"I'm going to protect what's mine."
The silence was broken by a loud crash as the main office window shattered. Mort cursed angrily under his breath and double checked to make sure he put shells in his shotgun. It was the fourth time he'd checked since entering the room. Linda noticed the bulges in his pockets and assumed he'd brought as much ammunition as he could carry. He quickly pulled the pistol from his waistband, checked the clip, and racked a bullet into the chamber.
A few rooms away, a door crashed open followed by a woman's terrified scream. Mort wiped sweat from his brow and pressed his cheek to the window to see what was happening, but when he did, his legs turned to rubber and he nearly collapsed.
"It looks like a fucking... lizard!"
He watched as the half-human, half-reptilian creature walked to the center of the parking lot holding a flailing woman above its head with one ragged, scaly hand. She was trying to scream but her windpipe was constricted by the monster's grip.
"All we want is the girl," the creature growled. Mort watched as its flesh rippled and became that of a deformed man. It went in and out of focus as if two entities were occupying the same space at once.
"What in God's name are you?" Mort asked himself.
"What do you see?" Linda whispered. "What's out there?"
He gritted his teeth and said, "I told you to get out of here. Do what I say before they tear this place apart."
"I don't want to leave you here."
"Get the fuck out, before I throw you outside. Don't you understand I'm trying to save your life?"
Another window exploded nearby, making Mort cringe and nearly drop his weapon.
"That was your first chance," the creature called.
It dropped the woman to the ground and pounced, tearing out her throat with teeth that looked like daggers. It ripped open her stomach and pulled out her entrails as easily as pulling groceries from a shopping bag. The woman twitched in a growing pool of blood as the monster hung her intestines around its neck like a winter scarf.
Mort turned away and vomited chunks of pizza onto the carpet as he clutched his stomach. The shotgun fell from his hand and landed on the floor with a thud. He wiped his mouth, spit, and grabbed the Remington. When he looked outside, the monster had been joined by another. They held a man between them as their claws dug into the flesh around his wrists. The man was paralyzed by fear. A stream of urine poured down his thigh as he stared vacantly into the ever-shifting features of his captors.
"All we want is the girl," the beast repeated.
Mort turned and saw Linda's feet disappear through the bathroom window.
"Good girl," he said to the empty room.
"That was your second chance," the lizard-man warned.
Before Mort could open the door and begin firing, the two creatures pulled on the man's arms until they were torn from their sockets. He fell to the pavement as they tore flesh and bone and ripped both arms free from his body. He writhed in his own blood, moaning deeply in his throat as they beat him mercilessly with his own severed limbs. When he stopped moving, one of them mashed his head flat with a taloned foot. His skull broke open like a rotten Halloween pumpkin and spilled blood and brains into his hair.
Mort wasn't sure there would be a third warning. He heard his other guests being torn to shreds in the rooms nearby. The smoke had grown thicker, making him think they'd also set fire to the Windstar.
His insurance was up to date. His daughter would make out like a bandit.
Mort threw open the door and pointed the shotgun at the two monsters who were covered head to toe in blood and viscera. They were playing with it, clearly enjoying themselves, licking it from their claws like honey. They stopped long enough to look at Mort before stepping aside. Al Sterling walked between them and stopped.
"I know you," Al said. "Funny we should meet up again after so long."
"I see your accent has gotten better," Mort said.
"I've had many accents. I've grown somewhat fond of this one. It reminds me of the good old days, when not only could I make people disappear, but it was applauded." Al ran a hand through his hair as his face rippled and his eyes grew darker. "I know the girl is here, and I know you're protecting her."
"I don't know any girl," Mort said. "You've already killed everyone here, you son of a bitch."
"Not everyone," he said, grinning, "but there's time for that."
"Why don't you just go back to your hellhouse before I pump a few rounds into you?"
"Save your breath," Al said. "Is the girl so important to you that you'd risk your life for her? You don't even know her, not like I do. I've been inside her. That kind of intimacy creates a very special bond. You wouldn't want to get in the way of that, would you?"
"Why don't you come a little closer and find out what I'm willing to do?"
Sterling's face shifted again, revealing more of the demonic visage beneath.
"I'll give you one last chance to do the right thing," Al said. "When your time's up... well, you're time's up."
"Leave her alone, damn you. Haven't you taken enough?"
"Oh, not nearly. Our task has just begun, but I can assure you that the child growing inside her will be one giant step in the right direction."
Mort fired the shotgun and watched as Al's chest absorbed the blow. He brushed the front of his shirt and smiled.
"You didn't really think it would be that simple?" Al said.
Mort dropped the shotgun to the ground, reached behind him, and pulled the pistol from his pants.
"I'll see you in Hell, Sterling," Mort shouted. "That's a promise."
"Be sure to say hi to your wife when you get there."
Mort raised the pistol under his chin and pulled the trigger. His lifeless body toppled to the pavement as the Windstar blazed behind him.
"She's close," Al said to the others. "Find her and bring her back or I'll see to it you both walk through the gate by morning."
They nodded and bounded off in separate directions.
Al Sterling stood with his hands in his pockets and watched the motel burn before returning to the Blackridge to prepare. If Linda got away, there'd be consequences, not only for the tenants, but for him and Audrey as well.
The price of failure was far too great.
***
Linda had barely gotten fifty feet past the edge of the forest when she clutched her abdomen and fell onto the aromatic blanket of dead leaves. She bit down on the side of her hand to stifle a scream. Behind her, she heard gunshots and wondered if Mort was okay.
Every muscle in her body seized as she was rocked by another piercing stab to the stomach.
It can't be, she thought. It's only been a few days. How can I be having contractions already?
Linda didn't know if they were contractions; she had no idea, no clue about childbirth, but she did know it wasn't possible after only a few days in the womb. Whatever was inside her wasn't playing by the rules, and its bad timing was too perfect to be coincidental.
When the pain passed, she stood and checked her pajama bottoms to make sure her water hadn't broken.
Goddammit, I wish I'd paid more attention in Health class.
She didn't have time to scold herself for her lack of knowledge on the subject; she hadn't planned on having children for another five years or more, and only then if she was financially stable and with someone she could settle down with. Whatever was happening to her wasn't planned... or expected... or wanted.
When she was sure she wasn't going to drop the kid on the spot, she scanned the forest and looked for lights on the other side that would tell her which direction she was going. It was much darker than she'd anticipated. If only Mort had come with her instead of trying to stand against them, he'd still be here and she wouldn't have felt so completely alone.
She knew Mort was dead. She didn't understand why she knew, but the feeling wouldn't leave her. If she found a way out of this, how would she ever live with herself knowing that sh
e was responsible for a man's death?
Could she track down Mort's daughter and explain to her what happened, or was it best she never knew the truth?
Linda crawled over a fallen tree and continued in the direction she assumed was the way out. She couldn't hear any traffic, and being that it was only three in the morning, the locals would have been snug in their beds.
The more she ran, the more she felt like she was going in circles. She couldn't see the stars through the canopy and the damn lights on the other side of the forest kept disappearing behind the trees. Every step forward felt like a step in the wrong direction, and at any minute, she was prepared for the monster inside her to make its presence known.
She ducked low and shimmied beneath a thick patch of wild growth, crawling on her hands and knees and tearing her legs open on sharp brambles. The darkness had become a living thing, wrapping its arms around her in an unwanted embrace. She made enough noise for anything nearby to hear her, but she couldn't hear them. If she was being followed, they were clearly better at hiding their movement.
At about the same time she'd decided to stay put and wait for sunrise, a low, guttural snort sounded to her right, not more than twenty feet away. She'd begun holding her breath without realizing it.
"You're here somewhere," a voice growled. "I can smell you."
The creature made an exaggerated sniffing sound and crunched several steps closer. She had no idea how it'd gotten so close without her hearing it sooner. Now, she only hoped its night vision was as bad as hers.
"No one is going to hurt you, Linda," it said. "Why don't you come out and stop this foolishness? You can't get away from us. I can hear the child inside you... moving... clawing."
Now that it had been said, Linda thought she could hear it as well.
It was like a termite colony gnawing away at an old deck.
The whine escaped her lips before she could stop it.
"Is that you, little Linda? Come on out, let us take you home where you belong?"
Linda had only one last card to play.
"Stop right there!" she shouted. She grabbed the sharpest stick she could find, stood, and pressed it into her stomach hard enough to draw blood. "If you come any closer, I'll kill it! I swear I will!"
"You don't want to do that," the voice hissed.
She applied more pressure on the stick.
"You're only going to hurt yourself," another voice said. They'd both found her and surrounded her, but she couldn't see them. Every breath of wind played tricks on her: trees creaked and groaned, leaves skated across the ground, shadows formed and dissolved. When she thought her eyes had adjusted enough to make out the shapes of her pursuers, they would quickly vanish and appear somewhere else.
If it came down to it, Linda wasn't sure she'd be able to make good on her promise. As she stood there, the sharp end of the stick trembled in her hand. She felt the baby move, as if it was trying to get out of harm's way. Pain shot through her stomach and numbed her body from the waist down.
"Do you feel that? The little prince won't allow you to do anything foolish."
"It's not a prince," she shrieked. "It's nothing. An abomination!"
"How can a mother feel such hatred for her unborn child?" One of Sterling's minions crept closer.
"It's not human! It's a monster... and I won't let it live."
"You don't have a choice. You only stay alive as long as the child does."
"...and only then if you're willing to do what's asked of you," the other voice added.
"I won't! Do you hear me? I'll never... help you. It has to die," Linda cried.
"She's so stubborn."
"And so brave."
"How many people have to die because of your impudence?"
"You couldn't see what was happening. You allowed your best friend to die!"
"And Lenny, the poor innocent slob."
"And your father..."
"Christian!"
"Those people at the Windstar."
"Ah, good old Mort."
"How many more need to be destroyed because of your inability to understand your part in the greater good?"
"Will your mother be next?"
"Will she curse your name as we peel the skin from her face?"
"Leave her alone," Linda pleaded. "She has nothing to do with this."
"No harm will come to her if you stop this nonsense and do what you're told."
"Al Sterling is waiting for you."
"The tenants are waiting for you."
"What's going to happen to me?" Linda asked.
"That all depends on your behavior."
"And your usefulness."
Linda felt them crowding around her, felt their heat and smelled the carrion stink following them like a vapor trail. She pushed harder on the stick, trapped between her need to end this nightmare and her need for survival. She couldn't allow them to kill anyone else, and although she had no conception of what they expected from her, she knew she was trapped. With a strangled cry, she dropped the stick and felt warm blood trickle into the waistband of her pajamas.
Her cheek exploded in white fire as one of the henchmen punched her in the side of the face. The night lit with a million stars as Linda fell to the ground and used the last of her energy to crawl beneath the tangled hedges. Her consciousness slowly slipped away.
"If you break her," one of the voices grumbled, "Sterling will feed us both to the queen."
"She needed to be reminded that she's no longer in control."
"Grab her and let's get out of here. The preparations are likely complete."
Linda was lifted and carried away as her stomach swelled and the monster growing in her womb pressed against the walls of its prison. No one spoke another word as they passed the flaming wreckage of the Windstar Motel and the twisted, bloody corpses of those who'd gotten in the way.
When Linda regained consciousness, she was being carried through the gate in the cellar of the Blackridge.
It closed behind her with a clang as the darkness swept in and consumed her.
Chapter 19
Linda was being dragged forward, but couldn't feel the ground beneath her feet. The road was broken, the land blasted, twisted, and fractured. Steam drifted lazily from the cracked asphalt and mingled with the much darker smoke of fires burning nearby. Rain fell from a sky the color of cigarette ash. She was somewhere alien, but at the same time, it felt all too familiar.
Where am I? She thought. Blackened, empty buildings stood on either side of the street. Burned bodies were piled on the sidewalks like stinking garbage, leaking blood and offal into the gutters like the corpses of slaughtered sheep. Clouds of hungry flies descended to feed on crispy scraps.
"Look who's finally awake. Don't worry, my dear. You're almost home."
That voice. Linda recognized it immediately and looked to her left to see the woman holding her arm.
"Audrey?"
"The one and only," she replied.
"Where are you taking me? What is this place?"
"So many questions," a male voice snickered. "There will be time for answers later." Al Sterling held her right arm and smiled the same charming smile she'd seen the first time they'd met. She no longer had the same misconceptions she had then. Sterling was not a good man... he wasn't a man at all. He was a monster hiding beneath a suit of stolen flesh.
"Please," Linda begged, "let me go. I don't want to be part of this."
"You already are, sweetheart," Audrey said. "Relax and take in the sights. Once you leave, you'll beg to return."
"No, I won't! This place is awful... please."
Linda struggled against them, trying to free her arms, when Sterling spun her around and stood within inches of her face. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her as if he was scolding an insubordinate child.
"What I've given you, what the queen has given you, is a gift. This child will sit at the war table for what's to come and all you can think about is yourself." Al wiped the te
ars from Linda's cheeks with his thumbs and his face softened. "Come now. It'll all be over soon."
Audrey once again grabbed her other arm as they ushered Linda up the street past the ever-growing crowd of onlookers. Men, women, and children huddled in door frames, dressed in ragged clothing and blackened from soot and filth. Other creatures - half man and half beast - stalked the sidewalks and glared at her with soulless reptilian eyes. Linda thought of the iguana she'd had as a child and quickly looked away as they hissed and babbled words she couldn't understand.
"Just a bit more," Audrey said.
They began climbing a steep hill that felt to Linda like a ramp off the edge of the world... but what world? Certainly not her own. These monstrosities could never stand under an open sky with the sun on their faces without bursting into flames. It hurt Linda's eyes just looking at them. One bounded from the shadows of a burned-out convenience store, running on all-fours and shrieking like a tea kettle left on the stove. When it got within ten feet, Al held out his right hand, mumbled a single word, and the creature exploded in a fine, red mist. What was left tumbled to the street in steaming chunks.
"Don't be alarmed," Al said. "Some of them get a little restless."
Linda wasn't sure what she'd just seen, let alone have a reply. Everything was so wrong that it defied the senses. She couldn't be sure if anything she was seeing or feeling was real... anything but the increasing pressure in her gut. That was unmistakable, and it was growing stronger by the minute.
The spectators had grown tenfold as they climbed, jostling for position to watch them pass. The lizard-men climbed atop one another, lying in groups with their heads pointed to the sky like basking turtles. Linda thought they looked fake, like plastic props inspired by a 1950s Roger Corman movie, but these props were moving and blinking and breathing.
Then Linda saw Theresa standing on the sidewalk, and at once she knew this was real.
"THERESA!" she wailed. "Oh my God, is that you?"
"Don't bother," Audrey said. "Theresa's not here anymore."
"What did you do to her? You fucking monsters! What did you... Theresa! Theresa, can you hear me?"
She tried to free herself but Al and Audrey held her in place.
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