The vacuum tubes around the creature whirred in to life as Frankie dialed codes in the computer. The tubes where separated in to three sections, slowly forming a shape or a figure around the slab where the parasite and host were harnessed. Carnacki recognized something about them. Something she read but couldn't remember. The sections locked into one closed shape. And it finally dawned on her.

  "Sh*t. You made it," Carnacki said. "You made the Electro Magnetic Pentacle!" She looked at Frank, her mouth open.

  Frankie only smiled. She pounded the side of the glass window with her fist. "Well it do what I think it'll do?"

  "Cross your fingers cause I don't really know," Frankie said.

  He told her his plan and how Cathrynne could help him. He then handed her a trigger kill-switch. And they proceeded with utmost caution.

  "Diverting all power to conductors in One-Two-Three,"Frankie said as he signaled Carnacki.

  Carnacki focused on the creature. Its tentacles began to wrap itself on the vacuum tube like a constrictor coiling itself to its prey. Carnacki realized what it was doing. "Do it now!" Carnacki shouted.

  "Wait. If anything happens do what I told you to do, okay?" Franklin said. Carnacki nodded and held the remote trigger tighter.

  "Initiating Prototype Pentacle," Franklin said as he pressed the enter button. The pentacle's orange glow seemed to overpower the light inside the test room. the E.M.P. cast an orange glow and the whole room looked as though it was inside an oven.

  "Nothing's happ-" Carnacki's voice was interrupted by the eerie shrill of the the creature. It was even louder than its first cry.

  The creature writhed in its agony. It started to use its tentacle as a whip, but to no avail. Orange energy sparked and crackled like a Wytch spell gone wrong. The creature gradually shrank exposing the man within it. Peeling itself away from the man. Its talons receded and its tentacles dried and withered but the progress halted as the glow faded and dimmed.

  "No!" Carnacki whispered. Was it too stupid to hope it would work,she thought.

  Frankie dialed and pushed codes in the computer as fast as he could. "We're losing power."

  "What should I do?" Carnacki said.

  "Drop it," Frankie said, voice wavering. "Man. No. No. No."

  It was easy to forget that he was just a boy. A really smart one in fact. He was actually a genius and was far from any ordinary boy and that tensed moment showed how fragile he still was.

  Carnacki stared at the trigger in her hands. She looked at Frankie. She could hear the chains breaking, the whine of the twisted harness and the tearing sound of the metal slab.

  "This is Lab three N, we have a situation here," Franklin said his voice cracking while his hand trembled with the weight of the Communications mic.

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  A loud cracking sound struck the glass. It was using its tentacle like a whip, Cathrynne though. The parasite phoned it a couple of times and spiderweb cracks began to appear in the reinforced glass. Every strike made Franklin recoil in his swivel chair. Every strike widened the opening of the flimsy barrier between them and the insidious thing.

  Stunned by fright and anxiety Cathrynne stood in front of the breaking glass like a terror stricken victim of the Gorgon Medusa, herself. A piece of flying glass the size of a quarter struck her cheek and a bead of blood dripped from her cheek to the white tiled floor. The pain made her flinched it also made her realize what she had in her hands. She pressed it hard with both hands. White light bathe the test room as if someone tossed a flash grenade inside it. Blinding Franklin and Carnacki temporarily. Her heart pounded against her chest. This is not the time to blind, she thought. Not if I want to fight back and defend Frankie.

  Frankie helped her up. "Almost doubted you there."

  "What?" Cathrynne said as she tried to find her balance. Her vision slowly went back to normal.

  "Nothing. It's dead now. We didn't save him."

  "We tried," Cathrynne whispered.

  Frankie shook his head in dismay. "Yeah, we did."

  "What was that white light? You didn't told me what the trigger was for."

  "Oh its the other thing. The other design you made."

  "Didn't remember designing something like that," Carnacki said as she stood closer in front of the cracked glass. The ash white remains of the parasite crumbled to pieces like white plaster, leaving behind the limp human body.

  "Ferro Sodium Chloride Grenade," Frankie said as he joined Cathrynne. "It took me a week to figure the right mix that would work. Your design was actually nice. But I couldn't make time for it so instead I made a canister grenade."

  She sat on the floor, wiping the blossoming tears on her face. "Well it worked," Cathrynne said, disappointment clear in her tone. He joined her, face focused on the ceiling, feeling shock and disappointed.

  She closed her eyes and hugged her knees closer to her chest. He was a goner, she tried to console herself but the pain still lingered. Another one I couldn't save, Cathrynne thought.

  ***

  She opened her eyes from the pain that lanced through her arm. And cursed as she raised her head from her pillow. Her room was pitched dark. She couldn't even see her palm right in front her face. She fell back on her pillow, stubbornly ignoring the pain. She tried to focus on something else, something mundane. No. She can't sleep not even with the painkillers. Not from this. She tried to get some fresh air an hour ago, against quarantine procedures, but it did no good. The pain still stayed, only now it was far far worse. The doctor said it was just a small nick. But the pain on Selena's left forearm was so intense it felt like a hot metal rod went straight through it. Rivulets of sweat fell from her temple down the base of her chin. Cold, even though the AC was turned off.

  She tried to remember where she got the wound and how but couldn't. She rolled restlessly on her bed. But the numbing pain clung like a spiteful bullet ant on her arm. And the worse part was... She remembered something. Sh*t. Her blood ran cold.

  Selena rose from her bed and went straight for the bathroom, half stumbling in the darkness of the quarantine quarters. She switched the light on and untied the bandage off her arm as though it was on fire. The wound was stitched closed by the doctor. How many stitches did he say? Four?, she thought. Her eyes widened as something snaked inside the wound, making the skin bulge up. Oh my God.

  It was as thick as a fishing line the only difference was it was segmented and separated in to three parts, every time it tried to move it made its tendril like extensions scraped her flesh sending unbearable pain from her fingertip down her elbow.

  She tried to press it down, hoping to stop it with the pressure of her hands. But it reacted violently. The pain was so intense she almost fainted. The moving thing inside her arm tried to pry the wound open and a black tentacle wriggled between stitched skin like a worm. A scream erupted from her mouth and echoed inside the room but no one came to help.

  She tried to scream again, but it was drowned by a loud shrill voice that came from her wound...

  *****THE END*****