Plan B
Drizzle plopped down onto Karen’s umbrella, as she hurried along the dimly lit dead end street, dodging potholes and puddles on her way to meet the environmental lawyer turned whistleblower.
Philip Dunbar stopped pacing when the Deputy District Attorney reached him. “What kept you?” he snapped.
“Well, I had to make sure I wasn’t followed,” Karen shot back. “Per your instructions.”
“You sure you weren’t? They can shape shift. I’ve seen them. They’re trying to kill me.” Philip’s words tumbled off his tongue in a single breath. He craned his neck, searching the shadows beyond where he and Karen stood.
“What?” Karen’s voice was sharp with impatience.
Philip narrowed his eyes at her. “Nothing. Let’s get this done.”
“Fine.” Karen stepped forward. “Why don’t you join me under my umbrella?”
“No!” Philip drew back. “The rain will protect me. It douses their fire.” He began to pace, again. “They almost had me, earlier tonight. Before I ran into the rain.”
Karen stood silent, for a moment, her eyes trailing Philip as he walked back and forth before her. “You’re losing your mind, Dunbar. Bad enough, you refused to meet anywhere but here. Now, you’re spouting off about some weird nonsense–” She paused. “I’ve jumped through too many hoops for you, already, over the past couple of days. Just give me the evidence so I can get it back to the office, safe and dry.”
Philip forced his feet to shuffle to his car and his palm to grip the driver’s side door handle. He kept his eyes focused on the better lit end of the deserted street as he reached into his sedan, his movement awkward and robotic. “It’s like the devil is the firm’s biggest client, now,” he commented, his fingers closing around the evidence Karen sought.
His hand trembled as he offered her the small stack of CD jewel cases he retrieved from his car. Incriminating evidence he’d risked his life to collect over the past two weeks.
Karen reached for the treasured CDs, tipping her umbrella forward to keep the stack from getting wet. Philip didn’t notice the onyx gleam that streaked across her corneas after the compact discs were in her possession.
“Nice to see you finally do the right thing, at last, by turning in your partners after all your years of helping them cover up water pollution by several chemical plants. Still not interested in telling me what spawned your sudden change of heart?”
“People just change, sometimes.”
“So is this all I need?” Karen asked of the CDs. Philip nodded. “And you’re still willing to testify?”
“As long as I’ve got immunity from the District Attorney’s office.” His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed hard. “And as long as you get me the kind of protection I need.”
Karen stood, staring.
The air grew thick, wrapping around Philip like a fist. His stomach tightened in fear as a low growl filled his ears. His knees wobbled when he realized the sound was flowing from Karen.
Thunder drummed across the sky. Lightning ripped in thin, crooked, white lines. Karen released her grip on her umbrella, and gusting wind snatched the umbrella away.
Her skin contorted and melted.
Philip staggered backward, swung around, and tried to slip inside his car. The beast masquerading as Karen burst from its deceitful cocoon, towering above him.
Rain bounced off of black, leathery skin. Fetid coils of white smoke rose from steaming flesh. The beast’s thick, forked tongue lunged from its gaping mouth, snaking itself around Philip’s torso. Bones cracked and snapped as the beast crushed him.
Philip’s corpse crumpled to the ground. The thunder softened. The lightning dissipated. The wind calmed.
The compact discs lay scattered in pieces in a nearby puddle, ruined.
“You were right about the rain, Dunbar. It protected you from my fire, earlier tonight,” Karen mumbled, after shifting back into the flesh and bones of her human costume. “But I always have a Plan B.”