Page 22 of Any More Questions for the Corpse?

They’d made it to the other side of the study hall and to their escape route. Mal slowly backed away from the zombies who were now patiently waiting for an explanation. Des guided him backward as Yu and Hala went ahead, checking for any more zombies. Mal felt something squishy beneath his foot and remembered flashes of the giant moth from earlier. He tried very hard not to think about it. He took another step and felt his foot slip out from underneath him. A disgusting seeping ooze coated his arms and legs. He looked around to see a creamy green mixture of moth guts covering his hands and clothes. Des pulled him to his feet as Mal heard the groans start up again. It was time for him to run.

Mal had never enjoyed running. Running for his life was no exception, but he felt it silly to complain. Des didn’t seem to be struggling one bit. Police training or vampire powers be damned, Mal thought. They swerved and hounded for the exit, knocking over tomes and scrolls aplenty. Had an actual librarian been present, they would have lost their shit and then probably been eaten. Thudding feet and groaning jaws sounded behind them. Mal felt as though they were practically nipping at his heels, but when he’d turned around, they were always a good few meters away. Eventually, they caught up with Hala and Yu who had so far not encountered anything dead or trying to eat them. Mal hadn’t seen any other moths, either; if he survived this he needed to ask Yu what the fuck that was about. They kept climbing and climbing. Mal realized they were getting close to the entrance; where would they go after that? That was a later problem. Now, not getting eaten was the priority.

The group made it up to the ground floor. The guards had disappeared or had been eaten but the entrance was in sight. Fresh air, freedom, and no zombies. The group tackled the door and broke through into the street.

Where a circumference of armed policemen were waiting, pointing wands, staffs, and machine guns at them. A line of helmeted, shielded, armored men circled the entrance. Yells of “Hands up, hands up” filled the air as lasers and flashlights blinded them. A chorus of “There’s zombies in there” rang out from the group, but the police did not seem at all interested. To Mal it felt like a small eternity, standing there down the barrel of several guns. In reality it was only about thirty seconds before the police descended upon them. Throwing them to the ground, cuffing them, placing hoods over their heads, and then dragging them off.

When the hoods and cuffs were removed Mal found himself in a room he recognized: the grand library of the Order. They had all been placed on chairs in the middle of the room facing a singular point, and that point was Detective Walters, who wore a grimace to go with his gray trench coat.

“I’m going to ask you this once and you’re all going to give me a straight answer. What the fuck were you lot doing?”

The group stayed silent.

“You.” Walters pointed to Mal. “You are supposed to be helping me with this case. I let you help her once to keep her happy, now you’re running around together?”

“You.” Walters turned on Des. “Why are these civilians involved? You didn’t even have clearance to enter that facility, let alone take two unauthorized civs in with you.”

“You.” Walters was now staring at Hala. “How are you involved in this? Why are you here?”

“And you,” Walters said. “You have been breaking into a secret government facility for months. The moth library is restricted for a reason. Who the fuck are you? We have no records on you anywhere, do you know how rare that is? We have connections with every government agency in existence, magical and benign, and all of them have no clue who you are.

“This is not a game. This is not some fucking adventure book. People are dead. Seven people died in that library. They were moth people, but they were still people. Now, I don’t think any of you were responsible for this, but the others think you’re up to your neck in it. A rogue necromancer, a shapeshifting spy, a police traitor, and someone with rare powers who’s easily manipulated.

“What I see is a group of kids who tried to do some good playing detective. But what my superiors see is an evil league or a terror cell or worse. This is the kind of thing that gets you sent to a very dark hole for very long time. Do. You. Understand?

“Now, until I get some answers to my questions, nobody leaves. And you …” Walters turned back to Mal. “You better have some seriously great answers as to why the dead just attacked a government facility, because the only other necromancer who could have done this is lying on a slab down the hall. And he’s been checked twice to make sure he’s dead-dead and not necromancer undead. It’s a horrible process, involves a spike. God, I wish Murray was still here.” Walters’s bluster drifted slightly at Kosh’s mention, then returned suddenly, as if realizing where he was. “Anyway, you better come up with something, and fast!”

With that, Walters left. The fireplace behind them lay dead and ashy, and a dry breeze flowed through the room. Walters’s words swam around in Mal’s mind. How had they been attacked? What the fuck was he doing? Why was Hala here? Who the hell was Yu? He looked to Des and saw her doubled over, head in her hands, not crying, but she seemed close. Hala and Yu couldn’t have been handling this more differently. Hala was in tears, while Yu sat staring at the bookcases, closed off and distant.

“You doing okay?” Mal said to Hala as she wiped the tears from her face. “Y’know, you’re gonna be fine. You didn’t do anything wrong. They’ll let you go soon enough I bet.”

“I just wanted to help,” Hala said, her face blotchy and red from crying. “Do something good for once.”

“They’ll see that,” Mal said, “I promise. Walters is normally a good guy, he’ll help.”

“The screaming guy?” Hala said. “I doubt it.” Mal saw a small smile creep onto her face. “So, this is your big secret, is it? Necromancy?”

“You caught me,” Mal said, a half-cocked smile overpowering his face. “For all the good it’s done.”

“Well, it saved our lives for one, so thank you, Mal,” Yu said, before walking off and returning with a large book. It was a senior book, a few decades shy of promotion, though it was certainly thick enough. It struck Mal that Walters had omitted something from his grand speech. He didn’t know about Des. Somehow they hadn’t clocked the change in her. If Walters and the others didn’t find out, she might still get out of this in one piece.

“Well, it looks like our secret’s out, Des,” Mal said, trying to give her a look that said play along. She stared back at him in confusion. “We’ll have to tell Walters about us to explain why we’ve been spending so much time together.” Mal was never very good at acting, but he thought it was convincing enough. It took her a second to cotton on; Mal felt weird being a few steps ahead of Des for once. She was clearly having a terrible day; no one likes being yelled at by their boss, unless you’re into that sort of thing.

“Yes,” she said, “how else to explain it.”

“It could be because she’s a va—” Before Yu could finish, Mal and Des threw glares at them that explicitly said shut the fuck up. “A va— ery persuasive woman, and you just couldn’t help but assist her,” Yu continued, to nods from the pair of them.

“You think they’re listening?” Hala whispered.

“Oh, definitely,” Des said, looking around to try and spot where from.

“What are you doing?” Mal found himself asking as he watched Yu peruse the large book.

“I’m reading,” Yu said. “I’m probably not going to get back in here again any time soon. So I’m taking advantage of my time.” Mal couldn’t argue with their logic, he just wondered why now was the best time to be doing it.

“Why aren’t you freaking out more?” Des said. Mal agreed with the question, but when he looked to her, he realized the question was aimed at him. Well, he thought, why aren’t I freaking out more?

“Good question,” Mal said. “There’s nothing I can do. I didn’t do this and either they’ll see that or they won’t. How can I convince them otherwise?”