5.1 A Monster Among Monsters

“I’m Mr. Firio, your host for the day.” Purple Mohawk walked forward, his boots splatting across the gore. “That won’t work, blondie,” he said, pointing at Deen’s phone, which she had gotten from her pocket. “I personally think that the current generation spends too much time on their phones. Let’s live in the moment.” He kicked the severed head.

It rolled up against the bars of our cage.

I whimpered in fake fear. I hugged my knees across my chest and made myself as small as possible. Deen grabbed my arms tightly. Her heart beat so hard that I felt it. I copied her shivers to fortify the terrified face I presented. That made her hug me tighter.

“Don’t be scared, Erind,” Deen whispered to me. Her eyes were watering. “Don’t be scared. We’ll be okay.”

I timidly nodded. Deen was a true best friend, unlike me. Too bad that I’d have to get rid of her. I couldn’t have witnesses of my Adumbrae power, which I’d really have to use in this situation.

“You, in fact, will not be okay,” Purple Mohawk said. That was some keen hearing. “Or maybe, you will. Depends on what happens next.”

“What do you want with us?” Deen asked. “Money? My family will pay you. But if you hurt us, you won’t see—”

“I don’t need money. I need answers. I have a question for your—”

“We don’t know anything,” Deen replied. “We’re just—”

“Silence!” Purple Mohawk stomped his foot. A loud crash. Cracks spread from where his foot hit the ground.

Shit. This guy must be an augmented human like the BID agents. Either he was drugged up to the high heavens or reinforced by bio-augs. Maybe both. In any case, this would be a difficult fight, on top of dealing with the Adumbrae I was yet to see. My trusty leg sweep would be put to the test.

“Young lady, you have a very uncultured upbringing,” Purple Mohawk said. “Didn’t your parents teach you not to interrupt your elders? I’m older than I look.” He pointed at me. “You there, little girl.”

Little girl? Okay, he was super dead. Cancel that part of sparing him.

“I’m going to ask you questions,” Purple Mohawk said, “and you’re going to answer them truthfully. If you don’t, this will happen to you.” He stepped on the severed head and crushed it.

Blood and brain matter sprayed our cage. Deen shielded me as we both screamed. In-sync besties.

“First question,” Purple Mohawk said. “Were you on the train that the Adumbrae attacked?”

“N-no…” This truly was connected to Monday’s incident. These assholes must have something on me. I decided to lie to find out what. They wouldn’t kill me this early in our little interview.

“Liar!” Purple Mohawk stomped the floor again, cracking it some more. This guy was piling unnecessary work for their maintenance people. He waved his hands as he audibly inhaled. “I apologize for the outburst,” he said, bowing at us. “Why can’t you be honest so I won’t lose control? You were there, little girl. We have you on video.”

My cheek twitched. What was that about me being on video?

“We paid the police a lot to get those,” Purple Mohawk continued. “Do you know how difficult that was? It's not like going to Blockbuster! You probably don't even know what Blockbuster is, do you? Clueless young generation. Anyways, it was not easy. Not every cop is on our payroll, mind you. At any rate, you were fucking there! We know where you get on and get off the train. We know that you’re a—”

“Erind already said she wasn’t there!” Deen turned my face to look away from the dead bodies and Purple Mohawk. “She’s not lying. She doesn’t know any—”

“Shut up, you uncouth, disrespectful, and ill-raised woman!” Purple Mohawk walked to the side of our cage. “One more word out of your mouth and I’ll widen it until your head is split open.” He gripped one of the bars and squeezed it. He opened his hand to show the marks of his fingers on the wavy metal.

Deen gulped. Her fingers dug into my flesh. If I were still normal, her nails might’ve wounded me. Hopefully, her fear would stop her from realizing my body wasn’t exactly right.

“Now, where was I?” Purple Mohawk brushed back his mohawk. It was satisfying seeing it ripple forward after his hand passed over. “Yes, we know you’re an Eloyce student. Going to Cresthorne law school, no less! We’ve done our research, little girl. So, don’t dare lie again. That’s one strike. And you only get one. Better than none, isn’t it? I’m benevolent that way.”

If you already know, then why ask, dipshit? I snapped in my head, though I could guess that Purple Mohawk did this to scare me into not lying anymore because I’d get caught. “I… might’ve been on that train,” I piped.

“You were?” Deen asked. “But you said…?”

“I didn’t want to be questioned about it,” I said, leaning away from her. Spice up the scene with some drama. “Too scary getting interviewed by the police. I-I just want to forget everything. I’m so sorry for dragging you into this mess. If I weren’t there, yo-you…” I thought Deen would get angry at me, blaming me and all that, and I could use that argument to lower Purple Mohawk’s guard.

But Deen reacted differently. She patted my head as if I were a kid. Or a frigging dog. “It’s alright, Erind. I’m here for you.”

“Two friends supporting each other,” Purple Mohawk said. “Isn’t that so touching to watch? Well, Ms. Erind Hartwell. If you’re going to cooperate with us, we’re going to release you and your friend. You wouldn’t want her to turn up like these people, do you?” He pointed at the corpses.

“Don’t look at them, Erind,” whispered Deen.

Purple Mohawk laughed. “Onto my next question—did you see the Adumbrae?”

“Ye-yes,” I replied.

“Did you see them before they transformed?”

Could they check this? They might’ve seen me get on the same subway car as the Adumbrae. “Only one of them. He wo-wore a… hoodie. That’s all I can remember of his look. He stuck out to me because he fidgeted a lot.”

“Now, we’re getting somewhere. That’s our second test subject. Did you see him transform?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“If I answer, will you really let us go?”

“They won’t!” Bruised Lover exclaimed. He shook the bars of his cage. “They’re lying! They killed Jessica even after she—hey! The fuck’s going on?”

I looked over Bruised Lover, wondering what happened. He was in a sitting position and had sunk a couple of inches into the floor. It looked like he was continuing to go down. He struggled to get out of that part of the cage, leaving behind an imprint of his butt and crossed legs.

“Stop that, you Adumbrae!” Bruised Lover clung to the side of his cage as its floor shifted as if liquid.

Adumbrae? That turning-solids-into-quicksand thing was a supernatural ability? Who was Bruised Lover calling an Adumbrae? Not the creature in the mysterious container. Could it be…?

“You’re not human!” Deen shouted at Purple Mohawk.

He bowed as he twirled his arm to the side. “Guilty as charged. To be fair, it is quite unfair to be looked at as guilty when forsaking humanity. I view it similarly to job-hopping. Don’t like your job? Don’t like your salary? Apply to a new company. Becoming an Adumbrae is just moving up in life. Don’t be so judgmental.”

That explained Purple Mohawk’s superstrength. I was up against two Adumbrae. Possibly, more. And I didn’t know what exactly Purple Mohawk’s power was.

I was starting to think that I should’ve just fought off my kidnappers instead of playing along to reach their base. Or maybe… I did come to the right place. If Purple Mohawk were an Adumbrae, where were his unnatural growths? Was he hiding them under his clothes? And why did he sound coherent? They might have some technology controlling Adumbrae—the sci-fi-looking container indicated that these asshats weren’t regular criminals. Then again, I didn’t know what an Adumbrae was supposed to sound like.

Perhaps the most important question was, should I reveal that I was an Adumbrae to them? And to Deen too. Hmmm… not now. Adumbrae weren’t automatically friends with each other. I should first find out what they wanted with me. Hopefully, they’d kill Deen before that. I’d rather not kill her with my own hands because she had bought me a lot of pastries across the single semester we became friends.

“I saw… I saw the guy transform,” I said. “He had tentacles and stuff coming out of his mouth. He killed someone. I… don’t know what happened next because everyone ran.”

“Did you see anyone fight the Adumbrae?” Purple Mohawk asked.

“Uh, the cops—”

“No, not the police. A civilian. A human. Someone who looks human fought an Adumbrae and held her ground. Inside the train. Cops weren’t there in the subway during the event.”

They’re looking for the fourth Adumbrae! Or the fifth, technically. Purple Mohawk mentioned ‘her’. A woman, but not me. Telling the truth that I didn’t see shit would be the end of the conversation. I had to keep it going.

“There was someone… Can’t really recall because everything was a blur.” I closed my eyes and pretended to think hard. “I heard a yell about someone punching the monster. Not sure. I didn’t see what was happening because I was trying to get away. I think… I think a person calling for help mentioned that.”

Purple Mohawk pressed his face against our cage so hard that he bent the bars. Deen and I tried to get further away from him, but there was no more space. “A call to, perhaps, nine-one-one?”

“Ma-maybe…” Ramello’s uncle was investigating this. Purple Mohawk mentioned they had bribed cops. Could this be why Tower Cop’s higher-ups shot down his theory about a missing Adumbrae? There could be a whole conspiracy going on here.

“What happened next?” asked Purple Mohawk.

“I got knocked down. Everyone was pushing each other. I crawled and hid under the seats. The Adumbrae came… Killed people. I was praying so hard it wouldn’t—”

“The woman fighting the Adumbrae—where did she go?”

Does he truly not know, or was he testing if I knew more? If I made up more shit, I’d risk exposing my lies. “I don’t know. I swear! People were dying and, and, and the Adumbrae came close to me—”

“Which means that their fight had ended,” said Purple Mohawk, scratching his pointy chin. He glared at Bruised Lover. “That also means… You lied.”

“I didn’t lie! I saw the woman throw the Adumbrae out of the train!” Bruised Lover shouted. “She wasn’t normal, I swear!”

Uh-oh. This dude was a real witness. I didn’t want it to come out that we were talking about different parts of the train and different Adumbrae. Bruised Lover likely didn’t see the human form of the Adumbrae that attacked them, or else he’d know it wasn’t Fidgeting Hoodie. Must’ve been Baggy Overalls that Bruised Lover saw because we ran into that guy outside the train.

“She may have done that!” I hastily said, glancing at Bruised Lover in panic. “Wha-what he said is true.”

Purple Mohawk should think that I was tying my story with Bruised Lover to save him. That way, Purple Mohawk would assume I was the honest one. Stuff like this was always fun. Add in the threat of death and talking with monsters, and it was doubly so.

“I didn’t see much because I was under the seat,” I went on, “and I covered myself with a body. I-I must’ve heard breaking glass. Yep, that must’ve been the Adumbrae thrown outside. Then it came back in.”

“Can’t you see that they don’t remember much?” Deen said. “You can hardly expect them to recall what happened in that stressful situation.”

Shut the fuck up, Deen! I was handling things well.

Purple Mohawk kicked at our cage, breaking some of the bars as if they were clay. “I told you, pretty face, that you should learn your manners. You want to see what’ll happen to you?”

“Leave them alone!” shouted Bruised Lover. He probably felt indebted to me after I ‘saved’ him by corroborating his story. “We’ve already told you what we know!”

I thought Purple Mohawk was going to get off the rails and attack us, but he suddenly mellowed down. “Indeed, you have. I promised freedom if you did. Of course, there is some fine print to that condition. I apologize that I hadn’t printed anything, for the reason that we don’t have a printer around here. Never needed one before. But, just the same, freedom doesn’t come cheap.”

“Is it my frigging turn now to fight an Adumbrae?” Bruised Lover said.

So, that's what happened here, I thought.

“You’re supposed to be ecstatic that I’ll let you have the same exit as your beloved,” Purple Mohawk said. “A minor correction. What you have seen isn’t Adumbrae. Only I am one.” He effortlessly yanked off the front part of Bruised Lover’s cage and walked away. “They’re the failed products of our tests. We can call them mutants, I suppose.”

“The Adumbrae on the train,” I blurted. “Were they tests too? Were they real Adumbrae?” I wasn’t sure if fighting would start soon, so I wanted to get my questions out.

“They were Adumbrae. But we made them.” Purple Mohawk cackled as he stretched his hands to the side. “This is what moving up in life means! Humanity is taking control of our fate. We are the masters of evolution, bringing to heel those who dare control us from another dimension!”

“What about that woman?” I asked, yelling. “Is she one of your test subjects, too?”

Purple Mohawk reached the large container and turned around. “What’s it to you, little girl?”

“Maybe if you have a picture… Yes, a picture! Show me her face and I might recall if I’ve seen her. I’ll help you anyway I can. Just let me—us live. We don’t want to die. Please…” I resumed sobbing. Difficult to remember to use collective pronouns because Deen was with me. I was used to thinking of only myself.

“We don’t have a picture,” Purple Mohawk said. “We’re trying to find out who she is. Regrettably, none of you have been very helpful. The least you could do is entertain me.” He pressed a few buttons on a panel on the side of the container. It hissed, the front part clicked open, and revealed its contents.

It was a human once, as it even wore a tattered shirt with ‘Calif. 1904’ emblazoned on it, whatever that meant, and frayed jean shorts. But not anymore. This mutant was a misshapen freakshow. Its arms were longer than a normal human’s and of different lengths. One arm reached its thigh and the other its knee. Both ended in hands with way too many fingers. Its right leg had a couple of extra joints and folded up in its container to be able to fit. The skin on its face peeled off in several places, and pieces of its flesh had fallen, revealing crumbling bone beneath. It was asleep.

“It’s your turn, lover boy,” Purple Mohawk said. “Or are you going to stay cowering inside your cage? If you don’t come out, these pretties over here might become food first.”