Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

1

Chris gripped the railing. Beneath his sweat slick palms its smooth metal nipped, prickled and then burnt. He jerked. As they rode the lift to the upper level he saw Barry's face pale. This all seemed so familiar somehow. Items seemed strategically placed for them to find. Either it was mere coincidence or someone thought it was a sick game. If these new creatures were indeed as Barry had said anything was possible.

He watched as the level came into view. Tall bushels of hay and other plant life lined the edges. Their packages looked rather frayed and gnawed as though something had been at them. As Barry stepped from the lift Chris followed, but slowly. They knew not to trust a place just because it seemed quiet. Anything could be lurking near and perhaps could overwhelm them in a moment's notice.

Chris aimed his semi-automatic assault rifle toward a side corner as a piece of paper tumbled from it. It was quiet. Not even the sound of their shoes filtered through the gripping silence. Chris gazed down at his dark boots. The cobblestone beneath his feet was a perfect conductor of noise. Still as they moved nothing, not even a drip manifested audio.

Heavy wet moss dripped foul water that splashed onto overturned empty tin bins. Trash rolled across a section of stone, some beer bottles and soda cans. Still not a sound registered.

Then a voice roared from a distant place. It one exercising definite power as it boomed through the turbulence of clouds and lightning

"I know what your petty minds wonder," it said.

Barry jerked his head. He searched for the source of it, but at last the sky was the only other presence among them. It uncoiled two tentacles like arms. They swirled and churned, descended and gave way to chase as the two men broke into a run. Chris paid only a few glances until he decided it best to not look. Whatever it was it took no hits from Barry's gun. He heard the bullets pass through it and strike stone.

"You are just like the others," it rasped before Chris pulled Barry into a divide in the path.

There they waited until it tried to lash out and they dodged its grasp. Chris rolled under as Barry jumped it. Flames licked at the back of his neck. He wrenched his body to see a wall of them. It towered high above them and he realized, his stomach sickening, that they had been separated. As he scrambled to his feet he heard gun shots and then Barry screaming.

"Barry," he yelled and squinted. The flames burnt much too bright for him to see through them.

He thought about diving through the flames. He thought if he did it fast enough he would not be hurt, but as he drew back and rushed the inferno a smoky tentacle struck out from it and sent him hurling backward.

2

Sheva and Jill gazed out through the bars. With both ends still held by a smoky screen, it was their only chance. Sheva had begun to work at them with a knife, but the stone holding them in place chipped away only very little.

"Do you hear something," Jill whispered.

Sheva paused to listen. "It sounds like something is…."

Inward collapsed a section of wall. Portions of it crumbled and spit larger chunks at them but when the dust settled they saw Chris lying in the debris. Blood and spittle trickled from the corner of his mouth; his eyes were rolled in the back of his head. When he failed to stir Jill began to pull back and turn away, but then Sheva gasped and as she whisked around she saw him roll onto his stomach and spit.

"Chris," Jill cried and helped Sheva clear away heaps of rock and stone from his back and legs.

Chris sat up. For a long moment he did nothing but stare and then he slowly acknowledged Jill and Sheva. There was something strange about his slanted view, but then he coughed and held his sides. He staggered as he stood. Whatever propelled him through the wall must have been… She froze and thought instantly of the creature from the bar and then from the shed.

"Barry," Chris choked and spit. "I think that thing killed Barry." His eyes glazed over as he shifted his attention to his feet. Jill heard the break in his voice as he continued. "Oh, god, I heard him scream! It sounded so horrible."

Sheva covered her mouth. Tears flooded her eyes and as she took adverted her gaze Jill watched as Chris straightened. Not Barry, she thought. He had been like a father to her the last time they met. She had begun to sit on a stone when the note in his voice changed. "But I suppose it was for the best."

Jill and Sheva whipped their heads up to look at him. Slowly he turned and what burnt in his eyes was not the misery he displayed, but tall amber flames.

Jill rolled onto her stomach and found her magnum lying just beyond her reach. She stretched to retrieve it and froze.

Sheva kneeled aiming her shotgun at his skull. Jill was about to shoot out his kneecaps just to keep him from lunging at them. Before she could aim and pull the trigger unseen hands grabbed them and pulled the ground out from under them. Lying on their backs with the air knocked out of their lungs they scrambled to their feet.

Chris shuddered and coughed. He flung himself onto his back. Sheva lowered the gun as his eyes bulged. They were brown again. In them she recognized the Chris she had always known and smiled however, thunderous words alerted her to her present surroundings.

     3

     It’s too late, Jill thought, watching her arm as its muscles contorted, writhed and bulge beneath her ashen skin.  Then she vocalized what she already knew in an uneven and hallow voice.  “I’m not Jill anymore.  It’s too late.”

     Sheva was about to acknowledge her when moaning altered her course.

     “Time composes truth in compassion,” Jill continued.  She started rock back and forth.  “There is no betrayal. Intolerance is a poison. Ignorance kills the mind. I will not fall in its trap. There is no such thing as betrayal."

     Is any of this real? Jill opened her eyes. Clear droplets of rain trickled down her forehead, rolled across her cheeks before finally making a splash in a puddle she sat in. Looking down at herself she shivered. Had it all been a vivid dream? She expected to see Chris standing nearby with Sheva. Hadn't they found her? Hadn't they been together as before or was it all in her mind?

Her focus fell on her hands as she held them up. Purple veins bulged from beneath transparent flesh, cold and numb sequences that bared no resemblance to a living being. It was dead; dead flesh. She took in a shattering breath. Seconds later she coughed, her chest forcing out the assault of fresh air and she quickly staggered to her feet.

     “Jill,” Sheva whispered.

     “Stay away from me,” Jill growled and made her way further toward the massive hole.  She didn’t know how she managed to do so but with a flick of her wrist plaster, wood and dust sewed together to resemble a perfectly stable structure.  No longer was Sheva able to look on as she stumbled forward and into darkness.

     4

Sheva scratched her head. She sat up and grazed the four corner room. This was not right. She felt it. There had been another place, another time where she was supposed to be. Her eyes focused on the soft glow from the hearth. This wasn't real. She tried to remember something…it was close but slipped away from her just as she nearly had it.

"Jill," she said, but did she know a Jill? "Chris, Chris and…" The names poured from her tongue yet she could not put faces to them. She shook her head and stood. Something…something was blocking her. She kept hearing the words "forget" and "remember only…." It drowned out by a swooshing sound. It might have been the wings of a bird or…maybe the splashes of ocean against rocks. She couldn't be sure. She moved inward and bumped into something. As she whirled around she saw a desk and on it a thick pad of paper.

She picked it up. The handwriting was familiar but only vaguely.

May 15th, 2009

Today I met with the true leader. I cannot say whether it is man or woman. It resembles neither and yet can take whatever shape it chooses. I believe it is something not of this earth. I do not tremble in its presence although I do respect it. Its power is greater than anything I have ever experienced. I believe it is for the best if I follow the others and make certain their debauchery does not interfere. Chris especially will feel it as I lead my army toward complete annihilation of every living creature on this ridiculous planet.

She set it aside. Her mind would not surrender to it and as she fought against whatever it was holding her back from recovering lost time she saw it all unfold in a brilliant shower of flashes and images.

It was all a charade. She exhaled sharply.

She gave the room another look over and realized one peculiar thing. There wasn't a door or a window. She thought a moment. Maybe there was a secret exit. It might be hidden along the wall. With that she began to press inch by inch on the north wall first. When it checked out to be just an ordinary wall she moved to the east wall. It too was a mere wall. Still, she wasn't about to give up. She searched the South wall, moved carefully around the fireplace and then along the west wall.

"S**t," she said and was about to sink to her knees in despair when she heard a voice behind her.