Keyport Cthulhu

by Armand Rosamilia

  "Why are you doing this? I thought you were saving me from whatever was coming for me," Mathew cried out before his head was pushed into the dirt.

  He heard them laugh, some of them making sloppy wet sounds as they did.

  "You jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The one coming for you was trying to save you… from us. We're finally able to be upstanding citizens and help Father in his time of need."

  "Who are you?" Matthew choked out, unable to move.

  The little girl, who'd initially led him down, bent and pushed his head so Matthew could see her. She was smiling. "We're the children of the sea. The kin of Cthulhu."

  * * * * *

  Tina gagged on the strong odor of charred wood, swirls of smoke still drifting from corners of the ruined church. She'd begged Father Rocco not to make her enter the church or, at least, to accompany her, but he said he couldn't. The look of fear on his face when he even leaned against the gates was scary to Tina. She prayed to God she had the strength to find whatever weapon, inside the church, they needed to combat this evil force.

  She wished her father was here to guide her. While to outward appearances he was a dominating man, he was a good man who only had Tina's well-being in mind. Her father would never come out and say he didn't like Matthew, but Tina knew him well enough to know she was breaking his heart by dating someone like Matthew. Tina decided she would break up with him… if she ever saw him again. Everything going on right now was much bigger than her love life.

  Tina asked God to help her as she moved through the rubble, no clear path to follow. She closed her eyes and sighed, willing herself to relax. God would show her the way.

  Both side brick walls were still intact, although only about four feet remained. The back of the church had collapsed into itself, imploding and creating a pile of broken wood, brick and plaster twice as high as Tina.

  "Be careful," she heard Father Rocco yell, but she was already around the makeshift pile and his words echoed around her. She wanted to laugh. Did he think she wasn't going to be safe?

  "Don't worry about me," she yelled back, more to calm her nerves than anything else. She'd make a joke and watch her step. "I'm having a lot of fun in here. I'm just trying not to break my ankle."

  Tina came to where she thought the altar had been and was surprised to see a gaping hole in the ground. It was as if a bomb had gone off, charred wood running the edges of the wound, with blackened cracked bricks scattered.

  Just as she looked down into the pit, not expecting to see much even with overhead moonlight, she was startled to see a small flame flicker below. Before she had time to react, she saw a face in the soft glow of a lighter, a burly man with a red beard beginning to grow in, making him look crazy and/or evil.

  The man looked up, holding the cigarette lighter over his head. "Hello up there. I don't suppose you have a rope handy?"

  "Um… huh?" Tina finally asked, confused. She wasn't expecting anyone to be down there.

  The flame flickered in the breeze. "I'm just far enough down here I can’t climb out, and the walls are crumbling and pulling bricks down on my head. I don’t know how I ended up here, but I could use some help. I'm guessing you aren't one of the crazy Keyport residents or you would have killed me or done something bizarre by now."

  "No, I'm from Hazlet."

  He laughed below. "I have no idea where that is, but, as long as you aren't a local, I'm happy. I don't suppose you have any strong men up there with you?"

  "No, only a frail priest."

  "Father Rocco?"

  Tina smiled. "Yes. He won't step onto the lot, though."

  "Tell him Bones said he needs to get some rope and pull his biker buddy out of this new pit. I traded one for another, it seems. I don't know how I got here. But I'd like to get out."

  "Okay, I will let him know."

  "I would appreciate it, ma'am."

  Tina nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. "I suppose this is what God had in mind."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I was sent to find a weapon to combat the cultists, and I guess that weapon of God is you."

  Bones laughed. "I guess so. Oh, and it is probably the three metal crosses, with sharpened ends, I have next to me. I'm guessing they'll do some damage to these Cthulhu freaks as well."

  EVIL

  "We're missing something important," Father Rocco Ignatio said to Bones and Tina. "The holy relic you brought with you."

  Bones was carrying the sharpened gold cross and he shook it in his hand. "I think this will do just fine."

  Father Rocco didn't think so. "The relic you brought to Keyport is what we need right now. I have no idea where it is, though."

  Bones nodded. "I don’t think we really need it, but in this town anything is possible. The person who probably had it last was Harrison, and he's gone off the deep end. I think we need to pay him a visit but I'm dreading it. From the beginning, he has creeped me out and I went against my senses and trusted him."

  "The Lord works in mysterious ways," Tina said. She'd been quiet for the last hour, since the three joined together.

  Father Rocco felt horrible for the innocent girl being swept into this madness, but knew she was a key to getting out alive and, hopefully, shutting down the evil that was Keyport forever. "We need to go back to the house and have a chat with Harrison. If he truly wants to save his wife, he'll be cooperative."

  "I think Nicole is beyond help," Bones said, referring to Harrison's wife. The last time they saw her she was jabbering inside a pit under Harrison's grandfather's house. "And for all we know, she's been sacrificed yet again. This place gets weirder and weirder. I can't wait to be done with it and back on the road."

  "I think, with the coming of dawn, we'll either be done with this or too far gone to care," Father Rocco said.

  "Nothing like being positive, Rocco," Bones said. "It's only a few blocks back to the house, but the entire town seems to be mobile and will probably try to stop us at every step." Bones bent down and picked up a charred two by four. "I'm actually looking forward to busting a few heads, especially after they subdued me so easily the last time. I'm taking a few down before I go."

  The three unlikely companions started heading east, staying in shadows and moving in fear.

  * * * * *

  When Harrison was summoned by Sylvia Smoltz, the realtor and wife of his grandfather's lawyer, he went without complaint. The Hell Hounds watched him go from the living room, growling when he didn't move quickly enough. He decided his last dying wish (and he hoped he'd be dead soon) was to take out as many of these stupid animals as he could.

  They got into her car and she pulled out of his driveway.

  "Where are we headed?" Harrison asked.

  "Dylan wants you at the Broad Street Pub." Mrs. Smoltz glanced over at him with a clear look of disdain. "So far you haven't been much help to the cause, you know."

  "I'm doing my best," Harrison said and laughed. He had no idea what he was doing and what they expected from him. "It would help if someone fucking told me what was going on, though."

  "Don't use profanity," she said curtly. "I do not tolerate it."

  "Oh, my bad." Harrison could feel his anger rising and his thoughts spinning out of control. "I wouldn't want to upset the crazy bitch taking me to the crazy guy who tried twice to sacrifice my wife to a water demon."

  "Water demon?" She laughed. "Where did you get that nonsense from? The Great Cthulhu is our absolute ruler. You'll see." She glanced at Harrison again. "I just hope I can watch him rip you apart in person. You disgust me."

  "I'm not so fond of you, sweetheart."

  They pulled up to the curb outside the bar but Sylvia didn't turn off the car. "Go inside. Dylan is expecting you. Don't do anything stupid, Mister Marsh."

  "Don't tell me what to do, bitch."

  She gasped. "How dare you talk to me like that."

  "Fuck off. The next time I see you, as God is my witness, I will punch you in the
face," Harrison said and opened his door.

  "Ha. There is no God, only Cthulhu. And you, sir, don't have the intestinal fortitude to put a finger on me. In fact, I dare say…"

  Harrison punched the woman in the face, smiling when he heard the crack as her nose was broken. He was about done with this bullshit.

  * * * * *

  Matthew DiNardo sat motionless in the corner and watched as the children moved all around the small dirty room, fighting and playing and singing. He bled from dozens of small bite marks and wounds, but he'd live. He had no idea how he'd get out of this room alive, though.

  He'd also managed to get most of his body behind a rotting pile of flour sacks, only his head showing. Inch by painful inch he tried to wedge himself deeper into the pile but the sacks were heavy, moist and teeming with cockroaches and tiny black spiders.

  One of the little girls, her face melting into her neck, stopped and stared at him with a lopsided grin. "Do you want to play some more, mister?"

  He wanted to wave her off with his hand but he didn't have the strength to lift it, and the last time he'd seen his mutilated fingers he'd wretched. "Not right now, honey. Why don't you run off and play? Or, better yet, is there an adult around I can talk to?"

  She looked at him for what felt like ten minutes but was probably only one before smiling again. "I can ask my uncle if he wants to talk to you."

  Matthew smiled through bloody lips. "I'd love to talk to your uncle."

  "He'd love to talk to you, too," she said excitedly. "I'll send one of the smaller children to fetch him. Then we can all play. Uncle loves to play with our toys as much as we do."

  Matthew didn't like the sound of what she was saying. "W-what do you mean?"

  "Mommy doesn't like when he's down here playing with us sometimes. She says he plays too rough. I think he's fun."

  Holy shit. "You know what? I think I'll be fine. I'll just rest for awhile and then we can get your uncle to play. Right now I just need a nap."

  The little girl shrugged and went back to her friends, who were busy pulling apart a rat.

  Matthew didn't know if burrowing in like an animal would work. He watched the children as they stretched the dead rat to obscene lengths, feet, tail and head popping off with sickening snaps and spurts of gore. When one of the boys took a bite of the torso Matthew puked again.

  They'll drag me out with or without their uncle, and they'll rip my limbs off and eat me. Matthew thought getting to the door, no matter how painful, was the best course if he wanted to live.

  Fear driving him and giving him strength, he pulled himself up onto his knees and ignored the pain.

  "Hey, he's ready to play again," one of the girls said.

  Matthew used the wall behind him for leverage, picking himself up. As the little girl moved closer, he kicked out and drove her across the room. As the children came at him, Matthew was like a possessed man, feet and hands in motion, clearing the area in front of him.

  But there were too many, and one of them got inside his striking zone and bit him on the thigh. He fell to one knee and before he could pull the brat off him another leapt onto his back and drove dirty sharp teeth into his ear, tugging at it.

  They were upon him now, sheer weight keeping him pinned.

  "I want to eat his winky," one of them said. "I bet it tastes weird."

  Matthew struggled but they were sitting on his arms and legs, keeping him down. He heard screaming and realized it was coming from his mouth. He was shouting as he tried to move.

  "What's with all the noise down here?" he heard a deep male voice shout as the door opened.

  "It won't shut up," one of the kids said. "We're trying to play with it, but it keeps making that horrible noise."

  "Shut up or I'll make you," the man said.

  Matthew went silent and stopped struggling. The kids didn't move.

  The man was pale as a ghost, his skin rubbery and waterlogged. He had creases or gills on both sides of his neck, and he was naked except for a pair of dirty jeans. His stomach and shoulders were crisscrossed with ugly red slashes, and one eye was lower than the other. "If you make noise again, I'll tell them to slit your neck and be done with it. Where did you come from?"

  Matthew was too stunned to speak.

  "Are you alone?" the man asked Matthew.

  "Yes."

  "I mean alone in Keyport. Did you enter town by yourself?"

  "Yes… no…"

  "Which is it? I don't have all night. Is there a woman with you?"

  "Yes," Matthew blurted. Why had he sold Tina out like that? To save his own skin. He felt like shit but if it was the only way for him to live… besides, she was long gone by now. She was safe at home in Hazlet, telling her minister father about what an asshole Matthew was.

  "Where is she?"

  "I'm not sure. I mean, let me go and I'll bring her back here." If they were stupid enough to let him go, he'd have a sporting chance of escape. All he had to do is convince this dolt he was better off alive than dead.

  The man smiled, crooked teeth filling his mouth. "I don't need you to find her. Just knowing she's in Keyport is enough information. We'll find her."

  The man turned to leave. Matthew didn't want to be left with these hideous children. "Wait, what about me?"

  "Yes, what about it, uncle?" the little girl asked.

  The man looked at Matthew with disdain. "Kill it before it makes another noise. Playtime is over."

  * * * * *

  Harrison was surprised to see Nicole, unconscious and lying on the floor behind the bar. "What happened?"

  Dylan Murphy looked at Harrison's wife disgustedly. "She isn't worthy."

  "Huh?" Harrison looked at the group of townspeople crowded into the Broad Street Pub. "Didn't you toss her into the water? Was my grandfather with her again?"

  Dylan walked calmly to Harrison, standing at the edge of the bar, and put his hands on the man's shoulders. His eyes are insane, Harrison thought. Or had they always been?

  "She's not what Cthulhu is looking for. We need to find another."

  Harrison swallowed. He didn't want to die, sacrificed to some crazy monster in the bay. He decided he would need to fight his way out of the bar and run like hell until he was out of Keyport.

  Dylan turned away and tapped the bar counter. He looked around at the assembled members of the community. "We need to find another female."

  Harrison sighed in relief. He wasn't going to be killed by this cult of lunatics. But he needed to get away from them. A monster of a man was in the shadows near the back, hard for Harrison to see clearly. He'd just entered from a side door and began talking excitedly to a man, who ran to Dylan and whispered in his ear.

  Dylan smiled. "There is another woman in Keyport who is not from here. We need to find her before its too late. Put out the word. I want everyone on the street tonight. No exceptions. We need to hunt this female down and get her to the boats. The Great One demands it."

  Harrison had no idea who the woman was, and was hoping it wasn't the bitch he'd already chased into the pit. That one had gotten her head bitten off by the Hell Hounds. For some reason he wanted to snicker. He was losing his mind.

  "Excuse me… can I bring her home now? Since whatshisname isn't interested in her as his bride or whatever the hell you cultists are doing."

  Dylan stared at Harrison, making him quite uncomfortable. Just when Harrison was wondering how long the staring contest was going to go, Dylan turned and looked at Nicole. "Take her back to the house. There might someday be a use for her. Lucky for you, the blood of your superior relatives runs through your weakling veins. Or else you would have been taken care of as well."

  "Ah, nothing like family to save you, right?" Harrison went to Nicole and lifted her off the table. "I'll see everyone later. You have a nice time torturing people and making asses of yourselves. Have at it! Viva Las Keyport."

  Dylan pulled the holy relic from behind the bar and held it before him. "When we find the woman
, we need to use this device on her."

  "How?" someone asked.

  Dylan shrugged. "Father will tell us."

  * * * * *

  Bones put his hand up to keep Father Rocco and Tina from moving from their hiding spot across from the Broad Street Pub. They'd been holed up about half an hour as people came and went inside, townsfolk carrying rifles and other assorted weapons.

  When Harrison emerged, carrying his wife, Bones motioned for his companions to stay where they were. If they revealed their spot, they'd lose their advantage.

  But now Bones was in a spot, because, if they followed Harrison, they could miss it if the bar patrons were on the move. But if Harrison had some information they could use…

  He didn't want to split them up, either. The priest was no real use, physically, and the woman was too timid. If action was needed, Bones was the only one who could do anything.

  Father Rocco came up next to him.

  "Didn’t I tell you to stay put?"

  The priest smiled. "You said not to move as long as your hand was up."

  "No, I said to stay where you were… oh, forget it."

  "That was Harrison. Leaving with his wife, who we now know is alive. This is good news all around. Maybe he has some information. He was inside with the town people. We need to talk to him, right?"

  "What if they let him go because he's working with them still? The last time I checked, he had us down in a hole with those killer dogs. He's not exactly someone I would consider an ally right now."

  Father Rocco placed a reassuring hand on Bone's shoulder. "Have some faith, child. Did you see how mad he was when he left? And how he looked at his wife when he put her gently into the front seat of his car? He's no longer under their spell, I venture."

  "We can't be sure."

  "At this point we have nothing to lose."

  Tina came walking up and squatted down next to the two men.