by Sean Ding
“So does the red stuff really scare the creature away?” Mami-san asked.
“Well, according to tales and legends that were passed down for centuries, it does work. So if the villagers and their families managed to survive the night, they’d come out of their houses the following morning to congratulate their neighbors and friends who had also survived the night, or survived the attack of Nian. In Chinese customs, this is known as ‘Guo Nian’ which means crossing the New Year safely and peacefully. And when people meet in the streets on New Year’s Day, they will cheer and wish each other well by saying ‘Gong Xi, Gong Xi!’ All these remain as Chinese New Year traditions till today.”
“Tell them about the Lion Dance tradition, Sarah.” Howard said, his lips quirked up in half smile.
“Yes, you guys must have seen or heard about lion dance troupes performing during Chinese New Year season right?” Sarah asked.
Almost everyone except Mami-san nodded.
Sarah said, “In fact, there is a school of thoughts which firmly believe that the Chinese lion dance performance was an artistic depiction of the Nian monster, how it moved, how it lurked around hunting for its prey and of course what it is supposed to look like.”
“Come to think of it, our killer beast does resemble the Chinese lion dance portrayal of Nian, especially its ugly horned head.” Nelson said with a forced smile.
“That reminds me of something,” Paul said with a gesture, “When we were exploring the collapsed buildings, we saw a metallic box in that eerie morgue room. The letters N.E.N were engraved on the box. It’s ‘Nian’ in Japanese isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Howard said, “I’d been thinking about it and I believe the Japanese Imperial Army might have been working on some unknown experiments here during World War Two. Something to do with the NEN beast and somehow the experiment backfired.”
“Apparently, the NEN beast went about this facility killing the Japanese soldiers seventy years ago.” Sarah said, “That explains the carnage in the storeroom and the skeletons in the prison cells upstairs. In fact, Mami and I witnessed the remains of that creature in the cook house. A large and heavy set of carcass.”
“So this creature that attacked us is not the same one that wiped out the entire Japanese army?” John asked.
“No, as I just said, we saw the skeleton remains of the creature that killed the soldiers. The beast that murdered my fiancé is a new born.” Sarah said.
“What?” John was astonished but did not probe further.
Johnny shrugged his broad shoulders and said, “All the entrances and exit points of this facility were blown down either to prevent the monster from escaping or to stop anyone from coming in. I got a feeling that the Japanese soldiers had made several attempts to seal up this facility and bury everyone here alive, including the monster.”
“Indeed, some things should stay buried and shouldn’t be disturbed.” Paul said with a cold voice, “The Japanese army had made a terrible mistake seventy years back and now it’s our turn. When we came here, we’d unknowingly unearthed an ancient evil.
“Daddy, are we all going to die here?” Pauline asked, her voice was soft and sweet but what she had asked might be depressingly true.
“No, we’re not going to… die, son.” John said, trying to conceal a face that exuded ambiguity. “We…we can surely find a way out, and we will…we will kill that monster if it comes again.”
Every adult in the grimy room seemed to consensually agree with what John said and they all nodded their heads almost in synch but for Pauline and Pete, it was just another round of pretentious assurance that most adults were so trained to do.
“What’s your plan?” Nelson asked, staring at Howard and waiting for a quick answer.
Howard paused for a moment before saying his words slowly and firmly, “First, we must bring Gupta here. Mami-san and Sarah is right. No one should be left out. Not even the young, the weak or the injured.” He waited for any objections and there was none. Then he continued, “Second, we’d better get ourselves out of this place as soon as possible. Nelson, did you get any response on the radio?”
“We have been sending SOS calls out every 15 minutes from this radio system.” Nelson said, shaking his head, “I can confirm that the signal went out but I can’t tell you why no one has responded.”
He walked to the radio system and adjusted some knobs on its dashboard, then he turned around and said to Howard, “As instructed, I also sent your rescue code out to the United States Pacific command and APAC US Marine forces. Did not get any signal back at all.”
“You’re from the Marines?” Sarah asked, her face beaming with surprise.
Howard nodded, “Ex-marines. I am with the Bureau now. No harm telling you guys now but I hope you can keep that a secret.”
“It’ll be a buried secret if we all die here. Ha...ha...” Paul laughed with a high pitch voice, his face contorted into a peculiar scowl.
“It’s not funny at all, Paul.” Mrs. Chan said, disgusted by Paul’s untimely and immature holler.
“Yeah, next time before you talk, Paul. Please think and be mindful of what you’re going to say. For goodness sake, we have kids here.” John added, tapping a finger on his temple.
Paul’s lips pressed into a thin line. He shot a glance at John and his wife. It was a brief and intense look that sent a shiver down Mrs. Chan’s spine.
At that point, Sarah seemed to remember something and she walked towards Pauline, squatted down and she asked, “Pauline, do you remember what you saw in the room where you passed out?”
“I..I thought it was a dog. It moved very quietly, but I can still hear its footfalls. I have a close look at the creature before I passed out in that room full of ….full of human heads.”
“What did you see, sweetie? Is that the same creature as the one that came into your room?” Sarah asked.
“It’s much smaller in size. Otherwise they looked pretty much the same.” Pauline answered.
“Thanks Pauline!” Sarah got on her feet and was satisfied with Pauline’s observation.
“It’s growing.” Sarah said with a slight smile.
“You mean the creature is growing?” Nelson asked.
“Yes, Howard and I saw piles of shed skins at the elevator landing where Wong was killed. This monster is growing at an alarming rate. I have no idea what kind of species this animal is but to support such rapid growth, it definitely needs to feed.” Sarah said, her eyes looking at some of the people who didn’t seem to understand the implication.
“What Sarah means is that the creature that we are fighting is always hungry.” Nelson said, “And it will come to get us very, very soon. So Howard, what’s the plan?”
“Continue sending SOS signals out using the radio. And don’t forget the US Marine rescue codes.” Howard said, his eyes looking at Nelson at first, and then shifted to meet the eyes of Johnny. He asked, “Johnny, any progress on the drilling?”
“I have been drilling the sealed entrance for hours,” Johnny said with a grin that had been suppressed for a while, “And I found a weak point on the left side of the concealed entrance. Give me another hour and I believe I can bore a crack big enough for us to squeeze through.”
“But how do you expect to continue the tunneling work with the monster out there?” Mami-san asked.
“We will have to try our luck. If the beast is really afraid of red color, we still have a chance.” Howard said. Then he clapped Johnny’s shoulder and asked him, “It’s a big risk for you to stay out there. But the tunneling work is our only hope. What do you think?”
“Howard, I’m scared as shit like all of you even though I’d not seen that creature.” Johnny said with a sigh. “Well, I don’t want to die here. If you ask me, I’m sure I can punch a hole in the rocks in maybe an hour or two, provided the boring machine continues to function properly and if I have no other distractions. But somebody must be there with me.” Johnny said firmly.
“You can leave
that to me.” Paul said, “I will be watching your back, brother.”
“Thanks, Paul.” Johnny smiled and nodded. He appeared to be calm but deep inside, he was a bit worried when he observed that Paul’s hands were shaking subtly.
Howard noticed that and he knew what else was needed.
“Okay, here’s what we shall do.” Howard instructed, “We will scour this room for any red objects that we can find. We’ll figure out how to hang those red objects on the iron door outside.” He waved his hand at Sarah, “Sarah, to do this, I’d need you and Paul to go with Johnny. He is the most important person now and all our lives depend on him. I will get Gupta here myself.”
Sarah nodded and without further ado, she started to ransack the command office room for anything red.
With Dr. Sarah tagging along, Johnny had gotten the assurance and confidence that he badly needed to accomplish his task. Really not bad to have a medical doctor standing by, and she isn’t just any ordinary doctor, she’s a doctor whom the beast is fearful of! Kudos to Howard! This American guy is really something. The US marines and the FBI must have done things to him, maybe reprogrammed his brain or something. Johnny thought and he wanted to smile but did not.
“Paul, you can take the flame thrower with you. It’s over there. Please watch out for the creature while Johnny worked his magic on the rocks.” Howard pointed to the flame thrower that was tucked under an office desk. He had hidden the weapon there for safety reasons.
“Alright!” Howard clapped his hands, everyone else will stay here. Nelson, since we need you to operate the radio system, please be in charge here and take care of the rest.”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” Nelson did a funny salute which made Pete and Pauline giggle. Mami-san broke into a smile as well. It had been a long time since that kind of laughter was heard among the tourists.
A few moments later, a bunch of unrelated objects were scattered on the cold cement floor in the middle of the command center office. There were a few wine bottles with red papers pasted around them, an axe with a blunt blade painted in red, a dirty Japanese flag depicting a red rising sun, some red strings and scraps of red fabric that were probably used as arm bands by the Japanese soldiers. John’s fire extinguisher was also one of the red items among the heap of junk.
“We have searched almost every corners and enclaves in this tiny place but we are unable to find much stuff in red, except these.” Mami-san pointed to the objects on the ground. Sarah was standing beside her with her arms folded. She looked at Howard and asked, “That’s all we got. Is it okay?”
“These are barely enough for the iron door. We need some splashes of red on ourselves too.” Howard seemed to be scanning Sarah from head to toe. “I guess we got to tear off part of your shirt. What do you think?”
Sarah looked down at her own red shirt and smiled, “Sure. Mami-san, can you help me?”
Mami-san nodded quickly.
CHAPTER 42
The battered iron door to the command center office was decorated with strange unrelated objects that had only one similarity – red color. A tattered Imperial Japanese flag with a red rising sun was loosely hung across the top portion of the iron door. Beneath it were scraps of red cloths that were arranged in no recognizable pattern. An axe with a red blade was fastened beside the rusty door knob by a web of red strings and a red fire extinguisher was secured tightly on three wooden brackets that protruded from the bottom half of the door. A few rodents scampered pass the door and one of them paused to admire the decoration. It was indeed a hilarious sight if the rodent had any sense of humor.
The door cracked open slowly and a muscular man stuck his head out. It was Howard. Around his neck was a piece of red cloth which previously formed part of Dr. Sarah’s red shirt. Without making any noise, Howard slid out of the door gap, holding a rifle close to his chest. He knew that the rifle would be useless against the creature but he still took it. After making sure that everything was safe and sound, he turned his head slightly and signaled to someone behind him. “It’s clear. Let’s go.” he whispered.
Howard moved quickly ahead with Paul at his heels. Johnny was right behind Paul and Sarah was the last to file out from the command center office. All four of them were wearing some red items as they stepped out. Paul wore a red scarf just like Howard. He tried to stay close behind Howard and was constantly tilting his flame thrower upright so that the pointed nozzle would not jab onto Howard’s back. Johnny had tied a head wrap over his scalp, turning himself into a pirate with a red turban. He held a rifle on one hand and a samurai sword on the other.
Sarah closed the iron door behind her and knuckled three soft knocks on it. The sound of clanking metals erupted and the iron door was instantly bolted from within. She then hurried across the expanse space to catch up with the rest. Under the dim light that filtered down from the catwalk above, Sarah resembled more of a warrior than a medical doctor. She was carrying a cross bow and her shirt was so tattered it could barely cover her body. In fact, Sarah’s exquisite red shirt had become a flimsy singlet, making her look like the Asian version of Xena, the warrior princess.
“Hurry up!” Johnny looked over his shoulder and whispered.
“Coming!” Sarah replied as she strutted forward.
Gupta sat bolt upright in the bunk bed. His eyes were wide and terrified. His whole body reeked of cold sweat. He had had a bad dream and in his dream he was running away from a group of blood lusting Zombies in Japanese military uniforms.
A faint roar echoed down the hallway outside his room. At first he thought he had heard wrongly but then a second roar arrived loud and clear. In a panic, he threw the covers back and ran for the door. Forgetting that his leg was injured, he lost his balance and smacked into the wall to the left of the door.
“Damn it.” Gupta hollered as his buttocks touched the ground. He managed to get on his feet again and swaggered out of the room. Alone in the hallway, he looked around wildly for a moment. There was nothing. Then he stretched out his left hand to feel the wall, using it as a support as he wobbled down the hallway with a nasty limp.
In less than five minutes, Gupta was standing beside a pile of rubble next to the Chan family’s living quarter.
“What in the world happened here?” Gupta muttered to himself, scratching his head, “Where’s everybody?”
He noticed the swaying door leading to Mr. Park’s room and without much consideration, he staggered himself forward. When he pushed the door open, he saw what was left of Madam Kim and his heart rose and was stuck in his throat. Gupta turned and ran. He couldn’t really run like a normal person so he just hopped and hopped on one leg.
“Help! Somebody is dead!” Gupta crowed as he hopped down the hallway and disappeared into the labyrinth of narrow corridors.
When Gupta finally came to a dilapidated staircase landing, he realized that he had completely lost his way. Where the hell am I? He thought. He looked around frantically with his hands clutching the staircase railings. His face was pale as a sheet. Suddenly, he felt a bit light-headed. The ground started to tremble and streaks of sand trickled down from the ceiling. It’s another bloody earthquake! I must get out of here! Gupta’s mind was racing but he wouldn’t know which way to go. Soon, the tremble was stronger and it evolved into a nasty quaver that threw him off balance. A deep crack split the ground into two halves and the gap widened at unbelievable speed.
Gupta tried to hold on to the staircase railing but it was too late. There was another hard tremor that shoves him into the gaping crack. He fell, hit his head on something at the bottom of the abyss and blacked out.
CHAPTER 43
“What was that?” Paul yelled, trying to regain balance in the middle of a long corridor that leads to the living quarters. The tremors seemed to have lasted for a minute.
“Another earth quake.” Howard answered, “Is everyone alright?”
“We’re fine. Let’s go.” Sarah said, brushing off the dust on her hair.
; Howard did a quick glance around him to make sure that it was safe to proceed. He cocked his head and signaled the rest to follow him.
They moved quickly but quietly like a team of well-trained Navy Seals zigzagging in an enemy hideout.
Finally, they reached a fork in the corridor.
“Okay, let’s split up here.” Howard whispered, “You guys go to the tunneling machine. I’ll go to Gupta’s room. Be careful.”
Howard hurried down the left-hand fork while the rest of them took the one on the right.
Snaking through the cramped corridors, Paul, Johnny and Sarah scanned their surroundings, making their way to the door that would open up to the vast underground cave outside. They almost reach the exit when Paul suddenly stopped. He heard something and felt a chill.
“Did you hear that?” Paul whispered.
“What?” Johnny was puzzled why Paul stopped.
“Shhh..you hear that?” Paul asked, cocking an ear to the background noise.
“Yeah, it came from there.” Sarah said, pointing to the defunct military medical clinic on her right.
Sarah pushed the door and flipped a switch before Paul or Johnny could stop her. The overheads in the medical clinic flickered for a while and then lighted up as Sarah stepped in gingerly, porting her cross bow up and pointing it at the dead body lying in the middle of the room.
Under the pale fluorescent light, Henry’s body was beyond recognition. His lower jaw was gone and in its place a big gaping hole lined with blood and shards of broken bones. His skin had turned greyish and his belly was a large bloated hump. He lay on the operating table like a dead pregnant mother.