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“What is that?” Dan choked out. Fear gripped his soul as a screaming shuffling form withered its way towards him.
“I thought you were aware of the rumors Mr. Cain.” Doctor West replied coldly. Standing behind Dan he got just a good a view as he— yet showed no sign of fear. “That ghosts roam these halls screaming at all hours of the night.”
“I’m aware of them Doctor West, but I thought they were just-“
“Rumors? Well Mr. Cain, you need to learn the rumors are usually based on facts. And here-“ he motioned to the figure still shuffling towards them “are your facts.”
“And you just— live with ghosts!” Great distress laced his voice as he stepped farther back as the shape kept getting closer and closer.
“Ah ah ah, not ghosts. Ghost cannot exist with the physical, Mr. Cain. But the living dead— now those can.”
Dan picked up now on the creaks and groans that came with each step the creature took. Meaning it had a physical form. It was there with them. This shallow shaped monstrosity was as real as he and West.
“You let it walk around!”
“They don’t cause much trouble, the screams are the only real sound they make.” Herbert began approaching it, almost as if he were approaching an old friend. “They only want to– stretch their legs Mr. Cain.” West circled the corpse, his eyes flicking over where any of the body was discolored. “I’m still working on the minuciu of the process but this is the furthest I’ve come.”
“Have any ever escaped, Doctor?” He remembered hearing of recent horrific attacks near this manor and they’d only increased in recent days.
“They always eventually do, but they fall apart quickly once they leave this place. They are forever tied here. If they try to leave decay starts to set in again and— well you’ve heard what happens.”
“They become aggressive?”
“Very. They never attack while in here though. Something about this place keeps them tame.”
Dan looked around the old decrypted home. To look at it from the outside it always felt as if it were an invasive force. But to be inside it felt as if you were the invasive force. It felt like every step you took led to you closer and closer to your demise. And for some it clearly had.
“Why do you let them get out?”
“Each time they leave I monitor them to see how far they get before the reagent stops working.”
“Reagent?” He scrambled against one of the walls as the husk walked right up to him. The walls sagged against his shoulders making him jump forward in response, nearly hitting the very monster he tried to avoid.
Herbert let out a bark of laughter at the sight. “It won’t hurt you Mr. Cain! No need to be afraid,” he walked up next to Dan, resting his hand on one of his shoulders in what normally would be a comforting motion but here came off as unnerving. “They really are quite harmless. But my reagent is what brings them to life. The house merely– aids in the process.”
“Why am I here then? You seem to have everything figured out.”
“Not quite. As you are well aware Mr. Cain, my standing with the general Arkham masses is– not stellar. Even less so with my peers in the academic fields. But you, Mr. Cain, are engaged to Dean Halsey’s daughter! Your main patron is Doctor Carl Hill! You are well liked and respected by these people, and if you can put in a good word about me that could change the trajectory of my studies!”
A scream echoed through the aching halls leading Dan to recoil from Herbert’s touch. “I’ll need more proof than– that thing. There could be a number of explanations for it!” He struggled to come up with any on the spot though. He continued to be too shaken by how close it had gotten. How he’d been able to smell the decay emanating off of its flesh and hear its bones cracking into place.
He wasn’t ready to believe that Herbert West could bring the dead back to life. Even if it had just walked past him.
“Gladly, Mr. Cain. I was anticipating this request. A cadaver is awaiting us in the basement.” he began to walk down the hall where the monster had just vanished into. Continuing to act as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. “If you’ll follow me all your questions will be answered, Mr. Cain.”
West stood there at the end of the hall, waiting patiently for Dan to join him. For Dan though the light came in behind him engulfing the scientist in shadows. West outstretched a hand to Dan, beckoning him to follow him down into the abyss underneath the house.
Dan slowly began to approach West. Feeling as if he were walking into the opening maw of death– but he couldn’t walk away.
He needed to know what secrets this Doctor held within him.
He needed to see what West had seen.
And he though he wanted to walk out those looming doors and never return to this suffocating house. He took Herbert’s hand.
Through the shadows he could see West smile, squeezing his hands tight as if to make sure he was really there, making a shiver run down his back at such a morbid sight.
“We have much to do Mr. Cain.” Herbert said, ushering him down the stairs.
Out of the corner of his eye Dan could still see the shape. Shifting and shaking its way through the lonely halls. Screaming out again as if it were searching for the people it had said goodbye to in life.
“Dan, please call me Dan.” He corrected, pulling himself back to reality through the one thing he could grasp at.
Reaching the first floor Herbert looked back with glee in his eyes. “We’ll do great things together Dan!” he said before striding over to the basement elevator.
“I hope so.” Dan whispered as he followed the solemn figure of death into his workshop.