A rhythmic hum burned itself into Renee's ears as she laid sprawled and fastened to a metal table. Ajar from her was an assortment of tools neatly and finely placed just far apart enough to be grabbed and replaced. Her breath was wild and violent. Beside her was a bag of liquid she couldn't determine, all she knew it was connected to her arm and made her heart flow like mad.
Voices whirred in her head despite no one being in the room with her. Her chest was about to explode and her body felt like a hundred degrees. Renee's eyes darted around the room they paused on a shadowy figure in the corner. She wanted to scream but nothing came out. All her efforts choked her like there was an ever tightening rope around her throat. Its eyes were piercing and yellow. Tears welled and nearly burned as they traveled down her cheeks.
"You see him too then?" A voice called out from behind her, she couldn't see him but she knew he was behind her.
"He's not a friendly man." Hands rested on her shoulders from behind causing her to pause. Her breath had stopped as soon as she felt the man's hands connect to the cloth stuck to her.
"It's okay to be scared Renee." His voice was hot on her ear, she shook ever so slightly.
"I like it when you're scared."
A pot hole on the road startled Renee. She looked around frantically earning the concerning look of Riley. She took a deep breath, she was shaking--Riley took notice of her sudden tremble. He waited a moment for her to calm down before glancing back at her.
"Everything alright back there?" He called out as she leaned back on the chair. Renee returned with an oddly sour face.
"Yeah...I just...Bad dream" She shifted in her seat then took note of the flakes and cracks on the once plush seating. Again? she thought feeling around the aged seating, it felt like the seat had been used and abused everyday for ten years.
"You want to talk about it?" He kept an eye on her with the rear-view mirror, he took note she was examining her seat. Renee's expressions to this point were bland and emotionless but here she was, twisting her lips and wrinkling her nose as if she had smelled something horrid.
"Violent zombie bunnies." She responded earning her a half hearten laugh from the driver--the first she had heard from the driver since entering the van.
"You need to lay off the sugar." Riley remarked staring ahead. It took a moment before she realized the time, looking at the clock on the dashboard it was well over an hour after she had gotten into the vehicle.
"I don't remember it being an hour car ride to the station." Renee mentioned looking towards Riley.
"We got a call a bit ago about a forest fire that recently died out, with what you told us about a house exploding we figured we'd start you off there. Who knows how long it took you to get to the diner."
How long did it take me? Renee wondered glancing down to her feet. Time was blurred to her for that walk, she knows it started as a drag then evolved into a crawl, a limp, then the diner. She shuddered at the thought of what she may have looked like along the way. Healing wasn't an issue for her but from burns she received there was no way she should have come out without any scarring.
The agents mentioned how she had no injuries present aside from her hand. Renee shut her eyes to try and block out the oncoming images of blades and clamps. Her wrist began to sting again as if it had been freshly sawed off. She was quick to grab it.
"You alright back there?" Renee was pulled out of her dark thoughts by Riley, "Listen kid I don't know what it is you experienced or did but if you need to say something then say it."
Her stomach churned.
"I'm not a therapist nor am I a mind reader. I'm just a guy with a nice suit and a cool tie." He turned to face her noting her unsatisfactory expression. "Billy pull over."
"Why?" The driver asked, Renee remarked the name as an odd one.
"Renee is turning green."
With that the car softly swerved to the right letting Renee promptly removed herself from the car and went out to the dirt road. She inhaled deeply trying to calm her stomach with the scent of pine. To her dismay she emptied the contents of her stomach. Riley gave her a few minutes to collect herself before Renee reentered the car. She gave a weak thumbs up and with that they were on the move again.
The van pulled up to what looked like an ashy graveyard of trees. The two vans they were following had arrived a few minutes before them. Next to the vehicles stood more cleanly dressed, almost uniform, set of people. Agent Mathew met Riley at the car as soon as he stepped out.
"We had to take a pit stop on the side of the road." Riley explained looking back at Renee.
Renee's eyes never detached from the building that lay in ruin, it was one story and looked like it had burned until there was nothing left to burn. She removed herself from the car in a trance like state. Just a short time ago this was the oddly well kept three bedroom house in the middle of nowhere. The Agents never took their eyes off her as she walked towards the charred building.
Riley followed behind her to stop other personnel from stopping her. She walked into the doorway, it reeked of smoked wood and something even worse. Riley covered his mouth and nose, the odd mixed odor made his face twist. An officer assigned to the site followed behind Riley informing him there was nothing here, no bodies just a burnt home.
Renee knew better, this wasn't just a home. No there was something dastardly behind these walls. Or rather--
"Renee." Riley called out, she only paused a moment before continuing her stride. "This is the place then?"
"It's a nice cover." She made her way down the once lavish hallway and took a left into a bathroom, it was oddly still put together even through the ravage of the fire. She lightly shoved her way past the falling door and stood there. She looked around a moment trying to recollect the memory on how to enter.
"We are in the bathroom now." Riley remarked, "Don't suppose you wanted to use it."
"I mean." She started by touching the sink, "I want to use it but it's not what its used for." With a sudden click the sink and wall sank into the ground to create a step with the top of the medicine cabinet. Riley paused in awe.
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