Chapter Text
Louis Barrett sat back in his chair.
Eerie, unnatural light emanated from the inner barrier through the windows and into the room. His eyes stared past the array of corporate and legal documents on his desk as he reached for the fuschia box of chocolates in one of the drawers and popped one into his mouth.
“Tough case?” Louis’ wife Shahida was standing in the doorframe to the home office where he had resigned to sequester himself for the night.
“I wish,” he said, looking over his shoulder. “I’d be lucky if I could build a case to begin with. I swear these people are using voodoo.”
Shahida moved behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “What do you mean, habibi?”
“You know how Noble Sun Networks got acquired by Adamas recently? Well originally, NSN was stonewalling Adamas on any offers it made for acquisition, until one of NSN’s newscasters had a very public freakout. Made all kinds of crazy claims about the company and completely trashed the set. Some of the claims proved true and their ratings dropped by sixty-seven percent. NSN basically had no choice but to sell the company for half their worth.”
“So it’s corporate sabotage?” Shahida said, knitting her eyebrows.
“You’d think, but the guy who did it claims he has no memory of having the meltdown. Says he blacked out.”
“Then he dipped a little too far into some recreational alternative medicine, and it’s all a coincidence,” Shahida remarked.
“That’s what I thought, but he tested negative for any known drugs. And that’s not the only sign of foul play. Some Adamas employees were trying to form a union, until the lead organizer, Dillan Rivers was arrested for breaking into his kid’s elementary school and threatening teachers. Thing is, none of the people who knew him believed that he could do something like that. He was considered by all accounts a very compassionate and level headed guy.”
Shahida leaned over his shoulder to look him in the face. “What you’re saying is, you’re going after one of the biggest media conglomerates in the city, and all you have to go off of is some ghost stories.”
“It’s all just too weird to ignore,” Louis replied, looking up at her.
“Well, whenever you’re done chasing after mind controlling network companies, I’ll be in the living room watching my soaps.” She got up and left the room, passing behind the door frame. Louis popped another chocolate into his mouth.
“These chocolates you got for our anniversary are great!” he said, calling after her.
Shahida looked back towards the hallway from the living room. “I didn’t order any chocolates,” she said. She heard no reply from down the hall. Everything was silent save for the murmuring of the TV.
Attendees of Team Forte Life are still recovering tonight after an eruption of violence in the crowd followed by a malfunctioning of the Mercy Willows Center sound system. Very few were injured and the members of Team Forte emerged unharmed, however authorities are still unclear as to how the riot started. Officials have not yet released a statement on…
She crept back towards their home office. “Louie, baby?” Louis was standing in the foyer with his back turned, facing the front door. “Habibi, are you okay? You’re scaring me.” She put a hand on his shoulder. It felt stiff and unresponsive. He began moving towards the door. “Baby? Where are you going? Curfew hasn’t ended. It’s not safe out there. The barrier might get stuck open— Louie!” He had opened the door and was walking into the street. Monsters like great killer whales circled overhead. She was too afraid to leave the foyer and go to grab him. “Louie, what are you doing? You could get hurt! Louis!” Just then, one of the creatures swooped down from the side and scooped him up in its mouth, killing him instantly. She screamed as she watched him vanish between the teeth of the massive, predatory beast.