Jackie's Note: A story me and my friend Vanessa are writing together. We are both working closely together on this project and hopefully it will be updated regularily, we will not scrub the project.

Rated M

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Desecration

Jackie Wolf
Vanessa Hunter

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Chapter 1:

The young man walked into the lively bar, taking in the sweet smell of seared meat and familiar hum of conversation topped by background music and sports commentary from the televisions set around the bar itself. Nodding to the hostess, whom the man had come to befriend, Jack Perlow casually bee lined to an empty spot at the long and tall wooden table separating patrons from their various choices of liquors. He sat down on the high stool, adjusting the stylish deep brown cowboy hat he wore so it sat better on his head.

"Bartender!" He called, looking down the bar at the woman setting drinks in front of a couple.

"A glass o'yer finest, and don't skimp on them free pretzels neither." He grinned, pushing the sleeves of his long coat up to his elbows, and subsequently those of the shirt he wore beneath as well.

The bartender finished with couple, leaving them to sip at their choice of drink and started down towards the new patron. She pulled a clean mug from under the counter, and held it under a keg, filling it with an amber coloured Beer that was said Kirk made himself. Whether that was true or not had yet to be proven.

Once the mug was full, foam nearly dripping over the sides, she expertly walked down the bar and set the ale in front of Jack giving him a smile.

"Pretzels are right beside you sir," she said, pointing at a basket of them sitting just beside the man's elbow.

Jack sat up straight, his smile not wavering.

"'Ah new that. Thank ya, miss." He took the mug and raised it in a toast to the woman, proclaiming the customary "Cheers!" before taking a large gulp of the liquid and setting the mug back down on the bar with a clunk.

"Yeh must me new," He then remarked, looking her over.

She looked good, wearing a form fitting black tank top that dipped low enough to show just a hint of cleavage when she was standing, and a mane of dirty blonde hair hanging to her shoulders. It looked natural, rare to find true blondes these days.

"Just started last night, just moved here from New York," the bartender said with a friendly smile.

The man nodded and popped a pretzel into his mouth. "Probly for th'best. Th'last bartender was an ass..." He took another look around the bar, seeking out anyone he knew, or anyone he'd like to possibly know.

"Name's Jack. I'm a bit of a staple here most nights, 'specially on nights with specials." He licked his lips as he spotted one of the waitresses carrying a tray with a delicious steak, baked potato and veggies. He had to tear his eyes away in order to offer a hand to the new bartender.

"Jesse, glad to meet ya Jack, especially if you’re a staple," she said taking his hand, her grip surprisingly firm. There was a call from further down the bar, and Jesse went off to answer.

Jack couldn't help but watch her as he alternated between his drink and the basket of pretzels. It was always interesting for him to meet new people, as there were so many more colourful characters here than there were back home in South Virginia.

The bar door opened again, even as Jesse was pouring Jack Daniels into a shot glass for a man who looked down on his luck. A woman's scream from the door caused Jesse to look up and see a man stumbling into the bar, blood running from his mouth and a gash on his forehead, his eyes were hidden by the poor lighting of the bar.

"Christ, someone help him!" Jesse called out, looking around for a first aid kit.

Jack whirled around on his bar stool to survey the scene, face contorting in a look of shock, concern and disgust. He immediately jumped off his stool and shed his long trench coat so he was just left with his two-shirt combination of dark blue t-shirt and white long-sleeve under that. He pushed his sleeves back up to his elbows, then discarded his hat and began to walk towards the man who had taken to attempting to assault the hostess who had sat by the door.

"Hey, buddy!" He called out to another patron, his tone slightly annoyed. "Get this guy pinned down so he stops thrashin' an' 'Ah can get a got look at him!"

Jesse found the first aid kit and jumped over the bar to the shock of the many patrons sitting there, and ran over to the injured man catching up with Jack. The man however had suddenly bit into the arm of the hostess. She screamed out, a high pitched piercing wail. Jesse stopped in her tracks, stunned.

Jack stumbled back from where he was leaning over the injured man to check his injuries. He fell over some of the other patrons who had begun to swarm the scene and had some trouble getting up.

"The fucker's infected an' it's givin' him a case of delirium!" It was, in his opinion, the only logical answer for one human biting another.

Infected? Infected with what? That was the thought that had run through Jesse's mind, but it quickly faded as the man tore a chunk of his victim's arm away. Blood gushed from the wound and Jesse hurriedly rolled the woman away, punching the crazed man in the face, knocking him back with the sound of breaking bone.

Jack managed to get back up on his feet, and motioned for a pool cue from the near by pool table be thrown his way. It was seemingly a good idea to be armed at this particular moment.

"We gotta get everyone out," He called to Jesse, hoping the other staff would hear as well. Jack kept his eyes on the infected man, thwacking him in the side of the face when he tried to attack another person.

"Someone call the god damned cops... Jack why do we need to get out, what's wrong?" Jesse asked, wrapping a bandage tightly around the arm of the woman squirming on the floor. The bartender tried to ignore the glint of bone beneath all the blood.

The delirious man was knocked to the ground, but wasn't out for the count. He instead tried to go for Jack's heels, and the university grad had to literally dance around for fear of teeth sinking into the leather of his boots, possibly tearing the material that was nearly as strong as both the skin and muscle this man had previously been able to tear through with little effort.

" ’Cause ’m sure he’s infected with somethin’, an’ ‘Ah don’ know if it’s contagious or not," came Jack’s response.

With that said Jesse stood up, and kicked the delirious man in the side of the head with her knee high boots. There was a loud snap that could be heard even above the yelling and screaming that filled the bar, and the man stopped moving, head laying at an awkward angle. Jesse stared at the man for a moment, before she brought her hands to her mouth with eyes going wide. She'd just killed a man.

It took a minute for the loud snap to register within the heads of most of the witnesses, which led to a hush among the crowd. Everyone stood still for a moment and stared. Jack flicked his ponytail of dark hair with blue tips back over his shoulder and took a careful step forward, the pool cue gripped firmly in his right hand. He looked around, and carefully reached out to poke the man in the shoulder. He bit his lip and poked again, and again. No movement.

“Holy shit… holy shit,” Jesse said quietly into her hands.

She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d done it, it had been pure instinct, and now a man was lying dead at her feet. Tears of fear started to gather in her eyes.

Jack stepped back and turned towards where Jesse was standing, but kept his gaze on the body. He dropped the cue from his hand and sighed. “Well, he appears to be dead, but ‘Ah don’ trust it.”

Jesse took a deep breath to gather herself, and slowly let it out, before facing Jack.

“Why don’t you trust it?” Jesse asked, narrowing her gaze.

Jack raised his eyes to Jesse’s. “ ‘Ah…” He paused, searching for the proper words. “We should get everyone out an’ call th’cops. Maybe even th’hospital too. We don’ even know what was wrong with him.” He looked around the room and then nodded. Yeah, that was the only logical solution at this point.

“I already called 911 sir, the cops and an ambulance are on the way,” another patron said holding up his cell phone as if to prove his statement.

“Then we should all stand outside and wait for them,” Jesse reasoned, starting towards the door, more than willing to get out of the bar, especially with the god awful stench coming off the man on the floor.

Jack didn’t say another word and moved towards the bar to retrieve his coat and hat before following the other patrons out of the bar. Once outside, he craned his neck to look over the crowd and locate where the bartender was standing. He wanted to know how the hostess was doing now that the ‘fun’ had died down for the moment.

He found Jesse talking to the injured woman.

“You should get the hospital. Find someone to drive you, I can’t see it being easy to drive with a chunk of your arm missing,” Jesse pointed out.

“Yeah… I had the guy with the cell call me a cab already… it should be here soon,” the woman responded, even as Jesse’s ears picked up the sounds of sirens getting closer.

Jack managed to squeeze his way through the crowd and came to stand beside Jesse, replacing his cowboy hat upon his head.

"They're gettin' close," He observed, turning his attention to the hostess. "Are you doin' alright? How's yer arm?

"I dunno really, fine I guess," the woman replied even as the first police cruiser turned around the corner

Jack nodded and looked back at the cruiser. "Oh great, th'cops are here." He slipped on his coat, adjusting it a bit and looked at Jesse.

"Ah'm gonna go talk to them," He said, beginning to walk in the direction of where the cruiser was parking.

Jesse watched the man go before addressing the woman again. "You'll be okay?" she asked.

"Yes I'll be fine," came her response and Jesse started to jog to catch up with Jack

Jack came up to the police cruiser and stopped after getting one of the officer's attention.

"It's a great thing you're here," He began, "There's this man inside... he came into th'bar and attacked one o'th' hostesses. It was almost like he was crazy or somethin', though he did have injuries that suggested possible infection of some sort..."

"where is the man now?" the officer asked.

"Still inside th'bar," Jack responded simply, glancing at Jesse when she came up beside him.

"What's his current condition?" the officer asked, frowning slightly, and Jesse felt her heart skip a beat. This was the moment of truth for her

Jack swallowed the tension he was now feeling. This would be the statement that determined the outcome of the situation. He took an unnoticable deep breath and responded. "Th'man's... dead, officer..."

The officer nodded to his partner who started towards the front door of the bar, hand of his gun just in case. "How did he die?" the first cop asked.

"He.." Jack began, having a hard time finding the words, "He attacked some of th'patrons, an' we were just tryin' t'defend ourselves an'..."

"I killed him sir, to protect the patrons," Jesse said stepping forward. She tried to keep a calm face on, whether she succeded or not she wasn't sure, her heart was pounding.

Jack looked to Jesse with a pang of shock on his face. He wasn't entirely sure if he were expecting her to come out and confess like that or not.

The officer was writing everything the two said down on a pad of paper, even as his partner entered the bar, and came out a moment later. "Like the other ones Jim," the emerging officer said, and the first cop simply nodded.

"I'm going to let everyone go, but I want you two to stay for a moment, just a few questions," Jim said.

Jack scratched the back of his neck and nodded, shifting a little uneasily on his feet. "Sure, sure, Ah'll answer some questions, then Ah wanna see how Gabby's doin'.." He thought about the hostess who was bitten and how she was probably getting medical attention now. The ambulance had shown up just after the police had.

"Gabby?" the officer asked.

"Th'hostess who was bitten by th'man who's dead inside th'bar, officer," Jack responded.

"She was bitten? Paramedics, forget the body for now, get that woman to the hospital," Jim called out to the two men who had jumped out of the ambulance and were carting the dead body, now encased in a leather body bag, to the ambulance. Upon hearing the officer shout at them though, they immediealy took the body off the stretcher and moved over to Gabby, easing her into the ambulance.

Confusion now came over the university graduate, who looked at the bartender to gague her reaction to what was happening.

He then looked back at the police officer. "Sir, this isn't th'first time this has happened?" He asked

Jesse face was in complete surprise, she half expected to be arrested and in jail by now, but hearing that this may not have been the first case was almost too much for her.

"No it's not. There have been a few attacks similar to this one in the past few hours. Victims are all in instable condition at the hospital. Now I need you to explain exactly what happened in the bar," Officer Jim said, calm, collected, the exact opposite of Jesse who was inwardly panicking.

Jack was beginning to feel the same way as Jesse, though he too was keeping it inside. "Ah don' know how much there is to say..." He began, leaving room for Jesse to add her two cents as well.

Jesse ran a hand through her hair and bit her lip, before going over a brief explanation of what had just happened from when the man walked into the bar to when the officer's arrived. Jim nodded and looked over to Jack to see if he'd say anything.

He shrugged. "Ah think she's covered everythin' that's happened."

"Alright, can I just have you two write down your names, and how we can contact you if we need any more information," the officer said, handing the paper and pen to Jesse first, who quickly wrote her information down, before handing the notepad to Jack.

Jack jotted down his information and handed the pad back to the officer. "We'll be happy t'help you any way we can... but it'd also be nice t'know exactly what's goin' on.."

The officer sighed. "I'd tell you... but we don't know either," he said, and with that he climbed inside the cruiser, drove off and left Jack and Jesse alone outside the bar.

"Well that's just dandy..." Jack said after a moment of silence and buried his hands in the pockets of his trench coat.

"I could use a drink," Jesse said, staring at the street corner the cruiser had disapeared around.

Jack perked up at the idea. "Ah second that, if you don' mind th'company.."

"Not at all, I was just heading back to my place," Jesse said, she really needed a drink, tonight was too fucked up not to have one.

He smiled, but that quickly faded from his face with his next thoughts. "An' t'think that that's all Ah was after tonight.. a good drink. An' what did Ah end up with? Death." He shook his head, ending his miniature rant.

"You can still get a good drink... my apartment's just down the road," Jesse said with a forced smile.

"Thanks. Ah'll take th'offer," He said, his own smile now forced.

Jesse started walking down the road, looking over her shoulder to see if Jack was following.

Jack began to follow, falling behind by a few steps as his eyes stayed on the bar behind him, and his mind still replayed the evening's events.

The walk was only about five minutes before the pair reached Jesse's apartment building. Once there, The Bartender led her guest up two flights of strairs and down a hall to apartment 217. Jesse opened the door, and stepped inside.

Jack hesitated a moment before stepping inside, starting to second-guess accepting the offer of a drink from a woman he's only know for an evening.

Jesse wasn't even entirely aware of Jack's presence, she walked straight into her kitchen and found a bottle of Forty Barrel Creek that had been sitting snugly in her cupboard. She found two glasses, threw ice in them, and poured them both full of the whiskey. She grabbed her own glass and wandered into the living room, sitting on her couch, staring at a blank TV screen.

Jack shifted on his feet before carefully moving through the house to retrieve the glass that had been poured for him. He spent a moment looking at the bottle that still sat on the counter, his drink currently untouched. He set the bottle down and took a drink from his glass before he traced Jesse's steps to her living room, where he stood in the doorway and leaned against the frame.

Jesse simply sat, her glass already nearly empty. She looked up at Jack, her eyes watering.

"I killed a man," she said, so quietly she could barely hear it, but she knew Jack had gotten the message.

"You protected a group of people," Jack corrected, watching the liquid in his glass and how the ice floated in it.

"I did... but... I don't know... I still feel guilty," Jesse responded, taking another long sip of her drink.

Jack took this moment to invite himself to sit down, thinking it better for the situation, and even for the role he was now finding himself within. He put a hand on her shoulder. "You did what you felt was best.." He replied, still trying to console her

"I didn't feel at all... I just... I just reacted," Jesse said quietly taking another sip of her drink.

Jack nodded. It was all he could think to do right now.

Jesse let out a heavy sigh, and got up, walking back to her kitchen, disappearing from Jack's view. The sound of ice clunking against the side of glass came from the room.

Jesse emerged again, her glass again full of liquor, the bottle clutched in her other hand. The bartender sat on the couch again, and immediately began to drain her glass.

Jack just watched until Jesse started to fill her glass a fourth time. "..Don'tcha think ya should go easy on that?" He suggested tentatively.

Jesse turned her head to face Jack, she had forgotten all her manners as a host, and the world spun around her. "Meh... maybe..." she stuttered.

Jack reached for the bottle and yanked it from the bartender's hands. "That's enough, lil'lady," He scolded, before taking a swig straight from the bottle and then placing it on the side-table on his side of the couch. "Tonight, Ah'm th'one cuttin' you off." He chuckled at that... the customer cutting the bartender off...

Jesse watched the bottle vanish behind the couch and frowned. She raised and finger and stood, immediately collapsing upon the couch again.

Jack laughed full heartedly. "Yeah, yer done," He remarked.

Jesse couldn't even think of anything to say. She only sat, blinking even as her vision began to turn to black. It wasn't long before she collapsed on the couch seperating her mind from the world.

Jack blinked when it registered in his mind that Jesse had blacked out. He coughed and cleared his throat, looking around. Now he was pretty much alone in an apartment that was strange to him. He considered leaving, but knew it wouldn't be a good idea with Jesse passed out. If there was one thing he learned from University, it was that you never left a drinking buddy alone once they'd been cut off.

He got up and took a short self-guided tour around her apartment, at least to find her bedroom. He then came back to the living room and carefully hoisted the woman into a fireman's carry - the easiest manipulation of her body he could perform without falling over himself. Getting Jesse into her bed and in the proper position so she wouldn't die was the least he could do - even staying the night to make sure she was okay. She didn't seem to be doing so well before she drunk herself to shit.

As her body was laid down on the soft mattress of her bed, Jesse curled up into a small ball in her liquor induced sleep.

The University grad couldn't help but smile as he moved to the window of her room, looking out over what he could see of the city and thinking about what he'd do while he had invited himself to stay for the night. A sandwich, some TV, and probably a bed on the couch if he didn't sit up all night constantly checking on Jesse.

In a park across the street from Jesse's apartment a man was running along the path away from a woman who was stumbling after him, looking as if she had a broken leg or something. The man was yelling something, but Jack couldn't hear him. Another man stepped out onto the path in the runner's way and dragged him into the shadows, the woman following the pair.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows and he opened the window, leaning out and trying to get a better look at the scene, which didn't work as well as he thought. "Th'fuck is going on?" He asked himself, before shaking his head and withdrawing back into the window, closing it but for a crack and looking back at Jesse to make sure she was okay.

Deciding she was, he then moved to the living room where he turned on the TV at a low volume and flipped to the local news channel, hoping at least some of his questions would be answered.

The news man, Michael Stormbridge was talking about a sinking oil tanker off the Alaskan coast, more insurgent fighting in the Middle East, a shootout between NYPD and a local drug lord in downtown New York. The world was still as fucked up as it always was. No more and no less.

Jack found none of this marginally interesting. He began to channel surf, ending up on the Discovery Channel which was broadcasting their apparently popular 'Shark Week'. This week was dedicated to the Greenwater Shark and two men on the search to see this particular creature in Canada. This was the last thing Jack remembered as he felt his eyes droop and his mind wander into sleep.

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The hospital was dark, and her room smelt like death. Even as she was wheeled into this room Gabby had still seen the blood smeared on the tiles that should have been clean and pristine.

Her heart was pounding and she chewed on her lip. The sedatives and other medications the doctor had given her hadn’t helped at all with her headache. It just continued to grow. Just like the ache from the bite in her forearm.

Tears welled in Gabby’s eyes, she was all alone in here, and for some reason the hospital was terrifying her. She used to take such comfort in it, but it was different now.

Suddenly the door to the room opened, and light spilled in from the hallways outside, silhouetting a doctor. He held something in his hand, but Gabby couldn’t recognize it.

“Oh god, please help me doc,” the woman cried out, until her eyes adjusted and she made out the crimson stains across the doctor’s white coat, and the pistol he held in his right hand.

“I’m sorry ma’am, it’s the only way,” he say raising the gun.

Gabby started to scream but the gunshot cut her off and sent her brains splattering across the floor.