Crescent Read Online Free Page B

are, you are, young’n .” You are came out of her dry, spittle flecked lips as one word— yar . “Best get your handsome self to bed,” she said. A vein-painted eyelid fell in what he thought might have been a wink. It made his skin crawl. Old people are scary when you’re loaded, he thought.
    Gerald was thankful to discover he was standing outside the door to his apartment.
    “Crescent is waking, my boy. Pray sleep with the light on and with one eye open,” she whispered in a conspiratorial voice. “At least until you get used to its creaks and groans.”
    He turned his head away from the key access pad beside the door and she was gone. He could still smell her breath.
    Fingertips that felt three times fatter than normal punched in the seven digit key code. There was a chime and the door to his apartment slid open. First try, thank god, he thought. He stepped over the threshold, grateful to be home—his new home. The dim night disappeared behind the hissing bulkhead. With the door closed, the room wrapped him up in its velvet darkness. It was ice cold. Environmental zones were never steady in 2B, or so he had been cautioned. He shivered. Maybe with the increase in salary, he could afford something more…   comfortable. He fumbled at his belt.
    “Lights,” he said.
    The overhead lights flickered on.
    Three drops of wine-colored liquid splashed to the metal floor of the apartment.
    Gerald looked up from the floor.
    A body dropped from the ceiling, suspended by dark cables that wound around its outstretched limbs like serpents. It was a woman. She was naked and split open from pelvis to sternum.
    He stumbled backwards and tripped over something. There was a clatter as metal surgical tools fell to the floor, knocked from a cart that hadn’t been there a second ago. Scalpels, forceps, and instruments he didn’t recognize littered the now blood-soaked floor of his apartment. All of the tools were polished to a reflective shine; the implements sparkled with light gone red. He fell over the cart and brought it down with him, shattering the glass top. A metallic, guttural groaning came from everywhere and nowhere. Gerald struggled to get to his feet, slipping and sliding in the viscera that covered the soles of his shoes. Where the door had been seconds ago, was now a dripping wall. He turned—the body of the woman was gone. He felt a small dose of relief and turned forward, expecting the door to be there, but it wasn’t.
    Hands gripped his shoulders and spun him around. Gerald fell again and when he hit the ground the wind was knocked out of him. The corpse of the woman straddled him; very much animated, she supported herself with one hand on his chest.
    “The Three. It’s because of them!! It was a mistake!” The dark cavity of her wound oozed blood, its edges ragged and black as if they were covered with oil. “We can’t save her. We were wrong!” The metallic groan sounded anew and her head cranked to one side at an unnatural angle. There was a cracking sound, and blood sprayed from her gaping mouth. It spattered warm across his face.
    Gerald closed his eyes and screamed like had never screamed before. He felt the pressure of her body ease off.
    When he opened his eyes, she wasn’t there anymore. He looked around and screamed again for good measure. The blood was gone. The cart was gone. The surgical tools were gone.
    There was his bed against the far wall, unmade. There was his yellow duffle bag at the foot of the bed with the contents strewn around it, just as he had left it hours ago. And that was all. Gerald blinked and rubbed his eyes with both hands.
    Sticky. His hands were sticky. He brought them away slowly and wiped them on his jeans.
    He didn’t need to look. He knew what it was that covered them.

(Part II)
     
    “You look a little fragile, Gerald. Paper thin and just as blanched. You feelin ’ all right, son?” Mayor Kendall sat with his arms crossed over his chest. His slight frame was