Cold-Blooded Kin: An apocalyptic horror novel (Dying Breed Book 2)

by Jacob Rayne

  Abbott crawled out of the river. The fall had almost killed him but he’d been lucky. If he’d landed a few feet to his left he’d have been smashed on the rocks.

  He lay on his back for a moment, trying to figure out how the hell he could get out of here, and dimly remembered seeing the scientist disappearing down the river on a fragment of the rocky bowl.

  He wiped his eyes and looked around for something he could use as a boat. It took him a few minutes, but he managed to find the body of the spider creature on the river bank.

  The water rushed on by him as he tried to judge the best way to put the dead creature in the river. One mistake and he’d be swept away and… Sayonara.

  He straightened up and looked for a better place to enter the water but nowhere seemed safe. Wrapping the creature’s legs around his waist to aid buoyancy, he sighed and stepped into the water.

  He had barely time to breath before the current whisked him away.

  ‘Looks like you’re going to have something to do, Randy,’ Peterson said, pointing to a few creatures approaching out of the darkness.

  Their eyes lit up the dark. Hennessee counted three. He shook Weiland.

  He looked puzzled and groggy when he woke.

  ‘Trouble’s on the way, Weiland. Look lively. Cosh them if you can, but use your gun if you have to. Remember what Duggan said; don’t get bit.’

  ‘Wouldn’t want that to happen,’ he said, refraining from rubbing his itching arm or the back of his head which felt like it was full of rusted nails.

  They got out of the chopper and approached the creatures. Weiland was going to meet them head on, while Hennessee was going to sneak round to the right.

  Hennessee saw that one of the creatures was already running at him, so he gave up any pretence of stealth and ran at it, his cosh clenched in both hands like a baseball bat. He ran at the creature, using the momentum to add to the power of his swing. The cosh thudded into the creature’s forehead, opening a deep cut in the pale skin.

  Blood coursed down the cosh and soaked his hands.

  The creature fell. Hennessee choked it until the eyes faded. Then he ran back towards the chopper, where the other two were closing in on Weiland.

  The nearest creature fell forwards, Hennessee on its back, using Duggan’s chokehold to suffocate it. When it twitched a little and went limp, Hennessee checked its eyes and ran at the third one.

  Weiland had it on the floor, his gun pointed at its temple.

  ‘No,’ Hennessee shouted. ‘They’ll hear it.’

  The gunshot went off, taking a thick chunk of flesh from the creature’s head and echoing around the woods.

  ‘Are you stupid?’ Peterson shouted when they got back to the chopper. ‘He told you not to shoot. You could have easily finished it by hand.’

  ‘Sorry. I just panicked,’ Weiland said.

  ‘Look what you’ve done now, you idiot,’ Hennessee said, pointing out into the dark where dozens of pinpricks of orange light shone.

  Weiland apologised but couldn’t see where he’d gone wrong.

  ‘We’re gonna have to try and blast our way through, Randy,’ Peterson said.

  ‘Yeah. No way we can cosh all of these. This rifle’s got a night scope, thank fuck. Weiland, get out here and get ready for them coming close. You can shoot all you want now.’

  ‘Ok. Stop making me feel guilty about it.’

  ‘I’ll stop when we’re back home safe. You’ve put all of us in danger through your fucking stupidity.’

  Hennessee fitted the nightscope and flicked the cap open. Stood up out of the chopper and climbed onto the roof, the metal cold on his belly as he lay and peered into the scope.

  The cold-blooded creatures’ body heat didn’t show up, but he could see their rough outlines and the gleam of their eyes.

  He counted ten of them.

  He made it nine for now, sending a bullet whizzing through the head of the closest one.

  The remaining creatures looked towards his position at the sound of the gunshot. Their glances made a chill run through him.

  He took down another two with a perfect pair of headshots then scanned the rest. They seemed to be moving back, out of range. He shot one more before they disappeared back into the dark.

  While they were at a safe distance, he scanned the area, to see how they had managed to get across the river. A good distance from the chopper, he saw a tree trunk laid from bank to bank.

  ‘There’s a makeshift bridge,’ he told his two companions.

  ‘Must be where Duggan crossed,’ Peterson said.

  ‘What do we do?’ Hennessee asked. ‘Pull it back and leave them stranded or leave it and risk being overran?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Peterson said. ‘Give me chance to think about it.’

  Duggan dropped a stone over the side of the drop. It seemed to take an eternity to fall, the sound so small that they could barely even hear it.

  ‘What do you think?’ Duggan said.

  ‘I think you’ve got a death wish,’ Winters laughed.

  ‘I’m going in. I’ve got to. If you want to go back I’ll understand.’

  ‘No way,’ Craggs said.

  ‘We stick together,’ Winters said.

  Duggan leant over the edge, looking for a way down to the water many feet below. There seemed to be hand and foot holes in the rock, to climb up and down.

  ‘This looks risky,’ Duggan said, ‘But it’s the only way.’

  He started down the sheer rock face. The height made his head spin but he steadied himself with deep breaths and carefully made his way down.

  His hands and feet ached after only a few metres.

  He felt sure he was going to fall but he clung on to the handholds, put his feet in the footholds and grimly kept on.

  ‘I reckon we should pull it in,’ Peterson said. ‘They can always call us if they need it putting back.’

  ‘That’s what I thought. Saves half of the creatures of the known world moseyin’ on over here too.’

  Hennessee looked to Weiland. The lazy bastard was asleep again. Hennessee and Peterson found themselves wishing that Carroll had come in his place.

  ‘Weiland, wake up,’ Hennessee said. ‘Got a mission for you.’

  ‘What is it?’ Weiland said, angry at being distracted.

  ‘Since you brought these damn things here, you can go and move the log which they’re using to cross the river.’

  ‘Isn’t that where Duggan crossed?’

  ‘Yes, but it’s how the creatures are getting over the river to us. Duggan can always call us when he needs it there.’

  ‘I suppose. I’m not fucking about with my cosh though, these ones are getting the bullet.’

  ‘Oh, of course, yeah.’

  ‘Well alright then,’ Weiland said, picking up his guns and leaving the chopper.

  He set off towards the log, using the river’s noise as his compass. He drew closer to the glowing eyes which watched him from a distance.

  Duggan reached the bottom after a seemingly endless climb. He looked up and saw Craggs roughly halfway down. Winters was lost in the gloom.

  Duggan’s hands and feet ached. He tried to stretch them out, and took a look around while he waited.

  A shallow pool of water lined the floor of the large cavern he found himself in. The water looked about knee height. Not too deep, but enough to slow them from a run to a walk.

  From down here, there was a white light coming from a gap at the far end. It looked like the room led into another of a similar size. Water dropped onto his head from the roof high above.

  The air down here felt colder and much thicker. He could feel the presence of something with them in the gloom, but he had no idea what it was.

  Duggan sat on the edge of the pool – reasoning it was going to be the last rest he was going to get for a while – and waited for Craggs and Winters to climb down.

  Weiland neared the group of creatures, felt their eyes on him. He drew his gun, wa
iting for one of them to make their move on him.

  ‘That’s fucking right,’ he said, when none of them approached him.

  He reached the tree trunk and grabbed it after one last check to make sure he wouldn’t need his gun. The creatures still hadn’t approached.

  He strained a little with the tree’s weight but it skidded across the grass towards him. The far end went down into the river, but he kept tight hold and pulled it back hard. The tree came. Sweating and out of breath, he left the tree on the riverbank.

  The creatures still hadn’t come any closer, just watched him. He ignored them, feeling deeply uncomfortable at the idea of them staring at him like that.

  He ran back to the chopper, his gun in his hand, in case the creatures made a sudden break for him.

  ‘Good job, Weiland,’ Hennessee said. ‘Did they bother you?’

  ‘No, not at all, which is weird.’

  ‘Don’t complain,’ Peterson said.

  ‘Oh hell no, I’m not. It’s just strange that they didn’t go for me.’

  ‘Guess it is a little,’ Hennessee said.

  Craggs reached the bottom, huffing his breath. He cracked his fingers like a piano player then rubbed his hands together to warm them.

  ‘Cold down here,’ he said.

  ‘I know,’ Duggan agreed. ‘We’ll be alright when we get moving again.’

  ‘Yeah probably. When twinkle toes gets down here.’

  ‘To be fair, he is going pretty fast.’

  Craggs squinted up. ‘I know. Almost halfway. Jeez, my hands and feet are aching.’

  ‘Yeah, me too. My idea of torture.’

  ‘Got that right.’

  Duggan and Craggs jolted when they heard a cry from Winters. They looked up and saw a vast translucent cloud swarming round him.

  ‘Ah fuck,’ Duggan said.

  The moths bounced into Winters, drawing blood everywhere they touched.

  Powerless to help, they watched Winters’s feet slip from the footholds. For a long second, Winters hung from his fingertips, then he fell. Turned head over heel and plummeted.

  His cry seemed to last forever, then he hit the ground with a horrendous wet splat.

  ‘Shit,’ Duggan said. He and Craggs rushed across to their fallen friend. Winter’s body was mashed into the rock, his blood and viscera spreading beneath him in a dark pool. Thick gore poured out of his mouth. His eyes were rolled back to reveal the whites. His face and hands had been torn to shreds by the claws and teeth of the moth creatures.

  ‘Ain’t no way he could have survived that,’ Craggs said.

  Duggan felt the same way, but he said nothing, just stared at Winters. Then he glanced up to see what the cloud of moths was doing. They were flitting aimlessly around the patch of wall where Winters had been.

  Craggs felt for a pulse. Nothing. He pushed down the lids of Winters’ eyes, patted him on the shoulder and said a prayer under his breath.

  When he’d finished, he parted his hands and said, ‘We gotta take this bastard down, for Morey.’

  ‘Poor bastard.’

  ‘Least it was quick. Not torn in half like we’re likely to be,’ Craggs said, punctuating the remark with a nervous laugh.

  ‘True. The first part, that is. The second part ain’t true. We’re gonna nail this lab and everything in it and come out smiling. Mark my words, Jack.’

  They took Morey’s weapons and ammo, loaded their own guns up and moved into the shallow pool of water.

  The raging torrent beat against the rocks as it carried Abbott down the river on his makeshift boat. Tiny lights gleamed in the darkness, casting a dim glow over the cavern. They were reflected in the dark water too. It looked as though the sky had become trapped beneath the waves.

  The smells of stagnant water and a strange, meaty smell filled the air as it rushed past him. He bent his knees, using the creature’s body as a makeshift raft. The spray from the water splashed up at him. He tried to keep his mouth shut after his first taste of the water. It tasted like off fish.

  The reason for this became clear when he took another look over the edge of the creature’s billowing form. There were a shoal of dead fishes bobbing up and down on the top of the water. Their pale corpses stood out against the dark water.

  He could see a little way ahead, to the next bend. He was there before he knew it. The river was flying through the cavern at a relentless pace. It was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating, knowing that he could easily fall off the creature and be dashed to pieces in the torrent.

  Water splashed up the sides of the cavern. When he wasn’t having to concentrate on clinging to the creature he snuck glances of the landscape. The walls were glistening with multi-coloured sheens like oil slicks on the surface of water.

  It was eerily beautiful to behold.

  He rounded the next corner, leaning far to his left to navigate the corner.

  Then he yanked on the creature’s legs when he saw the huge stone that blocked the next part of the river. Though he pulled for all he was worth, he knew he would not be able to avoid crashing into it.

  Abbott knew that the speed he was travelling at was more than enough to kill him in a collision with the rock. He did his best to slow the creature, but the swift current and the downhill gradient made his efforts futile. Instead he crouched low, hoping to duck under the onrushing object.

  This is either going to be a spectacular success or one hell of a fuck up, he thought with a grim smile.

  When the creature continued to barrel towards the huge rock, he ducked under the water, muttering the words of a prayer. He knew that if this didn’t work he was in deep shit.

  His momentum took him about ten feet under the rock, which he recognised as a part of the gigantic bowl that had fallen before him. It was now damming the flow. The water was cold against his face as he flew through it, hoping to pop up and break the surface any time now.

  For a few brilliant seconds it looked as though he was going to make it, but just as it seemed everything was going to plan, his head clipped the passing edge of the rock.

  He let out a groan as he began to sink in seemingly slow motion, fighting to hold onto his nerve, clenching his teeth tight to prevent taking in any water. Flapping his arms and legs wildly, he fought the current.

  The rock seemed to go on for an eternity. He doubted he would be able to reach the end before his air ran out. His lungs ached with the effort, his brain feeling like it was growing too large for his skull.

  Cursing even as his mouth opened, he drew an involuntary breath. Ice-cold water flooded into his nose and mouth, filling him with the cold. It seemed to welcome him, to embrace him, to want him to stay part of it forever.

  The current dragged him down like strong, determined arms. He flailed again, trying to keep moving towards the edge of the rock. The cold seemed to grow inside him, spreading out from his chest in icy waves.

  He was still a nightmare’s length away from the surface when all became dark.

  The cavern was wide and circular, the opening directly across from them. Water dripped onto their backs from the ceiling high above.

  Duggan and Craggs clutched their shotguns in white-knuckled grips, ready for battle. They were halfway across the cavern but the opening to the next room didn’t seem to be getting any closer. It was a maddening optical illusion.

  The only sounds were the two men’s breathing and the tinkling sounds of the falling water drops hitting the surface of the shallow pool. They felt an unease which deepened with every step.

  After longer than it seemed like it should have taken, they reached the opening in the rock.

  The walls curved into the next cavern, which was mostly hidden in a thick, rolling fog.

  The light seemed to be coming from the far end of the cavern, doing little to improve visibility in the fog, seeming to only illuminate it.

  The two men looked at each other, their unease now fully-fledged fear. They heard noises in the fog, some of which sounded
like the creatures they had already seen.

  Those were bad enough, but what was worse were the other sounds that seemed to come from all around them, the hungry, slurping noises, punctuated by what sounded like something huge struggling to draw breath.

  They stepped off the dry rock and into the water. Their footsteps in the water were echoed from across the cavern.

  A reptilian creature appeared out of the fog, startling both men. It lunged at Duggan, sinking its fangs into his arm.

  Before it could bite all the way down – potentially hard enough to snap his limb clean in two, judging by the size of its jaw muscles – he brought the shotgun butt across in a hard strike.

  Duggan let go of the gun and slammed his elbow into the creature’s jaw. One of its teeth came off in his arm, but the creature didn’t seem to notice.

  Duggan Tasered it hard but he knew he didn’t have time to kill it properly; he could already hear more of them approaching through the fog.

  ‘More coming,’ Duggan said.

  Craggs nodded, fired a wild shotgun blast into the roiling fog then grabbed Duggan’s arm and hauled him forwards just in time to avoid one of the creatures landing on him.

  ‘Fuck, it sounds like there are shitloads of them down here,’ Duggan panted.

  Craggs nodded again. He fired his gun into the face of a creature as it lurched out of the fog at them.

  Its head exploded in a blood geyser, but it was already over the pain and searching for them, eager to make them pay.

  ‘Come on, we’re fucked if we stay here,’ Duggan said. ‘Taser or no Taser.’

  Craggs agreed and they dragged themselves forward.

  They moved carefully, every footstep as light as possible. They stopped frequently, to listen out for the other creatures. Their ears were full of the tinkling of falling water drops and the weird feeding and breathing noises. It was enough to make their skin crawl.

  Duggan walked right into something and nearly jumped right out of his skin. It was a huge relief when it turned out to just be the wall.

  As he took a relieved breath, a creature lunged for him, its claws piercing his right thigh. He let out a cry of frustration and shoved the Taser into its open mouth. The creature hissed and retreated in a hurry.