Clickers III (27 page)

Clark winced. The pain in his head varied by degrees, as if coming and going in waves. At times, it was a dull, sharp throb behind his temples, but then, without warning, it would flare so badly that his eyes began to water. Then he’d grow nauseous. He bit his lip and focused on his breathing, trying to block out everything else. Tony seemed to be experiencing it, too, but the Black Lodge agents appeared unaffected. He wondered if they’d had some sort of psychic training—a mental defense against this psychological storm.

They’d had to squeeze single file through a series of narrowing caverns and tunnels, but now they emerged in another wide cave. Ruby led the way without hesitation. Her flashlight’s beam wobbled amid her strides. Tony was in front of him, silent now, rifle clutched in his hands as he jogged along, while the other two Black Lodge agents, Diamond and Amethyst, brought up the rear.

Clark didn’t like this, but there was really nothing he could do about it. To fight the Black Lodge agents at any point between his abduction and arriving on Naranu would mean a quick and sudden death. He felt grateful to Tony for saving him back at the condo. He felt he owed the ex-hitman some backup and he was prepared to provide it.

But he still didn’t like the situation they were in.

It was bad enough being chased by those lizard-things and their mutant crustacean friends again. It was quite another to be forced by men-in-black spooks to stop some cataclysmic force he had minimal understanding of. Indeed, if it weren’t for the Dark Ones and the Clickers, he wouldn’t even believe in this nonsense. But it was kind of hard to discount the possibility of an ancient squid-headed entity crossing the barriers between worlds when confronted with the reality of intelligent reptile-men and giant crossbreeds of lobsters, crabs and scorpions.

Clark had been trying to figure out why Black Lodge would be interested in Tony since their arrival on Naranu. If Ruby had intercepted his musings, she gave no indication. He hadn’t been able to give the matter much thought anyway since they’d spent most of their time running through the jungle in their mad race to Mount Rigiri. Trying to stay one step ahead of the Dark Ones and Clickers had been a top priority too, one Clark hadn’t wanted to divert from.

So why did they want Tony? Why was he one of The Seven? What were “the seven,” anyway?

More importantly, why were Ruby and the others so sure Clark would keep his mouth shut after this mission was over?

Professional knowledge of his line of work would tell the Black Lodge agents that secrecy was part and parcel to Clark’s professional make-up. His former career had required secrecy. Clark knew things about former government officials, including Presidents and Vice Presidents, that would cause major ripples in world relations; a former President who’d been elected thanks to a major turnout of Christian Evangelicals (not Jeffrey Tyler) who, within months of arriving at the White House, somehow made arrangements with a staff member to have young boys flown in to DC to service him and a secret clandestine cabal of powerful Washington insiders; a former Vice President with a $500 a day cocaine habit; a beloved Democratic President who had a political rival murdered, the crime covered up so cleanly that his political enemies thought the crime was done by one of their own. Clark had knowledge of all that, and more, and he was never going to tell a soul.

Likewise for this mission. If he made it home safe he wasn’t going to say a word about it to anybody, not even his close friend and confidant Scott Baker.

Still, these questions, and others, burned in the back of his mind as he raced after Tony and Ruby. He could tell Tony was struggling with these questions himself. No doubt the ex-hitman was wondering why he was special, why he’d been tapped for this.

Clark hoped that not knowing the answers to these questions wouldn’t cost them their lives.

It was getting cooler the farther beneath the earth they traveled. Clark’s head pounded with a headache that seemed to worsen the deeper they traveled down the narrow cavern. “Shit,” he muttered. He tried to take in a breath; the air was noticeably thinner down here and seemed weighted, as if there was a malevolent presence lurking about. Clark had never held much credence to supernatural elements. He was raised a Catholic, had a minimal belief in God, an even lesser belief in

ghosts, much less aliens. He’d kept an open mind about Dagon, and now that he was in the middle of Mount Rigiri, he was beginning to believe that what the Black Lodge agents had briefed them on was the truth.

“What’s that noise?” Tony called out.

“What noise?” Clark answered.

“It’s like…I don’t know. A humming or some shit.” Tony was panting as he fought to keep up with Ruby, who didn’t seem to tire.

Clark was about to tell Tony he didn’t know what he was talking about when he suddenly heard it. It was low, more felt than heard, like a bass note from a synthesizer. It sounded like a thousand voices humming a note in the key of D Minor.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm….

The pain in Clark’s head swelled again. It was clear to

Clark that Tony’s head was hurting, too. Sweat ran down the ex-hitman’s face and he had a strained, painful look to him. By contrast, the Black Lodge agents still seemed fine.

“We’re getting close,” Ruby said.

“Too close for me, honey,” Tony said. “Let’s get this shit over with and go the fuck home.”

The roaring of the Dark Ones had become distant but now another sound replaced it: a flapping sound. A shadow flittered across the far cave wall and Clark felt something zoom overhead. He instinctively ducked and covered his head with the stock of his M16.

Tony screamed. “Oh shit! What the fuck?”

Clark looked up and saw something with pale, leathery wings entangled with Tony. Another creature flew overhead, and then another. High-pitched squeaks filled the cavern. Bats.

“Get the fuck off me!” Tony screamed. He beat at the thing with his rifle stock, trying to shake it off him. It was big, its body the size of a capuchin monkey with a wing span of six feet across, it had obviously flown into Tony by pure accident and was trying to free itself. Its claws dug scratches into Tony’s head and shoulders. “You fucking piece of shit!” Tony brought his rifle into position and his right hand brushed the trigger.

“Hold your fire,” Clark yelled. “Hold your fire, goddamn it, or you’ll get a ricochet!”

“Fuck that, get it off me!” Tony tried to ram the barrel of the rifle beneath the creature’s chin and couldn’t. Its right wing was stuck between Tony’s arms. Its left wing was wrapped around his back, its legs clinging to his hips. The bat’s face was dangerously close to Tony’s neck as its blind eyes rolled around in its head and it kept squealing in that high-pitched voice.

Clark was about to run up to Tony to try to assist him when there was another thud, then Amethyst yelled. “Aahhh!” One of the bat creatures had flown into him. His rifle clattered to the ground as he fought with it. Ruby ducked, her hands covered the back of her neck as more of the bats flew over them. They seemed confused as their wings brushed the cave walls. Diamond swung the barrel of his rifle back and forth from creature to creature, as if he were trying to get a clear shot. One by one, the bats found the narrow aperture in the cave and flew toward it, somehow either scrambling through it in a half-flight, half-crawling motion, or by some other means.

Before Clark could leap toward either Amethyst or Tony, he heard a whisk of a steel blade. The creature that was entangled with Amethyst let out a high-pitched squeak and shuddered as blood splattered the cavern floor. Amethyst shoved the bat off him, holding a stiletto blade covered with blood. He looked like a baby-faced psycho killer.

“Aaahhhh,” Tony yelled. “Get the fuck off me!”

Clark and Amethyst ran to Tony. Amethyst plunged the blade into the creature’s back. It squealed in pain and dived forward, its teeth plunging into Tony’s shoulder. Clark’s heart leaped into his throat as Tony screamed. “You motherfucker! I’m going to kill you!”

Amethyst stabbed the creature again but it had no effect. The bat creature’s head lolled briefly on its shoulders, giving Clark a brief look at Tony’s shoulder. He was relieved to see the creature’s teeth had not broken the skin. Instead, it had torn a chunk of the strap that held Tony’s rifle over his shoulder. Tony’s rifle slipped down his pinned left arm, dangling precariously. The creature was so entangled with Tony’s arms and legs that he couldn’t fight back.

Clark ran up to Tony and placed the barrel of his M16 against the thing’s head. “Tony, take a step to your right and lean your head back! Ruby, get down!”

Ruby dropped to the ground and Tony did as he was told, giving Clark ample enough room. There was no backstop for the shot, only the pitch blackness of the cave ahead of them. Clark pulled the trigger, sending a single shot into the creature’s head. It stopped squealing and immediately dropped, its leathery, bony frame still hanging on Tony.

Tony was still flailing his arms. “Ugly ass son of a bitch.” There was the audible snapping of bone and then the thing was flung off Tony like a giant kite. He started kicking its limp form. “Piece of shit motherfucker!”

Clark looked up as more of the hideous giant bats flew over them. There weren’t that many, perhaps a few dozen. Their wings made heavy, flapping sounds as they flew through the cave and darted down the narrow passageway, squirming their way through the aperture Clark, Tony, and the Black Lodge agents had just emerged from.

The dead bats lay on the ground. Ruby stepped forward, shining her light on the creature that had almost killed Tony.

Clark drew in a breath. “Jesus, look at that thing.”

Diamond nodded. “It’s mutated, just like the spider we saw above. Other life forms that dwell in this cavern have probably mutated, too.”

Tony shuddered. “Please tell me there’s no giant snakes down here.”

Or spiders
, Clark thought.
One of those was enough.

“We’ve seen no sign of them,” Ruby said, reading Clark’s mind. “No webs or anything.”

Ignoring her, Clark clapped Tony on the shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Tony said. He dusted himself off. “Thanks, dude. I owe you one. Seriously.”

“No, you don’t. Consider that payback from before.”

Tony met his gaze and nodded in acknowledgement. Clark shot him a grin. If it weren’t for Tony, the Black Lodge agents would have eliminated Clark from the equation. They were bound together now as brothers in arms, despite the fact that they were on polar opposites of the law.

From the tunnel ahead of them, a voice called out. “Hello? Hey, we need some help down here! Can you hear us?”

Diamond, Amethyst and Ruby sprang into action, rifles held ready, their stances firm and alert.

“Who’s there?” Diamond called. His voice carried a sense of authority. “Identify yourselves.”

“I’m Dr. Wade Collins. With me are Drs. Susan Ehart and Jennifer Wasco.”

“Jennifer?” Tony called out. His voice had a jovial tone to it. “Hey, Jennifer, it’s me, Tony!”

From the darkened tunnel ahead of them, a second voice. Female. “Tony Genova?”

“Yeah, you got it sweetie, it’s me.” Tony turned back to Clark and the Black Lodge agents. “She
remembers
me!”

Clark was standing close to Ruby, so he heard her reply. “You’re a hard person to forget, Mr. Genova.”

“Stay where you are,” Diamond said. “We’re coming your way.”

Ruby and Diamond led the way this time, with Clark and Tony behind them and Amethyst bringing up the rear. The Dark Ones were still at all sides of them—behind them and in front of them—but their muffled sounds told Clark they were still far away. They probably couldn’t squeeze their way through the narrow caverns.

They reached another narrow crevice and squeezed their way through. This one was relatively short, about fifty yards. As they reached the end, Clark heard another woman. “Here they come.”

Ruby and Diamond exited the crevice first, followed by Tony and then Clark. As Clark stepped through, he was greeted by a sight he never thought he’d come across. A man and two women stood in the center of a large cavern, their eyes squinting from the sudden light. Clark noticed that neither of them carried flashlights. He wondered how long they’d been wandering around down here in the dark.

The younger of the two women smiled at Tony and let out a relieved laugh. She rushed toward him and embraced him. Tony slung his M16 over his back and returned her embrace.

“I never thought I’d see you here,” the woman exclaimed. Despite her worn appearance, she was attractive. “What the hell are you
doing
here?”

“I’m Luke fucking Skywalker,” Tony quipped. “I’m here to rescue you.”

The woman punched him playfully. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”

“We came to get you,” Tony said. He had the woman in a bear hug. He kissed her forehead, then turned to Clark. “Hey, Clark. This is Jennifer Wasco. Jennifer and I faced these fucking lizard things down with President Livingston back in Peachbottom!”

Clark nodded at her. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Jennifer looked at the Black Lodge agents. “You guys aren’t dressed like Marines. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you came. I was just expecting the military. CIA, I guess?”

“No ma’am,” Diamond said.

“The Marine Corps?” Tony looked confused. “Why would you think that?”

“We had communications equipment at our command center,” Jennifer explained. “When the Dark Ones and Clickers attacked, we sent out an SOS. We never found out if anybody heard us or not.”

“If you aren’t from the military, where are you from?” This was asked by the man, who was short, with wiry hair. He had a stocky build. His shorts and tank top were dirty and torn up. Likewise,