Animals come back deformed. But we think we have fixed the technology so this no longer happens. Yet things appear that frighten us. We hear voices. We tell owner these things but they laugh at us. There is a man that comes with owner, he wears blue uniform with star on shirt pocket, he seems good man but we don’t trust him. We have told him these things. He just tells us to fix things. We have, we no longer see the evil things. They no longer come through the walls.
Aaron looked at the picture again. It was a picture printed in greyscale. He wasn’t sure what it showed—something coming through a wall: bony arms, bony legs, dirty torn clothing. What was it? There were some more notes at the bottom of the page.
Project signed off today. Technology being moved somewhere. We are glad this project now over. We now look for other work. We no longer want to work here.
Aaron closed the folder.
Thud! A small branch fell on the hood of the car. Aaron jumped, his heart racing. He stared at the branch. A dead branch: no leaves, just twigs. Like the skinny things in the photo. How could something come through a wall?
A crow squawking got his attention. He turned and looked over towards the front entrance of the building. The crow’s beak nudged the flowers around the cross—a matte-black crow and flowers, all symbols of death. He wondered about the relationship between the cross and heaven. It seemed everyone was going to heaven, except, of course, for the murderers and the like. He thought of Dad in heaven and the day when they would see each other again. As long as he didn’t murder someone between now and then.
Aaron got out of the car and walked over to the front entrance of the building, to the crosses and flowers which sat under the entry sign. There were pictures of the boys there. They looked so young.
He wrote down the contact details from the building’s entrance sign, and had a good look at the building and its surrounds—a secure building with a high perimeter fence. There was a track along the outside of the fence and through some bush. It looked as though it was formed by human traffic, to help people get somewhere. Curiosity got the best of him and he followed the track into the bush.
The track made its way through an army of small gum trees and melaleuca bushes, with lots of weeds as undergrowth. Shade pockets gave off a damp smell with insects zigzagging all over the place as Aaron invaded their domain. Further into the track Aaron picked up a different smell, a cheesy smell. There was an area in the weeds that looked flattened. He walked over and found the decaying body of a cat, with only blotches of fur remaining. He stared at the decaying body, something once living and breathing. For some strange reason, he wondered where it had gone. Did a spirit depart from this animal? Where are these thoughts coming from? The grieving process? He returned to the track and further on found another decaying body. This one was bigger, maybe a dog.
Aaron kept walking. Coming out of the bush, he ended up in another commercial block with a few buildings and a shop where you could buy food. So, hungry humans had formed the track. Heading back, he noticed another skeleton. Moving a branch to get a closer look, he pricked his little finger. With his finger in his mouth, he looked down at a large dog, which was well into the decaying process. Why so many dead animals? Somebody didn’t like pets. There must be many saddened pet owners close by.
He thought about the notes. Was there a connection? Maybe these animals had been ‘tested’. Should he go back in there to examine the bodies for deformities as mentioned in the notes? He decided against that. He looked at his little finger: the blood flow had stopped and dried up. Then he remembered his dad’s hand. He looked over at the building. Was there a connection between whatever was going on in there and his dad’s death?
Aaron walked back to the car, trying to decide whether or not to call Officer Olsen. Would it be of any benefit? He decided to investigate the matter further, then provide the police with solid information that would bring this to a speedy close. Anyway, that was the theory.
The perimeter fence had strategically-placed signs advising monitoring of the property twenty-four hours a day. The signs provided a contact number. Aaron looked up at a security camera. It was pointed straight at him.
<°)))><
The cameras on the building were motion-activated, and the man’s movements were being recorded. Lucas watched, alerted by a text message triggered by the sensors.
He played the video back and watched as the man had bent over and looked at things on the ground. He made a silent bet with himself that the bodies of the animals they’d discarded had not been buried. He looked around for something to throw. Nothing. Calm down, Lucas, calm down. He knew he should have checked. People are incompetent. Who can you trust?
This man looked like a detective. So he was investigating, and Lucas decided he wasn’t going to find anything. Lucas took a long draw on his joint and powered down his tablet computer. He stood up, stretched back his arms. The little voice in his head told him everything was going to be fine.
<°)))><
A large white cross stood on top of the main auditorium building. The cross could be seen from a distance, advertising the love of God and attracting the lost. The funeral service was being held in the smaller auditorium which still seated a large number of people. Patrick Fitzpatrick came to church here.
The national flag lay draped over the coffin with an Australian Army slouch hat resting on the flag. A cushion displayed Patrick’s medals, symbols of courage and national pride.
Lucas Fell leaned on the Minister for the Department of Urban Movement’s car as he watched the pallbearers coming down the stairs. He shook his head. He had no national pride—the country stank. He did this once, carried a coffin. At his mother’s funeral, he remembered, they called it a celebration. Why? What were they celebrating? They have mentioned the word celebration here too, a celebration of life. Well, this person may have had more to celebrate than his mum.
Lucas was glad he didn’t have to enter the church building. The last time he entered one of those buildings, at his mum’s funeral, it freaked him out. Something happened to her in her last days. This man kept coming to see her. She went religious on Lucas, and then she died. Lucas smoked some cannabis about thirty minutes before his mother’s service and he had some terrifying visions during the service.
It was a funny world. Some days back, Lucas had reported the outpost incident to the authorities, and now here he was, attending the funeral of the person he’d found.
Something about this dead man bothered Lucas. Something didn’t sit right and he couldn’t quite sort it out. Was he losing the plot? The voices in his head bothered him. He just needed to stay away from the green stuff for a while. Maybe the demons or whatever they were would go and bother someone else. Maybe they fed on the green stuff. He smiled and decided he would starve them. Then they would definitely go away.
Lucas saw the Puffer Fish come out of the building. That’s what he called the minister at events like this—he puffed up with all the media attention, which was probably the only reason he was here. Lucas smiled as he thought about the recent unwanted media coverage the minister got—he’d recently lost his license due to a drink-driving offence. He had supposedly repented of that behaviour, but the media gave him a good serve.
Lucas was the chauffeur today. The minister attended the funeral because the incident occurred in close proximity to one of his department’s research centres, the one known as the outpost. The minister had taken a shine to Lucas after Lucas gave him a guided tour of the hi-tech lab at the outpost. So Lucas alternated between being a chauffeur and being a security guard.
After loading the coffin in the hearse, the pallbearers stepped back. One of the pallbearers was decked out in full military uniform. A girl walked over to him and gave him a hug. This girl did something to Lucas’s heart—he wanted to be near her, to know her. Lucas grabbed his iPhone and took a photo, and another, and another.
He climbed into the car and waited for the Puffer Fish. He checked out his photos, and then looked out the window for her again. He found her. How come he was so infatuated with this woman? Well, the body was a good start. But then maybe Cupid was shooting arrows around. Wasn’t Cupid an angel, and didn’t angels hang out at church? That’s it: he’s been hit by one of those arrows. That could explain the uncontrollable desire that had come upon him.
One of the photos brought him back to reality. The man in uniform looked familiar.
Lucas got out of the car so the minister would see him. He saw the minister talking to a lady. Soldier boy walked over and shook hands with the minister. The lady and soldier boy hugged. Lucas looked around. Where was she? He found her, but there stood another man, a different man, with his arms around her.
<°)))><
Aaron had not seen many of his dad’s friends for a while. Now all were coming up to him, one by one, telling him what a great man his dad was, and if there was anything they could do to let them know.
He had just met a politician who gave his mum a hug. Apparently, they knew each other—both attended this church. A break from the well-wishers came, so Aaron found a seat on a concrete wall not far from his mum. He sat there, taking in the surroundings. People were heading to their cars to join the procession to the cemetery.
He noticed a government car with a bulky person leaning on it. Alarm bells went off in his head. He looked like that security guard he saw on the internet clip. Aaron decided to walk over and check out his hunch.
“Aaron.”
He turned to see Mackenzie not far away. Paul was in tow.
Aaron shook hands with Paul. They chatted and agreed on a get-together before Aaron headed back to base. Aaron tried not to be rude but he really wanted to get to this chauffeur to confirm his suspicions, so he kept the conversation short. He sensed Mackenzie’s annoyance.
They left and Aaron looked down toward the government car. He saw the minister getting in his car and then felt his mother’s arm tuck into his. “Come on, love. We need to get the procession underway.”
<°)))><
Aaron sat at Gate 44, waiting for the boarding call for the flight to Townsville. He hoped the flight wasn’t crowded. Aaron watched as Mackenzie came back with a bottle of water.
