Kendall's Quest: Part 1

Author's Note: This is a sequel to the contest #150 entry: Kendall and the Kelenken.

Jealousy is such a powerful emotion. Sometimes it makes us feel like we are not ourselves. Like we are having a bad day. That's how Martin Breesdale felt, especially after coming back from the dead!

“So we’re not actually going to Ft. Destiny?” Kendall turned the key and started the ignition of the car.

“Right, I had forgotten that most of the computers were destroyed,” Bo relaxed from his previous shock, “when the SCIF and PIOC were attacked.”

“I know SCIF means: Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, but what’s the PIOC?” She said as she backed the black SUV out of the parking lot.

“It means the Paranormal Intelligence Operations Command,” Bo raised the passenger seat forward, “The only other place with enormous computing power, is the Mt. Amos Facility.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an Emergency Operations Facility, for the continuation of governance.”

“Oh!” She drew a blank stare, “That one!” then smiled at him.

“Oh, I keep forgetting you’re just so…normal!” He said in a playful tone.

“Meaning what?”

“No employment with the government at all!” They shared a laugh as they made a right turn onto a side road. A pair of red eyes observed their vehicle from concealment, as it departed the Sparkling Meadows apartment complex to a nearby highway. The afternoon sun caused a large pine tree to cast a shadow before Bo and Kendall’s units. Orange carpenter ants swarmed in the grass and on a sidewalk adjacent to the building. The same pair of red eyes studied the insects with amusement. They watched as the ants scurried about in military like formations, gathering food, twigs and pebbles. The ants finally bumped into a pair of black dress shoes which materialized from the empty air. A Caucasian man with brown eyes and silver hair, was dressed in a gray suit with white pinned-stripes. His muscular stature towered over the bugs. He smiled as he shuffled his feet, destroying their anthills. The man stood in the shadow of the great pine as he surveyed the surrounding area. He noticed no one as he proceeded up the staircase, to Bo’s unit.

As the stranger approached the door, he found the knob locked. He placed his left hand on the door handle, then after several seconds the doorknob glowed a vibrant yellow-orange. White steam percolated from his fingers as he removed the handle, then cooled it with his breath. The door opened deliberately as the gentleman walked forward, he tossed the doorknob aside while the door closed slowly. He glanced at the three bodies of the dead hit team as he entered the living room. The man knelt over the corpse with the severed hand. He spoke an unintelligible phrase as he rested his right hand on his knee, then placed his left on the center of the cadaver’s back. Within seconds, the lifeless body began to twitch. It’s limbs filled with motion as they picked themselves up and crawled to a nearby couch. Martin Breesdale howled, as his spirit raced through the unknown, and returned to its mortal husk. He coughed up blood as he stared around the room, then paused as memories from his recent death, flooded his mind-

W-Where am I? How? He thought.

“I can’t explain now.” Said his redeemer.

“You can read my thoughts?” Martin said dumbfounded, “Are you one of Mr. Gomez’s men?”

NO! The man’s voice echoed in Breesdale’s mind as he leaned forward and grabbed his shirt collar, “But you can tell me where he is!”

“He’s at Big Iron! F-Ft. Destiny!” Martin trembled as he saw his host’s eyes transition from brown to red.

“Nonsense, that’s near Virginia Beach!”

“That’s all I know!”

“Don’t lie to me boy!” The ghoulish male pointed to the severed hand several feet away, it levitated, stopping in front of Martin’s face, “Or I’ll feed your appendages to you!”

“Alright!” Martin shouted, “He’s in the mountains!”

“Where?”

“At the Mt. Amos facility!”

“Good.” the dapper stranger reached six feet in height as stood back, “Then why the façade?”

“Gomez doesn’t want to draw attention to himself. He’s obsessed with killing Bo-”

“Never mind him.”

“What now?” Martin watched as the stranger examined the skeleton of the Kelenken.

“My name is Mr. Jasper,” the man turned his head, “And I suggest you put yourself together!" At the snap of his fingers, the amputated hand reattached to Martin’s bloody wrist. He screamed while his body reabsorbed dry blood from the two other dead men, their bodies dissolved into ash afterwards. Filling him with vitality and healing his wounds.

“My God!” Martin felt unnerved from the sudden ability to peer into the thoughts of this ancient demon.

“God has nothing to do with it.” Jasper cast a wicked grin as he sat upon the couch.

“Who are you?” Martin became intoxicated with his new found abilities, such as a heightened sense of awareness. He could sense the molecular fragments left behind by Bo and his ex-girlfriend-

“Kendall!” Martin shouted in a monstrous tone, his eyes turned cherry red. His mind filled with jealousy and rage, “She’s with someone else!”

“She has been for a while now.”

“I’ll kill the bitch!”

“Excellent! Ha-ha!” Mr. Jasper felt jubilation as he left the couch and slapped Breesdale across the back. The contact caused him to witness events which seemed to span thousands of years. Then he witnessed his previous relationship with Kendall. Seven long years passed through his mind within seconds. He saw the happiness they once shared with each other. Then the mysterious onset of his feelings of paranoia, after she received a promotion from her software company. That incident caused a seed of self doubt in his subconscious mind to swell. It became a cancer which plagued his ability to provide for her or himself. His mind then began probing wider, seeing more. Such as the other worldly manipulation brought about by Mr. Jasper. His reconnaissance, and then his utilitarian ends for his continued plans for the murders of Bo, Kendall and-

“No!” Martin pushed Jasper back, causing him to fall, “I won’t kill them! …I can’t!”

“Fool!” Jasper leapt onto his feet.

“You planted nightmares in our minds!” Martin squared his body posture up, “Why?”

“To do my bidding! I tracked down and exploited the individuals I needed.” Mr. Jasper balled his left fist into his expanding right hand.

“I’m not going to let you kill them either!” After Martin read Jasper’s thoughts, he searched across the room for an object to fight with.

“I could have used you boy.” Jasper reached his enlarged right hand into the kitchen, grabbing Breesdale around the torso, “but now you’ll die!”

Thinking quickly, Martin freed his arms and seized two pieces of metal from the damaged table. He could feel the grasp from Jasper’s massive fingers crushing his innards. The ghoul’s mouth increased in size, furnished with rows of shark-like teeth swirling with anticipation of the forthcoming meal. Now, just inches away from a second death, Martin took the metal scraps and formed a crucifix. A brilliant white glow, swiftly engulfed the makeshift cross and him. The Jasper-beast cowered away, dropping Martin to the floor. It covered it’s eyes with its left hand, then re-attacked with its gigantic right. Martin ducked, then flung the crucifix into its acromegalic limb. The cross shrank the hand of the Jasper-demon as it burned its flesh, returning it to human form.

“I’ll make sure to kill your new friends,” Jasper said in a satanic tone, “once I catch up to them!” then disappeared.

The makeshift crucifix remained white hot, then cooled. Martin placed it onto a shelf, then smiled momentarily. Until his thoughts drifted back to-

“Kendall!” Martin spoke aloud just as the door opened and ushered in a bright light.

She focused intently on the highway as it wove its way toward the Blue Ridge mountains. Bo was napping, then became animated from a certain thought-

“Hey, pull over at the next gas station.” He said.

“Why? We have a full tank of gas.”

“I need some coffee.”

Kendall felt confused, but complied anyway. She found a nearby rest stop, then pulled in. Bo returned with coffee and snacks. He placed his cup on the roof of the car, then deposited the snacks inside. He quickly checked the exterior of the vehicle, then tapped on the driver’s side window.

“Yeah?”

“I’ll drive too!” Bo cast her a serious look.

“Um, okay?” She moved over into the passenger seat, as Bo strapped himself in. Then drove back onto the highway.

As the evening approached, the black SUV snaked its way through the interior of a dense forest. Huge trees covered with undergrowth, lined both sides of the road. A few minutes later, the last rays of sun drowned in the encroaching darkness. The vehicle careened through more twists and turns until it finally escaped the forest. Kendall looked out the window, noticing that they were thousands of feet into the mountains. The nearby highway and traveling autos, resembled toy miniatures in the distance. Bo followed the road down, until he saw a pull over area, then stopped. As they exited the car, Bo watched Kendall glance from the guard rail into the valley below. Her expression was one of familiarity. Before them was a large multi-acre complex of buildings. The sun’s setting rays glistened off one of the front structures, which was encased in an enormous glass dome.

“You’ve seen all this before?” Said Bo.

“Yes, it’s been my nightmare for almost a month.” Said Kendall.

“Shit!” Bo felt his skin crawl, as he walked back from the ledge.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” He leaned against the passenger side of his car, “it’s just that something’s not right. That whole front section of the facility, is an exact duplicate of Ft. Destiny, which is in Virginia Beach.”

“That’s why I summoned you here,” A voice spoke in the black void of night. Two luminescent figures began to develop, one resembled an angelic soldier, “you’re well I trust?”

“As good as I can be.” Bo shook the hand of a naval officer in digital camouflage fatigues

“Kendall,” said the other being, which took the shape of-

“Marty!” she felt herself becoming faint, “b-but you were dead!”

“Whoa!” Martin caught her as she collapsed in his arms.

When Kendall regained consciousness, she noticed that the seraph conversing with Bo, was adorned with the rank insignia for a Navy Seal Commander, and a name tag which read Joachim. She felt petting on her left hand, her gaze slowly turned to Martin. The same white glow surrounded him, then she started:

“What happened to you?”

“To put it simply, I was damned!” Martin said with a look of shame, “I was possessed with envy the whole time I said those awful things to you.”

“Oh Marty!” She kissed him on the lips, “You’re back!”

“I can scarcely believe it myself. But here we are.”

Take your time son, Joachim communicated as he and Bo walked in the opposite direction. Martin felt his shoulder become moist from Kendall’s tears. He said nothing as they continued to embrace.

“So what’s his story?”

“I sensed he was involved in a confrontation with some sort of demon.”

“Really?” Bo placed his hands in his front pockets as he walked, “Did he say what kind?”

“He described a beast with some kind of limb expansion.”

“Expanding limbs?” Bo said with a pensive expression.

“Ever deal with that kind before?” Joachim removed his cover, then scratched his head.

“I have,” his thoughts reflected on two years prior, when his former boss Hector Gomez turned over an entire conference table to combat the other-

“Hey guys!” Martin escorted Kendall by the arm, “what did we miss?”

“Did you reconcile with the lass?” Joachim said cheerfully.

“He did!” She smiled, pushing her chest against Martin’s shoulder.

“Okay everyone, lets talk shop,” Joachim placed the cover back on his head, “tell Bo what you told me Martin.”

“To start off, I’ve worked for Hector Gomez the last few-”

“Already that’s impossible!” Said Bo.

“Why’s that?”

“Because he died two years ago!”

“Well he’s very much alive, or it’s not the same guy.”

“Is he a heavy set Hispanic guy?” Posited Bo.

“Yep!” Martin began to get annoyed.

“Anyway, go on.”

“Like I said, he came here a few months ago. I was possessed by some demon named Jasper just after he showed up, so some of my recollection is nothing but a blur.”

“I visited this base only a couple of times,” Bo turned and pointed to the darkened facility below, “But Mt. Amos never looked like that!”

Martin peered over the side of the guardrail, “No it didn’t!”

“What’s the last thing you do remember?”

“I walked into the advanced analytics lab, then that’s when I met Hector Gomez, then Keith Huguenot,” Martin felt a chill up his back, “the rest is a blank.”

“What about you Bo?” CDR Joachim folded his arms.

“Being honest, I returned from the liquor store late Sunday night,” Joachim rolled his eyes, “As I was saying, I walked up to my apartment unit, and that’s when I heard loud flapping and cawing sounds. So I went to my friend’s house to grab my M-82 rifle.”

“Where do you fit into this Ms. Sullivan?”

“How’d you know my name?”

“Please!”

“I lived below Mr. Janke, and I heard that Kelenken bird for almost three days,”

“Go on.”

“I entered his unit, I saw Martin dead, then a group of three men came in behind me to fight off the Kelenken, before Bo finally killed it.”

“Yeah, it was a hit team. They came on orders from Gomez to whack me. Then again,” Bo smirked, “I’m not so easy to kill!”

“Geez!” the seraph chuckled, then closed his eyes, which moved rapidly beneath their lids. His facial expression tightened, “I’m going to have to make a report,” He opened his eyes, “Go down and try to solve this little mystery. Something is amiss,” Joachim began to dissolve, “Godspeed!”

A pair of red eyes observed the three of them from concealment, as they reentered Bo’s black SUV. Then departed back onto the road. Three miles further below, somewhere on the Mt. Amos facility. Thousands of electronic server raids hummed around a massive CPU. They processed disparate pieces of information, until they created another algorithmic whole!