99 Souls

by Thomas Malafarina

  Coogan shouted at the creature, “Bargain? Partner? Don’t speak to me about bargains you beast. Our bargain said that you would leave the locals alone, especially the children. Remember, I want them to forget about your story, to forget about this mine completely! What were you thinking last night killing the McKinley boy? That single event has done nothing but bring me more bad publicity and grief than I would have ever imagined. What would ever possess you do such a thing?”

  The creature took a deep breath, remembering fondly his ‘meal’ of the previous evening. “Ah yes, the sweet young boy.” A long snake like tongue slithered out of the beast’s mouth, danced serpent-like in the air then sucked back again “…but… Coogan. Oh… Coogan… The boy was so young… and his soul was oh so sweet and precious. My master will be so pleased.”

  Coogan held down an urge to retch again saying in disgust, “You nauseate me, O’Boyle. I don’t want to hear any more about it. Didn’t you know that my son was right behind the McKinley boy? You scared him half to death. Don’t you realize that? You could have killed him by mistake as well.”

  The creature spoke furtively, “Mistake? There was no mistake. I sensed your boy out there. I can smell Coogan blood a mile away. Believe me, if I had taken him, it would not have been a mistake. It would have been because I had chosen to take him. Instead I chose to let him live; to get your attention; to remind you of our pact. And also because part of our agreement was that I will not take you or your immediate family.

  “Still, I can’t help but wonder how ironic it would have been if I actually had stolen his soul. The son of the man who has been providing me with victims for these many years; the descendant of the same family that I cursed with my last mortal breath; a family to whom I swore revenge against and all of its descendants. How funny would that have been?”

  Coogan shouted, “It would have been the end of you, O’Boyle.”

  The creature shouted back at Coogan in anger, “The end of me? I don’t think so. There is no end to me. I am immortal. Did I not explain to you those many years ago? Neither you, nor anyone can kill me; not now, not ever.”

  The creature stood silently for a few seconds breathing heavily. Once composed, it replied calmly, “The worst you can do to me is to try to keep me down here in this accursed mine and that too will end eventually. I’ve waited since long before you were born and long before you stumbled into this mine as a young man.”

  “Perhaps I should have just killed you outright back then. I knew you were a Coogan, and I had sworn death to all of you. But you were a quick thinker, and I liked the idea of letting you use your bargaining skills to save yourself, for a while anyway…”

  Coogan thought to himself, “What does this animal mean by ‘for a while anyway’? This stupid beast still thinks that some day it will kill me. But, there have been so many advances in medicine and weapons since this hulking fool was created so many years ago. And, the beast has no idea what I have been working on while it was lingering in this mine. It doesn’t know that I have found a way to make him much less immortal. But, that will be for another day. For now, it is I who will bide my time.”

  The beast must have not been tuning in to Coogan’s thoughts because it continued in its rant “…. but don’t think for a moment that I can’t sit back, take my time and wait to get my turn. I have nothing but time. I have learned patience. I can wait as long as it takes.”

  The creature’s red and yellow eyes looked directly at Coogan from the shadows. Then it said, “The important question here, Coogan, is can you wait? How long can you wait to get your hands on all this lovely coal?”

  The creature turned waving its arm. The two looked off into the tunnel behind the beast. In the partially lit darkness Coogan could determine that what he was looking at was not just another tunnel, but was actually an entrance to a much larger room, a cavern of sorts. Coogan had never come this far into the mine and had no idea that such a cave existed.

  The creature turned and lumbered into the giant cave signaling for Coogan to come. “Follow me, Coogan,” the creature said, “You need not worry, I won’t harm you; at least not for the time being.”

  Coogan followed behind the creature, his flashlight shining on the gleam from the sweat beading on the creature’s huge muscular back. As the creature stepped off to the side, it raised its arm, lighting the cave, which lit with a bright unnatural blood-red illumination giving Coogan a clear view of its contents. Coogan could see mountains of coal all neatly cracked into small transportable and usable chunks. There appeared to be literally thousands of tons of coal ready for shipment.

  The creature explained, “As you can see, Coogan, I too have kept my part of our bargain. Perhaps I should have shown this little prize to you earlier, maybe a few years ago. It might have been a good incentive for you. And now it is all here just waiting for you to haul out and take to market.”

  Coogan stepped toward the cave as if in a trance, fascinated by the sight before him. He was standing next to the creature staring transfixed at the mountains of coal.

  The creature continued, “There it is Coogan; thousands and thousands of tons of coal just ripe for the picking. All you need do is keep bringing me my victims, and the day I am free to leave this mine, all of this will be yours.”

  “But you must remember, Coogan, you are getting older even though I am not. I can smell your earthly flesh decaying around you. Can you really afford to wait much longer, Coogan?”

  Coogan continued to stare at the mountains of coal in the illumination as if it were gold, then reluctantly replied, “I guess. … I don’t have a lot of choice…. but to… to wait…. I’m afraid I must wait.” He spoke as if in a dream.

  “Yes, you must. For now”, the creature replied.

  Coogan snapped out of his trance, took a step back and turned to his left looking up at the hulking creature.

  “But... but your stupid actions of last evening have set back my coal removal plans by months,” Coogan complained. “McHale was supposed to be another soul for you, and you just wasted him. I want to get you out of here as much as you want to leave so I can get in here and take what rightfully belongs to me.”

  Coogan pointed his finger at the creature. “But sometimes I think that you are either a mindless buffoon, or you just have been down here so long that you actually like it here. I’m willing to bet that you have no actual idea of how many souls you still need, do you? …. Maybe you already have enough. Maybe you can just leave right now. Have you tried to go out lately? Does your flesh still burn from the outside air?”

  The creature’s giant hand grabbed Coogan’s waving wrist stopping him in the middle of the gesture. Coogan could see the newly formed blisters oozing some greenish, brown puss from the back of the monster’s hand. Coogan assumed it must have happened the night before when the creature tried to grab the two remaining boys who huddled near the telephone pole. The veins in the creature’s hand pulsed under the blisters. Insects crawled in and out of the wound as puss slowly ran down the creature’s hand toward Coogan’s arm.

  Coogan was repulsed by this sight and tried to pull away but was helpless to do so. The creature slowly pushed his hideous puss covered hand closer to Coogan’s face. The smell was unlike anything Coogan had ever sensed, perhaps best described as a sulfurous odor mixed with animal waste, decomposing flesh and vomit.

  “Yes, Coogan, I still burn.” the creature said, “Would you like to take a closer look? Would you, Coogan? Maybe take a little taste?”

  Coogan cried out in horror, “Let go of me now, O’Boyle! Stop it now I say!” But most of Coogan’s bluster was gone. He was too busy trying to keep himself from vomiting once again.

  The creature let go of Coogan’s hand, tossed it aside as if it meant nothing. The creature and Coogan both knew that no one could tell the beast what to do. It released him simply because it chose to release him.

  Looking down at Coogan as if it were looking at an insect, the creature said, “Fear
not, old Billy Boy. As I mentioned earlier I won’t hurt you, at least not for the moment.”

  Then Coogan spoke to the creature warily, “Of course you won’t hurt me… After all, we have a bargain….”

  Then Coogan asked, “Speaking of bargains, I was wondering. How do you know that your master will keep his part of your bargain? How do you know that after you collect your ninety-nine souls that he won’t have the last laugh and show up to inform you that you have ninety-nine more to go, or one thousand more to go? How do you know that?”

  The creature looked at Coogan in confusion and hesitated a moment or two, as if wondering what sort of game Coogan might be trying to play. Although not willing to admit it, the creature had never thought about that scenario before. It assumed its master would keep his part of the bargain. However, the beast realized that its master was also the great deceiver. He could have lied to O’Boyle, but hadn’t the master said that the beast would develop many powers? And it certainly had done so. It could light the cavern with a wave of his arm, read people’s minds when it chose to and make them see things that were not there. It had developed the ability to see in the darkness and could change its own appearance. There had been many other powers that it had developed over the years, and no doubt more to be discovered.

  Then the creature spoke, “I suppose I don’t know that, not for certain. But, I do believe in my master and that he has told me the truth. Soon I will be free.”

  Coogan slyly questioned the creature, “Oh, really? Well tell me. How long has it been since you have seen the dark one? My guess is that you haven’t seen him since that fateful day he transformed you. I am also willing to wager that you will likely never see him again. I think he has taken you for the fool that you are, and that the joke will end up being on you, O’Boyle.”

  The beast, understanding that Coogan was trying to antagonize him, shouted angrily, “Do not dare to speak that blasphemy about my master again Coogan, or I will forget about our bargain and rip your black heart out of your chest and feast on it before your dying eyes.”

  Coogan stood his ground, but his resolve was beginning to crack. He knew that he might have come close to pushing this creature too far, “Very well, O’Boyle …But you should not be so quick take out your frustrations on me. Right now, I am the closest thing you have to an ally. The only way you will get free, any time soon is if I bring you the souls that you need. …”

  Coogan turned and pointed back in to the dark tunnel where McHale’s headless body lay.

  “…. and when I do go to the effort to try to bring you someone, you waste my time and energy like you just did with that unfortunate McHale. What am I supposed to do now? Go get you another soul? Just like that?”

  “If I am to continue with this exercise, I need to know, O’Boyle, do you really have any actual idea whatsoever how many more souls you still require or not?”

  Chapter 33

  The creature looked at Coogan and replied, “Yes Coogan… Yes, I do. In fact, I have kept track of every single soul I have ever collected since this all started. Every one of them is back there, waiting for my master to come and collect them.”

  The creature pointed back into the far dark back of the cave. Coogan thought for a moment about where the creature was pointing. Had he been so mesmerized by the towering mountains of coal that he didn’t notice the rest of the cave? Could it be that he was actually standing in the same cave where this creature stored all of his imprisoned souls? The thought made Coogan shutter with revulsion.

  Sensing his discomfort the creature asked, “Would you like to see them, Coogan? Would you like to see a bit of the fruits of our labor, our teamwork?”

  Coogan took a slight step back and said, “S..s..s…see them? No. No, I most certainly would not want to see any such thing.” But Coogan knew in his heart that this wasn’t true. Although part of him was repulsed by the thought, another part of him was oh so curious.

  The creature knew this too. After all, was he not once a human? He could feel the indecision that Coogan was experiencing, so he continued to bait Coogan, “But surely you must want to see the contribution that you have personally made in helping me with my plight.”

  Continuing to resist this twisted temptation, Coogan said, “I do not want or need to see them. I do not want to know the inner workings of what you must do to survive. I have heard stories and legends, and believe me those are bad enough. I just want to get this whole miserable process over with and far behind me.”

  Ready to spring his trap the creature said to Coogan, “But Coogan they are so beautiful…. They are all my children.”

  Quickly the beast turned waving its enormous arm in the direction of the back of the cave illuminating it with an amazing display of blood red light. Coogan shielded his eyes, tried to look away but found that he could not, transfixed by the spectacle before him.

  Along the wall of the cave, Coogan could see the beginnings of an unworldly transformation as the surface of the entire wall began to change into what appeared to be a pulsating gelatinous mass of fluid motion. In his mind, Coogan could begin to hear a buzzing as if a thousand insects were swimming around in his head.

  Then he could hear the incredible sounds of screaming, wailing, moaning and crying as it filled the room. The sound made Coogan bring his hands up to cover his ears, but nothing could stop the screaming. It was both inside and outside of his head at the same time. The foul disgusting smells he sensed were something his mind could not begin to comprehend.

  Then the surface of the wall began stretching up and pulsating outward in a hideous fashion. The entire wall burst into a mass of writhing faces, arms legs and other body parts all seeming to appear and disappear as if bubbling up from this Hell-spawned ooze. But this was impossibly occurring along a vertical wall, somehow defying gravity. These tortured creatures stretched as far as they possibly could in a feeble attempt to escape, but were instantly pulled back into the pulsating wall. None of the creatures appeared to have a single hair anywhere on their bodies. Although naked, the beings were without defining sex organs or any way to discern male from a female.

  Coogan stood still paralyzed with horror, guilt and anguish as he understood that some of the horror he was witnessing was the direct result of actions he had taken, and for which he was responsible.

  His mouth moved soundlessly as if in a dream. The he found his voice and began murmuring incoherently, “Oh dear Lord, what…what.. have I done?.. I … never….. I can’t …..”

  At the wall Coogan saw an image come forth and with outstretched arms if it were trying to stretch out from the wall toward him. Coogan recognized the sexless image just a few feet in front of him. It was once a man, his name escaped Coogan’s memory, but Coogan remembered that several years ago he had met the man who was traveling, was out of money and needed a place to stay. Seizing the opportunity, Coogan had offered to buy the man a meal and then took him to the mine.

  Then man was reluctant at first, but Coogan agreed to go into the mine with him and even provided him with a battery-powered light for the evening. Coogan remembered how the man had bent down to spread out his sleeping blanket just inside the mine entrance, when Coogan struck him on the back of the head with his own flashlight, knocking the man unconscious. Then as Coogan had fled the mine, he had heard the sickening grunting sounds of the creature as he had devoured the unconscious man. That sound had haunted his dreams for many years, and now here was that same man, or what was left of him, right in front of Coogan.

  This poor soul was looking directly at Coogan reaching out to try to get ever closer to him. As Coogan watched, he could see the being begin to appear to mouth the word 'Coogan' repeatedly, but he could not hear the actual words over the incredible din of the collective screaming and moaning of all of the lost souls. Then the soul was pulled rapidly back into the wall to become part of the writhing mass of what was once humanity.

  Coogan collapsed and fell to his knees weeping uncontrollably. “God
… no…no…no…no.”

  The hulking beast looked down on Coogan pleased with his emotional defeat of this sad, sad man. The creature inquired “Well, Coogan. How do you like our handiwork so far? After all, it is as much yours as it is mine. I may have sold my soul to Satan many years ago out of fear of death, but you have freely corrupted yours; all for what? Money? You truly are a sad, sad creature indeed, Coogan.”

  Then Coogan lifted he head to see the unimaginable form of what was once young Jimmy McKinley beginning to come to the surface of the ooze. The creature’s hairless image was weeping and obviously in agony. Then just as quickly as it appeared, it was pulled back into the wall.

  Coogan found himself on his knees head in hands sobbing like a baby, the beast looking on in amusement. Coogan cried, “Oh no..no..no.. This… this.. is too much…. too much…”

  The creature took a step toward Coogan. Coogan did not seem to notice this movement as he was consumed by his own grief.

  As the giant beast approached it sneered, “So, Coogan, what was it you said earlier to me? … Oh yes, that’s right. In your opinion, I am a ‘mindless buffoon’ is that correct? You said that I was an idiot, that I was stupid.”

  The creature took another step closer. “You said that I probably had absolutely no idea how many more souls I might need to gain my freedom. You think that a stupid grunting beast like me has no ability to keep track of such things.”

  The beast took a final step toward the sobbing man. Coogan still was not aware that the creature was lurking right next to him.

  “Well guess what, Coogan?” the creature said, then shouted, “I know exactly how many more souls I need.”

  Coogan looked up at the beast in fear and sudden realization.

  The creature roared, “I need only one more soul Coogan! …Yours!”

  Chapter 34

  The creature reached out with his enormous clawed hand and grabbed Coogan around the throat lifting the heavy man effortlessly. Coogan was standing on his tiptoes, barely touching the ground, stuttering and stammering. “B..b…but.. but..”