Bottom Feeder

by Matt Cole

  Chapter 37

  The worst of it was over for the time being. The cuff binding her wrist left blood oozing from the raw skin they had left behind. The manacle bit into her wrist, and she lacked the strength to find her feet or the key to remove it. She could barely lift her head to look around.

  Deena could just make the creature out in the darkness. Through the haze of pain and weakness, a knot of resolve formed in her gut—she had to get free.

  Deena finally found her feet and strained for a better view of the beast, to no avail. She looked at the manacle holding her right wrist. Her jacket was partially off and disappeared under the now silent and still monster.

  Perhaps the jacket was constraining more than her body. If she could get her arms free of the jacket she could slip past the slumbering beast. Or at least die trying to fight her way out of this hellish nightmare.

  The creature stirred slightly as she began to pull on the jacket. She glanced around but the beast paid her no mind. She’d become irrelevant. The organism had buried its long body into an bed composed of gravel, mud or corals, where it waits patiently for outside stimulus to reach one of its five antennae.

  She shifted her weight to her left side and was pleased to find some relief to the burning pain in that shoulder. She’d already created some slack in the chains. With one more glance around at her surroundings, she pulled the jacket on her right. The beast groaned and pain stabbed through her shoulder, but the chain did not give.

  A needle of pain lanced Deena’s shoulder and her arm went limp. Gathering more chain in her left hand, she wheeled to see the monster. It stood there, the very tip of its tentacle stained with blood waved in front of her face. The monster vanished into the gloom, and then another quick stab of pain numbed her left arm.

  Deena’s foot shot out behind her, cracking her shin on a rock. She tried to tangle the monster in the jacket that suddenly bound her legs, but the creature slithered nimbly away.

  In a panic, Deena tried to shake her arms, to bring feeling back into them or make them move, but they just swung from her shoulders, useless. The creature vanished into shadow again, and Deena spun just in time to see the tentacle appear right in front of her. She jerked her head forward and down, smashing her forehead into the boney appendage of the beast. As the monster reared back, clutching it injured limb, Deena kicked at the creature’s midsection. Deena had almost reached the end of the chain that held her left arm, but she just had room to bring her foot down on the prone monster’s neck—

  Her right arm jerked up across her chest, pulling her back and off balance before her foot came down. The beast’s weight on the chain held it firmly, and Deena’s limp arms now crossed in front of her, holding her securely in place.

  “Damn it to hell!” Deena yelled. “Stop playing games with me and let me go!”

  Deena threw her weight away from the creature, yanking the chain from its grip. Some feeling was returning to her right hand, and she fumbled trying to grab hold of the fire-place poker to use as a weapon.

  A sharp jab of pain in her neck made her whole body go limp, and the world went black as she slumped to the ground.

  * * * *

  Sweat pooled in the caverns of Gary Chapel’s eyes. He ducked his head from side to side, wiping away the sweat onto his shoulders. In the depthless black of the tunnels, he tried to work with his eyes closed, but all of his instincts drove them open as if with an expectation of sight. His clothes were soaked, his shoulders ached, and his hands were cramped into claws, but Gary felt ecstatic: school was out, it was his birthday, and he had scored the winning touchdown. Gary Chapel was approaching the finish line and he was happy!

  I’m gonna get out of this. I’m getting out of here, dammit!

  A cut opened across his earthen sky like a scar pulling free of his stitches. Gary had worked furiously throughout the night. The wound in his leg hurt like hell and it felt wet not with blood but a slimy ooze.

  Chapel heard a mumble and a thump, and he wondered if he was being closed in on again. He wouldn’t mind seeing the monster again he only wished he was armed.

  He thought he saw an opening and perhaps a possible escape route wedged behind a root and large rock. Chapel worked his fingers into the gap and pulled as hard as he could. Tiny pebbles bounced around him as dust trickled through the split, but the root was strong and did bend easily.

  “SHIT!”

  He held his breath, suddenly more afraid than earlier. A few hours ago he had prayed for someone to help him, but now he was almost out! If he was caught trying to escape, the monster would most certainly kill him, or perhaps torture him—and then he would never get out of there.

  The light returned, and then the noises sounded farther away.

  The creatures and the monster were coming closer.

  Here in the darkness of the tunnels, Gary Chapel hid from them. They wouldn’t know if he was alive or dead unless they dug him out of his hiding spot. He felt along the jagged edge of the split until he found a ragged spot near its center, then set to work carving a tiny notch. He didn’t need much; just a small tear so that he could get a better grip.

  He scraped dirt from behind the root, then gripped the split again and pulled. A shower of soil fell all at once. Chapel sneezed, and then brushed dirt from his eyes. The split had opened into a narrow triangular hole.

  “Fucking A!”

  Chapel pushed the soil that had rained down to the end of the tunnel with his feet. He pulled his shirt over his face like a mask, and then scooped out more soil. He worked his hand through the split again up to his wrist, and finally to his elbow. He dug as far as he could reach, finally creating a large hollow dome. He gripped the root on either side of the T-shaped hole and hung with all his weight as if he was doing a chin-up. The hole did not open.

  “FUCK!”

  He shouted at the hole.

  He had his door to his escape; all he had to do was open it. OPEN THE DOOR!

  Chapel scrunched into a ball, pulling his knees to his chest. He propped a knee onto the left side of the T and gripped the right with both hands. He strained so hard that his body arched from the floor.

  The root tore like cold taffy slowly pulling apart.

  Chapel’s grip slipped and he fell.

  He wiped his hands as best he could, then took another grip. He pulled so hard that his head buzzed, and the roof of the tunnel abruptly split as if the root had simply surrendered. A landslide of dirt poured through, but Chapel didn’t care—his escape route was there.

  Chapel pushed the dirt and rocks that had fallen to the end of the hole, and then peeled open the rest of his escape route. More dirt piled around him. He worked his arm and then his head up into the hole. The freshly turned soil came easily. He twisted his shoulders through the hole and then he was up to his waist. Chapel clawed dirt down past his sides like a swimmer pulling water, but the more he pulled the more the earth closed around him. He grew more frantic with each stroke. He reached higher, clawing for the surface, but the earth pressed in on him from all sides like a cold sea pulling him under.

  He couldn’t breathe!

  He was being crushed!

  Panic filled him with terror and the absolute certainty that he was going to die—

  —then he broke through the surface of soil and cool night air washed his face. A canvas of stars filled the overhead sky.

  He was free.

  Chapter 38

  You have led me on quite the chase, human.

  The monster was clearly enjoying itself. With every prick of its bony appendage’s tip, it leaned close to Deena’s ear and whispered some new unintelligible taunt or imprecation. It had bound Deena to the ground and continually pricked at her nerves to deaden her limbs, ensuring she never mustered the strength to break her bonds. Blood trickled from a dozen tiny wounds inflicted by it barbed tip.

  Normally, I detest playing with my food.

  It jabbed its sharpened, boney dagger-like end more deeply into D
eena’s upper arm.

  “Oh, God please stop!”

  You deserve this.

  The monster, a reddish-brown, over ten feet in length, and shaped like a sausage, slowly drew in toward Deena and as it approached, its head poured out a stream of water that looked like blue flame. Another jab of pain showed Deena how much this monster enjoyed the taste of revenge.

  Her senses were beginning to dull; she wasn’t even sure what was real and what might have been purely a nightmare. A growl of pain told Deena that she was alive, at least, for now. She felt a surge of anger. She yelled again.

  At about every eight feet or so ran its heat to its tall a substance that had the appearance of a copper band encircled its body. Blue flames came from two horn-like structures near the center of the head with long, needle-like teeth and hinged lower jaws. The tail was shaped like a propeller.

  The monster was red in color and had darker spots or blotches, and spiked projections at both ends in which Deena vividly likened to a cow’s intestine in appearance.

  She watched as it moved half its length out of the sand and dirt. Started to inflate and the bubble on its body keeps getting larger, and, in the end, the slime squirted out from it.

  * * * *

  Gary Chapel got his bearings. It was night, and he was in the backyard of a house in town. He didn’t know which part, but lights from the city were spread in the distance.

  He wiggled along the ground until his feet were free. He was in a flower bed at the edge of a patio in the backyard of a really nice house, though the yard was dry and dying. Neighboring houses sat behind walls that were hidden by ivy.

  Chapel was scared that the monster and the others would hear him, but the house was dark and the windows were covered. He ran to the side of the house, and slipped into the shadows as if he were a comfortable old coat.

  A walkway ran along the side of the house to the front. Gary crept along the walk, moving so quietly that he could not hear his own footsteps. When he reached a chain-link gate, he wanted to throw it open and run, but he was scared that the men would catch him. He eased the gate open. The hinges made a low squeal, but then the gate swung free. Gary listened, ready to run if he heard them coming, but the house remained silent.

  Chapel crept through the gate. He was very close to the front of the house. He could see a brightly lit home across the street with cars in its drive. A family could be inside, he thought; a dad and mom, and possible other adults who might help him. All he had to do was sneak across the street and run the neighbor’s door.

  He reached the end of the house and peeked around the corner. The short, sloping driveway was empty. The garage door was down. The windows were dark.

  Gary Chapel’s face split into a huge toothy grin because he had escaped! He stepped into the drive just as steel hands clamped over his mouth and jerked him backwards.

  He tried to scream, but could not. He kicked and fought, but more steel wrapped his arms and legs. They had come from nowhere.

  “Stop kicking, dude!”

  Mike Leopold was a harsh whisper in Chapel’s ear. Mike stepped out of a shadow and gripped Gary’s arm.

  “Glad to have you back,” Leopold said.

  “Good to be back,” Chapel returned with a smile.

  “What do you want to do now?”

  “Go back down and kill that fucking monster!” Chapel shot back. “And I ain’t waiting any longer. It has to be done now.”

  Chapter 39

  The creeping trip through the tunnel’s decaying core took forever. Those who used the passages to sneak in and out for what little enjoyment they might find elsewhere had marked them well, once a man or woman knew what to look for, but they had never been built for someone Deena’s size in the first place. It was as if the tunnels were made by dwarves for dwarves. There were a few tight spots, and two moments of near disaster as teetering stone groaned and shifted, but it was the time that truly frightened Deena.

  The world was a hard place where people got hurt, and the best a woman could do was hope to look after her own. But even as she swore at herself, she knew she could not have just walked away. The only thing that truly bothered her—aside from the probability that it would get her killed—was whether she’d done it to save herself or simply because of how much she hated people and things that harmed women—be it a monster or abusive husband. Either was reason enough, it was just that a woman liked to feel certain about things like that.

  Two hundred feet more and the chamber ended in a vast waterfall, but the water has turned to stone. Above the waterfall is an opening, but it is twenty-five feet up a smooth wall and she had no ladder. The journey was at an end. Tired, wet and muddy, she started on her return trip; crossing a dark lake under were the waterfall had once emptied into, and retraced her steps to the place under the opening without realizing that she had lost track of time underground.

  The small eyeless beings had been noticeable in the water everywhere but now came swimming then walking onto the shore of this lake in an astonishing multitude, and as unconscious of any possible danger as bees in a flower garden. Having no eyes, they were naturally undisturbed by the light, so the limited light Deena had produced could be held close to the water for a satisfactory examination of the happy creatures.

  She saw the monster as it began to swallow huge cubes of the gelatin that Deena knew had once contained people. For a large monster it was nowhere near as muscular as she would have imagined. The relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter.

  Deena also had her first true glimpse of the monster in its entirety. It had a camellia head, a serpent like body and fins and a tail. It had a neck some two feet long, a big round body, a mean looking tail and an evil, snaky look to its head. A slimy, mobile tube of glistening scarlet flesh with dull, staring eyes and an obscene, probing barbed end came out of the tunnel directly for Deena.

  The beast had a long, torpedo-shaped body, with ten tentacles, two of which extend longer than the rest. These are equipped with three columns of suctions cup. It has a strong beak, similar to a parrot’s and large round eyes. It also had an enormous squid-like creature or a dragon-like creature with horns and humps on its back.

  Deena was startled by a terrifying noise. A stinging sensation like thousands of electrified needle points suddenly stabbed through their clothing.

  The air was filled with a strong current of electricity that caused every nerve in the body to sting with pain, and a light as bright as that created by the concentrate on of many arc lights kept constantly flashing.

  She could see that the small, eyeless creatures that seemed to work for the monster were the source of the electricity as well.

  She saw her chance to escape—a large tunnel to her right. She ran for it. The entrance to the tunnel was much lower than she’d expected.

  The rock ceiling was low enough that she could scrape against it with the tips of her fingers if she reached up. The cave was extremely narrow, not quite claustrophobic, but she wouldn’t be able to lie sideways on the floor. She couldn’t see the far end, so she continued walking forward, very slowly and carefully.

  A few more feet in, with barely any light she discovered only more rock.

  Then she saw Arlene—encased in a gelatin cube.

  When she saw Arlene the tears streamed down her cheeks. Arlene looked weak, and white, and worn to a shadow. She never had been robust, and it was only too plain that privation had robbed her of what little strength she had ever had. Arlene was nothing else but skin and bone. Physical and mental debility was written large all over her. Deena was sickened by the appearance and the brutality the woman must have endured to look like that.

  Arlene had not been bad-looking—in a milk and watery sort of way. She had pale blue eyes and very fair hair, and Deena thought at one time, had been a spruce enough woman. It was difficult to guess her age anymore, one ages so rapidly under the stress of misfortune. Her voice, though faint enough at first
, was still that of an educated woman, at least high school, and as she went on, and gathered courage, and became more and more in earnest, she spoke with a simple directness which was close akin to eloquence and which told Deena she was slowly being dissolved in the slime covered gelatin cube.

  “I’m sorry, Deena,” Arlene said.

  * * * *

  Deena was in such a state of mind, that she could perceive no alternatives but to forgive her captor, and, in spite of its recent and scandalous misbehavior, again appeal to him for assistance.

  “You need to get out of here before the Mas—before the monster sees you,” Arlene mouthed more than said to Deena.

  “Why?” Deena asked her once friend.

  “I had no choice. He made me do things—bad things. Forgive me.”

  Deena’s interest in the quest was already far other than a merely professional one. The blood in her veins tingled at the thought of such a woman as Arlene Balleza being in the power of such a monster.

  It seemed, if the story told by Arlene whom Deena had found in the tunnels was true—incredible though it sounded, she spoke like a truthful woman threatened by some dreadful, and, to Deena, wholly incomprehensible danger; that it was a case in which even moments were precious; and she felt that, with the best will in the world, it was a position in which she could not move alone. The shadow of the terror of the night was with her still, and with that fresh in Deena’s recollection how could they hope, single-handed, to act effectually against the mysterious being of whom this amazing tale was told? No! Deena believed that the monster did care for her, in its own peculiar way; she knew that she was quick, and cool, and fertile in resource, and that she showed to most advantage in a difficult situation; it was possible that it had a conscience, of a sort, and that, this time, she might not appeal to it in vain.

  “Run!” Arlene screamed in terror.

  Deena turned and saw the monster coming toward her.

  She ran then almost stopped as her thoughts turned to Arlene. She looked back at the cube and noticed Arlene screaming silently for her to run.