Free Fear the Darkness by Mitchel Scanlon Page B

don't?" she said.
    "Of course not," Hass snorted, the subtle sniping of moments earlier now giving way to cold fury. "The whole thing is absurd. Messages in blood that leave no forensic trace behind? It's nothing more than a case of mass hysteria. Frankly, the fact that you would bring it up at all shows remarkably poor judge-"
    The lights went off. Plunged into darkness, they heard the sound of a distant gunshot and screaming coming from somewhere outside. Running to the door with the others close behind her, Anderson opened it to see bedlam in the corridor. In the dim blue glow of the Sector House's emergency lights she saw a group of Judges desperately trying to disarm a middle-aged Judge, while nearby part of the corridor's walls had caught fire.
    "No," the struggling Judge shrieked as the other Judges grappled for his Lawgiver. "You can't stop me, I have sinned. I must be judged!"
    The restraining strap loosened in the scuffle, his helmet fell away to reveal a creased and weathered face now given over to screaming madness. Drawing her Lawgiver as she hurried closer, Anderson caught a glimpse of the name on the man's badge through the press of bodies. Brophy. One of the Judges behind Brophy brought his daystick down on the back of the man's head with a sickening crunch. Eyes rolling back white in their sockets, his hand slackening to release the grip of his Lawgiver, Brophy collapsed.
    "What in the name of hell is going on here?" she heard Sector Chief Franklin roaring.
    "It was Judge Brophy, chief," one of the Judges said, standing to attention. "I've never seen anything like it. He just seemed to go crazy, started raving about sin and damnation. Then he tried to set himself alight with the incendiaries from his own Lawgiver."
    The lights came back on, flooding the corridor with their glare. With it, the fire control system went back on-line, triggering the sprinklers in the ceiling to begin dousing the corridor in water. While others saw to fighting the fire or securing Brophy, Anderson noticed that the Judge who had struck him was still standing in the same place, looking uncertainly down at the blood dripping from the end of his daystick. It was Whitby. He seemed to be in shock.
    "Looks like the speedheal's worked its usual miracles, then?" she said, trying to break him out of it. "That shoulder doesn't seem to be giving you any more trouble."
    "Anderson?" he looked at her dully. "You saw I had to do it. It was like he went futsie..."
    "Put out that fire." She heard the sector chief's voice again, snapping orders. "Have Judge Brophy taken to med-bay in restraints. And, somebody, turn off those damn sprinklers. I want the preliminary reports on this incident on my desk inside an hour-"
    "Sweet Grud," Grimes said. "The wall, look at the wall."
    Turning with the others, Anderson followed the line of Grimes's pointing finger and saw it. There was a message in jagged letters written on the corridor wall in what appeared to be blood.
    "Psi-bitch", the message read. "This house is mine. Leave it or you too will be judged".
    "It's just like Chief Sykes said," Grimes's whispered. "Just like the deaths in the holding cubes. A message written in blood..." Grimes looked at Anderson. "Psi-bitch? No offence, Anderson, but I think he's talking to you."
    "Yeah, and he's not being too polite about it, either," she replied. Then, noticing Hass standing among the group gazing at the message on the wall, she winked jauntily and gave him a sarcastic smile.
    "Mass hysteria, huh?" she said, nodding towards the unconscious body of Judge Brophy as it was carried away to med-bay. "Guess that means we must all be as crazy as he is."

FIVE
     
    SILENT CADAVERS
     
    "Leland Eric Barclay," Med-Judge Henderson said, pulling open a long metal drawer to reveal the damaged and ruined features of a fire-blackened corpse. "Male. Age: thirty-four. Cause of death... Well, why don't we make this one interesting? See if you can work it out for