by Sean Ding
The beast caught the scent of Howard’s blood. It sprang forward and crashed its massive body against the statue of Nian Shou.
Under the sudden impact, the statue of Nian Shou shattered into pieces and the broken parts tumbled down. Howard quickly shifted to his left before the stone head of Nian Shou landed at his original hiding spot. Almost instantly, a sharp tentacle slammed into the base of the statue, missing Howard by a mere two inches.
The barb at the end of the tentacle was momentarily stuck at the base of the broken statue. The creature struggled to retract the tentacle but found itself losing its balance and falling on its side.
Howard got to his feet and made a run for the elevator landing.
A strong gust of wind swept into the narrow passageway that led to the elevator landing, wailing past the icy ears of Howard Smith as he slammed to a stop at the elevator door. A wave of nausea and dizziness overwhelmed him and there was a new searing pain around his cauterized arm. Looking around, he couldn’t see much in the darkness but he could feel the creature entering the passageway, coming close.
The creature was extremely quiet when it snaked through the wreckages littered in the passageway. It had been here before and the last time it was here, a sumptuous meal ensued.
“Damn it.” Howard muttered, craning his neck and staring at the towering elevator shaft. He had two areas of concern. One was his physical capability to climb up the elevator shaft. Even if he could do it with only one arm, would he be able to reach the top faster than the beast? His other concern was the metallic girders and steel bars that formed the structure of the elevator shaft. The last time somebody climbed this structure, that person was electrocuted and fell to his death. But there was no time to think of alternatives now. This is a dead end! And the beast is stalking me! And I am injured!
However, that odd intuitive feeling swept through him again. The same feeling that he had when he couldn’t locate Gupta but was pretty sure that Gupta was alive. The same feeling he had when he watched Wong climbed up the elevator and he could feel that his tour guide would return safely. Right now, he had the same odd feeling again that he could survive all this. But how? It is impossible! If I stay put, I’ll die. If I climb up this shaft, I’ll die even quicker!
Nonetheless, Howard trusted his intuition. He took a deep breath and heaved himself up the iron mesh and mangled grates that used to fence the perimeter of the elevator shaft. Trying his best to recall how Wong had clambered up the elevator shaft, he avoided those areas that Wong did not touch. To his own surprise, he was able to ascend fairly quickly using just one hand.
For the first time in his life, Howard prayed for a miracle.
Chapter 50
The murderous creature was circling the base of the elevator when Howard looked down. He was about twenty yards up the shaft and there was no way he could reach the top of the shaft in a short time. A loud hiss of breath echoed up the shaft, making the short hairs on Howard’s neck prickled and stood erect. Damn it! The beast was climbing up the shaft, and for this reptilian creature, climbing was a piece of cake.
Frenziedly, Howard felt along the metal beams and pipes that cladded the dark shaft and hurled himself up. He grabbed a girder above and flung himself up again, his heart racing like the heart of a rabbit caught in a snare.
The menacing creature took its time. Slowly but gingerly, it crept up the elevator shaft. No sound. Its body glowed a devilish green in the dark and its eye affixed to its scurrying victim not far above. A frighteningly familiar smile appeared on its face (if that could be considered a face) as though it was relishing some pleasurable thoughts. No worries, he is all mine. There is no way he can escape this time.
A huge dark shape flew past Howard, almost knocking him down. He gazed upwards in the direction of the flying dark shape and froze.
He could not believe his eyes. The creature was several feet above him now, dangling on the opposite side of the elevator shaft like an inverted gargantuan spider! Jesus, it’s a nightmare coming true and for a moment, Howard’s heart shot up to his throat. The creature snarled a low reptilian hissing sound, interspersed by a soft rattle. Strangely, Howard could sense an abnormality in the interplay of sounds and he cocked his ear. The rattling sound seemed to come from below and not from the creature above him. It also sounded like someone un-wrapping an aluminum foil.
On that note, he gazed downwards and saw crackling bursts of hot sparks flying off a rectangular iron mesh at the opposite side, roughly five feet below him. Howard squinted at that big iron mesh structure and he could see some live electrical wires touching a shiny frame that went around it. At the top of the iron mesh, there was a long and out-of-place iron rod protruding from the wall of the elevator shaft. Some movements on that iron rod caught Howard’s attention. He squint his eyes again and saw a furry rodent sitting on the rod, nibbling something between its two tiny front paws.
Howard closed his eyes momentarily, craned his neck and gazed upward. The hideous beast was still there, watching him.
“Come now, you bastard!” Howard yelled, trying to keep balance on the small ledge that he was standing on.
Nen snarled as it moved gingerly toward Howard. It noticed that its prey was removing his jacket and wrapping the jacket around his good hand, using his tiny human mouth. What is this poor little insect doing now in my web of death?
It glared at its helpless prey with its ferocious eye, and was ready to leap.
But Howard leapt first and using a small loop that he had formed with his jacket, he managed to drop a few feet down and clung onto the iron rod, scaring the surprised rodent away with a soft landing. Now Howard was hanging helplessly from the jut-out iron rod. His body was swaying in the air and one of his shoes accidentally contacted the iron mesh below him, throwing off sparks with a loud crack.
“Holy shit.” Howard muttered to himself, curling up his legs so that they would not be touching the electrified iron mesh. He quickly glanced upwards and could see the creature crouching on the opposite side of the shaft on all fours. It crawled down the shaft toward him like a house lizard.
The attack came suddenly. Nen leapt and headed down the shaft toward Howard with shocking speed. Just when the claws on one of its forelimb missed Howard’s face by inches, Howard let go of the iron rod and plummeted down the elevator shaft. The predator that had just lost its prey smashed into the rectangular iron mesh causing a small explosion. Flames engulfed the creature instantly and fountains of hot sparks splattered all over the place, turning the dark elevator shaft into a glaring vertical corridor. The creature’s charred body twitched violently as part of it melted and fused with the reddish iron mesh. It roared and kicked its once powerful limbs violently.
Howard fell. This can’t be it? Am I going to die like night guard Lang? Will the beast survive the electrocution? Several thoughts raced in his mind as he fell, and he knew that those thoughts might be his lasts. He waved his only hand wildly in the air as he fell, hoping to catch something to break his fall. He prayed again. And that was when the miracle happened.
His wonderful good hand somehow caught onto a bunch of insulated cables! The cables and his hand entangled with a loud thud, breaking his fall and probably broke one of his fingers as well but Howard did not mind at all. The cables had saved his life!
A series of electrifying explosions later, the once formidable Nen beast stopped moving and it let out a harrowing scream. A scream that sounded so human-like as it traverse down the shaft toward Howard, who was holding on to the cables.
Nen’s gargantuan body was so blackened it looked like a large slab of charcoal wedged onto the iron mesh structure. A last explosion threw sparks again and severed the beast’s charred body into two. The two halves of Nen plummeted down the elevator shaft. One of them bounced off a ledge and almost hit Howard. The other half fell all the way down to the landing below.
Howard gazed downward at the pit less hole and stayed frozen for a long time. The harsh breath in his throat finally sl
owed. Then he looked up, swings himself to the nearest ledge lining the elevator shaft walls and started to climb.
John gave a hard shove and the stack of granite blocking their path toppled. Shards of granite rocks fell and rolled onto the blanket of white underneath their feet.
Sarah stepped out of the cave with John and his family, shading her eyes as she squinted at the glaring white snow that had concealed the roads, the hills and the valleys.
It was dawn and the sky had been clouded over except for a small circle of yellow rising in the east and casting golden light across snow coated rock surfaces.
Flakes of snow swirled and danced before them as the frigid wind howled a low-pitch scream in their ears.
After her eyes had gotten used to the glare of daylight, Sarah took a few steps forward and stood leg-deep in the snow. She could see a cluster of small huts about two miles in the Northeast. She was even more delighted when she noticed billows of smoke rising from some of those huts. She clapped John’s shoulder with a smile and told him about her sightings.
With hope glistening in their hearts, Sarah and the Chan family stumbled on clumsily toward the cluster of huts in the Northeast.
Halfway to the huts, Pete spotted a faint silhouette coming toward them from their left.
“Dad! Look, its uncle Howard!” Pete cried.
“Hey! Howard! We’re over here!”
The silhouette was indeed Howard. He had emerged from the elevator shaft unscathed and like Dr. Sarah, he had also noticed the settlement of huts in the Northeast and was moving toward that direction.
Sarah and the Chan family hurried forward. They embraced Howard in their arms, welcoming their hero’s return with tears swelling in their eyes. Pete grabbed Howard’s hand and jumped in joy. The adults spoke briefly before the group continued their journey towards the nearest civilization.
Pauline walked alongside her mother as the low whistle of the wind cranked up to a womanish shriek. She was right behind her little brother who held Howard’s hand as they trudged forward. For a moment, she thought Howard’s other hand, the cauterized one, was cool but she quickly brushed away that silly thought from her mind. Looking down, she realized that her own hands were icy cold and she quickly tucked them into her trouser pockets. To her surprise, she felt something squishy in her left pocket. Something soft and wet! What in God’s name was in my pocket? With blood slowly draining away from her face, she sucked a deep breath and took out the squishy object.
Pauline was relieved when the squishy object turned out to be just a small glowing plant she had earlier uprooted from the cavernous crystal cave. She shrugged and put the small plant back into her pocket.
EPILOGUE
3 months later
It was ten O’clock in Sunny Singapore. A lion dance performing troupe was entertaining the Chan family at their semi-detached house. It’s the first day of the Chinese New Year and the first New Year that John Chan was celebrating with his family after the horrible incident in China. The colorful lion head swirled and turned in tune with the loud drumbeats and deafening clanks from clashing cymbals.
Pete was cupping his ears as he watched the lion dance performers maneuver the fake lion head around his house with excellent choreography.
Ten minutes into the performance, Pauline was yawning. She turned and ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Closing the door behind her, she grabbed a magazine from her bed and went straight to her writing desk. Then she pulled in a chair and started leafing through the magazine, totally ignoring the din from downstairs.
A messy stack of brochures and papers was on her desk and right next to it was an inconspicuous bowl-shaped fish tank housing a few gold fish and some water plants. One of the water plants was emitting a strange reddish luminescence. A small gold fish wriggled around that glowing plant for a while before it started nibbling on it. In no time, the body of that gold fish started to glow luminous green, then purple, then red.
Zediogram Books
Presents
“Alex Shaw and the War of Gods”
A new story from Sean Ding...
Coming Soon!
Alex Shaw and the War of Gods
by
Sean Ding
Prologue
New York, 18 April 1975
Along the banks of the East River, a scrawny man scrambled, turning right onto Grand Street at the boundary of Lower East Side, heading westward toward Chinatown. As he hobbled along the busy street under pale moonlight, he looked over his shoulder a million times. His thoughts were erratic but there was only one thing for sure. I didn’t lose them. They‘re still pursuing me!
Cutting left toward Henry Street, he snaked through a cluster of migrant vendors who were hawking cheap souvenirs and home-made food. He was almost breathless. And the searing pain on his right arm was getting unbearable. The men who were pursuing him had hunted him for years and their brute determination would definitely not wane today.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadowy figure fluttering in but was gone in a second. A chill rose up his spine and in response to that, he reached under his jacket to make sure that the object he was carrying was still intact. Yes, it’s still there.
Stumbling past the peddlers who shouted profanities at his clumsiness, he raced toward a neon lit shop house at the end of the street with a blinking signboard. The signboard read: Fortune Chinese Restaurant. He had reached Chinatown.
Hopping onto the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, he peered through the eatery via a large glass window at the shop front. The restaurant was closed and there was no one inside. Upturned chairs with legs pointing at the ceiling occupied all the round tables in the pitch dark restaurant.
The scrawny man moved away from the glass window and slide to his left. His hand went for the bronze door knob on one side of the glass door. He twisted the knob with one hand and banged on the door with the other. It was absolutely unsurprising that the door was locked at this hour.
He groaned, took a few steps back before charging towards the glass door, throwing his entire weight against it.
The glass door shattered instantly as he burst through like a cannon ball. Tiny shards of glass rained on him when he fell forward and landed hard on the grimy carpeted floor.
Gasping, he got to his feet, indifferent to the fact that his face and hands were lacerated by the broken glass. He turned around to check whether his pursuers were behind him. They were not. Letting out a sigh of relief, he moved quickly toward the kitchen at the back of the restaurant.
About the same instant when the scrawny man yanked open the kitchen door and walked in without switching on the overheads, three burly men in black Armani suits and sunglasses raced up Henry Street. Their pace was swift and precise. At the speed that they were going, it was unbelievable that none of them found themselves running into the street peddlers and pedestrians. One of the peddlers, a middle age Hispanic woman glared at the three men as they zoomed past her. For a moment she thought she saw them gliding like birds a few feet from the ground. But that was impossible, so she shook her head and went back to her business.
Back in the cramped kitchen of Fortune Chinese Restaurant, the scrawny man wobbled past oily stainless steel shelves and tables that had not been cleaned for years, crates of garlics, potatoes and condiments commonly used in Chinese cooking were littered all over the place and a stack of small rusty cages that shouldn’t be a common sight in a kitchen was almost blocking his way.
As he swaggered past the rusty cages, a beastly shriek made him froze. It came from one of those cages and it sounded like an animal. The scrawny man bent down and took a closer look. There was a golden-hair monkey in one of the cages. And it produced the same high pitched shriek again when the man stared into its squinty eyes. The man also noticed that in the other cages below the one that this snub-nose monkey was kept, there were other animals. One of the cages contained a live turtle, waiting to be slaughtered and turned into broiled soup. Another housed a cou
ple of rabbits and right at the bottom, there was a python that seemed to be dead in a filthy cage caked with snake skins.
Straining his eyes, the man scanned the dark kitchen suspiciously, as if he was looking for someone or something. He paused for a moment before fishing out a strange looking object from his back pocket. It was strange looking because although it resembled a surgical scalpel used by surgeons or dentists, it was as transparent as a shard of glass. The scrawny man held the scalpel with his left hand and using his left thumb, he pressed a button on the scalpel handle. Almost instantaneously, the weird looking knife started to emit spots of luminescence green lights that seemed to glide along the sharp blade of the scalpel. He lifted his eyes from the scalpel and contemplated the snub-nose monkey before him.
They were behind me! Closing in! The scrawny man crashed out of the back door into one of New York City’s most grimy alleyways. Hopping away from a cloud of steam that rose from the sewers under his feet, he saw one end of the alleyway opened up to a busy street. The other end was a cul-de-sac dumped with garbage. Instinctively, the shuddering man darted toward the busy street. Yes, I could shake them off. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again! His lips quirked up to a slight grin as optimistic thoughts descended upon him again. As he picked up his pace, three beefy men in black suits barged out of the back door. One of them shouted at him in a strange language. Sounded like Korean or Chinese or a combination of both. The scrawny man raced forward, ignoring the three men at his heels.
When he was about twenty feet away from one of the street lamps that lined the busy boulevard ahead, his rekindled confidence to escape from the pursuit pulverized instantly when two huge men wearing black Armani suits rounded the corner and stood in front of him. They had blocked his only way out of the dark alley!