Blind Rage - Chapter 8

Monday July 20, 1997, 9:30 am

Boerne, Texas

The berserker stood in front of the bedroom window, the only person awake as far as he could tell.

He stared at his reflection while he waited for it to move. He was already doped up, and he didn’t expect that either the reflection or Jobe would be able to connect to him. But during the night, he’d woken up panting, and his body burned with furious energy.

The curse was getting stronger in Gavin, George, and Rosa. He’d expected as much, but somewhere during the night, the process had accelerated in all three. Their proximity to each other was strengthening the magic, changing them to match their inner beasts at a faster rate.

Another flaw in the plan.

The berserker had gotten up and gobbled two Thorazine. He’d paced his room until they could take hold and calm him down again. He was relaxed at last, but he clutched the pill bottle, just in case. He was ready to overdose and kill himself if it meant not killing anyone else.

In Rosa’s room next door to his, the radio alarm clock went off. The berserker almost started laughing when he realized that he was listening to a cover version of Bad Moon Rising.

His smile fell as he had a stray thought. Maybe the curse is accelerating because of the lunar cycle.

He waited until he heard Rosa open her door, and then he opened his.

Rosa froze in the hallway, her mouth drawing into a frown as her head swung toward the sound of the door opening. “I knew I forgot something.”

She was dressed in a short T-shirt that was so old it had holes all over the shoulders and sleeves, and a ratty pair of shorts that might have been sweatpants in the distant past. Her midriff and her legs were exposed, revealing a web of scars over her flesh.

The berserker stared, his eyes tracing patterns in the lines running over her outer thigh. But there were no cuts on her inner thighs. He took that as a sign that the men didn’t want her to die right away. They’d cut her as torture, and they must have enjoyed every second of her pain.

Rosa disturbed his thoughts by asking, “Are you staring at me, or looking away?”

The berserker cleared his throat. “Staring. But if you think I’m mortified, come closer. I’ll let you feel my scars, and we’ll see who’s got the bigger wounds.”

Rosa relaxed, smiling faintly as she gestured back to her room. “I’ll just go put on some jeans.”

“Don’t do it on my account, really.” The berserker stepped out of his room. “I promised not to mess with you. If you like wandering around half dressed in the morning, stick with that.”

Rosa nodded, thinking the idea over before she said, “Well, I should at least put on some glasses.”

“Before you do, can you tell me if you have a calendar?”

Rosa shook her head. “No, sorry, but I don’t keep track of time very well. I get up early, but I’ve always been a morning person.”

The berserker nodded. “I’ll need to take a trip to the store to pick up a calendar and be sure of myself.”

“Sure about what?” Rosa asked.

The berserker said, “I think there’s supposed to be a full moon tonight.”

***

Monday, 9:49 am

San Antonio, Texas

Wagner was no sooner sitting down in his chair when the phone rang. Picking the handset up, he let a trace of irritation creep into his voice. “This is Wagner.”

“Wagner, this is Mark. I just wanted to let you know that we already have a facility available for your side project. It’s a rather elegant solution, if I do say so myself.”

“Before you pat yourself on the back, I need to give you an update,” Wagner said. “Gavin e-mailed a report last night. Two more people have been attacked by the orc, but once they were cut and cursed, the orc backed off. Jobe thinks this is the orc avoiding making attacks on his own kinfolk. Gavin has no theory at this time, but he has reservations about Jobe’s theory. He didn’t elaborate on that in his report.”

Mark was silent for a few seconds after Wagner finished. “I’m just taking notes,” he explained, then fell silent again.

“All right, these new numbers were expected, and the facility can handle at least a few more victims. Obviously, we’d prefer to contain the orc before the curse can spread. Have Gavin or Jobe come up with a plan to find him yet?”

“Yes, they’ve found that he has a preference for cow, and they’re planning on patrolling the countryside in search of the orc.”

Mark snorted. “But not tonight, right?”

Wagner frowned, his face filling with confusion. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“It’s a full moon tonight, Wagner. If I’m not mistaken, Jobe is going to have his hands full some time this evening.” Mark paused. “Actually, I was calling to remind you of that. You might want to call up Jobe and offer him some hardware. Perhaps a case of tranquilizers and the right guns to fire them?”

Wagner said, “Yeah, that might be a good idea. I’ll call them in a few minutes. Let me send you a copy of Gavin’s report from last night first.”

“That’s fine. Wagner, someone just walked into my office, so I’ll need to let you go.”

Wagner didn’t have a chance to say anything else before the line clicked. Setting down the phone, he leaned over to turn on his computer and monitor.

He was still waiting for the operating system to load when he had a stray thought; Oh, hell. How am I supposed to deal with Jobe without him finding out that I’ve betrayed him?

He’d barely finished the thought when the phone rang. He picked it up, sighing before he said, “This is Wagner.”

“Wagner, we have to take the night off,” Jobe said. His voice was dulled by a pronounced slur. “Tonight is a full moon, so I need help.”

“How did you get out?” Wagner asked.

“Gavin drove me to the grocery store to get a calendar, and then I had him drive around for a bit to let me out. The berserker is drawing a blank and wanted to consult with me. I need to figure out how to keep these three tied up somehow, but I’m drawing a blank too. Have you got any ideas?”

Wagner forced himself to pause to give the illusion of needing to think over his answer. “What do you think of tranquilizing them?”

There was only a moment of silence on the line before Jobe said, “I think I like that. Damn, you’re a genius.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“How soon can you whip something up?”

“Give me a few hours, and I’ll see what I can do.” Wagner set down the phone, but his hand hovered over the handset while he waited for it to ring again.

While he waited, he thought, There has to be some way to make this delivery without exposing myself for now.

He could not keep the ruse going for long. At some point, he would need to call in Jobe for a meeting, and then the shit would hit the fan. But for the time being, he needed to keep everyone calm.

So, thinking logically, he needed to send someone else to make the equipment delivery, someone he could trust.

Wagner picked up the phone and started dialing a number.

***

Monday, 10:15 am

Boerne, Texas

Gavin and George both nodded their approval of the plan. Rosa was still working in her room on something. Gavin had suggested fetching her to get the news, but the berserker insisted that it was best to leave her be and let her work according to her own internal schedule.

The living room had only two recliners on either side of a coffee table, so Gavin had taken a chair from the dining room, moving it to sit in front of the coffee table. He got up from his seat and took his empty mug from the table. “So, I guess we’re all taking a nap on our first transformation.”

The berserker handed Gavin his empty mug too. “Yeah. It’s probably best to do it this way until Erick gets back.”

Gavin shook his head. “Jobe, your plan is flawed, and you know it. What makes you think we can all disband just because we’ve been collared? We’ll have to watch out for each other, and every lunar cycle, being alone can put us at risk of killing someone.”

The berserker didn’t have an answer, and Gavin went to the kitchen to refill the mugs.

While he walked into the kitchen, Rosa came out of her bedroom. She walked into the living room, and though George and the berserker opened their mouths to utter a warning, neither one was able to prevent her from falling over the chair.

Rosa jumped up fast, scowling as she spun around. “Who the hell put a chair in the living room?”

Her voice had shifted in shrill fury. The shift wasn’t subtle, and Rosa’s skin flushed reddish-brown as her limbs start to swell.

Shocked by her transformation, neither George nor the berserker could answer.

She said, “One of you better speak up, or I swear—”

Gavin walked back into the living room. “I’m sorry, it was me. I couldn’t find a place to sit, so—”

“So you just moved my things around!”

Gavin set the mugs down on the table, trying to raise his hands in a placating gesture before he realized how pointless the act was.

And only then did he notice that Rosa wasn’t herself anymore.

Glancing back at the berserker, Gavin started to stammer, “I—I didn’t—I mean, I didn’t think it was a big deal.” He saw both George and the berserker cringe, and he opened his mouth to attempt an apology.

“You didn’t—now look, asshole! I measure my house by where I put things, and if you move anything, anything! If you move even one fucking remote, I’m lost! Do you understand that?”

“Yeah, I—”

“Then don’t fucking move my things!” Rosa picked up the chair and flung it.

Tumbling legs over seatback, it flew between George and the berserker and crashed through the wide picture window.

Which was nowhere near where Gavin stood.

Rosa cringed as the glass shattered, and then her expression of anger shifted into irritation. “Fuck!”

Hissing out the remainder of her anger caused the red tone to drain from her skin, and then her limbs returned to their normal thickness. She raised a hand to rub her forehead, panting through her nose for several seconds.

Then Rosa was back in control, and she had calmed down enough to ask, “I wasn’t even close, was I?”

Unsure of whether it was safe to answer or not, Gavin stammered, “N-no?”

Rosa nodded. “All right, just tell me when I’m facing the kitchen, and then get out of my way.”

She started turning in a slow circle until Gavin said, “Now,” and then she walked out of the living room.

Once she thought she was out of earshot, she began to mutter a slew of curses, mixing Spanish and English with such speed that only a few fragments were understandable.

The berserker got up from his seat and moved to stand beside Gavin.

He whispered, “Which way did you set the coffeepot back on the element?”

Gavin thought for less than a second before he started running. He stopped when Rosa screeched, and he hung his head.

“Motherfucker!” she bellowed through clenched teeth. “Get your ass in here now!”

***

Monday, 11:19 am

The berserker stood in the hallway, uncertain of who to talk to first. He was heavily drugged, and he was already contemplating taking another pill, just to make sure he couldn’t be upset.

He got to the point of slipping his hand into his hip pocket, even curling his fingers around the bottle before he stopped himself.

The pills weren’t really working, except to keep Jobe repressed. Right then, the berserker could admit that he wanted to swap places and let Jobe deal with the problems in the house. His function was planning fights, not solving emotional problems.

Sighing, he walked out of the house and looked around. He found Gavin sitting on the fishing pier, and he walked across the property to go sit beside the miserable agent.

Gavin held his hand over the side of his face, and his expression blended anger and confusion while he sulked over being hit.

Gavin wasn’t in the mood to talk, and for once, the berserker didn’t feel like being his usual blunt self.

He raised his head to the sky, clasping his hands in his lap. “You know, until this week, I’ve been outside four times in Jobe’s life. He kept me bottled up, and he can’t blame me for becoming a serial bomber. But he can’t blame himself either, can he?”

Gavin shook his head, his glare relaxing as he said, “I don’t understand.”

“After I got out the first time and nearly killed my sister, Jobe went on a long trek to isolate himself away from his family. He worked day labor, and he was a good, honest person. Maybe he was crazy, but he tried, you know?”

The berserker was surprised by the tears rising in his eyes as he spoke, and by the way his voice had become thick with emotion. “Four years ago, someone working for Damien injected Jobe with a disease, and it ate part of his brain. That’s how his reflection was born, and Jobe’s slide into a life of crime was fast after that. But it wasn’t his fault. Do you see that?”

Gavin nodded. “Yes.”

“So, let me ask you this, Gavin. If you know that’s the truth, why was I forced to accept all of Jobe’s crimes as my own, when I just gained control of his body last week? Why should I be stuck here, when I’ve done nothing?”

Gavin didn’t have an answer, though the berserker remained quiet for some time to let him think.

He sighed, shaking his head. “But that’s not how life works. Choice is just a big fucking joke. I can tell myself that I take my pills by choice, and they don’t taste so bitter. I can almost convince myself that I want the pills, so I can put up with you and not rip your heart out.”

The berserker shook his head. “But I don’t want to be here. I don’t...I don’t want to be alive, and this isn’t my body. I’m just borrowing it from Jobe. But it...it doesn’t hurt so much if I think this is my choice to stay.”

Gavin stared at the berserker with an uncomfortable expression. He couldn’t say anything, but he understood what the berserker was saying, and what he was trying to hint at.

Gavin turned to look back at the house, sighing before he pushed himself back onto his feet. “All right, I’ll...I’ll go sort it out.”

The berserker nodded, watching Gavin walk up the pier before he dropped his head to stare at his reflection in the water. It was a good lie, telling Gavin that he didn’t hurt by convincing himself that he had a choice.

But it was a lie, and not even the drugs could dull the ache in his chest.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Rachel Lin’s blue Neon pulling up into the gravel driveway behind George’s truck. She got out of the car, calling to him, and he didn’t notice.

Rachel walked to the edge of the pier, and when he sensed her thoughts, then he turned around.

Rachel smiled and offered him a wave as she walked closer. “I hardly recognized you under all that muscle, Jobe. How are you?”

The berserker tried to return her smile as he said, “I’m sorry, but Jobe doesn’t live here anymore.”

Rachel was understandably confused when the berserker burst into tears.

***

Monday, 11:24 am

Gavin knocked on Rosa’s door, and she snapped, “What?”

He took a breath to calm himself. “Rosa, it’s Gavin. Can I come in please?”

“Do whatever you like,” Rosa said.

Gavin opened the door, and he hesitated walking inside. At first he assumed the lights were off, and the curtains were drawn.

But after looking around, it occurred to him that everything in the room was painted black. Even the windows had been painted over, and the only source of light came from Rosa’s monitor on her desk.

Stepping into the room, he noticed that Rosa didn’t have a normal keyboard. In its place was a long white metal strip with buttons, none of which seemed to have any functions printed on them.

Rosa tugged a pair of bud earphones away from her ears and set them on the desk. A mechanical female voice read words from the screen as a cursor highlighted them, but before Gavin could see what she was working on, she tapped a command to pause the reading program. A second later, she patted the front of the monitor to shut it off.

Rosa sighed at his continued silence. “What? Do you want an apology?”

Might be nice. Gavin kept the comment to himself. “I came to apologize for moving the coffee pot, and, if you’ll forgive me, to explain the plan for tonight.”

Rosa turned in her seat, pouting with an uncertain expression. “I’ll forgive you if you stop moving my things. One of you already left the toilet seat up, and if I catch—”

“That was probably me too, so I’ll just apologize now.” Gavin sighed, looking around the shadow deep room. “If you want to slap me over that, I’d prefer if you wait until after the ringing in my ear stops.”

Rosa dropped her head, her hand rising to clasp the side of her neck. “I won’t slap you again, but just...just don’t move my things.”

“I’ll reserve moving stuff to my room only, all right?” Rosa nodded and Gavin said, “Okay, so, the plan for tonight is very simple. Jobe is going to give each of us a tranquilizer to keep us under during our first transformation.”

Rosa nodded. “Is he going to have to restrain us?”

Gavin opened his mouth, then closed it. After a moment of thought, he said, “I don’t recall it being mentioned, so probably not.”

Rachel knocked on the door frame to get Gavin’s attention. “Hey, Gavin.” She smiled and asked, “You aren’t going to start bawling on my shoulder too, are you?”

“Who the hell are you?” Rosa asked stiffly.

Rachel’s face filled with irritation, but as she was opening her mouth, she saw Gavin rapidly shake his hand back and forth as a quick signal not to provoke Rosa.

He turned his head and pointed to the handprint, which was still bright crimson despite being almost two hours old by that point.

Rachel’s eyes bulged at the handprint, and when she spoke, she made sure she sounded friendly. “I’m Rachel Lin. I’m supposed to just be a computer technician for the FBI, but these days’ I also serve double duty as a gopher for Gavin’s supervisor, Gary Wagner.”

Rosa got out of her seat, moving across the room while she folded her arms defensively across her chest. “You aren’t moving in, are you?”

“No, just moving some equipment in for Jobe.” Rachel noticed Gavin’s cringing reaction, and she immediately asked, “That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“What kind of equipment?” Rosa asked.

“I brought a computer, and the equipment to set up a secure internet connection. That’s my cover story for being here. I’m supposed to be giving Jobe and Gavin a way to contact the branch office without using open lines.”

Rachel was about to say something else, but Rosa stepped close enough to the door that her exposed eye sockets were visible. Rachel gasped and covered her mouth.

Rosa sighed, dropping her head. “Right, glasses.” She waved to Rachel and moved back to the desk. “Give me a second.”

Rachel leaned on the door, shaking her head. She’d been exposed to some shocking memories by linking with a halfling, but even the distant line of telepathic memories couldn’t help to reduce the impact of seeing Rosa’s scarred eye sockets.

Rosa put on the pair of wide Ray Bans that George loaned her from the day before, and when she walked to the door, she smiled and offered her hand.

The voice she spoke with was softer as she asked, “Before you get started, would you like something to drink?”

“Oh...” Rachel glanced at Gavin, who nodded. “Sure, that sounds great. I’ll just need to catch up with Gavin for a second, in private, and then I’ll meet you in the kitchen?”

Nodding, Rosa put out her hand to feel for Rachel’s arm. She stepped around Rachel and then felt for the door. Once the minor deviation of her course was corrected, her pace picked up as she began walking through familiar territory again.

Rachel leaned close to Gavin to whisper, “Wagner told me next to nothing before he sent me to my car with a stack of boxes. What did I just walk into here?”

Gavin sighed, glancing around the doorway to make sure Rosa was way out of earshot. “It’s complicated, but I understand why the berserker has been able to identify with her. She’s a berserker too.”

Rachel said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Gavin nodded “Okay, look, Jobe has another personality, something he was born with. When he’s around certain people, like his family, it triggers this change over into the berserker personality.”

Rachel nodded. “Okay, I think I get you now. She’s got a split personality too.”

“Yes, but unlike Jobe, it isn’t a complete fracture. Both personalities exist in her head at the same time, and the one specific trigger that I can see so far is, she snaps when she feels like her territory is being threatened.”

Gavin snorted. “Forget a bat. I’ll bet good money she’s going to turn into a cat of some kind.”

Rachel stared at Gavin with a perturbed expression, her dark brown eyes flicking from side to side while she tried repeatedly to process what he’d said. “Let me go back to my first question and amend it slightly.”

Rachel’s face pinched into a look of anger. “What the hell has Wagner got me into now?”

***

Monday, 11:37 am

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Rachel looked up from her tea glass just as George walked into the kitchen. Rachel offered him a wave and a smile. “Hi, I’m Rachel Lin. I’m a company nerd.”

“I’m George Brahms.” The deputy chuckled and pointed at Rosa. “I’m hiding in my room until someone tells me it’s safe to walk around.”

Rosa sighed and nodded. “Okay, fine. I overreacted, all right? This is my house, and I have it the way I like it.”

“It’s very nice,” Rachel said, hoping to keep Rosa in good spirits. “Do you have anyone help you clean all of this?”

“No, I do it myself.” Rosa emptied the last sip of tea from her glass. “I hire people to handle the yard work, but I prefer if I’m the one to keep my house organized. I don’t want to hire someone, learn their habits, and then have them move. Then I’d be lost in my own home all over again.”

“Yeah, I can see how that might suck.” Rachel realized what she’d said and cringed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“No, of course you didn’t mean anything insulting.” Rosa got up from her chair and went to the refrigerator to grab the pitcher of tea. “It’s okay. People see what I’m saying, even if I can’t.” She turned her head and listened to the tea filling the glass until it was three quarters full.

She turned a little too fast, splashing tea from the glass onto the floor.

Sighing, she asked, “Does anyone else need a refill?”

“Please?” Rachel asked.

***

Monday, 12:02 pm

San Antonio, Texas

Wagner rubbed his forehead while Rachel panted. She’d been talking so fast that he heard nothing of what she said. “I’m sorry, can you try that again?”

Rachel’s sigh on the other end of the line was filled with frustration. “I didn’t stutter.”

She took a breath, speaking slower. “Rachel slipped in a splashed puddle of tea on the kitchen floor. I leaned back in my chair to catch her, and she started to flail at the same time. Her tooth ended up stuck in the top of my head. Now she’s missing part of her tooth, and I need to request someone else to come out with an extra set of tranquilizers for me.”

Wagner dropped his head, thumping his forehead on the desk. The pain flaring from the impact was intense and sharp, but not so much that he wasn’t tempted to do it again.

His body tried to react to the news with rage, but he diffused it with silent, huffing laughter. He thumped his head on the desk again, which helped to calm him down.

He asked, “Is there anything else?”

“Uh...yes, sir. You rushed me out of the office too fast, and I don’t have my cable splitter. So...um, can you bring that, and a set of CAT-5 connectors?”

“The what now?” Wagner asked.

Rachel sighed. “Just tell Joe to put together a box of supplies for setting up a five port router, with all the connections and tools. Can you handle that?”

“I’m not that dense, Rachel. Maybe you shouldn’t be so surly with me.”

“Am I being surly?” Rachel snorted. “I’m sorry. I might be a tad upset because I look like I’m trying to reenact the prom scene from Carrie. For such a tiny hole in my head, you’d think the bitch trepanned me or something.”

Wagner smirked. “I assume she’s not in the room right now.”

“No, she’s setting up the only other room this place has, and she’s cussing up a storm about it. I get the impression that she doesn’t like people in general.”

Wagner’s smile fell as he thought about what was about to happen in the next two to three hours, depending on traffic. Once Jobe was close enough to read his thoughts, he was probably going to have at least one punch coming, possibly more.

But the fight couldn’t be avoided. Wagner said, “All right, I’ll gather the equipment and the tranquilizers. But if one of you even looks at me funny, I’m staying outside.”

“You might want to stay outside,” Rachel said. “Jobe went to the store with Gavin, so there’s no one to protect you from Rosa.”

“I hardly think I need to worry about—”

“Famous last words, Wagner,” Rachel said, and then she hung up.