The firefighters had just pried open the door and entered the building.  Three men were hiding nearby, sitting in silence.  They watched the fire crew of four men and one woman enter, waiting for a few minutes before they moved up to the recently opened door.

One of the men lifted up his black suit jacket, holstering his twin pistols beneath his armpits.  The black suited man tugged at his jacket to get it back into a comfortable position.  He had it tailor made to fit him perfectly, just like he always did.  His black hair made his pale, clean shaven face stand out.  He took a few steps towards a man in a stylish white suit, with shoes to match.  The man in the black suit always laughed that a man wearing white could hate getting dirty so much. “You guys ready?” 

            The man in the white suit looked up with his one good eye, adjusting his eye patch over his left.  He scratched his rugged chin, “Eddie here is fixing the Targeter. For a tech junkie, he can’t get his own machine working.”

            Eddie looked up into the man‘s one eye.  Few actually knew how he lost his eye, and even fewer knew why.  It was certainly a tale to be told, but nonetheless, a tale for a different time.  Eddie looked back to his machine, “Hold it for a sec Mr. Bartlett, just got to cross these wires here.” 

            Mr. Bartlett’s one eye canvased the man in the black coat, “Well, we tracked the little devil this far, shall we finish it before he burns up the whole town?” 

            The man in the black coat smiled.  Taking out these inhuman things was the best part of the day for him. 

            Mr. Bartlett checked the chamber of his revolver, “Alright, the fire crew inside is a second priority.  We have to kill the spirit first.”  He closed the gun and slipped it into his white jacket. “So let’s make it quick and clean.  No need for a clean-up crew. Eddie, you lead.” 

            Eddie stood from his seat on the ground, holding the small box machine in front of him.  A long antenna stuck out from the top of it, wobbling around as he moved.  Eddie led the way up to a door. 

            The man in the black coat pushed him aside and entered, “Let’s get this over with.  I want to be home in time for a beer.” 

            Eddie looked at Mr. Bartlett.  Mr. Bartlett nodded and pointed inside for Eddie to follow, “Don’t mind Brockly, he’s been at this almost as long as I have.”  Eddie knew this from all the stories his parents had told him about Mr. Bartlett and Brockly when he was growing up.  Eddie’s parents were in this line of work as well, and they taught Eddie how to survive.

            Eddie nodded and entered after Brockly.  Eddie knew Brockly was just the man’s nick name.  How Brockly received it though, nobody seemed to know, but no one knew his real name either, so Brockly just stuck.

Eddie held his device up as it started to beep in a slow low tone. “Let’s keep going, it hasn’t picked up anything yet,” Eddie continued down to an intersected hallway.  He held it down the right hallway, nothing. He pointed it down the hallway to the left and the beeping started to pick up, “Looks like we’re headed this way.” Eddie led the other two men down the hallway, following the beeps as they became louder and more frequent.

            “We need backup! We’ve got to get Jacob out.  Something stabbed him in the neck!” 

            Mr. Bartlett took the lead pulling his revolver out of his jacket.  He stopped at the edge of the hallway and peered around the corner. Two men were dragging a third. They were dressed in firefighter gear. 

            “What is this thing? It’s everywhere!”  The man on the left shouted.  They ran into a set of doors bashing them open.

            Mr. Bartlett looked at Brockly.  They both nodded as they each took a side of the hallway, checking the offices as they went. 

            They made it to the door the men had just entered.  They could hear some whispers and then a large crash on the other side.  “Now Brockly!”  Mr. Bartlett shouted and the man in the black coat sprinted into the room.

Sam sat quietly, waiting for the creature to take her next.  She would have tried to kill it or run, but her team had already tried, there was no escaping this monster.  Everything that had happened throughout the night seemed so unreal.  Things like this were only supposed to happen in books or movies.  But it was real, and it had taken her teammates, and now it would kill her.  She thought of her family back home.  She would miss them. 

            “Now Brockly!”  A shout came from outside the door. 

            Sam looked at the door way, a man in a black coat pulled two pistols from his jacket and began firing at the monster in front of her.  The bullets passed right through it, just like the crowbar had. 

The creature disappeared in a wisp of smoke as the man started shooting.  The man in the black suit shot around the room, blind firing. Sam knew he wouldn’t hit the creature.

            Another man entered the room.  He was dressed in an all-white suit, with an eye patch covering his left eye.  He pulled out a small vial of black powder, sprinkling the doorway with it.  He then pulled out his revolver, and waited patiently. 

            A third man holding a small metal box ran in, ducking down as he was did so.  He ran up to Sam, “Don’t freak.”  He held out his hand, “Name’s Eddie.”  He smiled at her. 

            Sam was wary of who these men were, but they had just saved her from the hideous creature. 

            “Bullets won’t hurt this thing,” she said to Eddie as he pulled her to her feet. 

            Eddie chuckled, “Those bullets he just fired, those are wards.  See, they block the spirit from leaving the room.  Same as that black powder in the door way.”  Eddie pointed all around.  Sam noticed that the bullet holes were all spaced evenly around the room.  “Now we’re getting you out of here alive.” 

            The man in the white suit spoke up, “Come on Eddie.  Get her out of here. We can’t have any distractions.”  Eddie grabbed her arm and started pulling her to the door. 

            As they walked by the man in white, he nodded to Sam, “Mr. Bartlett, love. Pleased to meet you.” He smiled, adjusting his eye patch, and then turned to Brockly, “Alright, time to finish business.” Mr. Bartlett pulled out a second revolver and tossed it to Brockly. 

            They raised their weapons and walked around the room slowly. 

            Brockly noticed movement around the edge of the room, “Careful B, he’s still in here.  Probably hiding out in the shadows.” 

            They kept circling the room, carefully moving around the objects and bodies in their path. 

            Mr. Bartlett then thought of a plan.  “Eddie!”  Eddie looked at Mr. Bartlett.  “I need that machine of yours now!”

            Eddie looked puzzled, but he nodded and grabbed his machine. 

            Brockly turned to Mr. Bartlett, “So you can’t do this on your own, eh?” Brockly chuckled at his own comment. 

            Mr. Bartlett smiled.  He just needed Eddie in the room.  Eddie crossed the black powder barrier carrying the machine.  His foot kicked away some of the black powder, breaking the barrier.  As he hit the halfway mark to Mr. Bartlett the creature appeared at the door behind Eddie.  Mr. Bartlett raised his gun at Eddie’s face. Eddie froze in horror. 

            “Get down, Ed!” Mr. Bartlett pulled the trigger on his revolver. Eddie dove off to the side just in time.  The bullet hit the creature in the back.  A loud shriek filled the air, and a bright light flashed out of the bullet hole, encompassing the entire room in blinding light.

            Sam stood at the door, amazed at what had just happened. This thing killed her whole team, and then three of the unlikeliest men stepped in to save her.  She watched as the three men laughed once the thing had disappeared.  Mr. Bartlett lit a candle, while the man in the black coat helped Eddie up off the ground.  Eddie bent over and sighed, picking up the pieces of his broken machine. 

Mr. Bartlett walked over to Eddie and put his hand on his shoulder. He whispered something to him, and started walking her way.  He stopped at the spot where Phil was killed and he picked up Sam’s axe.  He walked up to Sam and handed it to her. 

            “Thanks for everything,” She managed to say as she was still taking in what had happened.  She could only think frantically, and her mind jumped to the scene that developed in front of her.  Her squad dying kept replaying itself in her mind.

            “No problem ma’am. You can say it’s our job.”  He pulled out some sort of talisman from his coat and tied it to the axe’s handle, “In case any more ‘things’ attack you.”

Sam looked at the talisman on her axe.  It was small enough to fit in the middle of her palm and it was cold to touch, yet too hot to hold.  It looked as if metal, wood, and stone had been fused together in some impossible way.  A strange mist emanated from its core.

Mr. Bartlett smiled at her and adjusted his eye patch.  Eddie and Brockly moved up behind him. “I don’t believe we have the pleasure of knowing your name.”

            Sam was a little nervous still, trying to handle what had happened to her, “Um, Sam. My name’s Sam.”

            Mr. Bartlett held out his hand, “Nice to meet you.”  When she took his hand, a cold sensation shot through her palm. She felt relieved all of the sudden, almost as the stress was removed from her body all together.  The memories of the recent events escaped her mind and she could not recall them.

            “You know my name and you’ve met Eddie already. This heartbreaker behind me is Brockly, or at least that’s what we call him.”

            Brockly smiled, “How you doing?” 

            Sam scratched her neck, “I’m not sure how to take this in, now that it’s over.” 

            Mr. Bartlett held out his elbow for her to take, “It’s not over yet, love. We still need a drink.”  Sam linked her arm in his.  She couldn’t help but be tantalized by the man in white and she followed the men out of the complex.  Her troubles and cares seemed to fade away.  She couldn’t help but follow the man in the white suit.  His gaze pulled her in, like a lighthouse would to a ship lost at sea.

            Eddie suddenly spoke up, “You know of any good bars around here?”

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