Ghostfinders 02 - Ghost of a Smile

no minds, no sense of self, only the brute will to survive. A heart the size of a pit bull terrier came flying in out of nowhere and slammed against his chest, driving him back several steps. It clung to him, pulsing in rhythm to his own heart, sweating heavy acids as it tried to burn its way through his chest, to burn out his heart and replace it. Happy didn’t know whether he’d survive such a process and didn’t want to find out the hard way. The heart snuggled against his chest with horrid familiarity. It wanted in. It wanted to be in him. Happy tried to pry the thing loose, crying out with horror and disgust.
    Kim floated this way and that, her face screwed up with indecision, not knowing what to do for the best. JC seemed to be holding his own, and Melody was doing bloody business with her chair. Happy seemed to be the most in trouble, so she dropped her feet to the floor again, strode forward, and grabbed at the heart on Happy’s chest with her ghostly hands. Her fingers plunged deep inside, and the huge heart convulsed, turned grey, withered, and fell away. It was dead before it hit the floor. Happy clawed at his acid-holed shirt with both hands, making mindless noises of distress.
    “That’s it!” said JC. “They can’t stand contact with you, Kim! Because you’re dead, because the energies that manifest you clash with the energies that motivate them . . . Something like that. I don’t know! Maybe you just scare them to death! Everyone crowd around Kim!”
    He and Happy and Melody formed a tight circle around Kim. The living organs surrounded them, but stopped dead when they got too close, as though there was some invisible barrier they couldn’t cross. They obviously couldn’t stand to get too close to the dead girl.
    “All right,” said Melody. “Now what? They can’t get to us, but we still appear to be trapped.”
    “I’m thinking,” said JC.
    “Think faster!” said Happy.
    “The Bio Reactor!” said JC. “All of these things were born of the Bio Reactor, which I’m guessing is tucked away behind that far partition. Happy, can you see any connection between the living organs and the Reactor?”
    “Yes . . . something!” said Happy. “Don’t ask me what it is, but it’s there!”
    “Kim, head straight for it,” said JC. “Walk slowly and carefully, and we’ll all stick close to you.”
    “Very close,” said Happy.
    Kim stepped forward, and the others moved with her. The organs fell back, as though panicked by something they couldn’t stand or understand. Kim and JC, Happy and Melody made their way down the long length of the open-plan floor, and the organs moved along with them, still surrounding them but maintaining a more-than-respectful distance. A few let go of the ceiling overhead and dropped on the group, but JC and Melody were always ready to beat them aside. Happy would have, too, but he was so completely unsettled, he was never ready in time. He was breathing painfully hard, and his eyes were wide and wild.
    They finally eased past the partition wall, and there was the Bio Reactor, waiting for them. It didn’t look like much—a great metal kiln some ten feet tall, its top brushing against the ceiling tiles, maybe eight feet wide around the base. A single hatch faced them, closed, with a wild flaring light rising and falling behind it. The glowing hatch glared at them all like a single unblinking eye.
    “I’m still not picking up a single intelligent thought,” said Happy, his voice definitely a little higher than it should have been. “But I am getting a sense of presence . . . From the Bio Reactor, not the organs. It knows we’re here. It knows we’re the enemy. It’s planning something . . .”
    The metal hatch slammed open, and a huge leathery tentacle shot out. It was made up of organ and muscle tissue, bonded together, to make a single gripping organism. It lunged at the group, and they scattered despite themselves. Kim cried out as she was left alone, and the tentacle shot straight at her. It whipped right through her, and immediately the whole tentacle withered and shrivelled up, all the life going out of it as it fell limply to the floor.
    “That’s it!” said JC. “Kim, walk right into the Bio Reactor! All the way in and out the other side!”
    He stepped forward to encourage her, and the tentacle came to life again. It still had one end inside the Bio Reactor, and new life pulsed down the length of it. It snapped around JC and pulled him