Occulturation #10.5 Epilogue

Isuertal, the captain of Undead Strike Force from the Anti-Screamer Special Forces, cautiously crept into the wreckage of a theater house. She did her best to ignore the stench of blood staining the cloth carpeted floors. It had been a massacre. She got news of the incident through an unexpected informant, an imp. She would have detained that Screamer if it weren’t for the clear fact that she had promised not to capture it in exchange for information. She couldn’t help but fear that this was a trap. Why would a Screamer sell out its own kind to the A.S.S.F.? She was clearly being baited into a trap. For that very reason, she had insisted on going alone. She was the second most senior member of the A.S.S.F. She could survive pretty much anything. She had been clawed and bitten and stabbed by all sorts of Screamers before. But she is still alive. Even Greesha had lost limbs to Screamers, but Isuertal is just on another level altogether. Everyone else in the A.S.S.F. thinks that Isuertal thinks too highly of herself. It’s true, she thinks she is pretty much invincible. But given her experiences, she has been proven right time and time again.

Some of the people in the A.S.S.F. have even begun to wonder if she is a Screamer, but she goes through the one-month detainment after every mission just like everyone else. If she was a Screamer, she would have starved to death. So she decided to go alone because she knew that anyone else who came along would just become unnecessary casualties. But she also went alone because she doesn’t want anyone to stop her from using lethal force. Greehsa has this stupid rule about lethal force. The rule is “Don’t use it.” Isuertal thinks that is nonsense. If something is clearly a Screamer, then she should be allowed to kill it. Especially if this Screamer has already killed so many.

The building rumbles as a deep growl emanates from beneath the floor. Isuertal takes out her dagger. She slowly steps down the stairs. As she reaches the lower floors, the smell of sulfur fills the air and she can see scorch marks all over the walls. Down here, the carpet is nothing but ashes and the furniture is little more than rubble. She enters a large room with a stage and place for an audience. The incinerated remains of curtains litter the stage floor. Meanwhile, she can see where much of the audience had died trying to flee to the exit. Isuertal can see surprisingly well in the darkness down here. She has gone on many missions chasing after nocturnal Screamers, and using a flashlight would have alerted the Screamers to her presence, so she has gotten used to seeing in the dark. Even Greesha, the only member of the A.S.S.F. that is more senior than her, has trouble seeing in the dark. Isuertal considers herself better than Greesha in many things. But there are some things in which Greesha is terrifyingly expert.

As Isuertal stalks through the darkness, she half expects to come face-to-face with Greesha every time she turns a corner. Greesha can often tell when Isuertal plans to use lethal force and comes to stop her. But this time, surely not even Greesha would know to stop her. Isuertal was the only person who got the information from that imp informant. Greesha doesn’t know about this mission. And even if she was tracking Isuertal, Isuertal is ostensibly stopping by the theater for a show. The theater doesn’t look too damaged from the outside. Only upon entering is it obvious that there was a disaster. Isuertal chuckles to herself as she realizes that she is more worried about her boss finding out that she is disobeying protocol than she is with the Incorporeals that managed to destroy such a large amount of people and reduced much of the building to ash and rubble.

She finds a room that has a metal safe. The safe is full of dents but still locked. It seems that something, probably a Screamer, was trying to break in but couldn’t. Luckily, Isuertal is an expert at infiltration and finding secrets. She hardly even needs to guess the passcode, as she turns the wheel on the safe, clockwise to the number four, counter clockwise to the number four, clockwise to the number four again, and again counterclockwise to the number four, unlocking the door. These people had associated themselves with Incorporeals, so of course they were foolish enough to use the Screamer number of Incorporeal as their password. 4444.

People are so predictable.

She opens the safe and finds it full of bead necklaces. Isuertal can’t imagine what would be so important about necklaces that somebody would lock them away in a safe. Well, it didn’t matter. If they’re important enough to be locked away, they’re important enough to be confiscated as evidence. She collects the necklaces and stores them in her pockets. She wonders if the incorporeals that caused this destruction are still here. They probably aren’t since there wouldn’t really be any reason to stay after killing everyone. Isuertal leaves the room and follows the trail of dead bodies to see where it leads. It leads towards the exit as she expected, but there are also a few bodies scattered in a direction away from the exit. Isuertal wonders if some of the people had their retreat blocked off by the Incorporeals and had to flee further into the building.

Isuertal follows the direction of these scattered bodies into a costume-change area. Sometimes, it’s hard for her to tell the difference between the bodies and the mannequins. She wonders what kind of people deal with Incorporeals but also run a theater. The building trembles as she hears the growling again. Surely, the Incorporeal must still be somewhere in the building. But as the vibrations reverberate through the walls, it’s hard to tell where the sound is coming from. Isuertal feels the air temperature rise. The Incorporeal must be getting closer. Isuertal is confident that she can take down whatever Screamers are here. She creeps down a corridor until she finds herself by a circuit breaker. Looking At the circuit breaker, she can tell that the area is dark because the circuit breaker had flipped all of the lights off. If she turned on the lights it would be easier to see.

Isuertal flips on the lights from the circuit breaker and the room fills with light. A roar echoed through the hallways. She can hear scratches and heavy footsteps of some heavy beast rushing to her location. With the lights now on, she can see that there are three mannequins in this room. She wonders if she might be able to blend in with them, so that she can surprise the Screamer from an unexpected attack. One of the mannequins wears a wide-brimmed hat woven from straw and with a flower on top. One of the mannequins wears a soldier's uniform covering its arms, torso, and legs. And one of the mannequins wears a beige curtain as a dress and gas mask covering its face.

Isuertal stands on the side of the room that has the mannequin with the hat, leaving the two other mannequins on the other side of the room. This symmetry should make the Incorporeal think this was a purposeful placement of mannequins, right? It doesn’t matter too much, since Isuertal is pretty sure she’d survive whatever the Screamer threw at her anyway. A massive hellhound that’s the size of a rhinoceros charges into the room. It’s a ferocious six-headed monster. It has something stringy hanging from one of its mouths, stuck in its teeth. This creature slams its scorpion-like tail into the wall, leaving a criss-cross of cracks that makes Isuertal fear that the wall might soon collapse. Isuertal knows that as an Incorporeal, she can’t really kill it, just destroy its physical form. As long as no one is foolish enough to give it a soul, it should die within a month without a body. Seeing how large and monstrous the incorporeal is, she feels like her dagger is inadequate. But that’s kind of all that she has, since she doesn’t want gunshots to sound throughout the premise and draw both Screamers and humans to her location as then Greesha would surely find out what she’s been doing. So she leaps towards the monster with her dagger outstretched and ready to decapitate one of the hellhound’s heads.

Isuertal feels herself hit the ground as a force pushes into her stomach. Looking up, she can see that it’s the scorpion tail. She tries to stab the tail with her dagger but one of the hellhound’s crushing claws lands on her arm, preventing her from moving it. Finally, Isuertal begins to feel something that she doesn't think she has ever felt before: the fear of death. It occurred to her that she might actually die this time. She hadn’t expected Incorporeals to be so powerful. Usually, Incorporeals are incredibly weak. What’s different about this one?

Isuertal’s vision goes blurry and she thinks she sees the mannequin in the military outfit and wearing a gas mask take a step forward. She blinks, looking again, but it’s not moving. Then she thinks she sees it takes another step forward. Is it really moving? Then she sees the mannequin slowly raise its right arm, stretched towards the back of the hellhound and Isuertal finally understands. She’s not going to die, but she kind of wishes she was. The clearly-not-a-mannequin's right arm is a cannon that Isuertal happens to know is only fueled with tasers. Isuertal can’t understand the purpose of non-lethal force against an Incorporeal. It’s not like she could kill one. A deafening boom sounds from the arm and the hellhound is thrown 20 feet through a wall. Isuertal is now free from the Incorporeal, if only she could escape from the judging eyes of her superior.

The muffled sound of an angry woman is barely coherent through the gas mask “Isuertal, you know you must report all Screamer-related endeavors.”

“I’m the captain of my own squad now, you don’t need to babysit me on every mission.” Isuertal says.

“I wouldn’t babysit you if you didn’t act so childish.” The muffled voice says, “If you didn’t keep running off on your own and try to use lethal force, I would trust you to do well without my supervision. But it’s because you keep getting into situations like this that I keep ‘babysitting’ you.”

Isuertal feels like a child being told off after getting caught up after curfew. It’s annoying. She’s a grown adult and second-highest in rank. Though to be honest, she sort of expected this to happen. Isuertal knows it’s Greesha behind that mask. The injured hellhound roars, and another roar comes from the opposite side of the building. “There’s more than one?” Greesha exclaims, “What were you thinking?” Isuertal doesn’t answer. She looks down at her wound. The scorpion stinger is no longer impaling her since the hellhound was pushed away. But she was bleeding a surprisingly small amount. Greesha looks down at her wound and says, “You got lucky yet again, Isuertal. But sooner or later, your luck will run out. You shouldn’t think you’re invincible just because you’ve survived a few attacks.” Isuertal hates this speech that Greesha gives to try and humble her. Can’t Greesha just let her be good at this one thing? It seems that even in cases in which Isuertal is better than Greesha, Greesha always shows up to prove that Isuertal’s triumphs are meaningless.