Ash was mildly surprised when his phone suddenly regained service. He had assumed the carrier somehow repaired the damaged network unusually fast, but the moment he answered Raymond's call, the explanation became obvious. "Did Pablo and Kelly get through to you?" Ash asked as the elevator continued descending toward the underground garage.
"That's why I'm calling," Raymond replied in a serious voice. "We deployed a mobile communications unit near the building. It established a temporary link, so we can reach you again. Give me a status report. What are you dealing with inside?"
Ash silently admitted he should have known better than to credit the phone company with miracle-speed repairs. "Not great. Somebody opened an occult book capable of summoning demons. I don't know exactly how many entities got out, but I permanently destroyed two of them." He glanced toward the wrapped Book of the Dead in his hands. "Conservatively, I'd say at least two more are still loose."
"Are you actively searching for them?"
"Not yet. I've got injured civilians with me, so I'm getting them outside first." Ash looked toward Ellie and Beth. "Send an ambulance to the building. One woman has multiple joint injuries, and another is pregnant and got thrown into a metal door."
Before Raymond could answer, several voices immediately protested around Ash.
Ellie looked alarmed. "An ambulance? No, I can't afford—"
"Don't worry about that," Ash told her.
Beth shook her head as well. "We can drive ourselves. We have a car downstairs."
"You were just thrown across an apartment while pregnant."
Danny hesitantly raised a hand. "I can drive."
Ash stared at him. "Absolutely not."
For several seconds, Raymond heard only fragments through the phone. "Don't panic... no, you're not paying for it... you're injured... I'm definitely not letting the teenager drive... yes, I'm serious... if somebody sends a bill, I'll deal with it..." Eventually Ash returned the phone to his ear and sighed. "Raymond, poverty might actually be the most terrifying monster in this building. Think you can use that Director title to convince somebody higher up that getting medical help shouldn't scare people worse than demons do?"
Inside the AIIB tactical room, Raymond slowly looked across the nearby communications staff. Several operators were pretending to focus on their stations while very obviously listening to every word. He cleared his throat and said, "Social policy can wait until after the operation. I already ordered an ambulance before calling you, and it's staged near the coffee shop down the block."
Raymond deliberately emphasized the next part. "The Bureau is covering it. They will not be charged."
Ash immediately brightened. "Perfect. Saves me from filing reimbursement paperwork."
Raymond closed his eyes for a moment. "Focus on the building."
"Right. Leave the interior to me. If anything changes, I'll call." Ash glanced toward the elevator indicator. "Keep Pablo and Kelly outside when they return. They know about demons, but they're still ordinary civilians. There's no reason to send them back into this."
"Agreed. Contact me immediately if—"
The elevator chimed.
The doors began opening.
Ash's expression changed.
"Actually, Raymond?"
"What?"
Ash stared through the widening gap. Something enormous stood in the middle of the underground parking garage, illuminated by flickering fluorescent lights and the occasional flash of lightning beyond the ramp. "We have contact. Underground garage. And this one looks considerably harder to kill."
Raymond's voice sharpened. "Do you need additional weapons?"
"Yes. Get heavy weapons to the garage entrance as fast as possible." Ash stepped toward the doors. "I'm hanging up."
He ended the call before Raymond could answer and handed the wrapped Book of the Dead to older Ash. Ashley J. Williams accepted it with his shotgun pressed against his side, then followed Ash's gaze into the garage.
Young Ash tilted his head.
"Tell me something."
Older Ash frowned. "What?"
"Why do the demons keep getting more disgusting ever since I met you?"
Older Ash immediately began moving Ellie and her family toward the far side of the garage. "Funny. I was about to say the exact same thing about you."
Ash could not entirely blame him.
The creature waiting ahead barely resembled anything that had once been human.
More than a dozen corpses had been twisted together into one massive structure of flesh, bone, limbs, and blood. Thick streams of dark fluid ran across bodies fused at impossible angles, while numerous heads protruded from the deformed mass and stared in different directions with expressions ranging from rage to hysterical delight.
Gabriel's corpse was easy to recognize despite the missing head.
His body formed part of the creature's lower structure, crawling on all fours alongside eight or nine other sets of legs that supported the enormous fused torso above. Arms projected from nearly every side, some bent backward and others extending through gaps between bodies, while more than a dozen faces shifted and snarled independently.
Ash swallowed.
"That's awful."
He had fought cannibals, possessed killers, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, demons, and enough mutilated corpses that ordinary gore barely bothered him anymore. Even so, the thing in front of him was unpleasant on an entirely different level. The idea of wrestling with it at close range while dozens of bloody hands grabbed him from every direction made his skin crawl.
Then he remembered something.
His Demonic Power had a corrosive effect.
Ash's expression immediately improved.
"Right. I don't actually have to touch you."
He inhaled slowly.
Pitch-black mist flowed from his skin and spread across his body.
Within seconds, Ash disappeared beneath a thick layer of Demonic Power. His outline blurred into the surrounding shadows until only two narrow crimson lights remained where his eyes should have been, accompanied by a thin red curve across his mouth that formed the same unnatural grin older Ash had nearly mistaken for possession before.
Older Ash happened to glance back while helping Ellie toward the exit.
His eyes widened dramatically.
For one moment, he looked from the fused Deadite monstrosity to young Ash standing beneath a cloak of black mist.
Then he shook his head.
"Yeah, sure. That guy's the good guy."
Every head on the fusion creature opened its mouth.
The resulting scream came from more than a dozen throats at once.
Overlapping voices combined into a violent wave of sound that echoed through the garage and made nearby car windows tremble. Ellie's family covered their ears while older Ash hurried them farther away.
Then the creature charged.
Gabriel's headless body and the other lower torsos pushed against the concrete together, dragging the enormous mass forward with disturbing speed. Six or seven arms swung wildly from its upper body, some reaching for Ash while others carried whatever objects the creature had collected from the garage.
A fire extinguisher came first.
Ash shifted aside.
The metal cylinder missed his face by inches.
A brick followed immediately.
He ducked beneath it.
Then Ash vanished.
Shadow Travel pulled him into the darkness cast beneath a parked car and carried him across the garage in an instant. He emerged from another shadow beside the creature's left flank, already drawing one fist backward.
Black Demonic Power condensed around his knuckles.
Ash punched.
The impact sounded like a car hitting concrete.
His fist buried itself against the fused monster's side and sent the enormous body rolling across the garage floor. Wherever the black mist touched flesh, skin immediately charred and split apart with a harsh sizzling noise, releasing foul white smoke into the air.
The creature slammed against the concrete.
Ash stepped back.
"Okay. That works."
Unfortunately, the monster did not seem particularly concerned by the damage.
Its many heads began moving.
Several twisted around completely, while others shifted between gaps in the fused bodies until the creature had eyes watching almost every direction at once. Within seconds, it had created nearly complete visual coverage around itself.
Ash frowned.
"That's inconvenient."
This was not a single demon controlling a pile of corpses.
It was a group.
Each possessed body appeared to retain some independent awareness while sharing control over the combined form. Different heads could watch different directions, issue warnings, and coordinate separate limbs at the same time.
Worse, the physical strength of the fused bodies seemed to stack.
Ash had knocked it down through speed and leverage, but the raw power he sensed from the creature was greater than his own.
Three heads suddenly snapped toward him.
Six eyes locked onto Ash at once.
Mr. Fonda's distorted face opened its mouth.
"Catch... him!"
Another woman's head twisted toward the side.
"Left!"
The entire fusion monster reacted immediately.
More than a dozen legs dug into the concrete and turned the enormous body with shocking speed. Two thick arms near the upper torso tightened around a fire axe that had apparently been taken from an emergency cabinet.
Ash's eyes narrowed.
The axe rose.
Then it came crashing straight down toward his head.