The Last Rite

by Chad Morgan

Bethany looked up to see the professor’s gaze locked on the wolf. Bethany had feared the wolf at first too and was about to tell the professor she was a nice wolf, but the two of them were locking eyes. Bethany knew a knowing look, she and the Professor shared one before when Charlie had handed her into the Professor’s care. Bethany didn’t understand what the Professor and the wolf had to do with each other, but as the wolf turned around and vanished into the darkness, she could see the awe on the Professor’s face, and she knew there was more going on than she was told.

  Thinking back on all she already knew, she wondered if she could handle any more information.

  33

  Daniel had to keep Lisa talking. It was more than stalling for time, Daniel could hear Lisa slipping from him. Her tone grew more sinister, her voice less human as the conversation continued. He couldn’t let her go. He promised he would get her out of here, get her safe.

  Plus, once she stopped talking, the other spider monsters would attack.

  “Lisa?” he called to her. “You can still talk. You can fight it. You’re still you.”

  “They’re keeping a small part of me alive so I can talk to you. Then, I’ll go into wonderful oblivion,” she said.

  He heard the effort in her voice, and he wanted to believe it was Lisa straining to break through, but that wasn’t the vibe Daniel was getting. It was more like an alcoholic trying to refuse a drink, like the thing that was taking Lisa over was using all its self-control to not devour Lisa entirely.

  “What did you mean, destroy everything?” Daniel asked.

  “Once the gate is open forever,” Lisa said, “the darkness will consume the light until it is all devoured.”

  “Why?” Daniel asked. “Why would you want that?”

  “Your world is an abomination,” she said. “Your god gave you life, a soul, and what have you done with it? You kill, you lie, you poison the very planet that sustains you. You, my dear Daniel Burns, along with all of creation, is a failed experiment, and once the last rite is performed, it will finally come to an end.”

  “Then go ahead and kill me already!” Daniel shouted. He gestured to the other spider monsters. “These things have been trying to kill me for three days now! Why wait?”

  Lisa crouched on her long spider legs. Though she still hung in the air, she leaned forward and stared into Daniel’s eyes. Up close, Daniel could see a red glow dancing over her eyes. “But you’re almost one of us now. We can smell it. How did you last this long? Tell us your secret, Daniel.”

  “I don’t know,” he said. It was the truth. He didn’t know why Lisa didn’t change until now, or why his infection seemed to be on the verge of taking him over, only to recede. He wished he did know. Then he could maybe save Lisa.

  She studied him. “Interesting. No matter. Soon you will be one of us, and you’ll help us complete the last rite.”

  “And how am I going to do that?” Daniel asked.

  “The key must be forsaken, her innocence taken for the gate to be open forever,” Lisa said.

  That made some sense when compared to what Anna wrote in her diary. They drove Anna to suicide so she would abandon Bethany, but they didn’t know about him. The old woman had gambled on . . . what? His paternal instincts? His sense of duty? Whatever her thoughts, the old woman calculated that Daniel wouldn’t give up finding Bethany, but why? What was the point? He met Lisa’s red-glinted stare and asked, “What are you saying?”

  Lisa’s smile widened, further than it could have when she was just human. “Bethany’s blood will usher in the end of all creation.”

  His ear heard Bethany’s name and was only vaguely aware Lisa had said something about the end of the world. He clenched his fists. “I’m not letting that happen.”

  “Oh, Daniel,” she said. She stood up to her full height, half as tall as the mezzanine level. “In a short while, you won’t care what we do to Bethany.”

  Daniel bolted for his shotgun. He slid feet-first between the long, narrow legs of the nearest spider-monster like he was coming into home plate. His shotgun was buried under a mound of webbing, but he grabbed the protruding barrel and put his knee on the stock. Yanking hard, using his knee as a fulcrum and anchoring himself with the other, he pulled the shotgun out of the webbing with a wet squelching noise. It took all his strength, but once it gave it did so all at once, and Daniel fell over onto his back. The shotgun in hand, he spun around and fired up into the nearest spider-monster. He saw the thing’s second head from its midsection, what was left of the second person that had been fused to the first to make the monstrosity, scream silently in pain. A large chunk of the thing was blown away, and the black blood plopped onto the floor. The abomination’s main head screamed as it tilted over and fell to the ground.

  As Daniel pulled himself to his feet, the second spider monster charged after him. Daniel raised his shot gun to fire, but the monster reached out with a thick leg from its midsection and struck the top of the neighboring bookshelf, pulling it down onto of Daniel. He jumped out of the way, but it rained books on him and the bookshelf knocked him down. It landed on his leg, cushioned by the books but the weight pinning him. Daniel struggled to pull himself free as the sharp sword-like leg of the spider monster pierced the floor by his head. He looked up to see the other front leg rising up, readying to impale him. Behind the thing, Lisa hovered and watched with a wide grin. There was no internal struggle in her eyes, no doubt, just the eager anticipation for Daniel’s death.

  Daniel aimed the shotgun, but he knew it was too late. The sword-like arm streaked towards his heart, but right before he could feel the sharp point split through his ribcage, the wolf, arching through the air, grabbed the leg with her powerful jaws. The force was enough to pull the leg off target and miss Daniel’s head, though only by a finger’s width. He heard the foot crack the tile by his ear, the wolf growling with the leg still in her teeth. Daniel aimed the shotgun, but the abomination jumped and jostled as it tried to shake the wolf free, and Daniel couldn’t get a clear shot. The monster swung it wide, and the wolf flew into the air. Daniel couldn’t see it land, but he heard the yelp as it hit the floor. Before Daniel could fire, however, there was a thwack, followed by an arrow piercing the abomination’s hide. The wound bubbled as if the arrow made its black blood boil. Another thwack, and another arrow, this time going through its head. It fell to the ground, smoke hissing out of the two arrow wounds.

  Daniel fought against the bookcase and tried to wiggle out from under it when he found one of those arrows pointing at his forehead. The man holding it had a dark complexion, a handsome and clean-shaven face with a prominent nose. He wore a business suit, and his first thought was he was one of them, but he wore his suit more casually. The jacket was open and wore no tie, but what cinched it for Daniel was the necklace dangling in the tie’s place. It was the same one Lisa had worn before one of the child monsters ripped it off her. The arrow, now that he could see it up close, was familiar. He had pulled a similar arrow out of a dog monster when he first started this insane adventure into hell.

  “You still Daniel Burns?” the man with the bow asked.

  “Uh, so far?” Daniel replied, not sure he understood the question.

  Daniel was relieved to see the man relax his bow, the arrow pointed away from his face. “Good,” the man said.

  The man put his bow down and began helping Daniel out from under the fallen bookcase. The shelf was heavy, solid wood. What else would it be from a logging town, Daniel thought. The man pulled while Daniel pushed.

  “Lisa,” Daniel grunted as he pushed. “She’s turning into one of those things.”

  “Who?” the man said, also grunting as he pulled up the end of the heavy bookshelf.

  “My friend, Lisa,” Daniel said, working his way from under the bookcase. His legs were free but had no room to bend, so he had to pull himself out by his arms. “She’s infected or whatever.”

  “One problem at a time, please,” the man said, the strain in his voic
e telling Daniel the man couldn’t hold it up much longer. “Can’t shoot and lift at the same time.”

  Daniel pulled himself out far enough to allow his legs to move. Not a lot, but enough to push him the rest of the way out. He got to his feet, his shotgun in his hands, and the man with the bow let the bookcase drop. The books muffled the sound, but it was still too loud for Daniel’s comfort. The man opened his mouth to speak, presumably to introduce himself when the wolf let out a bark. Both men spun around to see a dark form crawling over the rail of the mezzanine and disappearing down rows of books. Daniel turned his head and saw the man with his bow back in his hand, pulling the string taut. Daniel pushed the man’s arm just as the arrow flew. The arrow hit a bookshelf, the wood splintering while the arrow appeared undamaged.

  “No, don’t shoot her,” Daniel said. “We have to help her.”

  The man looked at Daniel with a kind of amused frustration, like a parent trying to teach something to a child. “I would if I could, friend, but you’ll be lucky enough if I can help you.”

  Daniel wasn’t sure what the man meant by that, about what help he was offering, but he had to help Lisa. “I promised her I’d get her out of here.”

  A sharp laugh echoed through the library. Both men looked for the source, even the wolf, but the bouncing sound made it impossible to pinpoint the source. Lisa said, “You failed, Daniel. You can’t save me, you can’t save Bethany, you couldn’t save Anna . . . you can’t even save yourself.”

  Lisa continued to laugh. The man with the bow looked at Daniel with a smile and said, “Charming. I mean, not my type, but I can see the attraction.”

  “Charlie Lightfoot,” Lisa taunted from somewhere above them in the mezzanine level. “Your whole family has been such a nuisance. Well, not your whole family. Your cousin was so delicious. Her soul was so sweet. We savored every last bite.”

  The man, Lightfoot, dropped his smile. His eyes darted to the mezzanine, looking for Lisa. “Okay, the bitch is going down.”

  “I said no,” Daniel said. “We can still save her. She’s still her . . .”

  “Dude, she has nine-foot-long spider legs,” the man interrupted. “I don’t think that’s normal, do you?”

  “Who the hell are you, anyway?” Daniel asked.

  “Charlie,” the man said, then added, “We have your daughter.”

  “What?” Daniel turned on Charlie, a reaction the man apparently didn’t expect. Daniel shoved Charlie with the length of the shotgun against Charlie’s chest until they slammed against another bookcase. The shotgun slid up under Charlie’s chin and pushed against his throat as Daniel shouted, “Where is my daughter?”

  “Easy, she’s safe,” Charlie said through his constricted throat. “I rescued her, then I came to get you.”

  Daniel studied the man for a moment. Charlie made no move to fight back, letting Daniel conclude on his own that they were on the same side. Daniel backed away, pulling the shotgun away from Charlie’s throat.

  “Where is she?” Daniel demanded to know.

  Charlie rubbed his throat. “Safe. Where those things can’t get to her. At least not yet.”

  Daniel noticed the wolf watching them. Maybe the canine was trying to figure out the thought processes of humans, but not for the first time, Daniel thought there was an intelligence to the animal that was beyond natural. Daniel backed away from the man with the bow, this Charlie Lightfoot, and stared up at the mezzanine, looking for Lisa.

  “Lisa?” he called out. “Can you hear me?”

  From behind him, Daniel heard Charlie grumble, “You’re welcome, by the way.”

  “Lisa?” Daniel continued, ignoring the snarky remark. “Focus on my voice. Come down here. Talk to me.”

  Lisa dropped down in the center of the library, right in front of Daniel. She landed on the long spider legs, acting like shock absorbers as her human body bobbed and settled. Daniel heard Charlie pull his bow string taut, but he held up his hand to stop Charlie.

  “No, damn it!” he snapped to Charlie, then to Lisa he said, “Can you hear me?”

  Lisa danced on her spider legs, and it reminded Daniel of a dog at the edge of a pool, not wanting to dive in but wanting a ball floating just out of reach. The monster in Lisa wanted to rip and slash Daniel apart, but for the first time, he saw the Lisa he knew inside, fighting to regain her identity.

  “Daniel,” Charlie called out.

  Daniel ignored him. “I can help you, Lisa.”

  “Daniel, this is like a horror movie cliché,” he heard Charlie say from behind him.

  “I’m not giving up on you, Lisa. Look.” Daniel never took his eyes off of Lisa, but he knelt down and laid his shotgun on the floor. With his hands up, he stood back up.

  “Okay, now it’s a bad horror movie cliché,” Charlie said, and without looking Daniel could tell Charlie was rolling his eyes.

  “Do you hear me, Lisa?” Daniel said. “I’m not giving up on you.”

  “We’re . . . they’re counting on you to give up,” Lisa said. “Or die. Or join them . . . us . . . Daniel?”

  Daniel saw her, saw the fear in her eyes, that part of Lisa that was still there. He reached out and caressed her face. “I’m here, Lisa.”

  “I can’t fight it, Daniel,” she said, tears pooling in her eyes. “We want to devour you so badly . . . I can’t . . .”

  “Stay with me,” Daniel said to Lisa.

  “Daniel,” Charlie said from behind him. “We need to leave before more of her friends arrive.”

  As if Charlie’s words were a trigger, Lisa was gone, and the monster was back. Daniel pulled his hand away and stepped back as Lisa’s face sharpened. The sinister smile grew back on her face.

  “We’re already here,” the Lisa-monster said.

  From outside the library, something started banging on the barricaded doors.

  34

  The business suit man stood in the street in front of the library, his partner to his right, as a small army of abominations swarmed over the library. Burns was in there. Better yet, so was Lightfoot. He could get them both at once. Burns’ little friend had turned, and now she was connected to the other abominations, feeding them intel. He ordered the attack, sending every abomination nearby. He felt powerful, watching his troops execute his commands. He wondered if this was how Patton felt, or MacArthur, or Hitler.

  He was pulled from his thoughts when his partner asked, “Why are we doing this?”

  He looked down at her. The answer, to him, was obvious. “We’re following orders.”

  “I understand that,” she said, staring forward at the attack on the library. “But what is the point of all this?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t care.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. No, he didn’t know why BEC was ordering them to perform the last rite, but he knew what it was going to do, and he couldn’t wait. Let the universe be wiped clean and start over. It was going to be beautiful.

  “We’re a business,” his partner said. “Where is the profit in all of this?”

  Of course, she saw this as a business deal. That was who she was, so he had to put it in terms she could understand. “In every contract, each party gives up something in order to gain something else.”

  That pulled her attention off the attack and onto him. “What are you saying?”

  He smiled. He liked having more information than his partner. Information was power, and he had shared enough. “I’m saying we may not see the big picture. We do what we’re instructed to do and don’t ask questions.”

  The business suit man watched his troops swarm the library like ants, all organized and working as a cohesive unit. Even his best military units never worked in such coordination.

  “But you don’t want to ask questions, do you?” he heard his partner ask.

  He turned back to her and studied her. Nothing on her face gave anything away, but there was a hint, something under the surface that he didn’t like. As if she sensed
he was getting too close to her confidential thoughts, she stormed off away from the battle. He watched her walk off.

  A large abomination, the kind with a long snake-like arm, walked up beside him. It stood there like a lieutenant, awaiting its orders. The business suit man said to the monster, “She may be becoming a liability. We might have to consider terminating her.”

  The cacophony of bangs and scratches against the walls and doors echoed through the library. The wolf barked, but not at the monsters outside or at the thing that used to be Lisa, but at Daniel, as if to tell him it was time to leave. Charlie aimed his bow at Lisa, and his feelings on the situation were clearer.

  “Daniel, step aside,” Charlie said. “We need to go. Now!”

  Daniel kept his eyes on Lisa, who was staring down at them like a cat who had cornered a mouse. “I boarded up the doors. They can’t get in.”

  “I did,” Charlie said.

  Daniel looked to Charlie. At the time, Daniel hadn’t had time to do anything but accept his good fortune, but now that it was said, it was like an icicle pierced his heart. Charlie had gotten into the library, so that meant an access point he missed. Charlie looked at him and shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t leave Lisa like this, but Charlie was right – they were short on time.

  Daniel turned back to the Lisa-thing. He reached out to her. “Lisa.”

  She looked at Daniel with soft eyes, and for a moment Daniel thought he was reaching her, but as he reached out for her, Lisa let out a hiss as she reared back. She raised one of her spider legs to strike. Daniel backed away from the sharp tip of the limb but tripped over his shotgun and fell to the floor. The leg came down at the same time Charlie let his arrow fly. The arrow hit the soft joint where the leg melted into Lisa’s back, and the leg seemed to melt away at the impact point. Lisa recoiled and screamed as the limb fell off and landed beside Daniel. Charlie readied another arrow, but Lisa’s gaze was not on the archer but on Daniel. Even when she attacked him in the apartment, she didn’t look as angry as she did now. She leaped, arcing in the air and coming down on top of him, reaching out for Daniel’s neck with her human hands.