Henry Ickhart
FORMER DOCTOR
FORMER FIELD MEDIC OF THE BUNDESWEHR
PET SHOP OWNER
HAMBURG, GERMANY
It is a quiet day in Hamburg. The animals are still mostly asleep as the sun finally breaks the horizon, washing Hamburg in a yellow glow. Henry Ickhart, the humble owner of Henry’s Hounds, opens the door. He is happy to see all of the dogs, who greet him with barks and licks. He hugs all thirty of them, then heads to the cash register. Soon, his other employees wander in. One of them is a mage.
I didn’t believe the nonsense. The past year and a half had been filled with all sorts of rumors, you know? Some old Nazi says he was visited by a ghost, a random professor out of Frankfurt thinks he saw a bull with human legs wandering around the city. All over the country, you heard these things.
Why didn’t you believe it?
What do you mean why? I had read the Lord of the Rings. I knew what fantasy was. This was nothing more then a natural case of mass hysteria, caused by just a couple people getting uppity in Frankfurt. I remember when I first read about that guy in Saxony. The Hamburger had a whole section on that guy, the dude who came up from the catacombs and swore he saw monsters prowling it’s depths. What? Really?
No, not really. Yes, it was happening all over the world, but the internet was a powerful tool for lying. Remember what the Russian President was doing? With Facebook and Twitter? So, no, I didn’t believe any of it. Why should I? I was a doctor.
But there were also credible sources.
Everything seems credible in hindsight, young man. You think all of the warning is credible, but what was I to think? That, suddenly, all the old myths and legends of the world just decided “ah, now is the time to strike!” I am a devout Lutheran, not some pussy Neo-Pagan who got a hard on thinking about nature. I had real things to think about, like if my patient would be okay.
But mainline news—
Was a total joke. Why should I trust a bunch of corporate shills who were more untrustworthy then Heineken? They were in the game for the money kid, they didn’t care about the story. If a report said that endlessly running pictures of Hitler would bring their rating up, they would’ve done it.
Add on that every other post on Facebook was just a guy you knew saying “I saw a horse eat a guy!”, and you’re telling me that I should’ve believed that stuff? No, I’m a doctor. I need evidence, I need proof. I didn’t go to medical school so that I could take guesses and pretend.
He pets a few dogs and talks to a younger customer, who purchases a German Shepard.
I mean…It was such a strange idea. I trained my whole life to be skeptic, to judge the world by whether or not I could see it. I saw proof of the Almighty all around me, the beauty of the world was good enough proof for me right there that he was real. Plus, I had the Bible! Sure, I couldn’t see God, but at least his presence was known.
But now, a bunch of whiney pundits and political know-it-alls tell me that something is going on? Where was the proof?
What about the dead members of the Reichstag?
Terrorism. All those neo-nazi pricks from East Germany getting a hard on for Hitler and Himmler, deciding to try to do what he did but worse and without thought. These loons had been doing stuff like this for seven decades at that point, and they do it today. The fault of those bastard Soviets, taught them that they had no part in the Holocaust.
They had been putting up a stink for years. Now, with the political climate, I thought “ah, so they decided to do something.” I wasn’t even scared, because those rambunctious scoundrels could’ve blown up the Reichstag and they still wouldn’t have had any idea what to do next. They were no Nazis. At best, they were off-brand Soviets.
I guess…
He struggles for a moment. He looks out the window, to an old couple.
It was sometime in February. The cold was starting it’s long journey to warmth. I was sitting, watching the TV when I saw a new report with video, the one from Rio. It showed that person shooting a fireball at that poor news anchor.
I thought it was fake.
Why would you—
Jeez kid, you never seen a computer? They could’ve been looking for ratings! Views! Who the hell knows, but the mainstream media would’ve done anything to keep it’s viewership watching, mostly the old timers. They ate that shit up back in Hamburg.
But…a part of me was suddenly skeptical of myself. I was asking “Well, maybe…” but I pushed that down. I was just paranoid, or stupid, or both. I went to church a little more…
I remember, kneeling while praying, that I heard from somewhere the word “Go is the word Blue.” I looked around, but I was alone. I was absolutely alone, nobody in there.
It was God, I think…or maybe I’m just delusional. I’m sorry, I’m speeding around aren’t I? Sorry, it’s been a while…
I remember heading into work that night. It was a rainy, dark night in Hamburg. The clouds had covered up the moon, so all we had were the street lights and the headlights. It was still bright, of course. Way brighter then streets were during The Invasion.
It couldn’t have been much past midnight. I had just gotten done dealing with some kids broken ankle. He was skateboarding in the city, at night. Dumb, of course. But that’s when, as I headed to the lobby to send off the family, I an ambulance pull up. Then, they rolled him in.
You ever seen melted plastic?
Yes.
Well, that’s what this guy looked like. His face was half way through sliding off his head, his mouth was just a gaping black hole. He was trying to scream, but he couldn’t get anything out. I was, well…
I was beyond disgusted, as they rolled this half human monstrosity. He didn’t survive the night, of course…I looked around. That’s when I saw her.
I was vaping outside the hospital, when I saw this woman, about 2 meters in height. She couldn’t have been older then 20. I just watched her, as she looked at me. She walked in, when I heard it…
“Blue.”
I freaked out, I won’t lie. I ran to my car so fast…
I am a skeptic and a German. So I was bred to be guilty, do the right thing, and always question. I did none of those in that moment. Instead, I saved my own skin, running to keep my own self alive. I failed, in that moment.
I was looking for change, cursing myself out as I realized how stupid I was to run at that, when I heard a Pop! Like opening a bag of popcorn. I didn’t look up, just stopped.
The windows on my car shattered. Glass went everywhere, as every car in the parking lot went off, screaming and sounding off. I poked my head up, and you wouldn’t believe it if what happened afterword…
I saw the remnants of the explosion. The fires that poked through the hospital windows, the people running out covered in flames. Then her, waltzing out. I can tell you, when my car started up, I was gone. I called police, but…
He is looking somewhere else. A customer taps the counter, asking how much dogs are. The customer is pleasantly surprised.
I couldn’t go back to medicine after that. I had taken the sworn oath, that no harm shall be done to my patients under my watch.
And I failed that. Beyond failed it, actually. You know, I didn’t think it was magic, even after that? I thought “Oh, well, it’s probably that new strain of flu.” As I was driving away, I was trying to rationalize it. Be the skeptic.
But you can only be a skeptic for so long though. At some point, you see it. At some point, the impossible becomes real.
He helps a customer clean up a small pile of dog poo. He then looks over at the flag of the Germany. He sighs.
At some point, you have to face the nightmare
