The Mission Is Never Over—Hunting Grounds

Art by Dennis Detwiller.

April 25 (con't)

Driving back from the dive bar, Wren noticed something in the rearview mirror. A gray shape like a cloud blotting out the stars in the night sky... except the red glow around its edges meant it was way too close to her tail lights. She swerved and managed to avoid getting dive-bombed by the Chiropractor, luring it towards isolated roads outside town. Eventually it broke off, but Wren stopped and shouldered her rifle.

BANG! It was nearly out of sight, flying straight up and getting smaller and smaller. But gray sludge fell, splattering against a nearby tree.

Back at the motel, Wren and Malachi caught each other up. Devon Malouf's corpse had been dumped in a nearby salt marsh, but Dr. Santorini was dead too, and Rex was semi-conscious. They decided Rex would have to stay at the motel: admitting him to a hospital would raise risky questions, and they could keep Doug busy nursing him back to health. Rex would've exposed him to Delta Green's work eventually, but now they needed to keep him from seeing anything more.

Which meant they would need Lt. Smith's—Gilberto's—assistance much sooner than expected.

 

April 26, Day

Det. Gregson called the team to the medical examiner's office first thing the next morning. The police were blocking entry to the parking lot, and news crews were set up nearby (including Lara Sanchez, who beamed and gestured to her phone when she saw them). Gregson pulled them into the building, past the CSI techs outside, and demanded to know what else they'd been hiding from her. What were they really after? Because it clearly wasn't the Chiropractor. She pulled out her phone and played the latest episode of Small Town, Big Crime! The one with Rex accusing Dr. Santorini of taking part in a criminal conspiracy.

The police had searched the building after finding signs of a break-in: not only was Santorini dead, but Devon Malouf's body had vanished as well. She was furious they'd let her get blindsided by the media, she was furious Rex hadn't even shown up, she was furious Gilberto had shown up when she thought there were only three FBI agents in town... and Wren was furious Gregson seemed more interested in protecting her reputation than people's lives. After some arguing, Gregson demanded the team meet her at the station that night, and every night following, to compare notes. She was through with the FBI doing as they liked behind her back.

On their way out, a black SUV with government plates started following them. It was the same kind Gilberto had driven after Wren the night before, and in fact he recognized the driver as SSgt. Cameron Tynes, one of his men. Both vehicles stopped at the side of the road, and Tynes threw something to Gilberto: a new FBI consultant badge. Dr. Thornhill knew he had gone AWOL, and she didn't want him back at the airport until this was wrapped up: he was taking orders from the FBI now.

The team surmised that the Dengler family was the center of the killings, and that anyone who provoked them were next on the chopping block. So why not barge in, scare the family, and try to turn the focus onto themselves?

Now that it was the weekend, the Denglers were all at home when they arrived. They couldn't understand why the Chiropractor would be attacking people around them or would come for them next, but they agreed to stay inside under watch from the FBI. Gilberto tried to block Thomas from leaving the room, deliberately seeking to make him more upset, before letting him go.

Meanwhile, Wren returned to the site of the previous night's attack. It hadn't worked at the pool, but Rex's idea of using a "focus" for her ability stuck with her. She approached the tree that had been covered in sludge. It was partially dissolved now, but there was enough for her uses.

She saw a teenage boy on crutches, broad shoulders filling out his letterman jacket. A car pulled up outside his house, and the boy's friends helped him in. One of them called him "Gale," and they drove off for ice cream.

Wren and Malachi tracked Gale down and watched him, waiting to intervene. They overheard him and his friends laughing. Then Gale pulled up a video on his phone; the Agents couldn't see the screen, but they heard Thomas Dengler fumblingly ask someone out on a date and a teenage girl laugh at him. They realized why the Chiropractor had attacked Lauren Harrogate. And why it was about to attack Gale.

Gilberto sat outside the house, keeping watch from his SUV when Thomas came out. He awkwardly asked if Gilberto wanted to come in; was he having fun? Did he have any hobbies? Gilberto was a little gobsmacked by the kid, who got defensive. He was trying to be nice after Gilberto had been kind of a dick to him earlier.

Inside, Thomas started telling Gilberto about his new passion for archeology and showed him a trunk full of his grandfather's old notebooks. While Thomas bent over them, talking about the wonder they inspired in him, Gilberto noticed something under his shirt, hanging from a leather cord. Thomas showed him an amulet of a two-faced figure made from clay. On one side, the figure was human; but on the other, it was a clawed beast with wings spread wide. Gilberto asked to see it closer, but Thomas wouldn't take it off, calling it a good luck charm and tucking it back in his shirt. Instead, Gilberto asked him about school and if people bullied him, if he ever thought about hurting those bullies. And yeah, of course he had, but the question made him sad. Thomas wasn't a sadist or psychopath; he was just a lonely kid who felt like the whole world was out to get him.

 

Gilberto offered to teach him some self-defense moves for dealing with bullies, which he eagerly agreed to. It was while he practiced them on his dad that Gilberto stole the amulet.

Ai-apa's attack never came. Gale and his friends got back in their car and drove away. A little suspicious, Malachi and Wren asked Det. Gregson to send police to watch over Gale's house, using up the very last of her good will towards them.

The team regrouped at the motel. Doug had gotten Rex into the bathtub, where he'd deliriously splashed and sung all day. They all regarded the amulet with deep suspicion. It matched the description of the one CreditToTeam had described from his dreams. And they knew Gale should've been the next target. Thomas had even thanked Gilberto for being so cool before he left, alluding to people being cruel to him online. Yet Gale was still alive. Had stealing the amulet disrupted things?

The team drove out to a wooded area where no one would stumble onto them. They marched through the trees until they found a clearing, Wren and Smith hiding inside the tree line while Malachi exposed himself to the carnivorous sky. With the others ready to intervene, he put on the amulet.

It didn't feel good to be wearing a lump of clay stolen from a sad teenage boy.

 

But it didn't result in instant death either.

Something still didn't add up. They decided to take shifts watching the Dengler house, with Malachi on first watch.

 

April 26, Night

Wren stood alone before a stone altar. The night was dark, lit only by a torch and the glinting stars. Beyond the altar, within that darkness, ai-apa floated. It was the first time Wren had experienced the #human-sacrifice dream, but unlike the Dream Syndicate's posters, she was not the sacrifice. She was the priest.

She looked down at the altar and saw Sidney Valdez there, the little girl outside Birmingham she couldn't help. Ai-apa grew agitated. This wasn't an acceptable sacrifice; Sidney was already dead.

The carvings had shown ai-apa covered in serpents, but they were more like the fronds of a sea anemone, and all of them reached out for Wren. Reaching and hungry.

 

Wren accepted it. Realizing what it wanted, she offered herself as sacrifice if ai-apa left Earth forever.

 

She woke with a start in the passenger seat. She didn't remember taking the amulet, but now it was crushed in her fist.

Then the car lurched. Malachi saw ai-apa flying towards them, trying to T-bone and flip the car, and at the last possible moment he floored the accelerator. It gave chase but was barely able to keep pace with them.

By the time it finally caught up, on an isolated stretch of road far outside town, Wren and Gilberto were waiting for it with rifles drawn.

Standing safely upwind, Gilberto called Dr. Thornhill to send his men to collect what remained of the Chiropractor/ EBE/ ai-apa. By the time they arrived, the gas would have dispersed and the corpse would be goo. The doctor frantically tried to instruct him on how to preserve it, but Gilberto knew what she wanted. He just wasn't gonna do it.