by Bryan Alaspa
As if to answer that the entire structure shook again. They reached out for one another to steady themselves. The lights dimmed for a moment and then came back to full strength.
“What now?” Lazlo said.
“Where did that sound like it came from?” J.D. asked.
“Near the door we took to walk out to the drill,” Joe said.
“That’s what I thought,” J.D. said.
Joe, Karmen and J.D. immediately ran off down the hall. Lazlo and Mark stood for a moment looking after them. Lazlo glanced again at the ruins of the room to his left and then he glanced at Mark. Mark shrugged again. Lazlo and Mark ran off after them.
* * *
The door was smashed off its hinges and the doorway itself was bent out of shape as if something extremely large had muscled its way through the narrow opening. Outside was only blackness punctuated by flashes of lightning which highlighted a nightmarish sea and spray. The sound of the ocean and the wind was unearthly and it pounded against their eardrums.
“I can’t see anything out there!” Joe screamed.
“We need lights!” J.D. screamed back.
Lazlo nodded and walked back down the hall. Seconds later halogen lamps set high on the rooftops and maintenance buildings shone into the darkness. The winds caused the lights to rock and shake which made the shadows move. They could see only rain in sheets and the spray from the sea washing over the structures. It was amazing to see how well the rig itself was bearing up under this onslaught. Then again, the rig itself might have been influencing the storm to begin with.
“There!” Karmen screamed suddenly and pointed towards the derrick.
Lightning flashed and J.D. saw movement among the steel of the derrick. Something moved out there. A sound came to them that was different from the crashing waves and thunder. It was the sound of tearing metal. Lightning flashed again and this time J.D. could make out the shape of a man. Figuring it was a trick of the light and the mixture of shadows, J.D. dismissed the dimensions of the figure he saw out there.
“It’s huge!” Joe yelled.
“Shadows!” J.D. said
“No,” Karmen said so softly they barely heard her over the storm.
The figure came fully into the light. It stood eight feet tall and appeared made entirely of metal and wires. The metal and wires entwined like muscles around the arms, legs and torso. The face was unmistakably that of Larry. The face was a combination of rage and pain. The mouth opened and a hideous mechanical scream emanated. The eyes were wide and obviously human and they showed a combination of terror, pain and fury. There was other evidence of skin and bone, but all of it had been reinforced by metal and wires from within the rig itself. Larry had become some kind of hellspawn cyborg.
“Holy Christ,” Mark whispered.
It was tearing apart the derrick. Strips of metal and metal beams tore loose as if it were balsa wood and it tossed them into the raging sea. The derrick was beginning to lean and bend from the missing support combined with the incessant winds. It was beginning to tear apart the machines surrounding the derrick that would allow the drill bit to be lowered.
“It’s destroying the derrick!” Lazlo screamed.
“Anybody got any bright ideas?” J.D. said.
“Not really very bright,” Joe said, “but it’s the only one I have.”
With that, sword clutched in both of his hands, he ran out into the raging storm towards the thing of metal and flesh.
“Joe!” Karmen screamed but the wind tore the scream from her throat and Joe didn’t stop.
Karmen started to run after him and J.D. clamped his hand down on her shoulder. She whirled on him with one of the blades.
“We go together!” J.D. screamed.
Karmen relaxed and nodded. J.D. stood next to Karmen in the doorway. He turned to look back at Lazlo and Mark.
“I wish I had the words to tell you what to do,” he said.
“If you guys buy it,” Mark said, “there’s not much more we can do but wait here for it to come get us. So don’t let that happen.”
J.D. nodded. He gripped his own blade tightly in his hand. He nodded at Karmen. Without another word or a single look back over their shoulders they ran into the storm.
* * *
The wind tried to throw them over the side. Seconds after he stepped out Joe’s hair and clothing were soaked to the skin. He felt as if he were running through taffy as the wind tore at his legs and hampered his progress. The rain was like shards of glass tearing at his exposed skin and clawing at his eyes. The thing tearing apart the derrick appeared not to notice him and ripped a huge beam out of the base of the derrick and tossed it aside as through it were paper.
Joe reached the creature as it turned to attack the machinery to the side of the derrick. Joe lunged at it with the sword swinging sideways towards the mid-section. Sparks flew from the metal meeting metal and the blade glanced off. The creature looked down at Joe with lidless eyes and swung its arm. Joe felt the wind knocked out of him and he was sent flying through the battering air. He landed fifteen feet away only inches from the edge of the rig platform.
Karmen and J.D. reached the creature seconds after Joe landed. Karmen struck first, sliding under the creatures legs and striking up at the creature. She hit parts that were still compose of flesh and sent blood flying. The creature opened its mouth to scream and bent down to reach between its legs. J.D. struck then and drove the point of his blade into the shoulder of the creature just below the neck. The blade struck mostly wires and cables creating sparks of electricity.
The creature stood upright and wrenched the sword from J.D.’s hands. The creature swatted at J.D. with its right hand and sharp wires at the end of the fingers tore through J.D.’s flesh and he sailed through the air. He landed in a puddle and felt water wash over him as a monstrous wave crashed onto the platform. The wave washed him to the middle of the rig and he was left on his knees coughing up water and trying to catch his breath.
Karmen swung her blades at the creature, aiming for the soft wires and spaces of exposed and existing flesh. The creature let loose a kind of scream as she hacked at the knee and hip joints. The creature whirled and swung its arms at her but Karmen jumped backwards and dodged the clumsy attempt to grab her and sliced at the hands. A finger sheered away and skittered across the metal surface of the rig. Wires erupted from the severed finger and the fingertips on both hands and shot towards Karmen like dozens upon dozens of tentacles. The combined metal and rubber wrapped around her torso, crawled up her body and entwined around her neck. This happened so fast Kerman never had a chance to raise the blades in her hands. She fell to her knees as water splashed into her face and the air vacated her lungs. She was choking.
J.D. attempted to stand but a wave shaped remarkably like a fist rose from the water and bore down on the spot where he knelt. The water hit him like a car and set him skittering across the surface of the rig, smashed him into pipes and tore more of his flesh against metal and exposed bolts. The current carried him towards the horrific amalgamation of Larry and machine but he was knocked on his back and stunned from the force of the impact. J.D. opened his mouth to yell but seawater rushed down his throat and he ended up coughing and sputtering.
Karmen felt the world spinning beneath her and her vision grew cloudy. The cables and wires slowly tightened around her throat and torso. Her ribs were screaming with agony as they wires bent them. Her head pounded as her lungs screamed for air. There was a flash of reflected light timed perfectly with a flash of lightning and the cables around her throat loosened.
Joe stood beneath the creature and hacked at the extended tentacles with his sword. The rubberized wires fell to surface of the rig and twitched as though they were alive. When the cables were cut Joe swung his sword at the neck of the creature sending sparks flying as more cables were severed. A gout of blood erupted from the wound as a part of the creature that was still organic was severed. Joe swung again at the other side of the neck
which severed more cables and rocked the head to the side with the force of the blow. Sparks rained down on Joe’s head.
The creature roared its mechanical roar and grabbed Joe around the torso with its left hand. The ends of the fingers sank into the flesh of Joe’s stomach and torso. Joe grimaced, showing his teeth and swung his sword. More sparks flew as he tore away the cables around the neck. The other hand reached up and grabbed the arm holding the sword. With a twist the creature ripped Joe’s arm off at the shoulder and threw both arm and body over its shoulder. Joe landed in the middle of the rig. Another wave caught him as blood sprayed from his shoulder and he was washed towards the helicopter landing pad. Shock was already setting in and he felt no pain. His arm, still holding the sword in its hand, washed over the side of the rig and vanished in the sea. Joe stared up into the angry sky and felt salt water wash into his eyes.
J.D. finally staggered to his feet just as Joe’s body was tossed over his head. Blood from the shoulder wound splashed down across his face mixed with the seawater. J.D. saw the body land and felt the urge to rush to Joe’s side but he resisted. He had a job to do first and Karmen was still in danger.
J.D. grabbed a railing and leapt onto the landing where the creature stood and Karmen knelt on the metal surface. The creature had turned its attention back to Karmen. Sparks flew from cuts in the neck of the creature and loose wires dangled from its body in several places, creating showers of sparks and electricity arced across the body. J.D. lunged at the creature and drove his blade into a bundle of electrical wiring. The blade popped out the front of the creature and more sparks emitted along with another shower of blood as more organic material was diced.
The creature stood erect and spun with amazing speed. J.D. ducked under the swinging arms and drove the blade into the wires surrounding the chest. The blade struck something hard and metal beneath the twisted mass of wiring. The creature brought its arm down in a fist and J.D. was nearly crushed beneath the falling metal and wires. The entire rig vibrated from the impact of the fist.
Karmen leapt upon the creature’s back and sawed her blade across the throat. Sparks and blood flew from the wound. The creature let loose a mechanical roar and both hands reached back for Karmen. Karmen held tight to the creature’s head with one hand while the other sawed at the cables and wires holding the head onto the body. J.D. drove his own blade into the soft mid-section of the creature, severing wires and letting loose another jet of blood and sparks. The creature flailed its arms and Karmen lost her grip on the slick metal and wire head. She tumbled over the railing and landed hard below them in roughly the same spot where J.D. had lain moments ago. J.D. slashed across the things stomach, severing more wires and cables, but it seemed there was another layer of cable and metal beneath.
The creature’s head was held on by a few strands of wire. The head listed to the right but the eyes were still hideously aware and the mouth emitted the hideous mechanical roar. The creature flailed at everything around him and smashed into more equipment and the supports of the derrick. J.D. cowered before the rampage as the thing’s limbs and hands flailed inches from his head.
A form darted in from the side as little more than a shadow. Prepared for another attach, J.D. nearly chopped the darting figure in half before realizing it was Lazlo. He darted beneath the flailing arms of the creature and shoved his hand into the open wounds in the thing’s mid-section. He removed his hands, turned, grabbed J.D. and sent them both tumbling over the railing onto the deck. A moment later there was a brilliant flash of light followed by a blast of thunder so loud it hurt J.D.’s ears. Debris in the form of metal, wires, cables and, sickeningly, chunks of flesh rained down upon them and the deck. J. D. looked up to see the legs of the creature still moving hideously on their own and then fall and tumble to the ground.
“Grab Karmen!” J.D. screamed at Lazlo. “I need to go grab Joe!”
J.D. stood and hobbled towards the still body of Joe. Water cascaded down upon him and the wind drove the rain into his skin. Every part of him was soaked and sore. He reached the body and thought for a moment that Joe was dead and then he noticed Joe’s chest rising and falling slowly. Joe had managed to get his belt off and tie it around his shoulder. His teeth held the end of the belt. The cyborg had ripped the arm off right at the shoulder so there wasn’t much to tie off and Joe was very white and barely alive. The rain and waves were washing away the blood but J.D. could tell Joe was bleeding out and fast.
He bent down and managed to rouse Joe enough for Joe to throw his arm around J.D.’s shoulder. J.D. lifted Joe and dragged him toward shelter. J.D. could see Karmen leaning on Lazlo and Mark leaning out of the doorway to help them inside. It seemed like a ridiculously long distance to walk in this weather but he moved one foot in front of the other. Waves hammered at them and seemed to try and knock them down. J.D. held his footing. Joe made soft noises beside him as he was bounced and jostled along the way. Joe’s teeth remained clamped on his belt. J.D finally made it to the shattered doorway and Lazlo and Mark leaned out and grabbed each of them and pulled them inside.
J.D. collapsed inside the building. His breath was rushing in and out of his lungs in hugging gasping breaths. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of Mark asking Joe questions and performing first aid. Lazlo was somewhere talking to Karmen. He had never wanted to sleep so bad in his entire life.
Finally he opened his eyes and crawled over to Joe. Mark was holding the belt tight and trying to put pressure on the wound. The look in Mark’s eyes told J.D. that Joe was long past saving at this point. If they had a doctor or a surgeon and all the medical capabilities of a hospital he might have a chance with a blood transfusion. They had one of that. Joe’s eyes were closed and his breathing was slow.
“Joe,” a voice said quietly to J.D.’s right and he turned to see Karmen crawling over. “Joe, come on. Hold on.”
Her voice was quiet and she cradled his head. It was at this point that J.D. realized Karmen and Joe had been more than just friends. Whether or not they were still lovers or were just like J.D. and Karmen, it was obvious she held strong feelings for him regardless. She was tough and she was strong. No tears flowed from her eyes, but the tone of her voice and the gentle stroking of his face with her hand were enough to show them all that this was a loss she would take harder than the rest.
Joe’s chest faltered, hitched, filled, emptied, and then fell still. His entire body seemed to relax. Karmen lowered her head to his and planted a very small and very gentle kiss on his forehead. J.D., Lazlo and Mark watched because they were too exhausted to do anything else. After a moment Karmen let Joe’s head fall to the floor, stood up and walked down the hall without saying a word to anyone.
“Leave his body here,” J.D. said. “If we survive this maybe we can figure out a way to get it back to the mainland. Right now, I think we’re all too exhausted to worry about funerals.”
Mark helped J.D. to his feet. J.D.’s right ankle hurt when he put his weight on it but he forced himself to walk on it.
“What did you use, Lazlo?” J.D. asked.
“Huh?” Lazlo said.
“To blow up that thing out there?” J.D. asked and looked over his shoulder at the pieces that lay near the derrick. The legs were still intact but they lay on the ground motionless. It looked like the cyborg plus the explosion had wrecked most of the machinery.
“I looked through those bags you guys have,” Lazlo said, “I found some of that explosive stuff you guys talked about. I rigged up a fuse, lit the thing and stuffed it into its stomach.”
“You may have blown the drill bit and derrick to hell,” J.D. said.
Lazlo shrugged. “Would you rather I not have done it?”
J.D. shook his head. “I wish you had done it sooner.”
* * *
They reached the recreation room and found Karmen stripping off her wet clothes without any shame or modesty. At this point, battlefield rules now applied. In the jungle you had to get out of wet
clothes and get them dried or hypothermia could set in along with a variety of funguses and other nasty surprises. This meant you took the clothes off and it didn’t matter if you were in the company of men or not. Those who had ever attempted anything other than a professional handshake towards Karmen when she was undressing likely found their hand severed. She laid out the clothes to dry and grabbed one of the blankets that had been pulled out earlier to wrap herself in.
J.D. did the same with his clothes and sat down near the sofa. The sofa had certainly seen better days. Most of the cushioning lay scattered across the floor and no one dared to sit on the sofa itself for fear of crashing it to the floor. Mark knelt near Karmen and attended her wounds with the first aid kit. Lazlo found a spot in the corner and curled up with his face towards the wall. Eventually Mark made his way over next to J.D. and sat down next to him.
“I think Karmen will be all right,” he said.
“I never had any doubt,” J.D. replied.
“How are you doing?”
J.D. sighed. “I hurt all over. This lull isn’t good. It’s going to give us time to sit and for the muscles to tighten up. We’ll be slow and stiff when something else happens.”
“That thing out there,” Mark said, “that was Larry, wasn’t it?”
“It sure started out that way,” J.D. said, “but it was kind of like Rhonnie when she came in here. It was her but not really her, you know? Somehow whatever this thing is that we’re dealing with used parts of the rig to create some kind of cyborg or something. Part metal and wiring from the floor and the walls of the rig and beneath all of that was flesh and bone from Larry. I have no idea where Larry’s mind was. I’m running on the hope right now that Larry was actually dead and the thing we’re fighting was actually animating it. I have a bad feeling that isn’t really the case, though.”
“I wish I could figure out just what we’re dealing with,” Mark said. “I thought for sure we really had punched through into Hell. Now, I’m not so sure. I wish I could be of more help.”