lurking

"god i hate that smell." she moaned as they entered the door. "i hate these calls to! have i mentioned that to you tony?" refusing to commit to the subject he simply restated " alright we are here on a second go round. we have the warrant. she's approximately 73 , a shut in, last heard from 3 days ago, and she should be behiiiind this door." he said soundly rapping on the apartment door. "Mrs. Jonas ... Mrs. Jonas.. this is officer Randolf with the police department. " he shouted. he was loud enough that the dead would have been bothered but nothing stirred. tony paused and turned "where is the land lord? " Sahara gloomed "I'll call in and see if they can reach him" "Mrs. Jonas if you don't at least respond to us verbaly we will be forced to enter. we have a warrant. you aren't in any trouble Mrs. Jonas we simply need to know if you are OK" Sahara moved away a few feet so that she could hear the radio over tony pounding on the door. "break it down" came back from the dispatcher and Sahara sank inside. "tony I'm gonna go get the ram word is to take the door down" stepping out into the open air she took several deep breaths . her lungs hurt she hadn't realized she had been all but holding her breath. walking towards the squad car she squirmed inside her skin. she hated old people they just made her stomach turn. it wasn't that she thought bad things should happen to them or that they didn't have a right to live or what ever it was just that she couldn't stand them. the way they smelled. that scary scratchy part of their voice. their wrinkled nasty skin . trying to get the key into the lock on the trunk she realized she was trembling. she tried to shake it off but it came off more like a shutter than an exercise of will. she yanked the ram out of trunk and tried to prepare herself mentally to re enter the dank gloom of the apartment building . it was an old brown stone the sort that used to cover older parts of town. most of them had been torn down to make room for "progress" she normally thought it a shame to demolish them but right now she wasn't so sure. reaching the top of the third floor she knew something was wrong. all her senses told her to run but she couldn't understand why. then she realized tony was no longer in the hallway mentally she kicked herself for being so easily spooked. the old bird probably answered the door finally. the battery in her hearing aid had probably run down with out her noticing and she hadn't heard him at first. he was in there now fending off her 15 cats and politely pretending to drink a cup of coffee. still for some reason she dropped the ram. it landed with a thud as she drew her gun and called out "tony ?" tony stuck his head through the open apartment door way and gave her a quirky smile "i guess i don't know my own strength" his smile usually made her feel safe but it didn't sooth her nerves this time. he looked at her drawn weapon with an odd tilt of his head "hey when your done chasing the bogies in the hallway you could join me in here looking for Mrs Jonas." cursing him under her breath as she did frequently she holstered her gun but didn't secure it. pulling her self together she tried to casually walk to the door and into the apartment but again failed miserably as her legs seemed to be made of something spongy and argumentative. by the time she made it into the door tony was no longer in sight but she could hear him in the next room calling out for the old lady. Sahara picked her way through piles and piles of magazines and newspapers past mountains of empty cat food cans and over mounds of empty grocer sacks and old plastic containers. what was it she thought to her self about old people and saving plastic bowls and old jars she was certain she had just seen a tang jar with a picture of an astronaut on it . she sighed deeply then lost her breath altogether as she entered the kitchen area . this place had a smell that beat you about the head and shoulders while using insults from an old british comedy. "i mean tony it doesn't just stink in here it's like the smell is alive and trying to posses my soul" she said not even realizing she hadn't started that thought out loud. tony was ahead of her in the door way of what was probably the bed room . the entire apartment was alive and crawling she hadn't even noticed the cats until just now . there were just so many of them that they seemed like part of the walls and counter tops. Tony's tone of voice changed and threw her instantly into professional protector mode "Mrs Jonas can you hear me ?!" "Sahara call for medical back up I think she is still breathing " he began rushing across piles of papers and clothes with Sahara right behind him . the papers and debris were sliding in different directions whoch made getting your footing impossible. the cats were screaming and hissing "dispatch... dispatch.. sally i need a wagon now !!" something wasn't right she thought. her inner voice was screaming at her to run but she couldn't. tony was screaming to but there weren't any words. just a guttural noise . the papers slid this way and that. her feet were sinking in and what ever it was they were standing on now was moist and sickly and made crunching noises . she tried to reach Tony who seemed to have fallen while tring to move Mrs. Jonas. Mrs. Jonas lifted her body off of tony and Sahara's mind went white.