Fearful Fathoms: Collected Tales of Aquatic Terror (Vol. I - Seas & Oceans)

by Richard Chizmar

  She untied the rope and gave it a few tugs. The end of the rope flapped around like a restless snake and then lifted upward into the night air.

  Madison ducked below the window and lit one of her candles with her lighter, protecting the flame with her body from the wind. She waited patiently, not moving a muscle until her friend arrived safely.

  Finally, she heard labored breathing and noticed a shadow slip over to the window ledge. Alice crawled through and leaned against the wall, catching her breath. Then she untied the rope from around her waist and hugged Madison.

  “I’m proud of you,” Alice said. She set her pack down and lit a lantern. The light shone down the hallway like a small sun in a galaxy of dark doorways.

  Alice noticed a piece of plastic on the wall holding a map. She wedged her knife behind the cover and pried until it shattered, then grabbed up the map inside and brought it into one of the offices, setting it down on a desk full of dust and dead flies. Although the paper was faded and had considerable water damage, it was still readable.

  “See here?” Alice said. “It says Fifth Floor Recovery Unit. This is where people used to go to get better after surgery. I brought my daughter Lillian to a place like this, many years ago.”

  “Were there nurses here to take care of her?” Madison asked.

  “Yes. They had nurses take care of her until she got better. She had cancer, Maddie. She lived a few more years.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “That was a long time ago, before the waters rose and the Great Ocean covered the world. That was before people started worshipping the Old Gods and changing into the Deep Ones.”

  Madison nodded in understanding. She knew of the Old Gods, but didn’t understand much of the details. The women in Upper Eden weren’t allowed to worship the Old Gods, for fear of the change coming upon them. The Chancellor had even allowed a Catholic service every Sunday in the cafeteria, although Madison hardly ever went. The hymns reminded her of going to church with her parents when she was younger. It always made her uncomfortable.

  Alice pointed to the map. “Okay—we're right here, at the Janitor Station. There's a staircase on the other side of the floor, right next to the elevator shaft. We just need to find it.”

  “Do the stairs lead all the way down?”

  “Almost. They lead to the second floor. An escalator in the lobby leads down to the first.”

  “That’s a moving stairway, right?”

  “That’s right. But it doesn’t move anymore.”

  “Oh.”

  “We need to move fast and quiet the whole way. If you hear anything, hide as quickly as you can. You still have that knife?”

  Madison motioned to her boot, to the knife handle poking out.

  “Good,” Alice said. “Now let's get going.”

  * * *

  Alice and Madison trudged through a maze of debris and dark hallways. High above, ceiling tiles were stained brown where rainwater had gushed through over the years. Twice they had to stop and wait for the rain to lessen, or else get drenched, possibly extinguishing their light. But they continued moving forward, winding through the crumbling corridors, using the lantern as their only source of illumination.

  Madison was fine with the encroaching darkness surrounding her on all sides; she just wanted to get away from the frog-talk as soon as possible. The croaking had lessened considerably, but still, the thought of hundreds of Deep Ones chanting outside to some ancient god still creeped her out.

  They traversed crumbling ceiling tiles and hopped over barricades made of concrete slabs and rebar. At one point a gigantic hole blocked their way, as if a bomb had detonated and tore through the carpeted floor. They found an alternate route through an abandoned cafeteria and continued onward.

  After an hour of travel, the terrain became more hospitable, with less debris in their way, and with less dust peppering their lungs through each intake of breath. They quickened their pace and sped past hospital rooms containing bed frames and blood bags hanging from metal racks and looking like decaying jellyfish. They came to a gigantic hallway containing old desks and computers—a place Alice called a “Receptionist’s Center.” The entire wing of the hospital funneled toward the elevators at the opposite end of the hallway. A single closed doorway stood next to it.

  Madison felt relieved. She was about to sprint toward the door, but Alice stopped her dead in her tracks. The young girl was so excited about finding the door that she didn’t see what was right in front of her.

  In the center of the hallway, stood a bed frame on wheels. Boards were propped horizontally on top and leather straps dangled from the sides. Dried blood and pieces of rotting meat covered the wood and straps. Flies buzzed around it in a dark pestilence. On the floor, a trail of blood led to a garbage chute in the wall. A metal lid was affixed firmly over the chute.

  “What is it?” Madison asked.

  Alice shook her head. “I don’t know, Maddie.”

  Madison took a few steps closer to the strange contraption. The object looked like a portable chopping block—the kind used to clean fish for dinner, but much bigger.

  To her right, moonlight slipped through an adjacent doorway. The smell emanating inside nearly caused Madison to throw up. But she held her breath and forced herself to move closer.

  Alice followed her close behind, knife in hand.

  Scattered throughout the room, a dozen bloated bodies rested on beds, naked and hairless and with blistered skin starting to harden into scales. At first, Madison thought they were all dead, but then she noticed faint movement—lungs breathing, webbed fingers twitching. They were all hooked up to IV’s. Somebody was keeping them alive.

  The creatures were called hybrids by the girls in Upper Eden. The Chancellor and his advisors were perfect examples of this transformation; all three men were devout in their belief of the Old Gods, and one day hoped that Dagon would give them eternal life. To them it was a great reward to change into a Deep One and swim forever in the Great Ocean. To Madison it just seemed weird.

  Alice put her hand on Madison’s shoulder, guided her from the doorway to a corner in the hallway near a desk. “I think we’re in danger,” Alice said, shuttering the lantern until only a single slice of light trickled out.

  “Did they see us?” Madison asked.

  “I don’t mean from the hybrids,” she said, motioning to the room with the slumbering creatures. “They’re in the Dreamlands, I think. This place looks well used, though. There’s no dust anywhere.”

  “Oh. What are the Dreamlands?”

  “The Dreamlands are a place full of ancient creatures that live beyond space and time. It serves as a testing ground for becoming a Deep One. Once the change progresses, you have to survive inside the dream for a set amount of time. The test ensures only the strongest survive their ascension and return to Earth.”

  Madison grew confused from some of Alice’s words, but she understood the basics. “Oh,” she said lightly under her breath.

  “But don’t worry—you can only travel to the Dreamlands if you’re a believer, and you have to be on the verge of death to enter.”

  Madison decided to ask a question she’d wanted to ask Alice for a long time. “How come you haven’t changed?”

  Alice slipped her knife back into her boot and began rummaging through her backpack. “Knowledge is different than belief, Maddie. I know about these things, but I choose to follow a different path—a different religion. I want more than anything to see my daughter in heaven, so I make that my reality.”

  “So, if I want to see my parents again, all I have to do is believe hard enough?”

  “That’s right,” Alice said. “But remember—there are worse things in the world than Deep Ones. Especially those things that dwell between worlds and prey on your mind. No matter what, always remember who loves you, and who you love. That’s all that matters in the end.”

  “Okay, I will.”

  Alice smiled brightly. Madison saw fain
t wrinkles around the corners of her eyes. She had never noticed the wrinkles before. Maybe because Alice seldom smiled.

  Alice continued rifling through her backpack. She finally found what she was looking for and drew it out. Madison gasped.

  A large revolver.

  “Where did you get that?” Madison asked in amazement. She touched the firearm with her fingertips; it felt cold and strong.

  “It's not important where I got it from,” Alice said. “What matters is that I have it now.” Alice opened up the gun and checked the bullets inside. Six shots.

  Just then footsteps echoed down the hall. Alice shuttered the lantern fully and they both crouched underneath the computer desk, waiting.

  Through a crack in the desk frame, Madison noticed two figures emerge from the doorway, each holding a lantern. They wore black robes. They stopped at the cutting board and unlocked what looked like a brake mechanism, then slid the frame closer to the room with the hybrids. Both of the cloaked figures disappeared inside for a short time, then re-emerged with one of the hybrids in tow. They placed it on top of the cart and inspected the body closely.

  “No pulse,” the taller figure said.

  “May he join Father Dagon in the Great Ocean,” the shorter figure answered. A woman’s voice. From a leather satchel hanging from her side, she pulled out a curved knife and a hatchet. She handed the hatchet to her companion.

  They began cutting.

  Madison couldn’t watch the butchery, so she turned away. The cutting and hacking sounds made her feel sick, so she glanced at Alice and held the older woman’s hand. In the dim light, she saw Alice watching the hooded figures intently, her face set in a grimace.

  The figures stopped when more footsteps thundered down the hallway. Someone was running. Madison resumed watching.

  A third figure came into view. Madison recognized the newcomer—one of the Chancellor’s Advisors, a man named Lawrence. He was dark-skinned and always dressed in camouflage. He had the same sloped forehead as the Chancellor.

  “The Chancellor’s dead!” Lawrence blurted out.

  “What?” the woman said.

  “He was stabbed to death!”

  “Who did it?” she commanded.

  “Someone named Alice, we think. She stabbed him and took one of the younger girls. I have the others out looking for them. We’re still trying to figure out how they escaped.”

  “Is this woman a breeder?”

  “No, she wasn't able to conceive. She's just a worker. The younger girl will soon be of age.”

  The woman thought for a moment, then spoke. “We’ll summon a Hunter to track them down.” She turned to her companion, the tall male still holding the hatchet. “Dispose of the remains and join us downstairs. We need to prepare.”

  He nodded to her. “As you command.”

  Lawrence and the woman hurried toward the doorway and then were gone. The lone figure wheeled the cart over to the garbage chute and threw the dead hybrid’s remains inside. When he finished, he moved the cart back to the hallway and locked the wheel mechanism in place, then grabbed up his lantern and hatchet and exited through the doorway.

  The door slid shut in a whisper.

  * * *

  “What did he mean the Chancellor was killed? Madison asked after the cloaked figure had left.

  Alice sat on top of the desk and tinkered with the lantern shutters. “I stabbed him when I left, Madison. He deserved it—more than you know. His Advisors deserve it, too. I hope they all burn in hell.”

  “Oh.” Madison didn’t ask anything further.

  As soon as Alice fixed the lantern, they walked cautiously past the room with the sleeping hybrids and scooted around the bed frame coated with fresh blood. Madison batted at a swarm of flies and held her nose from the smell. She thought about prying the garbage chute open and glancing down to see where they had disposed of the remains, but decided against it. She didn’t want to know.

  Alice stopped in front of the door near the elevators and listened. No sounds. She opened the door, and it swung open on well-oiled hinges. A rush of humid air greeted them, harboring the smell of fish and saltwater.

  Madison followed Alice down a concrete staircase. At the second floor the stairs ended in a brick wall and another door, just like the map depicted. Alice opened the door, and they both peered down a lit hallway.

  Before Madison could even take in the setting before her, she heard chanting. Her heart beat faster, and she grew deathly afraid. She thought about running back up the stairs and away from the horrible voices, but when she looked back up at the staircase, all that greeted her was silence and an impenetrable darkness. For some reason it scared her even more.

  She swallowed hard and forced herself to enter the hallway. Lanterns were strung along the walls and vines covered the sides, dislodging ceiling tiles and wrapping around rafters. Strange bulbs grew from the ends of the vines, like closed flower petals, but much bigger and with blue veins that shimmered in changing hues. Madison thought she saw the vines shifting just slightly as they shuffled past, but she knew it was just her imagination playing tricks on her. Vines didn't move like that.

  “We're gonna try to slip by them,” Alice said. “They're doing some sort of magic spell. They said something about summoning a Hunter to try and find us.”

  “What's a Hunter?”

  “I don't know.”

  “Can't you just shoot the fuckers?” As soon as Madison said this, she covered her mouth instinctively. The Chancellor had never liked any of his girls swearing, so she always did it in her head. But to Madison, it felt good to say it out loud for a change. She wanted to say it a hundred times.

  “Guns draw attention,” Alice answered. “But don't worry—if sneaking doesn't work, then I'll shoot the fuckers. Every one of them.”

  They glanced in a few of the office rooms that contained beds, desks, and old books with strange runes on the covers. Alice led Madison inside one of the rooms and handled one of the books, flipping through the pages one at a time.

  One picture depicted a being with a face like a starfish crouched in a house of pillars far beneath the ocean. It had a strange name, one that Madison couldn’t even come close to pronouncing. Alice continued to page through the book, stopping at a picture showing a cloaked figure holding up a baby to an altar while the night sky depicted stars shifting into alignment.

  “What is it?” Madison asked. “What are they doing?”

  “They’re killing children, Maddie. That’s why we were brought here after the floods. We were brought here to breed children for their rituals.”

  Alice threw the book down on the desk. She looked like she wanted to rip it to shreds, but she forced herself to walk away.

  They continued back outside and made their way down the hallway, past offices that had been turned into living quarters, checking each one to make sure they were empty. The chanting grew louder as they walked.

  Soon they arrived at a large entrance with a motionless escalator leading down to the main floor. Alice blew out her lantern and placed it inside her backpack. They both crouched behind the wood railing and peered down.

  In the center of the ground floor, a dozen cloaked figures prepared a ritual, all standing in a circle. Runes were chiseled into the floor, depicting strange patterns. Sandbags were set up along the sides, preventing the water from rising and flooding the floor. The storm had passed outside and moonlight struggled through the windows. It looked like it would be morning soon.

  “What now?” Madison whispered.

  “We're going to wait until they leave. Hopefully it'll be light by then.”

  “What if they come up the stairs?”

  “Then we'll hide in one of the rooms and make a run for it when they walk by.”

  Madison didn’t know how long they sat waiting, but it felt like hours. Finally, the morning sun filtered through the windows, and the air grew warmer. The chanting kept going the whole time, but flipped an octave lower and gain
ed in resonance.

  As Madison sat with her back against the railing, feeling the strange song wash over her in a vile seduction, she saw Alice's eyes suddenly grow wide.

  Madison peeked over the railing. She wanted to see, too.

  The cult had thrown back their hoods, showing scaly flesh and sloped foreheads and no hair. In the center of the summoning circle, a wind swirled like a miniature tornado. It changed hues, into every color of a rainbow, and then all the colors mixed together and became as black as tar. Madison didn't know what she was looking at, but she knew something was crossing over, and it was growing bigger, with a body like oil, and with bulbous eyes and long tentacles.

  As she watched, Madison felt a wave of fear set in. She closed her eyes and covered her ears and quietly hummed a song to herself. But it didn't work. Again, the thought of running hit her, and she started to stand, but Alice grabbed her arms and pulled her down to the floor, hard.

  “Don't run,” Alice said through clenched teeth.

  Madison collected herself and continued to watch them summon the strange creature from some dark abyss. The cult chanted a strange word over and over again—Shoggoth. Then one of them dragged a man near the others. Madison didn’t recognize him. He was old and haggard, his hands bounds. The female leader grabbed him by his beard and jerked his chin toward the ceiling, then unsheathed the same curved blade she had used upstairs. She held the blade to his throat. Just as she was about to slice his neck, sacrificing him to their sadistic ritual, thunder went off inside the building, right over Madison’s head.

  Madison’s ears instantly started ringing. She glanced up and saw Alice holding the gun in outstretched hands. Smoke dispersed from the long barrel.

  Outside the circle, one of the cultists had fallen over and twitched on the ground. After that, everything happened quickly.

  Alice was suddenly halfway down the escalator. She fired again. And then again. The leader shouted something about continuing the ritual, but then froze, seeing the blood from her twitching brethren enter the summoning circle.