Fantasy Phantom

​

The Many Torments of Kelly Gray​

Kelly Gray had always been a socially awkward girl, and other girls took advantage of that. Girls belittled and mocked her, behind her back and sometimes in front of it. She had few friends in High School, but hoped that college life would be different. People would be more mature in Wintergreen College, more sophisticated, so she reasoned.

She was wrong. The only thing more sophisticated was their cruelty. She quickly found herself ostracized again, except for a few women who she thought were her friends... the same friends who lured her to the Delta Delta Mu Sigma Frat House one fateful night.

"Come on, Kelly," said Joyleen. "It will be a great way to meet guys!"

Kelly knew that guys wanted to meet her. She was tall, she was blonde, and very attractive. But she instinctively sensed that their interest in her was all about one thing, and she wanted a man who wanted her for at least two things. But every time she opened her mouth to talk she could seen men's eyes glazing over. They only wanted her body.

"Kelly, are you going to be a virgin forever?" Joyleen demanded.

Forever sounded like a very long time. And so Kelly agreed to go to the party.

And it was there that she got drunk, and was gang raped by five men.

What happened to Kelly was bad enough. But the aftermath was even worse.

The girls started calling her "Kelly open legs" and "Slut Kelly" as well as "Kelly the Super Slut Slut". And as for the guys...

The college administration refused to prosecute the men after the holorecording came out.

One of the boys, Neil Bartlett, had made a holorecording, and posted it online. He had recorded everything, each of the five men making love to Kelly; and the recording also showed Kelly, drunk out of her mind, moaning and kissing the men and giving as good as she got.

Kelly had gotten so drunk that she didn't clearly remember what had had happened, and was surprised by what she saw. All she knew is that she never agreed to have sex with five men. And so, to her tremendous outrage, the college administration refused to press charges.

Now everyone was laughing at Kelly. They had all viewed the video. Kelly couldn't bear to be seen by anyone. And finally the pressure got so intense that Kelly hung herself by a rafter in her dorm room.

After that, people were no longer laughing at her.

It was curious, even being aware of it. Because, after killing herself, Kelly realized that this wasn't the end. She had become something else, a glowing version of her own body, one with red eyes, which she would eventually learn was called a Lemure. And Kelly found she could enter people's bodies, people's minds. She couldn't control them, not exactly, but she could influence them, and whisper in their ears.

And then, one by one, Kelly Gray the Lemure extracted her revenge. She ran over Jim Thompson with a road paver (while he was staked down to the ground at the time). She fed Neil Bartlett to a lion (while Neil was also staked down to the ground). She blasted Leo Doherty's head off with a compression rifle. She persuaded Mark Tami to walk out of an airlock without a spacesuit. She convinced Nigel Mills to defenestrate himself from the 20th floor of the World Government World Peace Building.

Kelly didn't exactly have control over her victim's or accomplices's bodies as she did this; she convinced Mark Tami that he was going for a walk in the park when he stepped out of the airlock. And she convinced Bruno Miglioni that he was shooting water melons when he blew off Leo Doherty's head. She found that she had a skill of convincing people of whatever she wanted.

Once her assailants were dead, however, Kelly was still not done. Far from it.

Everyone or anyone who had every mocked her or wronged her became a target. And at the top of the list were the cruel girls from Wintergreen College.
​

*********​

Susannah Piero had known Kelly Gray briefly at Wintergreen College. She had talked to Kelly a few times in their freshman year, but usually to put Kelly down, saying things like "That blouse is so you, Kelly. Did you get it at the World Government Weekly Handout?" But mostly she made fun of Kelly's weight. Kelly was very thin in college, and Susie always implied that Kelly was anorexic.

"When are you going to eat some food, dear? Are you on a hunger strike?" Susie would say, with a laugh, always in the company of her cronies. She so loved to work with an audience.

Kelly grew so anxious that she would avoid Susie whenever she could. But even Susie's smirk from across the dining hall could make Kelly tremble.

Susannah was leading a happy life working for the World Government. She was one of the many flower counters for the WG. The World Government took an annual census of wildflowers in the world. The numbers seemed to be getting smaller and smaller every year. Critics claimed there was no way to take a census of wildflowers, but the World Government was adamant, and used the data to slap heavy taxes on industry, to bear the true cost of production on Mother Earth.

Susie was married to her college sweetheart Spiro. Spiro also worked for the World Government. He was an anal sex educator in pre-school and kindergarten classes. Spiro loved working with kids, and hoped to have his own with Susie some day.

Everything was fine in Susie's life, until one day she had problems in the bathroom.

She was sitting on the toilet, bearing down.

"Urr... Urrrr..... Urrrr!" she cried. She felt intense pressure in her bowels. But nothing came out.

Having problems, dearie?

"Who said that?" Susie looked around. Was someone watching her on the toilet? She hadn't shaved her pubic hair in weeks, and it looked a mess! What if someone was watching her-

It's me. Kelly Gray.

Susie looked confused. "I don't know anyone named Kelly Gray."

Remember Wintergreen College?

"Yes."

The girl you hounded for being too thin?

"No," said Susie. "Oh, wait. You're that girl? Didn't you die or something?"

Yes, I died. And now I'm inside you.

"No!"

Yeah.

"What are you doing inside me?"

I noticed you were having some trouble.

Suddenly it dawned on Susie what was happening. "You're doing this? You're preventing me from going to the bathroom?"

Apparently.

"Why? What... what do you want?"

Not much. Surprisingly little. All I want you to do is to eat a chocolate cake and a box of cookies.

"What? And ruin my figure? Never!"

Happy grunting!

Susie squeezed again. Nothing happened, even though her bowels were full. "Wait, come back!"

Silence.
​

********​

By the following morning, Susie felt like her bowels were ready to explode. But she just couldn't release.

Still having problems?

"Please! Kelly, if that's really you, I'm sorry, all right! It was a long time ago." She bore down again, but nothing came out. Her insides felt like they were about to burst. "Please!"

Just do one thing.

"What?"

Eat a chocolate cake and a box of cookies.

"All right... but... I have to go now... please, Kelly, I promise to eat them."

All right.

Susie bore down. After two days of not going, she knew she had a pile of excrement to release. She squeezed... and a small, cigar shaped brown object came out of her buttocks.

"Ahhhh," she said with a smile as it was zapped by the atomizer. By the beginning of the 23rd century, every civilized household had an atomic toilet.

But that was only the beginning. The internal pressure had lessened from excruciating to merely aggravating, but she still felt quite full of feces. "Kelly... I have more."

I know. After you eat the chocolate cake.

"Must I eat a whole cake?"

And a box of chocolate chip cookies.

Susie sighed. It would ruin her diet. She would easily gain two or three pounds, which would take her weeks to lose. "All right."

And so, after Spiro had gone out to work, Susie went to the supermarket. One of the many good things about working for the World Government in a job like hers is that no one kept track of her time. As far as the World Government was concerned, she was out in the field, counting flowers.

She bought the cake and cookies and sat on a park bench, and hesitated. The cake looked big.

Dig in.

Susie sighed and started eating the cake. As she ate, people walked by and gave her stares. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to eat a large chocolate cake by herself in public.

Susie felt full after eating half the cake.

Why are you stopping?

"I'm full!" she said.

And you're going to stay that way.

Susie felt a rumbling in her bowels.
​

********​

Susie groaned as she got off the park bench. She never felt so full. After she had finished the cake, Kelly had insisted she eat the cookies as well. Every bite felt like agony.

But finally, it was done. She rushed to a public toilet in the park, and blissfully released. The fondest moment in her life was when she was able to relieve herself.
​

********​

The next morning, Susie went to the bathroom. Nothing came out. She frowned. "Not again."

Good morning.

"What do you want from me?" Susie exploded. "I ate your fucking cake and cookies! I probably gained two pounds from it!"

More like three. But you'll gain even more when you eat your cake and cookies today.

"What do you mean? I ate them yesterday!"

You're going to eat them every day.

"No," Susie breathed.

Yes.
​

********​

By eating a chocolate cake and a box of cookies every day, Susie gained weight rapidly. By the third day Spiro rubbed her belly and joked she looked a little heavy. By the fifth day he was giving her odd looks. And by the tenth day, with a bulging belly, he was demanding to know if she was pregnant.

"I am not pregnant!" Susie cried.

"Then why do you have that big belly?" he asked.

Susie was careful to eat her cake and cookies out of sight of Spiro. It would have raised too many questions. "I guess I've been grazing too much."

"Then get off the farm, and onto a holotreadmill," he said, slapping her on the ass. Susie winced as she heard the degrading sound of flesh on flesh and felt the sting on her buttocks. Spiro shook his head and left the room.

Susie went into the bathroom and looked at her bulging belly.

"Are you happy now?"

It's a start.

"Don't tell me you're going to make me eat more cake!"

No, your cake eating days are over.

"Thank you."

Your next task is to start taking myacin pills daily.

"Myacin? What's that?"

It's a hormonal pill which makes your skin shiny, you'll love it.

"Why do you want me to take that?"

It also has an interesting side effect on women.

"And what would that be?"

It gives them their period every day.

"No! I won't do it!"

Your choice.

Susie felt pressure in her bladder. She sat down on the toilet and lowered her panties and squeezed.

Nothing came out.
​

********​

The next morning she was in agony. She had to go. "How do you even expect me to get a prescription for this? No self respecting doctor will give it to me."

Get it on the whitemarket.

It used to be called the blackmarket, until the World Government put that on its ever growing list of forbidden words. Now it was referred to as the whitemarket, a segment of the global internet where anything was available... for a price.

Mercifully, Susie let her urinate after she ordered the pills.

The pills arrived the next day. Susie opened the cap and looked at one of them. It was crystal clear. It looked so harmless.

"Please don't make me do this," she whispered.

I'm not making you do anything.

Susie was only able to hold out until dinner. She had drank a bit glass of water at lunch. She had no choice. She swallowed the pill. Her first pill. Every day, there would be another one.
​

********​

Spiro asked for sex two days later. Of course, being a man, he didn't simply ask for it. He wrapped his arms around her. "My big Susie still has her jelly belly, eh?"

"Um hm," said Susie. But it wasn't her stomach that Spiro had his hands wrapped around. Spiro had been repelled by her burgeoning belly; this wasn't the woman he had married. But he was also a man, and men needed sex, even if it was with a beach ball. He started to squeeze her titties.

"Ummm," said Susie. Then he tilted her head and kissed her.

"Ummm," She said again.

Then he started to lead her by the hand to the bedroom.

"No," said Susie.

"No?" said Spiro.

"I... I'm having my comma," said Susie. She so hated to call it a period. It sounded dirty to her.

"Oh," said Spiro, looking crestfallen. "All right." He turned to go to the shower.
​

********​

Spiro asked for sex again two days later, and two days after that. Each time the answer was the same.

"How long am I going to have to keep doing this?" Susie asked.

Until he stops loving you.

"My Spiro will never do that!"

He's a man, Susie. Men have needs.

"Listen, Kelly, I'm sorry about how mean I was to you. But if you think I'm going to participate in this little charade of yours any longer-"

Take your pill, Susie.

Susie only was able to hold out for four hours. She cried as she took another pill.
​

********​

After ten days, Spiro lost his patience. "Don't you think it's gone on too long?"

"Maybe," said Susie fearfully.

"Don't you think you should see a groinacologist?" That's what Spiro called gynecologists.

"I guess," said Susie.

"I guess too," Spiro growled, as he headed towards the shower.
​

********​

"What do you want me to do now?" Susie asked.

Tell Spiro you went to your groinacologist. Tell him he said you have Grimwave's Syndrome.

"What's that?"

Constant periods.

"Is there any cure?"

Unless you have your uterus removed? No.

"Please don't make me do this."

I'm not making you do anything.
​

********​

"So... there's no cure?"

The look of shock on Spiro's pain hurt Susie more than anything.

"No... but maybe it will just get better on its own," said Susie, in a voice that sounded lame even to her.

"Get better on its own," Spiro repeatedly hollowly.

Susie could almost see the wheels turning in Spiro's mind, and she didn't like the direction in which they were turning. "Maybe... maybe I can please you another way," she said suggestively.

Spiro's face immediately lit up. "You're going to let me take you in the ass?"

"No!" said Susie. Spiro had been pestering her for ass sex ever since they had gotten married.

"But the World Government says that ass sex is healthy. The World Government recommends that every couple, gay or straight, have at least two servings of ass sex every week-"

"I don't care what the World Government says about ass sex," Susie snapped. This was not turning out the way she expected. "I was referring to another hole." She looked at him suggestively.

Spiro looked confused. "But I thought... I thought you said you don't like doing it in there either...."

"I... I could be persuaded...." Susie was desperate to please him.

Spiro nodded and gave an unwholesome grin. Susie let herself be led to the bedroom. She wasn't required to remove her clothes, that wasn't necessary, but since Spiro was stripping down she did too. She only left her panties on, with the thick pad sandwiched squarely inside of it prominently sticking out.

Spiro looked at her. "Can you... can you get me ready?"

Get me ready. Normally, she wouldn't have to do any of that. The mere sight of her without her panties on-

But now Susie was wearing panties with a diaper in it and she had a big, bulging belly. She had to be realistic about her current state of sex appeal. Sighing, she reached out with her hand and started working on Spiro while she kissed him. At least he kissed her back.

Spiro's thing sprang to life in her hand, thankfully. When he was ready, he pushed down on her shoulders suggestively. Susie sighed and move downwards. His thing looked even bigger when it was right in front of her face. Could she really take that monster inside her? She looked up at Spiro's frowning face. She would have to.

Susie gingerly opened her mouth and guided him in. She never liked the taste of penis. It always tasted sweaty or smelly or uriney or-

Susie had to keep from gagging as Spiro thrusted into her mouth. She grabbed onto it with her hand and asserted more penis control. For a time things were manageable, as Susie and Spiro built up a rhythm that worked for both of them, and then Spiro started to moan.

"Oh... oh... oh...." But then he cried out. "Ow!" he yelled. "Don't bite down!"

Susie pulled out. Had she used her teeth? "Sorry," she said. She looked at his angry face, and then his glistening penis, and reinserted it in her mouth. Spiro started to groan again, but then Susie felt herself biting down, and Spiro screamed and pulled out.

"What are you trying to do?" he said, glaring at her.

"Sorry," said Susie. She had never intended... and then she knew. It was Kelly.

You will never be able to satisfy him that way, bitch.

"This isn't going to work," said Spiro. "Maybe... maybe we can just do it the regular way."

"But... my comma...."

"Maybe it isn't so bad. Let me see." He saw the hesitance and reluctance on her face. "Come on, do it."

Susie, trembling a bit, lowered her panties. She winced as she saw Spiro make a face as he saw her bloody nether lips. But he lowered himself down and took the position between her legs. In moments he was thrusting inside of her. At first, things seemed to go well. But then Spiro made the mistake of looking down. He cried out as he withdrew his penis, which was covered in blood.

"No!" he wailed. "It's like making love to a gunshot wound!" He ran to the bathroom and slammed the door, even as Susie started crying.

Now Susie, you fucking bitch, you know exactly how I felt when you tortured me relentlessly, when you lowered my sense of self-worth into the gutter while you and your bitch cunt friends laughed it up at my expense!
​

********​

After that, there was no more sex between them. The bedroom was merely a place of sleeping. Together. Somewhat together. Spiro would give her a perfunctory kiss, and pull away immediately to his side of the bed, as if out of fear that he would drown in the Red Sea. He never spoke about the incidence again. His failure to address what had happened between them was all the more frightening for Susie. She started seeing him come home later and later from work. Spiro told her he had to work late, which she knew wasn't true, as he worked for the World Government. And then the inevitable happened, two months later, when Spiro announced he was moving out and filing for divorce.

"Are you seeing another woman, Spiro, is that it?" Susie asked, as Spiro rapidly and efficiently packed his electronic suitcase.

"Yes," said Spiro. "I'm sorry."

"Please, Spiro. We can work things out," said Susie.

"No," said Spiro. "It's really for the best. I'm doing this for you, Susie."

"For me?"

"You don't deserve a man like me," said Spiro. "You deserve someone better. I'm doing this for you, Susie."

Susie wailed and cried as Spiro left the apartment. After he had gone, she gasped as a glowing outline of a human being slowly wafted out of her body. The outline was bright white-blue, except the eyes, which were red.

"You! You did this to me!" Susie cried.

"You bet I did," said Kelly. "You should thank me."

"Thank you? Why should I thank you?"

Those glowing red eyes bore into her. "Because I let you off easy. You should see what I did to the others. And what I'm going to do to still more."

And Susie, with an open mouth, watched as the glowing shape floated into the ceiling and disappeared.

As Kelly floated away, she frowned. She had enjoyed what she had done to Susie, and yet... she wasn't yet fully satisfied. She had thought that after she had killed the five frat boys who had raped her she would feel satisfied. But she wasn't. Then she thought that what she needed to do was to take revenge against all the women who had wronged her. But even that wasn't satisfying her very much.

Perhaps she needed to think of more imaginative ways of taking her revenge. Perhaps then she would be whole again.
​

********​

It's called Moving On, Alanna thought as the Doctor, Sophie, and Alyssa sat on a stratoliner headed for California.

What a quaint term, the Doctor thought. Sophie and Alyssa seemed wrapped up in their own thoughts; there was no need to involve them in this conversation. Sophie was strategically seated between the Doctor and Alyssa. In the narrow airplane seats her arm pressed against his. But sometimes her hand squeezed his arm, which he realized had nothing to do with the width of the seats.

Most people don't become kalaks, Doctor.

Thank Goodness.

Only people with a strong passion that wasn't satisfied in their life. When they turn into kalaks, their reason for being is to satisfy this passion. Once this passion is satisfied, then they Move On.

And what precisely does that mean, to Move On?

It means... whatever it means to die. Even we don't have all the answers, Doctor.

A great comfort.

Alanna paused for a moment. So, for example, if a mother dies and her daughter is devastated, the mother might stay on as a kalak, to comfort the daughter. Once the daughter is able to stand on her own once again, the mother's mission would be complete, and she would Move On.

I haven't encountered too many motherly ghosts. Most of the ones I've met have been the other type.

It works both ways, Doctor. But yes, just as kalaks can feel motivated to stay around to help others, they can also be motivated to remain to hurt others.

So how do you get those to Move On?

It is not easy. Their lust for vengeance must be satisfied, but their motivations can be so twisted that even they cannot fully understand them.

The Doctor took a girl ball out of his pocket. It was a dark brunette. He started sucking on it. So what's your story?

My story?

Why haven't you Moved On? Do you still have people to kill... or distraught daughters to console?

There was a pause. My story is very... personal, Doctor.

More personal than being inside someone's head, and reading their every thought?

Another pause. You are right. I am so used to being in Alyssa, a willing host, that I did not think about it in that way. You... you have a right to know my background.

And so Alanna told the Doctor her story.
​

*********​

Alanna Maskirovna was born 74 years ago in Minsk, in the Russian Federation. She was a precocious girl and a good student. Her ever practical parents wanted her to go to public management school so she could get a good job with the World Government. With the private sector shrinking rapidly due to necessary social welfare legislation, the World Government was becoming the largest employer in the world economy. While everyone was guaranteed a job with the World Government, many were lower level jobs that didn't pay well. To get a good paying job higher in the bureaucracy, one needed an education.

"Just think, Alanna, you could be a central planner! You could decide what shoes the entire world will wear next year!" said her mother.

"But I don't want to decide what shoes the world will wear next year, Momma," said Alanna. She was 13 at the time. "I want to help other people in need."

"You will be helping them... by selecting their shoes for them."

But Alanna was adamant. And so, after graduating college (the University of Dobrinsk, with a major in Unsocial Work), she decided to go to Ramada under a program sponsored by the Alyssa Guttmacher Institute. EGI was sending people to Ramada to raise the consciousness of Laquintan women, to teach them tips about cooking, cleaning, childcare, balancing a household budget, and how-to's on masturbation and menstruation.

Her parents were horrified. They knew that Ramada had a backwards culture where women were forced to wear black burkas from head to toe, were treated like slaves by their men, and beaten and abused in numerous ways.

"All the more reason I should go, then, to raise their social consciousness," said Alanna. She would not be dissuaded.
​

*********​

When Alanna arrived on Al Sa-Naa, the capital of Ramada, she was obligated to check in with the World Government embassy. A kindly man named Mr. Buford informed her that she would not be allowed to go into the countryside to help emancipate women after all. It seemed seven women previously sent by the Guttmacher Institute to do the very same thing had disappeared without a trace, until last week, when their heads were found. Only their heads.

"But... I came all this way... what can I do?" Alanna asked.

Buford took pity on her. "Look, I know the embassy is looking for a teacher. You'd be teaching children of embassy staff... but it's something that's needed, you know?"

And so Alanna took a job teaching at the World Government embassy on Ramada. In retrospect she was secretly glad that her original mission had been aborted. Whenever she walked in the bazaar around the Embassy to shop for dates or figs, she would see very large men with big beards and turbans on their heads glaring at her. Often these men had curved swords tucked into their belts. Alanna realized that her mission to Ramada might have turned out quite worse than she expected.

Alanna taught at the embassy for three months before the Embassy was overrun. A local Imad had spread word that the Embassy was holding a book burning of the Great Book of Blood. This enraged local citizens who stormed the Embassy. Unfortunately there were only four Survey Service Marines on guard at the entrance. The Survey Service had wanted to send a full guard contingent, but the Foreign Service overruled them, saying that armed uniformed men in the heart of Al Sa-Naa would offend local sensibilities and empower hardliners in the fragile coalition government.

And so the four guards were slaughtered, and the staff was taken captive. The captors demanded all jails on Earth be emptied of Laquintan prisoners. While many followers of the God of Blood lived on Ramada, they had originated in Earth's Middle East, and many millions more also lived there. Some of them had committed acts of terrorism and were languishing in World Government prisons.

While the World Government bureaucracy debated what to do, the Laquintans had their way with the captives. There were 78 in all, including 22 children, Alanna's schoolchildren who she felt very protective of. Alanna watched as several of the male embassy staff were beaten to a pulp, and, one by one, the Laquintans took liberties with the women.

When Alanna's turn came, a big burly man named Mojammed put the tip of a blaster in her mouth and warned her she was about to be honored. And honored she was, repeatedly. None of the men had ever enjoyed a young 22 year old blonde Russian girl before. The worst part of it, if any of it could be said to be the absolute worst part, was that the Laquintans did their deprivations in front of the children.

"Please!" Alanna cried at one point. "At least let's find a room."

"The slut really wants it, doesn't she?" Mojammed sneered. One of the other men laughed.

"No! Not in front of the children!" Alanna cried.

"And why not?" Mojammed asked. "Some of them, the girls, will probably be next. This could be a good, what do you call it, educational moment"

And Alanna's eyes went wide as Mojammed entered her, and she screamed in her mind.
​

********​

There came a time when the captors grew impatient, and they decided to make an example of some of the captives.

"Let us start with the men," said one of their captives, a man with a scar on his face named Abduela.

"Let us start with the women," said another, a tall, thin man named Farsi.

"No," said Mojammed. "They will never take us seriously that way. These infidels care more than anything for their little brats. We will start by executing the children."

"No!" Alanna cried. She was bruised, and hurt, and exhausted, but she still found the strength to protest.

"Are you speaking up, little bird?" said Mojammed. "I will find a way to keep you occupied." He pushed her down to her knees as his men laughed, and then, standing in front of her, he lowered his pantaloons and roughly entered her. He had one hand on her shoulder, and the other on his blaster, aimed right between her eyes. "It is very important that you do not move," said Mojammed sternly, as he moved in and out of her.

"Which one shall we take first?" Abduela asked.

"Start with that one!" said Mojammed. He nodded to a blonde eight year girl named Becky Simpson. Becky was a charming girl who was good in math and loved dolls. Becky screamed as one of the men grabbed her and raised a blaster to her head.

Alanna suddenly pulled out, and knocked the blaster out of Mojammed's hand.

For a moment, no one spoke. All the children were wide-eyed. Alanna looked fearfully at them. "Not the children!" she cried.

Mojammed stared at her with a blank expression for a long moment. Then he slapped her in the face so hard she fell to the ground.

"Take that one outside. She will be first."

Alanna felt herself being dragged out the front door of the Embassy. The sun blared in her eyes, bright and harsh. She cried as she was pushed to her knees. She saw a blaster in her face, and heard the words, "Is this being recorded? Good." And then. "For the greater glory of Laquinta!"

And then there was a flash, and nothing.
​

*********​

And then something. Alanna was back in the embassy again. Inside of it, and yet also not there. It was as if she was a balloon, floating up against the ceiling. An invisible balloon, one that no one could see.

As the hostages were executed, one by one, Alanna watched as Survey Service marines stormed the compound. She watched as three of the Laquintans detonated their suicide vests, and blew up the entire building
​

*********​

Alanna was... dead. And yet, she also wasn't. Unless death meant floating around in disembodied form. It didn't take long for her to realize she could enter other bodies. It didn't take long after that to realize she could control other bodies. At the time, Alanna didn't know what a Phantom was; at first, she thought all kalaks had the power she had.

Being dead left a lot of time on Alanna's hands. She used that time to track the captors. Eleven of the original twenty three captors had escaped. Alanna soon learned that they were all part of the same tribe, the Al-Yasiri. Alanna made it her mission to track down this tribe, to a small village named Umm Fajar. There she found the original eleven captors, and executed them one by one.

Sometimes she made them kill each other. She found she could go inside one body, and with little effort, get that body to kill another. Sometimes she would make them kill themselves, usually by a blaster bolt to the head (something Alanna was quite familiar with), or by self-decapitation, which sometimes didn't work as planned and required several agonizing strokes to get just right.

Alanna saved Mojammed for last. She entered his body and made him look into a mirror in his tent.

"What is this? What is happening to me?" he cried as his body moved under the control of unseen forces.

The image of the school children of the World Government embassy appeared in the mirror. Do you remember these, Mojammed? he heard in his head. And then the image of Alanna appeared in the mirror. Do you remember me?

"You... you're dead!"

No. Laquinta sent me back to punish you for your sins.

"No... no, Laquinta would never do that!"

You are about to die, Mojammed. See that package by your feet? Open it.

Mojammed found himself opening the package. It contained beef jerky of some kind.

"What is it?" he asked.

Cat meat. Poisoned cat meat.

Mojammed found himself lifting up some of the jerky. He held it with trembling hands by his mouth. He tried to fight his instincts, but whatever was controlling him was too strong.

"No, please! Do not kill me like this! Cat meat is unclean in our culture! Anyone who dies with cat meat in them will never get to paradise with the 69 virgins the God of Blood has promised!"

Eat up, Mojammed!

Mojammed cried as he stuffed the cat meat into his mouth. He couldn't help himself. The sheer terror that went through his mind repelled even Alanna. It only took him a moment or two after that to start dying.

As Alanna watched Mojammed slowly choke to death on poisoned cat meat, she felt herself starting to a fade a bit. Was this it? With all the captors dead, was her purpose at an end?

But then the world, which began to fade, suddenly resolved itself in crystal clarity again.
​

********​

Everyone in the village attended the services for the dead men. The Imad of the village, Jabbar Al-Rantisi, gave a rousing sermon. He said the men had all died with honor. He said they had died murdering infidels. He said the entire village could be proud of the great deed they had accomplished in the name of Laquinta.

Alanna watched as the men in the audience pumped their fists in the air and cheered approvingly, and the women, wearing burkas from head to toe, made loud "Lalalalalalala" sounds with their tongues. She felt sick as she remembered the men who had been beaten, the women who had been raped, the school children who had been executed one by one, and the bomb which had exploded killing hostages and rescuers alike.

And then, the following day, a curious thing happened in the village of Umm Fajar.

People started dying.

It was normal for people to die in Umm Fajar. There were always petty rivalries between families, between inlaws, conflicts among husbands and wives and fathers and daughters. Death was a natural part of life, so the Book of Blood told them. That's why the death of Mojammed and his fellow captors didn't attract much attention.

At first.

But then people started dying in their own homes. Husbands killed wives, which was normal, but then wives started killing husbands, which was decidedly not normal. Women would welcome their husbands home with a hug and a kiss and then stick a knife in their belly. Or poison their falafel. Or smother then in their sleep. Sons and daughters also started killing their parents.

Before long, panic set in, and nobody wanted to come out of their tents. But that didn't stop the massacre. Before long, all 73 adult inhabitants of Umm Fajar were dead. There were so many dead that many were simply left unburied.

When it was done, Alanna thought she would feel elated.

Instead, she felt terrible.
​

********​

Alanna told the Doctor the story of how she became a kalak. But she didn't tell him the part that came afterwards, where she hunted down and liquidated her captors... as well as their entire tribe.

When she was done telling him her abridged account, the Doctor sat in his airline seat, stunned for a moment. "How horrible," he said aloud.

"What's horrible?" Sophie asked.

"Nothing," said the Doctor. He didn't want to expose Sophie to this heart-wrenching story. He thought to himself, What a terrible thing for a young woman to go through.

What a terrible thing for anyone to go through. Alanna sensed sympathy welling up inside the Doctor.

You... you must have been very angry with those killers.

Yes, I was.

Is that why... is that why you haven't Moved On? Because of your anger towards them?
​