Should Have Killed The Kid (36 page)

The faint hope that had been building exploded into a supernova and he back tracked, ignoring the kid's queries as to what was going on. For a moment the hope faltered when only polished rock appeared...

But just as he was about to write it off as a figment of his imagination, the black swelled up beneath him once more, causing him to gasp and the kid to yelp in sudden fright. Dave smiled a rictus grin at the sight and immediately extinguished the lighter.

The last glimpse of the shield added haste to his actions.

'Come here,' he called to Will. When the boy obeyed, he rested one hand on his shoulder in a pose he tried to tell himself wasn't at all reminiscent of the way Monty had restrained the kid all those months ago in the bluestone room.

He raised the jar high and braced his aching muscles as best he could. He wanted to impart as much force as possible on the jar. It was a ridiculous notion, he knew, but he could just see the jar rebounding from the rock completely unscratched while the shield failed and the shadows rushed in to finish business.

A final doubt assailed as he held the jar high.

And then what are you meant to do? Once the bomb has been detonated? How are you going to seal the portal? What with all the magic you've learnt?

Dave felt his eyes widening as the chorus of voices inside took up the point. He felt the tears start to leak from his eyes once more as it dawned on him that it was a
very good
point.

Fortunately momentum carried him onward and before he could think too hard about it, he flung the jar and heard it shatter at his feet...

Then nothing except the frenzied tapping as though the creatures were aware that the barrier was on the verge of collapse.

'FUCK I–' he started to roar when, after two long seconds, the liquid had done nothing but glow a faint red on the ground and his doubts looked like they were about to burst forth into reality.

Then abruptly everything melted away in a blinding flash of white that exploded with such intensity that it knocked Dave clear off his feet.

28.

Dave came back to the kid shrieking.

A second later he realised he was as well and forced himself to stop.

Panic bubbled as he reeled on the ground and tried to open his eyes. Everything came out blurry and it felt like someone had rubbed his eyes in a sandpit.

Wet trickles snaked over his top lip and down his cheeks and the side of his face, tracking through the dried and encrusted filth already there.

He blinked and wiped at his eyes then winced. It did nothing but double the stinging.

It seemed exceptionally difficult to get enough oxygen into his lungs.

But at least the explosion had briefly beaten the voices into a retreat.

Get up, got to get up,
Dave thought desperately. Getting his body to coordinate enough to achieve his aim was a whole other story. He struggled to his knees, coughing and yelping as his entire spine ignited with pain.

From there he made it to his feet after a couple of quick false starts. His right leg felt strangely damp as he swayed, still trying to clear his swimming vision. When he did, he soon saw that his original surmise that he'd pissed himself was incorrect.

The fall had lodged the knife he'd had tucked into his belt into his thigh and Dave realised that the moisture running down his leg was in fact blood.
Surprised I've got any left in me,
he thought and then chortled in hysterical amusement, only stopping when he realised he was wasting precious seconds.

He stared around in dazed amusement at his surroundings and saw his earlier summation was correct. The shadows had pulled back and beneath the glittering stars he could just make out that he was in the middle of a large crater of smooth stone; buffed and polished until it shone. As he stared around, Dave almost absently plucked the blade from his thigh, the extra little dart of pain barely even noticeable. The array of injuries he'd endured so far appeared to have short circuited his nervous system.

He held it down by his side while his eyes locked onto the point, a few metres away where a black cone already started to spiral its way up from the ground again.

It served to focus his attention and as he watched it elongate, the strange fog that had gripped Dave since the explosion melted away beneath a flowing tide of panic as he realised,
Oh shit, this is it... it's time...

'Will,' he called with urgency when it dawned on him that there was probably only moments before he'd be swamped again and that this time there'd be no shield standing between him and the creatures.

He wheeled around and saw the kid staggering in a small circle about a metre away, reeling to and fro, his eyes, nose and ears trickling streams of blood to match Dave's own. The boy's voice still moved violently though sound no longer issued forth. It made Dave wonder if maybe the kid had blown his vocal chords shrieking.

It took him a second to wonkily cover the distance and grab the kid by the shoulder again.

'C'mon–' He tried to keep his voice calm while he guided the boy toward where the swirling cone rose from its bed of polished rock. It jagged alarmingly though as he saw that the black tide had started to amass on the edge of the crater once more.

'Move! C'mon!' he blubbered, giving in to the rising tide of panic. 'Ssshh, ssshhh it's alright, you need to calm down, we need to move, we...' Dave realised he was merely babbling. The boy paid no attention to his words, only grabbed him tight in a hug. In the end Dave simply dragged the boy over to where the cone was, his panic lending him strength.

The kid's grip was tight, a desperate hug, tighter than any he'd ever felt before and Dave's stream of babble died out into a blubber.

He dragged the boy to the foot of the roiling cone and paused to steal a glance back over his shoulder. The shadows were definitely there but it wasn't like the other times when they came flooding straight back in. However Marge had constructed the bomb, it must've been a potent brew. They were still moving forward but there was something a little tentative about it. As though instead of a headlong charge, this time they were pacing themselves to see if Dave had anything else up his sleeve.

'C'mon, little man, I...' Dave's voice cracked again. 'I just need you to face this way for a second.' He pointed him to the swirling black mass, unsure if it would help but a morbid part of him thinking that it'd be the best bet if the blood spray at least landed in the general vicinity of the growing cone.

Even thinking that made him want to vomit but Dave fought through the nausea and snuck another peek at the shadows.

'Fuck me,' he whispered as he saw how much ground they had covered. Clearly their hesitation wasn't going to last much longer.

He gripped the kid tighter by the shoulder and murmured, 'That's the way,' under his breath while Will continued to rub away at his eyes.

Dave raised the knife...

But froze, a sob ripping from his lips as he darted glances around. On all sides the shadows massed, building momentum no more than ten metres from him now. The cone in front of him bulged, swelling taller, threatening to disgorge thousands more at any second.

'My eyes hurt,' the kid wailed.

The shadows hurtled closer.

Still Dave's hand stayed frozen, the knife mere inches from the boy's throat.

It doesn't matter,
he told himself,
we'll be dead soon anyway...

But he couldn't quite convince himself as the shadows streamed closer and closer, until he could hear the click of the claws their darkness contained.

It'll all be for nothing if I don't,
he thought.

Tears streamed down his cheeks and the shadows loomed, forcing him into action.

'FUCK!' he screamed and the boy tensed as the cold steel rested against his throat.

Goddamn it,
Dave thought as his grip tightened on the blade and the shadows loomed all around him,
should I kill the kid? Should I fucking kill the...

He squeezed his eyes shut a second before the darkness could swamp him.

29
.

Something tugged at the blade and Dave whimpered. The kid drew a final breath and then a gurgle and hiss filled the air.

He felt the weight drop as he released his grip. The smack of flesh hitting stone sounded shortly after. But Dave didn't open his eyes. Even when they started to sting from the build up of tears he kept them squeezed shut. Choking back sobs as he waited for the end. Thinking, that at the very least he had the demise of the mocking laughter that boomed in his head to look forward to...

At least that's what he thought for the first ten seconds. Until he realised that it was taking an awfully long time to die and got to thinking about why that might be.

He gave it another ten seconds to be certain, each one counted down slowly in his mind. Then he opened his eyes and darted quick glances left and right.

His jaw dropped open as the crashing realisation hit. His surroundings were dark but not
that
dark. Dave didn't dare to believe it at first but no glinting surrounded him now. The smooth surface of the crater was clearly visible beneath the glittering stars. It appeared that the shadows had disappeared. It appeared as though...

It worked. It fucking wor–

The hint of a triumphant smile had only just started to crease his face when Dave looked down and it died away into a choking sob. Banished by the crumpled form that sprawled in a growing puddle at his feet. Beneath the moonlight it looked black but Dave knew only too well what it was. The weight of the knife in his hand a constant reminder.

Oh fuck I–

'Well that's quite a welcome, isn't it?' the overloud voice boomed from in front of him, cutting off his thoughts. 'Fucking hell,' it added and Dave's eyes snapped up to lock onto the form that loomed ahead in the gloom.

Dave's mouth dropped wide while he squinted, trying to make out the figure. A second later, it snapped shut again in a gasp. Out of the surrounding darkness, a chorus arose in response to the newcomer's words. One that would have been terrifying if the confusion it elicited hadn't knocked the fear down a few pegs.

It was clear what the congregated voices were attempting to achieve: an echo of the words that the figure in front of him had spoken. What emerged from the dark was another story though. A barrage of slurred words, grunts, groans, squeals and outright shrieks assailed Dave, and his eyes widened as slowly his body caught up with what was happening around him. Adrenaline pulsed through his exhausted frame and almost sent him reeling to the ground.

His hand shook as he scrabbled for the lighter. So bad he nearly dropped it on his first attempt to spark the flint. His second attempt was hampered by the thought that maybe he didn't actually want to see.

On the third try the flame took and Dave held it up.

This time the confusion that hit was so great it actually stopped the tears that had been tracking down his cheeks.

Revealed in the shaking glow of the lighter, the new arrival was not at all what Dave had expected. Rather than some horrendous monster looming before him there, instead, stood an unremarkable looking man.

Dave barely even felt the fresh heat from the lighter sear his already blistered fingers. His befuddled mind too busy trying to reconcile what he'd been through with the figure before him.

The man was chubby and dressed in an ill fitting black suit. It accentuated sections of the man's anatomy that Dave was pretty sure it wasn't meant to. The lumpy bulges of his frame topped by a grinning moon face and crazy, red, corkscrew hair that looked like it hadn't felt a brush's caress in months. He'd have cut a strange figure even if he hadn't been splattered in blood.

Now he just looked positively surreal as he made a show of patting at the blood spray.

'You treat all new arrivals this way?' he asked sternly, though the smile on his face belied his words.

In fact it spread wider and wider until the sight of it started to make Dave feel sick. It stretched a little too far across the man's face as though additional slits had been made at the corners of his mouth.

The sight triggered alarms that the man mightn't be quite as human as he first appeared.

A second later Dave had it confirmed.

After a few more lacklustre pats, the newcomer gave up. He simply shrugged and abruptly the blood that coated him vanished. As far as Dave could tell he simply absorbed it through his clothing but it was hard to be certain. Dave was thrown off by the chorus that erupted from the surrounding gloom once more. Yet another bastardised rendition of what the man in front of him had just said.

Dave wheeled around. The flame almost flickering out, he waved it so quickly. Only vague black silhouettes were revealed and he was forced to steady his hand and lean forward before he could fully distinguish the figures shambling forward toward him. Once he did though, he quickly recoiled. Even the brief glimpse he caught enough to force his brain right to the precipice of breakdown.

The figures that approached bore a lot of similarities to the man standing in front of him. But, like their parroting of his words, their appearance, too, was flawed to varying degrees.

Ranging from the odd clubbed foot and hunchback to things that Dave hesitated to label human. Extra limbs. Odd, lumpy flesh that flowed and billowed like curtains. Other things that could only barely drag themselves forward by misshapen hands. Dave caught a brief glimpse of all of them and then quickly extinguished the lighter, not wanting to see any more. It lasted all of a second though before he realised that
not
seeing them was infinitely more terrifying. He just pictured them nearing in the dark...

Dave made sure to keep his eyes straight ahead when he swapped hands and relit the lighter.

Though seeing the heroic arms akimbo pose the chubby man had struck while he looked around the crater, didn't exactly help get his reeling thoughts in order.

Even the voices in his head had started to ask,
What the fuck?

'So, anything I should know about?'

Dave started when he was abruptly fixed in the man's piercing gaze.

'I'm sorry?' Dave managed to squeak while the bloody knife slipped from his hand and clattered to the ground.

The man watched it bounce absently for a second and then returned his eyes to Dave.

'For handover? You kno-oh!' The man cut himself off with a click of his fingers. 'Oh right. I sort of killed them, didn't I? Word probably hasn't filtered through yet, I suppose.'

'Hah,' Dave snorted and his legs abruptly went from under him. He toppled to his knees and swayed dizzily in place while the response from the other things rang out all around them.

He realised his mistake instantly. His new position only put him closer to the crumpled corpse of the boy but he didn't have the strength to get up again.

He tried to close his eyes but the man moved closer, drawing his attention.

'Anyway, I'm taking over. The way I was told, you lot have had more than your fair share now. It wasn't a
bad
defence you had going on here but I honestly think they weren't really trying that hard to get you guys out. I mean if those bastards out there can break through, anything can.' He waved his hands around vaguely. 'You know, I grew them myself. Needed a few extra hands and well, although I did need a bit of fresh meat by the end, I squeezed out enough. Went a bit,' the man spun a finger in circles next to his temple, 'but they get the job done, don't you think?'

Words failed Dave. His response was more suited to one of the shambling creatures out in the darkness.

'Yeah,' the man said as if Dave had provided an answer. 'Still they've gotten most of the heavy lifting done. Now there's just a bit of fine tuning to go. I always like to handle that myself, give it a bit of the...' the man trailed off, one hand held up in front of him frozen mid gesture. 'Ooh, what's this?' he asked and Dave felt the bottom of his stomach drop when he saw the man's eyes had drifted down.

Dave wanted to scream as he kicked the corpse and it rolled over, limbs flopping and slapping on the polished stone.

'Some sort of offering? Ha! Well you wouldn't be the first to mistake me for a god,' the man sniffed. 'Normally wouldn't go in for this sort of thing but well, crossing dimensions does take it out of you. And, I mean, you did go to all this effort and all...'

Dave finally found his voice and managed to shriek as the man abruptly exploded into a fleshy shower. Or at least that was what appeared to happen. Flecks and gobbets splattered across Dave and he recoiled, fully expecting a torrent to follow.

It didn't.

What actually happened was infinitely worse.

Dave screamed again as he saw the creature that had been birthed in front of him. The mass of glinting claws and twisted spikes framed by torn flesh. The gaping, needle filled maw that topped it.

He followed the first scream with another. Then another and another as one by one the other creatures in the shadows followed the man's lead. Each exploding until they were lesser reflections of the creature in front of him.

Dave felt something in his throat ping and the sharp stab as his voice blew out but still he croaked on while the creature leaned in closer. Its mouth gaped wider and wider and the smell that emerged set Dave's eyes burning.

'I'm John, by the way,' the creature growled, its voice having undergone a transformation to match the physical one. 'And this is my new home, for the time being.'

Then abruptly the creature morphed into a blur of motion and once more Dave was showered in flesh as it fell upon the kid's corpse, shredding it and absorbing the resulting gore.

Dave could only stare wide eyed while in the background a thousand slurred and raspy voices intoned. 'I'm John, by the way and this is my new home, for the time being.'

And as the babble washed over Dave, all he could think was...

...
Fuck!

TO BE CONTINUED IN JOHN'S WORLD COMING IN 2012 FROM LEGUMEMAN BOOKS.