Chapter

2019. Newark, New Jersey.

Obediah could barely contain its excitement.

Being the last one of the Hollow Ones to have been born made it often more impulsive, more prone to rush decisions. It had made mistakes. Many of them.

But this time it was resolved to do things differently. This time it had a plan.

It had jumped out of the body of the heavyset man—Leppo—and for a moment it contemplated taking the body of the young girl it had just wounded. But it had felt her bone give and crack, felt her clavicle disengage.

No. It could not occupy that body and do what it needed to do.

Still, the temptation was great. It had savored the confusion and the pain in the female agent—shooting her own partner first—and then, it now imagined, she would need to shoot the very girl she was meant to save.

How delightful. Delicious.

Obediah missed the chance. It hesitated just moments too long—and then the room was filled with EMTs and local police. The female agent left the room, and instead of following, Obediah hovered above the bodies of the humans until a young EMT, approximately thirty years old and in excellent condition, presented himself.

It entered the body quickly, expertly extending its will over the young man’s soul and rewiring the body so rapidly that the EMT faltered only a moment.

“Are you all right, Reese?” his partner asked.

Obediah nodded.

“Give me a hand with her,” the partner said.

Obediah knew what an EMT would do and how he would do it. Through the centuries it had tried every profession, every science, every art. It couldn’t claim to have mastered many of them, but it knew enough so it could stay undetected for long enough if it felt the result would be worth the effort. It could stay hidden in the flesh of its host—so long as his or her work and immediate family permitted selective isolation. Recently, within the past half century or so, most of its violent acts attracted a similar sort of professional—a paramedic, police officer, or firefighter—and therefore most of its interim jumps were well-meaning first responders.

Obediah had intended to enter the female agent, to continue this spree, but instead found something inside the EMT it liked. He was married, with a baby he was eager to get home to. This would be fun.

The couple lived in a modest apartment with thin walls, so Obediah had to lie in wait until the neighbors left for work.

In the kitchen, the woman had been preparing a meager repast. Obediah selected a meat cleaver from a cheap QVC kitchen knife set: stainless steel, six inches. Not great quality but solid enough.

And just for fun, it decided to do a double.