Nen

by Sean Ding

  “What…what in heaven’s name happen to him?” Johnny stammered.

  Sarah was leaning forward to have a closer look at Henry when a loud clung from behind her startled everyone. They swerved around and pointed their weapons at a dark corner of the room cluttered with old medical instruments.

  “There’s something there.” Paul whispered.

  They could see the shape of a small animal hiding behind a stack of junk. From where they were standing, it looked like a cat or a small puppy.

  “I think it’s a cat! I can see its little green eyes.” Paul said.

  Johnny held up his hand and crept forward. When he did that, the animal winced and squeezed itself behind a rusty wall cabinet that interlocked with some overturned I.V stands.

  “Hey kitty kitty...What’re you doing there?” Johnny slung his rifle over his shoulder and crouched down. His hand reached out to clear a hole in the mayhem of old clinical instruments and devices.

  A dark shape shot out with a loud squeal and smashed into Johnny’s face.

  “Arrrrgh!” Johnny screamed, trying to brush away the small creature that was clambering on his face and making an ear-piercing screech.

  Sarah and Paul could see clearly now that it was a quadruped and the small animal bore a resemblance to Nen.

  Johnny pealed the jolting creature away from his face and flung it to the ground. Sarah immediately fired several darts from her cross bow but all of them missed the creature by inches. It was a small animal but a very agile one indeed. Paul pointed his flame thrower at the creature and pulled the trigger. A ball of fire almost incinerated the scuttling creature. Like a spider on a hot plate, it scurried to another corner of the room which was nothing but a dead end. It made a terrible shriek after it realize that there were no other ways out and its only escape route had been blocked by three heavily armed human beings.

  “Gimme your red scarf!” Johnny cried.

  “What?” Paul shouted back.

  “Just give it to me!” Johnny insisted.

  Paul removed the red scarf from his neck and tossed it over to Johnny.

  Johnny stepped forward and hurled the red scarf over which landed squarely on the tiny fanged creature.

  A terrible shriek erupted from underneath the scarf. Johnny unslung his rifle and smashed the shuddering red scarf with the rifle butt, killing the creature instantaneously.

  “Here, you can have your scarf back.” Johnny passed the soiled red scarf back to Paul.

  Paul brushed off some tangling entrails from his scarf and then draped it around his neck.

  Johnny stared at him for a moment and said, “Man, you’re disgusting.”

  Paul ignored his remark and asked, “What the hell was that?”

  “Looks like a baby ‘Nen’ to me.” Sarah said, “Are you okay Johnny?”

  “I’m fine. Just some scratches on my face.” Johnny said, spitting out some discharge from his mouth, “And I think I swallowed some of its sickening saliva.”

  “A Baby‘Nen’?” Paul said, cocking his head to one side, “How many of such monsters do we have here?”

  “There’re two of them. We just killed one.” Sarah said impassively.

  “How do you know?” Paul asked.

  Sarah walked to the heap of clinical junk where the baby creature was hiding and pushed the rusty wall cabinet aside.

  “Come, take a look at this.” Sarah pointed to the small gap between the cabinet and the grimy wall. Paul and Johnny hurried over and they saw two mounds of white slimy cocoons nesting in the small gap. Both cocoons were torn indicating that whatever that were breeding inside had broken out.

  Sarah pointed to one of the mound and said, “This nest looks dried up and it seems to be older than the other one. I think the monster that killed my fiancé came from here.”

  “Jesus, apparently these creatures grew up really fast.” Paul said.

  “Yes, and I think they have something to do with Henry’s mutilated body. I suspect they feed on him.”

  “You mean they bite off Henry’s face and somehow caused his stomach to expand like a balloon?” Paul asked.

  “Maybe, I’ll have a better guess if I do a close examination of Henry’s body. It really beats me.” Sarah shrugged her shoulders.

  “Hey, no time for that. Let’s get out of here. I got tons of drilling work to do.” Johnny interrupted.

  Of course all three of them knew what’s at stake here. And Johnny’s tunneling work was the topmost important task at hand. They turned and headed out. While passing by Henry’s cadaver, Paul shot a glance at Henry’s broken face. It was gruesome. Henry was mean and had been long dead but having only half a face left was definitely undeserving for him on all grounds. Paul felt a shiver and was about to turn away when Henry sat bolt upright!

  “Holy shit!” Paul bellowed and almost fell over. Sarah and Johnny were stunned by what they saw. Henry is alive? How is that possible?

  They watched Henry’s upright body convulsed intensely for a couple of seconds. Then it arched and fell backwards on the operating table with a bone crushing sound. Henry’s skull must have shattered when it hit the metallic operating table.

  “What’s going on with him?” Johnny asked, pointing at Henry’s abdomen which was expanding like a balloon. There was something moving inside! Something strong and powerful! The three watched in horror as the bulge in Henry’s abdomen moved toward Henry’ throat which stretched into an impossible lump.

  Then a slimy quadruped crept gingerly out of the hole in Henry’s face and snarled ferociously at the three visitors.

  “Go to hell!” Paul said sardonically. He pulled the trigger on his flame thrower and a gush of yellow flames engulfed the newly-born creature. In a few moments, the blazing fire spread quickly to Henry’s contorted body but was contained within the operating table.

  The small creature squirmed and wriggled violently in the sea of fire and then it fell over and died.

  Johnny grabbed a fire extinguisher that he found in a corner of the room and put out the flames on the metallic table.

  As the white fumes from the fire extinguisher finally thinned out, Paul said curtly to Sarah, “Let’s go, there’s nothing much for you to examine now.” Sarah looked at the charred dead bodies - one of them was of unknown origin and the other one was a person that she knew, an acquaintance who sat in the same dining table as her few days ago and someone who took the same bus as her to this horrible place. She nodded sadly.

  “Come on. Let’s go brother.” Paul said to Johnny before he followed Sarah out of the defunct medical clinic.

  Johnny stared at Henry’s melting cadaver for a few seconds. “Sorry Henry, I guess I can’t bring you out of here after all. Please rest in peace.” he murmured. Then he took a glance at the fire extinguisher in his hand and tossed it aside. It was blue in color.

  CHAPTER 44

  “God damn it, where are you Gupta?” Howard stepped out of Gupta’s living quarter and peered down the hallway. He was exasperated after searching the entire facility for the past twenty minutes but there was no sign of Gupta, the injured man who had disappeared into thin air. Howard had combed the living quarters, the armory, the peculiar morgue where the floating hand was, the classroom occupied by undecomposed human heads and even the cook house where he saw the skeletal remains of the Nen beast that conquered this place seventy years ago. Where the bloody hell is Gupta? Did Nen take him? Howard thought. His instinct told him that Gupta was still alive but his logical mind was saying otherwise, that the monster had already killed Gupta. Gupta was injured so how could he possibly run away from that ferocious predator?

  He turned to his left and gazed at the path leading to the Command Centre office. Then he turned right and stared hard in the direction of the labyrinth of corridors and collapsed buildings. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then he let out a long sigh before dashing towards the labyrinth of corridors.

  At the same time, Paul, Johnny and Sarah were sprinting tow
ards the burrowing machine sitting at the far end of the parade ground.

  It must be noon time as the cavernous subterranean camp site was brighter than before. Sunlight filtered down as if there was a gargantuan halogen lamp high above. Everything could be seen clearly in the gleaming sunlight- The rusty military vehicles draped with creeper plants in the parking lot, the two story building beside the parade ground, the humming power generator that spawned cables to the buildings, the gunmetal machine gun pointing at the opening of the man-made tunnel to the crystal cave. And of course the Tunnel Boring Machine or TBM that was just right ahead of them, resting proudly at the base of the stony arched entrance.

  “Quick, we are almost there!” Johnny whispered as he took a quick glance behind him to make sure that the parade ground was free of any blood thirsty monster. The red fabric on his head really stood out in the shimmering sunlight as he picked up his stride behind Paul and Sarah.

  After they arrived at the arched entrance which was sealed by fallen rocks, Sarah glanced down to check the time on her wrist watch. It was 12.35pm. That explained the glaring brightness around her. Her heart was pounding against her chest as she watched the parade ground closely for any abnormality. The nerve wrecking events she encountered in the past few days and the fear of impend dangers that could befall her somehow boosted all her senses. In fact, the pain and sorrow of losing her fiancé had converted into great strengths that she herself might not be aware of. Taking a deep breath, she tightened her grip on her cross bow and scrutinized her surroundings.

  Paul stood impassively on the other side that faced the parking lot. His index finger was curling around the trigger of his flame thrower. He seemed to be in deep thoughts as he watched Johnny fired up the TBM. The machine made a loud screeching sound as it whirled its rotating drill bit into the rocks. The deafening noise from the machine was so earsplitting that Sarah couldn’t help having a very bad feeling. The creature will definitely hear this racket no matter where it is!

  She was right. Not long after Johnny started his drilling task, the monster came.

  It paced the small space about ten meters away from the arched entrance where Sarah and Paul were standing. But it did not go any further. It was either afraid of the red cloth around Paul’s neck or the tattered red shirt that Sarah was still wearing. Perhaps it was contemplating something and did not want to carry out any further actions. Paul and Sarah had their weapons trained on the oddly quiet creature which moved gingerly from left to right, and then from right to left. Sarah was thinking. Even if the boring machine was not roaring with such a deafening noise, it would still be unlikely to hear the approaching footfalls of the predator. That’s how it could lurk in the darkness and launch surprise attacks on its preys. That’s how it leapt on Kevin without making a tiniest sound. In fact, if Paul and she were not scanning their surroundings vigilantly, they would have missed the prowling creature.

  The creature paced for about five minutes, then it turned and shambled across the parade ground, disappearing into the mayhem of collapsed buildings.

  Sarah lowered her cross bow and sat down. The boring machine spluttered for a while and then it stopped. “What’s wrong?” Paul asked.

  “Nothing, I have to stop drilling to reposition the drill bit.” Johnny said as he yanked the levers on the TBM.

  “Did you see it?” Paul asked.

  “What? The creature was here?” Johnny was stunned.

  “Never mind, it left. Just concentrate on your job. Our lives depend on you now, Johnny.” Paul said curtly, his eyes met Sarah’s. She was sitting on the rock-strewn ground, taking a hard earned breather.

  The beast swaggered into the two-story building where the command center office was. It moved like a ghost, no sound at all. Three rodents scampered out of its path but one of them was too slow. A razor sharp tentacle pierced through that rodent’s torso at lightning speed and the little victim was retracted back into the beast’s mouth in the next instant. Like a frog shooting out its sticky tongue to catch a flying insect, this was second nature to the predacious animal. It gnawed the ‘dessert’ in its mouth with extreme pleasure as it moved gingerly forward. The poor rodent didn’t even have time to squeal or make any sound. No sound at all.

  The creature was hunched over in front of the iron door to the Command Centre Office. Its wide nostrils were flaring rhythmically. The constellation of red colored objects hanging on the iron door infuriated the beast. It shook its head violently, took a few steps back and roared vociferously.

  “Mum, I am scared.” Pete whispered, cuddling in the arms of Mrs. Chan who gently cupped her hand over his mouth. Blood drained from the faces of everyone in the command center room when they heard the ferocious roar. Pauline was hiding behind her dad and she was shuddering. Nelson and Mami-san had their backs against the wall. In fact, there was a circle of space between the people in the room and the bolted iron door.

  “Shhhh.” John whispered, putting a finger on his lips and gesturing at the others to remain silent.

  The creature’s green eye scrutinized the iron door warily. It had only one eye left as its other eye was taken out by John a few hours ago at the staircase landing.

  The creature knew it would be painful but still it lunged itself at the iron door. Pauline screamed when the iron door quavered with a loud crashing sound. Nelson cocked his rifle and aimed at the door. He was ready to engage the beast if it came through. But deep inside, he knew that his rifle could only delay the impending massacre and couldn’t do a thing to the creature. Mrs. Chan prayed silently that the iron door could hold back the crashing creature, or at least withstand another few of such impacts. Miraculously, her prayer was answered again. The creature was in extreme pain and it retreated.

  CHAPTER 45

  An hour or so after the creature left the majestic arched entrance, the TBM punctured a hollow in the rock clusters at the lower right hand corner. Johnny killed the tunneling machine which hissed itself to silence instantly. He crouched down to examine the gap in the rocks. It was about four feet high and three feet wide. A cool breeze blew against his face as he stuck his head into the hole. Paul and Sarah hurried over to study the latest breakthrough in Johnny’s drilling efforts.

  “Hey guys, there’s tarmac behind the rocks! It must be a runway or a road!” Johnny retracted himself from the hole and smiled dazzlingly at Paul and Sarah.

  “Great! Can you see where the road leads to?” Sarah asked, her eyes glancing back at the parade ground.

  “I can’t. It’s pretty dark but I think we just hit the jackpot. There’s a big and long tunnel on the other side, and the blacktop road in the tunnel seems very steep, let me check again,” Johnny tucked his head into the hole again and said with a muffling voice, “Well, it’s definitely a road. And this road is at a steep angle, I think any steeper will result in a vehicle tipping over. It’s like a two lane underground interstate going up a mountain.”

  “Paul, we have succeeded! Let’s call Howard and Nelson!” Sarah cheered with a dazzling grin. Johnny stood up and threw a fist in the air, indicating grand victory.

  Paul fished out a walkie talkie from his pants and thumbed a button.

  “Howard, this is Paul. Johnny did it. There’s a road behind the arched entrance.” Paul spoke into the bulky walkie.

  There was only a buzz of static coming from Howard’s walkie talkie.

  “Hey Howard, come in.”

  Nothing but static.

  “Hey Howard, can you hear me? Have you found Gupta?” Paul raised his voice.

  “Damn it.” He turned a knob on his walkie talkie and pressed the call button again.

  “Hey Nelson, this is Paul. Can you hear me? We’d found the way out. Can you hear me?”

  Nelson voice broke up a little at first but it came through. “I hear you loud and clear, Paul. We are fine. But the beast came to the command center a while ago.”

  “Jesus, it was here also. You guys alright?” Paul asked.

 
; “We’re okay, it didn’t bash in. I guess the red objects on the door had worked its magic. What do we do now? Are we coming over?”

  Paul said nothing. His walkie talkie crackled with Nelson’s voice, “We’re coming over. But we have a problem though, I think we don’t have enough red objects to protect or shield everyone in this room from that monster. Any suggestion?”

  Paul did not answer Nelson’s question. Instead, he asked in a serious tone, “Is Howard with you guys?”

  “Negative Paul, what’s wrong?” Nelson said, his voice breaking up again.

  Sarah touched Paul on his shoulder. Her fingers were cold. Paul looked up and he saw the creature running towards the parking lot. Halfway between the collapse buildings and the defunct parking lot, the creature paused for a moment and glared at the three armed tourists standing at the arched entrance. Sarah lifted her cross bow and aimed at the creature which was chewing something in its crimson mouth. There was a human hand dangling out of its jaw! And it looked like the forearm of a dark skinned man!

  “Oh dear, I think Howard is dead!” Paul cried. He dropped his walkie talkie while he fumbled to point aim his flame thrower at the beast which was watching him from a distance.

  “What did you say?” Nelson voice crackled from the walkie talkie on the ground, “What’s happening, Paul?”

  Sarah thought she saw Nen smile but she quickly brushed away that ridiculous thought. Her heart sank when she saw the bleeding arm in Nen’s gaping mouth. It no doubt belonged to Howard. The ‘smiling’ creature turned and headed back to the barracks.

  Johnny put down his rifle and stammered, “Is…is that Howard?”

  Sarah nodded slowly.

  The three stunned tourists stared blankly at a wispy mist that was starting to invade the parade ground. Silence hung in the air for a few minutes before Paul murmured something to himself. It sounded like, “Let’s head out. Let’s go.”

  “Huh? Did I hear you correctly? What do you mean?” Johnny asked with a puzzled look.