by Anne and MacNamee (both amateurs in this
game) Because of this poor cover Oates was exposed, but he would
not realize this until it was too late. Jacobs moved swiftly,
checking as many areas as he could as fast as he could. However,
the much more thorough Murdoch lagged behind, he stayed a few steps
behind so he was better able to watch his sergeants
back.

“
Perry” a voice
whispered.

Initially
apprehensive
,
Murdoch pointed his gun in the general direction of the
voice.

“
Perry, it’s me!”

The voice whispered again and Murdoch
recognized it straight away. Relief washed over his apprehension,
covering it completely.

“
James! I thought you were gone.
Where are you?”

Murdoch’s voice was loud with hope and
Jacobs’ heard him. The sergeant turned to see what his detective
was doing but he wasn’t in his line of sight at all.

“
Murdoch?”

Jacobs’ called out in a harsh whisper
but he got no response.

“
I’m down here
…”

Graham’s voice was enough to lure his
colleague into dropping his guard. Wracked with grief, the
detective was only too eager to believe his friend was still
alive.

Leaning in to inspect the shadowy shape
under a desk, Murdoch was completely exposed.

“
Murdoch!”

Jacobs’ second whisper was enough to snap
the detective from his delusion but not enough to save his life.
Basket sprung out from under the desk and sunk his teeth into
Murdoch’s throat. Instantly, Murdoch collapsed, twitching to the
floor as Basket tore his throat straight out like an animal. A
small dummy popped out from under the desk, let out a hearty laugh
and scampered off; satisfied with the role he played. Basket rolled
back his head and sent out a booming cackle, knowing that this was
his easiest kill yet. Jacobs’ ran round to meet the owner of the
wicked laugh and opened fire. As the clown leaped around, avoiding
the bullets everyone was completely distracted by the sight.
Jacobs’ shotgun blasts were sending files, desk fragments and even
parts of pot plants up into the air as he tried to hit his target
Oates turned to fire on the clown too but got flanked by Dummy. The
wooden behemoth slipped out from behind a filing cabinet and landed
a solid punch to the old man’s kneecap, shattering it completely.
As Anne and MacNamee stood trying to aim their weapons, Tony rapped
on the window hard. He pointed furiously towards his uncle who lay
on the ground, writhing in pain as Dummy loomed over him. Dummy was
now fully under Connor’s control and Connor was enjoying watching
the Sheriff squirm through Dummy’s glassy eyes.

“
It’s your turn
Sheriff”

Connor’s pre-pubescent voice was forceful
out of Dummy’s mouth. Oates hardly heard anything though; his knee
was causing him too much pain. Dummy opened his mouth wide,
preparing to clamp down on Oates. A quick round from MacNamee
struck Dummy right in the face. Even a somewhat lucky shot from his
“little” handgun was enough to tear a large part of Dummy’s skull
clean off. The bullet caused Dummy no pain but it certainly angered
him. MacNamee had no time to enjoy his shot; instead he fired
again, this time striking the dummy in the chest, tearing his sharp
black suit. Dummy had to retreat for now, after all he was made of
wood and the bullets were doing severe damage to his body. Jacobs’
continued blasting like a man possessed. His second detective was
dead too and he wanted vengeance. MacNamee had to think fast. They
were completely exposed right now. Over the blast he called for
Anne and the two dragged Oates into the office. Calling Anne over
the sound of shotgun blasts the two of them dragged Oates quickly
into his office.

MacNamee let go of Oates and
looked back into the main room. Jacobs’ was still firing off
rounds, trying to land a killshot. MacNamee knew he wouldn’t last
long on his own so he had to bring him in. From his experience in
Hallcombes, MacNamee knew he would be wasting time if he tried to
talk to Jacobs right now; he had to be brought in by force, he was
simply too angry to be reasoned with
. Springing to his feet the doctor looked
square at Tony.

“
Come with me!”

“
Are you fucking crazy? I’m
not going out there!”

MacNamee had no time to debate. He
raised his gun and fired off a round past Tony’s head.

“
Now!”

“
Fuck!” Tony yelled out but
followed MacNamee out into the room to grab the irate
Jacobs’.

As the two men manhandled the sergeant,
thoughts were running through MacNamee’s mind. He wondered if they
would make it back to the office alive, he wondered if the two
would be strong enough to control Jacobs but most of all, he really
wished he hadn’t fired the gun in such a small area, his ears hurt
terribly now. Jacobs’ resisted every step of the way but finally he
was in the office being restrained by Brian and Matthew. MacNamee
slammed the door, locked it tight and dropped the
blinds.

The dolls had the upper hand once
again.

CHAPTER 45

The Sheriff’s office was dimly
lit when the shades were closed
. The office wasn’t part of the original building;
it was installed only ten years earlier. A true testament to the
cheapness of ex-Mayor Hugh Shannahan; the office never actually had
any lights installed in it. Oates never really had an issue with
it. At first he did, but years of badgering got him nowhere so he
gave up, saving his gripes for bigger issues. He had a desk lamp
for reading with and that was all he needed. He would normally get
enough light from the sun or by opening the blinds to the main
room. Now, however, he wished he had badgered some more. The
reading light provided enough light for the desk area but that was
it, even with the lampshade off of it, it still wasn’t very bright
(he also regretted buying energy saving bulbs)

Jacobs’ had stopped complaining
about being held in the office, but he wasn’t thanking anyone for
bringing him in either
. He sat on the couch alone staring into a dark
corner. He would not complain about the lack of light. He felt he
deserved no less for bringing his two detectives to their
slaughter. He sat, mournful, solemn, trying to work out how they
could be killed under his watch.

Anne did not sit near Brian. If she had
any respect for him before they entered the station, it was all
gone now. Every so often she would glance up at him and wonder how
she could ever have let him near her. “What a coward!” she thought.
Her eyes would skim the dim faces of Tony and Matthew too, “so
alike” she whispered more than once. She simply could not
understand how she allowed herself to be involved with these guys.
She looked back at Brian and he gave an awkward smile. With an
opposing disgusted look, she never looked at him again.

MacNamee sat near the door with
Jessica sleeping on his lap. His eyes were lost. He knew he had
saved Oates’ life and he enjoyed that fact. He was no coward but he
felt he had not pulled his weight much while here. In fact, the
melee in the main room was the only tussle he had been involved in
since the start of this mess. He felt that at least by saving
Oates, he had done something towards the hopeful end of
this
. He
thought of Greta, as he had been doing unconsciously ever since he
saw her body. Now he allowed himself some time for real reflection,
though the reflection could not take his mind off of the reality
that faced him. They were cornered sheep, and the wolves were right
outside the door.

Oates’ breathing was the rhythm
of the office. He had gotten over the initial agony of his injury
but it still ached. His breathing was to control his pain and it
was gruff. If it was a cut he could wrap something around it but it
wasn’t. There was nothing he could do right now about his injury.
So he sat against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of
him, his pulsing breathing kept everyone from falling asleep
but
no one
would say anything to him. How could they?

So they sat, scattered around the
office, waiting for the next step.

CHAPTER 46

Connor Williams was not sleeping but he
was also not aware of his surroundings. All his attention was on
what was going on in Staunton, he was controlling the dolls
individually and he loved it. A storm could have been raging inside
his room and he would not have noticed. No, he was having too much
fun. His father’s death would soon be avenged and then some. He did
not know what he would do when he was finished but he knew it would
be soon. The group was getting weaker and it would only be a matter
of time before all this would be over.