The I-Men: Reloaded

The rumor did spread like wildfire across the town of Monty: a 'white lady' lurks at the cemetery. 'The lady is truly mean and ghastly,' whispers did leap from ear to ear, 'she drove the undertaker and a young police officer out of their sanity.'

Yet the rumor, as it was spread around, did remain just in whispers. No one in the town was willing to openly bear witness. The town's folks had learned that the cops were looking for a group of men who escaped from the mental asylum and who howled with the 'white lady' at the cemetery in the previous full-mooned night. The folks were afraid of being suspected as friendly with the peculiar group of men.

Johnny Wembley was one of the men who the cops were trying to locate. He was hiding in the forested part of the town, together with the four other men who escaped from the asylum. For days and nights, the five did manage stay alive, because, one of them, a former military man, taught the others how to survive in the woodland.

Johnny was willing to endure the tough life in the woods, but not the gloominess that was hovering over them. It disheartened him to see the cheerless faces of his brethren, dismayed by what their howling at the moon had resulted in. "Dark and eerie," one of them had summed.

So, Johnny decided to leave the forest and go back into the paved streets, despite having been warned that he might be arrested.

-------

Johnny was then back at the bustling part of the town. He was greeted by the familiar scent of the salty, smoky air. Along the busy paved streets, he strolled on, walking past the stores, the shops, and the bank that was never opened since the day that it was robbed.

As he was passing by a row of fruit vendors, Johnny noticed a loafer who was looking at him with a sharp eye. The loafer was sitting on the sidewalk, holding a partly rotten apple. Johnny ignored the loafer.

"You!" the loafer pointed his finger at Johnny, "You howled at the moon, didn't you?"

The loafer's words called the attention of the vendors and their customers. They then looked at Johnny intently.

Johnny was alarmed. "Rubbish!" he replied, "I know nothing of what you are saying."

Then, as Johnny walked past the loafer, a middle-aged woman, who was buying a bag of oranges, faced Johnny and asked: "Weren't you the one who testified about a man who howled at the moon?" The woman was a clerk at the trial court of the town.

"No... no, ma'am," Johnny, almost whispering, answered the woman. "You must be mistaken."

Again, as Johnny turned his back at the middle-aged woman, another woman, in a nurse uniform, confronted him, saying: "Are you not one of the i-men... invincible men? I think I've seen you at the mental asylum."

"For God's sake," Johnny blurted out as he stepped away from the woman. "I'm not the man who you say I am!"

Then, all of a sudden, Johnny heard what sounded like a cock crow. He looked over his shoulder. Behind him, he saw an old and wiggly truck, slowly grinding into a full stop.

"Watch where you're going, blockhead!" the truck driver, honking his horn that sounded like a cock crow, shouted at Johnny. "Are you trying to get killed?"

Unsettled and embarrassed, Johnny quickly walked away and headed to the place where he believed he could escape from the suspicious eyes of the people -- the abandoned unfinished building by the pier.

------

Days passed and Johnny sank deeper and deeper in his despair. He could not get over the day that he lied, not only once but thrice. Increasingly, he began to doubt his invincibility. Not even the full moon, when it came, was able raise him out of his glum.

Johnny did not feel like howling at the full moon when it came. He was at the rooftop of the abandoned building, sitting on an empty oil drum and looking far out the sea. He could not make him self take a strait and lingering look at the moon. He took just quick glances, like the glances of a disappointed little child. He felt like the moon has let him down, he felt like the moon had been luring him into its dark side.

Then he heard something, it caused him to tremble in fear. It was a howl of a woman, a howl that sounded like the ones he heard at the cemetery in the previous full-mooned night. He jumped off the oil drum and then hid behind the same.

Shortly, he heard another similar howl, and then another. When the third howl faded, Johnny saw what appeared like a white flame that rose from the dusty floor near the stairs. The white flame grew larger and larger, and gradually took the form of a woman.

"Johnny," the woman called out from near the stairs, "I'd thought I could find you here. Don't be so scared. I'm Wendi Sue... the one you found floating down there... by the breakwater. Don't you recognize me?"

From behind the oil drum, Johnny slowly took a peep. He could not recognize the woman. The woman he found floating by the breakwater had a bruised and swollen face, unlike the face of the woman standing before him, flawless and pretty.

"Please leave me alone," Johnny begged the woman, "can't you see? I've given up howling at the moon."

"But why?" the woman asked with a tone of disappointment.

"Because the moon has a creepy side," Johnny responded hesitatingly. "I want nothing to do with any creepy side."

"What made you think that it has?" the woman was puzzled.

"It's because of you," Johnny replied, still not showing him self to the woman. "Are you not dead? My brothers and I suspect that the moon has summoned you from the other side."

"Nonsense!" the woman emphatically answered. "It was you who convinced me to howl at the full moon. You've been telling me about your invincibility... remember? So, I've decided to howl at the moon too. Now, I'm just like you... I'm invincible too."

Johnny could not believe his ears. He was dumbfounded. His throat was drying up.

"Still scared, Johnny?" the woman finally broke the passing silence. "I can understand. You know that I've died and it's probably hard for you to deal with what you are seeing now. Well, I must go. I'll be at the cemetery... I hope that, someday, you'll find courage to come and visit me. You can see me whenever the moon is full... 'til then, Mr. Wembley."

Johnny held his breath and kept his silence, he could not wait to see the woman leave. When he saw the woman walk down the stairs, he was relived.

The next day, Johnny went back to the forest to tell his brethren about the woman who visited him the night before. He found them exactly where he left them. He could see that they were coping well in the woods.

"I know the girl... the one we saw at the cemetery," Johnny excitedly declared to Eli Olsen, the oldest among them, who was sitting on a wooden bench beneath a shed made of leaves and twigs. "I used to visit her grave and bring her roses."

"So?" Jack Straw, the biggest among them, who was sitting next to Eli Olsen, sounded his indifference.

"She came to me last night... at my building," Johnny added. "She told me... she's one of us. She's invincible too."

"How did she come to know our invincibility?" Troy Green, the handsomest among them, who was lying on a cot, voiced his doubt.

"I've told her about my howling at the moon when I visited her grave...," Johnny explained, "you know... just like others do... talk to their dead. 'Turns out, she has been listening."

"Is this another one of your skewed truths?" Jack tried to cast doubt on what Johnny had been saying.

"She invited me to visit her at the cemetery," Johnny challenged Jack. "Why don't we go next full moon and see."

"I think, we should now end these talks about the moon and invincibility," Eli Olsen butted in, "Can't you all see? Things have gotten dark and eerie. I'm the one to blame; I led you into this terrible mess.... I'm sorry."

"No, Doctor O," Troy consoled Eli, "I think... what we saw at the cemetery is a proof of the great things that howling at the full moon could bring about... it's not necessarily eerie."

"I'll go up the graveyard this coming full moon," Johnny announced to the men, "Whether or not it's dark and eerie, I want to know with certainty.... Who's coming with me?"

Silence followed as the four mulled over Johnny's intention. For the four, to decide to meet the girl up the cemetery was not easy. Possibly, the four did consider, what they might find up the cemetery is indeed dark and eerie.

Then, Dan Forman, who had been quietly mending the rear edge of the shed, raised his hand, signifying his readiness to join Johnny.

"Oh, hell..." Troy followed, "I might as well go with you two."

Eli and Jack shrugged their shoulders, hinting that, albeit reluctantly, they too were joining in.

------

Nights passed and the full moon came. Aware that the cops were after them, the five made their way up the burial ground with stealth, making use of the pale moonlight. They walked, crawled and, sometimes, ran; led by Dan Forman, the former military man.

They found the woman sitting on a concrete bench beneath an oak tree near the edge of the hill. She was sitting on the bench with an elderly man; they were both giving off faint but noticeable white glow. The men cautiously approached the two.

"Johnny!" the woman exclaimed as she rose from the bench. "You came!"

"I've found courage," Johnny replied, wearing a timid smile, "and I got company." Then he introduced the other four.

"Hello!" the woman greeted the four. "I recognize you all, you've been here before.... It's nice to meet you.... I'm Wendi Sue."

"And this is Mr. Black... Gilmore Black," the woman added as she laid her right hand on the elderly man's left shoulder. "He's one of us. He once saw me howling at the full moon, so, he tried it too. Now you see... he's invincible too."

Up close, the five were able to recognize the elderly man. He was a wealthy businessman in the town.

"You can call me Gil," the elderly man offered as he extended his hand and shook the hands of the five.

"We were talking about his wife's awful predicament," the woman informed the five as she again sat on the bench, "would you like to continue, Mr. Black?"

The elderly man nodded and then started to speak: "As I've told her a while ago, my wife is being blamed for my death... and now, she's standing trial. Those people don't know... my death was an accident. My wife loves me dearly; she can't do me any harm.... I can't rest in peace. I'm deeply bothered by the thought of my wife being wrongfully punished."

"What's your wife's name, Mr. Black.... ah, Gil?" Troy asked.

"Olga...," the elderly man answered with a tone of sadness, "a lot of people call her the 'black widow'."

The woman was moved by what she heard from the elderly man. Once again, the face of the man who caused her death appeared in her mind. Shyly, she glanced at the full moon, embarrassed that, for the man, she still felt some affection.

-- The End --
(12-07-06)

Related stories:
- Jack Straw Did It
- Invincible Johnny Wembley
- A Few Invincible Men
- Something About Wendi Sue
- The I-Men: United