by C W Hawes
Everyone grabbed a couple glow sticks, bent them, shook them, and threw them out the windows.
“At least we’ll catch them when they walk across the lights,” Rankin said.
“Right,” was Mostyn’s reply, and then he asked about ammunition. The replies indicated everyone had little left.
After half an hour, the glow sticks began to dim.
“Keep alert,” Mostyn advised. “If they’re going to make a move, now will be the time.”
“How many of these things, are there? They must breed like rabbits,” Tyler said.
Kemper laughed. “According to Mansfield, they still have human instincts and humans love sex. Or haven’t you noticed, Deputy?”
Mostyn asked about Zabaglioni.
Rankin said, “Breathing, but still out. The bleeding’s stopped. Thank goodness.”
Howling rent the air.
“Here they come,” Rankin yelled and opened fire.
Pistols, rifles, submachine guns, and shotguns blazed a wall of lead and yet for every one of the things that fell, another took its place. Jones and Mostyn tossed stun and tear gas grenades out the windows. Those held off the onslaught for a time, but a new wave of the monstrosities charged the crumbling mansion.
One by one the guns fell silent. Jones and Rankin threw the last of the stun grenades and followed them up with the tear gas. The creatures fell back.
“Alright, people,” Mostyn began, “now it gets personal. Grab the stun batons, use your weapon as a club and those M-16s with the bayonets as spears. And if you have a knife, get ready to use it.”
“Why am I getting the feeling this is turning out to be another Little Bighorn?” Baker said.
“It isn’t,” Mostyn replied.
Jones snapped and shook two glow sticks and tossed them to the back of the room.
“Jones, help me remove the blockade from the hall door.”
“Okay, Boss.”
“Get ready for any surprises,” Mostyn said.
He and Jones removed the furniture barring the door. It flew open and four abhumans rushed into the room. Neumeyer and Rankin zapped them with the stun batons and down they went. Dempsey bayoneted, while Kemper cut their throats with surgical precision.
“Grab your stuff,” Mostyn ordered. “Hoof it up the stairs. We’ll have a better chance higher up. It’ll be easier to defend the stairs.”
Jones picked up Zabaglioni in a fireman’s carry and everyone climbed the stairs to the second floor.
A wild howl rent the night air.
“Here they come,” Mostyn said.
And then all was quiet. The sound of bare feet padded throughout the house. First one pair of feet and then another sounded on the stairs. Mostyn and Jones were waiting at the top off to the side.
The first creature reached the top and stood on the second floor landing. The second, was on the second step from the top. Jones and Mostyn lunged. Jones got his knife into the thing’s neck and made a sideways move to the front of the throat. The blade severed the vocal chords, arteries, and veins. The creature collapsed to the floor without a sound and quickly bled out.
Mostyn wasn’t so lucky. He misjudged the distance in the dark and the thing let out a cry of surprise before Mostyn could silence it.
There was an explosion of howling and yelping guttural growls. The beasts started up the stairs. Mostyn pushed his victim and the body tumbled down onto the monsters streaming up the staircase.
Jones grabbed the other body and threw it into the oncoming mob, scattering the creatures attempting to reach the second floor like bowling pins.
However, that didn’t stop the abhumans for long. Back up the stairs they came. Mostyn, Jones, and Dempsey held them off with the stun sticks until the number of creatures on the stairs was so numerous they were like a battering ram and simply pushed their way onto the landing.
Mostyn slashed one of the thing’s gut open. Kemper slit a throat. Jones, using the shotgun as a club, bashed in a head. Rankin, Baker, and Tyler bayoneted beast after beast. And as more of the things broke out onto the floor, Mansfield and Neumeyer went to work with stun batons and knives.
The creatures were like a flood and Mostyn ordered a retreat up to the third floor. They could not take the unconscious Zabaglioni with them, and Tyler got separated from the group. His cries for help were filled with terror and then they abruptly ceased.
To make matters worse, one by one the batteries in the stun batons went dead. Neumeyer, wielding his as a club, smashed in the side of one thing’s head. Rankin jammed his bayonet into one beast’s eye. But the human-like beasts kept on coming. Abhuman pushing human up the stairs to the third floor.
Rankin was grabbed by a hand and pulled into the sea of hairy human-like things. He screamed once and was silent. Neumeyer and Dempsey jabbed away at face and throat, the staircase too narrow to allow for an effective swing. Behind them were Mostyn and Jones.
Step by step, the abhumans pushed up the staircase. Neumeyer jabbed one in the throat, while a hairy hand from another grabbed his shirt. A quick jab in the eye from Mostyn saved the Special Forces agent from disappearing into the yowling, stinking, hairy sea of humanoids.
Mostyn yelled, “Kemper, Baker, Mansfield find us a room and get ready to barricade the door.”
The abhumans had now pushed the humans up to the third floor. Mostyn, Jones, Dempsey, and Neumeyer spread out. Shotgun, stun baton, and knives went to work with savage efficiency. Abhumans fell, but the humans weren’t unscathed. Neumeyer was bleeding from a bad bite. Dempsey had numerous wounds made by the creatures’s claws. Jones, too, had been clawed. Mostyn was bleeding from numerous cuts.
Kemper yelled, “Now! We’re ready!”
The men broke and ran for the room. Mostyn, though, letting Dempsey get to safety, got caught at the door. One of the abhumans held his leg and another had hold of his arm. Mostyn screamed as the thing bit his arm.
Kemper hurled an old ewer and hit the creature that had Mostyn’s arm. It’s grip loosened and Mostyn wrenched his arm free, then elbowed the thing in the face. He flipped his knife around and stabbed backwards. The blade slashed the thing’s neck and arterial spray went everywhere.
Baker bayoneted a beast reaching for Mostyn. Mansfield slashed the fingers of the creature holding Mostyn’s leg and Jones pulled him into the room. Neumeyer slammed the door shut and threw the bolt. Dempsey and Kemper shoved the bed against the door and then Jones and Dempsey piled a chest of drawers on top of the bed.
From outside the room, they heard the whump-whump of a chopper and soon a searchlight was shining on the house, moving window by window along the building.
Kemper shouted, “I need something white!”
Neumeyer stripped off his shirt and gave her his undershirt.
She had a window open and frantically waved the white shirt to catch the attention of the people in the helicopter. Suddenly she was bathed in the bright light of the searchlight.
An amplified voice informed them help was coming. In a moment, the air shimmered and a dark-haired, pale-skinned woman materialized before them. In her arms was a sonic disruptor.
She turned to Mostyn. “Hello, my husband. I’ve come to rescue you.”
14
“What the fuck is this?” Kemper blurted out.
Mostyn sighed.
Jones laughed. “Don’t look a gift K’n-yanian in the mouth, Kemper.”
Her look was venomous. “Wish to God we’d left her in that subterranean hellhole.”
Footsteps sounded on the roof.
“Good to see you, H’tha-dub,” Mostyn said.
The K’n-yanian came up to him and lightly kissed his lips. “Helene, my sweet. I’m Helene in your world.”
“Right.”
She sent her thoughts to him. “I’ve missed you, my love, but now I’m here.”
Mostyn sent his thoughts back. “And I’ve missed you, too.”
Out loud, Helene said, “With this weapon, I will protect you
while you escape.”
“What the hell is it?” Dempsey asked.
“A sonic disruptor,” Jones said.
“What’s it do?” the deputy asked.
“Basically uses sound to disrupt the molecular structure,” Jones replied.
“There are such things?” Incredulity was written all over the deputy’s face.
Jones clapped him on the shoulder. “Welcome to the dark side of your government.” Then with a big grin on his face, he said, “We’re the Feds, and we’re going to help you.”
Dempsey looked skeptical. “I doubt that. But if this thing will save our asses, who am I to complain?”
Helene smiled. “I and this weapon will save your asses.”
And, as if in response, there was a loud bang on the door, and bed and dresser jumped.
“Are they using a battering ram?” Baker asked.
“Sounds like it,” Jones said.
Mansfield rubbed his hands together. “My God, these creatures are astounding.”
“Tell me how astounding they are after they’ve bitten your face off,” Dempsey said.
There was another bang, followed by two more in succession. Another loud bang and the door splintered. The next sound was that of a sledgehammer breaking through the heavy door. From the roof came the sound of a saw.
Two more blows successfully turned the upper half of the door into kindling.
“My God!” Mansfield exclaimed. “They retain the knowledge of the use of tools.”
Helene flipped a switch and the sonic disruptor began to hum and the rings along the barrel lit up. It looked for all the world like something out of a 1930s Buck Rogers movie.
Through the opening the group could see the creatures slam a large wooden log against the door. The dresser and bed jumped back another few inches. The saw continued cutting through the boards of the roof. Another loud bang and there was the sound of splintering wood. The dresser and bed were shoved further into the room.
Through the opening came a cascade of rocks. Baker and Mansfield each getting hit.
Helene raised the disruptor. A square of roof boards dropped to the floor followed by a collapsible ladder.
“Everybody up,” Mostyn ordered. “Kemper first.”
Kemper started up. “Staying with the wifey?” she asked, her voice dripping acid.
Mostyn ignored her. “Baker and Mansfield next. Then you, Dempsey, Neumeyer.”
The bed and dressers slid across the floor, and Helene pulled the trigger. A high-pitched whine sounded and the disruptor beam, set to wide angle, cut through the barricades, the wall, splintered remnants of the door, and a number of the abhumans. Only a fine dust remained.
The creatures were stunned, and stood staring at where their companions, the door, and wall had been.
Jones laughed. “That surprised them. Just you, me, and Helene, Boss.”
“Up you go, Jones.”
Mostyn reach for the weapon. “Now you, Helene.”
“Oh, no, my love. You go.”
The creatures threw rocks and charged. Helene pull the trigger, reducing them to a fine dispersal of molecules.
“I can dematerialize. Go, my husband, before they attack again.”
Reluctantly, Mostyn ascended the ladder and just before he was on the roof he looked back. The creatures surged forward. The disruptor didn’t fire. Mostyn watched Helene disappear in a sea of hairy bodies.
Mostyn screamed her name, but she was gone. He climbed out onto the roof and standing before him was Helene Dubreuil.
Epilogue
The survivors spent two days debriefing. All except for Arliss Cashel, because she wasn’t in the final battle. When the debriefing was over, Deputy Dempsey, because of what he’d seen of OUP operations, was given an offer he couldn’t refuse and joined the OUP. Even though the offer was tantamount to coercion, he didn’t mind overly much, because his new pay grade was significantly higher than what he made as a deputy.
The body count of the abhumans had been extremely high. Nevertheless, many remained and Doctor Mansfield got his wish. OUP Special Forces captured over two dozen of the creatures and transported them to a secret Federal facility where Mansfield would be able to study them with a high-level scientific team.
DNA testing of the captured abhumans confirmed that the things were the direct descendants of the Vander Vrooman family that had moved to Tyler County in the early 1800s.
Doctor Bardon sat behind his desk, across from Doctors Kemper and Mansfield, Mostyn, and Helene Dubreuil. He was giddy with excitement and puffed away on his pipe.
“Well, well, well. What an adventure.” He set his pipe down. “Doctor Mansfield, I’m sure you feel much satisfaction knowing your theory of human degeneration appears to be valid.”
“I do indeed. And that evolution itself may reverse direction. We aren’t guaranteed unlimited advancement. There may be regression too.”
“And now you have the opportunity to also work with the team observing the Martenses.”
Mansfield was all smiles. “Thank you for that, Doctor Bardon.”
The director simply shook his head. “Governments can be so idiotic at times. There was no reason, other than departmental politics, to have excluded us from the Martense research.”
“Indeed not,” Mansfield concurred.
“And now are you a believer, Doctor Kemper?” Bardon inquired.
“The evidence is difficult to argue against,” she replied.
“Good. Good. You’ll get to study the dead creatures which we’ve transported to your special laboratory.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I expect you and Doctor Mansfield will share information,” Bardon said.
“Of course, sir,” Kemper replied.
“I look forward to working with you, Doctor Kemper,” Mansfield said.
Bardon turned to Mostyn. “I’m sorry for the losses. Sheriff Elswick was rash and Captain Pittman not much better, and he’s the one who should have known better. But then who could have guessed how cunning the Vander Vrooman abhumans were?” He turned to Mansfield. “Right, Doctor?”
“Very much so.”
With a twinkle in his eye, Bardon looked at Mostyn. “Per your request, I’ve gotten Mr Gillies a job with a private security firm.”
“Thank you, sir,” Mostyn replied.
Dotty Kemper’s face was a picture of puzzlement. “How did you work that out, sir?”
Bardon had a smile on his face. “The firm does work for us on occasion.”
Kemper nodded. “Of course.”
The director turned his attention to Mansfield. “Well, I won’t keep you any longer, Doctor Mansfield. I’m sure you’re champing at the bit to get at your new work.”
“Yes, sir.” Mansfield stood, shook hands with Bardon and Mostyn, and bid everyone farewell.
With Mansfield gone, Bardon’s gaze took in Mostyn, Kemper, and Dubreuil. “An exciting adventure. You distinguished yourselves, as usual. And especially you, Helene, in your first field operation.”
The three thanked their boss for his praise.
Bardon looked over at the statues of Cthulhu and Shub-Niggurath that had been taken from a previous operation in the subterranean world of K’n-yan. “Unless, of course, we count you coming here, Helene, as your first operation.”
She smiled. “I do not think so, sir. I was merely following my heart back then.”
“Yes, indeed.” A smile touched his lips. “Have you ladies told him?”
“Not yet,” Kemper answered.
Bardon stood. “I need to chat a moment with Evelyn. If you’ll excuse me.” He left the room.
“Shall you or I?” Helene asked.
“I will,” Dotty replied.
“Tell me what?” Mostyn’s voice was laced with suspicion.
Dotty cleared her throat. “We’ve decided to share you.”
“What?”
“You heard me, Mostyn. Don’t pretend you’re deaf. Helene and I are go
ing to share you. We decided alternating months would work best.”
“Wait a minute. Don’t I get a say in the matter?”
“Look Mostyn, you love both of us and don’t pretend you don’t. Helene loves you. Shit, she came to a totally different world just to be with you. And I, well, I… Ah, shit, I’ll just say it. I love you. And have for a long time. Bardon’s concerned our little triangle is going to mess up his ‘best people’, as he put it.”
“This was Bardon’s idea?”
“Not exactly,” Helene said. “But he wanted Dotty and I to come to a decision. So we did. Neither of us wished to give you up to the other.”
“Not that I’m into sharing,” Dotty said. “However, joint custody with alternating visitation I think might work. And Bardon said he has an ancient Egyptian book of spells that might help us if we need it.”
“Good grief. So this was Bardon.”
“No,” Dotty said. “We came up with this on our own.”
Mostyn thought to himself, sure they did.
“So now, Mostyn Pierce,” Helene began, calling him the name she used in the subterranean world of K’n-yan, “I won the toss of the coin. I get you first.”
Mostyn looked at Dotty. “Seriously, you’re okay with this?”
“I’m okay, Pierce. I have all those bodies I need to examine. They’ll keep me busy and when it’s my turn, I’ll be looking for a break.”
There was a knock on the door and Bardon entered. He walked to his desk and sat. “Everything okay? Mostyn?”
He looked at Dotty, and looked at Bardon for a few moments before answering. “Uh, sure, I guess so.”
“Good. Very good. Well, why don’t you three be getting along. You have work to do, Doctor Kemper,” and, directing his gaze to Mostyn and Helene, “you two have some reacquainting to do. Been a while since you were together.”
Kemper, Mostyn, and Dubreuil stood, said goodbye, and left.
Bardon picked up his pipe and re-lit it. He leaned back in his chair and puffed on the old bent bulldog briar. His gaze took in the hideous statues on either end of his sideboard.
A smile played on his lips. “I just love Egyptian magic.”