The Last Line Series One

by David Elias Jenkins

  “Fuck him, he’s dead, now push this door!”

  Ariel looked up and saw the beast still running, its translucent fur soaked and glistening with thick glutinous blood. A single brave security officer stepped out and emptied his magazine of twenty rounds into the beast in a single burst. The Bjorn stopped and gave a short deep snarling bark. Then it rose up onto its hind legs as much as the confines of the Proteus would allow, and clamped its massive paws onto either side of the man’s head. The officer desperately struck the Bjorn’s exposed chest with the barrel of his empty firearm, but the Bjorn just cocked its head to one side, and then locked its jaws onto the man’s face. It thrashed from side to side a few times then brought the officer’s face off his skull, along with his lower jaw and tongue, and swallowed them in front of him in two gulps. Fortunately the officer’s eyes had been taken too, so he could not witness the horror of his own face being devoured as a morsel, but the choking gurgle in his exposed trachea was horrendous.

  Ariel wiped the sweat from his face and put his weight against the door, forcing it closed inch at a time. Slowly shutting out the stench of innards and the agonized screams from the other side, Ariel’s survival instinct overcame his shock and he pushed with all his might. The door rebelled in a final grating act of defiance, and then swung shut, sealing the blood, screams and monster inside. Carver swiftly turned the wheel, locking the system shut, and Ariel tentatively put his face up to the frosted glass porthole above it. It was hard to see through the icy window, but Ariel could see the outline of a huge man, naked with a shock of close cropped white hair, kneeling down at one of the dying men. For a moment Ariel saw an impossibly long dark tongue snake out of the man’s mouth and lap the blood from the struggling officer’s throat.

  Then the man’s huge stern face suddenly turned sharply towards Ariel, fixing him with ice blue eyes.

  Ariel shot back and ducked down against the door, breathing hard. Carver was wincing and clutching the wound at his side, oozing venal blood.

  “Ariel, is it there, can you see it?”

  Ariel nodded. “I can’t tell, I think so, there’s something there, but it’s not like an animal anymore. What was it when you found it?”

  Carver shifted position to ease his pain. “Neither man nor beast, frozen between the two. Why?”

  Ariel wrestled with something in his mind. He knew that Carver and Argent had already studied his background, read his online blogs and contributions, they knew he was knowledgeable on supernatural matters, but if Ariel gave away too much, it could blow what cover he had left.

  Suddenly there was an almighty thud against the door at their backs.

  Fuck it.

  Ariel and Carver turned and saw that the metal had buckled slightly.

  Carver peered in horror.

  “It can’t be that strong. Flesh can’t be that strong.”

  Ariel looked at him with contempt. These scientists, he thought, following the money, working for companies like the Chromium project, they care nothing for what they invent, knowing how it will be used. That was how the Unseelie Court gained a foothold in our world, how it always had. Manipulating the greed and hunger for power or position that fanatics like Carver displayed. Ariel shook his head.

  Who needs a supernatural army of monsters when we have people like this? The Unseelie are smart enough to know that if they give us the right tools we will kill ourselves off.

  “Christ Carver, you didn’t even know what you were digging up did you? You know it’s not Unseelie but you didn’t know how to contain it, you just knew what it had in its blood was precious. Where’s your background, where’s your research? It’s just arrogance.”

  Carver sagged a little. “Dr Argent was very specific, he wanted this thing at all costs. At all costs.”

  “Well we’re about to pay the price for that Doctor. And your CEO and master is a long fucking way from human by the way. Ok, this beast might not be Unseelie but if it changes form then it’s a therianthrope, so the same stuff might work.”

  “A what?”

  “A shape changer Doctor, something that can shift between animal and man. Only one thing I know can help contain them.”

  Carver felt the second thump behind them as the monster crashed against the door. The metal gave a little more and a single bolt pinged off and hit the floor.

  “Whatever contains it Speedman, it’s not that door.”

  Ariel smiled grimly, shifting his focus from his terrified body to his rational mind.

  “Nope, but the bones of the Gods might. Iron. We need to find some iron aboard this ship.”

  Carver shook his head. “Modern ships are made of steel Ariel not iron. And Dr Argent, he hates the stuff, won’t have it anywhere near him.”

  Of course not. Iron burns ghouls like acid.

  “Well you better radio up and tell all your men that’s what we need. Otherwise we’re fucked.”

  Carver took out his radio and with shaking bloodied hand switched to an all-channels message. He told the crew to find any iron implements they could, and gather in the galley. Then he turned to Ariel.

  “Do you even know if it will affect this thing?”

  Ariel shook his head.

  “No, I’ve never seen anything like this before. But it works for other therianthropes like this. So we just have to cross our fingers.”

  The door thudded behind them again, and buckled out a little from the hinges. Ariel could suddenly hear the screams of the dying again and smell the newly aerated innards of human beings. A knife rack of vicious black claws shot through and tested the hinges. The door rattled but for the moment held.

  “That’s not gonna hold Carver, come on, run. Run!”

  They left their position and moved as fast as they could, moving towards the second pressure door and ultimately the galley area, a part of the ship big enough to house a good deal of the surviving crew, and accessible from most areas. Then it would just be a case of building barricades and holding off for as long as they could, using any iron objects they could find, until help arrived. It didn’t sound like a very promising plan if Ariel was honest.

  “Carver, how long between sending your distress signal and a rescue party arriving?”

  Carver looked at his watch.

  “They’d come from mainland Norway, we have a lot of private security teams stationed there. I’d estimate they could mobilize a few helicopters and get teams here in between four and six hours.”

  Ariel glanced behind them. The claws had gone and there were no more attempts being made at the door. The monster had obviously changed its plans. That was even more worrying.

  “Carver I’ve seen what that thing does to highly trained security officers with state of the art weapons systems. We need to start thinking in different terms here.”

  They moved through the next security door and working together managed to get it sealed. Carver seemed weak and shaky, his white lab coat was soaking with blood from the wound in his side.

  “How do intend to defeat this thing Dr Speedman?”

  Ariel gave a half-hearted laugh despite his pain.

  “I wasn’t thinking about beating it Dr Carver, just using the choppers to get the hell away from it.”

  They finally reached the canteen. The all-channels message had been heard by a good deal of the crew. And upwards of fifty people from all departments had gathered in this large galley, big enough to feed a crew of three hundred. Plumbers, catering staff, cleaners, engineers, scientists, security officers both armed and unarmed(not that it seemed to make much difference), all huddled on plastic chairs around the Formica tables, shaking and trying to ascertain information from one another.

  When the assembled saw Dr Carver his rank aboard ship became very apparent to Ariel. Some stood up, scraping their chairs across the floor and approached him, the chatter in the room became louder, raised voices questions and panic.

  Carver raised his hands, wincing as he did so. His lab coat was saturated in b
lood on his left side.

  “All right, all right. It’s clear to all of you there’s been an incident on ship. A dangerous animal that was in the lower deck laboratory has escaped and is currently loose aboard the Proteus. Our security teams have been mobilised and are doing everything in their power to contain this situation.”

  An engineer in an oil stained boiler suit stood up. “Doc, pardon my French but if this thing’s being contained, what the hell are we all doing in the canteen? Looks more like it’s dictating the shots, not us.”

  Carver wavered a little in his balance, but Ariel supported him with a hand on his shoulder, designed to look like a gesture of reassurance.

  “I understand your concerns, but let me reassure you, we will contain this animal, in due course, and you will all soon be back at your posts earning all your lucrative offshore overtime.”

  A lab coated woman with tear streaked mascara put up a tentative hand.

  “Dr Carver, I work in the upper labs, we don’t have much access to the research up here, we’re more labels and branding. This facility supports itself by the production of weaponized chemical agents, there’s plenty dangerous aboard this vessel but I don’t see the threat from an escaped chimpanzee, or whatever. So, what kind of animal is this exactly?”

  Carver seemed to hesitate, he took a chair and sat slowly and painfully down in it. Canteen chairs were not comfortable at the best of times, but now they did little more than focus the pain elsewhere.

  “It’s a large mammal, ursine in nature, indigenous to these parts.”

  The woman’s eyebrows raised and a general murmur of discontent rippled through the canteen.

  “A polar bear, doctor! What’s that even doing on the ship, it’s protected.”

  Carver sighed. “With all due respect doctor, Stevenson is it? It’s a little late to be worrying about international law and correct procedure, you’re working for a chemical and biological weapons company that isn’t even officially acknowledged and operates in international waters to avoid the law. I would suggest you left your moral high horse in the stable the moment you signed a contract with us.”

  The woman was about to respond with indignation but realized she had little leverage, and her fear was now the priority, so she clamped up and sipped at a polystyrene cup of black coffee.

  The engineer, who was standing very close to Carver and adopting aggressive body language, squared up in front of them.

  “Mate I know why I’m here, and I take the money, but what the fuck are you people doing with a bear? A fucking bear?”

  Ariel stepped in front of Carver, his hands up in a placatory gesture.

  “It’s not a bear.”

  “What? Who the fuck are you?”

  Carver pulled Ariel to one side, whispered to him.

  “Ariel, these people are not ready to hear what you may be about to tell them. Most people aboard the Proteus do know they are working for a bio-weapons company, but how privy do you think they all are to the realities we are dealing with? Do you think the cleaner that scrubs the toilets in a big tobacco company understands the scientific research involved in making tobacco more addictive, or even asks those questions? Only a select few people on this ship have had the Veil lifted, and know the true nature of what we do here, and how the world really is. They are frightened enough, Ariel, they are not ready for this.”

  Ariel pulled Carver’s grip off his lapel.

  “I would say the cat’s pretty much out of the fucking bag, doctor.”

  He turned to the gathered and coughed.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I know you are scared, but what we are dealing with is a bit more unusual than what you, or anyone, is used to. You heard the radio message, asking you to retrieve any iron implements you may work with aboard ship. That’s very important, and is what may save our lives. Furthermore….”

  The entire ship lurched violently.

  Like a scene from Star trek, the assembled crew members were thrown in a half run across the room. A deafening screech like the tearing of metal reverberated throughout the ship.

  Over the tannoy a crackling message came through.

  “Mayday mayday. This is acting lieutenant Gruten. That thing got in here with us, into the tower. It’s torn everything to shreds. I have injured crewmen here. We’ve collided with an ice floe, it hasn’t breached the inner hull so we still have full buoyancy, but we are now icebound. The Proteus isn’t going anywhere. Initiate full emergency survival protocols. And get us some help up here this thing has disabled everything.”

  Ariel pushed a plastic chair off himself and stood up. Many of the assembled were panicking now, trying to get out of the canteen to the lifeboats. The tear streaked brunette scientist had the edge of hysteria to her voice.

  “What does he mean? How is that possible? It’s an animal. It’s disabled the ship? That doesn’t make sense Doctor Carver, what aren’t you telling us, what the hell is this thing?”

  The engineer shook his head and spat as he spoke.

  “No fucking way. What is it a fucking engineer bear? You better start talking doctor, or I’m gonna smack this wrench over your head.”

  Carver tried to calm them down.

  “Please, control yourselves. As he said the inner hull is intact we are not going to sink. Our main threat remains the same. We just need to remain here and keep calm until….”

  The cafeteria door behind Carver burst open in a shower of sharp splinters. Everyone jumped and dove for cover as a deafening roar shook the walls of the room.

  Carver was in the process of turning around, stunned by the noise and peppered with shrapnel, when the dust settled and the Bjorn towered above him, twelve feet tall on its hind legs. Carver opened his mouth to speak but before he could, the monster had dug its claws into the side of his head and picked him up like a rag doll, shaking him violently from side to side against the door frame, until Carver hung limply in its paws, blood dripping freely from his polished shoes. One foot twitched pathetically and a faint childish whimper of pain could be heard from the stricken scientist.

  The Bjorn stared at the gathered survivors with its black eyes, gave a terrifying roar, and then vanished off into the blackness, taking its prize with it.

  The room erupted in screaming and panic. People backed off as far as they could from the door, picked up any weapon they could find, from chairs to cutlery.

  Ariel watched in horror the empty space where Carver used to be, peered down the dark corridor where he had vanished.

  He took a deep breath and turned to the crew.

  “Listen to me, LISTEN!”

  To Ariel’s surprise, the authority that had sprung from nowhere in his voice actually arrested their panic.

  “Listen I know you’re all sacred, I am too, but what we’re dealing with, you’ve probably all realized by now, isn’t normal. Now there are certain things we have to do to keep ourselves safe. It might go against your reason and your fear, but if you do what I say we may all live through this.”

  Ariel was well aware that some of the people in this room could be Unseelie or agents of Unseelie, the very evil bastards he was here to stop, but he also knew that most of them were just scared people, who had taken the money and ended up in the wrong place. However crumpled and jaded Ariel’s James Bond fantasy might have ended up aboard the Proteus, he was STG. He was a professional and it was his responsibility to get everyone to safety and secure the beast. Ariel grabbed the engineer by the collar of his boiler suit. He smelled of engine oil and Old Spice.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Harry. Get your hands off me.”

  “Harry, you’re an engineer, and I don’t know much about boats, but is there anywhere on this ship that is primarily made of iron? Anywhere that could house this many people?”

  The engineer Harry shrugged as if it was obvious.

  “Ship’s made of steel, but the engine, the engine is still made of iron. The engine room is almost totally made of the stuf
f, furnace, walls, pistons, the works.”

  Ariel nodded.

  “Then for the moment that’s where we head. Gather everyone together, pick up any iron implements from the kitchen, I don’t care if it’s tongs or a fucking frying pan, and get ready to move.”

  Harry nodded, and Ariel watched in amazement as the fifty or so people gathered their things, picked up anything they could find from the kitchen, and assembled in front of him. Cold, bruised, frightened, but awaiting his instructions.

  Ariel nodded. Whatever field training the STG had given him, maybe it was finally starting to kick in.

  He took a deep breath and straightened his aching spine.

  Please God don’t let these people die on my watch.

  28

  Usher ran and London was his playground.

  He sprinted with a fire in his legs that propelled him across busy roads, over car bonnets, through alleyways. He was running flat out, conserving nothing.

  His magically fuelled muscles bounded across rooftops like a cat, vaulting gates and scurrying along narrow walls like a tightrope walker. He felt no pain anymore. The hours of torture he had suffered at the hands of the Russians were just a faded cellular memory. All he felt inside was the constant release of blinding energy, a fusion reactor of magic in his core.

  I have to get to her in time.

  He paid no heed to the shocked faces of the pedestrians he ran past, the inner London attitude that was loudly thrown his way, the strutting hoodies he knocked to the ground. He barely registered the shocked horns and screeching tyres as cars emergency stopped to avoid hitting him.

  He ran faster than any Olympic sprinter, more agile than the greatest of French parkour experts.

  Salty perspiration lashed from his face, his torn and bloodied shirt soaked with sour sweat. He could hear his pulse pounding in his ears like a war drum, could feel the maddening rhythm of his breath like a time lapse tide.

  Keep running.

  He tracked his way to their safehouse with no conscious thought, like a predator using scent markers to hone in on its prey. His legs worked like tireless pistons, propelling him closer to what he prayed he would not find.