by David Wood
Maya jolted the back of his seat. “There isn’t time for chivalry, Kyle. If you have something in mind, then let’s get to it. The end is pretty seriously nigh.”
“But—” Kyle could only get the one word out before Taylor hit him on the shoulder.
“Dude, it sounds like there’s nowhere we can run to that this evil old bastard won’t eventually catch up to us. If you know a way we can stop it now, then get on that shit!”
Kyle wasn’t so sure about his plan, and Morgana didn’t seem all that convinced either in the rearview mirror, but Taylor’s conviction swayed them both.
“Okay, but when this doesn’t work and we’re all dead, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He pulled out his cell phone.
Interlude- Power of the Blood
Deep in the mountain, Ash knelt on knobby knees, holding his head and cutting his skin with claws he wasn't accustomed to yet as pain throbbed through his skull, courtesy of the nigger bitch. He hadn't anticipated she'd have enough power to resist him. The power in her blood was old, but there was strength left in it that would have to be reckoned with.
After a few moments he rose to his feet and contemplated his next move. But, as he considered his options, distant voices whispered into his ear. He listened to them, listened close, and he smiled as he realized that – though the cunt had taken her mind back – he still had a connection to her, and through it he heard the heathens talking in the distant Honda. When she spoke about the cavern and the water he relished feeling her fear, but his enjoyment turned sour when Kyle spoke. Gus's son was young, but he wasn't stupid, and the plan he formulated had merit. Too much merit, in fact.
Since finding the dark god in the mountain, Ash had felt like he'd found his destiny, and the dreams of the sleeping beast had promised him power beyond measure, power to shake the world and burn the heavens. He'd not had reason to worry or fear since that moment, but as Kyle spoke, anxiety again touched his heart.
Ash turned so quickly the dust on the ground whirled into a small cyclone, and it didn't have time to settle before he was gone, calling for Gus and the rest of his minions. The moment of their ascension was close, and Ash wasn't about to let anyone stand in their way, especially some black bitch and Gus's wayward son.
Chapter 22
Far in the distance chaos ruled, turning Stillwater into flaming ruin of what it used to be, but the back roads were still calm, and as Kyle pulled the Honda off a gravel road onto an empty asphalt parking lot everything was quiet. No one stirred, nothing moved. All was shadow and silence.
“Your friend said he'd be here, right?” Taylor‘s eyes darted around in quick, furtive glances. She sat in the front passenger seat, her hand gripping his leg.
Kyle nodded and turned off the engine. “He lives on the other side of the mountain, about as far from town as you can get and still be in the county. Give him a couple of minutes.”
“And you told him to stick to the old trails?” Taylor asked as she rolled her backseat window down. The outside air, wet and cold with rain, slapped their senses awake. “Told him to avoid the main roads?”
Kyle sighed. “You were sitting right here when I called him.”
Morgana, who'd moved to sit next to Taylor, grabbed Kyle's headrest and pulled herself forward, causing him to sink backward a couple inches. “And did he sound...ya know...okay? Normal?”
“He sounded half drunk, so yeah, I'd say normal.”
Maya rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Several sets of eyes gleamed behind a fence at the edge of the parking lot, each pair moving left and right in low, slinking motions. Kyle’s heart jumped into his throat and his hand twitched toward his pistol, but then one of the pairs of eyes loped near a security light shining down from a tall wooden pole and a German Shepherd appeared from the shadows. He would have laughed if his heart weren’t crammed into his throat.
Soon headlights turned into the parking lot. They belonged to an ancient Ford truck that looked like it should have been put down years ago, and its springs squeaked liked stepped on mice as it crossed onto the asphalt. Kyle smiled, remembering all the miles and dents he'd helped put on the truck when he was younger.
“Is that him?” Maya asked.
Kyle unclipped his seatbelt and opened his door. “Yep, that's him. Come on.”
The four were out of the Honda and huddled together against the rain when the Ford stopped next to them. A figure rushed around the truck and came toward them, arms up and arched toward them like a vampire from an old black and white movie. Taylor and Morgana took a half step backward, but Kyle laughed and opened his arms.
“Thanks for coming, man.” He clapped the figure's back and then releasing him.
“Jesus H,” Dirk replied, his face pale in the glow of their headlights. “What in the goddamn hell is going on?”
Kyle frowned, unsure of where to begin answering that question. “What do you mean?”
Instead of replying, Dirk ducked his head and walked toward a metal building ten feet from the parking lot. Several dogs whined from the cyclone fence circling it. With a jangle of keys he unlocked the fence and gave the dogs vigorous scratches behind their ears and a few calming words before waving everyone else in. The dogs immediately inspected the group as they passed through the gate, their noses sniffing like vacuum cleaners and their tails wagging in propeller motions behind them. Once everyone was cleared by the four-legged guards Dirk walk to the office door and unlocked it. A sign over it read CHAPMAN CONSTRUCTION - MAIN OFFICE. Everyone stamped their feet and shook the rain off as best they could once they stood on a rubber mat inside the office. The dogs stayed outside to maintain their vigil.
Dirk closed the door behind them. “I mean just what I said. My dad called me earlier today, giving me an earful about how terrible a son I am and how much he wished I'd never been born and how I've tarnished the proud Chapman name. He's a shitty dad and all, but what he said was extreme, even for him. When I tried to call him back after calming down and all I got was a busy signal. I drove by a convenience store to get an extra sixer to polish my day off with, and there was a fight going on by the pumps – just a whole group of people beating the shit out of some sad son of a bitch – so I said fuck it and left. When I came over the hill to get here I saw a couple of fires in town, but I didn't see a single fire truck, or ambulance, or even a police car. Not one spinning light, anywhere. And here you're calling me asking to meet you at the construction office because you need me to get you something, yet you won't say what over the phone.” Finished with his recounting, Dirk sidled up next to a desk and sat down on the front left corner of it. “So, I ask again, what the fuck is going on?”
This was the moment Kyle had been dreading. Dirk had every right to ask the question, and he had a right to an honest answer, but would he believe it when they gave it to him? Kyle wasn't sure, and he wouldn't have blame Dirk for not believing it either. Had he not seen things with his own eyes, heard what he'd heard and felt what he'd felt, he would have scoffed at stories about hidden devils and people being transformed by evil. But, if he wanted Dirk to help him, then the truth was the only thing that would do, because what they were going to have to do was so extreme that nothing short of the destruction of what slowly awoke in the mountain would be worth doing it.
“Dirk,” he said as he sat down on a tattered couch close to the entrance door, “I know what you're about to hear is gonna sound unbelievable, but trust me when I say every bit of it's true. All those things you mentioned, all those strange goings-on? There's a reason why it's happening. And the real bitch of it is that it's about to get worse. A lot worse.” He then looked over at Maya and nodded for her to begin.
Over the next several minutes Maya talked without interruption. Most of it Kyle knew, and what little he didn't came as no surprise. Taylor had heard some of it before as well, but hearing it all laid out in one long spiel was tough, and she joined Kyle on the couch. Morgana and Dirk, though, knew a
lmost nothing, so Maya's speech hit them the hardest. They alternated between looks of shock, disbelief, wonder, understanding, and fear – mostly disbelief and fear. By the time Maya finished they looked as white as washed bed linens drying in the sun.
“So...okay.” Dirk shook his head and stared at the ground before he looked up and stared at Kyle. “Okay, let's say I believe all this shit – and fuck me for even thinking it – what do you need from me? It sounds like we should be running out of town like our feet were on fire and our asses were catching.”
Kyle took a deep breath and calmed his face as much as he was able. If he was going to have a chance in hell of getting Dirk to go along with his plan he needed to seem as reasonable and thought-out as possible. “Well, if Maya's right, then running won't save us. At best we'll get another day of safety, maybe two. After that it's all over no matter where you are. So if we can't run, then our one alternative is to fight back, to stop it.”
“And how do you propose to do that, Dr. Venkman?” Dirk asked, crossing his arms and leaning back on the desk.
Keeping his face straight, Kyle replied, “We flood the mine.”
Dirk stared at him, then glanced out a small window to the rain falling outside, then looked back at him. “I know you didn't do all that well in science class, man, but the rain out there ain't gonna flood anything more than the ditch at the end of my driveway.”
“I'm not talking about rain,” Kyle said. “I'm talking about the river.”
“The river?” The right corner of Dirk's mouth twisted up and his eyebrows teetered on his forehead. “Shit, man, even with all the rain we've gotten, the river is too low to crest the bank.”
Kyle nodded in agreement. “That's true, but what if we blew the dam?”
“What?” Dirk slipped off the desk and had to catch himself before he plopped onto the floor. “Are you fucking insane?”
“No.” Kyle forced himself to remain calm and not rise to Dirk's reaction. “I'm just a man without any other options.”
Dirk snorted and sat back down on the desk, then pushed away and paced the floor in front of it. “You call blowing the dam an option?”
“The only one we have, man. Like you said, we don't have time for the rain to do it, and there's no other way to get the river high enough to spill over the bank and get to the mine.”
Dirk spun and pointed a finger at Kyle. “It'll do more than flood the mine, dumbass! It'll flood the entire town! Who knows how many people would die?”
“The people of Stillwater are already lost,” Maya said. As soon as she opened her mouth Kyle wanted to leap over and shut it because he knew what she was going to say – he'd thought the same thing too – but he knew Dirk wouldn't want to hear that. Not yet anyway.
“This ain't your town!” Dirk replied. “You don't get to make that call.”
“Then who does?” Kyle asked, plunging ahead since all the cards were on the table. “You? Me? Neither us is exactly Stillwater's favorite son. But it's not even about that. I've been down in it, I've seen what they've become, what others are becoming right now as we speak. They're monsters, Dirk. It's not their fault, and it's a fucking terrible shame that it happened, but right now we don't have the luxury of beating our chests and crying over the inhumanity of it all. As shitty as it is, we've got worse problems to deal with, and that has to be our primary concern.” He paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then looked Dirk square in the eyes with all the severity he could muster. “If we don't stop that thing in the mountain from rising, what happens to Stillwater won't mean fuck-all.
Dirk sighed as he glared at the four people arrayed around him. Kyle knew that if just one of them had come to Dirk with their story, he would have understandably blown them off, maybe even if two had come, figuring he was getting punked. But all four of them had seen the monsters, three of them had been to the mountain. Collectively it had to be hard not to believe them, no matter how hard Dirk wished he could.
“Shit.” The word cut through Dirk’s teeth in a hiss. “Shit, shit, shit. Alright, so... Fuck, if you want to flood the river, the best way to do it would be to blow the dam's sluice gates. The dam itself is too thick to blow without a couple days of preparation and planning, but the sluice gates are just metal plates. Put explosives on each one, set timers, and boom – instant flood. We've got stuff that'll do the trick out in another building. Which, I guess, is why you called me.”
Nodding, Kyle got up and grabbed Dirk's shoulders. “Yeah, it is. Trust me, I'd rather have let you get your usual Friday night drunk on, but we're the only ones who can stop this, and we need your help to do it.”
A sad laugh shot from Dirk's lips. “If I'm your ray of hope, then you must really be buried in shit. I –”
The dogs, which had been quiet the entire time they'd been talking, suddenly barked up a frenzy, cutting Dirk off. Kyle ran to the nearest window and looked out. He didn't see anything, but something had riled the dogs up because they were running around the fence, barking like crazy. “Dirk, I think the party might be coming our way. You know where the stuff is we need?”
“Yeah.” Dirk jangling his keys again.
“Good, 'cause we need to get it and go.” Kyle looked at Maya and his sister, and panic was writ large across their faces. “Stay right here and look after each other. This shouldn't take but a minute.” He gave each of them a smile he didn't feel, then turned to Dirk. “Okay, let's do this.”
Dirk opened the office door and Kyle followed after him. Rain sputtered down on them, seeped into their clothes. Arrayed around the parking lot were several metal buildings with signs like LUMBER, PLUMBING, and DRYWALL secured over large, roll-up doors. Dirk ignored those and went toward a smaller building bearing a sign with red stripes painted on it and the words RESTRICTED MATERIALS in black. Behind them, the dogs continued to bark and run back and forth along the fenced area.
Once he reached the restricted building, Dirk unlocked it and rushed inside. Florescent lights sputtered to life overhead. Kyle followed him in but stayed neared the door and kept one eye outside. The louder the dogs barked and the faster they paced the fence, the more the small hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
“I can't believe I'm fucking doing this.” Dirk unlocked another door, this one leading to a cage made of thick metal wire mesh. “Dad would throw a shit fit if he knew what we were up to.”
“I imagine he has other things going on right now,” Kyle replied.
Dirk was out of Kyle's line of sight, Kyle could hear him opening lockers. “Yeah, I guess so. He... Do you think the same thing's happening to your folks?”
“I know it is.” Kyle felt numbness pass over him at the thought of his parents. As much as he'd hated his dad and was disappointed in his mother, he'd never wished them ill. They were as their parents had raised them, and to their credit they'd managed to raise a couple of good kids. To see them undone, to know his parents were for all intents and purposes dead, it chilled him. Without knowing it he'd forced himself not to think about it, but Dirk's words pressed the issue. “The last time I saw my mom she was raving like a... psycho or something, and my dad...his eyes were black. Not like he'd been punched, but no whites, no irises, no pupils. They were shiny lumps of coal in his face. I don't even want to think what they’re like now.”
“Black eyes, huh?” Dirk snapped something closed in the cage. “Yeah, I think I saw something like that with my mom this morning. I stopped by the house to drop off my dirty clothes, and she tore into me like I'd taken a shit on her dining room table. When I left she just stood in the doorway, glaring at me. When I looked back to tell her I loved her, it was like her eyes were gone. I thought it was shadows at the time, but now...maybe not.”
Dirk grunted, then came out of the cage carrying two large metal boxes. He set them down with a thud, closed the cage, and then locked it. Kyle smirked, not seeing the point. If they succeeded, this place would soon be underwater. If they didn't, everyone would be dead.
&n
bsp; “Need any help with those?” Kyle asked as Dirk turned back and lifted the cases.
Shaking his head, Dirk said, “They're not heavy. You ever mess with explosives in the Army?”
“No. Boxes of uniforms and field gear were more my area of expertise.”
“As clumsy as you were as a kid,” Dirk said with a smile, “that's probably a good thing. Eh, then again you could take this case of C4 and drop it off a cliff, and it wouldn't do a damn thing but splat. Hell, you could even throw it in your fireplace and use it as kindling. For it to go boom, you need this.” He shook the case in his left hand.
“What are we bringing? Blasting caps or detonator cord?”
Dirk raised his right eyebrow. “Oh, so you know just enough to be dangerous. Wonderful. Since speed is of the essence we're bringing timed blasting caps. They're easier to set than an alarm clock, and they slide right into the explosive like a hotdog in a bun.”
Kyle started to smile, but the dogs launched into a fresh round of barking, which then turned into howls. He jerked around and stared out the open door. A pack of gray-skinned monsters crossed into the parking lot entrance, howling just as loudly. Claws and fangs flashed in the night.
“Oh my fucking god,” Dirk whispered over his shoulder. “You weren't lying. Sweet Jesus, you weren't lying. I'd hoped y—”
“Come on,” Kyle said. “We gotta go.”
Kyle ran from the supply building and dashed to the office. The door opened as he approached, Maya's hand holding onto the doorknob like it was the only thing keeping her from flying off into the dark. Taylor and Morgana stared out the window, their already pale faces almost bloodless.
“There's so many of them.” Maya’s lips barely moved as she spoke..
He saw her fear, knew it was inside him too, but his training refused to let him give into it. “A dozen or a hundred, we still gotta go. Get ready to run to the Honda.” He pulled the Smith & Wesson from the back of his jeans and looked over at his sister. “You two ready?”