Without another word Chambers grabbed her and pushed them both off the steps. He closed his eyes, expecting to plummet. Instead they toppled over and landed in moist earth.
Bloodstained earth.
The Circle of Violence.
“How do we get out of here?” Karen looked around the arena, now bereft of the violent dead because they, too, were making their way to the Anarch for their blessing. She looked around at the rusted, bloody instruments. “Do we have to recite that incantation again?”
“We won’t need to.” Chambers was already making his way toward the exit. “We opened all the gates, remember? Hopefully all we have to do is go back to where we arrived, up on that balcony.”
They made their way up the narrow staircase and onto the viewing gallery. There was no one up there either, although the floor was littered with evidence of its previous inhabitants. Scraps of clothing, pieces of gauze, and much, much worse.
“Don’t touch any of it.” Chambers was stepping gingerly between the debris. “Just in case.”
The exit was ten feet away, a ragged hole that had opened up in the dripping stone wall, when the discarded pieces began to move.
“Run!”
Karen jumped and dodged between the fragments as they twitched and writhed their way toward them.
“What are they?”
“Parts large enough to still maintain a fragment of their cursed life, all just as eager to get their blessing, but happy if they can just delay us until the creatures they belong to get here. Now jump to me.”
Karen shook a leech-shaped piece of plum-colored flesh from her shoe and leapt toward him. Together they passed through the portal and found themselves in one of the corridors of Heresy.
Chambers pressed a warning finger to his lips.
Karen looked around her. “I can’t see anything.”
“They might not have gone to the Sea of Darkness like the others. I find it hard to believe false gods would want to pay homage to the Anarch. They could still be in here.”
“This place is a maze,” Karen hissed. “How are we supposed to find the way out of here?”
“I’m rather counting on us being drawn to it.” Chambers knew that was tantamount to crossing his fingers and hoping. He wondered if he should do that as well.
There was a noise from behind them.
“Is that the exit opening or . . .” Karen’s eyes widened as the shape rose to its full ten feet in height. There were others behind it.
“Come on,” Chambers grabbed her hand. “It has to be around here somewhere.”
They moved more quickly now, not bothering to keep quiet. They turned left, only to be confronted by yet more of the creatures.
“Straight on.” Chambers wondered how far they would get before all their exits were cut off. They tried turning right at the next crossroads, but a collection of gods and monsters herded them back. There were more creatures straight ahead, and even more back the way they came, which only left one option.
Straight ahead the corridor ended in a wall.
“Isn’t this what happened last time we were here?”
Chambers nodded.
“Does that mean we’re going to end up back in the Circle of Violence?”
“Possibly.” An idea had occurred to him. “Or possibly those things behind us aren’t trying to harm us at all. Perhaps they’ve been showing us the right way to go in the only way they know how.”
It was a gamble, but there was nowhere else they could try. As they approached the wall the surface began to shimmer, the paint began to peel and the plaster to fall away. A faint purplish tinge outlined the crumbling brickwork.
“The way out or the way back to Hell?”
Chambers looked at Karen. “Only one way to find out.”
She nodded. “And only one way to go anyway. If it’s the wrong one, it’s been nice knowing you.”
Another leap into the unknown brought them out in the Circle of Anger, right where they had left it.
“We have to . . .”
“I know.” Karen gave him a wry smile and began to lead the way. “We have to get back to the place where we arrived. I’m getting used to this now.”
It wasn’t long before they were back on the grassy plain dotted with crosses. There were still a few unfortunates who were either too weak or too decayed to be able to wrench themselves free and make their way to the Sea of Darkness.
“It makes you almost want to help them,” Karen said as they watched the pathetic creatures try to pull withered hands free from spikes that had been driven through their mummified skin.
“If we do, it’ll just add to the number of the undead who are already after us.” Chambers looked behind him. “Still no sign of them, for now.”
“Perhaps they couldn’t get out of the Circle of Treachery. We found it difficult enough, and we had that jury box to stand on.”
“I’m sure they found a way.” Chambers was remembering how the undead had piled onto the stone staircase in the Sea of Darkness, climbing over one another like ants. “We’re just managing to keep ahead of them, that’s all. But we’ve got to keep going.”
They staggered on, the forest of crucifixes thinning until just one or two dotted the landscape, propped in the earth at awkward angles as if they were leering at the man and the woman who stumbled through their domain. Ahead of them, where drifting clouds met anemic grass, stood the portal, a perfect oval of endless night. But getting to it was more difficult than they had at first thought. The faster they ran, the farther away it seemed to drift. Eventually Karen had to stop, coughing and gasping for breath.
“It’s no good,” she said. “That gate must be miles away, or it keeps moving to ensure we can’t reach it. Perhaps this is the place where we were always meant to end up.”
Chambers was grateful for the brief rest, but couldn’t wait to get going again. “Nonsense,” he cried. “We’ll get to it. This place hasn’t exhausted us yet.”
The wind picked up, blustering from behind them and carrying with it such a howl as might come from the creatures that were pursuing them. Karen looked over her shoulder and Chambers followed her gaze. He wished he hadn’t.
From the opposite direction, pouring over the hill and breaking down the crucifixes as their relentless mass shambled forward, came thousands of the living dead.
“There’s some encouragement for us.” Chambers grabbed Karen’s hand once more and dragged her forward. “Come on, or it won’t just be the end for us, but the entire world as well.”
They ran, hearts hammering, temples pounding, throats so dry they felt like sandpaper, until the portal seemed a little larger, and then a little larger still. Every now and then Chambers risked a glance behind, only to see that the passage through Hell’s circles seemed to have lent the dead an urgency they had not possessed before. Instead of shambling, they were now moving quickly. A few out in front were actually running.
“Let’s hope they can’t get through this all at once.” Chambers made sure Karen went through the exit and then he followed her.
They both landed at the same time on a familiar street in the Circle of Greed.
“It was a building that was the way out on this level, wasn’t it?” Karen was already trying door handles and hammering on the plate glass of windows. “One of the buildings led us in and out of here.”
“That’s right.” It was odd to run down these city streets now they were bereft of their occupants, all gone to receive the Anarch’s blessing and then join the living-dead army that was making its way after them. For a moment Chambers thought he could hear the distant rumble of thunder. Then he realized, with horror, that it was the footfalls of a thousand and more undead, all making their way to the place they were standing now, the sound so loud it could be heard through the gates of Hell.
“Found it!” Karen was standing by an open door. Chambers followed her through, only to find himself standing beside her in a dark and narrow corridor.
&n
bsp; “Maybe it’s higher up.” He pointed to the staircase to their left.
“I seem to be spending most of my life climbing stairs.” Karen gave him a rueful smile. “So you’re probably right.”
They began to climb. Time passed, but for once they did not tire, even though the steps seemed to go on for far longer than they should have.
“It would be nice to think someone was looking after us for a change,” Karen called to Chambers behind her. “You know, like a God or something.”
“It would,” Chambers agreed. “But my hopes for that rather got dashed when I saw Father Traynor. I had hoped he might have been fighting on our side, instead of just being another of Moreby’s puppets.”
“I know what you mean.” Karen slowed slightly, but Chambers kept her moving. “I could understand it of Dr. Chesney—I never liked him—but it was as if Father Traynor was lost from the beginning.”
“Perhaps he needed to be possessed first for that very reason. Can you see anything yet?”
“It’s so dark here, it’s all I can do to feel the steps, but yes—I think there’s a tiny point of light up ahead.”
Five minutes later the point had increased in size to the outline of a closed door. Chambers fully expected it to be locked, but the handle yielded and they found themselves walking out onto the roof of the tallest skyscraper either of them had ever seen.
“Let’s hope the way to the next level is around here somewhere.” Chambers was already searching, while Karen went to peer over the edge.
“We’ve got company below,” she said.
Chambers joined her and looked over to see, far, far below, streets swarming with the undead.
“They don’t seem to know which building to enter, though.”
“They will if they see us.” He pulled her back from the edge. “Now help me look for the portal.”
They both stared at the broad, flat graveled expanse of gray roof.
“If it’s here, it’s not exactly obvious,” Karen observed.
They both looked up, but there was no purple-rimmed oval of jet in the slate-gray sky.
“Maybe we’ve come up the wrong building?”
God, he hoped not. “That can’t be right. Why have a street of fake buildings and then have the only real one lead nowhere?”
Karen shrugged. “Because it would be the punch-line to an especially shitty cosmic joke?”
There was a crash from far below. Chambers glanced over the edge to see the creatures coalescing around the building on which they were currently standing.
“Well, it looks as if we’re not the only ones who think this is the way out,” he said.
“Perhaps it’s invisible?”
Chambers took a step forward, his foot crunching on the gravel as he did so. It was worth a try. He picked up a handful of chippings and flung them straight ahead of him. They landed with a clatter. He flung another handful to his left. The same.
Karen picked up two handfuls and flung them to the right.
The ones that flew over the far corner of the building disappeared.
“You were right!” Chambers clapped her on the shoulder.
There was only one problem.
The gravel chips had flown through the air and off the edge of the building before disappearing. Which meant the exit wasn’t on the roof of the building at all.
It was floating in mid-air, just off the corner of it.
“Come on,” said Chambers. “We’re going to have to . . .”
“Jump?” Karen looked to where he was pointing with weary resignation. “And if we fall?”
“We won’t fall. I’ll go first if you like.”
“And fail to see me plummet to my death?” She pushed him out of the way. “Not bloody likely.” With that she ran to the corner of the building and leapt. For a fraction of a second she hovered in mid-air, then her body began to fall. Chambers’s heart was in his mouth as, suddenly, she vanished.
Must remember it’s a bit lower than I’d expect, he thought as the door to the roof burst open and the first zombies spilled onto the concrete.
Must also remember these things can move much faster now.
In fact, they were almost upon him as Chambers jumped. He felt the dizzying, sickening sensation of falling that continued as he crashed to the floor and landed in a mess of sticky fluids and semi-digested matter.
At first he was struck by the horrifying thought that this was all that was left of Karen after her passage through. Then he remembered he was in the Circle of Gluttony. He tried to get up, but his hands skidded in front of him, causing his elbow to jar against the surface.
“Do you need helping up?”
“They’re right behind us,” he said as she pulled him to his feet.
An ominous rumble added weight to his words.
“I think the way out’s through there.”
Chambers followed Karen, passing the broken table and the high window they had used as their way of getting out of here before. But now they needed to go up, not down. They passed through rooms filled with the remnants of huge meals, the constituents of which were already reforming so the meals could be gorged upon once more.
“Through there!” Karen pointed to an arched doorway, beyond which lay another grand banquet hall.
With a portal at the far end.
They entered the hall just as the first of the undead emerged from the Circle of Greed. Then another came, and another.
“What are you doing?”
They were right by the portal when Karen ran to the banquet table. It was recharged and replete, and a full meal stood waiting for the damned of this level who would now never eat it. Karen selected the largest cake and, hefting it expertly, flung it at the first zombie that came through the doorway.
“I’ve just always wanted to do that,” she said as she followed Chambers through the exit. “I saw it in a movie once.”
The portal changed as they passed through it, constricting and squeezing them with its newly fleshy and muscular walls.
“What the hell’s going on?” Karen gasped.
“It’s the Circle of Lust next, remember? I’d be surprised if the things that live here have managed to leave.”
They hadn’t.
Karen and Chambers picked their way across the flesh-strewn landscape. As they did, the creatures that had pursued them before began to be aroused, melding and shaping themselves into things capable of chasing them.
“Why haven’t these gone to the Sea of Darkness?” Karen jumped and skipped to avoid the creatures plucking at her heels.
Chambers had no idea. “Perhaps they’re not as aware as the residents of the other circles. I mean, have you seen anything around here with a brain?”
“True.” Karen pulled her calf free from a grasping hand attached to a thrusting leg that was propelling itself along by bending at the knee. “I suppose it’s the part of the body lust would discard first.” She kicked at the thing, which kept grabbing at her with dogged persistence. “Do you think they’ll do this to what we’re being chased by?”
Chambers stamped on the thing’s arm to pin it down, then pulled the fingers free one by one. He picked the arm up and flung it into the mass of flesh behind them. “Let’s hope so,” he said. “It might buy us some time.”
The portal was up ahead, a welcoming patch of darkness amid all the urgent flesh-colored writhing.
“Why is it so easy now for us to find these?” Karen was voicing what Chambers had been wondering for some time.
“I’m beginning to wonder if it’s us,” he said as they approached the exit. “We opened the gates, perhaps we have some sort of affinity for them. This place isn’t exactly logical. The landscape is elastic and reality is fluid—if you can call it reality. These doors could occur anywhere—ten feet or a million miles away. I think the reason we’re finding them is because we’re meant to.”
“You mean something’s helping us leave?”
Chambers nodded. “But
not in the way you think. I don’t imagine it’s our best interests that are being indulged here. What matters is not that we get back to All Hallows Church; what matters is that we lead all those things back there.”
Karen’s eyes widened. “Should we stop?”
No, that wasn’t the answer. “For all we know, the gates will be just as easy for the undead to find with or without us. We have to keep going, not because we opened them, but because we may be the only people who can close them again.”
“We don’t seem to have been doing a very good job so far.” Karen pointed over Chambers’s shoulder. “Here they come!”
The damned of nine Circles of Hell came pouring through the portal at the opposite end of the chamber they were in. As Chambers had predicted, the lust zombies, already aroused by the passing of him and Karen, immediately latched onto their new guests. However, as soon as they sensed that the flesh they were touching was dead, that the limbs they were stroking were home only to necrotic tissue, the lusting flesh zombies fell away, uninterested. Instead, they joined with the forward-moving mass, adding yet another misshapen element to the army of darkness.
“Thank God we’re nearly there.” Chambers levered himself over a final mound of pulsing flesh and into the portal, noting with relief how the texture of the tunnel he found himself crawling through quickly changed from taut muscle to cold, lifeless rock. Before long he was able to get to his feet, and soon he and Karen were ascending another spiral stone staircase, with the suggestion of light above them.
Chambers’s first impression was that Limbo had not changed. Then he turned to look at the sky behind him, and saw the faint but definite impression of the Anarch hovering high above them both.
“His influence is spreading.” Chambers pushed Karen toward the nearest opening in the sheer cliff ahead of them. As they passed by, creatures began to emerge from the stone floor, ossified monsters more rock than human. However, they moved as if they were weighed down by little more than bags of sand.
“How do you know this is the way out?” Karen said as she stumbled into the corridor ahead of Chambers, and avoided the things that were emerging from the stone walls.
The Lovecraft Squad Page 34