Division Zero Read Online Free PDF Page B

careening into one of the decaying pews. Her body flipped over it as her boots took out a table full of votive candles, knocking them to the ground where they shattered into a wash of glass and wax fragments.
    The mace floated back into the doctor’s grip, and he pounced. Holding the weapon over his head in both hands, he brought it down with a manic cackle. The blood of dozens caked the spiked horror, and he sought to add hers to his collection.
    Kirsten raised her hands as her eyes glowed white. She stalled him in his tracks by sheer force of will. Her arms shuddered with the effort against a phantom stronger than any she had yet encountered. He strained against her power, trying to step toward her, but she shoved him back even though it changed her exhaustion into pain. This type of wraith fed from fear, he had little idea how to contend with her utter lack of it.
    He roared, fury burning in his eyes, straining to advance.
    Kirsten slid to her feet, back against the wall, muscles throbbing from of the battle of wills. She dropped her resistance without warning, rolling to the side. Caught off guard, the doctor lurched forward and smashed a hole through the wooden floorboards.
    Before he could recover his balance, Kirsten struck out with another swipe of the astral whip. The energy stream pulled taut as it meshed with his ethereal form. The shimmering ribbon knocked the doctor to his knees, eliciting a supernatural wail of agony.
    That one hurt.
    Another like that and it’s game over. Damn, I hope I have enough left.
She leaned, panting, against the wall and wiped a nosebleed with the back of her hand.
I have to stop him; he has to leave this world. He does not belong here.
    The doctor lurched to his feet. The fury in his glare had melted to terror, but not of Kirsten. He retreated to the door but stalled in the center of the room, looking over his shoulder. His eyes darted, sensing something’s approach.
    Kirsten sensed it too. The ambiance changed within a second; the neutral chapel felt grim and foreboding, as if doom itself had arrived. Shadows thickened and rapid whispers filled the air as darkness seeped into the edges of the room. Black ether oozed through the walls, forming patches before streaking down in thin lines into puddles on the ground.
    She smacked him with a feeble lash while he was distracted, but her fatigue turned it into a limp strike that fell short of destroying his essence. The whispering intensified as the soul collector weakened further. Smoky humanoid shapes rose out of puddles on the ground, shadows cast by people that did not exist. Here and there, pale glinting spots appeared like eyes amid the black, and the outline of shadowy claws danced upon the walls.
    She backed away, knowing what approached. Things had been set in motion she dared not interfere with. He spun in place, looking with desperation for any patch of wall not covered in dusk. One of the shadow forms lurched forward, passing just behind him. The doctor yelled as he spun to face it. A second one passed him, making him turn back, and a third, and then another and another until he whirled in a horrified dance.
    A dozen emerged from all over the room at once, swarming and engulfing him under a blanket of night. One gloomy hand reached out of the writhing mass, covering his face. With a cry of agony, the pile of Harbingers dragged the doctor down through the floor.
    Silence.
    Kirsten stood motionless, staring at the ground where the ghost had vanished until the mood in the room returned to normal. She sank into a squat, trembling hands clutched over her chest.
    Those creatures were not to be trifled with.
    After catching her breath, she recovered her composure and went out through the empty corridors of the old Saguaro Mental Hospital. Flashes of silver light glimmered in room after room behind her, accompanied by the sense of dread lifting from this place.
    Kirsten smiled to herself as she walked among the transcendent light