Becoming

by Glenn Rolfe

  “Let her go!” Mae yelled.

  A gunshot rang out and the appendage loosened.

  Gasping for air, Michele wrestled her hands under the thing at her throat and tossed it aside.

  She lifted her chin and saw Mae holding the rifle, Uncle Mike approaching behind her.

  “Look out!” she said.

  Mae spun and fired. The shot went wild. She ducked between the cars just in time to avoid the tentacle swinging for her.

  Michele craned her neck and saw her cousin slumped against the side of the house. Dark fluid was oozing from the hole above her right eye.

  She scurried down the steps on her hands and knees, slipping at the bottom. “Mae, are you okay?”

  “Yes. Can you see Shane?”

  She looked and saw Ginny gliding toward the lake. It was then that she noticed the insane light. The whole area above the lake was lit in a spectacular emerald glow, the waters below rising and splashing like a scene out of Moby Dick. She half-expected to see the giant whale emerge.

  “Michele? Do you see him?’

  “Yes, yes. My aunt has him. She’s dragging him to the lake.”

  Crawling to the other side of the old car closest to the house, her hand landed on cold hard steel. The gun.

  “We have to save him,” Mae cried out. “I need more ammo. Do you have the bag?”

  Michele didn’t hesitate. She stood, snagging the bag from the porch. She tossed aside the blankets. Four boxes of ammo sat at the bottom. She grabbed the rifle bullets and tossed them over the car to Mae. She put the others in the bag and ran after the sheriff.

  Where the hell is Clint? I knew that jerk couldn’t be trusted. I knew it.

  Michele caught up to Ginny and the sheriff just as they went over the edge of the embankment. She leaped forward and grabbed his hand.

  “Give me the gun,” he said.

  The two of them were pulled into the lake before they could make the exchange.

  …..

  Mae couldn’t see through the rain pelting back up at her from the cars. Michele took off after Shane. She needed to follow them, to back the brave girl up. Mike Neilson had vanished. She knew she’d missed his head, but maybe she’d clipped him. She opened the box of ammo and jammed bullets into her pockets. She decided just to take what she could fit and leave the rest. She couldn’t leave Alice here. The girl had run inside. Climbing up the steps, trying to keep an eye behind her, she called out. “Alice, honey?”

  The girl appeared in the living room window, shaking her head.

  Mae went to step up, but her leg didn’t move. The green light from behind produced her shadow across the porch.

  “Not again.”

  Instead of trying to spin and hit her target, she placed the barrel to the appendage around her leg and squeezed off the shot. She felt a flash of heat singe her calf, but she was free. She charged forward toward the front door. Alice pulled it open for her and ran out past her, crossing the porch to the left, tripping over Jennifer’s dead body. She went sprawling.

  Mike Neilson stood above the small girl, reaching down with his good tentacle.

  Mae used the opportunity to blow his fucked up brains out the side of his head.

  He stumbled right and collapsed to the porch.

  Alice had her hands over her head.

  Mae hurried to her side, grabbing her by the arm.

  “Alice.”

  She stood.

  “That was a very brave thing you just did. Now, I want you to go back inside and find a safe place to hide. You hear me? Hide away where no one will find you. You don’t come out until you hear me or Michele okay?”

  She nodded.

  “And you make sure it’s the real us before you come out.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “You’re a smart girl. You’ll think of something. Now go. Quickly.”

  The girl clutched her in a hug.

  “Be careful,” she said.

  “You too.”

  Alice went back inside and closed the door.

  Mae took off for the lake.

  …..

  Michele held the gun tight with one hand, the sheriff with her other, and held her breath as they splashed into the water. She was grateful not to have fired off any shots by accident. They were being pulled along when something squeezed around her ankle.

  Someone had them.

  Caught in a tug of war, her grasp of the sheriff’s hand slipped free. She screamed under water. It was Clint who pulled her out.

  “We can’t let her take him,” she shouted.

  “Stay here. I’ll go.”

  Before she could say anything, Clint plunged into the water his eyes aglow, his strange appendages extended.

  “Where did they go?”

  Michele turned to see Mae.

  “Clint is going after them. The sheriff is still alive. She’s taking him.”

  “Oh my God,” Mae said.

  Michele followed her gaze. Across the way, a mile over, at the beach access area, hundreds of twin green-lit beams shined the same bright color as the raging waters.

  “I know where that is,” Michele said.

  “Let’s go,” Mae said, helping her up the embankment

  “Where’s Alice?” she said, as they rushed through the rain toward the cruiser they’d arrived in. “Where’s my uncle?”

  “He’s dead, she helped me. I told her to go back inside and hide where no one would find her. I told her to stay put until we came back.”

  “What if we don’t?”

  “She’s safer here than she is going with us.”

  Michele didn’t say anything. She got inside the car.

  Mae joined her taking the steering wheel.

  The car cranked to life. Pulling out onto Jade Lake Road, they went right. The beach access road was only a mile or so down the road.

  They rode as fast as they could, considering they could barely see with the rain pelting the windshield.

  Michele wondered how long the sheriff could hold his breath. She wondered if Clint could save him.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Dragged feet first beneath the lake, Shane’s lungs wanted to burst. Why take him if she was just going to let him drown? Gazing upward, he couldn’t believe how brilliant the normally dark water looked lit up in the impossible green light. At least I get to go out seeing something beautiful. He couldn’t hold his breath any longer.

  His momentum jerked to a halt. The thing around his ankle loosened.

  He tried to swim up, but his body fought against him. It was then he saw Clint Truman tangling with Ginny Neilson, both tearing at one another below the lake surface.

  Shane managed to rise, kicking his legs just enough to propel him. He gasped for air as his head breeched the surface, only to catch a mouthful of water and then be sent spiraling back under. He’d lost it completely. The glimpse he’d caught, it looked like he’d been dropped in a raging ocean, not the subdued lake he’d grown up around. Green eyes darted at him as he swallowed another mouth full of water. Ginny Neilson reached for him again.

  A black tendril wrapped around her head and slithered into her mouth, hauling her away.

  Shane tried for the surface again, but was arrested by vertigo. He headed toward the dark, he couldn’t think straight. His chest was going to cave in.

  Suddenly he was pulled upward and raised from the water.

  Two long tentacles held him up, as the water around him thrashed, and the rain came down in buckets.

  He was brought to the shore, and tossed to the rocks. If he broke something coming down, he couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t believe he was getting air. That he was alive.

  He looked around for Clint, but couldn’t see him. Even with the amazingly illuminated lake. He couldn’t find his savior.

  It was then that he saw the horror.

  There were bodies being tossed around like ragdolls. Much as he imagined he must have looked moments ago. Beyond he saw what had to be ha
lf of his hometown, eyes aglow, marching forward through the rain, taking turns wading into the raucous lake.

  Getting up, his clothes weighed a hundred pounds. He wondered if Clint was among the human debris. With no time to worry about anyone else, he started through the trees to find out if the girls were okay.

  Within minutes he found Jade Lake Road.

  Working his way through the pucker brush that blocked his way out, he saw a car approaching. As it neared, then passed, he recognized it as one of his own.

  Taillights, like demon eyes, squinted down the road. As he stumbled out, the car turned right. He hadn’t been able to see who was in the car, but his gut told him he needed to follow.

  Drenched and exhausted, Shane jogged until he reached the old access road that the Lake Service Utility crew used. Despite the cramp in his side, and the burning in his thighs, he forced himself to jog down the road. If that was them, they would be looking for him. He had to get to them, get them the hell out of here before whatever force lurked out here got them first.

  As he got farther down the dirt road, he saw the outline of the cruiser in the dark.

  It was empty.

  “Mae? Michele? Alice?”

  He heard nothing but the storm

  “Shit.”

  The path led down to the restroom/changing area buildings. On the other side of the buildings, there were three paths that led down to the beach. He chose the one in the middle.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Michele stepped out into the open, Mae at her side. No one noticed them. The throng just kept moving forward one at a time into the wild glowing water.

  They stayed close to the woods, hoping the shadows would be enough to keep them hidden. Michele scanned the dwindling crowd for any sign of the sheriff, her aunt, or Clint.

  “Go to her,” a familiar voice shouted.

  Michele saw Greg standing atop the old rock they used to jump off from. It had been him all along. The thing, this lady in the lake, had chosen him, used him, and turned him into this. There he stood, waving tentacles, directing the crowd to go into the water, his eyes a brilliant green.

  “We shall all become!” he said. “We shall all….”

  His attention turned to them.

  “Oh shit,” she said.

  “Ahh, Michele. We were wondering if you would be joining us.”

  Two of the people closest to the rock started toward them.

  Her father and her cousin Laura.

  “No...,” she whimpered.

  “That’s not them anymore,” Mae said.

  “Their eyes aren’t glowing. What if…”

  Mae grabbed her by the arms. “It’s not them. Those things killed them. And they’ll kill us if, too.”

  It was true. They were all dead. And these damn things were to blame.

  “Michele, become with us,” the thing that pretended to be her father reached out as it drew closer.

  Michele raised her gun.

  “We can all be together,” it said.

  “Not mom. You monsters killed her.”

  Her arm began to drop as she recalled the shape beneath the blanket. Crying tears against her chest.

  Mae raised her rifle, but Michele glared at the things before them.

  Seeing the intent in her stare, the creature’s eyes lit up, their arms reaching…

  The report from Michele’s gun ripped through the storm. The thing dressed in her father’s skin, dropped to the ground.

  Mae unleashed a shot dropping the other imposter.

  The others began to turn, one-by-one. A line of glowing eyes were suddenly upon them.

  “What do we do?”

  “What are you doing?” Greg cried out. “Do not turn your backs on her. Ignore these two; they have no place with us. They will rot here with the rest.”

  But the collected imposters weren’t listening to him. They started forward.

  “We don’t have enough bullets for this,” Michele said.

  “I said LEAVE THEM BE!”

  Still they approached.

  It was then, that the great scream roared from the lake.

  “No, no, no, look what you’ve done.” Greg said.

  Out in the water the form of a woman rose up from below.

  A beautiful, naked, black-haired creature that had to be fifteen feet tall spread its arms out wide. Michele watched in shock as it let loose another spine-tingling roar. Its arms morphed into giant tendrils.

  “Hey, over here.”

  Michele tore her gaze from the thing in the lake and found Sheriff Davis standing within the woods.

  “Shane,” Mae said.

  “Come on–what the hell…” his eyes found the creature. “Holy Christ, come on. Take may hand,” he said.

  Mae grabbed hold of him.

  “Michele, come on, that beast isn’t up to anything good,” Mae said.

  She followed, looking back over her shoulder as the thing, the lady of the lake, shrieked again as she brought her giant tendrils down into the water, and pushed them together.

  An enormous wave began to swell and was coming straight for them.

  “RUN!” Michele said.

  …..

  “My lady,” Greg cried. “Please, forgive me. Please. Take me with you. I want to finish your work.”

  The wave built into a twenty-foot-high wall, barreling through the storm and leaned over the remaining members of Avalon. Greg covered his head as the towering wave crashed down, smashing him into the rock. The behemoth wall of water crashed over those who stood watching and pulled them all back out to the lake.

  The body of Greg Hickey swirled beneath the water before breaking the surface.

  He opened his eyes and saw the beautiful face that had made him all he would ever become.

  Take …me…home…

  Her perfect features crumbled away revealing the monster beneath, dark marble eyes showed no love, a round mouth with jagged teeth opened. It screamed once more, before setting upon his face.

  Above the water, lightning crashed in a massive display of power and fury. Dozens of bolts flashed up from the lake. When it was done, the lake no longer shined. The waters stilled and went dark.

  Within moments the rain ceased, and the clouds began to part.

  A brilliant, bright moon peeked out and reflected upon the lake.

  There were no bodies to be seen.

  The lady of the lake was satisfied.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Michele was certain they were going to die. That the enormous wave was going to crash down upon them or hit the ground and rush over them, smashing them into the trees. Either way, they were dead. The sheriff and Mae must have thought the same. He wrapped them both in his arms and shielded them from the impending tsunami.

  It never came.

  She lifted her head and saw the monstrous wave receding.

  “Look,” she said.

  The sheriff and Mae turned.

  The three of them sat watching the outrageous display of lightning exploding over the water.

  Within a minute, it was over. The lake returned to normal.

  “Shane,” Mae said. “Have you ever–”

  “No.”

  “Alice,” Michele said.

  They made it to the cruiser and climbed in. No one spoke. Not of what they’d just been through. Not of what they’d just witnessed. And never again of the lady of Jade Lake.

  “Alice?” Michele cried out.

  The sheriff and Mae waited in the car. Remembering where she’d found the girl before, she started up the stairs to the second floor. There were cobwebs on the ceiling, dust built up on every spot it could gather.

  She saw a room with a bed to her left.

  “Alice?”

  Poking her head inside, she was amazed at the cleanliness of the area. This must have been Clint’s room.

  She walked over to the nightstand. A framed portrait of a woman and a small boy she gathered was Clint and his mom, set prop
ped up behind a lamp. He had a story. Whatever he was, whatever he became, he started out sweet and innocent.

  She picked up the portrait.

  “I don’t know what happened to you or why, but if it wasn’t for you…well, you went out a hero. I hope wherever you are, whoever you’re with, you know that.”

  A hand grabbed her ankle.

  “Cheli?” Alice whispered.

  No one ever called her that but her dad.

  “There you are,” she said, wiping the sudden rush of tears from her face.

  Alice crawled out and gazed up at her, the saddest look in her eyes.

  “What’s wrong? Is Mae okay?” she asked.

  Michele nodded.

  Alice wrapped her arms around her.

  “Are we going to be okay?” she said.

  “Yes, Alice. We are.”

  Bonus Novella

  Boom Town

  Glenn Rolfe

  Dedication

  For Art Bell and George Noory…my late-night fix.

  Chapter One

  “The town of Eckert, Wisconsin, woke up to another rumbling this morning, the third such quake in as many days. Since Sunday night, the small town forty minutes outside of Madison has experienced what some locals are describing as ‘earthquake-like activity’. Dr. Ken Eto, professor of science at Wisconsin University, part-time ufologist and author of the book Doors to the Universe: Why We Are Not Alone, took a few minutes to speak with News 3 WISC outside of this trailer you can see set up behind me. ‘These quakes coming from deep below the surface have roots that stretch back thirty years. As you may know, during the summer of 1979, Eckert was the site of one of the most unique UFO eyewitness encounters in history. A young couple from Canada, on their way home from visiting family, witnessed what they explained as a saucer-like aircraft hovering somewhere over Hollers Hill, located just on the outskirts of Eckert. The couple pulled over and watched as a bright, bluish beam shot straight down from the center of the ship and into the hill. Within minutes, the ground began to shake. The beam retracted from the hill, and the ship shot up into the night sky. The tremor was reported to be felt as far away as Rochester, Minnesota.’ According to Dr. Eto, there has always been one big question about the eyewitness account: ‘Did the UFO over Hollers Hill procure something from us, or was something bestowed upon us?’ Dr. Eto claims the quakes affecting Eckert more than three decades later are proof of the latter. ‘Samples I took from Hollers Hill in 2001 featured a number of anomalies. Preliminary results from a small sample of the soil around the area of Sunday’s initial tremor, less than a mile from Hollers Hill, came back with those same anomalies.’ When asked what these soil sample anomalies were, Dr. Eto claimed he was not at liberty to elaborate any further on his findings until his research was complete.