Written By: Charlie_RichterOld Friends - Part 1

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Bones of the Past


I slightly stretched my legs, it was getting close to 10 hours of sitting in the back but I remained quiet, Logan and Miles were in the front of the of Logan’s Toyota Hilux, they continued to chat to each other as I let out a slight moan to match my stretching. I shifted my head to the left and peered out the rear window, just had to make certain my equipment was still there, which it was, just like the last 20 times I’ve had to check. I feel slightly uneasy, can’t place a finger on what is making me nervous. I don’t usually let my nerves get away from me. The road passed by quite quick; I noticed a few houses start to pop by now and again, thanks to the random streetlights.
What ever Logan had last killed, I was pretty sure half of it was still somewhere in the truck, there was a faint off smell. Maybe it was Logan.

Sitting sandwiched between my feet was my shoulder bag, I reached down and flipped open the top flap to reveal my PKE that I built before I had even met Graham and the GhostBuster guys. I built it using some basic plans from the Internet, few notes I found written by Egon and Ray themselves. Wonderful thing that Internet. I even found some handy information within Henry Wilson’s book ‘My Paranormal Way’ Wilson talked about basic PKE devices among other things related to ghost awareness. This book is my bible, Henry Wilson is my god. You would swear this guy had a proton pack strapped to his back while writing this book. I first came across it when I was at a local book fair back in Newcastle, my father would keep asking me what I had read this week, and my answer, ‘Nothing’ as usual. He turned to me and asked. What do you love? What makes you want to read?
Anything that isn’t ordinary, I replied to him. Then go find a book that isn’t normal, read it. And I did, I walked the isles and searched the odd titles. Starting in science fiction, then moving to psychology, Parapsychology. Sitting slightly off to one side was that book. The title, My Paranormal Way, spread along the top of the front with a pair of eyes alone gazing right at you in the middle of the cover. 10 dollars I spent that day, 5 on the book and 5 on a pretty crappy hamburger and chips.

This book started my life. Within its pages were the words of a man who had seen strange and wonderful things. The very things I now also wanted to experience. If I had never picked it up I wouldn’t be sitting in the back of a bounty hunters Toyota, with a ghost catching backpack or a love for what I do. And man do I love what I do. Many times I have tried to track Wilson down, trying to find other books written by him, I once contacted the publisher that printed the book only to get loose ends and ‘don’t knows’.

I picked up the PKE unit from my backpack, and thumbed the power switch to standby, in this mode it runs on basic power and will activate on any medium level PK readings. As I pushed the switch it slightly hummed and a series of blue lights started to pace down the sensor arms. I sat it in my lap. Also in the pack was my copy of the book, I pulled it out and opened the cover to the first page.
He started the book with this sentence,
‘This is the information that I want you to know. The rest is what I regret’
Looking around, I gave a quick glance towards Tes; she was asleep with her head against the window. She was a good-looking girl; her hair was tired back into a ponytail with a black hair tie holding it back. Tes didn’t need make up, but I could only imagine the lady she would become if she did. She wore a similar uniform to our Ghostbuster jumpsuit, only tighter. Body armour covering her ribcage and stomach was worn over her jumpsuit, looking almost like a corset. Attached to the rib armour was a few pouches one side, and a handgun the other. This was also about as much talking she did, even when she was awake. I treated he quite well, seeing she had lived a life 100 times more troubled, exciting, and mostly dangerous then I could even have wanted. You know, even though she is asleep, I feel that she knows I’m looking at her. I pointed my vision towards the front of the cabin, Miles Lensherr rode shotgun, with an actual shotgun. Man he scares me. Miles Lensherr first came to us when Tes was infected with one of those spider like ghost symbiotes. He literally kicked our door in, and marched his way in. Graham managed to contain the symbiote within her only thanks to her very strange limited healing ability. Miles cares about this girl more then anything in the world.
Logan Hardphire was piloting this old bucket of bolts. I looked up to the rear vision mirror, only to find Logan’s eye looking right back at me.

‘You OK kid?’ Now Logan doesn’t always act like someone who cares. But as I spent more time with RAPID, he really is the heart of the group.
‘You look nervous man; you wanna tranq to suck on? Fix you right up’ I guess Logan didn’t live in the dust and dirt of the outback as a trapper and not learn how to read people, animals and the odd daemon of hell.
‘I have the strangest feeling. Nerves, but also this odd feeling. Kinda like when you heading to visit an old friend, but unsure of who you really might find.’ I’m pretty sure he hasn’t looked at the road since I noticed him looking at me. Maybe that’s my nervous feeling. He let out a slight sigh.
‘The only old friend I intend to meet up with is my desert eagle. Going to introduce him to a mutant koala or two. They’ll hit it off great. You will be ok kid’ He has taken a liking to calling me kid. ‘Wont be long and Brisbane will be here. Get some sleep’ Logan placed his eyes back on the road. I’m still nervous.
I glanced down at my PKE.
Nothing.

Cold air was creeping over my face, I peeled an eyelid open, and it was still dark. The Ute had stopped, and the Rapid team was standing out side, smoking and chatting amongst them selves. It looked like a nature reserve we were stopped at but it was still to dark to see for sure. I placed a finger into the door latch and pulled it, the door clicked open and I stepped out onto a gravel road. Logan looked over and nodded once, his way of saying hello.

‘Richter! Good to see you alive’ Miles slapped one hand on my back and pushed a cup of coffee into my hand with the other.
‘Thanks’ I placed the cup to my mouth. It was nice to swallow something other then my own spit.
‘Drink up quick mate, this is going to kick off very soon. Contact says the bears weren’t far from this location.’ Then I noticed where we were. The Brisbane Botanical Gardens. Lensherr talked a lot about this ‘contact’ and I have a odd feeling that’s their actual name, ha. Personally I’ve never even seen a drop bear, and from the tales that Logan and Miles have been trading, I don’t really think I want to. So Miles has said many times now, they will wait in the branches of trees, and as there prey walks on by they will drop from the foliage and tear the victim a new one in the progress.

Miles mobile phone began to vibrate on the bonnet of the truck; he looked at Logan then turned away as he answered it.
‘Suit up kid’ Logan pointed towards the back of his Toyota. I turned around and finished my coffee while walking back to the Ute. I looked up from the ground and seen Tes with he leg up on the back of the Ute, she was attaching her rather massive machete Logan calls the ‘pocketknife’ to her thigh. I’ve never met a girl like this one. But I guess there is a serious reason why not. I walked up beside her and slid my proton pack AU 01 from the back of the tray. This is no normal girl. I’d place some serious money on the fact that she isn’t even from this rock. I stood the pack up and turned around as I slid the body armour attachment on. I could feel the weight of the pack, but this new armor was a massive help for long treks with this strapped on your back.

‘Do you mind switching me on?’ I asked Tes. She walked around behind me.
‘…Sure’ she said as she thumbed the power pin. The Pack cracked to life, a little bit of smoke poured out from the compression filter. Tes walked off towards Miles.
‘…Thanks’ I said, but she didn’t hear. I hadn’t used this pack in quite some time now, it’s the first pack that Graham and I converted for the plasma reflux generated by the plasma rifle. I had been using Tikos pack AU04, as he had been wearing the GECKO containment unit, only because he can actually lift it. The GECKO is a wonderful and handy item Graham and I have put together, we managed to compress the containment unit to a manageable size to be worn on the body. Now it can only hold at the moment a max of 10, maybe 12 ghosts but it has been very handy in many multi catch situations, allowing us to carry less traps. Tiko is a great sport too. If I were glad I got to meet any of the guys at Sydney City it would be Tiko, he is another one of those people who have been though more then I would ever want to.

‘Time to move out people’ Miles called. He grabbed his shotgun from the front seat of the Ute, and tossed it over his shoulder into its holster on his back.
‘Charlie, set that blaster to stun. When we spot it, you are going to make it move, get it to go where we want it to. Got it?’ I nodded but gave a doubtful look.
‘I see you haven’t actually tried to aim on of these things,’ I added. He laughed.
‘I’ll do my best’ I added.
‘Tessa, you play running man’ Miles looked over to her. She replied with a half-cocked grin. Something I hadn’t seen before. Emotion.
‘Logan you know what to do’ Logan nodded as he pulled his net cannon from the Ute and perched it on his shoulder.
‘Lets go!’

Miles. Logan and Tes started to head towards the bush. I pulled my wand from the belt clip and started to jog after them. I think they have it easy. Miles insisted that he wanted a pack for the mission, and if Internal Affairs found out an unlicensed person were using a pack, we would pay dearly. So I volunteered for this one.
I could hear Miles saying that his Contact had seen it heading though this bush land. A few paces behind Miles, I tried to keep an eye on him more then anything, and for good reason. He came to a complete stop. I noticed Logan dive off into a bush; Tes I didn’t even see disappear.
Miles raised his hand a gestured for me to come closer. He kneeled down and pointed his index and pointer fingers to his eyes then pointed towards a large hanging branch. I squatted down next to him and pushed my wand towards the tree.
‘Shake it up a bit,’ he whispered. I flipped the safety off, and then gave the trigger a squeeze. Bright orange and blue streams poured from the wand. It cracked and hissed for the first few seconds worse then Id ever heard it do. Really should have tested it before this. Opps. I let off the power and pulled the wand away, snapping the beam shut. And there it was, the nasty little bugger dropped down from the branch and landed on his feet. It stretched out and roared as it hunched back getting ready to pounce towards us. Its fur was black, with silver fuzz lining its underbelly and chest. Its face was very similar to a koala, but teeth, oh so many teeth.
‘Shit’ Miles sighed. ‘LOGAN!’ Miles ripped his gun from its holster, and ran towards the beast. Pumping a round at it. I chased after him. Logan dropped out from a tree not far from the drop bear. The bear launched from the ground to another low tree.
‘That’s fast Miles.’ Logan stood back and watched. ‘Real fast.’ The bear spotted Tes; it let out a howl then started to run towards her as she did it. As she ran she pulled her knife from it’s strapping, holding it mid-body ready to swing. This was just the distraction Logan needed.
‘Eat this…’ Logan said as he pulled the trigger. The Bear slightly paused and looked towards the net heading its way. It jumped but it was too late, the net snagged it and it went tumbling down. Tes continued running to where it landed but the net was ripped and empty.
‘It got away’ She slid her knife back into in its sheath and turned around to face us. Logan collected his net and started to fold it back into the gun. Miles looked to the ground, I could see his eyes darting in every direction, calculating where it went, how far it could be, anything you could think of.
‘Now that it knows we are here, and after it. This is going to get harder.’


We walked for some time. And this pack wasn’t getting any lighter. I think we were also running out of Gardens to search. Tes walked in front. She almost looked lifeless; arms hardly moved with her walk her head slowly changing direction. Miles wasn’t too far behind her, and I followed him. I’m not sure where Logan was. I noticed Miles pause again.
‘Its left the Gardens, Logan says he seen it jump the fence and head towards a block of building not far from the garden’
I’m guessing that they have a headset each.
‘Tes meet up with Logan’ She was gone before he could finish the sentence.
‘Chuck, you and me are recon. Lets get to that building.’

I walked onto the pavement; it was good to stand on solid ground. The sun had just cracked the horizon, and started filling the air with a warm breeze. We waited by the side of the road. Miles and I walked the street, I held my PKE out scanning the area.
‘PKE huh?’ Miles peered over my shoulder. ‘This isn’t just a ghost remember’
‘Correct Miles. This isn’t just a PKE’ Then what I was looking for came to life.
‘I can detect life as well as death. Heartbeats, heat sources etc. Now our little friends’ heart rate would be much faster then an ordinary human. That building there.’ I pointed the PKE towards a run down building with boarded up windows and doors. ‘I’m getting some fast readings from that direction.’
‘Good work Chuck. Dove, we have possible building’ Miles taped his ear to talk to Dove. Who I could only guess was Tes. He also has been talking to an Axe who would have to be Logan.

I looked up the side of the building; it was two stories high, with a large roller door out front and an office looking entrance alongside it. The front door had been boarded up, along with the office window. Miles stood at the roller door, testing the strength of it. He kneeled down and slid his fingers under the door. His arms tensed and he started to lift the door. It made a bending noise and didn’t budge. Miles let go.
‘Hmm. Lets keep looking around.’ Miles turned to walk up to the side alley; I continued to stand at the front door. I looked back to above the main roller door; there was a sign, which had been smashed. Strange sign for an old fire station. Within seconds Logan had arrived with his truck. He rolled out of the front seat. I noticed he was scratched and bleeding a little from his mouth.
‘What happened? Why didn’t you call?’ Miles helped his mate stand properly. Logan spat blood to the ground.
‘These are nasty. Don’t worry we bagged one. It’s in the back. Not the one we found earlier.’ Logan was slightly out of breath. ‘It took out my COM’ He said as he pulled a busted COM piece from behind his ear and tossed it to the ground.
‘Where is Tes then?’ Miles asked, followed by a familiar howl we only heard not to long ago at the gardens. Miles and I walked to the back of Logan’s truck to see the black Drop bear launching from light pole to light pole and Tes not far behind it. I stood back and watched this overgrown koala leap from the last light pole from the building towards us. I pulled my wand up from my waist and took a stance. Miles pushed the nozzle down.
‘Hold off’ he said. The bear took one last leap to the building then quickly slipped inside the building. I spun back around and watched Tes take a tough sprint and soar into the air then take hold of the light pole our little furry mate jumped from, she swung into the air and launched towards the building. Passing over us she slammed into the bricked wall of the structure, then within a heartbeat she scaled a few feet then slipped in after the bear.
‘Damn…’ Logan sighed as he tenderly poked a finger at his slightly swollen lip. ‘So…City huh? I thought these things don’t do the city?’
‘My guess would be that this humble abode is bear nest. Empty building, easy access. Bear Nest.’
I rested my backside on the side of the pickup. That nervous feeling was back.
‘Well that’s our queue’ Miles and Logan ran towards the doors of the old firehouse building. Miles looked at the door followed by one big boot, which rose into the air then launched into the wooden door. The hinges popped and the door went down in seconds.
‘Logan, start setting up some traps. Tessa should hold him up long enough. Charlie, keep an eye out down here’

I watched Miles and Logan disappear into the building. The room I was in was large, looked like a mechanical bay, set up for vehicle servicing. Along one of the walls was a heap of junk with sheets covering them all, along with a bucket load of dust. I walked the whole room. Who ever used this building previously, left here in a hurry. I poked a door open with the nose of my wand. And felt around for a light switch, found it and light began to fill the room. It was a tool room. There was a large workbench towards the back with more crap covered in sheets. But something catches my eye. It was a book.
My Paranormal Way.
I walked towards the book I felt that strange nervous feeling take over my body. It was slightly different to the copy I had, this one more like an original copy. I flicked a few pages; there was hand written notes, notes that don’t appear in my copy. I flipped the book over, and my heart skipped a beat. Towards the bottom of the back cover was written in red maker, Property of Hank Wilson, October 1997. I quickly looked around the room again; my heart continued to race, I rushed over to a large sheeted object. I stood there for a split second, then ripped the sheet away, dust lifted into the air to uncover what looked to be a custom proton rack, which was similar to our rack in the Crewman. I turned towards another dusty sheet. Whipped it back. PKE equipment, and detection gear, just likes the gear on top of all GhostBuster vehicles. I was faintly astonished; there were also spare parts for proton packs and other trinkets lying about. Not your ordinary fire fighting equipment.
‘This is heavy….’ I said to myself. What the hell have I found?
I walked back out of the room. Quickly looked around then noticed a locked door in the corner. On the way to the door I plucked all the sheets in the room, Ionization Decay Meter, Plasmatic Refractor, Field generator and the final sheet were lockers. I looked towards the door, then towards to the lockers. I stopped and wiped the dust from the nameplates.
‘Stoner’
‘Coxon’
‘Wilson. I don’t believe it?’ I stepped back then headed to the locked door. If Henry Wilson was a GhostBuster, why the hell is there no word of it within his book? More importantly how the hell have I never heard of an Australian team before us?
A padlock stood in my way so I took a page from Miles book and put my boot into the lock. The door flung wide open hit the wall. Beyond the door was stairs leading straight down. I entered the doorway and noticed a sign on the door, the dust had slightly shifted to reveal “Containment Room” Once again I felt for a switch. The lights slowly flickered on. Between the bright light and darkness I could see a set of blue lights running in sequence. The lights came steady and down the stairs staring at me was an operational ECTO containment unit. I rushed down the flight of steps, holding the rail as I went. I headed to the unit; it looked old and rundown, just like the original Containment units issued by GBI.
‘Grid is still standing’ I said to myself as I brushed some cobwebs from the controls, a few bugs scattered away, not far from the controls was another book sitting on the panel.
‘Operation Manual for ECTO Containment Unit: Written by Henry Wilson. You are kidding me’ I reached into my pant pocket and slipped my phone out. I dialed Grahams number and waited for it to ring.
With the phone to my ear I looked over my shoulder to spot a bulky safe like door somewhat open. I reached out and grabbed the handle and pulled. Graham Answered.
‘Charlie, what’s up?’
‘Graham, when you first contacted Rich Roy, did he ever mention anything at all about another Ghostbuster unit in Brisbane?’ I pulled the door. The hinges cracked to life and swung open.
‘Only a fan club somewhere north, but that’s about it. Why Charlie?’
My jaw dropped. Within the volt were 3 original proton packs, several PKE units and well over 10 traps as well as 2 Extreme traps and a dismantled Extreme Proton Pack. An original Slime Blower, with a tank full off ectoplasmic mood slime, something we have never been able to get our hands on. I opened a small trunk, inside was a pair of custom proton wrist attachments. Very impressive, And last but not least, leaning on the back wall were a couple of custom proton rifles. Not too unlike the ones we designed for our AU packs.
‘Well Graham, I just found a room full of busting gear, Packs, Traps and even a slime tank. You should be here mate, oh wait, there is a note on the wall’ I walked towards the paper note attached to a pin board. ‘Dear Seeker, You have found the remains of what use to be Ghostbusters Australia. Inside this room is the equipment my men used. I have taken what I need and moved on. I have failed this organization. Signed Henry Wilson’
I stood still.
‘Wilson?’ Graham gasped. ‘As in the same Wilson that wrote the book?’
‘I found another copy here. It is full of his notes and tidbits. There were three of them. Wilson, Ron Coxon, and Martin Stoner. This is mind blowing Graham. What are we going to do with this stuff?’
‘Well I have to suggest getting it into safe hands back here Charlie. Let me open up Google. Ill start some investigating…. Hmm Charlie, Google has nothing. There is nothing at all about a Brisbane team. Let me try Henry Wilson. Nope nothing’ I could hear Graham typing away.
‘Graham, try Hank Wilson’ I told him ‘I noticed most of his notes were signed with as Hank.’
‘Right… Hank Wilson. Well I have a wikipedia entry, but it’s only a small amount talking about his book. Wait, Ron Coxon is mentioned, only as a known associate, interesting. Listen Charlie, Ill get in touch with GBI, maybe Roy or Spangler may know some more detail. As soon as I know ill call.’
‘Thanks Graham, talk soon’ I cancelled the call and slipped the phone away.

‘Chuck, you down there?’ Logan came walking down the stairs ‘Mate there is some gear up here you have to see’ He walked into the safe room. I looked over to him, he looked like he had taken an even bigger beating then the last time I seen him. ‘More?’ Logan said and I nodded.
‘How did you go?’ I asked. While holding one of the rifles I found, it was slightly heavy, but felt good to hold. It had a second handle from the bottom of the rifle.
‘Yeah we got it, there was a nest all right, coupla’ baby ones. We tranq’d em, going to get them back to the wild. Miles had a change of heart once he seen the babies. Damn softy. But what have we found here?’ Logan walked around me and looked at the equipment. ‘Did you know this was here Chuck?’
I shook my head. Well I now understand my nervous curiosity. It was almost as if I was destined to come across this equipment. Now what happened to the Ghostbusters Australia guys?

A few hours passed, the drop bears had been returned to a safer environment, and Logan and I had moved all the equipment to the mechanical bay close to the roller door.
Logan tried the automatic roller door control. He pushed the button next to the door. Nothing happened. He pushed it again; the door started to lift up, and then was quickly followed by a little smoke and a few electrical sparks. He then shrugged, grabbed hold of the chain to manually open the door. The roller door started to rise.

Miles reversed the Ute to the entrance. Then hopped out.
‘Little bit odd that we find this gear, isn’t it?’ Miles stood back and watched Logan and I start stacking the equipment into the Ute. ‘I mean, no one has ever even heard of a Brisbane leg of the Ghostbusters. And this looks like a well-established site. Well was once a well-established site anyway.’
‘There will be a logical explanation. I hope.’ I said as I lifted the last of the proton packs into the Ute. Logan held the last of the traps, and one of the rifles, he placed them into the back. He turned to me,
‘Do you think this Wilson guy will come back for this stuff? Id be pissed if someone stole my gear”
‘No I don’t think he will be back. I have a feeling that something bad happened here Logan. Something that someone wanted to be forgotten.’
‘Hmm…’
‘Graham will work it out, he always does. GBI must have some sort of paper trail for us to follow these guys. Well I think that’s all of it. Ready when you are Miles.’
Miles nodded, and jumped into the drivers seat. Tes stepped into the front, and Logan and I sat in the back. The Ute took off down the road, I looked back again and watched the old fire house flow away.