The Jonah

by James Herbert

  Then Kelso’s head went underwater as the other man pressed down. Ellie went for Bannen’s eyes, pulling herself up with one hand, lunging for the man’s face with pointed fingers. Temporarily blinded and shaking his head against the pain, Bannen let go of Kelso and pushed Ellie’s hand away as she stabbed and clawed at him.

  Kelso emerged once more, coughing and spluttering swallowed sea water. He yanked his opponent from his perch and both men went plunging back into the water.

  For several terrifying seconds, Ellie could only see splashing limbs as the two men battled with each other; then she lost sight of them completely as they disappeared beneath the foaming surface.

  She clung to the stairs, gasping in air and sobbing at the same time. Her hair was flat around her face, her eyes dark with the remains of running make-up; her water-sodden clothes dragged heavily at her weary body. She searched the bubbling waters, then turned away, pressing her face against the rails she clung to. She turned again in time to see two heads bob to the surface. They vanished, but quickly returned again.

  ‘Jim!’ Ellie screamed, stretching away from the staircase and reaching out with one hand.

  A body swept by and, as it rolled over, she saw it was the other man. Something bumped into her from behind and Kelso was holding onto her, clinging to her waist to prevent himself from being swept around the chamber once more. Ellie pulled herself back towards the staircase, the effort tremendous, the current and Kelso’s weight almost too much for her. The weight suddenly left her and then it was she who was being helped.

  They clutched at the staircase, feeling their bodies rise with the still flowing water, and tried to draw in breath.

  Finally, Kelso pushed at her arm, urging her to climb over the rail. With his help, she was able to do so and he dragged himself up after her.

  They lay against the stairs, the lower half of Kelso’s legs still in water, too exhausted to move, chests heaving. The roaring noise continued to fill their ears as the flood poured around and through the old mill, causing the very foundations to tremble.

  It was only when the water reached Kelso’s waist that he shook Ellie’s hip. ‘We’ve got to go up!’ he shouted oyer the noise. ‘The water’s still rising.’

  ‘How high will it reach?’ she shouted back.

  He shook his head. ‘God knows! But we’ll be safer up there!’ He hauled himself from the water and pulled her to her feet. ‘Come on! We can rest at the top!’

  They began to climb.

  And did not notice the hand that emerged from the churning water below to grab at a stair-rail.

  19

  They had only reached the second bend in the stairs when the lights below began to flicker. They looked at each other anxiously, their features barely visible in the already dim light.

  The lights flickered twice more, then went out.

  ‘Christ!’ Kelso muttered.

  Ellie held on to his arm, but kept a grip on the handrail with her other hand. The gushing water below echoed hollowly around the stairwell and, over that, they could hear the sound of the building, itself, creaking under the strain. Somewhere in the distance, something unable to resist the force of the swollen river disintegrated with a dull crash.

  ‘Can’t we stay just here, Jim?’ Even at that level, Ellie had to raise her voice over the noise. The howling wind outside added to the roar.

  ‘No, it’s not safe enough! The stairs could collapse under the pressure from below! We’ll be safest at the top of the building, Ellie!’

  They lurched onwards, feeling their way in the dark, shivering with the cold, and finally found themselves on a small landing.

  The sound of the wind was much stronger and moonlight, poor though it was, managed to filter through gaping holes in the sloping roof. The landing opened out into a vast room and they could see round shapes, the tops of the grain silos. Railings on one side, protection for workers inspecting the open bins, disappeared into the gloom ahead and, to their right, they could just make out stout beams rising to the ceiling, long cobwebs, hanging from cross-sections, tossed and twisted by currents of air which had found their way into the building. The outlines of two windows at the far end of the huge room barely stood out amongst the surrounding blackness.

  Kelso took Ellie’s hand and led her forward; she hung back, reluctant to enter. There was an eerie atmosphere about the place, something foreboding. It was like entering a huge cave wherein lived something corrupt, something ugly. The putrid smell seemed to corroborate her fears.

  A dark shape moved among the shadows.

  Kelso and Ellie stopped and rain that had found entry through gaps in the roofing formed puddles around their feet. The shape came closer and Kelso stood in front of the girl.

  Sudden light dazzled them and they crouched back against the glare.

  ‘Where are the others, Kelly?’ It was Slauden’s voice. He held the flashlight before him, its beam wide and powerful, lighting up much of the grain room and the stairwell behind the two figures.

  ‘They’re dead, Slauden!’ Kelso replied, his voice raised, unsteady. ‘They drowned!’

  The light wavered momentarily and Kelso tried to move forward.

  ‘Stay there!’ Slauden warned. ‘I’ve a gun in my hand. It’s small, but effective.’

  ‘What’s the point, Slauden? You’re finished. There’s nothing left for you!’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve lost one key figure – the other two didn’t matter!’

  ‘But your laboratory. It’s underground – this flood will have destroyed it!’

  ‘Flood doors will have protected it. It will still function!’

  Kelso tried to move closer, keeping his body between Ellie and the man. ‘Look, Slauden, I had nothing to do with Trewick. I’m with the Drugs Squad. We’ve been watching you for some time. If anything happens to me or the girl they’ll know where to come looking.’

  ‘That’s a rather stupid lie! If that were the case my estate would have been swarming with police when you both disappeared. Perhaps you could have gone missing for one day, but not the girl the day after. I’ve had someone watching your caravan for the past two days – before and after she returned – and nobody has been in the least bit curious over your absence.’

  Kelso tried to see beyond the flashlight. Did Slauden really carry a gun? It was impossible to tell. ‘You can’t kill us!’ he shouted, unconvinced himself.

  ‘I have no choice! It’s too late for you both. You refused to co-operate, so you must pay the penalty. I daresay there will be many missing persons when this flood has abated – God knows what damage it’s caused! You’ll just be among the bodies never recovered!’

  Kelso had to take a chance. Slauden was the type who let others do his dirty work for him – would he be able to soil his own hands? ‘Back away, Ellie!’ he ordered the girl. ‘Back up towards the stairs!’

  Slauden did not react. Perhaps he wanted them down there in the floodwater.

  They were nearly out on the landing, moving slowly, shielding their eyes from the glaring light, when movement made Ellie turn to look behind. She screamed when she saw the figure waiting for them.

  Kelso whirled around to find Bannen standing there, his oilskins discarded, his drenched clothes hanging loosely around him. The bandage on his face had been torn away, and the skin was puckered and red where he had been burned. Bannen knocked the girl aside with a sweeping blow and came at Kelso, an expression of furious hatred distorting his scarred features even more.

  Kelso went back with the impact, Bannen’s charging rush sending both men crashing against the rail guarding the open grain bins. Bannen screeched his rage while his hands squeezed Kelso’s throat. The detective felt his head was about to explode. He tried to pull away, but it was no use – Bannen was too strong. He brought his knee up hard into the other man’s groin and the grip immediately relaxed. Kelso pulled himself clear and struck out with a clenched fist. Bannen hardly seemed to feel the blow. He lunged at t
he detective again and this time the momentum carried both men over the guardrail into the grain silo just below.

  Kelso’s open mouth became clogged with fine grain and he retched uncontrollably. Bannen twisted his body so that he was on top of the spluttering man’s back. He grabbed Kelso’s head and pushed it deep into the grain.

  Ellie stumbled towards the guardrail and watched in helpless dread as Kelso’s face disappeared. His hands scrabbled frantically as he tried to reach behind and dislodge the heavier man. Ellie moaned aloud, but she could only stretch a hand out towards the struggling men, her body too exhausted, too drained to move further. Her legs began to give way and she collapsed against the rail, sobbing and moaning, unable to help Kelso.

  The wind reached a new crescendo and tiles from the roof above fell inwards with a rush. Rain poured through the huge rent, and the wind entered with fresh force, tearing around the chamber, ripping cobwebs from the rafters, rippling the surfaces in each bin. The grain rose up and flew around the two men like a yellow blizzard. Kelso’s struggles were becoming weaker; his hands clenched and grain was squeezed through his quivering fingers.

  And from the shadows, through the swirling dust and grain, through the drifting cobwebs caught in the screeching wind, through the torrents of rain that had found access into the building, something began to emerge.

  They sensed it was there before it came into the beam of light.

  Ellie had seen Bannen’s round, staring eyes, his blistered lips turned down in a strange, contorted grimace, and had followed his gaze. A dark hunched shape stood just behind the stream of light.

  Slauden felt his body go cold. There was a sensation at the back of his neck, a clammy prickling that made him shiver spasmodically. He was aware of a crackling around his head, a sound felt rather than heard, and he knew that every hair on his body had stiffened, become brittle. His stomach muscles had locked tight as he experienced the extremes of fear. He forced his hand to turn the torchlight towards the scuffling shape, but the movement was slow, almost as if some part of him did not want to see what was there.

  Ellie followed the beam of light, her face drained of blood, her body beginning to sink completely to the floor. A hand gripped the guardrail, but it did not have the strength to support her weight. Her fingers opened and the arm fell limply to her side.

  The light moved across a stout, wooden beam and then touched something just beyond.

  None of them could utter a sound, for the shock was too intense.

  Ellie felt hot fluid jet from between her legs.

  Slauden felt a whiteness sweep through him, a whiteness that blanked out his mind and threatened to send him into unconsciousness.

  Bannen’s throat rasped as his mouth opened and closed and he tried to scream.

  The hunched figure moved and the light shone fully on it.

  Its skin was scaly, dried and cracked in some places, ravaged and torn in others. In parts the flesh was completely open and tiny things scuttled among the red meat and sinew. It was almost bent double, one withered, claw-like hand with fingernails dangling a few inches from the floor; the other arm had no hand, just a knotted bunching of bone and flesh at the elbow, a mangled stump that looked raw and gangrenous. Both legs were twisted and deformed, one foot no more than a stubby flat shape with no toes, no shaping of an ankle; the knee joint of the other leg was bulbous, the thigh above thin and wasted. Shadow covered the groin area because of its hunched stance, but dark hair reached down between its legs from waist-level, curling over its thighs like tiny legs of spiders. The skin across its shoulders was puckered and scarred, and huge lumps like angry boils covered the flesh. Its spine arched upwards from its back, the bone uncovered at several points, the skin around it moulded in as though it had grown that way.

  Its head, which sat low on its shoulders, seeming almost to protrude from its chest, was covered with strands of wispy hair, long so that it hung around its face, but sparse so that the mottled scalp could be clearly seen.

  Its face was the most hideous part.

  Much of it was missing.

  Black veins were exposed, but no skin or flesh grew around them; they hung against the bones of its jaw and cheek.

  Brown stumps of teeth were visible, the gums they were embedded in yellow and glistening. A drooling substance dripped from its half-formed chin.

  Holes punctured its other cheek as though small creatures had gorged their way through, and occasionally something wet and shiny jutted from the larger of the openings; it was its tongue, lolling around the cavity of its mouth, pressing through like a worm in the earth seeking moisture from above, for they could see its movement behind the stumps of teeth.

  The nose came directly from what there was of the upper lip and this, too, was no more than a stump. There were no nostrils.

  Its forehead was large and curving, descending in a broad triangle towards the misshapen nose; the skin appeared to be flaky, powdery, barely attached to the bone beneath. The one ear they could see was just a curled piece of gristle.

  There were no eyebrows, no lashes. Its eyes projected from red-rimmed sockets like dull black marbles, for they had no irises and almost no whites.

  A fetid smell of corruption emanated from the creature as it shuffled forward. It seemed to be watching the two men in the grain bin.

  Bannen released Kelso, who thankfully drew his head from the grain, coughing and gasping for air. Bannen backed away, his feet kicking against the loose particles. He was at the centre of the huge circle when the grain moved inwards and he began to sink.

  Somewhere deep below, the floodwaters had forced open the silo chutes so that the grain from the bins poured through separate funnels onto the motionless conveyor-belt.

  Kelso felt the movement and immediately realized what was happening. He grabbed for the metal rim nearby. Bannen was in a less fortunate position. He cried out for help as his legs were sucked down. Grain immediately avalanched inwards around him.

  ‘Help me!’ he screamed. ‘Please, please help me!’

  His arms scrabbled outwards as though he were trying to swim, but it just seemed to hasten his descent. One hand touched Kelso’s outstretched foot and his fingers closed around it in desperation, Kelso felt the tugging and slid backwards; he clung to the edge of the silo and tried to pull himself back up.

  Bannen’s grasp slipped from Kelso’s foot and with a despairing scream he sank further into the quicksand of grain. Soon his shoulders were covered and his hands beat at the air to ward off the falling particles.

  Kelso managed to pull himself onto the container’s lip and he looked back in time to see Bannen’s head sinking beneath the grain, his screams suddenly choked off, two grasping hands remaining, slowly going down, clutching at the air, until they, too, had disappeared.

  Kelso grabbed the guardrail and hung there, too shocked to move. Even as he watched, the shifting of the grain slowed, its centre filling again until the surface merely dipped towards the middle.

  ‘Oh, God, no,’ Kelso groaned. Bannen’s body had become wedged in the funnel end of the container, the tons of grain bearing down on him prevented from flowing out. The sea water had not drowned him, but the grain had.

  Kelso slid over the railing and fell in a heap beside the prostrate body of Ellie. He looked at her and was barely able to raise a hand to touch her cheek.

  ‘Ellie . . .’ he said.

  He looked curiously at her staring, terrified eyes and then turned to see what had caused her to be so transfixed. His body went rigid. His eyes widened. Revulsion swept through him.

  Then the shock passed and there was something more in his expression. The deformed monster was silently watching him and, for a moment, the terrible cacophony of wrenching wind and rushing water seemed to abate; it could have been only in their minds, the horror of the sight before them closing out all other aspects from their consciousness. Ellie managed to force her gaze away and looked towards Kelso. Consternation mixed with her fear; was it
pity on his face?

  ‘Jim?’ Her voice shook. ‘What . . . is it?’

  He did not seem to hear.

  ‘Jim!’ Ellie tugged at his arm.

  Kelso turned his head towards her, but there was no recognition.

  ‘Jim!’ Ellie screeched, and her hands beat weakly at his chest.

  His expression changed, the cloudiness left his eyes, and he knew her once more.

  She pulled closer to him and her hand clutched his coat collar. ‘What is it? Please tell me, Jim!’

  His mouth opened, but she wasn’t sure of his words. ‘Tell me!’ Ellie urged, for somehow she knew there was a link between this creature and Kelso.

  Kelso spoke quietly, his words slow and forced, and this time she heard, but could not believe.

  ‘It’s . . . my . . . twin,’ he said.

  The roaring returned. The wind blew at their hair, tugged at their clothes. Rain splattered against their skin with renewed vigour. Ellie stared at Kelso, oblivious to everything else. Then she turned her head towards the creature.

  Its black, malformed eyes were watching her.

  It tried to stand erect, but could not. The twisted, misshapen body lurched forward and spittle flowed from its hideous mouth. It came forward towards the two figures lying against the guardrail, one side of its mutilated body reflecting bright light from the torchbeam, the other side in deep shadow. Its eyes never left the girl.

  Ellie looked pleadingly at Kelso, but he had withdrawn into himself, his eyes wide and staring, but his face expressionless. She shook him once more and called out his name, but there was no response. Ellie drew away from him, her head shaking in a gesture of disbelief, tears of panic, bewilderment, adding to the dampness of her face. She crawled away, wanting to find some dark recess to curl up in, to escape from the approaching monstrosity, to hide away from the malignancy that was part of Kelso.

  She dragged herself along the rough floorboards and could not take her eyes from the lurching thing. It was near Kelso now, but still advancing on her. She felt her strength failing, her muscles becoming weak as though an immense pressure was bearing down on her. She lay there on her side, trying to make herself move, trying to make herself scream to release the hysteria that locked her body rigid. She could only raise a trembling hand to shut out the sight of the mutant.