[Some blood mention]

“Baekho!” Minhyun called out from the sofa where he held Aron upright. Then a link slammed into the white tiger’s mind and he heard the dream-walker’s voice at the speed of thought.

“I linked with Junior. The body snatchers – these ghoulish things – he knows how to fight them.”

Already Baekho was breaking out of his shock and rushed over to Jason who had dropped the stabbing device and tried to strangle Ren with a monitor cable. The empath’s Conmote was pulling the Chinese assistant’s arms away from its master.

“Drag Jason into Twi,” Minhyun sent, “then let go. Don’t let it possess you. If we lose you, it’s all over. You’re the only one who can fight them.”

Baekho was all the way around the bed and grabbed Jason from behind. The possessed boy wasn’t letting go of Ren and so all three of them shifted together.

As soon as Baekho saw the twilight he pulled his hands back and the struggling duo popped out of sight. The ghoul stayed behind in Twi with him – a Jason-shaped cloud, dissipating into an incoherent outline. The name fit. It was as ghoulish an apparition as he could imagine. The being rushed at Baekho but the boy returned to reality in time.

The ghoul stayed behind – destroyed.

Of course. If it was able to stay in Twi independently that was the key to fight them. Twi only existed when Baekho was there. It was generated anew whenever he shifted. With him gone, the ghoul had to vanish.

Now the only problem was getting to the other two.

Junior was awake.

“Find the ghouls,” the leader whispered with a hoarse voice. “Only you can end them. Whatever you do, don’t get possessed.”

“Rest easy,” Baekho said. “I’ll do everything I can.”

Junior closed his eyes. Ren wasn’t leaving his side. Jason helped the doctor back on her feet. She was bleeding badly and hobbled over to the first aid kit, supported by the assistant.

Baekho turned to the exit, which was still blocked off by Aron’s glass barrier. The possessed men had fled. The American waved him closer and melted a man-sized hole into the thick glass. “Good luck. Minhyun will keep you linked.”

“You’re not coming with me?” Baekho said with quite some surprise. Just because Aron couldn’t drag the ghouls into Twi didn’t mean he wouldn’t be highly helpful.

“Can’t,” Aron said. “If I get possessed they might be able to use my powers. If they’re going for death and destruction we can’t risk that.”

“Sorry,” Minhyun sent. “Ren’s the same. I’m more useful here. The only one who could come with you and not risk total catastrophe is Junior and he’s out of commission.”

Jason was suddenly beside them. “Are you going to fight?” His Korean was accentuated but passable. “People with powers shouldn’t get possessed, right?”

“Not if we can avoid it,” Baekho said.

“But I can come with you,” the Chinese boy said. “I know the buildings – every room, every shortcut. You don’t need to worry. I’m disposable.”

Normally this would have been a heartfelt, sappy moment to tell the assistant that he was invaluable and should protect himself and so on, but Baekho had lost enough time already and he really did need somebody who knew the area.

“Alright. Come with me.”

Then he left through the glass’s hole and Jason followed. Baekho did his best not to look at the blood stained body on the floor.

As Aron closed the barrier behind them, Jason pulled out a phone and speed dialed somebody within the facility. While they left the chamber behind and rushed along the corridor to the central crossing of their level of the building, the boy was speaking rapid Chinese with the person on the other line.

He directed Baekho to the right, the right again and down the stairs into the gallery running along the two level high cafeteria. They heard gun fire before they arrived.

One of the possessed agents was down with multiple bullet wounds. The other one had a standoff with a series of operatives behind flipped tables. They were all in uniform but only a few were armed. Non-combatant staff was still leaving through the kitchen at the other end of the room.

“Jason, tell them to stop shooting!”

Baekho didn’t wait. He shifted and flew down as fast as possible. The moment he was where he had last seen the possessed, he popped. The agent was right in front of him, his back turned to the white tiger, his gun aimed at the impromptu barricade.

It took all of one second to grab the man, shift, let go, make sure the ghoul was there, and pop back.

Upon return, the freed agent collapsed next to the body of his comrade, who lay dead in a puddle of his own blood. Baekho waved at the other operatives, signaling his success. Was it over?

Faintly he saw the second ghoul – the one that must have left the dead agent upon loss of life. The white, foggy being had been hovering above the scene, blending in with the high, white ceiling. Now it rushed towards its next host.

Both Baekho and Jason yelled in their respective languages, but there was no action that would have saved the victim. As the ghoul entered the short man, Baekho got ready to sprint over. But then the possessed guy reached out and held onto the hand of his neighbor, a female operative who struggled to escape the iron grip.

At first Baekho through the ghoul was changing hosts for some reason as white, semi-transparent strings streamed off the possessed man and into the woman’s hand. But they both took on the same stone-faced expression and the woman threw herself at the leading officer behind her, immediately letting her stream flow into his head. Meanwhile the first man opened fire on his comrades before they knew what was happening.

The ghouls could multiply.

Shoes squeaking on the plastic floor, Baekho ran across the space and flung himself at the group. His hands landed on the first man and the woman. He shifted and landed, not holding onto the two people. As he felt the nebulous beings behind him, he popped.

The possessed lead officer aimed his gun at him, one hand on a young guy on the ground who was receiving the white stream.

Baekho had no intentions of dying from gun wounds and shifted into Twi to save himself, abandoning the group for the time being. He flew up to the gallery, out of sight of the mad officer.

Jason jumped as the white tiger popped out next to him. There were no more gunshots below, which was probably a bad sign.

“Tell everyone to leave,” Baekho said. “Nobody can cross paths with possessed people.”

Nodding, Jason speed dialed a number. To Baekho he said “That was the general down there. I think they don’t have anyone to coordinate them now.”

“Just evacuate then. Everybody.”

While the Chinese boy spoke into his phone, Baekho sent the course of events through the link. To his surprise, Junior was awake to answer. “Their goals are unclear to me," the leader sent, "but certainly not compatible with our existence. Ghouls aren’t separate entities, but not a hive mind either. It’s difficult to…doesn’t matter. Bottom line, they will spread as far as they feel the need to. I think you should come back. Minhyun has to sever the link now. Aron will give you a more direct path.”

Before Baekho could ask for clarifications, the connection terminated. He felt his mind snap back into its isolated state as the immaterial tentacle retracted.

Jason wasn’t done talking but the sirens came on, facility-wide. Over loudspeaker the order to completely evacuate – spoken by a mechanical, prerecorded voice – came in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, English and Japanese.

Then the walls behind the two boys broke and reconfigured to form an entrance to a slightly ascending tunnel, made from concrete, pipes and metal beams. It lead all the way directly into the flatline chamber.

Aron came towards them and they met halfway. He could walk fairly well, but it seemed that he wasn’t able to run or unwilling to try.

“Where are you going?” Baekho asked.

“Garage,” Aron said, a bit out of breath. He had ditched his crutch to be quicker but it was probably more exhausting that way. “Once everybody left I’ll wreck every form of transportation the possessed ones could use to get to the city. If I stay in my own tunnels I should be able to avoid any ghoul infestation.”

An explosion was audible and the ground vibrated.

Aron looked in the direction of the sound as if he could see through walls. “They’re using grenades to keep the ghouls from reaching the evacuees.” He sighed. “Good luck then.”

They walked past each other and Aron sealed the tunnel behind them. The duo continued onward into the chamber.

Junior was awake. He waved Baekho closer.

Ren spoke on his behalf. “Once everybody has left you’ll have to go out again and deal with the rest.”

“I know,” Baekho said.

“Don’t let them possess you,” Ren continued. “You’re the only one who can beat them. But we’ll help.”

“How?”

The empath gestured towards the sofa where Minhyun was meditating. “He’s trying to link with the possessed people to figure out their positions. If we have the number and locations we should be able to direct you. But he can’t link with you, too, while doing that. Take this.”

Baekho took the small, bent item from Ren’s hand. It was an earpiece with microphone. Junior had the counterpart.

Now they had to wait for the dream-walker to tell them how bad the situation was already.