Wraith City

At the intersection, I could go right and head home—but turning left would take me...

If I ran, they would find me. So I walked. Slowly, practically meandering through the barren city streets, passing abandoned cars, shuttered shops, and various forms of detritus littering the ground. Anything faster than a casual stroll caught their attention, and when you were in their sights...

I shivered, unsure if it was from my intrusive thoughts, or because the autumn weather was turning to its crisp coolness once the sun set behind the derelict buildings—ones that used to practically touch the sky, but now were in heaps, making navigation even more difficult.

My mind wandered as I walked, head hunched with hood down, despite the cold, hands in my jeans pockets. My eyes darted down each empty street as I came to them, looking in the windows of abandoned buildings for shadows, movement, or something else that shouldn’t be there. So far, the world was silent.

As it always was.

After walking a few more blocks, my feet stopped. I looked up and saw I was at The Intersection. It always came down to this: go right and go home, to safety, or turn left and...Well, let’s just say somewhere not safe. Any regular fool would turn right. Go home. Warm up a can of beans over a small fire, wrap up in a fine tattered blanket, and sleep away the horrors of what the night could bring.

Or I could turn left.

It had been a year since I lost my little brother to the Wraith, the race of creature that haunted our world. Nobody saw them—hence “wraith,” but we always knew when they were near. That night when Ty was taken, we had felt something. He sneezed, then, in a panic, he ran. I stayed rooted to the spot. I never saw him again, but I saw where he was dragged, looking like he was being blown away in the wind, as I couldn’t see what was hauling him off. Since then, I’ve wanted to head to where I saw him last—to the left—but I’ve always been too afraid.

With the Wraith, we can feel their presence, like someone sneaking up on you and breathing down your neck. Like that, only you know deep down that it’s not a friend or social recluse with no use for personal space. It’s...difficult to explain. We all know where they hide themselves during the day, though, and nobody in their right mind goes there. They used to, but it only took a few days for the survivors to realize that it was a death wish to do so.

I whipped my head to the right as I saw movement. I squinted and saw a figure—a person—walking down the street. They were coming toward me. I panicked. Too many people in one place was just as bad as moving too fast.

“Hey!” the person called, apparently having noticed me.

I turned and, as calmly as possible, turned to the left.

“Hey, stop!” the person called. Sounded like a man, but I wasn’t willing to turn and look. I kept walking.

Suddenly, the man screamed.

Slowly, I turned. I couldn’t help myself. Incredibly—terrifyingly—the man was sliding toward me, at an angle, as if her were being dragged, yet it was just him. He was coming my way, the way Ty had been taken. I stood, shock immobilizing me. It was coming right at me. A few seconds more and the man—the invisible thing—would be on me. I took a deep breath.

And threw my first into the space where a being should have been.

My hand sank into what felt like...soft meat. Flesh. A face? I couldn’t tell. The man being dragged dropped, gravity finally doing its thing. Without thinking, I kicked and punched at the air near where the Wraith should have been. I connected more times than not, but in my panic, I couldn’t stop. If I did, it would get me.

“Whoa, whoa!” the man said, quietly this time. “I think it’s gone now. You can stop.”

I gave one more kick, which connected, before falling on top of the creature. I couldn’t see it, but I wanted to know exactly where it was. I must have looked strange, lying on top of the thing, as the man couldn’t see what I was laying on, just that I was seemingly floating a couple of feet from the ground.

“Hey,” the man said, kneeling next to me. “It’s okay.” He put a hand on my shoulder.

I was sobbing. I hadn’t realized it until just then, but all of my pent-up anger, my rage, had exploded into my attack. Now I was empty. A shell. What had even happened?

I looked up at the man, who looked into my tear-filled eyes. “Thanks,” he said. “For saving me.” He then looked down at the invisible whatever-it-was I was laying on and slowly put his hand on it. “I think it’s dead,” he said finally.

I put my hands on the thing’s...back? Then moved them around to feel what it was. It felt humanoid enough, but there were other bumps and ridges on it that it couldn’t have been human.

“How did you know to punch it?” the man asked.”

“Dunno,” I replied, still dazed. I slowly got to my feet.

“I didn’t know they could be stopped,” said the man. Looking at him, I guessed he was somewhere in his mid-twenties. He had a scraggly beard, full around his face and growing long past his chin, but his eyes—what I could see of them in the fading twilight—were young.

I shook my head and shrugged in response. My mind was reeling.

“I’m Richard,” the man—Richard—said, extending his hand. I looked at it for a moment before taking it.

“Brian,” I said, taking his hand in mine.

“Again, I must—”

“Why’d you yell at me?” I blurted, cutting him off and letting go of his hand. “Why’d you start running like that?”

Richard looked sheepish, but he didn’t flinch at the accusation. “I don’t know. I didn’t think. You’re the first person I’ve seen in a week. I didn’t want you to move away without seeing me, otherwise I figured I wouldn’t get another chance at stopping you. When you started walking away, I panicked. The thought of being out here alone one more day seemed more painful than whatever might happen to me otherwise, so I ran. I...guess that was pretty stupid.”

“Yeah,” I said, then started walking again. Away from where Richard had come from. Toward where Ty had disappeared to a year ago.

“Where are you off to?” Richard was following me. Keeping pace so as not to move too quickly, but still following.

“Not sure,” I said.

“Mind if I join you?”

I didn’t answer, which Richard must have taken as an affirmative, because he continued behind me. I could hear his shoes on the pavement, quiet scuffing sounds that seemed to practically scream there was a living person walking down this street. Still, nothing attacked us, but I kept my eyes open, as always.

We walked for what must have been a couple of miles like that, him behind me, me walking straight down the road. I don’t know what I was looking for, but I knew Ty had been taken this way, so I kept walking. I didn’t even know if I was going the right way. Something had snapped inside of me when I took down the Wraith further back, and, with adrenaline pumping, I had made the choice to go this way.

We continued to walk for another ten minutes or so until something made me stop. It took me a moment to realize what it was. No scuffing behind me. Richard had stopped walking. I turned, slowly, expecting to see him gone. But there he was, standing perfectly still, looking at the window of a shop, his head cocked to the side.

I looked at him for what seemed an eternity—thirty seconds in a dark city with deranged Wraiths milling about was an eternity. Finally, he shifted. Then I heard his breath catch. The hair on my arms went stiff, raising up. One of them was near. Neither of us could see them, but we could feel their presence. I stood as still as I could, barely breathing. Richard looked like he was about to pass out. I wouldn’t blame him. However, if he did, his motion would undoubtable call out his attention, and he’d be a gonner. Maybe me, too. I said a silent prayer to whatever celestial being was listening that he would hold his composure.

A minute later, the feeling around me dissipated, and I felt like I could breathe normally again. Richard turned his head to me, slowly. I moved carefully toward him.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I saw a shadow move inside that building,” Richard said. “I stopped to look, but as I stood there, I felt something moving closer to me.”

“I felt it too,” I said in a near whisper.

“There’s something off about this part of the city,” Richard said. “It’s darker here. Quieter, too. As if...”

“As if this is where they live,” I finished.

Richard nodded.

“You said you saw its shadow?”

Richard nodded again.

“Perfect.” I started walking toward the building.

“What are you doing? Richard hissed.

“Breaking and entering,” I said. If these creatures lived here, then I was close to Ty. Or, rather, I was close to learning about what had happened to Ty. I reached the door and tried the handle. It was unlocked, and the door opened. No creepy creaking like I expected, but the simple fact that I was going into a building where there were sure to be Wraiths didn’t fill me with comfort, either.

I felt something breathing on the back of my neck. I brought my elbow back in a quick blow. Something behind me grunted, and I realized it was just Richard. What was he thinking, getting so close to me like that?

“What are you doing?” I whispered, irritation bleeding through.

When he didn’t answer, I turned. There was nobody there. Then, I felt something cold clasp around my arm, feel it through my hoodie. My adrenaline spiked as I panicked. I flailed, kicked, and used my free hand to whack at whatever it was that was holding me. I connected a few times before I was hurled the rest of the way into the building. I rolled as I hit the floor, fists and legs flailing. Another grunt as I connected with whatever it was.

I used the source of the grunt as my compass and threw myself toward it. I connected, and we both crashed to the ground in a heap. I let loose on the creature, fists flying with everything I had. Motion from the window caught my attention, and I turned to look.

Below me, in the reflection, was Richard. Same clothes, same hair, but his features were...wrong. Arched back, large, rounded ridges protruding from his back, jetting out of his clothes. But it wasn’t just him.

Behind us stood at least a dozen more of these creatures, their shadows now manifest through the reflection. All staring at me with lifeless eyes. One walked toward me, and I turned from the window to look at where it was coming from. There was nothing.

“Brian,” is said, voice raspy.

I closed my eyes. I couldn’t see it anyway, so what was the use of keeping them open?

“Look at me.”

I opened my eyes and looked in the direction of the voice. Nothing.

“Look at the window.”

I did as instructed. I let out a gasp when I realized what—who—I was looking at.

“Ty,” I whispered.

“Brian,” the phantom Ty responded.

I collapsed to the ground, eyes riveted to the spot. “Are you...”

“Dead?” The Wraith chuckled. “No. And yes.”

“What happened to you?” I whispered.

“They did.” Ty motioned to the other Wraiths near him. “The older ones are feral, but they are far away. We are who remain in the city. It is ours, now, Brian. We are its keepers.”

“I...don’t understand.”

“The Gulphin—those you call Wraiths—do not wish to be here, but cannot escape. The longer they stay here, the more they lose control of themselves. We have been selected as the protectors of the Gulphin. We have taken their likeness in shadow, but no longer have bodies. Not like we used to, anyway.”

I looked at Ty, trying to make sense of it all. He was a Wraith...a Gulphin, whatever that was.

Ty continued. “We have been charged with collecting substantial bodies for the feral Gulphin. With new bodies, their minds will be renewed.”

“So you snatch people?” I snapped. This couldn’t be Ty. He would never agree to something like this.

“It is...not what you think,” said Ty. The way he spoke was different than before. More thoughtful. Slower. “We take only those who are not meant to last long in this life. I...was one of these.” The words sounded sad.

“What do you mean?” I asked, standing slowly.

“I was sick,” Ty continued. “You must remember how I coughed, before I was taken?”

I nodded.

“I knew, deep down, that I was dying. After I was taken, it was confirmed by the stable Gulphin. I had caught a sickness in my lungs. It was spreading, too.”

“I...”

“You could not have known, Brian. But it is a blessing for me to be here, now. I feel no pain, no hunger. And I have been tasked with a mission that will protect both the Gulphin and those humans here. Left to their own desires, the feral Gulphin would destroy every last person in this city. We take those who are ill, and that appeases them for some time. I...am sorry, Brian.”

The words stung. My brother had been sick? Dying? And I hadn’t done anything for him? “What about Richard?” I asked, motioning to the motionless body on the floor, still invisible to the naked eye, but not so through the reflection.

“Weeks only,” said Ty. “If that.”

“And you know that, how?” I asked, defensively.

“We just know. It is part of being who we are.”

“He’s right,” said a voice from the floor. Richard was stirring. “I didn’t have a doctor look at me, since those aren’t exactly common in this place anymore, but I was losing strength each day. I felt myself slowing down. Not that I wanted to be turned into some half zombie-vampire hybrid.” He looked at Ty and the other Wraiths, apparently able to see them now without a reflection. “I will admit,” he continued, “I feel a lot better now. Minus the beating I just took, of course.”

“Sorry,” I said, although I wasn’t sure if I was, considering that it was a Wraith I was apologizing to.

“You must go now,” Ty said. “Do not mourn me, Brian. I am fine now.” Ty smiled, a figment of his former self showing through.

“I just wanted to find you,” I whispered. “I thought...thought I could still save you.”

“You did,” Ty said. “Knowing you still care means everything to me.” He cocked his head to the side, as if hearing something I couldn’t. “They are returning. Go, now, and do not return to this part of the city. You will be safe where we—where you—live. Goodbye, Brian.” Ty turned to leave, the other Wraiths—Richard included—following.

“I love you, Ty.” The words came out in barely a whisper.

Ty stopped anyway and turned to me. “I love you too, Brian.” In a moment, they all disappeared around a corner in the building.

I stayed in that room for a few moments longer, mind reeling. Then I turned and began my slow amble home. The walk was long, but I had a lot to think about. That had been Ty’s body, his clothes he had been taken in. But it wasn’t him. The Wraith-Ty had lied. He hadn’t been coughing before he’d been taken. Sneezing, yes. But I would have remembered if Ty had been sick, especially if he had been coughing a lot. Coughing was trouble in the city, as it drew attention. Sneezes...not so much. Loud, yes, but far less frequent.

Something was going on in the city, and while he believed the Ty-Wraith that only certain people were taken, he didn’t believe it was for the benefit of anyone except those ghosts. As I walked home, I planned. First, I’d need to gather who I could. Slowly, inconspicuously.

Then we’d take the fight to Wraiths.