The Conqueror Worms Page 18

  Taz kicked a round object with the toe of his boot. The object skittered across the floor towards me.

  It was a human heart. Worms crawled through the meat.

  I turned away, gagging. Bile crept up my throat.

  “You okay?” Juan asked.

  I nodded, unable to speak.

  We came to the end of the hallway, and Juan pointed to a closed door marked exit. As we approached it, my breath caught in my throat. I imagined a dozen blackrobed Satanists on the other side, their daggers held high, just waiting to jump us.

  Taz nudged the door open with the barrel of his gun, and the hinges squeaked. Flakes of rust and chipped paint showered us from above. The stairwell was pitch black and quiet. After a moment, we slowly started up toward the roof, with Taz now in the lead. The darkness seemed almost palpable, like a living thing, pressing against me. My faltering hand found the cold handrail, and I felt like screaming. I gripped my pistol tighter.

  Carefully, we continued upward, one floor, then two. We could hear the chanting clearly now, along with the crackle of the flames and the frightened cries of the captives.

  “This is the top floor,” Juan breathed in my ear. “The roof is on the other side of the door. Be ready and be quick. Don’t freak out on us, Kevin.”

  I felt him leave my side, and I started to hyperventilate. I tried to swallow and found that I couldn’t. There was a slight scuffling sound as Juan and Taz moved towards the door. Standing next to me, Ducky mouthed a Hail Mary.

  I had time to wonder if there really was a heaven, and if so, would I be welcome there.

  Then Taz kicked the door open and all hell broke loose.

  “Neighborhood watch!” He opened fire. “You motherfuckers are bringing the property values down! Consider yourselves evicted!”

  Everything happened very quickly after that. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I guess I thought that everything would happen in slow motion, like in a movie. But it didn’t. Juan followed Taz through the doorway and began shooting as well. I heard gunshots and an explosion, unintelligible shouts and then more gunfire. My ears were ringing and the gunshots reverberated in my chest.

  Juan and Taz were both screaming, and I was surprised to find myself screaming, too, as I burst out the door behind them. The rain lashed at my face. The bonfire had turned night into day, and the flickering flames cast weird shadows around us.

  About three dozen Satanists were gathered on the roof. None of them had weapons, except for the ones guarding the prisoners and a guy who must have been the leader or high priest. He clutched a long, curved dagger and held an old, leather-bound book in his other hand. The only part I could make out was the title, illuminated in the flashes of light from Juan’s M-16. It was in Latin or something—Daemonolateria. The leader recited from it, shouting over the roar of the machine guns, seemingly oblivious to the hail of lead around him.

  “Ia verminus Leviathan! Ia destrato Leviathan! Leviathan!”

  Christian and Louis were lying at the far edge of the roof, still chained to the cinder blocks. The woman and her baby cowered next to them. The two cultists standing guard over them ducked behind an air-conditioning vent for cover and returned fire. Juan unleashed a barrage in their direction. As Ducky opened fire next to me, I watched in horror as one of the men darted forward, picked up the baby and flung it into the water without hesitation. There was a splash and the mother shrieked.

  “Oh my God—” My mouth went dry.

  “God does not live here,” a voice hissed into my ear. Something heavy slammed into my back and I fell to the roof. Rolling, I managed to get a knee up just as the attacker leapt for me. My knee sank into his abdomen, and the air whooshed out of his lungs. His sour breath reeked, and I turned my head to cough. He punched me in the face and my teeth rattled. Blood filled my mouth, warm and salty. My stomach churned, and I felt nauseous. His weight crushed me.

  “You have interrupted the ceremony,” he growled. “Leviathan will not be pleased. He’s waiting to meet you, under the sea. I will take you to him, after I wring your scrawny neck!”

  His meaty hands closed around my throat. I swung the pistol, knocking him in the temple with the butt, and he rolled off of me, groaning as the blood began to flow from his scalp. Several more Satanists closed in on my position. A second later, something that sounded like a swarm of angry bees ripped through the air, dropping them where they stood. Gunfire.

  “Go,” Juan shouted at me. “Get them untied, and hurry!”

  Ducky was already halfway across the roof. The Satanist who had thrown the baby into the water picked up the cinder block attached to the screaming mother and tossed it over the side as well. She had time to let out one terrified shriek as the chain trailed along behind it and then she was gone, jerked over the side.

  “Motherfucker!” Ducky aimed, fired, and the man’s kneecap disintegrated. He fired again, and kept firing, finally severing both of the man’s legs. Then Ducky rushed forward, pointing the smoking gun at the other guard. The second man scurried away in fear, then grabbed Louis and used him as a human shield.

  “Don’t come any closer! Shoot me and you shoot him too!”

  “Shit…” Ducky froze.

  Louis met our eyes and then suddenly rammed his head backward, smashing into his captor’s nose. Blood gushed down the Satanist’s face and chest. Louis wrenched away and fell forward onto his stomach.

  He looked up at Ducky. “Shoot him!”

  Ducky did. His gun sang out and the Satanist toppled over the side of the building, his hands clawing at the edge for purchase. His fingers closed around Louis’s ankle, and Louis began to slide with him. I ran forward, but both men went into the water before I could reach them. I saw Louis’s head disappear beneath the waves.

  “Get Christian untied,” I yelled to Ducky, and then I tossed my gun aside and jumped in after them.

  The surface of the ocean was hard and sharp. It felt like I’d dived into a sheet of ice. My skin stung as the cold water closed over me. It was dark at first, but then I noticed a strange, green glow coming from the depths below me. It was bright enough that I could make out Louis, sinking like a stone. There was no sign of the woman or her baby. Kicking with all of my strength, I swam after Louis. His terrified eyes pleaded with me. It sounds impossible. There’s no way I could have seen it underwater, and yet, I did. The green light illuminated everything. Louis opened his mouth to scream and black water rushed in. I reached out my hand—and that was when it happened.

  Something long and thick uncoiled from the center of the green light, spiraled towards us, and wrapped itself around Louis’s feet. A tentacle. It flexed and then he was gone, pulled into the light.

  He vanished inside the glow, and the last thing I saw were his eyes, wide and terrified and still very much alive. I think that image will stay with me till the day I die.

  Another tentacle rose toward me and dozens more followed in its wake. Frantic, I kicked for the surface. One of the tendrils brushed against my foot and I opened my mouth to scream, forgetting that I was underwater. Frigid salt water rushed into my lungs. The tentacle caressed my ankle. I lashed out with my foot, knocking it away.

  My head broke the surface. Gagging, I clutched a drainpipe and hauled myself upward. The metal surface was slick, and I started to slide back down toward the water. Something splashed below me and I struggled back up again, afraid to look behind. Finally, I rolled onto the roof and coughed up water. I shrank away from the edge, watching for more of the tentacles, and retrieved my Sig, remembering that I still only had two shots left in it.

  It took me a few seconds to realize that the shooting was over. Black robed bodies littered the roof, their blood already being washed away by the rain. Ducky had untied Christian and was checking him for injuries, while Taz kept guard at the stairway door. Juan stood over the cult leader’s supine form. The dagger and the leather spell book lay next to him. The book was open in the middle, the pages drenched, red ink running and blur
ring together. Juan pressed the smoking barrel of the M-16 against the Satanist’s heaving chest.

  “You-you don’t know what you’ve done,” the leader squealed. “The Rain Gods will be angered now. You have deprived them of their bounty. They will destroy us all in retaliation! We summoned them—brought them all back with the rains.”

  “Rain Gods,” Juan snorted. “You mean like the fucking mermaid we killed earlier?”

  The man’s eyes grew alarmed. “You killed the siren? You fool! Don’t you realize the consequences?”

  Juan spat in his face. “She killed one of our people.”

  The leader snarled as Juan’s spittle ran down his face. “Leviathan is coming now! He wants revenge. You have killed his beloved and halted his sacrifices. You will pay dearly for these transgressions. Leviathan is slow to rise, but when he does, you shall know his anger. It is written in the Daemonolateria. Leviathan is coming. He of a thousand tentacles!”

  The wounded man began to laugh and turned his face toward the sea. Blood poured from his mouth and nose.

  “You worship this thing?” Juan asked. “This Leviathan?”

  “Yes.”

  “And he’s coming here?”

  “Oh yes. Very soon.”

  “Well then, I guess you won’t be around to meet him.”

  With the barrel still pressed against the leader’s chest, Juan squeezed the trigger.

  I flinched and looked away. When I turned back to them, Juan had rolled the corpse over with his foot. The man’s back was a gaping ruin.

  Juan ejected his magazine and slid a fresh one into place. “How’s it look, Taz?”

  “Quiet. I think they must have all been up here.”

  “Christian, can you walk?”

  He nodded weakly and then struggled to his feet. He stumbled towards me, but Ducky caught him.

  “Easy, dawg. I got you.”

  “K-Kevin,” Christian stammered, “where’s Louis?”

  I opened my mouth, closed it, and shook my head. Christian began to sob.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Juan said quietly.

  I pulled him aside while Ducky helped Christian limp towards the stairs.

  “What’s up?” Juan asked.

  “I figured you should know. There was—something in the water.”

  “What kind of a something? Another mermaid?”

  “No. I’m not sure what it was. All I saw was a weird green light. And tentacles. Big fucking tentacles. Some of them were the size of tree trunks.”

  He stared at me and I knew he believed me. At that same moment, the blazing fire suddenly went out. The roof was pitched into darkness.

  “Shit,” he said. “We’d better get going.”

  I stumbled as we walked towards the door. I glanced down and saw that I had tripped over the book. Pausing, I knelt down to examine it. The soggy pages were ruined now, unreadable. I wondered if that had something to do with the fire going out.

  We entered the dark stairwell.

  “What was the priest babbling about?” I asked as we ran down the stairs. “He said they started the rains?”

  Taz swept the hallway with his rifle, but it was clear. “They said all kinds of shit. Talking loud and saying nothing.”

  “Keep moving,” Juan said.

  Instead of continuing the discussion, I concentrated on conserving my breath.

  We made it back to the raft, and untied it as quickly as we could. We pushed off, with Ducky and I rowing again. The night was strangely quiet, except for Christian’s stifled cries.

  I reached out and touched his shoulder. “I’m sorry about Louis.”

  “Thanks, Kevin. I mean that. Did he—did he suffer? Was it over quick?”

  I thought about Louis’s eyes as the tentacle pulled him down into that weird ball of light.

  “No,” I lied. “It was over quick. He never felt a thing.”

  Christian smiled sadly. “After all we’ve been through together, I just can’t believe—”

  Something jumped out of the water in front of us. A dolphin. It chattered in alarm and then plunged back into the water.

  Taz leaned forward. “What the hell was that all about? I thought they were supposed to be friendly and shit.”

  The ocean suddenly came to life around us. Massive schools of fish plowed through the waves. More frenzied dolphins leapt from the water. In the distance, I spied the black hump of a whale. A flock of seagulls wheeled overhead, screeching in what sounded like fear.

  All of them were hurrying away from the area.

  “What the fuck’s this shit?” Ducky shouted. “The fucking fish gonna attack us now?”

  “Something’s spooked them.” Juan pointed his rifle at the surface. “They’re fleeing from something. Row faster!”

  We did. He didn’t need to tell me. I thrust that makeshift paddle into the water like a knife through butter. My heart raced in my chest.

  “Animals can predict earthquakes,” Christian pointed out. “Does the same go for fish?”

  A triangular fin broke the surface just a few feet away, and I saw the gray, sleek body of a shark beneath it. Taz drew a bead on the shark, but Juan pushed the rifle barrel down.

  “Don’t shoot.”

  “It’s a fucking shark, Juan! You seen Jaws?”

  “It’s not after us. See? It’s swimming away, too. Leaving the area.”

  We were about halfway back when we heard a great, sonorous bellow—part whale, part subway train—deep and powerful and extremely pissed off, by the sound.

  Ducky jumped, and almost dropped his oar. “What the fuck was that?”

  “Look!” Christian pointed back the way we’d come.

  At first, I didn’t understand what I was looking at. The Trade Center building was barely visible, its walls engulfed in a quivering, snaking mass of shadows. Then I realized that the shadows were tentacles. There were hundreds of them, covering the walls and the roof. I followed them down to the ocean’s surface, and I screamed.

  A great, bulbous head emerged from the water, the size of a hot air balloon. In fact, that’s what it reminded me of—a rubber, obsidian balloon—like what you’d see in a Halloween parade. Even from a distance, I could see its huge, teardrop-shaped eyes, glaring at us with a clearly malevolent intelligence.

  “Row!” Juan shouted again. It sounded like something inside his throat ripped.

  A loud, explosive crash rumbled behind us as the creature began to tear the building apart. Powerful limbs squeezed, cracking the concrete. They coiled around the steel girders, twisting and bending them with monstrous strength.

  A corner edge of the building splashed into the water, sending a massive wave surging towards us. It rocked our makeshift raft, threatening to capsize us. We held on, clinging for support. Wave after wave crashed into us, and then the waters subsided again.

  Ducky and I rowed as fast as we could. My arms ached by the time we arrived back at our building. The rest of the group stood on the roof, watching in horror as the entire Trade Center crashed into the ocean. Lee tied us off securely and we scrambled off the raft.

  We quickly filled the others in on everything that had transpired over at the Trade Center—the graffiti, the Satanists and that weird spell book, the fight, and Louis’s death. They’d been watching through the telescope, but the thickening fog obscured much of the battle and they still had questions.

  “What the hell is that thing?” Mike shouted.

  “Apparently,” Juan gasped, trying to catch his breath, “according to the cultists, it’s the husband of that mermaid we killed earlier.”

  “They called it Leviathan,” I said.

  “Leviathan?” Anna asked. “You mean like in the Bible? The thing that swallowed Jonah?”

  “It’s a Kraken,” Salty said. “I tried to tell you, but nobody believed me.”

  “Don’t start with that shit again,” Sarah snapped. “Not now. That’s the last thing we need.”

  Lashawn hugged Duck
y and Taz both. Sarah draped a blanket over Christian’s shoulders, but it was as wet as everything else, and I doubt it provided him much comfort. Lori ran to me and I hugged her tight, our wet bodies shivering against each other as we watched the destruction. Danielle, James, and Malik cowered against Anna. Danielle began to cry, and a moment later, the boys joined her.

  The squid creature’s rage echoed across the ocean like thunder. It heaved itself forward and then sank beneath the waves, sending a plume of water thirty feet into the air.

  “What’s it doing now?” Lashawn asked.

  “I think,” Juan said, “that it’s coming for us.”

  He was right.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Believe it or not, for some strange reason, we didn’t run or panic. Maybe we couldn’t. It was as if we were all suddenly paralyzed. We stood transfixed, fear rooting our feet to the roof as the creature approached our building. Its sleek, black body surfaced again, cutting through the waves, and then submerged. Part of it looked like a squid and part of it looked like a giant snake. I caught a glimpse of an appendage resembling a big, membranous wing, but the spray concealed it before I could verify that’s what it was.

  The storm intensified. The raindrops stung our exposed flesh, splattering against our faces like bugs on a windshield. Thunder grumbled overhead and blue flashes of lightning seared the weeping sky, turning night to day. The waves crashed against the building, their size and intensity increasing the closer the monster came.

  “It’s a Kraken,” Salty said again. “Just like what I saw before.”

  “Shut up, old man,” Sarah snapped.

  Lee sank to his knees in a puddle and began to laugh.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Taz growled.

  “It’s fucking Cthulhu, man,” Lee cackled. “Just like in the role playing game!”

  “What are you talking about?” Juan asked.

  “Cthulhu! H. P. Lovecraft’s big, ugly squid god? Lives under the sea? Has a head like an octopus? That is not dead which can eternal lie, et cetera, et fucking cetera? Any of that ring a bell with you?”